Planetary Facilities

The following rules apply to building planetary facilities.

Planetary Shipyard

• 1) Determine how many ships need to be supported at one time, represented as tonnage. Compare this to the 'Size Rating' table below to determine the Facility Size Rating.
• 2) Determine the square kilometer area of the overall facility by dividing the simultaneous shipping tonnage by 19,231.
• 3) Infrastructure: Multiply the tonnage by 4 to represent the number of metric tons to which the direct-support building structures are equivalent. (Note: a Standard Cargo Unit (SCU) is itself equivalent to 6.75 mt, the mass of water that would fit within a 6.75 cubic meter 'box'. SCUs are the standard Structural Unit for a ground facility, i.e. 6.75 mt.) Record both the tonnage and SCUs.
• 4) Personnel Systems:
  • - Manufacturing Systems: Spaceports, though not equipped with the quantity of planetary shipyards- have Industrial Fabrication Units on hand to conduct repairs or upgrades of ships present. These units do not have the capabilities of those of the interstellar era, but can produce rather complicated items. Rule-of-thumb: generally, fabrication assets can generate about 2% of supported shipping tonnage over a 5-day period. See the table below.
  • - Medical Systems: Medical facilities are usually expected at a spaceport in order to preform basic first aid tasks or triage, until a major casualty team can arrive from local hospitals. See 'Medical Systems Tables' for the latest capabilities.
  • - Recreation Facilities: The galleys, gyms and lounges at a spaceport are usually nothing to frown upon. They will come in ratings 2 through 5, though at three SCU times the listed SUs (as everything should be bigger than found on any ship). See 'Table 5.12e: Pre-2342 Rec Ratings' for equivalent facilities.
  • - Personnel Transportation Systems: Spaceports can be large, widespread affairs and many offer transportation features to allow clients and employees to get to where they need to be ass efficiently as possible. Some examples:
    • - Lifts: 10 SCUs for each tenth of a square kilometer the spaceport encompasses
    • - Walkways: 5 SCUs for each tenth of a square kilometer the spaceport encompasses
    • - Mobile transports: 3 SCUs for each tenth of a square kilometer the spaceport encompasses (representing maglevs, hover shuttles, etc.)
  • - Fire Suppression Systems: Spaceports have both automated and manned systems for combating emergencies such as fires, collisions, crashes and spills. Multiply the Facility Size Rating by 10 for the number of SCUs needed to service the port's needs.
  • - Warehousing: While spaceport warehouse bay are not intended to be used for long-term storage, they are provided on a contingent basis to allow for quick turn-around of vessels. Available warehousing SCUs should equal shipping tonnage multiplied by 0.5 and divided by 6.75.
• 5) Power Systems: Spaceports have the option of tying into a local power provider, but there may be a decision the port is too distant or needs a backup power system. For obvious reasons, a planetary spaceport cannot make use of a matter/antimatter intermix chambers.
  • - Fission/Fusion Reactors (optional): When onsite primary power is required, one large (or several separated and smaller) reactor will be installed. Fission is the primary power provider prior to to 2033 and weighs in at 15 SCUs per Facility Size Rating. Fusion reactors weight 9 SCU per Facility Size Rating.
  • - Backup Batteries (required): Regardless of the source of the primary power, backup power must be available and is met by batteries (9 x Size Rating).
• 6) Operations Systems:
  • - Control Tower: The traditional structure at any airfield or spaceport, this structure monitors and directs all traffic in the immediate vicinity and requires 12 SCU for each Size Rating.
  • - Admin Center: The main administrative hub of the spaceport, encompassing all of the main, front and department offices. It requires 5 SCU for each Size Rating. For earlier 'missions control', where all aspects of the flights of the spaceport's craft are overseen, and additional 4 SCU per rating is required.
  • - Computers: As with any modern facility, computers are critical to the proper management of a spaceport. Only 0.5 SCUs are needed for each Size Rating, though if the space port also operates as a 'mission control' double the size of the computer support. (Increases in computer technology do not really affect spaceport systems (regarding size.)
  • - Sensors: All spaceports require sensor data in order to keep all traffic safe. Compare the Facility Size Rating against the latest class of navigational sensors (at 'Table 8.9.3a: Navigational Sensors - Strength') to determine the SCUs for the spaceport's needs. If the spaceport hosts a 'mission control', multiply the result by 3.
  • - Communication Systems: Spaceports need to be able to communicate with the spacecraft (and other aircraft) both in the vicinity and on the ground. See 'Table 8.15a: Radio Systems' for the latest in communication equipment. If a 'mission control' is established at the spaceport, and if subspace radio is not yet available (2130), multiply the SCU amount by three.
  • - Tractor Beams (optional): Tractors beams are installed at some spaceports (after 2105) to provide a means of safety and protection from ships in trouble. Prior to 2137, spaceports installed Strength 9 beams, if any at all). After that, strength ratings matched 50,000 mt at a minimum with each technological improvement. (See the Tractor Beam tables.)
  • - Transporter Systems: First available in 2139, transporters allow spaceport visitors quick arrivals. Standard personnel and cargo pads are common and sometimes spaceports also allow for emergency use pads, as they are often the first ones to realize a vessel may be in distress. See the 'Transporter Systems' section for options.
  • - Security Systems: Commercial starports rarely need extensive security measures for the common areas, but will provide them for typical off-limit areas. Additionally, holding areas (i.e., brigs) are generally available for contingency purposes, though in limited numbers. Military spaceports, however, usually make much more use of more-capable security systems. Multiply the SUs from the tables in the 'Security Systems' section by 2 to represent the SCUs of a ground-based system.
• 7) Tactical Systems: Commercial spaceports generally do not have any tactical systems. Some military ones may. This section will be filled in once such a spaceport is designed.
• 8) Hangers: Unlike shuttlebays, hangers may be open to the elements. However, they are (generally) also limited to Size 3 and smaller vessels. Decide how much shipping tonnage will be stored and multiply it by 2, then divide by 6.75 to get the SCU quantity.
• 9) Consult the Purchase and Maintenance RP Amounts table to determine the purchase and maintenance costs of the facility.
• 10) It will take one SCE battalion six months to create a spaceport 0.5 square kilometers in size.

