Spaceships

Ship designing

All the covert machinations on Earth and industrialization efforts in space are the path for Factions to build Fleets of ships to protect and advance their interests. Once the Factions research the early-game Orbital Shipbuilding Technology, and the follow-on Space Dock project for their Habs, they can build interplanetary spacecraft.

With the right modules, ships can prospect Celestial Bodies, found habitats, increase Space Science, and Bombard surface targets. But the primary role for most ships is combat.

At any time, you can design ships out of the modules you've developed. Once you have a shipyard, you can build the ships themselves out of your space resources and, if necessary, Boost and Money.

Individual ships are constructed at Habs at a space dock, shipyard, or spaceworks module. Ships may be built out of a mix of resources mined in space and material boosted from Earth. When construction is complete, ships are deployed docked at the hab that built them.

To save a ship design, it must have a drive, power plant, radiators, battery, armor materials (even with zero thickness), at least one propellant tank, and an assigned role. Specialty designs like colony ships must also have a utility module that allows them to perform the role's function.

Ship Performance

Ships have the following characteristics that need to be tracked:

• Construction Cost: Resources required to build the ship. Boost and Money can be substituted for any resource that is lacking. This may increase build time as materials are delivered from Earth.
• Construction Time: How long it will take to build the ship once all required materials are at the shipyard. Larger shipyards reduce build time.
• Crew: How many personnel will serve aboard the ship. Each crew needs life support and various supplies, which increases the mass of ship by 4 tons.
• Cruise Acceleration: The acceleration used in the strategy layer, including for intercepting fleets on transfer trajectories. Higher cruise accelerations allow ships to take more direct trajectories to their destinations and be less affected by gravity wells.
  • Ships with less than ~2 mg cruise acceleration will be forced to take particularly slow spiralling trajectories out of Earth's gravity well.
  • Humans are limited to a max of 2.0 g at the start. This cap can be raised to 3.0 g with projects.
• Cruise Delta-V The most important number for determining where the ship can go and how fast it can get there. More propellant increases ∆V. More mass on the ship decreases it. (Note that propellant has mass, so there are rapidly diminishing returns to just adding more prop. This is known as the tyranny of the rocket equation.)
  • Ships with ~4 kps ∆V can intercept and return to a friendly station in similar close orbits around the same planet (but note that the ISS and Tiangong orbits are considerably more difficult to reach than most, because of the plane change required).
  • Ships need ~8 kps ∆V to efficiently reach the Moon from a low Earth orbit.
  • Ships need ~30 kps ∆V to be able to reliably perform interplanetary transfers in the inner Solar System.
  • Ships with more than 60 kps will be able to perform more extreme transfers such as direct transits from Mercury to Saturn.
• Combat Acceleration: The acceleration used on the tactical combat screen, and for lifting off the surface of planetary bodies. Most drives are capable of at least some amount of higher acceleration for short periods, typically for combat situations, calculated as cruise_accel * combat_thrust_multiplier.
  • In Realistic combat (the Cinematic Combat Movement option is turned off), this extra thrust is recognized to be inefficient and requires the ship to spend more propellant (by a formula too complicated to usefully summarize).
  • Fission pulse drives, such as the Orion, are exempted from this penalty, even on Realistic.
  • Humans are limited to a max of 3.0 g at the start. This cap can be raised to 5.0 g with projects.
• Heat Sink Capacity: Heat sinks serve as a temporary substitute for a ship's heat management while its vulnerable radiators are retracted in combat. Higher values allow the ship to fight longer without extending its radiators.
• Battery Capacity: The ship's batteries store power from its power plant for use by most weapon systems when the power plant is unavailable. More advanced batteries are able to recharge during combat. (Since v1.0, every ship gets power capacity sufficient for most purposes installed by default, so additional batteries are typically unnecessary.)
• Space Combat Value: Every ship has a Space Combat Value calculated from its weapons, drives, available ∆V, and other factors. This value mostly only represents how the non-player factions evaluate the ship, but does also eventually become relevant for the victory condition of several factions.
• Support: The Mission Control and Money upkeep of supporting the ship. If support costs go unpaid the ship will be more vulnerable to other faction's attempts to seize the ship and rebellion and malfunction events may occur.
• Turn Rate: How quickly the ship can rotate in combat. This value is dependent on the length and mass of the ship; shorter and lighter ships will generally turn faster.
• Wet Mass: Wet Mass is the total mass of the ship when fully loaded with propellant. Mass influences the ship's maneuverability. Higher mass decreases acceleration, Delta-V, and turn rate. Hovering over it shows a breakdown with the origin of all Wet Mass. (Dry mass is the ship's mass with empty prop tanks.)

Hull

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship hulls. For a more detailled list of all space ship hulls in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Ship Hull List instead.

Designing a ship begins with selecting a ship hull. The type of hull determines the following key properties of the ship:

• The number of nose hard points.
• The number of hull hard points.
• The number of utility hard points.
• The length of the ship.
• The width of the ship.
• The structural integrity of the ship.
• The base construction time for the ship.
• The construction tier of the ship.
• The maximum number of officers on the ship.
• The Mission Control and Money upkeep of the ship.

Notes:

• Certain officer types can bypass the officer limit.
• Shipbuilding times are calculated without any shipbuilding speed bonuses or shipbuilding game customizations.
• Rough Armor Cost Multipliers are not quite accurate because Armor costs per point actually increase with each additional point of side armor. See Spaceships#Armor for details.

Ship Hull	Hard Points			Structural Integrity	Max Officers	Construction Time (days)			Rough Armor Cost Multiplier
	Nose	Hull	Utility			T1	T2	T3	Cinematic		Realistic
									Nose/Tail	Side	Nose/Tail	Side
Monitor	0	4	3	16	3	180	120	72	314	5890	942	3927
Destroyer	2	2	5	18	3	202.5	135	81	314	5890	942	3927
Escort	0	2	2	7	1	90	72	32.4	79	1178	236	785
Gunship	1	0	2	4	1	60	48	21.6	79	1178	236	785
Dreadnought	3	8	7	48	5	540	360	240	962	22678	2886	15119
Titan	4	6	9	64	6	607.5	405	270	962	24740	2886	16493
Cruiser	2	3	7	20	4	270	180	108	314	8247	942	5498
Battlecruiser	3	2	5	24	4	270	180	108	314	8247	942	5498
Fighter	1	1	1	3	0				50	471	151	314
Frigate	1	2	5	12	3	120	96	43.2	314	4712	942	3142
Lancer	4	3	7	36	5	540	360	240	804	18850	2413	12566
Corvette	1	1	3	8	2	90	72	32.4	177	2297	530	1532
Battleship	2	6	6	40	5	450	300	200	491	11781	1473	7854

While most of the above properties are self-explanatory, the length, width, construction tier, and structural integrity of the ship also have significant impacts on the following game mechanics. See Ship Hull List for more details.

Role

Each ship has a role, which informs the game on whether the ship is a combatant or noncombatant, what range it should engage in during combat and how much propellant will it want. The role affects the autodesigner behavior and where the ship is placed in a combat formation.

• Ships with Long strategic range will emphasize propellant for interplanetary operations
• Ships with Short strategic range will limit propellant mass in favor of maneuverability

Role	Strategic Range	Preferred Combat Engagement Range	Other
Troop Carrier	Long	Noncombatant	Must carry a Marine module
Explorer	Long	Noncombatant	Must carry a prospector module
Inner System Colony Ship	Long	Noncombatant	Must carry a hab kit module
Outer System Colony Ship	Long	Noncombatant	Must carry a nuclear-powered hab kit module
Transport	Long	Noncombatant
Penetrator	Long	Short
Protector	Long	Short	Will emphasize point defense
Interdictor	Long	Medium
Intruder	Long	Long
Bomber	Long	Long	Will emphasize bombardment-capable weapons
Strike	Medium	Short
Space Superiority	Medium	Medium
Standoff	Medium	Long
Interceptor	Short	Short
Patrol	Short	Medium
Defender	Short	Long

Officer

Completing specific actions with a ship can cause Ship Officers to spawn or promote:

