Starfleet Academy

Tech Skill Specialties

The skills below require you to choose a specialty; each specialty is treated as a different skill.

The proper GURPS skill for the design, repair, and/or use of Federation equipment and technology is not always obvious. The listing below (and the TECH SKILL TRIADS table) shows exactly what equipment and technology is contained within the scope of various GURPS skills and their specialties.

ARMOURY/TL11 (a repair skill)

Force Shields [B178]

Deflector Shields

Navigational Deflector

i.e. high energy/gravic-based screens external to the ship

Heavy Weapons [B178]

Drones/Missiles

Phasers (shipboard)

Photon Torpedoes

Tractor Beams

Small Arms [B178]

Phasers (personal)

Vehicular Armor [B178]

Hull and Superstructure of Shuttles (including Fighters) and Starships

ARTILLERY/TL11 (a use skill)

Guided Missiles [B178]

Drones/Missiles

BEAM WEAPONS/TL11 (a use skill)

Pistol [B179]

Hand Phasers--type I and type II (includes familiarity with Klingon disruptor pistol if learned at the Academy)

Projector [B179]

Hand Phasers in wide beam mode--a useful stun and heat setting

Rifle [B179]

Hand Phasers--type III aka phasor rifle (includes familiarity with Klingon disruptor rifle if learned at the Academy)

ELECTRONICS OPERATION/TL11 (a use skill)

Communications [B189]

Electronic Warfare [B189]

cloaks (SS1:13 & house rules)

defensive ECM (SS1:14)

tactical ECCM (SS1:15)

Force Shields [B189]

deflector shields

navigational deflector

Matter Transmitter [B189]

transporters and replicators

Medical [B189]

Scientific [B189]

Tricorders

Security [B189]

Force Fields, i.e. low energy/gravitic-based technology internal to the ship (manipulating artificial gravity, inertial dampers, and the structural integrity field, but not Force Shields)

Life Support (altering environmental controls)

Security Systems (tracking major shipboard activities, diverting and prioritizing power)

Sensors [B189]

long range, lateral, and navigational shipboard sensors

Surveillance [B189]

ELECTRONICS REPAIR/TL11 (a repair skill)

Communications [B190]

Computers [B190]

Electronic Warfare [B190]

cloaks (SS1:13 & house rules)

defensive ECM (SS1:14)

tactical ECCM (SS1:15)

Matter Transmitter [B190]

transporters

replicators

Medical [B190]

Scientific [B190]

Tricorders

Security [B190]

Force Fields, i.e. low energy/gravitic-based technology internal to the ship (includes artificial gravity, inertial damper, and the structural integrity field, but not Shields)

Life Support (environmental controls)

Security Systems (tracking major shipboard activities, diverting and prioritizing power)

Sensors [B190]

long range, lateral, and navigational shipboard sensors

Surveillance [B189]

ENGINEER/TL11 (a design skill)

Artillery [B190]

Drones/Missiles

Photon Torpedoes

Electrical [B190]

Batteries

Electro-Plasma Systems

Shipboard Phasers

Electronics [B190]

Communications equipment

Computers

Electronic Warfare systems

Medical equipment

Scientific equipment, e.g. tricorders

Security systems

Sensor suites

Surveillance systems

Gravitic [new specialty]

Force Fields (includes artificial gravity, inertial dampers, structural integrity fields)

Anti-Grav (used in anti-grav sleds, hovercars, shuttlecraft, and starships)

Shields (deflector shields, navigational deflector)

Tractor Beams

Matter Energy [new specialty]

Transporters

Replicators

Nuclear [new specialty]

Antimatter Reactors aka Warp Cores

Fusion Reactors aka Impulse Reactors

Small Arms [B190]

Hand Phasers (includes familiarity with Klingon disruptors if learned at the Academy)

Starships [B191]

Hull & Superstructure

Life Support (environmental controls)

