- For more information on how to use modules in ship design, see Shipyard.
In StarDrive, ship components are called "modules". To add a module to a ship, simply click and drag it from the list on the left of the Shipyard screen or select it and left-click on a desired slot; 1x1 modules can be pasted by holding down the mouse button and dragging them across the module grid
Many Modules may only be placed in certain slots when designing a ship, for instance engines may only be placed in E (engine) slots and Bridges may only be placed in I (inside) slots.
Module Statistics[]
Modules have a variety of statistics which affect how they work when placed on a ship as well as a ship's overall stats.
- Universal:
- Size - size of a module (horizontal x vertical)
- Mass (slows down sublight speed and reduces turning rate)
- Production cost (adds to the total production cost of the ship)
- Hitpoints (adds to the total hitpoints of the ship)
- Power consumption (excluding armor and fuel cells)
- Weapons:
- Speed - speed of projectile (for Ballistic, Energy Cannons, Bombs and Missiles; note that Beams are instantenous and Bombs pick much of their velocity from their carrier)
- Damage - damage per shot
- DPS - damage per second
- Damage radius - radius, in which damage is inflicted (not only for exploding weaponry)
- RoF - Rate of fire, in shots per second
- Range - max range of a weapon
- Firing Arc - firing arc of a weapon
- Ordnance stored - ordnance capacity of a module (for ordnance-using weapons)
- Ordnance per shot - ordnance, used for a single shot (for Ballistic Cannons, Bombs and Missiles)
- Energy per shot - energy, required for a single shot (for Energy Weapons)
- Missile hitpoints - any missile could be shot down with point defense (for missiles)
- Power:
- Power output (for powerplants)
- Power stored (for fuel cell modules and reactors)
- Power radius (for reactors, indicates power coverage for a singe reactor)
- Other:
- Cargo stored (for cargo hold modules)
Weapons[]
Weapons Overview[]
Currently weapons are divided into categories, depending on the ammunition source (ballistic weapons use ordnance; or energy weapons use power) and projectile type (beam or single shot/pulse).
Most weapons are restricted to O/IO slots, but there are a few exceptions that can be placed in I slots as well:
- Ancient Repulsor
- EMP Torpedo
- Heavy Tractor Beam
Most weapons that take up a square area can be rotated freely via hold-and-drag and possess a 45°, 90°, 120° or even 360° firing arc (the latter is for the player-inaccessible Ancient Disruptor); the rest have arcs narrower than 45° and can only be set in parallel or perpendicularly to the keel by using the arrow buttons.
Ammunition[]
Each weapon consumes resources when fired, either ordnance for ballistic weapons, or power for energy weapons. One unit of ordnance is usually comparable to 100-200 power in terms of base damage output.
Ballistic weapons have a definite advantage in stored capacity. An Ordnance Storage stores 125 Ordnance, while the same-sized Medium Fuel Cell stores 1500 power. With the above conversion rate, this gives ordinance roughly a tenfold advantage in stored capacity. Furthermore, ballistic weapons generally sport a respectable amount of integral storage, whereas the integral storage of reactors (except Main Engineering) is negligible.
On the other hand, energy weapons have the advantage in ammunition regeneration. The basic Medium Nuclear Reactor generates 225 power per second. Meanwhile, the Ordnance Fabricator produces 1 Ordnance per second, but consumes 250 power per second, so it would take a little more than another Medium Nuclear Reactor to break even on power. As such, energy weapons regenerate their capacity at about 3-4 times the rate of ballistic weapons with basic technology.
Practically, this makes ballistic weapons relatively better in short conflicts and when resupply from spaceports is readily available. On the other hand, energy weapons are relatively better in long conflicts away from resupply.
Apart from module unlocks, research improves ballistic weapons directly via increased weapon performance, while energy weapons benefit more indirectly via improved reactors and energy storage, as well as several generations of similar mounts.
