A spacesuit (also sometimes known as a "pressure suit", or "EVA suit") insulates the wearer from the lifeless vacuum of space. A standard spacesuit includes a self-sealing, double-walled garment of flexible plastic, enough oxygen for 20 hours, a clear, impact resistant bubble helmet, a short- (10 km) range communicator, and a one or more emergency patches to repair punctures.
Spacesuits are made of a self-sealing material that will automatically close a puncture that is 1 cm or less in diameter. If the puncture is larger than 1 cm across, there is a 25% chance for each additional cm that the suit will be unable to seal the hole. A suit can never automatically seal a hole more than 5 cm across, such a hole requires a patch (see below).
If a hole is not repaired, the wearer will lose consciousness in a number of minutes equal to 10 minus the diameter in cm of the hole. After losing consciousness, the wearer must make a STA check every five turns (30 seconds). Failure means the wearer dies immediately.
Spacesuits are manufactured for all the major Frontier races. They cost 1,000 credits each, except for vrusk suits, which cost 1,500 credits. A life support refill costs 50 credits.
Defenses and Armor[]
A skein or albedo suit may be worn under a spacesuit. No defensive screens may be used with a spacesuit, because the suit interferes with the field patterns of all types of screens.
Spacesuit armor is a semi-rigid shell of metallized plastic which is worn over a spacesuit. Armor reduces the wearer's DEX and RS by 10, and cuts their movement rate while moving under their own power in half. Spacesuit armor does combine with normal defensive suits if both are worn.
Spacesuit armor costs 1,000 credits, except for vrusk armor, which is 1,500 credits.
Additional Equipment[]
- Additional Life Support - includes enough water, compressed food and oxygen to support a character for an additional 20 hours beyond a suit's normal capacity. Up to two additional packs of additional life support may be carried, extending the suit's endurance to 60 hours total.
- Cost: 500 Cr per 20 hours.
- Anchors - Spacesuit anchors are self-adhesive discs attached to flexible, lightweight cables. An anchor is used to prevent a character from drifting off into space. It will bond to any rock, metal, plastic, or even wooden structure that is reasonably free of grease and dust. An anchor comes with 100 meters of cable, but a character can carry up to 1,000 meters of cable if he purchases extra.
- The anchor also comes with a special belt that the character wears on the outside of the suit. By pushing a button on the belt, the character can reel himself in at a comfortable 20 meters/turn.
- Cost: 100 Cr initially. +25 Cr per additional 100m of cable.
- Emergency Patches - If a spacesuit does not repair a puncture automatically, an emergency patch can be applied. A 10 cm disc of adhesive spacesuit material, it can be applied in one turn. The character applying the patch must make a Dexterity check. If the hole is in the front or side of the suit, the referee may allow a +20 modifier on the Dexterity check. If the hole is in the back of the character's sit, the check must be made at -10. If the check is successful, the patch is applied and bonds instantly.
- If the check is unsuccessful, air is still leaking around the patch. The character can attempt to reseal the patch, making another Dexterity check. If the second check is also unsuccessful, the adhesive on the patch will no longer function, and the character must find another means of patching, or try a new patch. Patches may be applied over spacesuit armor.
- A character may elect to carry two additional packages of spacesuit patches (2 patches/package) for a total of five patches.
- Cost: 50 Cr per pack of 2.
- Magnetic Shoes - These heavy boots allow a character to walk across a metal surface, such as the hull of a spaceship or space station, in a weightless environment. The movement rate is one-half of the character's normal movement rate. Magnetic shoes can be used without a spacesuit for walking in the zero-g sections inside ships and stations where air pressure makes a spacesuit unnecessary.
- If a character with a rocket pack is in danger of bouncing off his destination because of excessive speed, magnetic shoes will give him a +20 modifier on his Dexterity check to see if he can hang on.
- Cost: 100 Cr per pair.
- Rocket Pack - A rocket pack is a device that allows a character in a spacesuit to travel through space. A rocket pack has 20 bursts of fuel. Each burst provides enough thrust to travel 50 meters/turn until something causes the character to change course or speed. Only one burst can be used per turn.
- A character can accelerate by firing several bursts over several turns, adding 50 meters/turn to his speed with each burst. Once a character starts moving, an equal amount of power is needed to stop moving! A character could use all 20 bursts to accelerate to 1,000 meters/turn (about 600kilometers an hour), but he would keep travelling at that speed in a straight line until someone or something stopped him, since there would be no fuel left to decelerate with.
- A character using a rocket pack to move through space towards an object must make a Dexterity check to move directly toward that object. This check should be modified by the referee according to the distance travelled and the size of the target. For the purpose of comparison, a 1 km trip to a spaceship of hull size 5 should be a standard check. Shorter distances/larger targets should allow positive modifiers, while longer distances/smaller targets are more difficult to hit. Modifiers should not exceed +/- 20.
- A character will quickly realize if he is one the wrong heading, and should be allowed to correct his trajectory. This requires another burst of fuel, and another Dexterity check must be made. These adjustments may or may not increase the character's speed at the discretion of the character using the rocket pack. Even if the burst does not, it must be counted as one of the pack's bursts. A character may keep making direction adjustments as long as the pack has fuel.
- If the character gets himself aimed at the target and has enough fuel left to stop when he gets there, he can come to a gentle stop at the destination by using the appropriate number of bursts to decelerate. If a character is aimed correctly at a target but does not have enough fuel to slow down, he will take 1d10 points of damage per 50 meter/turn of his speed when he hits the object. In addition, the character must make a Dexterity check to stop at the object, or he will bounce off the intended target and travel at one-half his previous speed in a direction determined by the referee. This Dexterity check has a -5 modifier for each 50 meters/turn that the character was travelling upon impact.
- Cost: 2,000 Cr (Refuel: 50 Cr)
- Velcro Boots - These boots allow a character to walk through carpeted sections of a spaceship while weightless. Since it is standard procedure to carpet all inhabited sections of a ship, velcro boots are a very common accessory. The walking rate with velcro boots is the same as with magnetic boots (1/2 the normal movement rate).
- Cost: 50 Cr per pair
This article contains information from the Knight Hawks Expanded Rulebook, pp 28, 29 and 62