BUILD-A-DRONE

AUTOMATED WEAPON CONTROL SYSTEM(ACSx)

HTL: According to the table below.

HS: According to the table below

Cost: According to the table below.

Effect: Controls a number of IDEW, MF patterns, BattleSats, and SBMHAWKs, according to the table below.

Disadvantage: The advanced nature of higher tech levels allows a no minus to hit for all drone weapons. In reality, androids or humans control these weapons by remote control, or robotic brains installed on board the drone. Also, any targeting enhancements (Mix, etc) only give 1/2 effectiveness when used. ?2 reduces effectiveness by another point if either the drone or its controller is in range.

ACS

ACSx HS CONTROL MCr TL

1 5 5 20 1

2 5 10 35 3

3 4 12 70 5

4 4 20 100 7

5 3 20 150 9

6 3 25 230 11

7 3 30 300 13

8 2 30 450 15

9 2 35 525 17

10 2 36 500 19

11 2 40 525 21

DRONE BODIES

These bodies are designed immediately, and cannot be changed without totally redesigning the drone (so no pulling out L pods when you discover your enemy has no armor, and respective for E and shield!). Spaces indicate how much room is available on the drone for items. Drones are launched from XO racks (4 XO Racks per) or Drone Bays. They are targeted as drones, and can employ evasive maneuvering. Finally, all drones are typically stored on the mounting ship in a folded configuration; their equipment is removed and stored separately; requiring a number of csp equal to their size for storage. Maintenance for these items is the standard 15%. All drones are 40 csp. Drones can be repaired, but not refitted. If you want a new drone design, you have to build them.

TYPE SPACES TL COST

Drone 1 4 1 10

Drone 2 8 4 15

Drone 3 12 7 30

Drone 4 15 10 30

Drone 5 20 13 50

Drone 6 25 16 60

Drone 7 28 19 80

Drone 8 30 22 100

DRONE ENGINES

These are not the actual engines, merely the power plants to make the drones go faster. Cost is per "engine", and only one is needed for the speed.

ENGINE SPEED SPACES COST END TL

I1 6 2 4 1 day 1

I2 8 2 6 2 days 3

I3 10 2 8 3 days 6

I4 12 2 10 4 days 9

I5 14 2 12 5 days 12

I5 16 2 14 1 week 15

I6 18 2 16 2 weeks 18

I7 20 2 18 1 month 21

TARGETING SCANNERS

These are miniaturized versions of targeting scanners. To find the range of the scanner, divide the number by 8, and multiply that by the starship Xr range. Extra scanners on a drone do not assist in this targeting. If a drone is within 1 SH of a controlling CIC-equipped ship, it gains that ships' bonus to strike if it has a Mix on board.

CODE SIZE COST TL BONUS

Xa1 1 20 4 +1 to strike

Xa2 1 30 7 +2 additional targets

Xa3 1 40 10 +2 to strike

Xa4 1 50 13 +3 additional targets

Xa5 1 60 16 +3 to strike

Xa6 1 70 19 +4 additional targets

Xa7 1 80 22 +4 to strike

SCIENCE SCANNERS

These units are smaller versions of X, and require X on the mounting ship in order to have any benefit. Take the number, divide that by 8, and that is the value of its information. So 10 drones with Xb1 has been surveying for one month (assuming rotating shifts), and provide 5 points of information for survey purposes. They cannot be used for planetary surveys (in atmosphere). Also, multiple scanners on a drone do not give any additional effect.

CODE SIZE COST TL

Xb1 5 20 2

Xb2 4 30 5

Xb3 3 40 8

Xb4 2 50 11

Xb5 1 60 14

Xb6 1 70 17

Xb7 1 80 20

Xb8 1 90 23

DRONE BEAM WEAPONS

These are miniaturized weapons designed to be mounted on drones. These weapons fire at half their normal damage (FRD). Note, in the case of precision weapons that only do 1 pt of damage, drones only get 1/2 range instead. At higher tech levels (weapon is 6+ tech levels below drone tech), drones fire full powered beam weapons at their normal range.