Officer Name 1st Rank 2nd Rank 3rd Rank	Spawn Rules	Min Crew	Effects At 1st Rank At 2nd Rank At 3rd Rank
Medical Officer Flight Surgeon Doctor Senior Doctor	1% chance when: Surviving combat	40	Increases maximum allowed combat acceleration of the ship by 0.5 g(s) Reduces chance of officer death in combat by 30% Reduces radiation damage from particle weapons by 10% Increases maximum allowed combat acceleration of the ship by 1 g(s) Reduces chance of officer death in combat by 50% Reduces radiation damage from particle weapons by 25% Increases maximum allowed combat acceleration of the ship by 1.5 g(s) Reduces chance of officer death in combat by 70% Reduces radiation damage from particle weapons by 50%
Damage Control Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	1% chance when: Surviving combat	10	Increases the rate at which damage control teams fix ship systems and modules by 10% Reduces internal damage taken by the ship by 5% Increases the rate at which damage control teams fix ship systems and modules by 20% Reduces internal damage taken by the ship by 10% Increases the rate at which damage control teams fix ship systems and modules by 30% Reduces internal damage taken by the ship by 15%
Crew Chief Chief Petty Officer Senior Chief Petty Officer Master Chief Petty Officer	1% chance when: Winning combat	10	Increases the rate at which damage control teams fix ship systems and modules by 10% Increases the rate at which damage control teams fix ship systems and modules by 20% Increases the rate at which damage control teams fix ship systems and modules by 30% Changes ship mission control cost by -1, to minimum of 1
Supply Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	3% chance when: Completing interplanetary transfer	40	Increases post-combat salvage by 10% Increases ship's resupply speed at habs by -20% Increases post-combat salvage by 20% Increases ship's resupply speed at habs by -30% Increases post-combat salvage by 30% Increases ship's resupply speed at habs by -50%
Propulsion Officer Sub-Lieutenant Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	1% chance when: Winning combat Requires tunable drive	0	Adds 1 to the ship's drive combat thrust multiplier Increases ship's ECM value by 2%, reducing enemy chances to target it Adds 2 to the ship's drive combat thrust multiplier Increases ship's ECM value by 4%, reducing enemy chances to target it Adds 3 to the ship's drive combat thrust multiplier Increases ship's ECM value by 6%, reducing enemy chances to target it
Commanding Officer Captain Senior Captain Fleet Captain	1% chance when: Winning combat Bypass officer limit	0	Changes ship mission control cost by -1, to minimum of 1 Increases damage from all weapons except nuclear and antimatter missiles by 2% Changes ship mission control cost by -2, to minimum of 1 Increases damage from all weapons except nuclear and antimatter missiles by 4% Changes ship mission control cost by -3, to minimum of 1 Increases damage from all weapons except nuclear and antimatter missiles by 6%
CIC Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	2% chance when: Killing in combat	20	Increases ship's ECM value by 5%, reducing enemy chances to target it Reduces cooldown of point defense weapons by 5% Increases ship's ECM value by 12%, reducing enemy chances to target it Reduces cooldown of point defense weapons by 10% Increases ship's ECM value by 20%, reducing enemy chances to target it Reduces cooldown of point defense weapons by 20%
Intelligence Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	2% chance when: Killing in combat	40	Increases all weapons' ability to overcome enemy ECM by 5% Increases damage from all weapons except nuclear and antimatter missiles by 5% Increases all weapons' ability to overcome enemy ECM by 10% Increases damage from all weapons except nuclear and antimatter missiles by 10% Increases all weapons' ability to overcome enemy ECM by 15% Increases damage from all weapons except nuclear and antimatter missiles by 15%
First Officer Lieutenant Lieutenant Commander Commander	1% chance when: Winning combat	20	Increases chances an officer will be promoted on a triggering event by 100% Increases all weapons' ability to overcome enemy ECM by 3% Increases chances an officer will be promoted on a triggering event by 200% Increases all weapons' ability to overcome enemy ECM by 6% Increases chances an officer will be promoted on a triggering event by 300% Increases all weapons' ability to overcome enemy ECM by 10%
Fire Control Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	6% chance when: Killing in combat Using missiles	0	Increases chance missile systems will overcome enemy ECM by 10% Increases explosive, penetrator, and fragmentation missile damage by 10% Increases chance missile systems will overcome enemy ECM by 20% Increases explosive, penetrator, and fragmentation missile damage by 20% Increases chance missile systems will overcome enemy ECM by 30% Increases explosive, penetrator, and fragmentation missile damage by 30%
Marine Officer 1st Lieutenant Captain Major	10% chance when: Successfully assaulting Using marines	0	Increases ship Assault Value by 2 Increases ship Assault Value by 3 Increases ship Assault Value by 5
Engineering Officer Lieutenant Lieutenant Commander Commander	1% chance when: Surviving combat	0	Reduces internal damage taken by the ship by 5% Increases ship's repair speed at shipyards by -20% Reduces internal damage taken by the ship by 10% Increases ship's repair speed at shipyards by -30% Reduces internal damage taken by the ship by 15% Increases ship's repair speed at shipyards by -50%
Flag Officer Rear Admiral Vice Admiral Fleet Admiral	2% chance when: Winning combat Requires flag bridge module Bypass officer limit	0	Reduces fleet mission control cost by 5% Officer does not cost Influence to transfer to another ship. Reduces fleet mission control cost by 10% Officer does not cost Influence to transfer to another ship. Reduces fleet mission control cost by 20% Officer does not cost Influence to transfer to another ship.
Directed Energy Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	6% chance when: Killing in combat Using lasers or particles	0	Increases chance laser and particle beam systems will overcome enemy ECM by 10% Increases laser and particle beam damage by 10% Increases chance laser and particle beam systems will overcome enemy ECM by 20% Increases laser and particle beam damage by 20% Increases chance laser and particle beam systems will overcome enemy ECM by 30% Increases laser and particle beam damage by 30%
Gunnery Officer Ensign Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant	6% chance when: Killing in combat Using naval, magnetic, or plasma guns	0	Increases chance magnetic, plasma, and gun-type weapons will overcome enemy ECM by 10% Increases damage from magnetic, plasma and gun-type weapons by 10% Increases chance magnetic, plasma, and gun-type weapons will overcome enemy ECM by 20% Increases damage from magnetic, plasma and gun-type weapons by 20% Increases chance magnetic, plasma, and gun-type weapons will overcome enemy ECM by 30% Increases damage from magnetic, plasma and gun-type weapons by 30%

All Officer spawn and promotion chances are multiplied by (1 + Project Bonuses) × (1 + First Officer Bonus).

The Project Bonuses are:

• +0.5 for Space Force Basic Training.
• +1 for Space Navy Academies.
• +1 for Fleet Officer Schoolhouses.

Notes:

• A tunable drive is a drive with a combat thrust multiplier greater than 1.
• Every ship hull has a maximum number of officers it can have. Some officers bypass this limit.

Ship Systems

In Terra Invicta, every space ship consists of the following ship systems:

Ship System	Health	Function	Hit Weight Within:
			Nose	Left/Right	Tail	Core
Nose Structure	Hull Structural Integrity	Survival	1	0	0	1
Central Structure	Hull Structural Integrity	Survival	0	1	0	1
Tail Structure	Hull Structural Integrity	Survival	0	0	1	1
Bridge	Hull Structural Integrity	Allows Setting Waypoints	0	0	0	1
Fire Control	Hull Structural Integrity	Allows Weapons to Fire • Health % Divides Weapon Cooldowns • Targeting Bonus reduced by Missing Health %	0	0	0	1
Systems Reactor	Hull Structural Integrity	Health % Multiplies Auxiliary Power Charge Rate	0	0	0	1
Power Coupling	Hull Structural Integrity	Health % Multiplies Total Power Charge Rate	0	1	1	0
Drive Coupling	Hull Structural Integrity	Health % Multiplies Drive Thrust	0	0.5	1	0
Vector Thrusters	Hull Structural Integrity	Health % Multiplies Angular Acceleration	0	1	0	0
Life Support Main	Hull Structural Integrity	Nothing (in Combat)	0	0	0	1
Life Support Backup	Hull Structural Integrity	Nothing (in Combat)	0	0	0	1
Damage Control	Hull Structural Integrity	Health % Multiplies Mid-Combat Repair Speed	0	0	0	1
Propellant	Fuel (tons) / 100	Is the Fuel	0	Fuel Tanks / 10	0	0
Sensors	Hull Structural Integrity	Targeting Bonus reduced by Missing Health %	0	1	0	1
Nose Weapons	Chosen Nose Weapons' Health	Chosen Nose Weapons' Functions	Non-Empty Nose Slots	0	0	0
Hull Weapons	Chosen Hull Weapons' Health	Chosen Hull Weapons' Functions	0	Non-Empty Hull Slots	0	0
Utility Modules	Chosen Utility Modules' Health	Chosen Utility Modules' Functions	0	Non-Empty Non-Invulnerable Utility Slots	0	Non-Empty Non-Invulnerable Utility Slots
Radiators	3	Allows Heat Vent • Health % Multiplies Heat Loss Rate for Heat Sinks	0	1	1	0
Power Plant	3	Allows Rotating and Rolling • Allows Setting Waypoints • Health % Multiplies Drive Thrust • Health % Multiplies Angular Acceleration • Health % Multiplies Max Power Plant Output for Battery Recharge Rate	0	1	1	0
Drive	3 × Thrusters	Health % Multiplies Drive Thrust	0	Thrusters	Thrusters	0
Battery	Chosen Battery's Health	Health % Multiplies Energy Capacity	0	1	0	0

Damage and Hit Weights

The internal volume of a ship is divided into 5 areas: Nose, Left, Right, Tail, Core. Whenever damage is applied to one of these areas, the damage is applied to a randomly picked ship system. The chance that a ship system gets picked is equal to (its Hit Weight / Total Hit Weight) for that area of the ship.