Energy Beam[]
All energy beam weapons, with the exception of Disentegrator Array and Ancient Repulsor, have two variants – heavy and light. Heavy variants occupy 2x3 slots and have fixed 45° arcs with limited customization. They deal more damage, have longer range and require more energy to fire. Light variants need a 2x2 space and have fully customizable 45° degree firing arcs. The drawback is that they deal less damage and have shorter range.
Energy beam weapons fire pulses that last 2 seconds (180 frames). They do not need ordnance to fire.
Different beams have different recharge rate – from 4.5 to 10 seconds, as well as different purposes.
Beams drain energy while firing, so make sure you have enough energy reserves. For example, a beam weapon firing for two seconds will drain (Pwr/Sec*2) units of energy, so if ship's reactors produce (PowerRecharge) units of energy each second, you'll need at least (Pwr/Sec*2 - PowerRecharge*2) units of energy reserve to fire full two seconds without interruption. If, while firing, ship runs out of energy reserve, then the beam will stop firing (i.e beam will fire for 1 second, then it will run out of energy and will stop firing).
To make sure that ship's energy reserve is replenished for the next round of fire, energy regeneration must be at least (Pwr/Sec*2*RoF). To make that calculation easier check out the last column of the following table:
Icon | Weapon Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | HP | DPS | Pwr | Pwr/sec | Range | Fire Arc | RoF | Sust |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laser Beam Turret | Energy Weapons | 2x2 | 12 | 10 | 480 | 90 | -5 | 240 | 2700 | 45 | 0.2 | 96 | |
Heavy-mount Laser Beam | Energy Weapons | 2x3 | 12 | 12 | 540 | 144 | -5 | 360 | 4200 | 45 | 0.1 | 72 | |
Fusion Beam Turret | Fusion Beams | 2x2 | 12 | 12 | 480 | 144 | -5 | 450 | 2700 | 45 | 0.1 | 90 | |
Heavy-mount Fusion Beam | Fusion Beams | 2x3 | 12 | 18 | 720 | 216 | -5 | 550 | 4200 | 45 | 0.1 | 110 | |
Light Phasor Array | Phasors | 2x2 | 12 | 14 | 400 | 225 | -5 | 350 | 2700 | 45 | 0.125 | 87.5 | |
Heavy-mount Phasor Array | Phasors | 2x3 | 12 | 24 | 600 | 281.3 | -5 | 450 | 5200 | 45 | 0.125 | 112.5 | |
Thalaron Blaster | Thalaron Blaster | 2x3 | 12 | 4 | 600 | 20 | -5 | 90 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 40 | |
Ion Beam Turret | Ionic Weaponry | 2x2 | 12 | 4 | 450 | 12 | -5 | 60 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 26.6 | |
Heavy-mount Ion Beam | Ionic Weaponry | 2x3 | 12 | 4 | 450 | 25 | -5 | 80 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 35.6 | |
Siphon Beam Turret | Energy Siphon Beam | 2x2 | 12 | 4 | 400 | 25 | -5 | 100 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 44.5 | |
Heavy Siphon Beam | Energy Siphon Beam | 2x3 | 12 | 4 | 450 | 40 | -5 | 140 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 62.3 | |
Tractor Beam Turret | Tractor Beam | 2x2 | 12 | 4 | 400 | NA | -5 | 60 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 26.7 | |
Heavy Tractor Beam | Tractor Beam | 2x3 | 12 | 4 | 450 | NA | -5 | 60 | 4200 | 45 | 0.22 | 26.7 | |
Ancient Repulsor | Mysteries Event | 2x2 | 10 | 4 | 450 | NA | 10 | 60 | 3500 | 120 | 0.33 | 26.7 | |
Distintegrator Array | Distintegrator Array | 3x8 | 10.8 | 96 | 540 | 630 | -5 | 1500 | 6000 | 45 | 0.1 | 300 |
Energy Cannon[]
Energy cannons use energy for firing, but, unlike energy beams, their shots are individual bolts and have travel speed. Because of that energy canons are less-suited to use against fast and agile targets, but are great against slow moving targets.
