Maintenance

This page is a Work in Progress as much of the lore/Development for the game is yet to be established.

This page describes the planned **Maintenance Systems** for Starship Simulator. These systems are currently in the design phase, and specific details are subject to change during development.

Gameplay Overview

A majority of world objects will feature maintenance-oriented gameplay, providing a dedicated rota of event driven incidents for departments such as Engineering, Deck Crew, and Stewards. In addition to damage caused by extraordinary incidents, as objects are merely used or age, their attributes will degrade in real-time, requiring intervention from players or NPCs.

Types of Maintenance

Health State

Most objects possess a **Health State** that decreases based on factors like Damage, Age, or Usage:

**Performance Impact:** a lower health state may adversely affect a system's efficiency
**Failure Points:** systems may continue to operate until health reaches a critical threshold that causes a total failure
**Visual Degradation:** some objects feature visual cues for wear. For example, carpets will discolour over time and require cleaning—a system already managed in-game by Robotic Vacuums.

Quality State

The **Quality State** is a secondary attribute that acts as a "ceiling" for an object's maximum possible health:

**Permanent Degradation:** every time an object is repaired, its "Quality State" slightly decreases, lowering the maximum health it can recover
**Skill Influence:** the amount of quality lost during a repair depends on the character's skill level. A player with a low skill level will cause a significant drop in quality, while a high-level specialist will minimize the wear.

Repair or Replace

The interplay between Health and Quality forces players to balance resource management against operational risk. Replacing everything when it fails maintains the ship at a higher level, but drains material resources. Conversely, repairing components uses far fewer resources and yet results in more frequent maintenance cycles as the maximum quality tapers off.

As the crew gains experience, repairing becomes more viable due to smaller quality penalties. The Science department though, can unlock more complex technology, causing the quality drop to grow again, thus re-balancing the repair-or-replace dilemma.

How Maintenance is Performed

Maintenance tasks are distributed across various departments. For instance, if a ship takes damage during an attack:

Engineering may remove wall panels to repair underlying electrical cables and plumbing
Deck Crew may be responsible for replacing the structural wall panel itself

Tools

While specific Tools are still in development, the following have been mentioned in developer livestream:

**Bolt Drivers:** for securing or removing bolts and components
**Watering Can:** for maintaining flower props and greenery