Ship repair

This article contains information relevant to both the C# and VB6 versions of Aurora. Where differences exist, they are noted in the appropriate sections.

Not to be confused with maintenance (see Ship Maintenance). Maintenance is about keeping the espresso machine in the officer's mess in good shape. Repairing is about replacing a burnt-out reactor.

Ship Repair

Ships after long voyages and/or combat will eventually need to be repaired due to low supplies not allowing them to repair themselves, or the amount of damage actually not allowing them to repair themselves while out on a mission. That is when you need to take your ship or ships home to be repaired.

Shipyard Repair

A ship can be repaired at shipyards of a matching size and type. For example, to repair military vessels, the player must use a military shipyard. To repair a 12,000 ton ship, the player must use a shipyard with at least 12,000 tons of capacity per slipway. It logically follow that to repair a 12,000 ton military ship, the player must use a military shipyard with a 12,000 ton slipway.

Shipyards can repair ships completely with the "repair" Task Type. The amount of time required depends on the amount of damage.

In C#, a new Repair Yard has been added to the game. These can repair military ships, but they use the same size formulas as commercial shipyards, so they can be built much faster and cheaper than a new production yard would be.

Onboard Ship Repair (Damage Control)

Main article: Damage Control

Ships can repair themselves if they have maintenance supplies. They automatically repair themselves if it's a malfunction, if it's due to combat damage, however, they will have to be assigned to repair the item via the Damage Control screen.

This is a lengthy process by the time scales of combat, but it will repair all internal components with enough supplies. Damage Control sections increase repair speed, but a ship can carry out repairs without one. In C#, you will want a supply ship to resupply your ships with MSP. In VB6, you can use the "Equalize Main." button in the Task Group window to distribute MSP evenly in the task group.

This will not repair armor. Armor damage has to be repaired at a shipyard (or in a carrier, if your ship can fit within one).

Hangar repairs

A carrier also functions as a shipyard for repair purposes, but the ship to be repaired must be docked inside the hangar. That way you can even repair armor while in space. (Note: Only ship-based hangars have this option, not VB6's PDC hangars.)