Hull breach

If a starship is exposed to damage that for some reason or another reaches beyond the shields, the first ship component to suffer from it is, of course, the hull. As ships receive damage, hull breaches can occur.

These can be a major problem because what’s inside the ship can be sucked into space – atmosphere, but also supplies, hardware, and, unfortunately, people. Micrometeors are also known for causing microscopic breaches: These cannot be seen to the naked eye, yet, if no containment measure (forcefields or airtight sections) is taken, the atmosphere will slowly leak into space.

Automatic responses

On some modern ships, emergency forcefield systems may kick in automatically, and form a barrier on the breach, isolating the inside of the ship from the vacuum of space.

If these fail (for example, if the internal security secondary systems are out), airtight sections close automatically in order to separate the depressurized section from the rest of the ship. More primitive spacecraft only have these sections.

Tips

If your ship's hull is breached during combat under any circumstance, your first option is to break off the engagement and leave the area. If your Chief Engineer is smart enough and available he will initiate repairs to critical systems once they take damage, if the required repair components are aboard. Sometimes you may want to direct him to repair a specific system. In any case, you should seek a quiet portion of space and immediately initiate repairs. You can always head for the nearest friendly station for assistance or send out a priority one SOS call in extreme circumstances. Follow the normal procedure for relocating personnel who are injured or exposed to radiation.