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 Research, 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:

• Wet Mass: Wet Mass is the total mass of the ship when fully loaded with fuel. 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.
• 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: How quickly the ship can change its velocity in the strategy layer. Higher cruise accelerations allow ships to overcome a space body's gravity and take more direct trajectories to its destination. Capped at 2.0g.
• Combat Acceleration: How quickly the ship can change its velocity in the combat layer. Some drives are capable of short periods of higher acceleration in combat situations. Capped at 4.0g.
• Turn Rate: How quickly the ship can change its orientation in combat. This value is dependent on the length and mass of the ship; shorter ships will turn faster all things being equal.
• Heat Sink Capacity: Heat sinks serve as a temporary substitute for a ship's heat management while a 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.
• 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.
• Support: The Mission Control(MC) and monthly money cost 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 events may occur.
• Cruise Delta-V Determines where the ship can go and how fast it can get there. More propellant increases Delta-V. More mass on the ship decreases it.
  • Ships with 4 kps Delta-V can intercept and return to a friendly station in the same orbit.
  • Ships with less than 8 kps Delta-V may have trouble reaching the Moon from an Earth orbit.
  • Ships with less than 30 kps Delta-V will not be able to reliably perform interplanetary transfers from Earth.
  • Ships with roughly 60 kps will be able to perform more extreme transfers such as transferring from Mercury to Saturn.
• Space Combat Value: Each ship have Space Combat Value calculated from its weapons and other equipment. This value is irrelevant for most of the game but used for the victory condition of several factions.

Hull

This section discusses the game mechanics for ship hulls. For a 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 upkeep of the ship.

While most of these are self-explanatory, the length, width, construction tier, and structural integrity of the ship also have significant impacts on the following game mechanics:

• The amount of Faction Hate gained from killing the ship:

Hate = 0.4 × Hull Structural Integrity

• The amount of Alien Hate Vented when they kill the ship:

Hate Vent = Hull Construction Tier

• The health of several Ship Systems is equal to the Hull Structural Integrity.

• The ability of the ship to turn in combat:

Angular Acceleration (rads / s²) = 2500000 (kg m / s²) × 12 (rads) / Ship Mass (kg) / Hull Length (m) 

Max Angular Velocity (rads / s) = (4G × 9.80665(m/s²/G) × 0.5 × Hull Length (m) ) ^ 0.5 / Hull Length (m) × 2 (rads) 

• The maximum armor thickness of the ship:

Maximum Nose or Tail Armor Thickness (cm) = Hull Length (m) × 100 (cm/m) × 3.6 

Maximum Side Armor Thickness (cm) = Hull Width (m) × 100 (cm/m) × 12 

Note: Exofighters have half the maximum nose and side armor thickness, and cannot have any tail armor.

• The volume of armor on the ship (each point of chip damage removes 1 cubic meter of armor volume):

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) 

• The mass of armor on the ship, which in turn determines the cost:

Armor Mass (kg) = Armor Volume (m³) × Armor Density (kg / m³) 

• Bonus range for point defenses:

Bonus Point Defense Range (m) = Hull Length (m) × 100 

• The volume of the ship:

Ship Volume (m³) = Hull Length (m) × (Hull Width (m) / 2) ^ 2 × 3.1415927 

Note: The volume of the ship is mainly used for calculating the damage when two ships collide. Smaller ships deal disproportionately less damage to larger ships.

• The Construction, Repair, and Refit times for the ship, which are discussed in detail in later sections.