Spaceport

• 1) Determine how many ships need to be supported at one time, represented as tonnage. Compare this to the 'Size Rating' table below to determine the Facility Size Rating.
• 2) Determine the square kilometer area of the overall facility by dividing the simultaneous shipping tonnage by 19,231.
• 3) Infrastructure: Multiply the tonnage by 4 to represent the number of metric tons to which the direct-support building structures are equivalent. (Note: a Standard Cargo Unit (SCU) is itself equivalent to 6.75 mt, the mass of water that would fit within a 6.75 cubic meter 'box'. SCUs are the standard Structural Unit for a ground facility, i.e. 6.75 mt.) Record both the tonnage and SCUs.
• 4) Personnel Systems:
  • - Manufacturing Systems: Spaceports, though not equipped with the quantity of planetary shipyards- have Industrial Fabrication Units on hand to conduct repairs or upgrades of ships present. These units do not have the capabilities of those of the interstellar era, but can produce rather complicated items. Rule-of-thumb: generally, fabrication assets can generate about 2% of supported shipping tonnage over a 5-day period. See the table below.
  • - Medical Systems: Medical facilities are usually expected at a spaceport in order to preform basic first aid tasks or triage, until a major casualty team can arrive from local hospitals. See 'Medical Systems Tables' for the latest capabilities.
  • - Recreation Facilities: The galleys, gyms and lounges at a spaceport are usually nothing to frown upon. They will come in ratings 2 through 5, though at three SCU times the listed SUs (as everything should be bigger than found on any ship). See 'Table 5.12e: Pre-2342 Rec Ratings' for equivalent facilities.
  • - Personnel Transportation Systems: Spaceports can be large, widespread affairs and many offer transportation features to allow clients and employees to get to where they need to be ass efficiently as possible. Some examples:
    • - Lifts: 10 SCUs for each tenth of a square kilometer the spaceport encompasses
    • - Walkways: 5 SCUs for each tenth of a square kilometer the spaceport encompasses
    • - Mobile transports: 3 SCUs for each tenth of a square kilometer the spaceport encompasses (representing maglevs, hover shuttles, etc.)
  • - Fire Suppression Systems: Spaceports have both automated and manned systems for combating emergencies such as fires, collisions, crashes and spills. Multiply the Facility Size Rating by 10 for the number of SCUs needed to service the port's needs.
  • - Warehousing: While spaceport warehouse bay are not intended to be used for long-term storage, they are provided on a contingent basis to allow for quick turn-around of vessels. Available warehousing SCUs should equal shipping tonnage multiplied by 0.5 and divided by 6.75.
• 5) Power Systems: Spaceports have the option of tying into a local power provider, but there may be a decision the port is too distant or needs a backup power system. For obvious reasons, a planetary spaceport cannot make use of a matter/antimatter intermix chambers.
  • - Fission/Fusion Reactors (optional): When onsite primary power is required, one large (or several separated and smaller) reactor will be installed. Fission is the primary power provider prior to to 2033 and weighs in at 15 SCUs per Facility Size Rating. Fusion reactors weight 9 SCU per Facility Size Rating.
  • - Backup Batteries (required): Regardless of the source of the primary power, backup power must be available and is met by batteries (9 x Size Rating).
• 6) Operations Systems:
  • - Control Tower: The traditional structure at any airfield or spaceport, this structure monitors and directs all traffic in the immediate vicinity and requires 12 SCU for each Size Rating.
  • - Admin Center: The main administrative hub of the spaceport, encompassing all of the main, front and department offices. It requires 5 SCU for each Size Rating. For earlier 'missions control', where all aspects of the flights of the spaceport's craft are overseen, and additional 4 SCU per rating is required.
