Starfinder’s Starships and combat are really designed for small 5-6 person ships,  I say this because there are cracks in the system that start to become evident with larger vessels. We’ll stay to smaller party sized ships for this how-to article.

You can’t fit everybody in a Tiny ship, Racer, Fighter or Interceptor. A Small ship like a Shuttle maxes out a 4 crew, but the Light Freighter can max out at 6.

The Light Freighter, Explorer and Transports all seem best fit for the purpose of a party ship, this means you’re going to spend 10, 12 or 15 points on the base frame. The Light Freighter is the only one of the three without a Turret, if you were going to buy a Turret anyway, don’t choose the Light Freighter, just move on to the Explorer or Transport. If you want to be as Maneuverable as the  Light Freighter choose the Explorer. If you think you’re going to fight a LOT, you want the extra hull points, extra turret mounts AND a Heavy weapon mount choose the Transport.

LIGHT FREIGHTER
Size Small
Maneuverability good (+1 Piloting, turn 1)
HP 40 (increment 10); DT —; CT 8
Mounts forward arc (2 light), port arc (1 light), starboard arc
(1 light)
Expansion Bays 3
Minimum Crew 1; Maximum Crew 6
Cost 10

EXPLORER
Size Medium
Maneuverability good (+1 Piloting, turn 1)
HP 55 (increment 10); DT —; CT 11
Mounts forward arc (1 light), port arc (1 light), starboard arc
(1 light), turret (1 light)
Expansion Bays 4
Minimum Crew 1; Maximum Crew 6
Cost 12

TRANSPORT
Size Medium
Maneuverability average (+0 Piloting, turn 2)
HP 70 (increment 15); DT —; CT 14
Mounts forward arc (1 heavy, 1 light), aft arc (1 light), turret
(2 light)
Expansion Bays 5
Minimum Crew 1; Maximum Crew 6
Cost 15

Let’s say we chose Explorer at 12 BP for a total of  12 BP

Tier 1 is 55 BP you need a power core 100-300 fit in a Medium hull. They cost 10-30 BP and affect what you can power and how fast you can regenerate your shields. Medium sized Power Cores,  5% of 100 is 5, of 130 is 6, of 150 is 7, of 175 is 8, of 200 is 10. The even numbered cores give you more shields per BP, and 175 gives you 5 more PCU than the normal 10 PCU per BP.

Let’s say we chose Pulse Gray at 10 BP 100 PCU for a total of  22 BP

Thrusters you might want speed 8 or 10 thrusters.

Let’s say we chose M8 thrusters at 4 BP for a total of  26 BP and 60 PCU

Armor here is where you might regret not taking the Shuttle or Light Freighter. Small ships are 2x Medium are 3x. You might want to 3 armor but that’s 6 or 9 BP depending on size.

Let’s say we chose Mk 2 armor at 6 BP for a total of  32 BP

You might have to make do with less power, speed or armor at the low Tiers because you can’t have it all on your 55 BP budget.

Some people want Good Quarters, it’s a fine investment if you have budget leftover. You should probably forgo buying a big computer on your Tier 1 ship.

You will need a Drift engine to get to other planets or star systems, if your GM wants to run a single system campaign you could do without a Drift engine, but otherwise just assume you need one. Either 4 or 6 BP for Signal basic.

Let’s say we chose Signal Basic at 6 BP for a total of  38 BP

Assume you need Mk 2 or 3 Defensive Systems to protect you from missiles and scanners. The power they eat is minimal, but if you meet an enemy with missiles, you’ll be glad you had some TL.

Let’s say we chose Mk 2 defenses at 3 BP for a total of  41 BP and 1 PCU or 61 PCU total

Skip ALL the Expansion Bays until you have your essential systems bought, crafting bays cut time in half, but when you’re ship is travelling you have plenty of time and crafting is a lot faster in Starfinder than Pathfinder. Anything you could do in a Medical Bay you literally can do in an empty room with a Med Kit or Healing Serums if you’re cheap or running out of space.

Sensors, Budget Medium Range for 3 BP is +0 to computers checks, but gives you double the scanning range of short range sensors.

Let’s say we chose Budget Medium Range Sensors  at 3 BP for a total of  45 BP negligible PCU

Weapons, the basic Laser Cannon is the cheapest BP per point of damage at every level.  If you have a Medium size ship, the Heavy Laser Cannon and a Heavy Weapon Mount upgrade is the same price as the Light Plasma Cannon and does 1d8 more damage.

Gyrolasers are CHEAP at 3 BP and can fire into 3 arcs, if you put two of them on opposite sides of your ship you can shoot in every direction. Gyrolasers eat a lot of power compared to the Light Laser Cannon, but it’s cheaper than buying a Turret if you can’t afford one. The Explorer has a Turret so we don’t need to do this, maybe we can buy a longer range weapon, or add a Tracked Weapon in addition to the Turret gun.

Light Torpedo Launchers never run out of ammo, every other launched weapon only has 5 shots per combat.

Let’s say we chose Two Gyrolasers at 6 BP for a total of  51 BP and 20 PCU or 81 PCU

Shields get at least 20 points worth of Shields, get more if you can afford it.

Let’s say we chose Basic Shields 20 at 3 BP for a total of  54 BP and 10 PCU or 91 PCU

So we have 1 Build Point left in 55 BP at Tier 1, 9 PCU left

We could buy 30 point basic shields, for +1 BP and 5 PCU which leaves at 55 BP and 96 PCU.

As Gyrolasers cover 3 firing arcs, we could change 1 Gyrolaser into a Light Laser Cannon (-1 BP, -5 PCU) and lose the ability to fire both Gyrolasers at overlapping arcs. We spend 2 BP and 5 PCU to upgrade to 40 point basic shields.

If we went with a Light Freighter we save 2 BP on the chassis, 2 BP on the Mk 2 armor, 2 BP on the Drift Engine, have 15 less Hull Points, Thrusters use 20 PCU less and no Turret. Staying with the opposite side Gyrolasers for total coverage, we have 48 BP and 71 PCU. Spend 2 BP on Good Quarters,  2 BP on 40 point shields brings us up to 76 PCU and 3 BP left. That could buy you; Mk3 Armor (2 BP), Basic Medium Ranged Sensors (2 BP), S10 Thrusters (1 BP 10 PCU), Mk 3 Defenses (1 BP, 1 PCU), another Gyrolaser (3 BP 10 PCU), a Micromissile Battery ( 3 BP 10 PCU), a Mk3 Trinode Computer (3 BP 10 PCU)

Skip the Good Quarters and upgrade the Armor, Defense and Basic Sensors.

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Paul

Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com