When an attack gets through armor (see #Armor below), an internal system is picked at random from the struck Area and damage is applied to it. If the system is destroyed before it absorbs all the inflicted damage, then another system is picked and damage is applied to it. Most damage types are subject to overpenetration, in which case only a random number of systems (usually between 3 and 7) can be picked (on a random "straight" path through the ship), before any remaining excess damage flies off into space.

For instance, if the ship is hit in the nose starts by damaging a random system in the Nose area, selected by hit weight. Then if damage remains to be distributed, it might stay in the Nose, or move on to one of the Core, Left, or Right areas; the chance to stay in the current area is based on the weapon's armor chip fraction. (Higher chip percentage == more likely to hit more targets in the same area.) After the area is picked, a random system is selected and damage is applied. If more damage remains, it again might stay in the current area, or might move on to a system in the next area. If any damage is left unapplied when it leaves the Tail, it passes out of the ship, chipping the Tail armor on its way out.

This damage diffusion matters. A weapon with low diffusion (low chip%), such as lasers, almost always moves on from a ship area as soon as possible, damaging only a single system in the area before moving on. Weapons with high diffusion such as kinetics and missiles can stick around in a ship area and damage a random number of systems before moving on, and so are less likely to waste any of their damage potential.

The exceptions (not subject to overpenetration) are anything that does explosive damage, nuclear damage, or shred damage. Which includes all explosive, nuclear, shaped nuclear, and antimatter missiles. These will continue destroying ship systems until their damage potential is exhausted.

In most cases damage is applied in sequence to systems and is not divided or shared. One exception is sensors, which receive slight damage from most hits.

Ship Components

Note: Every component comes with additional crews, but the mass and resource cost from crews is not shown in the tables below.

Drive

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship drives. For a list of all space ship drives in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Drive List instead.

Drives expel propellant from the tail of the ship to make the ship go places. Drives come in a variety of forms, but are rated by two common values: thrust and exhaust velocity. High-thrust drives can achieve higher velocities more quickly, and high-exhaust velocity drives use less propellant to do so. Together these values determine the power required by the ship's power plant. Adding 100-ton propellant tanks to the ship increases the ship's Delta-V, or how much it can change its speed.

Delta-V is the main factor that determines interplanetary travel times. Thrust determines combat capabilities of the ship, however having too little thrust can starve your ability to spend all the dv ship has, and therefore slow down its transits.

Note: Many drives require a certain class of power plant to function, and in some cases, a lower-tech power plant of the correct class may not be able to produce enough power to support an advanced drive.

Propellant

Each ship must have one or more 100-ton propellant tanks. The number of propellant tanks determines the ship's Delta-V value. There is no hard limit to the number that can be placed on a ship. However, each tank of propellant adds mass to the ship, which reduces its acceleration and gives exponentially diminishing returns for delta-V. The resources used to make propellant is determined by the drive.

If the drive uses He3 fuel and the faction has an active Helium-3 Mine, then all costs for propellent are replaced by an equivalent amount of .

Power Plant

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship power plants. For a list of all space ship power plants in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Power Plant List instead.

A ship's power plant provides energy to both the ship's drive and other ship systems. The mass of the power plant scales with the greater of the power requirement of the drive or the ship's systems. The power plant also produces waste heat that must be stored in heat sinks or expelled by radiators.

Note: Many drives require a certain class of power plant to function, and in some cases, a lower-tech power plant of the correct class may not be able to produce enough power to support an advanced drive.

Radiator

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship radiators. For a list of all space ship radiators in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Radiator List instead.

When extended or extending, the ship's radiators vent the heat generated by various ship systems and modules.

However, non-retracted radiators are highly vulnerable in combat. When a ship takes hit while the radiator is not retracted, the radiator has a chance to get hit directly and destroyed, regardless of the ship's armor configuration. In fact, the damage taken by the radiator can even bleed through to damage the ship's internals (but this bleed through is capped at the radiator's health of just 3).

Radiators can be retracted if the ship has heat sinks in one or more utility slots. But radiators will automatically begin extending when the heat sinks are filled up. See Fleets#Power_and_Heat for more details.

Battery

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship batteries. For a list of all space ship batteries in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Battery List instead.

Every ship has a built-in power storage, so a ship battery is not necessary, but does provide additional power storage. See Fleets#Power_and_Heat for details. Better batteries may have a larger capacity or a faster recharge rate.

Armor

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship armors. For a list of all space ship armors in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Ship Armor List instead.

Damage that is applied to a spaceship can be divided into three categories:

• Direct Damage focuses on damaging the ship's internal components.
• Chip Damage focuses on damaging the armor volume.
• Shred Damage focuses on damaging the armor value.

Most attacks apply their damage as a mix of direct and chip damage, with two notable exceptions:

• Particle beams only apply direct damage.
• Nuclear missiles also apply shred damage.

When the ship armor is fully intact on the facing that receives the incoming attack:

• Direct damage is reduced by the armor value: 1 point of damage (20MJ of energy) is blocked by 1 point of armor. Any remaining direct damage is then applied to the ship's internal components.
  • Direct damage from Particle beams and Laser weapons have different interactions with armor value that are discussed in their own sections.
• Chip damage reduces the armor volume: 1 point of damage removes 1m³ of armor.
• Shred damage reduces the armor value: 1 point of damage removes 1 point of armor.

Damaged armor does not function as well:

• Armor points removed by shred damage will no longer block any direct damage.
• Armor volume removed by chip damage gives incoming attacks a chance for a through-armor-critical, which causes the incoming attack to behave as if the ship has no armor at all. The chance for a through-armor-critical is simply the volume of armor removed divided by the total volume of armor that the facing originally had.

When the ship has no armor at all on the facing that receives the incoming attack:

• All Chip and Shred damage is added to the Direct damage and is applied directly to the ship's internal components.

Armor is typically the heaviest (and most expensive) part of a ship. High tech armors are usually much more effective at blocking direct damage, leading to significantly lower mass (and cost) per point of armor. Note that a point of lateral armor is much more massive than nose and tail armor, because it has a greater surface area to cover. The exact ratio depends on the hull used, but side armor will typically be 10-35x heavier per point than nose/tail armor. As of 0.4.90, the armor formulas are as follows:

• Armor Plate Thickness (m) = 20 (MJ) / Armor Heat of Vaporization (MJ / kg) / Armor Density (kg / m³) / 0.005 (m²)
• Nose Armor Thickness (m) = Plate Thickness (m) × Points of Nose Armor
• Tail Armor Thickness (m) = Plate Thickness (m) × Points of Tail Armor
• Side Armor Thickness (m) = Plate Thickness (m) × Points of Side Armor
• Nose Armor Volume (m³) = Nose Armor Thickness (m) × 3.1415927 × (Hull Width (m) / 2 + Side Armor Thickness (m)) ^ 2
• Tail Armor Volume (m³) = Tail Armor Thickness (m) × 3.1415927 × (Hull Width (m) / 2 + Side Armor Thickness (m)) ^ 2
• Side Armor Volume (m³) = 3.1415927 × Hull Length (m) × ((Hull Width (m) / 2 + Side Armor Thickness (m)) ^ 2 - (Hull Width (m) / 2) ^ 2)

These volumes are then multiplied by the following game customization ship scaling modifiers:

Armor Volume Multipliers

	Cinematic	Realistic
Nose/Tail	1	3
Side	0.75	0.5

The Armor Mass (kg) of each facing is then simply the Armor Volume (m³) of the facing multiplied by Armor Density (kg / m³).

More detailed information on armor and damage calculation can be found in the article Guide Armor.

Raw Code

Code SPOILERS INSIDE!

