Plasma Drive

A Plasma Drive is a piece of Imperial technology utilised by vessels of the Imperial Navy as well as civilian transport vessels. A plasma drive is powered by a vessel's plasma reactors, allowing a starship to utilise this technology as a principle method of propulsion utilised for short destinations that do no require Warp travel and are not nearly as dangerous as Warp-Drives.

Notable Plasma Drive Variants

 * Jovian-Pattern Class 8.1 Drive - The "Class 8" drives produced by the Jovian shipyards are a constructed from an incomplete STC discovered less than a millennia ago. Although they burn cooler than other Jovian drives, they are far more robust, able to absorb crippling damage without performance loss. These engines are typically reserved for military vessels, and the 8.1 is designed for frigates.
 * Jovian-Pattern Class 8.2 Drive - Second in the "Class 8" series of drives produced by the Jovian shipyards the 8.2 is designed for light cruisers.
 * Jovian-Pattern Class 8.3 Drive - Third in the "Class 8" series of drives produced by the Jovian shipyards the 8.3 is designed for cruisers.
 * Jovian-pattern class 8.4 Drive - Fourth in the "Class 8" series of drives produced by the Jovian shipyards the 8.4 is designed for grand cruisers. It is rarely produced due to the lack of new grand cruisers in the Imperium.
 * Mezoa-Pattern Theta-7 Drive -A logical progression of the trend towards ultra-fast clipper style engines, the Theta-7 is a massively powerful and hugely space-intensive civilian plasma drive designed purely for speed. The Theta-7 is constructed using potentially unsafe techniques that involve shoehorning deliberately semi-unstable plasma chambers into the cramped confines of existing transport vessels.
 * Saturnine-Pattern Class 4a "Ultra" Drive - The popularity of the battlecruiser concept led to a general acceptance that it was theoretically possible to overload the hulls of existing cruisers with weaponry capable of challenging the grand cruisers of previous millennia. The existing power-generating systems of most cruisers were simply not capable of supporting the immense demands of such upgraded systems, so cunningly redesigned plasma drives capable of being mounted within the confines of existing cruiser hulls were created by the adepts of Mars. These engines are now revered by many magi as the pinnacle of human technological achievement.
 * Saturnine-Pattern Class 5 Drives - For over 10,000 years, the grand cruisers of the Imperial Navy have traversed the stars in stately majesty, huge and powerful vessels lined with banks of heavy weapons capable of destroying small moons. The power demands of these regal craft are immense, necessitating gigantic engine rooms larger than whole transport ships. These drives are not space-efficient, but generate more pure power than anything save the engines of the mighty battleships.