Designs
Designs for weaponry and gear must be either purchased on the free market, stolen, researched, or reverse-engineered (event-driven designs exist as well). Once you have a design for a machine you can build it as long as you have the resources produce it. Some designs will be upgradeable or tweakable.
Parts of Design
Designs will consist of two parts: the core blueprint, and the implementation blueprint. The core blueprint will have all the information about the technology necessary to build the ship, the hulls necessary for the ship, maximum/minimum capabilities, etc. The implementation blueprint will actually have all the ship/vehicle statistics and real capabilities (number of guns, fighter bays, troop limits, crew limits, etc.). To build a ship both a core blueprint and the implementation blueprint will be necessary. Ships of the same core blueprints will also be able to undergo upgrades as new technologies will make better weaponry or equipment available.
Implementation
A design is considered researched when both a core blueprint (step 1) and an implementation blueprint (step 2) of a prototype is researched by the character. Individually, the core or implementation blueprints may be stolen (a character slicing into the KDY and stealing the ISDII blueprints) or bought. Even if the faction does not have the implementation blueprint, one may be created with enough time given and a core blueprint. Additionally, captured ships may be reverse-engineered into core blueprints and implementation blueprints, but during this time the ship will not be usable and may even become dysfunctional.
