Ship Technology

For all the bits and pieces that go on ships.

Mechanical Stuff

• Repairing ships apparently involves "acrid, nose-tickling smelling" chemical fusers and grease.

Commercial Liners

"Unlike a Fleet vessel, with its unmistakable emergency sirens, the passenger liner's sole indication of its status was a demure strip of red and white lights where the floor met the wall and the occasional repeition of a message 'to please stay in your cabins until the crew gives you further instructions.'

• Short-lapse EVA softsuits: attached to a ship by an umbilical. Long hair must be braided and wound around the head to fit, and species with long ears like Aera may need to tuck back their ears.

Well Drive

Located in engineering on Fleet ships: an "enormous central chamber with its pulsing Well capsule." Has a bleed-off system, and overload of that system causes enough damage to cripple a ship.

Has five "speeds":

• 1
• 2
• 3 (The Lip of the Well); most civilian ships stop here.
• 4 Courier ships occasionally go this speed.
• 5 (The Well's Deep) This speed is only typical of Fleet vessels pushing things.

There's a way to "bounce" a slow-moving ship out of Well if you know its vector and engine harmonies, but it's a 'bit of a gamble.' Fleet personnel call it a tripwire. This is more of a pirate technique than a Chatcaavan one.

It takes about a week to repair a well drive.

Platy-Driven Navigation

See also Platy Water Environments