Shïp

Shïp (abbreviated form of starship) is a type of data resource in EV Nova. These ships tell the game about spaceship types.

The shïp resource

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EV Bible text

The following information was transcribed from the Nova Bible, ©1995-2006 by Matt Burch. The original document can be viewed here.

Spaceships are the heart of Nova, so the ship resource contains a lot of info. The name of a ship class, which is seen in the targeting display, corresponds to the name of the ship resource. The first nine fields give Nova some general performance info on each ship type:

Holds

Cargo capacity, in tons. Put a negative sign in front of this value if you want to prevent the player from purchasing mass expansions. (e.g. a value of -100 would mean 100 tons of hold space but no mass expansions allowed)

Shield

Shield strength. Setting this to a negative value will result in shield strength equal to 5x the absolute value. This allows you to create a ship with shields exceeding the field’s maximum value of 32767.

Accel

Acceleration magnitude. 300 is considered an average value.

Speed

Top speed. 300 is also an average value here. Note: Creating a ship with zero speed and acceleration and giving it a Warship AI will cause it to spawn in a defensive perimeter around the first stellar in a system.

Maneuver

Turn rate. 10 ≈ 30°/sec.

Fuel

Fuel capacity. 100 = 1 jump.

FreeMass

Space available to add additional items and upgrades. Note that this is in addition to the space taken up by the ship’s stock weapons. (e.g. a ship with 20 tons listed in FreeMass and 10 tons of stock weapons will actually have 30 tons of expansion space, with 20 available.)

Armor

Armor strength.

ShieldRech

Shield recharge speed, in number of shield points x1000 per frame. Bigger numbers here mean faster recharge - a value of 1000 is equal to 1 point per frame or 30 points per second.

The next twelve fields tell Nova which stock weapons to put on your ship when you first buy it:

WeapType (x8)

ID numbers of weapon types

• -1 or 0: No weapon
• 128-191: Add this weapon type

WeapCount (x8)

How many of each of the above weapons to add

• -1 or 0: None
• 1 and up: Add this many

AmmoLoad (x8)

The standard ammo load for weapons that need it, or ignored for those that don’t

• -1 or 0: No ammo
• 1 and up: Include this many rounds of ammo

The next two fields tell Nova what this ship’s maximum loadout of fixed guns and turreted weapons is. Each ship has an inherent upper limit on fixed guns and turrets, in order to keep them from becoming absurdly powerful. (e.g. a bulk freighter has lots of room to add weapons, but is limited to a single turret for defense) The fields are:

MaxGun

The ship’s maximum number of fixed guns, which are flagged in theWeapFlag field of the outf resource.

MaxTur

The ship’s maximum number of turrets, which are flagged in theWeapFlag field of the outf resource.

The next field tells Nova where this ship is available for purchase:

TechLevel

What the technology level of the ship is. This ship will be available at all shipyards with a tech level of this value or higher. (The exception to this rule involves the SpecialTech fields of the spöb resource; see the section on spöb resources for more information.)

Cost

The next field, Cost, tells Nova how much to charge you when you buy this ship. The cost of buying a ship is always the cost of the new ship minus 25% of the original cost of your current ship and upgrades. (i.e. you always "trade up" to a new ship)

The next field stores info on how the ship explodes:

DeathDelay

The number of frames the ship "disintegrates" before finally exploding.

• 0-59: The ship disintegrates for this number of frames and then disappears in a single fireball.
• 60+: The ship disintegrates for this number of frames and then disappears in a huge explosion. The exact size of the resulting fireball is proportional to the ship's mass. (see below)

ArmorRech

Armor recharge speed, in number of armor points x1000 per frame. Bigger numbers here mean faster recharge - a value of 1000 is equal to 1 point per frame or 30 points per second.

Explode1

Type of explosion to show (0-63) while the ship is breaking up, or -1 to not show any explosions until the ship is finished being destroyed.

Explode2

Type of explosion to show (0-63) when the ship is completely destroyed. You can also add 1000 to the value of this field in the same manner as the ExplodeType field in the wëap resource. Set to -1 to not show any explosion when the ship is destroyed.

DispWeight

The display weight of this ship type. Ships with a higher display weight are shown closer to the top of the shipyard dialog. This can be used to effectively rearrange the order in which ships are displayed without rearranging the resources themselves.

Mass

The mass of the ship, in tons. This doesn't affect acceleration or speed at all, but it does affect travel time in hyperspace and the display on the density scanner. Also, the blast radius and impact strength when the ship explodes is proportional to its mass.

• 1-99: 1 day per jump, small blip on density scanner
• 100-199: 2 days per jump, large blip on density scanner
• 200 and up: 3 days per jump, large blip on density scanner

Length

The ship's length in meters. Currently unused in any calculations, but it’s kinda cool, so it’s displayed in the "detailed ship info" dialog.

