Openframe Ship Catalog · Chapter 2

Reading an Openframe Entry

Chapters 5 to 8 give each Openframe line an entry: a heading for the line, a plate, a short description, one stat block for every version, version notes, Common Variants and a Version Table. This chapter explains every part of the stat block, cell by cell, in the order it prints. The ship rules the block refers to are in the Void Drifters Vehicles Manual; each part below names the chapter.

Lines and Versions

The line heading gives the model number and the class: Model 20 Light Modular Freighter. The line under it names the hull style (Chapter 3) and the versions.

A version is a revision of Openframe's open standard. It keeps its line's silhouette, role and Scale and changes some numbers. A version makes one primary change and at most one smaller one. A change of class or frame is a new platform and takes a new model number.

Version	Meaning
v1.0	The first version of the line
v1.1	The second version
v1.2	The third version

The model numbers are Openframe's own catalog numbers and say nothing about size. The Vehicles Manual prints the Models 20, 40, 60 and 80 in its Chapter Sixteen. Those four hulls are the v1.0 of their lines here, and their numbers are identical in both books.

Classic. A Classic is an older version that captains still ask for by name. Its identity line says Classic, and its version notes say what it does better than the version that replaced it. Openframe's two Classics are the Model 20 v1.0 and the Model 40 v1.1.

Open and Licensed slots. Every Module Slot a hull has in its first version is Open. Every slot a later version adds is Licensed: a module in it works only while the hull's Openframe license is current. Chapter 4 has the rule; the Version Table gives the count and the fee.

The Stat Block

Every version has one block. Scale 2 to 5 hulls print a one-column block; Scale 6 and 7 hulls print a wide block across the page, with the same cells in the same order. The teal stripe down the left edge marks an Openframe hull.

Header Band and Identity Line

Header band. The designation, then the class: MODEL 20 V1.1 LIGHT MODULAR FREIGHTER.

Identity line. The builder and the model family on the left. A Classic version adds Classic. On the right, the Scale badge: the hull's size class, from 2 (a work pod) to 7 (Openframe's largest commercial hull). Scale sets the hull's build budget and caps, how it fights ships of other sizes, and which mounts and modules it can take (Vehicles Manual, Chapters Three and Thirteen).

Market Line

Role. What the hull is usually bought for. It is a description, not a rule.

Price. The factory-new catalog price in credits at an Openframe yard, with the factory module package fitted. Apply the market and condition multipliers in Vehicles Manual Chapter Twelve; Chapter 10 of this book gives the used-market multipliers. A captured military hull lists a Prize Value in this cell instead. No Openframe hull does.

Acquisition. The paperwork a legal buyer needs: Open, Licensed, Restricted or Military (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Sixteen, Acquisition Tiers). Acquisition is not operator tier. Every Openframe hull is Civilian tier and is sold Open or Licensed.

Flight Strip

Speed. The range bands the ship changes with one Advance or Break Maneuver in combat, and how it fares in a chase (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Fifteen, Speed).

Cruise. From 1 to 5, the travel time between Travel Bands in normal space: Cruise 1 takes 24 hours an Interval, Cruise 2 takes 8 hours (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Six, Cruise Ratings).

Handling. Add that many Boon Dice (positive) or Bane Dice (negative) to Pilot checks and to attacks with Fixed Forward weapons. In Disengage and chase checks Handling sets the difficulty instead (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Three). A heavy cargo load worsens it.

Sensors. The sensor grade and the farthest band at which the ship detects other ships: Basic (Short), Standard (Medium), Extended (Long), Military (Extreme) (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Seven).

Hull Strip

Armor. Hull Damage stopped from each hit, less the weapon's Pierce. Against Ion weapons it stops System Damage at half its value (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Eight, Armor).

Deflection F/A. Fore value, then aft value. Add that many Bane Dice to every attack against the ship from that facing; attacks from port or starboard use the lower value (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Eight, Deflection). Every Openframe hull is built with 0 / 0. Screens are installed separately and add their own dice.

