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Supercolossal Ships

Source Starfinder #6: Empire of Bones pg. 45
Modern shipyards can regularly construct starships of various sizes ranging from Tiny to Colossal. Although a few starships, such as the Idari, are much larger than typical Colossal ships, most are ancient vessels built for extraordinary events and lack the engines necessary for travel through the Drift. However, so-called ships of the line-massive starships equipped with Drift engines-do exist. These rare ships are of such extraordinary dimensions and powers that they form the centers of the fighting lines of the largest and most fearsome navies. Groups that have at least planetary reaches and resources are the only ones capable of funding these vessels, which include the Corpse Fleet flagship Empire of Bones, the Veskarian Conqueror of Worlds and Merciless Blade, and the largest few of the Drift engine-equipped dwarven Star Citadels.

Most ships of the line act either as mobile bases of operations or as flagships, but some act as both. Base ships perform well for colonization or long-range exploration, and some act as autonomous armadas, carrying myriad smaller vessels inside hangars. Some base ships are independent political entities that function as itinerant city-states in space. Flagships are the most powerful vessels their respective militaries can field, supported by cruisers, escorts, scouts, supply tenders, and other ships. Military dictatorships that can afford to do so keep a Supercolossal flagship as a symbol of the state’s power and a mobile command base for top military leaders. Any navy keeps close watch over its ships of the line, since losing those craft would be a devastating blow.

Even among factions that have the resources to construct a Supercolossal starship, most prefer to operate and maintain multiple dreadnoughts and carriers for the same cost and crew needs. Rumors claim that some factions have secret ships of the line, or that other Supercolossal vessels exist that serve the interests of long-collapsed empires. Little convincing evidence exists of such secret titans of the stars, but the vastness of space makes it impossible to rule out these possibilities.

This article introduces ships of the line as starships with a new size category, Supercolossal. Supercolossal vessels are over 6 miles long, weigh more than 2,000 megatons, and take a -8 penalty to AC and TL. Except as detailed in the following sections, these starships use the normal rules presented in Chapter 9 of the Starfinder Core Rulebook.

Power Core

Supercolossal ships have massive power needs. They also have enormous space dedicated to power systems, allowing them to use power cores that won’t fit in other vessels. If a Supercolossal starship has a Supercolossal power core, the vessel can have up to four backup cores; those cores must be designed for Huge or Gargantuan starships. If a Supercolossal starship does not have a Supercolossal power core, the vessel can instead mount up to five power cores designed for Colossal ships.

Armor

A Supercolossal ship has a size multiplier of 8 for determining its armor’s Build Point cost.

Computers

Supercolossal starships use the computer systems normally available to other starships. This main computer system must be mk 4 or higher. Unlike typical starships, however, a Supercolossal ship can have a second computer system of a lower mark than the main system.

A Supercolossal vessel also has enough space to augment a mk 4 or better mononode computer with subordinate systems called network nodes; these nodes increase the computing power of the augmented mononode computer. A node might be a dedicated technological system, a hardwired cybernetic undead creature, a biotech calculating organism, a magitech information crystal, or one of a myriad of other devices that increase computer processing power and accessibility.

Regardless of their appearances, network nodes cost significantly fewer Build Points than computers that offer the same bonuses. The cost of a network node is equal to the mark of the mononode computer the network node augments, and the network node provides one bonus as if it were one node of the augmented computer. Network nodes consume a lot of power, so a computer can have a maximum number of connected network nodes no higher than half its mark. The following table summarizes these network node parameters.

Name	Bonus	Node Maximum	PCU	Cost (in BP)
Mk 4 network node	+4	2	8	4
Mk 5 network node	+5	2	10	5
Mk 6 network node	+6	3	11	6
Mk 7 network node	+7	3	13	7
Mk 8 network node	+8	4	15	8
Mk 9 network node	+9	4	17	9
Mk 10 network node	+10	5	19	10

Crew Quarters

On a Supercolossal ship with common crew quarters, the sheer size of the vessel allows 10% of the crew to have good quarters and 1% to have luxurious quarters at no additional cost. On a Supercolossal ship with good quarters for the majority of the crew, 10% have luxurious quarters at no additional cost.

Defensive Countermeasures

Supercolossal ships take a -8 penalty to the TL they gain from defensive countermeasures.

Drift Engine

A Supercolossal starship can mount only a Signal Basic Drift engine, at a cost of 16 BP.

Expansion Bays

A Supercolossal ship uses the same expansion bays as other starships do. A Supercolossal ship can hold an unlimited number of expansion bays, none of which ever go unused. Any expansion bay in a Supercolossal ship represents numerous chambers grouped together over a wide area or many decks and augmented with reserve systems and retaskable configurations. Therefore, a bay such as an arcane laboratory on a Supercolossal ship indicates not a single lab, but the ship’s facilities that allow the crew to perform tasks requiring an arcane lab. Enough of these spaces exist on a ship of the line to accommodate any number of crew members who might need access the ship’s specific expansion bays.

Modified Expansion Bays

The following expansion bays work differently for ships of the line.

Cargo Holds: Supercolossal ship frames have one cargo hold for every 10 Build Points of the frame’s cost. Additional cargo holds cost 5 BP per cargo hold.

Hangar Bay: A Supercolossal ship’s hangar bay can accommodate up to eight Medium ships, with two Small ships or four Tiny ships taking the same space as one Medium ship. Expanding an existing hangar bay to accommodate eight more Medium ships adds only 1 BP to the hangar bay’s cost.

Security, Sensors, And Shields

In many cases, a ship of the line has weaker security, sensors and shields than the most powerful of its escort ships. Supercolossal vessels depend on their massive Hull Point totals to carry them through combat, and they instead focus their BP and PCU on massive weapons few other vessels can compete against.

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