Spaceships (Solar Era)

Spaceship technology is an integral part of the Solar Era, without it mankind would not have advanced to position it has reached prior to the Solar Era. Despite the large variety of of designs built during the Solar Era, each ship can be reduced to a few key system types.

Hull
A critical component of ship construction, in military ships the hull is often designed in order provide a balance of defensive strength and minimal radar cross-section. Usually this is achieved with a double hull plating, the exterior shielding serving as the main line of defence, while the interior can maintain integrity and internal pressure during evacuation of specific areas. Some ships may involve a triple hull plating, either on the key areas such as the bridge and hangar, or the entire ship.

When areas of the ship are compromised internal bulkheads will seal off the damaged area in an attempt to prevent loss of structural integrity. Windowed sections such as the bridge also have shutters to protect them which are lowered for combat operations. During combat taking out a ship solely through hull destruction is difficult, even with beam weapons, thus it's more effective to target key devices.

Engines
Ship propulsion varies between decades; early ships used chemical ignition, relatively primitive but effective and produced a large emission signature. Later models could move towards electrical propulsion, made possible by the more powerful Storm Arrays. Smaller vessels made use of electrostatic ion thrusters (and magnetoplasma thrusters on ships designed for atmospheric travel) while larger vessels used Plasmastream engines which released a large flow of plasma to create movement. Some ships either had smaller secondary engines fitted as backup propulsion while others used a hybrid set-up, allowing them to reduce energy emissions during stealth operations. Echelon ships notably used ion accelerator-based engines, known as Ionsurge, which functioned by accelerating anions in rapid pulses. This method of propulsion was also known to causes damage to unshielded electrical equipment and sensor disruption.

All ships have numerous large thrusters located at the stern for main propulsion. However, numerous smaller thrusters are also located around the hull in various positions for deceleration

Support
Sensors, life support, generators, sensors, ECM and so on are globally referred to as support systems. A ship's support systems are integral to its function, each subsystem serves a key purpose.

Generators
Before the development of Storm Drive technology ships were fitted with two generator type, a support energy generator and a weapons energy generator. This dual-generator layout allowed ships maintain systems even with weapons rendered offline, it also ensured that weapons could fire without sacrificing life support systems.

Ships fitted with Storm Arrays used a somewhat different configuration; the particle generator drive effectively combines both generators into a single device. As the Storm Array could produce both SR particles and electricity, a sufficient number of drives could provide power for the ship's support and ballistic weapon systems as well as a particle supply for SR weapons.

Life Support
In order to provide a habitable environment ships are fitted with an Environmental Control and Life Support System, regulating water recovery, atmosphere, temperature and fire suppression. Individual systems involved vary, however short-term mission ships rely on filters and hydrolysis equipment to produce oxygen while deep space ships are fitted with more long-term systems such as artificially closed ecosystems. Fires can be controlled through the use of carbon dioxide or foam extinguishers which may be activated automatically or used as hand-held version by the crew.

Sensor Array
Despite it being somewhat counter-intuitive, visual detection is unreliable and difficult in space. Instead, ships rely on various detection systems to located targets, heat sensors and radar are typical observation systems used. More specialised ships can make use of magnetic sensors, lidar and x-ray imagery. Once an enemy has been detected a target lock is achieved through radar or guidance laser.

Electronic Warfare
A common misconception is that warefare purely involves direct combat, electronic warfare is also an important method of limiting enemy capabilities. The most often form of electronic warfare is centred around sensor and communications disruption. Key technologies involve radar jammers to flood enemy arrays and flares to blind optical and heat sensors. More advanced tactics involve a brute force entry into the enemy's wireless system are remotely disrupting shipboard functions.

Subspace Transit Driver
Also known as a Subspace Resonance Device, the driver is a key system which allows for stable matter transfer between hyperspace and regular space, without one objects suffer disruption at the molecular level when passing through a gate, causing them to break up. The system consists of two drivers, one installed into the gate and one on board the ship passing through, this results in the passing ship to possess the same subspace resonance as the hyperspace corridor it's moving through. By assigning different gate connections different resonance frequencies the corridors can cross over without collision (even though the odds of two corridors directly crossing over are extremely remote anyway). The lack of a Transit Driver on board mobile suits is also the main reason as to why mobile suits cannot use Waypoint Gates directly and require transporters.

Hangar
Generally most ships feature a hangar of sorts, even just for the storage of a small shuttle. Typically these areas are staffed by large groups of maintenance workers to repair damaged units as well as oversee refuelling and resupply. Due to their tactical importance are often built with a reinforced hull structure as well as multiple bulkheads within the hangar which can be lowered during emergencies. On board carrier ships the hangars are directly located near linear catapults, allowing for rapid launch and recovery. Some ships feature catapults positioned sideways to save space, requiring the mobile suit to be rotated into position during launch and landing.

Weapons
Two main types of weapon exist; beam weapons and ballistic weapons, using linear induction or self-propelled ordnance. Prior to 75 S.E. the vast majority of Peacekeeper ships did not have beam weapons. However, following the introduction of the Storm Drive newly designed vessels now feature a hybrid loadout of both types. Typically SR particle weapons are more effective against armour and more accurate compared to non-guided ballistics, while ballistic weapons such as machine guns are more likely to damage enemy mobile suit on contact and draw less power. Missiles also play an important role in ship combat and can be used in a range of situations; notably as direct anti-MS or anti-ship weapons or for more tactical purposes, such as beam dispersal fields. An added benefit of ballistic weapons is that it cannot be easily blocked, compared to SR beam weapons and often provide an alternate means of offence when beam weapons are ineffective.

Alternate Beam Weapons
Some ships are also given HSR weapons which are dramatically more powerful than their standard counterparts. HSR particles are only used for heavy weapons due to the higher charge time required to generate them but cannot be blocked as effectively by conventional beam defences. In a few select cases laser beam weapons are also installed on ships to target sensors and other vulnerable devices.

Weapon Size
Weapon size and rate of fire vary on function; light, rapid firing weapons are often used for targeting enemy mobile suits, missiles and other light craft. Larger beam weapons require a longer charge time between shots, but can maintain beam cohesion over longer distances. Some older ships also featured heavy linear weapons, but must be used with utmost care to prevent collateral damage in case of a missed shot. Missiles also vary on size, depending on role; anti-MS weapons are small but feature a large number of vernier rockets to maintain tracking of targets through the area. Anti-ship missiles are larger and capable of traveling longer distance to reach ships on the edge of the battlefield.