Currently there are two unique canons – EMP and Polaron. EMP canon inflicts EMP damage, which will disable target's systems upon exceeding a ship's capacity for EMP damage (determined by hull size and presence of Pulse Capacitors; EMP also does not penetrate shields) whereas shots made with Polaron Cannons will bypass the target's shields.
Additionally, the only energy-using Point Defense at the moment is PD Laser Cannon, though it is inferior compared to Phalanx PD, but is energy-independent and has limited anti-ship utility.
Icon | Weapon Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | Health | Spd | Pwr | DPS | Rng | Fire Arc | Dmg/Shot | Pwr/Shot | Pwr/Sec | Dmg Rad | RoF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PD Laser Cannon | Energy Weapons | 1x1 | 3 | 1 | 100 | 950 | -1 | 10 | 1200 | 90 | 8 | 20 | 25 | NA | 1.25 | |
Laser Turret | Energy Cannons | 2x2 | 12 | 12 | 450 | 800 | -5 | 125 | 1600 | 150 | 25 x 5 | 11 x 5 | 68.75 | NA | 1 | |
Heavy Laser Turret | Energy Cannons | 3x3 | 27 | 27 | 900 | 1100 | -10 | 61.5 | 1800 | 90 | 80 | 75 | 57.75 | 5 | 0.77 | |
Heavy Laser Cannon | Energy Cannons | 1x3 | 9 | 3 | 300 | 1500 | -4 | 61.5 | 1800 | 23 | 80 | 75 | 57.75 | 5 | 0.77 | |
Disruptor Cannon Turret | Disruptors | 2x2 | 10 | 4 | 400 | 1000 | -10 | 116.7 | 2000 | 90 | 175 | 175 | 115.5 | 1 | 0.667 | |
Dual Disruptor Cannon | Disruptors | 3x3 | 10 | 10 | 900 | 1000 | -10 | 166.7 | 2000 | 90 | 100 | 100 | 166 | 1 | 1.66 | |
EMP Turret | EMP Cannons | 2x2 | 10 | 9 | 400 | 875 | -10 | NA | 2800 | 90 | 25 | 180 | 180 | NA | 1 | |
Twin EMP Cannons | EMP Cannons | 3x3 | 10 | 9 | 900 | 875 | -10 | NA | 2800 | 90 | 25 | 160 | 320 | NA | 2 | |
Polaron Cannon Turret | Phased Polaron Cannons | 2x2 | 10 | 12 | 450 | 1100 | -10 | 53.3 | 2200 | 90 | 80 | 100 | 166 | 5 | 0.66 | |
Twin Polaron Cannons | Phased Polaron Cannons | 3x3 | 10 | 25 | 450 | 1100 | -10 | 133.3 | 2200 | 90 | 80 | 100 | 166 | 5 | 1.66 | |
Ion Canon | Mysteries Event | 1x3 | 9 | 15 | 300 | 1450 | -15 | 82.5 | 4800 | 15 | 125 | 180 | 118.8 | 1 | 0.66 | |
NA | Ancient Disruptor | Not usable by Player | 2x2 | 10 | 4 | 400 | 1000 | -10 | 2000 | 90 | 100 | 175 | 1 |
Energy Torpedo[]
Not quite torpedos as the name suggests – weapons in this category actually have mechanics similar to energy cannons, one being a turret and the other is a fixed, forward-oriented heavy gun.
Ballistic Cannon[]
Ballistic weapons contain the most powerful Point Defense so far – Phalanx PD, as well as very powerful heavy cannons – Mass Driver and Massive canon.
Mechanics are similar to energy canons, but instead of energy these guns use ordnance and thus need to be supplied with ordnance via supply ships. Alternatively, they could be resupplied at the nearest planet with a Space Port.
“Pure” ballistic weapons have no special bonuses but some research in Space Weapons technology branch will grant various bonuses for ballistic weapons. For more information check Space Weapons
Bomb[]
Bombs are used to bombard planets, with different bombs having different effects.
Currently all the bombs use ordnance to fire, so make sure you have a few ordnance fabricators on your bombardment ships.
