A spaceship's hull provides the framework that holds the ship together. Hulls are not always solid, with air pressure throughout the interior angle; often, much of a ship's hull resembles a cage with attachment points that simply keeps cargo secure as the ship maneuvers.
Hulls are rated by size; from 1 to 20. Each hull size has a set number of hatches and engine mounts. The length and diameter of a given hull can be increased or decreased as much as 25%, however, since two hulls of the same size can be of very different shapes.
Hatches always include an airlock inside the opening in the hull. The airlock provides an enclosed area that can be filled with air, allowing "spacewalkers" to take off spacesuits and then enter the ship. Hatches are located once every two or three decks, but there never is a hatch on the deck closest to the bow.
Engine mounts on a hull will take any type of engine. Chemical drives can be mounted in the tail. Ion and atomic drives must be mounted on struts. Note that a ship does not need to use all of its engine mounts; the engine mount number is simply the maximum number of drives the ship can carry.
Entries in the ADF/MR column show the ADF and MR that a ship of that size will have if it is outfitted with the maximum number of atomic engines its hull can carry. This is explained in more detail under Spaceship Drives.
To find a ship's Damage Control Rating, multiply the ship's hull size by 3 and add 20. To find the number of hull points the ship has, multiply its hull size by 5. These two formulas are summarized below:
- DCR = (hull size x 3)+20
- Hull Points = hull size x 5
EXAMPLE: A freighter of hull size 8 has a DCR of (3 x 8) + 20 = 24 + 20 = 44. It has (8 x 5) = 40 hull points.
Military ships used by UPF and the Sathar usually have more hull points for their size. Military ships can have up to 8 hull points per hull size.
A ship's damage control rating represents both the crew's repair work and computer guided repairs that can be made in the electrical circuitry of a ship.
Hull Size Chart[]
| Hull Size |
Hull Points |
Length/ Diameter |
Hatches | Engines Number/Size[1] |
Base ADF/MR |
Example Ship for Size | |
| (civilian) | (military) | ||||||
| 1 | 5-8 | 10/2 | 1 | 1/A | 5/5 | Shuttle | Fighter |
| 2 | 10-16 | 30/5 | 1 | 1/A | 4/4 | Scoutship | |
| 3 | 15-24 | 50/8 | 1 | 2/A | 4/4 | Small Research Ship | Assault Scout |
| 4 | 20-32 | 75/12 | 2 | 1/A | 4/4 | Corvette | |
| 5 | 25-40 | 100/15 | 2 | 3/C | 3/3 | Frigate | |
| 6 | 30-50 | 130/20 | 2 | 3/C | 3/3 | Small Spaceliner | Destroyer |
| 7 | 35-56 | 150/25 | 2 | 2/C | 3/3 | Research Starship | Minelayer |
| 8 | 40-64 | 180/30 | 3 | 2/C | 3/3 | Small Mining Ship | |
| 9 | 45-72 | 210/35 | 3 | 2/C | 3/3 | Typical Freighter | Assault Transport |
| 10 | 50-80 | 240/40 | 3 | 3/C | 3/3 | ||
| 11 | 55-88 | 270/45 | 3 | 3/C | 3/3 | ||
| 12 | 60-96 | 300/50 | 4 | 4/C | 3/3 | ||
| 13 | 65-104 | 340/55 | 4 | 4/C | 3/3 | Light Cruiser | |
| 14 | 70-112 | 380/60 | 5 | 6/C | 3/3 | ||
| 15 | 75-120 | 420/70 | 5 | 4/C | 2/2 | Large Spaceliner | |
| 16 | 80-128 | 450/75 | 5 | 6/C | 2/2 | Large Ag-Starship | Assault Carrier |
| 17 | 85-136 | 475/80 | 6 | 6/C | 2/2 | Heavy Cruiser | |
| 18 | 90-144 | 500/85 | 6 | 6/C | 2/2 | ||
| 19 | 95-152 | 540/90 | 6 | 4/C | 2/2 | ||
| 20 | 100-160 | 600/100 | 8 | 8/C | 2/2 | Huge Mining Ship | Battleship |
Note: Lengths and diameters are given in meters.
Super Hulls[]
For hulls greater than Hull Size 20, see Dreadnought Specifications.
Notes & References[]
- Source: Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks
- ↑ This number is ironclad for Chemical Drives and Ion Drives, but is a maximum number for Atomic Drives.