Let's finish off the computer programs. There are two more 'routine' programs on this page: Navigation, and Anti-Hijack. Navigation is primarily used for jumping, in conjunction with the Jump program. The Generate program makes the flight plan, then it's dumped into the Navigation program for processing. Seems rather cumbersome to me. Anti-Hijack is basically a defensive program that will lock the controls and bridge access if hijackers are detected. It's possible to get around this program; hijackers throwing a 5 or less (on two dice, not one, I assume) will get through the security system undetected.
PCs can come up with new programs if they like, assuming they have the Computer skill (from the first book). The standard ones seem to have all the necessities covered, though.
Smaller ships (the parasite kind) don't carry computers, or at least not the type described, so they are limited in what they can do: Maneuver, or shoot. They can't do both in a turn, and they can't participate in the laser return fire phase, or use anti-missile fire. Gunners only get half their expertise on these smaller ships, which sucks. Does that mean no snub-nosed fighters, like X-Wings and Vipers? That would definitely suck; those are important!
And we're done with computers; next up, Detection and Damage. Not in the same section.
Detection is straightforward; civilian ships are going to detect anyone within 500 inches (half a million miles). Military ships are going to do so up to 2000 inches away (two million miles). So much for sneaking up on someone, then.
Except that the next paragraph says if you're trying to be stealthy, you can get to within 100 inches before being seen. That's still over eight feet, so you're not likely to get on the game board undetected unless you're using one of GDW's football-field-sized game boards. If you're orbiting a planet, though, while being quiet, ain't nobody gonna see you until they're ten inches or less away from you, which means that planets are great for setting up ambushes.
Moving on to damage definitions, we get a few descriptions of what's going to happen when your ship gets hit. Drives and power plants are one of the most important ones, so they get listed first. Basically, if your drive or plant gets hit, it moves down the alphabet (C becomes B, X becomes W, etc.). This can be a problem for ships whose drives or plants are at the minimum needed for the ship to operate, since one shot could strand the ship in the system until repairs are made. Best to have some leeway in that regard if you're expecting to take a ship into combat. Or run into pirates. Because it is a statistical fact that whenever a ship enters a new star system, any pirates in the area will be able to get to striking distance in a hurry. It's science; what can you do? Have a bigger engine in your ship, obviously.
Turrets that get hit don't work. If you've got more than one, dice rolls determine which one gets hit. Note that turrets with more than one weapon on them are totally knocked out, so that triple turret you are so proud of is going to be melted into scrap just the same as the single one on the other ship.
Hull hits cause decompression. Once. After that, the ship is already decompressed, so what's the point? I mean, you would think that hull integrity would be affected if the ship takes enough hull hits to look like a block of Swiss cheese, but apparently not. Go for the engines, kids.
The hold is where the cargo is; get hit in the hold, and you lose cargo. And, finally (on this page), fuel hits. Every time your fuel tank gets hit, you lose about 20 tons of fuel. If you lose 60% of your fuel (which might not be in three hits, depending on how big your tank is), you ain't jumping out. If you lose all the fuel, obviously you're not moving at all. Or at least, you're not going to be maneuvering. Which would suck, especially if you're pointed at a big heavy object like a planet or asteroid.
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