Icon | Weapon Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | HP | Ord Cap | Pwr | Ord/shot | Ord/sec | Land Dmg | Troop Dmg | Pop Dmg |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tactical Nuclear Bomb Bay | None | 2x2 | 12 | 4 | 400 | 20 | -5 | 2 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 0.01 | |
Death Spore Deployment Bay | Genetic Manipulation | 2x2 | 12 | 30 | 450 | 20 | -5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0.1 | |
Owlwok Liberator | Owlwok Freedom Event | 2x2 | 12 | 150 | 450 | 20 | -5 | 20 | 20 | NA | NA | NA |
Space Bombs[]
A feature introduced in 1.13H, these weapons are currently unavailable without using Cheats. Their key feature is a grand velocity of 1, which requires the deploying ship to charge towards its target as the launcher's velocity is retained by the bomb.
Missile[]
The main feature of missile weapons is that they have tracking capability, so it is much easier to shoot down agile opponents.
Every missile launcher has a small ordnance capacity, but in order to get the most use out of missiles during a fight you should place a few ordnance stores.
Different missiles have different speeds and their accuracy is not 100%, so even the fastest missile could miss an agile fighter.
Another problem with missiles is that they are quite susceptible to point defense weapons. Every missile has its own hit points and so destruction by point defense is possible; missile hit points and capacity to evade defensive fire can be upgraded via research.
Plasma[]
At the moment plasma category has only one weapon in it - the plasma thrower.
Contrary to what you may think, currently plasma thrower isn't a cannon. It is, in fact, a plasmathrower as in "flamethrower": it deals constant damage in a cone, at very close range. That makes it ideal for space close-combat.
It is worth noting that this isn't an energy weapon - it uses ordnance, and quite a lot, because of it very high RoF.
Icon | Weapon Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | HP | Spd | Pwr | DPS | Rng | Fire Arc | Dmg | Ord/shot | Ord/sec | Dmg Rad | RoF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plasma Thrower | Plasma Vectoring | 2x2 | 10 | 7 | 450 | 700 | -10 | 1200 | 800 | 90 | 30 | 0.1 | 4 | 15 | 40 |
Power[]
Power Plant[]
Power plants are essential for any ship - almost all modules require power to function, including all weapons and engines. If a module is outside the range of a power plant, it won't function. If a ship's total power draw exceeds its power generation, it will start to draw power from its energy stores. If they are depleted, the ship is incapable of warping or firing energy weapons.
Warning: reactors explode when destroyed!
Icon | Module Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | Health | Power Store | Power |
Power /Space |
Power Radius |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nuclear Reactor | None | 1x1 | 7 | 5 | 100 | 10 | 50 | 50 | 2 | |
Med. Nuclear Reactor | None | 2x2 | 25 | 20 | 400 | 40 | 225 | 56.25 | 3 | |
Anti-Matter Reactor | Anti-Matter Reactor | 3x3 | 50 | 34 | 500 | 90 | 900 | 100 | 5 | |
Main Engineering | Integrated System | 4x4 | 50 | 64 | 2000 | 1000 | 1600 | 100 | 8 | |
Remnant Small Reactor | Reverse Engineering Event | 1x1 | 10 | 10 | 100 | 50 | 100 | 100 | 2 | |
Ancient Reactor | Not usable by players | 2x2 | 50 | 10 | 500 | 50 | 500 | 125 | 4 | |
NA | Power Conduit | None | 1x1 | 1 | 0.5 | 100 | NA | -1 | NA | 4 |
Fuel Cell[]
Fuel Cells store power, allowing ships to absorb spikes in power consumption (power draw exceeding power generation), whether it is from firing many energy weapons at the same time, from being hit by Ion Beams, or from warp travel; in the latter case, the ship will make small jumps interspersed by constant stops to recharge.
Power generators also have some power capacity, but, except for Main Engineering, they are insufficient for energy weapon-dependent ships.
Fuel Cell performance can be upgraded via research.