AI Types

The four different AI types are:

1. Wimpy Trader: Visits planets and runs away when attacked
2. Brave Trader: Visits planets and fights back when attacked, but runs away when his attacker is out of range
3. Warship: Seeks out and attacks his enemies, or jumps out if there aren't any.
4. Interceptor: Seeks out his enemies, or parks in orbit around a planet if he can't find any. Buzzes incoming ships to scan them for illegal cargo. Also acts as "piracy police" by attacking any ship that fires on or attempts to board another, non-enemy ship while the interceptor is watching.

The next field tells Nova what kind of AI the ship will have if it's not created in connection with a dude resource. The only place this field is useful is when a ship is created as an escort ship; otherwise, it's ignored:

InherentAI

What AI the ship uses when it's escorting the player.

• 1-4: Use this kind of AI. (see the AI descriptions above)

Note that only ships with inherent AI of 1 or 2 can be used to carry cargo when they are the player's escorts.

Crew

Number of crew members. Ships with 0 crew can't be boarded, nor can they capture any other ships.

Strength

An arbitrary value that represents the relative strength of the ship type with respect to the rest of the universe. Used when calculating combat odds (see the govt resource for details).

InherentGovt

The next field tells Nova what government is associated with a ship type. Note that unlike previous EV games, Nova actually handles two inherent government associations for each ship type: an inherent combat govt (used when an AI ship or stellar is deciding if it likes or hates another ship) and an inherent attributes govt (used for non-combat things like voice type, distress message flags, etc, as well as for inherent jamming ability). Sometimes you might want to create a ship type that inherits attributes from a particular govt but isn't considered to be inherently of that govt in combat, so Nova lets you use the InherentGovt field in several different ways:

• -1: No inherent combat govt or inherent attributes govt for this ship
• 128-383: Ship is treated as being inherently of the govt with this ID, both for AI combat and attributes inheritance.
• 1128-1383: Ship has an inherent attributes govt with this ID (minus 1000) but no inherent combat govt.
• 2128-2383: Ship has an inherent combat govt with this ID (minus 2000) but no inherent attributes govt.

Flags

The next field is for some miscellaneous flags:

• 0x0001: Slow jumping (75% normal speed)
• 0x0002: Semi-fast jumping (125%)
• 0x0004: Fast jumping (150%)
• 0x0008: Player ship takes advantage of FuelRegen property
• 0x0010: Ship is disabled at 10% armor instead of 33%
• 0x0020: Ship has afterburner when player has an advanced combat rating
• 0x0040: Ship always has afterburner (for AIs only)
• 0x0100: Show % armor on target display instead of “Shields Down”
• 0x0200: Don't show armor or shield state on status display
• 0x0400: Ship is a planet-type ship, and can only be hit by planet-type weapons
• 0x1000: Ship’s turrets have a blind spot to the front
• 0x2000: Ship’s turrets have a blind spot to the sides
• 0x4000: Ship’s turrets have a blind spot to the rear
• 0x8000: Ship is an escape ship type - if the player is carrying any ships of this type and decides to eject, he will fly off in a ship of this type (with random damage) instead of an escape pod.

PodCount

For decorative purposes, AI ships can be made to launch escape pods when they're destroyed. This field contains the standard number of escape pods for an AI ship of this type to launch when destroyed, at a rate of one per second. Note that this has nothing to do with the përs field's escape pod flag, it's just for eye candy. Don't overuse this field, as it can be annoying if used too often. (perhaps restrict it only to luxury liner type ships).

DefaultItems

Up to eight default items with which to equip this ship when the player buys or captures one. Note that AI-controlled ships will ignore these fields; also, don’t put anything in here that isn’t a physical item - i.e. afterburners, shield boosters, and the like are okay, but no fake IDs, maps, etc.

• 128-255: Ship comes stock with this item
• -1: Ignored

ItemCount

The number of each DefaultItem with which to equip the player.

FuelRegen

This ship type’s inherent fuel regeneration property. Works exactly the same as the fuel scoop ModVal property - useful for making ships with built-in fuel replenishment. Note that for the player to be able to use this field, the 0x0008 flag must also be set. (this allows you to give enemy ships built-in fuel scoops but still make the player have to buy his own)

SkillVar

The amount (in percent) to which this ship’s pilots’ skill varies. This affects acceleration and turn rate for each ship: i.e. a skill variance of 10% would make each ship of a given type up to 10% slower or faster than “stock”. Values from 1 to 50% are valid.

