Torn Stars - Loadout

Loadout, meaning the equiping, prepping and arming of ships prior to spaceflight, has been changed considerably in Unstable Space. In this first of a series of articles I will very briefly go over the changes, and describe how it is handled now.

Firstly, loadout is now referred to as 'Ship Fitting'. Look for the 'Ship Fitter' button in your ships menu, which is accessed as usual, via the 'o' key.

Secondly, ship fitting is no longer done inside a station (Lucretia's base). In fact, we no longer enter stations at all in Unstable Space. Ship fitting is accessed by docking with a station that has a Shipyard Facility. Shipyards, Naval Bases, Mercenary Bases and some Pirate Bases are the typical stations that have a Shipyard Facility and support ship fitting.

Thirdly, ship fitting requires the ship to be fitted to be docked at the Shipyard Facility of the station. If the ship is not docked, ship fitting options will not be available.

Fourthly, ship fitting can be conducted on the player ship, as well as any hired wingmen. To fit a wingmen's ship, simply order your wingman to dock to a station with a Shipyard Facility.

There have also been some considerable changes made to weapons and systems. Systems are relatively unchanged from stock versions. However, virtually all, save the ship's main drive, can be swapped out now via the Ship Fitter. Weapons have been slightly reduced in number, but broken down into two distinct classes: Internal and External.

Internal weapons are 'standard' and are mounted on ships with appropriate 'Internal Weapons Mountpoints'. Bolt, Beam and Missile weapons can all be mounted interchangeably on these mountpoints. As an example, the single weapon mountpoint on the front of the Advanced Comsec could mount a PBC, Mining Beam, or Seeker missile launcher, depending on the preference of the pilot.

External weapons mark an addition to the game. These weapons are mounted, on selected ships, at 'External Weapon Mountpoints'. When mounted, the player will actually be able to see a visible avatar representing the weapon. This avatar will changed depending on the weapon mounted. As with the Internal weapons, Bolt, Beam and Missile weapons can be mounted interchangeably.

Because External weapons are not limited to a standardized internal weapons compartment size, they are able to be larger. Hence External weapons generally do twice as much damage as an equivalent internal weapon type. Missiles do not do more damage, but the External system can hold considerably more missiles.

The Ship Fitter screen relays some important information to the player when fitting weapons. As all Heat and Power draw are modeled by the ship (and wingman ships too!) It is crucial that the player not mount weapons or systems without preparing sufficient power and heat sink capabilities.

In addition to fitting new systems to ships, and adding or swapping out weapons, the Ship Fitter screen can be used to rearm various weapons systems, such as missiles, assault cannons, and flares/decoys.

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