Ship repair

Not to be confused with maintenance (see Ship Maintenance). Maintenance is about keeping the espresso machine in the officer's mess in good shape. Repairing is about replacing a burnt-out reactor.

Ship Repair

Ships after long voyages and/or combat will eventually need to be repaired due to low supplies not allowing them to repair themselves, or the amount of damage actually not allowing them to repair themselves while out on a mission. That is when you need to take your ship or ships home to be repaired.

Shipyard Repair

A ship can be repaired at any shipyard of a matching size and type. For example, to repair a military ship, the player must use a military shipyard. Whereas to repair a 12,000 ton ship, the player must use a shipyard capable of building a 12,000 ton ship. It logically follow that to repair a 12,000 ton military ship, the player must use a military shipyard capable of building a 12,000 ton ship.

Shipyards can repair ships completely with the "repair" Task Type.

The amount of time required depends on the amount of damage.

Onboard Ship Repair (Damage Control)

Main article: Damage Control

Ships can repair themselves if they have maintenance supplies. They automatically repair themselves if it's a malfunction, if it's due to combat damage, however, they will have to be assigned to repair the item via the Damage Control (F6) screen.

This is a lengthy process, but it will repair all internal components with enough supplies. Damage Control sections increase repair speed, but a ship can carry out repairs without one. Don't forget the "Equalize Main." button in the Task Group window will distribute supply points evenly in the task group.

This will not repair armor. Armor damage has to be repaired at a shipyard.

Hangar repairs

A carrier also functions as a shipyard for repair purposes, but the ship to be repaired must be docked inside the hangar. That way you can even repair armor while in space.

Note: it seems that hangars in PDCs can't repair ships in Aurora 7.1 anymore. Ship-based hangars can still repair docked ships/fighters.