  • - Computers: As with any modern facility, computers are critical to the proper management of a spaceport. Only 0.5 SCUs are needed for each Size Rating, though if the space port also operates as a 'mission control' double the size of the computer support. (Increases in computer technology do not really affect spaceport systems (regarding size.)
  • - Sensors: All spaceports require sensor data in order to keep all traffic safe. Compare the Facility Size Rating against the latest class of navigational sensors (at 'Table 8.9.3a: Navigational Sensors - Strength') to determine the SCUs for the spaceport's needs. If the spaceport hosts a 'mission control', multiply the result by 3.
  • - Communication Systems: Spaceports need to be able to communicate with the spacecraft (and other aircraft) both in the vicinity and on the ground. See 'Table 8.15a: Radio Systems' for the latest in communication equipment. If a 'mission control' is established at the spaceport, and if subspace radio is not yet available (2130), multiply the SCU amount by three.
  • - Tractor Beams (optional): Tractors beams are installed at some spaceports (after 2105) to provide a means of safety and protection from ships in trouble. Prior to 2137, spaceports installed Strength 9 beams, if any at all). After that, strength ratings matched 50,000 mt at a minimum with each technological improvement. (See the Tractor Beam tables.)
  • - Transporter Systems: First available in 2139, transporters allow spaceport visitors quick arrivals. Standard personnel and cargo pads are common and sometimes spaceports also allow for emergency use pads, as they are often the first ones to realize a vessel may be in distress. See the 'Transporter Systems' section for options.
  • - Security Systems: Commercial starports rarely need extensive security measures for the common areas, but will provide them for typical off-limit areas. Additionally, holding areas (i.e., brigs) are generally available for contingency purposes, though in limited numbers. Military spaceports, however, usually make much more use of more-capable security systems. Multiply the SUs from the tables in the 'Security Systems' section by 2 to represent the SCUs of a ground-based system.
• 7) Tactical Systems: Commercial spaceports generally do not have any tactical systems. Some military ones may. This section will be filled in once such a spaceport is designed.
• 8) Hangers: Unlike shuttlebays, hangers may be open to the elements. However, they are (generally) also limited to Size 3 and smaller vessels. Decide how much shipping tonnage will be stored and multiply it by 2, then divide by 6.75 to get the SCU quantity.
• 9) Consult the Purchase and Maintenance RP Amounts table to determine the purchase and maintenance costs of the facility.
• 10) It will take one SCE battalion six months to create a spaceport 0.5 square kilometers in size.

Tables

Size Rating

Size Rating: Facility Scale

Mass Range (mt)	Size
31 - 60,000	3
60,001 - 200,000	4
200,001 - 400,000	5
400,001 - 1,875,000	6
1,875,001 - 4,000,000	7
4,000,001 - 5,000,000	8
5,000,001 - 6,000,000	9
6,000,001 - 8,000,000	10
8,000,001 - 10,000,000	11
10,000,001 - 12,000,000	12
12,000,001 - 14,000,000	13
14,000,001 - 17,000,000	14
17,000,001 - 20,000,000	15
20,000,001 - 23,000,000	16

Early Industrial Fabrication Units

Early Industrial Fabrication Units

Type	SCU	Average Creation Time(1 SCU)	Year
Type I	8	10 hours
Type II	7	8 hours	1990
Type III	6	6 hours	2000
Type IV	6	5 hours	2010
Type V	5	4 hours	2020
Type VI	5	3 hours	2030
Type VII	4	3 hours	2040
Type VIII	4	2 hours	2050

SCUs weigh 6.75 mt and measure ~1.9 m on each side.

Early Industrial Fabrication Units were not intended for shipboard use, though it is possible they were installed upon early support stations.

Advancement in fabrication technology (2063) allowed for much smaller units that could be installed shipboard.