Thrusters

Warp Drives aka Stardrives, e.g. Stardrive Engine [GURPS Spaceships, p. 25]

and integrating all of the above, and many other systems, e.g. Electrical, Gravitic, Nuclear, etc., into a functioning Shuttlecraft, Shuttlecraft, or Fighter

GUNNER/TL11 (a use skill)

Beams [B198]

Shipboard Phasers

Tractor Beams

Cannon [B198]

Photon Torpedoes

MECHANIC/TL11 (a repair skill)

Antimatter Reactor (aka Warp Core) [B207 as per power plant type]

Aerospace [B207 as per vehicle type]

as listed below, but only for ordinary problems endemic to Shuttlecraft including Fighters

Anti-grav systems

Antimatter Reactors aka Warp Cores

Force Fields (includes artificial gravity, inertial including, structural integrity fields, but not shields)

Hull and Superstructure

Impulse Drives aka Fusion Engines, e.g. Super Fusion Torch [GURPS Spaceships, p. 23]

Life Support (environmental controls)

Thrusters

Fusion Engine (aka Impulse Drive) [SS1:23]

Fusion Reactor (aka Impulse Reactor) [B207 as per power plant type]

High-Performance Spacecraft [B207 as per vehicle type]

as listed below, but only for ordinary problems endemic to interstellar starships

Antimatter Reactors aka Warp Cores

Force Fields (includes artificial gravity, inertial damper, structural integrity field, but not shields)

Fusion Reactors aka Impulse Reactors

Hull and Superstructure

Impulse Drives aka Fusion Engines, e.g. Super Fusion Torch [GURPS Spaceships, p. 23]

Life Support (environmental controls)

Thrusters

Warp Drives aka Stardrives, e.g. Stardrive Engine [GURPS Spaceships, p. 25]

Stardrive (aka Warp Drive) [SS1:25]

PILOTING (a use skill)

Aerospace [B214]

Shuttlecraft including Fighters, surface to orbit

Contragravity [B214]

Shuttlecraft including Fighters, when maneuvering near populated areas

High-Performance Spacecraft [B214]

Starships, outside of gravity wells

PROFESSION SKILL/TL11 (a use skill)

Reactor Operator [new specialty]

Antimatter Reactors aka Warp Cores used in starships

Fusion Reactors aka Impulse Reactors

Impulse Drives aka Fusion Engines, e.g. Super Fusion Torch [GURPS Spaceships, p. 23]

Warp Drives aka Stardrives, e.g. Stardrive Engine [GURPS Spaceships, p. 25]

Tech Skill Triads

Technical skills govern three distinct classes of activity: design, repair, and use. DESIGN includes inventing, redesigning, and reverse engineering. REPAIR includes troubleshooting, repairing, overhauling, upgrading, installing, and customizing. USE includes operating and maintaining. E.g. To fire a hand phaser, use Beam Weapons (Pistol); to modify it to increase the amount of energy discharged per shot, use Armory (Small Arms); to build a phaser from parts found in an alien planet’s high-energy research lab, use Engineer (Small Arms). [paraphrase from B190] (This table was inspired by GURPS: Prime Directive, 3rd. ed. pp. 112-113.)

The following technologies have design-repair-use skill triads. After each technology the appropriate GURPS skills with their correct specialization (if required) are given. Use this table and the TECH SKILL SPECIALIZATIONS listings to help you choose the specializations you want for your technical skills. A technology level of 11 is assumed. The following abbreviations are used: A Armoury, ART Artillery, BW Beam Weapons, ENG Engineer, EO Electronics Operation, ER Electronics Repair, G Gunner, M Mechanic, PS Professional Skill

Planet Type Specialties

Several skills require you to specialize by "planet type". Acceptable planet types are listed below. It is assumed you will specialize in Earthlike Planets, (as the other types don't lend themselves nearly as much to adventure). There is a penalty, usually -4, to use a skill when dealing with a planet type that you haven't specialized in.

