The Helm is the steering wheel for the ship so to speak. As damage occurs the maneuverability of the ship declines. The ship can be equipped with more than one helm to provide minor improvements in both acceleration and maneuverability and to reduce the chance of damage affecting the ship capability. The effect of a single damaged helm will be greater than the increase from multiple healthy helms.

Life Support provides the necessary control, substances and medical stations to maintain human life on board the ship. Crew losses are increased as life support systems are damaged whereas multiple life support modules will reduce crew losses due to increase proximity of medical stations. If all power to the ship is lost then the complete absence of life support will result in the destruction of the ship due to the hostile nature of space.

Scanners provide information on the internal makeup and operational status of the target ship. A status screen is available for displaying information on the target. The tactical map also provides quick reference information on the armor, hull integrity and crew size.

Security systems represent security teams that can be utilized to both protect the ship from boarding parties or can be used as a boarding party to capture a target ship. Security is required for some missions.

Sensors provide external information on nearby space such as the speed and distance information on other ships and their current shield strength. It is also used to control defensive weapon systems such as mini-guns or point defense lasers. Multiple sensors will improve the performance of the defensive systems.

The Tractor provides an electromagnetic form of grappling. Used to grab a ship and drag it closer. Tractoring a ship will draw it closer and is a precursor to a boarding action. Tractoring a ship will also disrupt any attempt to use FTL drives, effectively pinning the ship in the system. Attempting to tractor a ship at too high of a delta in speed will frequently result in the tractor beam snapping. Multiple tractors allow the tractoring ship to grab and hold the target at higher speeds. Remember that you can be tractored too.

Tractor Shears are used to keep a ship from being tractored. Due to cool down/recharge requirements a single tractor shear will negate a single tractor. A ship being tractored by a ship with multiple tractors cannot be countered by a single tractor shear. You may find it to your advantage to consider having one or more tractor shears depending on the mission you will be performing.

The Weapons Console provides control of all offensive weapon systems. A ship equipped without a weapons console cannot fire its weapons. As the weapons console takes damage the rate of fire is affected. Larger military ships tend to be equipped with more than one weapons console. Multiple weapon consoles reduce the target acquisition time allowing weapons to fire more frequently.

Cargo pods provide the necessary volume to carry freight on the ship. Smuggler missions require the presence of a cargo internal system.