Spaceship Operations Cheat Sheet
Quick reference for operating a starship (Mongoose Traveller 2e Core Rulebook, 2022 Update — sourced via the Core Rulebook in NotebookLM). For ship-vs-ship gunnery see a space-combat sheet; this covers flying, jumping, fuelling, and running the ship. See also the Skill Check Cheat Sheet, Combat Cheat Sheet and World Codes Cheat Sheet.
Crew Stations
| Station | Skill used | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Pilot | Flies the ship, course changes, evasive action. One pilot at a time. |
| Captain | Leadership, Tactics | Commands; Tactics Effect adds to the crew’s Initiative. |
| Astrogator | Astrogation (EDU) | Plots jumps. |
| Engineer | Engineer (m-drive / j-drive / power / life support) | Runs drives & power plant, damage control. 1 per 35 tons of drives + plant. |
| Sensor Operator | Electronics (sensors / comms) | Tracking, sensor locks, electronic warfare. |
| Gunner | Gunner | One per turret. |
| Medic | Medic | 1 per 120 crew + passengers; runs low-berth revival. |
| Steward | Steward | 1 per 10 High or 100 Middle passengers. |
| Marine | Gun Combat / Melee | Repel boarders / board enemy ships. |
Broker is a trade skill (cargo deals), not a flight station.
Jump Travel — Procedure
A jump always crosses its distance in ~1 week (148 + 6D hours), regardless of parsecs. The ship is totally cut off in jumpspace — no comms.
- Reach the jump limit. You may only jump >100 diameters from any object larger than the ship (a world, a star, a moon). Jumping closer = DM−4 and misjump risk.
- Plot the jump — Easy (4+) Astrogation check, 1D×10 min, EDU, at DM −1 per parsec. Failure → re-plot. Can be done in advance during the flight out.
- Engage the drive — Easy (4+) Engineer (j-drive) check, 1D×10 min, EDU, taking the Astrogation Effect as a task-chain DM, plus:
- Unrefined fuel: DM−2
- Drive overdue on maintenance: DM−1 per month
- Inside the 100-diameter limit: DM−4
- Failure → misjump.
- Divert power — the jump instantaneously needs Power = 10% of hull tonnage × jump number. Too little → drive won’t fire.
Jump fuel = 10% of hull tonnage per parsec. (200-ton ship, jump-2 = 40 tons.) Jumps under 1 parsec still count as jump-1 for fuel and plotting.
In a hurry (combat): raise both checks one difficulty level to compress to 1D minutes (one round).
Misjump
Caused by a failed Engineer (j-drive) check (usually from unrefined fuel or skipped maintenance). Severity scales with the failure’s Effect:
| Effect | Result |
|---|---|
| −1 | Arrive on target but 1D days late |
| −2 | Arrive in system but 1D × 100-diameters off from the target world |
| Worse | Flung 1D×1D parsecs in a random direction (referee’s mercy) — often lethal |
Fuel
- Cost: refined Cr500/ton, unrefined Cr100/ton. Fuel feeds both jump drive and power plant.
- Unrefined penalty: DM−2 to the jump check + higher misjump risk.
- Power-plant fuel: tankage = 10% of plant size = 4 weeks of operation.
- Wilderness refuelling: skim a gas giant or scoop water — Difficult (10+) Pilot, 1D hours, DEX. Wild fuel is unrefined.
- Fuel processor: refines 20 tons per ton of processor per day (your Far Trader’s 2-ton processor = 40 t/day).
Power & Engineering
Power draw (fraction of hull tonnage):
| System | Power |
|---|---|
| Basic ship systems (grav, life support, lights) | 20% of hull (½ if non-essentials shut down) |
| Manoeuvre drive | 10% of hull × Thrust |
| Jump drive | 10% of hull × jump number (only while jumping) |
Weapon power: Beam Laser 4 · Pulse Laser 4 · Particle Beam 8 · Turret 1 · Missile Rack 0 · Sandcaster 0.
Engineer actions: offline a system to free power; overload m-drive (Difficult, +1 Thrust next round) or power plant (Difficult, +10% Power) at cumulative DM−2 and crit risk; jury-rig a critical hit (Average 8+, lasts 1D hours).
Maintenance
- Annual maintenance = 0.1% of purchase price, done across Maintenance Periods (annual ÷ 12), with one shipyard visit per year.
