Vehicle Systems

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Nearly every starship in the galaxy shares a number of common components required to travel safely among the stars. Ground vehicles also share some of these systems, primarily Comms and Sensors.

Sublight Engines

Sublight engines drive starships through Realspace at speeds approaching that of light. They provide both transatmospheric and intrasystem capabilities to ships of all sizes, from the tiniest starfighter to the massive, kilometer-long Imperial Star Destroyers. The most common Sublight engine is the ion drive, a tried-and-tested technology that uses fusion reactors with hypermatter cores to produce highly charged ions for thrust.

Hyperdrive

Hyperdrives were the key technology that allowed the foundation of galactic society as it exists today. These delicate drives allow a ship to enter Hyperspace, an alternate state of reality that allows travel at speeds many times that of light.

Hyperdrive Class

Hyperdrives are rated by a class that reflects the relative superluminal speed of a drive on a descending scale, with lower numbers denoting faster drives. Civilian Hyperdrives are typically between class 3 and 4, although faster drives can be obtained.

Backup Hyperdrive

Most ships are equipped with a backup Hyperdrive for use should the primary Hyperdrive fail. These are typically exceedingly slow and are only really useful for short-range trips.

Navicomputer

Ranging from the sophisticated and powerful computer arrays used aboard military capital ships to the astrogation buffer in an R2 astromech droid, Navicomputers are primarily used to generate the incredibly complex calculations needed to make a safe jump through Hyperspace.

Escape Pods/Ejection Systems

All ships, and many airspeeders, are equipped with emergency escape systems that allow a ship's crew to evacuate the ship in case of catastrophic damage.

Ejection Seats

Most airspeeders and starships up to Silhouette 3 are equipped with Ejection Seats that blast the pilot and any crew free of the disintegrating ship. Ejection Seats are equipped with tiny maneuvering thrusters and a small repulsorlift engine designed to bring a pilot safely back to land in the case of ejection. Use of Ejection Seats is common in atmosphere, and many flight suits are designed to offer limited vacuum protection.

Escape Pods

Ships of Silhouette 4 or larger are equipped with enough Escape Pods to evacuate the ship's crew and any passengers. These Escape Pods are pressurized and have enough consumables to keep their occupants—typically four to six sentients—alive for five standard days.

Sensors

Sensors grant a vehicle's crew a constantly updated, 360-degree view of their immediate surroundings. Sensors operate at different range bands depending on their ship and relative strength, and although powerful, can be fooled or jammed altogether by numerous technologies. Sensors operate in two modes: Passive and Active.

Passive Sensors

Sensors operating in Passive mode operate at low power, and see everything around the ship up to their maximum range band.

Using Sensors in Passive mode requires no skill check, as they are largely automatic and are relaying the minimum amount of data their programming provides.

Active Sensors

Sensors operating in Active mode are more powerful and focused. When operating in Active mode, Sensors can see one range band farther than their listed maximum range, but can only see in one of the ship's fire arcs (forward, aft, port, or starboard).

Using Sensors in Active mode requires an Easy () Computers check modified by any ambient radiation, atmospheric disturbances, terrain such as forests or mountains (or asteroids or nebula in space), or active jamming on the part of whatever is being scanned.

Comms

Comms are shorthand for a ship or vehicle's means of communication. Standard Comms are subspace transceivers with a range equal to that of the vehicle's Sensors. If a ship has short-range Sensors, for example, it also has short-range Comms. Comms are typically unencrypted, easily intercepted, and easily jammed, although numerous modifications can be made to a ship's comm systems to make any signals transmitted or received more secure.

Transponder

Every space-going vessel possesses a subspace Transponder The subspace Transponder broadcasts the vessel's registry, hull number, ownership, and other pertinent information on a special frequency that can be picked up by any vessel or subspace comm array at close range. The Transponder also operates as a distress beacon in the event that a ship suffers some kind of critical emergency. It is considered a serious crime in the Empire to tamper with a Transponder in any way, and evidence of an altered Transponder is probable cause enough for a ship to be stopped and boarded by Imperial officers. This doesn't stop those who value their anonymity from doing so, however.