Hull Points. Hull Damage counts up toward this number. When Hull Damage reaches Hull Points, the ship is destroyed: it breaks up at the end of the next round (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Three, Destroyed). While Hull Damage is at or above half the Hull Points, the Openframe Armor and Combat Durability drawback applies (Chapter 4).

System Points. System Damage counts up toward this number. When System Damage reaches System Points, the ship is out of control: it drifts, and its weapons, screens and drive are offline until repairs bring System Damage below System Points (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Three, Out of Control).

Engineering Strip

Power. Power Capacity: the most Power Load the reactor sustains at once. Weapons, screens and active modules add Power Load. Above Power Capacity, the engineer chooses an overload response at once (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Six, Power Capacity).

Heat Threshold. The Heat at which strain begins. At the threshold and above, the Heat Threshold Escalation table applies (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Six). An Openframe hull at Heat Threshold +4 or above gains 1 more Heat each round (Chapter 4).

Heat Dissipation. The Heat removed at the end of each round. It is set by Scale and operator tier: an Openframe hull dissipates the Civilian figure for its Scale (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Thirteen, Step Five).

Module Slots (open). The hull's Module Slots, then in parentheses how many are still empty after the factory package. 8 (4) means eight slots, four of them free for the buyer. The Version Table says how many of the slots are Licensed.

Complement Strip

Crew. Minimum / standard. 3 / 6 means the ship needs 3 crew to run without penalty and 6 to hold every station; quarters for the standard crew come with the hull. From minimum up to standard, some stations stand empty or crew cover two. Below minimum, every check aboard adds 1 Bane Die for each crew member short (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Fourteen, Crew Size). On Scale 6 and 7 hulls each station is a department, and the standard crew keeps the departments running.

Passengers. Berths beyond the crew. Standard crew plus Passengers is the ship's complement, the number of people its life support keeps alive indefinitely (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Three, Complement and Life Support).

Cargo Units. Secured hold space. One Cargo Unit holds one tonne of ordinary packaged freight; dense and bulky freight take more or fewer tonnes per Unit, and a hold never carries more tonnes than twice its rating (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Three, Cargo Units). Loading past 75% of the rating worsens Handling.

Consumables. Months of food, water, air and medical basics for the standard crew. Everyone aboard draws one person-month a month, so passengers shorten it. The Model 10, a small craft, prints Endurance in hours instead: enough for one shift away from its carrier.

Weapons Table

A hull that has a typical fit prints a Typical Loadout table. It is the weapons most hulls of the version carry, not a factory installation: the price includes the mounts, and the buyer may fit any weapon that fits a mount (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Twelve, Hardpoints).

Column	What it is
Weapon	The weapon, then ×2 or more for identical weapons. Under the name, in small type: the mount size, the arc (Fixed Forward, Forward, Broadside, Rear, Turret), and the weapon's tags and ammunition
Range	The range bands it can fire at
Hull	Hull Damage of a hit with one Success; each Success beyond the first adds 1
Sys	System Damage of a hit. A dash means none
Crit	Boons the attacker spends to inflict a Critical Hit. A dash means it cannot inflict one
Heat	Heat added to the ship when it fires
Pwr	Power Load while it fires or targets

Identical weapons in one arc may fire as a battery (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Fifteen, Batteries). Each weapon's full entry is in Vehicles Manual Chapter Eight. A hull with mounts and no typical fit prints Weapons: None factory-fitted.

Labelled Rows

Rated. Whether the ship has a Slipstream Drive, its atmospheric rating, and landing systems. Without a Slipstream Drive the ship cannot leave its system under its own power. Atmosphere is sustained atmospheric flight, Atmosphere (limited) is short-duration operation, No atmosphere keeps the ship in space. Landing means landing systems; a hull without them never touches a planetary surface (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Nine).

AI Core. The AI grade fitted. Basic Automation runs routine functions and gives no assistance; a Civilian Directive AI has 1 Active Channel and 2 Directive Packages (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Seven, AI Core Ratings).

Mounts. The weapon mounts by size, then the total in hardpoint points (Light 1, Standard 2), then any mounts the typical loadout leaves empty. A mount carries one weapon of its own size or smaller. Points do not pool: three Light mounts never carry one Standard weapon. Changing a mount's size is a yard rebuild (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Ten, Changing Hardpoints).