// Token: 0x06004573 RID: 17779 RVA: 0x001C28BC File Offset: 0x001C0ABC public float AbsorbAndApplyArmorDamage(TIShipWeaponTemplate attackingWeapon, ArmorFacing facing, float range_km, float damageAmount, float chippingAmount, DamageType damageType, float angle, TIFactionState attackingFaction, out float internalDamageAssessedHere, out float appliedRadiationDamage, int shreddingAmount = 0) { ModuleDataEntry partToDamage = this.GetPartToDamage(ShipSystem.Radiators, false); internalDamageAssessedHere = 0f; appliedRadiationDamage = 0f; TISpaceFleetState fleet = this.fleet; bool flag = fleet != null && fleet.bombarding; if ((this.radiatorsExtended || this.radiatorsExtending || this.radiatorsRetracting) && (!flag || !this.canEverRetractRadiators) && !this.PartDestroyed(partToDamage) && attackingWeapon != null && UnityEngine.Random.value * 100f < (float)this.template.radiatorTemplate.vulnerability * ((this.radiatorsExtending || this.radiatorsRetracting) ? 0.5f : 1f)) { float num = damageAmount + chippingAmount; if ((attackingWeapon == null || attackingWeapon.isParticleWeapon) && ((attackingWeapon != null) ? attackingWeapon.ref_particleWeapon : null) != null) { num *= attackingWeapon.ref_particleWeapon.heatFraction; damageAmount -= num; } else { damageAmount = num * attackingWeapon.chipping(range_km); } float num2; this.ApplyDamageToPart(partToDamage, damageAmount, out num2); internalDamageAssessedHere += num2; this.spaceCombatValueDataDirty = true; if (shreddingAmount == 0 && !attackingWeapon.isParticleWeapon && (facing == ArmorFacing.Nose || facing == ArmorFacing.Tail || UnityEngine.Random.value < 0.25f)) { return num2; } } if (facing == ArmorFacing.Tail && 180f - Mathf.Abs(angle) < 5f && UnityEngine.Random.value < 0.25f) { float num3; this.ApplyDamageToPart(this.GetPartToDamage(ShipSystem.Drive, false), damageAmount, out num3); internalDamageAssessedHere += num3; } if (shreddingAmount > 0) { float num4; this.ApplyDamageToSystem(ShipSystem.Sensors, 0.5f, out num4); internalDamageAssessedHere += num4; } else if (attackingWeapon != null && attackingWeapon.isBeamWeapon && UnityEngine.Random.value < this.GetSystemFunction(ShipSystem.Sensors) * 0.1f) { float num5; this.ApplyDamageToSystem(ShipSystem.Sensors, UnityEngine.Random.value * 0.1f, out num5); internalDamageAssessedHere += num5; } else if (UnityEngine.Random.value < this.GetSystemFunction(ShipSystem.Sensors) * 0.01f) { float num6; this.ApplyDamageToSystem(ShipSystem.Sensors, UnityEngine.Random.value * 0.1f, out num6); internalDamageAssessedHere += num6; } TIShipArmorTemplate armorTemplate = TISpaceShipState.ArmorData.GetArmorTemplate(this, facing); int num7 = 0; int num8 = 1; bool flag2 = attackingWeapon != null && attackingWeapon.isMissileWeapon && attackingWeapon.ref_missileWeapon.warheadClass == WarheadClass.Fragmentation; if (flag2) { num8 = Mathf.RoundToInt(attackingWeapon.ref_missileWeapon.warheadMass_kg / 5f); } bool flag3 = false; float num9 = (float)num8; float num10 = 0f; for (int i = 0; i < num8; i++) { if (UnityEngine.Random.value < this.armor[facing].chippedPct) { num7++; flag3 = true; if (num8 == 1) { damageAmount += chippingAmount; } else { num10 += chippingAmount / (float)num8; } num9 -= 1f; } } chippingAmount *= num9 / (float)num8; if (chippingAmount > 0f) { float armorFacingVolume_m = TISpaceShipState.ArmorData.GetArmorFacingVolume_m3(this, facing); if (armorFacingVolume_m > 0f && this.armor[facing].chippedPct < 1f && this.armor[facing].armorValue > 0) { chippingAmount *= armorTemplate.GetSpecialtyModifiers(ArmorSpecialty.ChippingResistance); float chip = chippingAmount / armorFacingVolume_m; chippingAmount = this.armor[facing].ChipArmor(chip); if (this.armor[facing].chippedPct >= 1f) { flag3 = true; num7 = (flag2 ? num8 : 1); } } else { damageAmount += chippingAmount; chippingAmount = 0f; flag3 = true; num7 = (flag2 ? num8 : 1); } } float num11 = 0f; if (shreddingAmount > 0) { this.spaceCombatValueDataDirty = true; damageAmount = (float)this.armor[facing].ShredArmor(shreddingAmount); if (this.armor[facing].armorValue <= 0) { flag3 = true; num7 = (flag2 ? num8 : 1); } else { num11 = (float)shreddingAmount * this.armor[facing].chippedPct; if (num11 > 0f) { flag3 = true; num7 = (flag2 ? num8 : 1); } } } float num12 = (float)this.armor[facing].armorValue; if (attackingWeapon != null && !flag3 && num12 > 0f && this.armor[facing].chippedPct < 1f) { if (!TIGlobalValuesState.Customizations.cinematicCombatRealismScale) { if (facing != ArmorFacing.Right) { if (facing == ArmorFacing.Left) { num12 /= Mathf.Cos(0.017453292f * Mathf.Abs(-90f - angle)); } } else { num12 /= Mathf.Cos(0.017453292f * Mathf.Abs(90f - angle)); } } if (attackingWeapon.weaponClass == WeaponClass.Laser) { num12 = attackingWeapon.ref_laserWeapon.ModifyArmorValueForLaserShot(range_km, num12); damageAmount *= armorTemplate.GetSpecialtyModifiers(ArmorSpecialty.LaserResistance); } if (damageType == DamageType.Kinetic) { damageAmount *= armorTemplate.GetSpecialtyModifiers(ArmorSpecialty.KineticsResistance); } } damageAmount += TIEffectsState.SumEffectsModifiers(Context.DamageReductionAgainstAllShips, this.faction, damageAmount, null); if (attackingFaction != null && attackingFaction.IsAlienFaction) { damageAmount += TIEffectsState.SumEffectsModifiers(Context.DamageReductionAgainstAlienShips, this.faction, damageAmount, null); } if (flag3) { this.spaceCombatValueDataDirty = true; if (flag2) { this.spaceCombatValueDataDirty = true; float num13 = (float)num7 / (float)num8; float num14 = num13 * damageAmount + num10; if (num9 > 0f) { float num15 = (1f - num13) * damageAmount / num9 - num12; if (num15 > 0f) { num14 += num15 * num9; } } return Mathf.Max(0f, num14); } if (num11 > 0f) { return num11; } } else if (flag2) { float num16 = damageAmount / num9 - num12; damageAmount = 0f; if (num16 > 0f) { damageAmount += num16 * num9; this.spaceCombatValueDataDirty = true; } return damageAmount; } if (damageType == DamageType.ParticleBeam && attackingWeapon != null) { float num17 = damageAmount * attackingWeapon.ref_particleWeapon.heatFraction; float num18 = damageAmount * attackingWeapon.ref_particleWeapon.xRayFraction; float num19 = damageAmount * attackingWeapon.ref_particleWeapon.baryonFraction; if (!flag3) { num18 = Mathf.Max(0f, num18 * Mathf.Min(0.0625f, Mathf.Pow(0.5f, armorTemplate.armor_section_thickness_m((float)this.armor[facing].armorValue) * 100f / armorTemplate.xRayHalfValue_cm))); num19 = Mathf.Max(0f, num19 * Mathf.Min(0.0625f, Mathf.Pow(0.5f, armorTemplate.armor_section_thickness_m((float)this.armor[facing].armorValue) * 100f / armorTemplate.baryonicHalfValue_cm))); } num18 += this.SumOfficerEffectsModifiers(OfficerEffectType.RadiationDamageReduction, num18); num19 += this.SumOfficerEffectsModifiers(OfficerEffectType.RadiationDamageReduction, num19); appliedRadiationDamage = this.ApplyInternalRadiationDamage(num18, num19, facing, facing, angle, Mathf.Min(1f, attackingWeapon.ref_particleWeapon.SpotSurfaceArea_m2(range_km) / this.GetCrossSectionalArea_m2(angle))); internalDamageAssessedHere += appliedRadiationDamage; damageAmount = num17; } float num20 = 0f; if (damageAmount > 0f) { num20 = Mathf.Max(0f, damageAmount + (flag3 ? chippingAmount : 0f) - (flag3 ? 0f : num12)); } if (num20 > 0f || internalDamageAssessedHere > 0f) { this.spaceCombatValueDataDirty = true; } return num20; }

Utility Modules

This section is obsolete. For a list of all utility modules in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Utility Module List instead.

