FFS starship design.

This text file contains instructions how to use the starship 
design spreadsheet.

0. Basics

All numbers shown on bold font are intended for user input.

When the instructions prompts you to "enter" a value, you
should type the new value over a existing bolded value.

When the instructions prompts you to "select" an equipment, you 
should open a pull-down menu, and select a item.

Many components have both "enter" and "select" values. For 
example in row 25 you might select that the auxiliary computer 
is "Fiber Optic", and then enter value 2 in cell I25. This 
would mean that the ship has two fibre-optic auxiliary 
computers.

1. Hull (rows 1-4)

Enter the Tech Level and Hull Size, and then select the hull 
Shape and Configuration.
Enter the hull Armor Value, sublight engine maximum Thrust, and 
jump engine maximum Jump Number.

2. Sublight Drive (rows 14-15)

Select the type of Sublight Drive. If the drive uses fuel, 
enter the number of hours the maximum thrust can be maintained.
The required thrust depends on the total mass of the complete
ship. The actual ship density is shown on cell I15, and the 
thruster size can be fine-tuned by adjusting the density 
estimate at cell I14. (For most starships, the final density is 
close to 1 ton/m3.)
Note that wihlie the table shows several thrusters, only the
6 last thiruster types (HEPlaR, 3 grav thrusters and Thruster
plate) are implemented.

3. Power Plant (rows 17-18)

Enter the output power [MW] and fuel endurance [years].

4. Computers (rows 24-25)

Enter the number of main and auxiliary computers, and select 
the computer types. Note that "Flight" computers are not used
in starships.

5. Communications (rows 27-30)

For each type of communicator, select the broadcast range, and 
enter the number of communicator units.

6. Sensors (rows 32-35)

For each type of sensor, select the short range, and enter the 
number of sensor units.
Cell H34 indicates whether the PEMS sensor array is fixed or 
folding. The sensor is folding only if the antenna diameter is 
greater than ship's average diameter.

7. Electronic Countermeasures (rows 37-40)

For radio and EMS jammer, select the short range, and enter the 
number of ECM units.
Enter the jamming radius and number of jamming units for area 
jammer.
Select the type of stealth system.

8. Weapons (rows 42-46)

Select the weapon system, and enter the number of weapons. 
Select the defense system (sand turret ot sand barbette), and
enter the number of defense systems.
Enter the volume of missile magazine.

9. Screens (rows 48-49)

Enter the range and number of units for nuclear damper. Enter 
the meson screen protection value [PV] and number of units.

10. Fire Control (rows 51-53)

Select the Master Fire Director's short range and enter the 
number of MFD units. Enter the number of MFD missile control 
maser communicators.

11. Optional Features (rows 54-66)

Enter the fuel scoop area percentage.
Enter the fuel purification plant capacity and note the minimum
volume.
Enter the numbers of special facilities.
Select the types of vehicle service facilities an enter the 
number of facilities and the maximum volume [DT] of serviced 
subcrafts.
Select the volume [DT] and enter the number of empty bays.
Enter the volume [DT] of extra fuel tank and cargo hold.

12. Life Support (rows 68-78)

Enter the number of crew G tanks.
Enter the number of high, medium and low passengers
Enter the number of extended accommodation units and notice the 
minimum values shown on K-column.

13. Crew (rows 82-95)

Enter the number of ships troops and flight crew. 
Flight crew are used to operate subcrafts, but if there is only 
few subcrafts they can be operated by normal crew members. 
Fighters, tanks, and assault speeders should always have flight 
crew.


Known bugs and limitations

Tech Levels: Some equipment are not available on lower TL, and 
when incorrect values are chose, the spreadsheet row will show 
either zeroes or #VALUE!. In this case change the equipment 
values until normal number can be seen.

Weapons: The number of possible weapon systems is so huge, that 
it is not practically possible to list all systems in one 
table. Instead weapons must be designed with separate 
spreadsheets, and resulting values must be copied into the 
"Tables" sheet (Rows 149-163).
For quick reference, some of the weapon capabilities can be read 
from its name. For example a common TL-14 laser is called 
"LTR-150-10-4", and the name means "Laser Turret, Remote mount, 
150 MJ pulse, 10 hex range, overpowered to -4 Diff Mods".

