ECM Generators: ECM units (Electronic Counter Measures) reduce the chance of enemy missiles striking the protected ship. A ship’s missile defense is the sum of the ship’s normal defense plus its ECM rating. Without a powerful ECM generator, most advanced missiles will almost always hit.

Armor: Armor protects a ship from all attacks by increasing the ship’s total hit points. There are two type of armor for each material: standard and double hull. The standard hull always take the same amount of space, regardless of the material. Double hulls (displayed as II) increases a ship’s hit points at the sacrifice of ship space.

Engines: Not only do ship engines move a starship, but they also power all of the ship’s devices. On the galaxy map, each level of warp moves the starship one parsec per year, i.e. Fusion engines (warp 4) move a ship 4 parsecs per turn. In combat, a ship’s maneuverability increases its defense against beam and missile weapons. Older engine types have a better power to space ratio than new engines so it will take less space to power all the devices on a ship if older engines are
used. Unfortunately, this also means the ship won’t be able to move as fast and will be easier to hit.

Maneuverability: Unlike galaxy map travel, combat movement requires rapid changes in direction and speed. On the galaxy map, ships can take a long time to accelerate into hyperspace. In combat, ships require more thrust to overcome inertia and alter course quickly. To do so requires more engines to provide the needed thrust. The larger the ship, the more engines that are required to move in combat. Huge ships rarely have a high maneuverability while small ships generally move very quickly. A ship can move one space per turn in combat for every two points of maneuverability it has. Maneuverability also affects the initiative of the ship, since faster ships react quicker than slower ones.

Weapon Types: Each ship may have up to four different types of mounted weapons. Click on each weapon row to select a weapon for that slot. Click on the small up and down arrows next to the weapon count to increase or decrease the number of weapons of that type.