OBSOLETE INFO INSIDE!

Utility Module Mass (tons) Effect Mobile Space Science Lab 200 +5% Space Science Research Can prospect space bodies from interface orbits Repair Bay 700 Improves mid- and post-combat repairs. Salvage Bay 1000 Collects more Salvage after Winning Combats. Vector Thrusters 20 Significantly increases the ship's turning speed. Flag Bridge 90 Reduces the fleet's Mission Control upkeep. (Does not stack with other Flag Bridges.) Component Armor 500 -25% Internal Damage during combat Armor Strut 500 Increase the amount of armor each facing on ship can carry by 100%. Marine Assault Unit 200 Enables the Assault Hab fleet operation (assault value 4) Advanced Marine Assault Unit 200 Enables the Assault Hab fleet operation (assault value 6) Elite Marine Assault Unit 200 Enables the Assault Hab fleet operation (assault value 8) Spartans 200 Enables the Assault Hab fleet operation (assault value 10) Rangers Immortals Laser Engine 25 +10MJ laser weapon power Advanced Laser Engine 50 +20MJ laser weapon power Cyclotron 50 +20MJ particle beam power Magazine 100 Projectile weapons gain +50% ammo. Mass increases accordingly. ECM 10 20% chance force an enemy weapon into cooldown when this ship is targeted. ECM Mark II 10 40% chance force an enemy weapon into cooldown when this ship is targeted. ECM Mark III 10 60% chance force an enemy weapon into cooldown when this ship is targeted. Targeting Computer 10 Improve a ship's roll to overcome enemy ECM and damage to sensors by 10%. Targeting Computer Mark II 10 Improve a ship's roll to overcome enemy ECM and damage to sensors by 30%. Targeting Computer Mark III 10 Improve a ship's roll to overcome enemy ECM and damage to sensors by 50%.

Drive Enhancement Module

OBSOLETE INFO INSIDE!

Drive Enhancement Modules requires a certain type of Drive to be used. Utility Module Mass (tons) Ship Requirements Effect Muon Spiker 40 Nuclear Fusion Drive +10% Thrust Neutronium Spiker 40 Nuclear Fission Drive +20% Thrust Antimatter Spiker 40 Nuclear Drive +30% Thrust Liquid Hydrogen Containment 5 Hydrogen Propellant +20% Exhaust Velocity Slush Hydrogen Tankage 10 Hydrogen Propellant +35% Exhaust Velocity Hydron Trap 20 Hydrogen Propellant +50% Exhaust Velocity ISRU Module 40 Can replenish Propellant at unimproved hab sites that produce raw materials used in ship's propellant Remass Scoop 40 Can replenish Propellant in interface orbits of Jovian planets if the ship uses 100% hydrogen or 'anything' as propellant. No aerobraking damage(aerobraking is not implemented yet)

Heat Sink

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship heat sinks. For a list of all space ship heat sinks in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Heat Sink List instead.

Heat sinks are important modules for combat ship so they may avoid exposing their vulnerable radiators to enemy fire. See Fleets#Power_and_Heat for details.

Kit

Kits allow creation of a small hab with a construction module. Can be replenished by repairing the ship at a dock or shipyard.

Kit	Mass (tons)	Constructed Modules
Solar Platform	200	Platform Core, Construction Module, Solar Collector
Solar Outpost	200	Outpost Core, Construction Module, Solar Collector
Fission Platform	250	Platform Core, Construction Module, Fission Pile
Fission Outpost	300	Outpost Core, Construction Module, Fission Pile
Fusion Platform	250	Platform Core, Construction Module, Fusion Pile
Fusion Outpost	300	Outpost Core, Construction Module, Fusion Pile
Automated Solar Platform	250	Automated Platform Core, Automated Supply Depot, Automated Solar Collector
Automated Solar Outpost	1200	Automated Outpost Core, Automated Mining Complex, Automated Solar Collector, Automated Solar Collector
Automated Fission Platform	300	Automated Platform Core, Automated Supply Depot, Automated Fission Pile
Automated Fission Outpost	1800	Automated Outpost Core, Automated Mining Complex, Automated Fission Pile, Automated Fission Pile

Note: Using the kit only begins local construction of the hab and the modules. So you still have to wait 180 days for a Construction Module to be built.

Solar Kits are only usable if the installed Solar Collector(s) can produce enough power for other modules. So Solar Platform Kits cannot be used if the location is too far away from the sun. But Solar Outpost Kits can be used on locations far away from the sun, if the hab site gets enough solar power from Solar Mirror bonus.

Weapons

Weapons systems are either mounted on the ship's nose or on the hull. Nose weapons are typically more powerful than hull weapons of a similar size, but they have a limited field of fire. Hull weapons can fire in any direction around the ship. Weapons also come in various sizes; larger weapon systems are generally more powerful but will take up multiple weapon slots.

Fire Modes

Certain weapons may only be used offensively against enemy ships and hab modules; others may only be used defensively to shoot down incoming projectiles and missiles, and still others can be used against both types of targets. The default firing mode can be set in the ship designer, as well as changed in the middle of combat.

Weapon Fire Modes

Standard Fire Modes
Fire Mode	Targeting Priority
Focus Fire	Primary Target.
Attack	Primary Target. Nearest enemy ship or hab module that is in range.
Defense	Nearest enemy projectile that is in range and not already saturated. Nearest enemy projectile that is in range.
Guardian	Nearest enemy projectile that is in range and not already saturated. Nearest enemy projectile that is in range. Primary Target. Nearest enemy ship or hab module that is in range.
Idle	Never fires.
Special Fire Modes
Fire Mode	Description
Salvo	Special mode for Missile Weapons. Identical to the Focus Fire mode, but automatically switches to Idle mode after firing 1/4 of the missile weapon's total ammo.
Bracket	Special mode for non-beam Weapons. Identical to the Attack mode, but when the target is an enemy ship, will attempt to shoot at possible locations for the enemy ship to move into.

Targeting Range and Defense Range

All weapons have a targeting range, and can only fire at targets within that range. But notably, weapons take into account the relative velocity of the target, as well as the expected amount of time that their projectiles will take to arrive, to effectively fire at the future location of a target when it would be in range.

For example, the 10-inch Cannon has 250km targeting range and 1.4 km/s muzzle velocity. So it takes 250km/1.4km/s = ~178.5s for a bullet fired by the weapon to reach the maximum range. This means the 10-inch Cannon will attempt to fire at targets ~178.5s before they enter the 250km range. So if an enemy ship is approaching head-on at a relative velocity of 1 km/s, then the 10-inch Cannon will fire at it ~178.5s before it arrives in range: when it is still 250km + ~178.5s × 1km/s = ~428.5km away.

When targeting an enemy projectile instead of a ship or hab, weapons use a defense range that is computed as follows:

1. Set the defense range to the targeting range.
2. If the weapon has an attack mode, then apply a penalty to the defense range:
   • Divide by 3 for Energy weapons (Lasers, Particles, and Plasma), but cannot go below 200km.
   • Divide by 2 for Gun weapons (Naval Guns and Magnetic Weapons), but cannot go below 200km.
   • No penalty for Missile weapons.
3. Add a bonus to the defense range for the mount:
   • On Cinematic Combat Scaling:
     • Add the Ship Hull Length × 100 for ship mounted weapons.
     • Add 5km for hab mounted weapons.
   • On Realistic Combat Scaling:
     • Add the Ship Hull Length × 10 for ship mounted weapons.
     • Add 0.5km for hab mounted weapons.

Cooldown and Salvos

All weapons have a cooldown, and some weapons fire in salvos. If a weapon does not have a salvo listed, it will fire once every time the cooldown timer is up. If a weapon has a salvo listed of X shots over Y seconds, that means it will fire one shot every Y / (X-1) seconds X number of times, and then will go on its cooldown, after which it will fire another salvo.

For example, the Light Railgun Battery Mk1 has a cooldown of 30s and does not have a salvo listed; once in range, it will fire one shot every 30 seconds. The Light Coilgun Battery Mk1 has a salvo of 3 shots over 20 seconds and a cooldown of 40 seconds; once in range, it will fire one shot, wait 10 seconds, fire a second shot, wait 10 seconds, fire a third shot, and then will go on cooldown for 40 seconds. So it effectively fires 3 times per minute.