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
Troop Carrier	Long	Will avoid combat
Explorer	Long	Will avoid combat
Inner System Colony Ship	Long	Will avoid combat
Outer System Colony Ship	Long	Will avoid combat
Transport	Long	Will avoid combat
Strike	Long	Short
Interdictor	Long	Medium
Attack Bomber	Long	Long
Fighter	Medium	Short
Space Superiority	Medium	Medium
Standoff	Medium	Long
Interceptor	Short	Short
Patrol	Short	Medium
Defense Bomber	Short	Long

Officer

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

Name	Module	Trigger	Minimum crew	Spawn chance	Effect (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3)
Admiral	Flag Bridge	Combat victory		2%	Fleet MC Reduction (-5%, -10%, -20%)
Captain		Combat victory		1%	Ship MC (-1, -2, -3) Minimum of 1, Global Damage (+2%, +4%, +6%)
First Officer		Combat victory	20	1%	Officer promotion (+100%, +200%, +300%), Global targeting (+3%, +6%, +10%)
Fire Control Officer	Missiles	Combat kill with missiles		6%	Missile targeting & damage (+10%, +20%, +30%)
Gunnery Officer	Guns (Naval, Rail, Coil, Plasma)	Combat kill with guns		6%	Guns targeting & damage (+10%, +20%, +30%)
Direct Energy Officer	Energy weapons (Laser, Particle Beam)	Combat kill with energy weapons		6%	Energy targeting & damage (+10%, +20%, +30%)
Damage Control Officer		Combat survival	10	1%	Improve damage control speed (+10%, +20%, +30%), Internal damage (-5%, -10%, -15%)
Engineering Officer		Combat survival		1%	Internal damage (-5%, -10%, -15%), Dock repair speed (+20%, +30%, +50%), Salvage (+10%, +20%, +30%)
Propulsion Officer	Tunable Drive	Combat survival		1%	Combat thrust multiplier (1, 2, 3), ECM +(2%, 4%, 6%)
Medical Officer		Combat survival	40	1%	Maximum combat acceleration (+0.5G, +1G, +1.5G), Officer survival (+30%, +50%, +70%), Radiation damage (-10%, -25%, -50%)
CIC Officer		Combat kill	20	2%	ECM (+5%, +12%, +20%), Point defense cooldown (-5%, -10%, -15%)
Intel Officer		Combat kill	40	2%	Global target and damage (+5%, +10%, +15%)
Marine Officer	Marine	Successful marine assault		10%	Assault combat value (+1, +3, +5)
Supply Officer		Transfer completion	40	3%	Max trajectory duration in months (+3, +6, +12), Dock resupply speed (+20%, +30%, +50%)
Chief Officer		Combat victory	20	1%	Damage control speed (+2%, +4%, +6%) MC Reduction (0, 0, -1)

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

The Project Bonuses are:

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

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 % Multiplies Targeting Bonus	0	0	0	1
Power Coupling	Hull Structural Integrity	Health % Multiplies Battery 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	Health % Multiplies Targeting Bonus	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

Ship Areas 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.

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.

Radiators remove waste heat produced by the ship's power plant and crews. Waste heat of a power plant scales with its output and efficiency (heat generated = power x (1-efficiency)). And each crew generates 3.75MW waste heat.

The cooling type of the ship's drive affects total amount of waste heat needs to be removed. With an open-cycle cooling drive, the radiator only has to remove waste heat from crews. With a closed-cycle cooling drive, the radiator has to remove waste heat of both power plant and crews.

Radiators are highly vulnerable in combat. When a ship takes hit while the radiator is extended, the radiator has a chance to get hit directly and destroyed, regardless of the ship's armor configuration. You can retract the radiator to prevent this if the ship has heat sinks in one or more utility slots. However, once the ship's heat sink fills up, the radiators must be extended again to protect the lives of the crew.

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.

The ship's primary battery stores energy from the power plant and provides it to weapons, life support, and other key systems when the main power plant is unable to do so, either due to damage or when the drive is operating on ships that don't have an independently powered drive. High-power weapons can drain the battery quickly in combat. Improved batteries will have a larger capacity or a faster recharge rate. You may add additional batteries of the same type in utility module slots for greater capacity.

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.

Armor plating on the ship will absorb incoming weapons fire, preventing damage to internal components. Each point of armor will absorb 20 Megajoules of energy at a single location on the hull before vaporizing. Different armor types require a different thickness and mass to absorb a particular amount of damage.

