Starship questions

[chris_worm]

Hi,
Just bought BE and think it's excellent - just what I've been looking for in a Scifi RPG.

Anyway while reading book I thought I understood that a Hammer was a warship, but then I turned to the vehicles chapter and saw two 'Civilian Hammer' ships, neither of which had weapon mounts. So what is a Hammer?

Another question the book talks about distortion drives, and lists starships as inter-system, inter-stellar, or inter-galactic. Am I right in assuming inter-system ships have no distortion drives, inter-stellar have Factor 3 distortion drives, and inter-galactic have Factor 4 distortion drives? It's probably not that important since most of the action will take place on 1 world - but I wanted to get this straight before I pitch BE to my group.

Thanks
Chris

[Kublai]

I don't know about the latter, but you can certainly think of Hammer as including any spaceship, civilian or military. It's like another word for "Navy" but bigger in scope.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Another question the book talks about distortion drives, and lists starships as inter-system, inter-stellar, or inter-galactic. Am I right in assuming inter-system ships have no distortion drives, inter-stellar have Factor 3 distortion drives, and inter-galactic have Factor 4 distortion drives? It's probably not that important since most of the action will take place on 1 world - but I wanted to get this straight before I pitch BE to my group.

Hey Chris,

As described under the Distortion heading on page 567, there are two types of Distortion Drive.

There's Sublight Expansion or Factor 3. It is for intrasystem vehicles. It's what I would use when going from Earth to Mars. Shuttles, Cargo Shuttles and Hammer Assault Shuttles are outfitted with Factor 3 drives.

Hyper-Expansion (HEx) or Factor 4. It is for interstellar AND intergalactic vehicles. Ships with HEx drives ALSO have Sublight Expansion capabilities, in addition to their HEx capabilities. Civilian Interstellar Hammer, Civilian Intergalactic Hammer, Mercators, Intergalactic Mercators, Hammer Patrol Craft, and Hammer Cruisers all have HEx drives.

[Sydney Freedberg]

Is "intergalactic" simply a holdover bit of Federation-era terminology that merely means "much faster" at this point, given that the sorry wreckage of human civilization is now confined to part of a single galaxy?

[chris_worm]

Thanks Thor:

So if both Inter-Stellar and Inter-Galactic have HEx drives; what is the difference between them, appart from as Sydney suggests one is just faster?