Weapons can be classified in certain general types:

• (Naval) Guns: Use magazines, high ammo capacity. Cannot bombard. Low damage. Short range. Cheap.
• Missiles: Use magazines, low ammo capacity. Limited bombard. High damage. Will chase the target. Very susceptible to point defense. Only available as hull weapons.
• Magnetic Weapons: Use magazines, high ammo capacity. High damage, moderate accuracy. Susceptible to point defense. Can bombard.
• Plasma Weapons: Use magazines. Cannot be targeted by point defense. Cannot bombard. Medium damage, high accuracy. Only available in large sizes.
• Lasers: Use energy. Limited bombard. Never miss. More effective at close range.
• Particle Weapons: Use energy. Cannot bombard. High damage. Never miss. Short range.

More detailed information on damage dealt by different weapons depending on enemy armor can be found in the article Guide Armor.

Guns

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship naval guns. For a list of all space ship naval guns in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Naval Gun List instead.

Guns are chemical slugthrowers with performance characteristics similar to modern naval weaponry. They are low-tech and cheap, but due to low range and low muzzle velocity will have a hard time hitting anything at range. They are quickly outclassed by magnetic weapons.

The damage done by a naval gun projectile is simply its impact kinetic energy / 20MJ. Specifically:

Damage Points = ½ × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Impact Velocity (km/s))² / 20MJ

Notably, naval guns do not produce any waste heat. Therefore they can keep firing even when the ship no longer has any ability to handle waste heat, such as when the radiators are destroyed and the heat sinks are filled.

Naval guns also do not consume any power. Therefore they can keep firing even when the ship no longer has any ability to generate power, such as when the power plant is destroyed and the batteries are empty.

Naval guns cannot be used to bombard.

Naval gun projectiles can be hit by point defenses and will be destroyed in one hit. But point defenses usually ignore autocannon bullets simply because they are so weak as to not be worth shooting at.

Magnetic Weapons

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship magnetic guns. For a list of all space ship magnetic guns in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Magnetic Gun List instead.

Magnetic weapons include railguns and coilguns that fire high-speed projectiles that do significant damage but can be shot down by point defense. Due to low muzzle velocity, railguns and siege coilguns may have a difficult time hitting targets at range; non-siege coilguns have a significantly higher muzzle velocity and are more difficult to dodge. All magnetic weapons are capable of bombardment.

The damage done by a magnetic gun projectile is simply its impact kinetic energy / 20MJ. Specifically:

Damage Points = ½ × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Impact Velocity (km/s))² / 20MJ

The power consumed per shot is calculated similarly, but uses the ammo mass instead of the warhead mass, and takes into account the weapon's Efficiency. Specifically:

Power Consumed (GJ) = ½ × Ammo Mass (kg) × (Muzzle Velocity (m/s))² / Efficiency / 1e9 (J/GJ)

Heat Generated (GJ) = Power Consumed (GJ) × (1 - Efficiency)

Note: The heat generated per shot here is only counting the heat that is directly generated by the weapon. The power consumed by the weapon may indirectly increase heat when the power plant attempts to recharge the power.

Magnetic weapon projectiles can be hit by point defenses, but may need multiple hits to be destroyed. Specifically, the point defenses must do (Warhead Mass / 10kg) damage to destroy the projectile.

Missiles

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship missiles. For a list of all space ship missiles in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Missile List instead.

Missile weapons (which include both missiles and torpedoes) do high damage and will chase the enemy, but are very susceptible to being shot down by point defense and are constrained by small magazines. Missiles will fire offensively only if an enemy ship or hab module has been set as a target.

Missiles and torpedoes can have different classes of warheads, which significantly impact their behavior:

Warhead Class	Total Damage	Chip %	Can Bombard	Is AoE	Kinetic Damage?	Other Notable Effects
Fragmentation	½ × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Impact Velocity (km/s))² / 20MJ	50%	No	No	Yes	On contact, splits into 5kg warheads that independently interact with armor. (But still acts as one attack in all other aspects.)
Penetrator		60%				None
Explosive	Payload Damage + 0.1 × ½ × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Impact Velocity (km/s))² / 20MJ	80%			No	None
Nuclear	Payload Damage	100%	Not through Atmosphere	Spherical AoE		Also applies Shred Damage.
Antimatter		25%
Shaped Nuclear		100%		Cone AoE

Notably, missiles do not produce any waste heat. Therefore they can keep firing even when the ship no longer has any ability to handle waste heat, such as when the radiators are destroyed and the heat sinks are filled.

Missiles also do not consume any power. Therefore they can keep firing even when the ship no longer has any ability to generate power, such as when the power plant is destroyed and the batteries are empty.

Missile projectiles can be hit by point defenses and will be destroyed in one hit.

Lasers

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship laser weapons. For a list of all laser weapons in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Laser Weapon List instead.

Laser weapons do not miss and are excellent at targeting enemy projectiles. However, laser weapons have difficulty penetrating armor unless they are at close range. Laser weapons for non-alien ships come in three different wavelengths: Infrared, Visible (Green), and Ultraviolet, from least powerful to most powerful. Additionally, laser weapons use one of three different beam types: Standard, Arc, and Phaser, from least powerful to most powerful. Each laser battery and cannon size comes in nine different configurations, corresponding to all the possible combinations of wavelength and beam type. The more powerful the wavelength and beam type, the better the laser is at penetrating armor.

Damage Points = Shot Power (MJ) / 20MJ

Power Consumed (GJ) = Shot Power (MJ) / Efficiency / 1000 (MJ/GJ)

Heat Generated (GJ) = Power Consumed (GJ) × (1 - Efficiency)

Notes:

• Laser Engine Utility Modules increase the shot power of lasers, increasing both damage and power consumption.
• Power Consumption is divided by 20 when targeting Missile or Naval Gun Projectiles.
• The heat generated per shot here is only counting the heat that is directly generated by the weapon. The power consumed by the weapon may indirectly increase heat when the power plant attempts to recharge the power.

Notably, laser weapons do not consume ammo, and so can be fired an unlimited number of times.

All ship lasers can be used to bombard, but only visible light lasers (orange, green, violet) can bombard through atmosphere.

All human ship laser weapons have 1 hp, regardless of size. All alien ship laser weapons have 2 hp, regardless of size. For comparison, most other ship weapons and modules have (3 × hard points) hp. So lasers are both literally and figuratively glass cannons.

Except for a few particularly powerful alien lasers, all lasers can serve as point defenses that shoot down incoming enemy projectiles.

Armor Penetration

When a laser weapon shoots an armored target, the effective armor of the target is calculated as follows:

Effective Armor = Base Armor ^ 1.5 × Armor Effectiveness

Armor Effectiveness = Spot Area (m²) / 0.005 (m²)

Spot Area (m²) = 0.7853982 × (Spot Diameter (m) )²

Spot Diameter (m) = Distance to Target (km) × Spot Diameter Precise Factor (m/km)

Spot Diameter Precise Factor (m/km) = (1000 / Mirror Diameter (m)) × ((1.22 × Wavelength (m) × Beam Quality)² + (2 * Jitter * Mirror Diameter (m) )²) ^ 0.5

When combined:

Effective Armor = Base Armor ^ 1.5 × 0.7853982 / 0.005 (m²) × (Distance to Target (m) × ((1.22 × Wavelength (m) × Beam Quality)² + (2 * Jitter * Mirror Diameter (m) )²) ^ 0.5 / Mirror Diameter (m) )² 

Since armor works by subtracting its value from incoming damage, and RNG can randomize incoming damage by up to ±20%, we can re-arrange the formula to get the amount of armor needed to fully block a laser:

Armor = (Laser Damage × 1.2 / (0.7853982 / 0.005 (m²) × (Distance to Target (m) × ((1.22 × Wavelength (m) × Beam Quality)² + (2 * Jitter * Mirror Diameter (m) )²) ^ 0.5 / Mirror Diameter (m) )² ) ) ^ (1/1.5)

Range

Notably, laser weapons actually refuse to fire at targets unless they have sufficient armor penetration and damage. So weaker lasers may have less actual range than their stated targeting range. Specifically:

Anti-Ship Effective Range (km) = Range where (Laser Damage / Armor Effectiveness > 1)

Anti-Kinetic Effective Range (km) = Range where (Laser Damage / Armor Effectiveness > 0.5)

Anti-Missile Effective Range (km) = Range where (Laser Damage / Armor Effectiveness > 0.15)

Anti-Poorly-Armored-Ship Effective Range (km) = Range where (Laser Damage / Armor Effectiveness > 0.25)

Note: Poorly-Armored ship means the targeted part of the ship either has 0 armor or has over 20% of its armor chipped.