- Skip it → each later period roll 2D + (periods skipped); on 8+ roll on the Poor Maintenance table:
| 2D | Fault |
|---|---|
| 2–4 | Fuel leak — lose 1D×10% of fuel |
| 5–7 | Drive damaged (1–3 m-drive −1 Thrust; 4–6 j-drive disabled) |
| 8–9 | Weapon faulty — one turret at DM−1 |
| 10–12 | Power plant — Power −25%, internal damage, crew take 2D×10 rads/week |
Sensors & Detection
Space range bands: Adjacent ≤1 km · Close 1–10 km · Short 11–1,250 km · Medium –10,000 km · Long –25,000 km · Very Long –50,000 km · Distant >50,000 km.
Sensor suite DM (applies to all Electronics checks): Basic −4 · Civilian −2 · Military +0 · Improved +1 · Advanced +2.
Tasks: Detailed scan — Routine (6+) Electronics (sensors), 1D×10 min. Analyse data — Average (8+), 1D hours. Sensor Lock → DM+2 to your attacks on that target. Electronic Warfare → opposed Electronics (comms/sensors) to jam or break a lock. Active radar/lidar gives DM+2 for others to detect you.
In-System Travel
1G ≈ 10 m/s². Accelerate to the midpoint, flip, decelerate.
- Time (s) = 2 × √(Distance ÷ Acceleration) (metres, m/s²)
Transit time (accel/decel):
| Distance | 1G | 2G | 4G | 6G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 km | 33 min | 24 min | 17 min | 14 min |
| 100,000 km | 105 min | 74 min | 53 min | 42 min |
| 300,000 km (1 light-sec) | 3 h | 2.1 h | 1.5 h | 1.2 h |
| 1,000,000 km | 5.6 h | 3.9 h | 2.8 h | 2.3 h |
| 150,000,000 km (1 AU) | 68 h | 48 h | 34 h | 28 h |
Common Ship Tasks
| Task | Check |
|---|---|
| Land at starport | Routine (6+) Pilot — or take 1D min for DM+2 |
| Land in wilderness | Average / Difficult / Very Difficult Pilot by terrain |
| Dock (both willing) | Routine (6+) Pilot, 1D min |
| Atmospheric entry, streamlined | normal (only checks in bad weather); partial −2; unstreamlined −4 + 1D damage per failed minute |
| Gas-giant skim | Difficult (10+) Pilot, 1D hours |
| Evasive action | spend 1 Thrust → attacker rolls at DM −(your Pilot skill) |
| Repair a hull point | Routine (6+) Mechanic, 1 hour, + spare parts |
| Repair a critical in flight | Average (8+) Engineer/Mechanic, 1D hours, + spare parts |
Spare parts cost Cr100,000/ton; an Effect-6 repair needs none, scaling up to 1 ton at Effect 1.
Life Support, Passengers & Cargo
- Stateroom: 4 tons, MCr0.5. Low berth: 0.5 tons, Cr50,000.
- Life support / period: Cr1,000 per stateroom + Cr1,000 per person aboard + Cr100 per occupied low berth. (A crewed stateroom ≈ Cr2,000/period.)
- Low-passage revival: Routine (6+) Medic, 1D×10 min, INT, + passenger’s END DM (+1 if ship TL12+, −2 non-human, −1 emergency berth). Failure = the passenger dies.
Passage & freight fares (Cr):
| Parsecs | High | Middle | Basic | Low | Freight/ton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9,000 | 6,500 | 2,000 | 700 | 1,000 |
| 2 | 14,000 | 10,000 | 3,000 | 1,300 | 1,600 |
| 3 | 21,000 | 14,000 | 5,000 | 2,200 | 2,600 |
| 4 | 34,000 | 23,000 | 8,000 | 3,900 | 4,400 |
Operating Costs (per 4-week period)
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Mortgage | financed amount ÷ 240 (40-yr term) |
| Life support | see above |
| Fuel | Cr500/ton refined, Cr100 unrefined |
| Maintenance | 0.1% of purchase price ÷ 12 |
| Salaries | Pilot 6,000 · Astrogator 5,000 · Engineer 4,000 · Gunner 2,000 · Steward 2,000 · Medic 4,000 · Marine 1,000 |
Note: The rulebook’s two crew tables disagree on salaries — the Running Cost Summary lists Gunner Cr1,000 / Medic Cr3,000 instead. Pick one and stay consistent (your Far Trader uses the Crew Requirements values above). Berthing fees are weekly and vary by starport class.