CODE SIZE COST TL

Ea 6 50 11

Fa 6 50 9

Fc 8 80 8

Fc2 8 100 11

Fc3 8 150 14

Fvc 8 80 15

Fvc2 8 100 19

HET 8 70 8

HET2 8 80 12

HET3 8 90 16

HET4 8 100 19

La 6 30 5

Pc 8 80 8

Pc2 8 90 15

Pc3 8 100 18

Pg 8 50 7

Pg2 8 80 12

DRONE MISSILE WEAPONS

These weapons are not so much launchers as one-shot weapons. Also, drones cannot be stored with missile warheads on board (they are stored in the a ship's magazine). Drone bodies are stored separately (usually in a cargo compartment or Mg).

CODE # in Rack COST TL DEV

SM-n 3 5 3 2,000

CM-a 1 8 9 3,000

CM-AAM 1 12 11 4,000

-GT 1 20 19 5,000

-o 1 25 19 6,000

They are full-sized versions of the warheads. Research must be paid again for each item covered (i.e. you research the full-size version, but the drone version doubles it).

SHIELDS

This system only confers a general minus to be hit when the drone is being fired at. Note, the S2 is -1 vs ships and small craft. If shields and armor are used together, take the lower rating, add half the higher rating (FRD), and use that as the final modifier.

CODE SIZE COST TL NOTE

S1 1 2 1 -1 vs ships

S2 1 4 3 -1 vs small craft

S3 1 6 5 -2 vs ships

S4 1 8 7 -2 vs small craft

S5 1 10 9 -3 vs ships

S6 1 12 11 -3 vs small craft

S7 1 14 13 -4 vs ships

S8 1 18 15 -4 vs small craft

ARMOR

This system only confers a general minus to be hit when the drone is being fired at. Armor for drones is a special spray-on system, and is not combinable. If shields and armor are used together, take the lower rating, add half the higher rating (FRD), and use that as the final modifier.

CODE SIZE COST TL NOTE

A1 1 2 1 -1 vs ships

A2 1 4 3 -1 vs small craft

A3 1 6 5 -2 vs ships

A4 1 8 7 -2 vs small craft

A5 1 10 9 -3 vs ships

A6 1 12 11 -3 vs small craft

A7 1 14 13 -4 vs ships

A8 1 16 15 -4 vs small craft

STEALTH

The Pact invented stealth technology early in its history, and it spread over to drone technologies. "Stealth" isn't traditional stealth, its an emissions dampening system that includes a spray-on absorbing system. Stealth allows a drone to be unseen; the higher the TL the less it is seen by the enemy. The “percentage number” is the ability to be detected (ie if a X system can detect an object this size (RD size) at say ten tactical hexes, then it only has a 90% chance of detecting a ST1 covered drone at that range, while a ST8 covered drone only has a 30% chance of being detected).

CODE SIZE COST TL NOTE

St1 3 50 3 -10%

St2 3 50 5 -15%

St3 3 60 7 -20%

St4 2 60 9 -30%

St5 2 70 11 -40%

St6 2 70 13 -50%

St7 1 80 15 -60%

St8 1 80 17 -70%

SPECIAL

The Pact of Humanity is the only power that uses drone technology. Thus, they have come up with many specialized systems and weapons to fit to the drone body.

CODE SIZE TL COST NOTE

-SS 8 8 45 Scatter-shell (anti-XO)

-NN 5 8 90 Neutron

-EE 8 8 60 ECM

-AA 8 9 80 AWAC

-RP 8 9 50 Ram prow (anti-armor, 15 pts dmg)

-TT 8 9 30 Tractor Beam

-WW 8 10 80 ESW (phony ship)

-AF 8 10 50 Anti-fighter PD

-LL 5 10 70 Lamprey

DRONE BAY (DBay)

A small bay designed to hold and fire multipurpose drones. The csp is the cargo size of the drones that can be stored in a Drone Bay, ready for launch. Level is the highest number of drones that the Bay can control without needing its fire control systems getting an upgrade. It takes hours to reconfigure a "package".

CODE HS COST TL CSP LEVEL DEV

DBay1 2 30 2 200 6 5,000

DBay2 2 45 5 250 8 6,000

DBay3 2 60 8 300 10 7,000

ENDURANCE(E*)

To add endurance (over and above that provided by engines), follow the following guide:

1hs = +TL/2 (FRD) (min 1) days of endurance

1hs = TL MCr