So a laser weapon will only fire at the target if the target is within both its Targeting Range and its Effective Range. Use the Defense Range instead of Targeting Range for enemy projectiles.

An important consequence of this is that the weaker lasers, such as Point Defense Phaser Turrets, can gain significant amounts of range from anything that buffs laser damage, such as:

• Laser Engines
• Directed Energy Officers
• Intelligence Officers
• Commanding Officers
• Precision Focusing Software Project

Chipping

Unlike other weapons, the % of a laser's damage that goes towards chipping is dynamically calculated based on its armor penetration. Specifically:

Chip % = Armor Effectiveness / 1000, capped at 0.25

This means that the chip damage dealt by lasers is actually inversely proportional to their ability to penetrate armor, giving low tech lasers an advantage. Nevertheless, chip damage dealt by lasers is usually negligible, so this advantage is rarely worth it.

Particle Weapons

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship particle weapons. For a list of all particle weapons in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Particle Weapon List instead.

Particle weapons do not miss and are excellent at targeting enemy projectiles. They also have unique interactions with armor that always allows some damage to penetrate into the ship internals, though the resulting damage may be extremely small and only good for temporarily disabling certain internal components. However, particle weapons do no damage at all to armor, and have low overall damage.

Charged particle weapons can only target enemy missiles. Neutral particle weapons can target all enemy projectiles.

Damage Points = Shot Power (MJ) / 20MJ

The damage of a particle beam can decrease with distance from the target ship. This is calculated as follows:

Actual Damage Points = Base Damage Points × Min(1, Target Area (m²) / Beam Area (m²)

Target Area (m²) = 3.1415927 × Target Ship Length × Target Ship Width / 2

Beam Area (m²) = 3.1415927 × (Beam Radius (m) )^2

If the particle beam fires neutral particles, then:

Beam Radius (m) = Emittance (m) × Distance to Target (m) / 1000000 / Lens Radius (cm) × 100 (cm/m)

Otherwise:

Beam Radius (m) = Lens Radius (cm) / 100 (cm/m) × 2 ^ (Distance to Target (km) / Doubling Range (km) )

As of Version 0.4.90, apart from Electron Beam weapons, all particle beam weapons have Beam Area less than the Target Area of even a gunship, even at their maximum range. So in practice the damage of a particle beam does not actually decrease with distance from the target ship unless it is an electron beam.

Particle weapons do no chip damage. Instead, the damage of a particle beam is split into 3 parts: Heat, X-rays, and Baryons. Heat damage behaves in the standard manner: the armor value of the target is subtracted from it, and any leftover damage is applied to the ship internals. Heat damage is also the damage that is used when calculating the effects of shooting enemy kinetic projectiles.

Power Consumed (GJ) = Shot Power (MJ) / Efficiency / 1000 (MJ/GJ)

Heat Generated (GJ) = Power Consumed (GJ) × (1 - Efficiency)

Note: The heat generated per shot here is only counting the heat that is directly generated by the weapon. The power consumed by the weapon may indirectly increase heat when the power plant attempts to recharge the power.

Notably, particle weapons do not consume ammo, and so can be fired an unlimited number of times.

Armor Interactions

Heat damage has the standard armor interactions of other weapons. In contrast, X-rays and Baryons are considered radiation damage and have a completely different interaction with armor. Specifically, radiation damage is reduced by armor via "Half-Values". one half value cuts damage in half. two half values cut damage in half twice, for 1/4.

All ships have a baseline of 4 half-values (1/16). armor up to the point where it reaches those 4 half-values does nothing. after that it replaces the baseline half-values with its own half-values.

The half value is measured in armor thickness. Every type of armor has one half-value thickness for x-rays and one half-value thickness for baryons. See Ship Armor List for details.

As of Version 0.4.90, apart from Boron Carbide Armor, all armors have significantly smaller half-values for x-rays than for baryons. Baryon damage is additionally multiplied by 5. Thus in practice, most radiation damage is done via baryons instead of X-rays. Notably:

• (Both Human and Alien) Adamantane Armor needs about 120 points of armor to reach 4 half-values for Baryons.
• (Both Human and Alien) Exotic Armor needs about 18.5 points of armor to reach 4 half-values for Baryons.

Notably, although armor can significantly reduce radiation damage, it can never reduce it all the way to zero. So there is always some leftover radiation damage that is then directly dealt to the ship internals, with the hit location being calculated in the same way as with lasers.

Damaged ship parts and systems either stop working or work at reduced effectiveness, but can be repaired over time. For example, damaged weapons cannot fire until fully repaired. Lasers have especially low health, making them good targets for particle beams. Once a weapon is entirely destroyed it can only be repaired in a shipyard.

Radiation effects

Radiation damage is processed differently from other internal ship damage: notably, it cannot damage "hard" systems or modules. This includes ship structure, heat sinks, spikers, hydrogen tankage, magazines, cyclotrons, and other utility modules that have the 'RadHardened' property. The heat-damage part of particle weapon effects can still damage these items, but not the x-ray or baryonic parts. (And since the Spinal Neutron Lance causes 0 heat damage, it cannot destroy a ship under any circumstances.)

Critical hits

On a critical hit (TAC), particle beams bypass all amor effects but are otherwise processed as usual. Baryon and x-ray components are applied as radiation damage with their usual multipliers, and the heat component is applied as standard internal damage.

Plasma Weapons

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship plasma weapons. For a list of all space ship plasma weapons in Terra Invicta, as well as their stats, see Plasma Weapon List instead.

Plasma weapons fire high-speed, low mass projectiles that cannot be targeted by enemy point defense but also cannot act as point defense. While their damage is not as high as some of the larger and more advanced magnetic weapons, the high muzzle velocity of plasma weapons make them significantly more likely to hit their target. Plasma weapons cannot bombard.

Strangely, the damage done by a plasma weapon projectile is simply its impact kinetic energy / 20MJ, but applied as thermal damage instead of kinetic damage (so armors with special kinetic resistance do not apply that resistance to plasma). Specifically:

Damage Points = ½ × Warhead Mass (kg) × (Impact Velocity (km/s))² / 20MJ

The power consumed per shot is calculated similarly, but adds charging energy, and takes into account the weapon's Efficiency. Specifically:

Power Consumed (GJ) = Charging Energy (GJ) / Efficiency + ½ × Warhead Mass (kg) * (Muzzle Velocity (m/s))² / Efficiency / 1e9 (J/GJ) 

Heat Generated (GJ) = Power Consumed (GJ) × (1 - Efficiency)

Note: The heat generated per shot here is only counting the heat that is directly generated by the weapon. The power consumed by the weapon may indirectly increase heat when the power plant attempts to recharge the power.

Notably, although plasma weapons do consume ammo and have a finite magazine size, this ammo weighs nothing and costs nothing to resupply.

Construction

Ships can be constructed at ship construction modules (Space Dock, Shipyard, Spaceworks). The construction time is calculated as follows:

• If the ship hull Construction Tier is greater than the ship construction module Tier, then:

Construction Time (days) = Base Construction Time (days) × 1.5 ^ Tier Gap

• If the ship hull Construction Tier is equal to the ship construction module Tier, then:

Construction Time (days) = Base Construction Time (days)

• If the ship hull Construction Tier is less than the ship construction module Tier, then:

Construction Time (days) = Base Construction Time (days) × Ship Construction Module Construction Time Modifier ^ Tier Gap

This construction time is then divided by (100% + Ship Building Speed Bonus).

See Ship Hull List for a list of all ship hulls and their construction times at each ship construction module.

Probes

Probes can be launched from any hab construction modules. Depending on where the hab is located, this can decrease the resources needed to launch a probe, or the time it takes to reach its destination.

Resupply

Ships can be resupplied at habs with ship construction modules (Space Dock, Shipyard, Spaceworks) and/or Supply Depot modules.

The base resupply duration is 0.005 days per fuel tank + 0.025 days per 50 ammo.

The resupply duration is divided by the sum of ship construction module tiers on the hab, with each Supply Depot module counting as an additional tier 2 Shipyard. It is also reduced by the Supply Officer if the ship has one.

(Note: As of Version 0.4.90, there may be a bug that causes fuel tanks to take twice as long to refuel and not receive any of the resupply speed bonuses, taking 0.01 days per fuel tank.)

ISRU

Ships with an ISRU module can refuel from hab sites they are landed on. These hab sites do not need to have a hab built on them. The refuel duration is calculated as follows:

• If the propellent type is Anything, then the Refuel Duration = Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Total Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit) / 3.
• Otherwise, the refuel duration is the maximum out of:
  • Water Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Water Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit)
  • Volatiles Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Volatiles Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit)
  • Base Metals Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Base Metals Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit)
  • Noble Metals Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Noble Metals Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit)
  • Fissiles Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Fissiles Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit)

Note: The refuel duration is capped at 90 days. If it would take longer than that, then the ship is only partially refueled by as much as can be done within 90 days.