• Earthlike Planets
• Gas Giants
• Hostile Terrestrial Planets
• Ice Dwarfs
• Ice Worlds
• Rock Worlds

Species Specialties and Skill Penalties

Because of the common genetic ancestry of most of the races of the Milky Way Galaxy...--Hybrid - Memory Alpha

Many behavior/cultural and medical/physiological skills and techniques require you to specialize by species. There is a penalty when using these skills with culture [B23] or physiology [B181] you aren't specialized in. It is assumed you will specialize in your own species, but you don't have to. (Being specialized in other species but not your own requires a plausible background story—a 1 character point Unusual Background Perk).

Behavioral/Cultural Off-Culture Penalties

The penalties for using the behavioral/cultural-type skills – Anthropology, Body Language, Carousing, Connoisseur, Criminology, Dancing, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Games, Gesture, Heraldry, Hypnotism, Interrogation, Intimidation, Leadership, Merchant, Poetry, Politics, Propaganda/TL, Psychology, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, Streetwise, and Teaching [B23] – on a species outside your specialty are given in the table below. The Expert Skill (Xenology) skill suffers from the same penalties when used to identify or answer general questions about a species' culture.

Off-Culture Default Penalties for Behavioral/Cultural-Type Skills

Prevalence	Penalty	Culture
Common	-1	Human, Andorian, Tellarite, Vulcan
Uncommon	-2	Alpha Centauran, Caitian, Deltan, Denobulan, Edosian, Klingon, Orion, Rigelian, Saurian
Rare	-3	Arcturian, Argelian, Betazoid, Bolian, Brecon, Coridan, Cygnan, Cygnian, Jidarian, Kaferian, Kzinti, Medusan, Mynieni, Nausicaan, Prellarian, Romulan, Suliban, Trill
Very Rare	-4	Bajoran, Benzite
Unknown*	-5	Ferengi, Gorn
Enigmatic†	-6	Tholian

* Cultural Familiarity for unknown species costs 1 character point, plus a 1 character point Unusual Background.
† Cultural Familiarity for enigmatic species costs 2 character points.

Counseling officers have access to Cultural Adaptability (10 pt) (or Xeno-Adaptability (20 pt)) which allow them to ignore these cultural unfamiliarity penalties for Common and Uncommon species (or all species). The Counseling! wildcard relative skill level bonus reduces these penalties for those skills above that aren't covered by Counseling! E.g. If you had Counseling! at Attribute+1 (36 pt), you would have only a -1 penalty when Carousing with an Alpha Centauran and no penalty when Interrogating one.

Medical/Physiological Off-Species Penalties

The off-species penalties for medical/physiological-type skills are based on the Zorsky Interspecies Compatibility Table [from GURPS: MODULE PRIME ALPHA, pp. 28-29] given below. These penalties can be waived if you can make a Physiology (species) roll for that species first. You may roll against Physiology (species) at defaut; such a roll suffers from the same penalties given below.

Physiology (species)/TL

IQ/Hard

IQ-6, Diagnosis-5, Physician-5, Physiology-off species penalty, or Surgery-5

This skill is covered on p. B213. A successful roll against your species specialty of Physiology temporarily removes the off-species penalty for physiology-esque skills [B181]: Diagnosis, First Aid, Physician, Pressure Points, Pressure Secrets, or Surgery. If you fail this Physiology roll, you feel the full effects of any off-species penalty. While a high Physiology skill with several species specializations can be an efficient way to go for high-IQ individuals and/or those with a wide range of medical/physiological skills, purchasing additional species specialties for particular skills removes their off-species penalty permanently.

These penalties can be waived if you can make a Physiology Skill roll for that species first, which will of course suffer from the same penalty. If you don't have the Physiology Skill for that species, you can roll against a default: IQ-6, Diagnosis-5, Physician-5, or Surgery-5.