Icon | Module Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | Health | Power Store | Storage /Space |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Small Fuel Cell | None | 1x1 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 250 | 250 | |
Medium Fuel Cell | None | 2x2 | 15 | 4 | 200 | 1500 | 375 | |
Small Armored Fuel Cell | Combat Readiness | 1x1 | 10 | 2 | 150 | 200 | 200 | |
Medium Armored Fuel Cell | Combat Readiness | 2x2 | 45 | 6 | 600 | 1200 | 300 | |
Remnant Small Power Cell | Reverse Engineering Event | 1x1 | 10 | 5 | 150 | 500 | 500 |
Engine[]
Engines provide ships with the ability to move, both via forward thrust and manoeuvring ability. They can only be installed in E slots, and are the only thing aside from power relays that installed into these slots, which makes putting the largest thrusters available into these slots a no-brainer. The key choice is between the particular engine models.
Larger engines unlocked by later research are more efficient than a cluster of smaller engines of the same size, but e.g. a Hunter corvette can still fit a frigate-size engine.
There are three general types of engines: Combat Thrusters, standard engines and Warp Thrusters. Warp thrusters provide improved faster-than-light speed than standard models, but lower performance at sublight speed. Combat Thrusters contribute nothing to Warp Speed, but consume less power and have superior sublight performance; a ship equipped entirely with combat thrusters cannot warp at all, but this is near-impossible for larger ships: Combat Thrusters come in 1x1 and 2x2 sizes, and the 1x1 variant is available only on fighters. A ship built without warp capability has excellent mobility and requires much less power (power draw triples at warp) but needs a carrier with Fighter Bays or Raider Bays to lift it into combat zones.
Actual ship mobility is defined by thrust/mass ratio: heavier ship will move and steer slower than a lighter ship with the same engine system. The most notable source of mass is armour.
Defense[]
Shield[]
Shields intercept incoming damage in a radius and thus can form the first line of defense for ships equipped with them. Compared to Armor, Shields are lightweight, have integral regeneration, and allow a much greater area to share the same pool of hit points, but are more expensive to build. In terms of hit points per area, they are about a wash when power consumption is taken into account.
Note that a slot is 16 units across.
Icon | Module Name | Requirement | Size | Mass | Cost | Health | Power | Shield Strength | Shield Recharge | Shield Recharge Delay | Shield Size |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 KW Shield | Energy Shielding | 2x2 | 10 | 16 | 400 | -75 | 2000 | 20 | 3.5 | 75 | |
Fighter Shield | Fighter Shields | 1x1 | 2 | 8 | 100 | -20 | 500 | 40 | 1.5 | 50 | |
10KW Shield | Heavy Shielding | 3x3 | 20 | 36 | 900 | -250 | 10000 | 25 | 3.5 | 120 | |
Canopy Shield | Canopy Shielding | 3x6 | 20 | 25 | 100 | -2500 | 25000 | 35 | 3.5 | 400 | |
Ancient Shield | Reverse Engineering Event | 2x2 | 10 | 12 | 400 | -50 | 5000 | 50 | 3.5 | 100 |
Armor[]
Cruder than Shields but still effective, Armour modules simply absorb damage that strikes their area. Armour is cheap, durable, and very heavy.
There are four categories of armour modules. Steel Armour is the baseline. Bulkheads can, unlike other armour units, fitted to I slots. Plasteel Armour is slightly weaker but noticeably lighter. Quantinium Armour, not available to players but found on the bow of the Remnant Assimilator, is even heavier but tougher.
Special[]
Storage[]
Cargo holds allow a ship to transport stored food, production and colonists between planets (e.g. freighters and colony ships typically have cargo holds taking up most of the ships), while ordnance storage modules allow a ship to store ordnance which is consumed when firing projectile weapons.
Command[]
All ships must have at least one cockpit, bridge or CIC; cockpit modules also provide sensor range and repair when powered. Troop modules are also found in this category.
Hangar[]
Hangars allow a ship to launch smaller ships or drones.