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 be 10-35x heavier per point than nose/tail armor. As of 0.4.90, the armor formulas are as follows:

• Plate Thickness (m) = 20 (MJ) / Heat of Vaporization (MJ / kg) / 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)

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

Utility Modules

Utility Modules perform a variety of functions to widen a spacecraft's capabilities. Extra batteries may also be put in utility module slots.

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 damage control
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)
Laser Engine	25	+10MJ laser weapon power
Advanced Laser Engine	50	+20MJ laser weapon power
Magazine	100	Projectile weapons gain +50% ammo. Mass increases accordingly.
Component Armor	500	-25% Internal Damage during combat
Armor Strut	500	Increase the amount of armor each facing on ship can carry by 100%.
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

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. The mechanics are as follows:

Category	Applies when Radiator is	Other Conditions	Effects
Module Heat Generation	Destroyed Retracting Retracted	None	Heat generated by modules is added to Heat Sinks.
Radiator Heat Vent	Extending Extended	None	Heat Sinks lose 0.1 GJ heat per second, multiplied by Radiator Health %.
Excess Heat Damage	Destroyed Retracting Retracted Extending	Heat exceeds Heat Sink Capacity	Apply (Excess Heat GJ × 50) Explosion Damage directly to the Core of the Ship.

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.

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.

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. Weapons can have up to four different possible fire modes:

• Focus Fire: Will fire at primary target only.
• Attack: Will fire at primary target if it is in range, otherwise will attack the nearest available target.
• Guardian: Will fire at incoming projectiles and missiles before targeting enemy ships.
• Defense: Will fire at incoming projectiles and missiles; will not target ships.

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. 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. If a weapon has a salvo listed of X shots / Y s, it will fire one shot every Y seconds X number of times, and then will go on cooldown, after which it will fire another salvo. For example, the Light Coilgun Battery Mk1 has a salvo of 3 shots / 10 s 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:

• 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)

Note that every time the power plant produces 1GJ of power, it will also produce (1GJ / power plant efficiency) of waste heat.

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 roll for through-armor-criticals.
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)

Note that every time the power plant produces 1GJ of power, it will also produce (1GJ / power plant efficiency) of waste heat.

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

Lasers that can attack both enemy ships and enemy projectiles actually have ⅓ of their stated targeting range when they are targeting projectiles. But they also receive a bonus targeting range based on the length of their Ship Hull. Specifically:

Point Defense Targeting Range (km) = Targeting Range (km) / 3 + Ship Hull Length (km) × 100

Furthermore, 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.

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

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 are short-range weapons that are very good at penetrating armor, potentially disabling or destroying a ship's internal components, but doing very little to armor or ship structure itself. They are designed to be used as part of a fleet, and are very unlikely to kill a ship if used alone. The point-defense particle beam is also an effective point-defense weapon against missiles, but not against kinetic slugs.

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.

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

Note that every time the power plant produces 1GJ of power, it will also produce (1GJ / power plant efficiency) of waste heat.

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

Armor Interactions

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.

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 work at reduced effectiveness (but will slowly be repaired over time). For example, damaged weapons will have longer cooldowns between shots. 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.

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) 

Note that every time the power plant produces 1GJ of power, it will also produce (1GJ / power plant efficiency) of waste heat.

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.

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. 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)
  • Metals Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Metals Daily Output (units) / 10 (tons / unit)
  • Nobles Fuel needed (tons) / Hab Site Nobles 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.

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 Volatiles.

The Refuel Duration = 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.

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	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 Volatile Cost / 20
Life Support Backup
Power Coupling	Missing Health % × Hull Construction Tier / 2	0.1 Metals
Drive Coupling
Vector Thrusters
Sensors
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.

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.
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. Note: A ship design can only be saved if all of its Batteries have the same Name.	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%.

Additional information

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