Modules. The factory package, with each module's slots in parentheses where it fills more than one, then the open slots. A module's effect, Power Load and price are in Vehicles Manual Chapter Ten, Appendix: Module Catalog. Openframe's own components are in Chapter 9 of this book.

Hangar. On a hull with a Shuttle Bay or an Expanded Hangar: how many craft it carries inside, and their largest Scale. Launch and recovery are in Vehicles Manual Chapter Fifteen, Carried Craft.

Carried by. On a small craft (the Model 10): the bays and cradles that carry it.

Builder. The Openframe Signature benefits and Weak drawbacks (Chapter 4), and Integrated Architecture while the ship keeps it (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Five). The row adds any figure the benefits change for this hull: Creative stowage is the cargo rating plus 10 Units, the capacity a crew may use when it stows creatively.

Trait. The version's own rule. Where a version has two, both print in the row. Traits apply as written; a trait that adds a Boon Die to an attack counts toward the limit of 2 free Boon Dice per attack (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Fifteen, The Boon Limit).

After the Blocks

Version notes. What each version changed and why, in plain terms, and what shows on the hull (Chapter 3 has the visual guide).

Common Variants. Jobs a hull is fitted for. A variant is a configuration recorded on the Vehicle Sheet. It is not part of the name.

Version Table. One row per version.

Column	What it is
Change	What the version changed from the one before
Price	Catalog price, as in the block
Licensed slots, fee a year	How many of the hull's slots are Licensed, and the annual license fee: 0.4% of the catalog price per Licensed slot (Chapter 4)
Upgrade from previous	The retrofit cost to turn the previous version into this one at an Openframe yard: double the build points, and 2.5 times the credit value of those points at build time (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Thirteen, Upgrading After the Build)

Master tables. Chapter 12 lists every hull in one summary table, compares the eight lines side by side, and gives every hull by price and every upgrade with the unspent budget it leaves. Those tables are built from the same data as the blocks, so the two always agree.

Grade

Every Openframe hull is built to the Civilian operator tier, for open commercial sale. That sets its caps on Armor, hardpoint points, Power and Heat Threshold, its Heat Dissipation, and its standard AI Core (Vehicles Manual, Chapter Thirteen, Step Two). Openframe pays less than other builders for cargo and Module Slots and more for Armor, Hull Points and Heat Threshold (Chapter 4), which is why its hulls carry a great deal of room and little plate.

Example: The Model 20 v1.1

A crew is deciding whether to buy a Model 20 v1.1. They read the block from the top.

1. Header and identity. A Scale 4 light freighter from the Model 20 family. It is not the Classic; the v1.0 is.

2. Market line. 371,000cr, Open: any buyer at any commercial port.

3. Flight. Speed 3 and Handling +0: no dice added to Pilot checks. Cruise 2: 8 hours an Interval in normal space. Standard sensors see to Medium.

4. Hull. Armor 1 and Hull Points 18: once Hull Damage reaches 9, Pilot and Craft checks aboard add 1 Bane Die , and at 18 the ship is destroyed. System Points 13: at 13 System Damage it is out of control.

5. Engineering. Power 8 runs the two typical weapons (1 Power Load each) with room for screens. Heat Threshold 10 and Heat Dissipation 2. 10 (6): ten slots, six empty.

6. Complement. Crew 2 / 4: two can run it, four hold every station. Six passengers, 140 Cargo Units, three months of supplies.

7. Weapons. A light rotary cannon and a point-defense laser, both on turrets; the third Light mount is empty.

8. Trait. Openframe Interfaces halves module work at a proper yard. Licensed Interfaces: the two slots this version adds owe a fee.

9. Version Table (Chapter 6). Two Licensed slots at 3,000cr a year. Upgrading a v1.0 instead costs 10 build points and 28,100cr, and the v1.0 has 93 unspent points to cover it.

10. Decide. Buy the v1.1 new; upgrade a v1.0; or buy a used v1.0 at 0.55 of its price (Chapter 10) and owe nothing.