Archives of Nethys

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Mechs | Terrestrial Vehicles | Starships | Vehicle Modifications


Starship Examples

Armor | Armor (Bulkheads) | Armor (Hulls) | Base Frames | Computers | Crew Quarters | Defensive Countermeasures | Drift Engines | Expansion Bays | Interstellar Drives | Manufacturers | Other Systems | Power Cores | Security | Sensors | Shields | Special Materials | Thrusters | Weapons | Weapon Properties


Expansion Bays

Source Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 298
Most starships have room within their hull for one or more expansion bays, each of which can be converted to function in a wide variety of roles. Unfilled, these bays are simply storage space (and count as cargo holds), and for many large transport vessels, they remain this way. If a starship’s bays are instead used for guest quarters, the ship can serve as a transport vessel for soldiers, travelers, or refugees. If its bays are filled with medical bays and guest quarters, the ship becomes a mobile hospital.

The following options are available for most ships that have available expansion bays. If an option requires multiple bays, this is noted in its description; if it must consume PCU to function, the amount is listed in the table on page 300. An entire expansion bay must be used for a single purpose, even if it gives you multiple instances of that option. For example, if you select escape pods, that expansion bay gains all six escape pods—you can’t combine three escape pods and one life boat.

The PCU requirement and the Build Point costs of the expansion bay options can be found on page 300.

Breaching Pod

These high-speed pods can each transport up to two Huge creatures, four Large creatures, or eight Medium or smaller creatures at high velocity toward another vessel with the intention of forcefully boarding that starship. A breaching pod travels in the same way as a long-range tracking weapon with a speed of 8, but its size and composition make it unable to pierce functioning shields. When a breaching pod strikes an unshielded quadrant, it deals 1d6 damage to the target, bypassing any Damage Threshold. The occupants—protected in robust safety harnesses so as to avoid damage from the collision—can then disembark and begin boarding combat on the following round, though the breaching pod is damaged to the point of being inoperable. A breaching pod that fails to hit its target functions as an escape pod and can be retrieved for reuse. Outside of starship combat, a breaching pod can serve as a crude shuttle to dock with a disabled or willing vessel without destroying the pod.
Expended breaching pods are replaced automatically whenever the starship is upgraded to the next tier. A breaching pod can also be replaced as though the crew were repairing damage to the starship, using the breaching pod’s BP cost as the number of Hull Points to be repaired. A starship that also has a tech workshop expansion bay halves the time needed to replace a breaching pod.
By increasing a breaching pod’s BP cost to 7, the pod is automatically outfitted with robotic combatants that function as a typical boarding crew. By increasing the price to 9 or 11 BP, the robots function as skilled or specialized combatants, respectively, for the purpose of calculating their boarding attack modifier.

Breaching Pod, Specialized Autonomous Combatants

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 24
PCU 5; Cost (in BP) 11


Breaching Pod, Autonomous Combatants

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 24
PCU 5; Cost (in BP) 7

Breaching Pod

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 24
PCU 5; Cost (in BP) 5

Breaching Pod, Skilled Autonomous Combatants

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 24
PCU 5; Cost (in BP) 9