Catalog — Small Craft

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About Small Craft

Small craft are Scale 2 and Scale 3 vehicles without a Slipstream Drive. Scale 2 covers light shuttles, landers, and skiffs; Scale 3 covers fighters and boarding craft. They travel between systems aboard a parent ship, launch from its bays and cradles, and work within one system for as long as their Endurance lasts. Scale 1 escape pods, life rafts, and beacon pods follow the boarding craft.

Cutters carry Slipstream Drives and are starships: the common cutter patterns are in Chapter Sixteen. Full-size Scale 4 shuttles are shipwright hulls, such as the CM-260 in the Crown Meridian Ship Catalog.

Reading an entry. Small craft use the Chapter Sixteen stat block; its sample and key (Chapter Sixteen, Reading an Entry) explain every cell. Only these differ:

• Endurance replaces Consumables: the hours of air, power, and supplies for one sortie, for everyone aboard. A Scale 1 pod or raft lists what it sustains, such as hours of oxygen or days of broadcast.
• Weapons heads the weapons table in place of Typical Loadout: these are the factory-fitted weapons, which the catalog price includes (Chapter Thirteen, Pricing a Finished Design).
• Rated reads No Slipstream for every craft here. A note in brackets after Atmosphere or Landing limits that rating, as in Landing (emergency only).
• Carried by names the bays, cradles, and hulls that usually carry the craft (Chapter Ten, Carried Craft).
• Crew is minimum / standard, as for a ship. A crew of 1 / 1 is a lone pilot covering two stations (Chapter Fourteen, Covering Two Stations). A minimum of 0 means the craft runs with no one at a station.
• Sensors may read Beacon: the craft has a distress beacon in place of a sensor grade.

Systems are scaled to the hull: a fighter's damage control is sealant foam, extinguishers, and an ejection seat.

Prices. Scale 2 and 3 craft are built and priced under Chapter Thirteen (build points × the Scale rate × 1.85, plus fittings). A Prize Value marks a Military-tier craft. One with Military Acquisition is never sold; one with Restricted Acquisition is sold at that figure only to buyers with contractor clearance (Chapter Thirteen, Pricing a Finished Design). Scale 1 pods are outside the build system and are priced as equipment.

Carried craft and drones. Bay and cradle capacities, and which craft fit which host, are in Chapter Ten (Carried Craft). Launch and recovery in combat are in Chapter Fifteen. Drones are Scale 1 remote craft carried in drone bays; their types, numbers per bay, and replacement prices are in Chapter Ten (Drones).

Fighters

Fighters are Scale 3 craft for interception, escort, strike, and point-defense work, flown by a crew of one or two. A ship firing at a target 2 or more Scale smaller adds Bane Dice equal to the difference, and a weapon with Point Defense or Anti-Fighter adds only half (Chapter Three): a Scale 6 frigate's main guns add 3 Bane Dice against a fighter, its point-defense lasers 1. In a large battle, fighters count in groups of four as one Scale 3 ship (Chapter Fifteen, Large Battles).

Crown Meridian, Kharos, the Funtari clan yards, and at least three unlicensed builders turn out Darts to the same layout.

Traits: Speed 7 ties the Scythe for the fastest craft in this chapter. Its 11 Hull Points and Armor 1 last two or three hits from a Standard ship weapon. Both its weapons have Point Defense 1, so a Dart flying escort can intercept missiles and torpedoes aimed at its carrier while it stays within Short range (Chapter Fifteen, Point Defense).

Common Variants: Export Dart: a Cruise 2 working-fusion engine replaces the antimatter engine. Acquisition Open; 223,300cr.

Acquisition: Restricted. The antimatter engine behind its Cruise 4 is a Restricted component and the hull's one above-standard system (Chapter Thirteen). Darts of both kinds are common on the second-hand market.

Traits: The Talon gives up 1 Speed against the Dart for Armor 2, Standard sensors, and a Standard mount. The Laser Battery reaches Medium range, and the Micro-Missile Pod takes the Safa Fire Control Boon Die. Pilots fly it as a strike craft: close, fire, and withdraw before the target's escorts respond.

Acquisition: Restricted (antimatter engine, Cruise 4). Sold through Safa-certified security contractors.

Traits: Handling +3 is the best in this chapter. The Signal Scrambler adds 1 Bane Die to Target Lock checks and guided attacks against the Scythe, and it lets the Scythe Jam (Chapter Fifteen). The Ion Blaster deals System Damage only, which suits a craft sent to stop a ship rather than destroy it. Shoiyan doctrine flies Scythes to find and jam a threat before it can fire.

Acquisition: Military. A Shoiyan Concord fleet asset with no civilian market.

Traits: The Hammer carries three torpedoes that hit for 12 Hull Damage each at Extreme range, and against a Scale 5 or larger target the Scale difference removes Bane Dice from its attack (Chapter Three). At Speed 4 and Handling −1 it needs a fighter escort to survive the approach. Reloading the launcher needs a Fighter Bay (Chapter Ten) or a port.

Acquisition: Restricted for the hull (antimatter engine, Cruise 4). The Torpedo Launcher is a Military weapon: a buyer without Military clearance takes delivery with the launcher mount empty.