Flags2

• 0x0001: Ship exhibits swarming behavior
• 0x0002: Ship prefers standoff attacks
• 0x0004: Ship can't be targeted
• 0x0008: Ship can be fired on by point defense systems
• 0x0010: Don't use fighter voices
• 0x0020: Ship can jump without slowing down
• 0x0040: Ship is inertialess
• 0x0080: AI ships of this type will run away/dock if out of ammo for all ammo-using weapons
• 0x0100: AI ships of this type will cloak when their weapon goes into burst reload
• 0x0200: AI ships will cloak when running away
• 0x0400: AI ships will cloak when hyperspacing
• 0x0800: AI ships will cloak when just flying around
• 0x1000: AI ships will not uncloak until close to their target
• 0x2000: AI ships will cloak when docking
• 0x4000: AI ships will cloak when preemptively attacked

Availability

Control bit test expression. The player will be able to purchase this type of ship when the expression evaluates to true. Leave blank if unused. Depending on the configuration of other flags, the ship might appear in the shipyard but not be able to be purchased if its Availability evaluates to false.

AppearOn

Control bit test expression. Ships of this type will not show up in dude resources if this expression evaluates to false. Leave blank if unused.

OnPurchase

Control bit set expression. Leave blank if unused.

Deionize

The rate at which this ship type dissipates ionization charge. A value of 100 equals 1 point of ion energy per 1/30th of a second. Higher values for Deionize yield faster ion charge dissipation.

IonizeMax

The amount of ion charge at which a ship of this type will be considered "fully ionized".

KeyCarried

The key carried ship type, used for interesting effects in the wëap and shän resources.

DefaultItms2

More default items, used as above

Contribute (x2)

These two Contribute fields together form a 64-bit flag that is subsequently combined with the Contribute fields from the outfit items in the player's possession, to be used with the Require fields in the outf and misn resources.

Require (x2)

These two Require fields together form a 64-bit flag that is logically and'ed with the Contribute fields from the player's current ship and outfit items. If for each 1 bit in the Require fields there is a matching 1 bit in one or more of the Contribute fields, the ship can be purchased. Leave these set to zero if unused. Depending on the configuration of other flags, the ship might appear in the shipyard but not be able to be purchased if the player doesn't meet the Requirements.

BuyRandom

The percent chance that a ship of this type will be available for purchase on a given day. A BuyRandom of 0 means this ship will never be made available for purchase.

HireRandom

The percent chance that a ship of this type will be available for hire in the bar on a given day. A HireRandom of 0 means this ship will never be made available for hire.

OnCapture

Control bit set expression, evaluated when you capture a ship of this type. Leave blank if unused.

OnRetire

Control bit set expression, evaluated when you sell a ship of this type and/or replace it with a captured ship.

Subtitle

The subtitle to show on the target display for this ship type

Flags3

Even more flags!

• 0x0001: Ship destroys asteroids
• 0x0002: Ship scoops asteroid debris

Note: If you set this flag but don’t also provide a mining scoop in the DefaultItems, the ship will instead shuttle back and forth between friendly stellars in the system.

• 0x0010: Ship ignores gravity
• 0x0020: Ship ignores deadly stellars
• 0x0040: Ship's turreted shots appear above the ship instead of below
• 0x0100: Don't show ship in shipyard if Availability is false
• 0x0200: Don't show ship in shipyard if Require bits not met
• 0x4000: When this ship is available for sale, it prevents all higher-numbered ship types with equal DispWeight from being made available for sale at the same time.

UpgradeTo

If an escort ship of this type can be upgraded, this field holds the ID of the ship type that it can be upgraded to. Set to 0 or -1 if this ship class can't be upgraded.

EscUpgrdCost

The cost to upgrade an escort ship of this type to the next more advanced version, as defined in the UpgradeTo field.

EscSellValue

The amount of cash the player gets for selling off a captured escort of this type. If you input a number that's less than or equal to zero here, Nova will default to 10% of the ship's original cost.

EscortType

Tells Nova which of the four categories of escorts to put this ship type into when organizing the escort control menu.

• -1: Have the game try to figure it out at runtime
• 0: Fighter

1. Medium Ship
2. Warship
3. Freighter

ShortName

The short string that is displayed in the shipyard dialog menu for this ship type. If you want to split this name into two separate lines, put the characters "\n" into the name, e.g.: "Big Ship\n(used)". When using this, lines that start with an alphanumeric character are drawn in white, while lines that start with other symbols are drawn in grey.

CommName

The short string to display for this ship when it is hailed by the player.

Long Name

The long string to display when the player purchases a ship of this type or starts a new pilot.

MovieFile

The filename of a QuickTime movie to display in place of the ship picture in the shipyard dialog. The QuickTime movie must reside within the Nova Files or Nova Plug-Ins folders and will be looped continuously while the player has this ship type selected.

Target Picture

Ships' target info picts are stored in PICT resources 3000 and on. The engine is smart enough to reuse targeting picts for two ship classes that have the same base sprites: all you have to do is give the first of any series of identical-looking ship types a target pict in the usual way (PICT resource ID 3000 + shipID - 128) and the engine will use it for all higher-numbered ship types with the same base sprites.