Build:Emergency Life Support
5.7 Emergency Life Support Systems
Cost: 2 x Size; each additional 5 shelter areas cost 1 SU.
Power Generation: see subsection
If the primary and reserve life support systems fail (due to, for example, extensive damage to the ship), self-contained contingency atmospheric supply and power modules located at most corridor junctions maintain a breathable environment for 30 minutes, allowing the ship’s personnel to evacuate to designated emergency shelter areas.
A ship of Size 3 or larger has a number of emergency shelters equal to its Size x 6 (sometimes a few more or less; smaller ships may have none). Each shelter has enough air, food, water, and power to preserve the lives of up to 65 persons for 24 hours with no external support, or 36 hours with minimal assistance. Each shelter also has two Emergency Pressure Garments (EPGs), so that crewmembers can walk between shelter areas safely.
Power Generation
The power systems for emergency life support are independent of other ship’s power systems. In game terms, emergency life support generates all of the Power it needs to operate. In situations of extreme crisis, the crew can drain the emergency life support power and use it for other systems (such as shields or phasers). This requires a Routine Skill Test. If the Test succeeds, it results in a one-time boost of (Size x 6) in points of Power (not that much Power per round) to a designated system, but completely incapacitates emergency life support power (the temporary amounts of consumables remain, and the crew can use them, but they’ll have to eat and breathe in the cold darkness). Failure means the Power cannot be drained from emergency life support; Dramatic Failure (roll 50 points or higher than the target) that the Power accidentally drains out without transferring to any other system (it’s completely lost).
SFC Technology Index
Life Support technology is contracted out to various manufacturers by the shipwrights and is not standardized by generation nor ship size. Instead, nonfunctional life support modules are swapped out and replaced as necessary, without having to upgrade and replace an entire system. As such, Life Support has no index.