SS-WEAP.XLS outputs weapon data in BL, BR and T4 formats, but 
the weapon data is not shown on STARS-V1 "BL Data" or "T4-BR 
Data" sheets. When a starship design is read, the selected data 
sheet is copied into a text file with cut-and-paste, and the 
weapon data must be manually entered.


Brilliant Lances weapon data formats.

BL data format contains all relevant information of the weapon 
system, including TL, location, firing arcs, full range/damage 
table, etc. The weapon location and firing arcs must still be 
calculated by hand.

Number of weapons "x" tech level " " full name "(Loc: " weapon 
location ";Arcs: " firing arcs ";"  power input " MW;" crew " 
Crew)"
full name short range ":" damage " " medium range ":" damage " "
long range ":" damage " " extreme range ":" damage

Spinal particle accelerator:

1xTL-14 2000-MJ Particle Accelerator (Loc: Spinal; Arcs: 1; 
55.6 MW; 1 Crew)
			Short	Medium	Long	Ext
2000-MJ Paricle Accel	10:224	20:224	40:123	80:64

Four missile barbettes:

4xMissile Barbette (Loc: 1,14,15,20; 5 ready missiles each;0.15 MW 
each; 1 Crew each) total 20 ready missiles plus 40 in cargo.


Rattle Rider weapon data formats.

Beam weapons:

"M"=meson gun, "P"=parteicle accelerator, "L"=laser
"(" "x" number of weapons "-" overpowered Diff Mods ")"
range in hexes ":" short range damage "-" medium range damage 
"-" long range damage "-" extreme range damage

One particle accelerator, range 10, damage 6-6-6-5:
P10:6-6-6-5 

Ten lasers, overpowered to -2 Dif Mods, range 10, damage 1-1-1-0:
L(x10-2)4:1-1-1-0

Four lasers, range 10, damage 1 at all ranges:
L(x4)10:1

One meson gun, overpowered to -2 Diff Mods, range 6, damage 
6-3-2-1, cannot fire to extreme range:
M(-2)6:6-3-2-X


Missiles:

M: number of launchers (number of ready missiles)

Five missile barbettes, with 5 ready missiles each:
M:5(25)

Twelve missile turrets, with 2 ready missiles each:
M:12(24)


T4 weapon data formats.

T4 weapon USP format is not completely documented, but it 
appears to be as follows.


Beam weapons:

"M"=meson gun, "P"=particle accelerator, "L"=laser
" battery " battery number ":" damage at 10 hexes "-" damage at 
20 hexes "-" damage at 40 hexes "-" damage at 80 hexes "-"

First battery, laser with damage 1-0-0-0:
L battery 1:1-0-0-0

Second battery, 4 lasers with combined damage 4-2-1-0
L battery 2:4-2-1-0

If the battery consists of several lasers, add together the 
damage values at all ranges.

The laser battery damage values shown in T4 rulebook appear to 
be calculated by adding together the Brilliant Lances damage 
values for all ranges, and then converting the final value to 
T4 format. To generate batteries with SS-WEAP.XLS, design first 
a single weapon, and then enter the number of weapons in the
battery in cell G15.


Missiles

"M battery " battery number ":" "turret " or "barbette " number of 
ready missiles

Third battery, missile barbette with 5 ready missiles:
M battery 3:barbette 5


Brilliant Lances Damage Tables

In BL the ship's surface is divided into 20 surface hit 
locations, and the ship volume is divided into 20 internal 
explosion locations. The number next to a system name shows how 
many damage locations this system covers.

For example "Elec 1.2" means that ship's electronic systems 
cover one internal explosion location and 20% of another. 
However, the system may be divided around many hit locations.

Example: "Elec 1.2" is evenly divided into 6 hit locations 
around the ship. A hit into any of these locations has 
[1.2/6=0.2] 20% change of dmaging electronic systems. A hit 
location with 20% electronis and 80& quarters would read:

1-4: Elec, 5-20 Qtrs

System hit capacity is calculated for all other systems, but 
weapons hit capacity myst be copied from SS-WEAP.XLS.