There are two main advantages to refueling using ISRU modules:

• The refuel cost is free.
• Every ship refuels in parallel, meaning the total time needed for an entire fleet to refuel is simply the time taken by the ship that takes the longest to refuel.

Note: The following drives come with free ISRU capabilities, and can refuel this way without needing an actual ISRU module:

Drive	Required Project	Total Cost	Thrust (N)	Combat Thrust Multiplier	EV (kps)	Efficiency	Required Power Plant	Propellent (per tank)	Supplies Power	Special
Pulsed Plasmoid Drive	Pulsed Plasmoid Drive	22250	2200	1	425	0.72	Any Reactor	Anything 10	When Not Thrusting	Can use Remass Scoop Free ISRU
Mass Driver	Mass Driver	2950	12000	10	9.81	0.65	Any Reactor	Anything 10	When Not Thrusting	Can use Remass Scoop Free ISRU
E-Beam Drive	E-Beam Drive	2950	4600	16	19.62	0.76	Any Reactor	Anything 10	When Not Thrusting	Can use Remass Scoop Free ISRU
Superconducting Mass Driver	Superconducting Mass Driver	25450	28000	15	22	0.85	Any Reactor	Anything 10	When Not Thrusting	Can use Remass Scoop Free ISRU

Remass Scoop

Ships with a Remass Scoop can refuel from the atmospheres of Gas Giant planets when the ship is in interface orbit around that planet. But only if one of the following is true:

• The propellent type is Anything.
• The propellent type is Hydrogen and only consists of Water and/or Volatiles.

Note: Fissiles costs can be converted into Water costs for drives that use Helium-3, if the faction has an active He3 mine. This conversion effectively allows the Remass Scoop to also refuel Fissiles in these cases.

The Refuel Duration (days) = Fuel needed (tons) / 1000.

Note: The refuel duration has a minimum of 10 days. If it would be shorter than that, then it is set to 10 days.

There are two main advantages to refueling using Remass Scoops:

• The refuel cost is free.
• Every ship refuels in parallel, meaning the total time needed for an entire fleet to refuel is simply the time taken by the ship that takes the longest to refuel.

See Drive List for a list of drives, which also notes which drives can use remass scoops.

Repairs

Ships can be repaired at habs with ship construction modules (Space Dock, Shipyard, Spaceworks). The Repair Cost and Duration for each Ship System, Part, or Armor Facing is calculated as follows:

Ship System, Part, or Armor Facing	Repair Duration (days)	Repair Cost
Nose Structure	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Time / 10	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Cost / 10
Central Structure
Tail Structure
Fire Control	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Tier	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Cost / 200
Damage Control
Life Support Main	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Tier / 2	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Volatiles Cost / 20
Life Support Backup
Power Coupling	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Tier / 2	0.1 Base Metals
Drive Coupling
Vector Thrusters
Sensors
System Reactor	Missing Health % × 2	Missing Health % × Hypothetical cost of Power Plant if it has 100% Efficiency and only has to supply the systems and weapons.
Bridge	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Tier × 2	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Cost / 100
Nose Weapon	Missing Health % × 2	Missing Health % × Module Cost / 4
Hull Weapon
Utility Module
Radiator
Power Plant
Drive
Battery
Nose Armor	Shred % + Chip %	(Shred % + Chip % / 4) × Armor Cost
Left Armor
Right Armor
Tail Armor
Propellant	Not actually repairable, "destroyed" fuel tanks are functionally no different from empty fuel tanks and are just simply replaced in a resupply operation.

The repair duration is divided by the sum of ship construction module tiers on the hab. It is also reduced by the Engineering Officer if the ship has one.

Notes:

• Side armor is split into Left and Right armor, but each has to pay repairs as if it is the whole side armor. Which means repairing side armor is effectively twice as expensive as repairing nose or tail armor.
• Certain utility modules may have 4 times the repair costs (so they cost as much to repair as to build).

Interrupting repairs

• If you are repairing a single ship and interrupt/cancel the repair before it's finished, all progress is lost.
• If you are repairing a fleet with several ships and interrupt it, if there has been enough progress it may complete one or more ships that can be fully repaired, and lose the remainder.
• If additional space docks finish building at the station while repairs are ongoing, the game does not recalculate the repair completion date. So in some cases it can be preferable to cancel an incomplete repair and restart it using new facilities.

Refits

Factions may refit ships at ship construction modules (Space Dock, Shipyard, Spaceworks). Refitting is generally limited to replacing parts of a similar type. The refit rules are as follows:

Category	Conditions	Added Refit Duration (in % of hull construction time)
Ship Hull Type	Cannot be changed.
Ship Armor	Can be changed freely.	5% for each slot (nose, side, tail) changed.
Power Plant	Only to a Power Plant of the same Type. Power Plant Types are: Fuel Cell Solid Core Fission Molten Salt Core Fission Liquid Core Fission Gas Core Fission Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Mirrored Magnetic Confinement Fusion Toroid Magnetic Confinement Fusion Hybrid Confinement Fusion Z Pinch Fusion Inertial Confinement Fusion Hybrid Confinement Fusion Antimatter Plasma Core Antimatter Beam Core	25%
Drive	Only to a Drive of the same Classification Type, required Power Plant Type, and Propellent Type. The Classification Types are: Chemical Electrothermal Electrostatic Electromagnetic Fission_Thermal NuclearSaltWater Fission_Pulse Fusion_Thermal Antimatter The Required Power Plant Types are the same as the Power Plant Types, but with the addition of "Any Power Plant". The Propellent Types are: ReactionProducts Hydrogen Anything Water NobleGases Volatiles Metals	25% (0% if only Thruster Count changed.)
Radiator	Can be changed freely.	5%
Heat Sinks	Cannot reduce number, but can freely change or add more.	5% for each Changed or Added.
Batteries	Cannot reduce number, but can freely change or add more.	5% for each Changed or Added.
General Utility Modules: Mobile Space Science Labs Repair Bays Marines Laser Engines Magazines Colony Kits Cyclotrons	Cannot reduce number, but can freely interchange or add more.	5% for each Changed or Added.
Unchangeable Utility Modules: ISRU Remass Scoop Component Armor Salvage Bay Armor Struts Vector Thrusters Flag Bridge	Cannot reduce number or interchange. But can add any that weren't in the old design.	5% for each Added.
Spikers: Muon Neutronium Antimatter	Cannot reduce number, but can freely interchange or add one if there was none.	5% if changed or added.
Hydrogen Storage: Liquid Hydrogen Containment Slush Hydrogen Tankage Hydron Trap	Cannot reduce number, but can freely interchange or add one if there was none.	5% if changed or added.
Electronic Countermeasures	Cannot reduce number, but can freely interchange or add one if there was none.	5% if changed or added.
Targeting Computer	Cannot reduce number, but can freely interchange or add one if there was none.	5% if changed or added.
Weapons	Cannot add or remove, but can freely move around and change as long as the Mount and Type do not change. Weapon Mounts are: 1-Hull 2-Hull 4-Hull 1-Nose 2-Nose 3-Nose 4-Nose Weapon Types are: Naval Guns Lasers Particle Beams Magnetic Guns Plasma Missiles	5% for each changed, but moving around is free.

Note: If the total refit duration (in % of hull construction time) exceeds 75%, then it is just set to 75%.

Scuttle

Since ships cost Mission Control and Money to upkeep, there are many situations where a ship may no longer be wanted. In these cases, these unwanted ships can be scuttled to destroy them.

If this scuttling happens at a ship construction module (Space Dock, Shipyard, Spaceworks), then the faction regains 25% of the space resource costs of the ship, excluding any fuel costs. Notably, this resource cost is always calculated in terms of space resources (), even if the ship was originally constructed using Boost and Money.

Otherwise, the faction does not gain any resources from scuttling the ship. Instead, they may even have to pay Boost to evacuate the ship crew from the ship. If the ship's location is in an Earth Interface Orbit, then the cost to evacuate the ship crew is free. Otherwise, the Boost cost is equivalent to moving 0.1 tons of mass per ship crew from Earth to the ship's location.

If the scuttled ship is part of a larger fleet, then the Boost cost will be reduced by moving crew from the ship onto other ships in the fleet. Each remaining ship in the fleet can receive up to 25% more crew than it originally has.

Additional information

Various "Guides" are available that detail among other things ship module performance and functions.