Anybody have any ideas on rules for characters making a drift drive from scratch? I'm running a party who has wandered pretty far off my expected path, and ended up with a ship without a functional drift drive, basically cutting them off from the rest of the universe. Is this even something they can do, or would it require such specialized equipment that only big corporations and the like could even attempt it? So far, the only details I've been able to find about the construction of DD's is that they are tech only, no magic, but other than that, I cant find any details for how they work, are made of, etc. I know that shipyards can modify them, or replace them, but are they black boxes that only certain illuminati know how to construct, or what?
From a rules perspective, it doesn't have a cost so there are no rules for player characters to actual build it. Just like there are no rules for a PC to build any part of a space ship (as far as I'm aware).
But should you let them?
Sure, make it a plot McGuffin type thing. Someone with engineering has a okay idea on how to build one, but without access to the net they can't be 100% sure it will work. The party needs to go get some Unobtanium to actual make the darn thing. And when it's done it still only gets them a one time one way shot so they need to shoot for somewhere they can outfit their ship with another drift drive.
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None of the things you worried about truly matter, in my opinion.
The designs were broadcast among worlds far and wide. Many races made them. Finding the design shouldn't be too hard, even if the planet they're on doesn't understand it. It's logical that some races wouldn't have magic and made drift drives anyway. Now if they're on a deserted jungle planet, that's a problem. But if they're on anyplace with a technology, they should be able to manage. I would argue that a Starfinder party on present day Earth could manage a drift drive with some work.
You're thinking of it from an engineering point of view. Instead, think of it from a story point of view.
1. Do they know how? Depends where they are. If it's a comparable world to the pact worlds, finding the design shouldn't be too hard. If it's a more isolated or primitive place, maybe it's harder. Hell it could be a cave painting if necessary. This could be one adventure.
2. Do they have the skills? Engineering is primary, maybe computers. If the world is more primitive, they might need physical sciences to help fabricate some of the materials. So I'm hoping someone can do this in the party.
3. Do they have the materials? Again, depends on the planet. Maybe it's easy. Maybe you want to make them chase the McGuffin special component for an adventure. Maybe there are three tricky pieces and there's an adventure in each getting them. It all depends on how long you want to stretch it out from a story point of view.
There's lots of fun to be had if you make it a story rather than a science project. :)
By the CRB page 305:
After leveling up:
"When the characters’ Average Party Level increases, so does
the tier of their starship... The PCs receive a number of Build
Points equal to the Build Points listed for their starship’s new tier...
which they can use to upgrade their starship"
"Some GMs might require PCs to visit a safe,
inhabited world before they can spend these Build Points, but
this shouldn’t be allowed to impact the campaign too much."
Before leveling up:
"If the PCs want to alter their starship before receiving additional
Build Points, they can do so at a friendly spaceport (or safe
landing zone) given enough time. Refitting a single system
or starship weapon usually takes 1d4 days."
Unless this is a plot point, they could just land anywhere and cannibalize current systems for components to build a Drift drive, or land into a more or less technological civilization and build one using local resources.
Starships have some sort of manufacturing capacity, but it seems to work for a single purpose:
CRB 304
"Limited Fire
A weapon with this special property can fire only the listed
number of times in a starship combat encounter before it
requires a brief period of time (10 minutes outside of starship
combat) to recharge and rebuild the weapon’s inherent
ammunition. A weapon with this special property is often a
tracking weapon."
Anybody have any ideas on rules for characters making a drift drive from scratch? I'm running a party who has wandered pretty far off my expected path, and ended up with a ship without a functional drift drive, basically cutting them off from the rest of the universe.
Depending on exactly where the players are you can have them find a crashed/derelict/abandoned/haunted vessel who's drift drive they can scavenge/salvage.
I mean if they can get their ship there (wherever there is) what is to say someone else couldn't?