The prices and masses of all these items can be found on the Equipment List.

Spacesuits are the most fundamental lifesaving devices, but since they are personal rather than ship equipment they are explained in the section on Personal Space Equipment.

Standard Suit

A spacesuit insulates a character from the lifeless vacuum of space. A standard spacesuit includes a self-sealing, double walled shell of flexible plastic, enough oxygen for 20 hours, a clear, high-impact plexiglass bubble helmet, a short-range (10 km) communicator, and an emergency patch to repair punctures.

Automatic Puncture Sealing. Spacesuits are made of a self- sealing material that will automatically close a puncture that is 1 centimeter or less in diameter. If the puncture is larger than 1 cm across, there is a 25% chance for each additional cm that the suit will be unable to plug the hole. For example, there is a 50% chance a suit will not automatically seal a 3 cm hole. A suit can never automatically repair a hole that is 5 cm or more in diameter; such punctures require a patch.

The roll to determine if a hole seals itself is made as soon as the suit is punctured. If it is successful, the hole is patched immediately.

Emergency Patches. If the suit does not repair the puncture automatically, an emergency patch can be applied. An emergency patch is a 10 cm circle of adhesive spacesuit material. It can be applied in one turn. The character applying the patch must make a Dexterity check. If the hole is in the front or side of the suit, the referee may allow a +20 modifier on the Dexterity check. If the hole is in the back of the character's suit, the check must be made at -10.

If the check is successful, the patch is applied and bonds instantly. If the check is unsuccessful, air is still leaking around the patch. The character can attempt to reseal the patch, making another Dexterity check. If the second check is unsuccessful, the adhesive on the patch will no longer function and the character must find another means of patching the leak (or try another patch).

A character can apply a patch to someone else's suit, if necessary. Extra patches can be carried, as explained under Optional Spacesuit Equipment.

Effects of Leaks. If a leak is not repaired, the character will lose consciousness in a number of minutes equal to 10 minus the diameter in cm of the hole. After losing consciousness, the character must make a stamina check every five turns (30 seconds). A character who fails this Stamina check dies immediately.

The diameters of holes caused by various weapons are listed in the Close Combat section.

Putting on Spacesuits. A character with a Dexterity of 45 can get into a spacesuit in five turns, if he really hurries. For every 5 points of Dexterity above 45, one turn can be subtracted from this time, although it always will take at least two turns to suit up. For every 5 points of Dexterity below 45, a character must add a turn to the amount of time required. Because of their many limbs, all Vrusk characters must add two turns to the amount of time they need to get into a spacesuit.

Spacesuit Options

Armor. Spacesuit armor is a semi-rigid shell of metalized plastic which is worn over a spacesuit. Armor reduces a character's Dexterity and Reaction Speed by 10, and cuts that character's movement rate in half when he is walking, running, climbing, or moving under his own power in any other way. The speed of a character traveling through space with a 'rocket pack is not affected by armor.

Armor will protect a character to some degree from most weapons. The Weapons vs. Armor chart displays the effect of armor on various weapons.

When the suit has a percentage chance to protect the wearer, the character being hit must roll dl 00. If the number rolled is less than or equal to the suit's protection percentage, the weapon does not penetrate the armor. If the roll is unsuccessful, the weapon has punctured the armor, but causes only half of its normal damage to the character.

Rocket Pack. A rocket pack is a device that allows a character in a spacesuit to travel through space. A rocket pack has 20 bursts of fuel. Each burst provides enough thrust to travel 50 meters per turn, until something causes the character to change course or speed. Only one burst can be used per turn.

A character can accelerate by firing several bursts over several turns, adding 50 meters/turn to his speed with each burst.

Once a character starts moving, an equal amount of power is needed to stop moving! A character could use all 20 bursts to accelerate to 1,000 meters/turn (about 380 mph!), but he would keep traveling at that speed in a straight line until someone or something stopped him, since there is no fuel left in the pack to decelerate with.

A character using a rocket pack to move through space toward an object must make a Dexterity check to move directly toward that object. This check should be modified by the referee ac cording to the distance traveled and the size of the target. For the purpose of comparison, a 1 km trip to a spaceship of hull size 5 should be a standard check. Shorter distances and larger targets should allow positive modifiers, while longer distances or smaller targets are more difficult to hit. Modifiers should not exceed plus or minus 20.

A character will quickly realize if he is on the wrong heading, and should be allowed to correct his trajectory. This requires another burst of fuel, and another Dexterity check must be made to make a proper adjustment. These adjustments may or may not increase the character's speed, at the discretion of the character using the rocket pack. Even if the burst does not accelerate the character, it must be counted as one of the pack's bursts. A character can keep making direction adjustments as long as the rocket pack has fuel.

If the character gets himself aimed at the target and has enough fuel remaining to stop when he gets there, he can come to a gentle stop at the destination by using the appropriate number of bursts to decelerate.

If a character is aimed correctly at a target but does not have enough fuel in the pack to slow down, he will take 1d10 points of damage for each 50 meters/turn of his speed when he hits the object. In addition, the character must make a Dexterity check to stop at the object,  or he will bounce off the intended target and travel at one-half of his previous speed in a direction determined by the referee. This Dexterity check has a -5 modifier for each 50 meters/turn that the character is traveling upon impact.

Magnetic shoes can be used without a spacesuit for walking in the zero-gravity sections inside ships and stations, where air pressure in the compartment makes a spacesuit unnecessary.

If a character with a rocket pack is in danger of bouncing off his destination because of excessive speed, magnetic shoes will give him a +20 modifier on his Dexterity check to see if he can hang on.

Velcro Boots. These boots allow a character to walk through carpeted sections of a spaceship while weightless. Since it is standard procedure to carpet all inhabited sections of a ship, velcro boots are a very common accessory. The walking rate with velcro boots is one-half of the character's normal rate.

Additional Life Support. This important optional package includes enough water, compressed food and oxygen to sup port a character for an additional 20 hours beyond a suit's normal capacity. Up to two packages of additional life support can be added to a suit, for a maximum time of 60 hours.

Anchors. Spacesuit anchors are self-adhesing disks attached to flexible, lightweight cables. An anchor will bond to any rock, metal, plastic, or even wooden structure that is reasonably free of grease and dust. An anchor comes with 100 meters of cable, but a character can carry up to 1,000 meters of cable if he purchases extra. An anchor is used to prevent the character from drifting off into space.

An anchor also comes with a special belt that the character wears on the outside of his suit. By pushing a button on the belt, the character can be reeled in at a comfortable 20 meters/turn.

Extra Patches. A packet of two of these potentially life-saving devices can be added to a suit. The packet is carried on the suit's sleeve. A character can carry up to two packets (four extra patches).
(source- Star Frontiers: 25th Anniversary Edition)