020 Beginner Training 6: Ship Development 1

Third day of beginner training.

"Today we'll cover ship development.

To develop a ship, you perform fusion and separation.

Fusion means merging parts from another ship into your own.

For example, if you want to swap out your main cannon, you separate the railgun you've been using, then fuse in a new railgun.

That's fusion and separation."

"Instructor! Can't we equip two railguns?"

Tanpopo's question, answered by Commander Shiina.

"Good question.

Sure, you could argue that equipping more weapons increases combat power.

But adding weight slows you down.

Plus, the energy supply might not keep up—your weapons might not function at all."

Commander Shiina confirms the words have settled into everyone's minds.

"So that’s what we use as a rough guide—how many Empty Energy Slots we’ve got.

It’s a measure of how much spare power the ship has.

The stronger the weapon, the more Empty Energy Slots it burns through.

For example, a large-caliber Railgun eats up two Empty Energy Slots.

But a multi-barreled anti-space Laser only uses one Empty Energy Slot for four barrels.

And don’t forget—Defense barriers and Electronic Equipment also drain Empty Energy Slots."

"Wait, Instructor! Are there *no* weapons that don’t consume Empty Energy Slots?" asks Ooi.

"Only one exception: the Missile Launcher Pod.

It doesn’t drain Empty Energy Slots.

Instead, it eats up ship volume.

How much volume it uses depends on the number of launch tubes and how many spare missiles the ship carries.

This gets easier as the ship gets bigger—but keep in mind, added mass slows you down. Be careful."

Shield, too—anything that doesn’t suck up energy slots.

But remember, every extra pound slows you down.”

Ooi nods, eyes narrowing like he just solved a puzzle.

Maybe Ooi’s one of those missile-only types.

“Back to energy slots.

Number of slots depends on the main reactor’s output.

Upgrade to a high-performance, high-output reactor, and you get more slots.

Even a ship with zero slots now can gain more—just swap out the reactor for a better one.

But the reactor swap still affects hull size.

Higher performance means bigger, heavier reactors.

That’s why battleships are the ultimate in this world.”

(Okay. So you balance energy, weapons, cargo space, weight, speed—tweak the numbers to shape your ship, grow it, make it yours.)

So, let’s talk about the other thing—buying and selling.

There are three sources for parts used in fusion.

First, parts manufactured and sold by stations.

Standard components come from here.

Second, loot taken from enemy ships—captured or recovered parts.

You can fuse these without selling them. A straightforward method.

Third, surplus parts no longer needed—either from battle spoils or disassembly—get sold as secondhand goods.

You acquire these parts and use them for fusion.

Enemy ships might drop rare equipment, so keep your eyes peeled.”

My Personal Ship has weak armaments and has suffered for it, but it’s got six Empty Energy Slots.

That means upgrading—no, adding—a main cannon might be a simple way to boost combat power.

Problem is the debt. I’ll have to pay that off before I can even think about buying weapons.

I’ll go ahead and wheedle that into the prince—gotta get some powerful weapons to pay off the debt.

“Instructor! What about missiles and live ammo? How do we handle those?”

Ooi asks.

“Ah… I forgot to explain that.”

Commander Shiina gives a look of mild panic and starts speaking.

“When you take on an enemy ship hunt quest, you get a participation fee and live ammo issued.

The fee varies depending on the enemy force’s size.

You get ammo replenished equal to the number of missile launch tubes you have.

Of course, anything beyond that you’ll need to buy yourself.

But railgun rounds are manufactured aboard the ship—each day, they increase automatically.

That rate varies by ship capability, so check your own vessel.”

So missiles run out unless you refill them, but railgun rounds just… keep growing on their own?

If we go on enemy ship hunt quests, we’ll end up with extra missiles. Could sell them for profit, maybe.

"There! Those leftover missiles? Retrieve 'em—once you're on the battlefield, fire 'em off."

(Uh... damn it, they really are reading my mind!)

I pretended the part about one-tenth of a Railgun round being supplied per enemy vessel extermination quest never existed.

Decided it could be covered by automatic manufacturing and purchase—so I just erased it from the rules. Forgot to actually delete it.

Sorry about that.