Shuttles

Light shuttles move people and cargo between ships, stations, and surfaces within one system. They are Scale 2 craft, the shuttle pods of the Scale ladder (Chapter Four), and carry no weapons.

By number of trips flown, this is the most-used vehicle in known space.

Traits: Unarmed, with no mounts. Its twelve seats are berths built into the hull (Chapter Thirteen, Berths), which leaves the module slot open for the owner. Port authorities everywhere know the type, and its paperwork is rarely questioned.

Acquisition: Open. Sold at nearly every port.

Traits: An orbital lighter with no aerodynamic surfaces, heat shielding, or landing gear: it cannot enter an atmosphere. The mass saved went into the hold, which is why a Scale 2 hull carries 30 Cargo Units. An Atmospheric Lander usually moves the cargo between orbit and the surface. A Landing Package in one of the open slots (Chapter Ten) lets the shuttle set down on airless worlds.

Acquisition: Open. Industrial stations run whole fleets of them.

Traits: Six passengers travel in luxury cabins built into the hull; the 13,400cr cabin fit-out is a fitting included in the price. The Counter-Surveillance Suite tells the crew at once when the shuttle is the target of a Target Lock or Active Scan, and Extended sensors with the Viridian Signature reach Extreme range. Corporate executives, diplomats, and anyone else who can pay use the Serenity to arrive without notice.

Acquisition: Licensed. Sold through Viridian dealers, mostly in Concord space.

Traits: Eight litters are built into the hull, and the Medical Bay treats two patients at a time. The shuttle carries universal medical markings: attacking a marked medical transport breaks the humanitarian conventions all five powers have signed. The markings do not stop an attack, but they bring political consequences for the attacker. Removing them to run the shuttle as a covert transport is easy.

Acquisition: Licensed. Medical supply chains in every territory.

Boarding Craft

Boarding craft carry assault troops across the gap between ships. A carried boarding craft is Interceptable on the approach, and one that arrives breaches at once (Chapter Fifteen, Boarding).

Traits: Armor 3 and 17 Hull Points, the most Hull Points in this chapter, carry eight assault troops through point defense. The pilot and troops do not come back in it. The Breaching Charge Array opens the hull on arrival, with no attack check against a target that cannot move (Chapter Eight).

Acquisition: Restricted. Military fleets and approved contractors. The Breaching Charge Array is a Military weapon: without Military clearance the pod comes with its mount empty, and the troops breach with hand-carried charges.

Traits: Crewed and recoverable where the Boarding Pod is not. Its two Light Rotary Cannons fire together as a battery (Linked 1, Chapter Fifteen) to suppress a landing zone, and it lands troops on planetary surfaces as well as on ships. The twelve troops ride in berths built into the hull; the module slot is open.

Acquisition: Restricted. Military fleets and approved contractors.

Traits: Built for a target that expects boarders. On the approach the Signal Scrambler adds 1 Bane Die to Target Lock checks and guided attacks against it, and Deflection 1 adds 1 Bane Die to every attack from ahead. The Ion Blaster strips the target's systems, the Breaching Charge Array opens the hull, and eight troops go in.

Acquisition: Restricted. Funtari military and high-security contractors.

Escape and Emergency Craft

Scale 1 survival equipment, outside the Chapter Thirteen build system. Abandoning ship is in Chapter Three.

Traits: Holds 72 hours of life support, emergency rations, a distress transmitter, and a medical kit. It barely maneuvers: it reaches a gravity well for an emergency reentry or drifts until rescue arrives.

Acquisition: Open. Required safety equipment at most ports.

Traits: An inflatable pressure shelter with a chemical oxygen generator and a passive beacon, for when no pod is left. It has no power and drifts on the vector it was launched with.

Acquisition: Open.

Traits: Broadcasts a standard distress signal on every monitored frequency for 30 days, with an encrypted code that tells rescue services which ship registered it. It keeps no one alive. Crews launch one when their ship cannot transmit, or to mark a position for later recovery.

Acquisition: Open.

Atmospheric Craft

Atmospheric craft work between orbit and the surface. Atmospheric flight, landing, and descent are in Chapter Nine.

Traits: It carries 20 Cargo Units and eight passengers between orbit and the surface and usually works with a Cargo Shuttle. A 48-hour Endurance ties it to a parent ship or station. Its Light mount and module slot are open.

Acquisition: Open.

Traits: Extended sensors, the Workshop, and five days of Endurance let a crew of three survey a site, analyze samples, and make light repairs with no ship nearby. It lands where a standard lander cannot. Survey teams, independent prospectors, and frontier rescue crews fly it.

Acquisition: Open.

Traits: Built to put ten combat troops on the ground fast, on a descent too steep for an ordinary lander. Military sensors acquire targets on the way down, and two Light Rotary Cannons cover the landing. It inserts troops and returns to orbit; it is not built for long atmospheric flight.

Acquisition: Restricted. Military fleets and approved contractors.

Small Craft Comparison Tables

Generated from the stat blocks above. PV marks a Prize Value. The Atmospheric Lander, Survey Skiff, and Rapid Descent Vehicle show their atmospheric or descent Speed; each Trait gives the rest.

Fighters

Shuttles

Boarding Craft

Emergency Craft

Atmospheric Craft