Subsystems

Subsystems represent the crew, hardware and computer systems of a capital ship. Subsystems drive many of the core functions of capital ships, and as such, a unit can be hamstrung well before it is destroyed without careful consideration of its status. All ships share similar subsystems, although noncarrier units will not have the Hangar subsystem.


 * CIC – Combat Information Center. This is where the ship’s officers make their decisions and commands. Affects the mechanics of other subsystems.
 * Navigation – Propulsion and piloting. Affects max speed, elevation and yaw adjustments.
 * Fire Control – Artillery target acquisition and firing solutions. Affects turret range and accuracy, as well as munition salvo size.
 * Engineering – Combat deck and repair crews. In charge of repairing subsystems, squadrons, and fortifying the ship against damage.
 * Tech Bay – Electronic warfare and surveillance. Determines DRADIS range and Firewall defences against hacking attacks.
 * Armory – Ammunition and marine tactical center. Affects Marine defences against boarding attacks, and efficiency of flak ammunition on battlestars.
 * Hangar – Launch and landing decks. Faster turnaround for squadron launches, and better in-squadron communication for evasive maneuvers.

Subsystems have two values; strength and health.
 * Strength is the subsystems efficiency, and can be boosted and decreased by various mechanisms.
 * Health is the status of the system: when a subsystem’s Health is decreased to 0, the subsystem is destroyed and taken offline.

As a subsystem’s Health goes down, so will its Strength. The decrease in strength will affect the bonuses the subsystem provides to its functions.

Damage
As a unit starts to take hull damage, they may also take damage to their vital subsystems. Subsystems can also be damaged via Cylon hacking and boarding attacks.

When taking damage from regular artillery and munitions, the side of the impact will determine the subsystem being damage (e.g. damage to the rear of a unit will damage its Navigations subsystem). Subsystem placements are different with every unit.

When a subsystem is decreased to 0 Health, the subsystem is taken offline. For most subsystems, this will result in particular functionality being removed from the ship until repaired;


 * Navigations – Can no longer control the unit’s movement,
 * Fire Control – Cannot Autofire or Focus Fire turrets, cannot launch munitions
 * Tech bay – Cannot use the Hack ability (Cylons only)
 * Armory – Cannot use the Flak ability (Colonials only)
 * Hangar – Cannot launch squadrons

Additionally, if the Health of a unit’s CIC is ever reduced to 0, the unit is destroyed. Only Boarding Parties can damage the CIC subsystem.

Repairs
Use the repair subsystem command to tell a unit’s engineering crew to take a subsystem offline and repair the damage. Repair Subsystems can be accessed via the ship Command menu. This command will take you to the Repair Subsystem screen, which details all of the unit’s subsystems and their effects. Repairs can also be initiated using the Repair Icon next to the subsystem name in the ship Info panel. The rate at which the subsystem is repaired depends on the Strength of your Engineering subsystem.

Note that subsystems are taken offline when they are being repaired, so choosing when to restore damage is a tactical consideration. Subsystem Repairs will typically take multiple turns to complete. You can cancel a repair command either via the ship Command menu, or by clicking on the Cancel Repair icon in the ship Info panel.