Geo Con

From OPU Wiki

Properties

• Common Metals Cost: 400
• Rare Metals Cost: 100
• Build Time: Medium
• Hit Points: High
• Armor: None
• Track Type: Wheeled
• Speed: Medium

Commands (not always available): Move, Stop, Build Geothermal Plant, Transfer, Self-Destruct

Description

Eden has developed a variation of Robo-Miner technology that allows cheap, nearly unlimited energy to be extracted to the crust of New Terra itself. Like the Robo-Miner, the Geothermal Constructor is a transforming vehicle, mobile in order to be transferred to an appropriate geothermal site, such as a fumarole, where it converts into a fixed structure, the Geothermal Plant. While geothermal power generation was common on old Earth, a new technology had to be developed on New Terra, where natural ground water does not occur (the outflow from fumaroles on New Terra consists of inert gasses and molten salts). The Geothermal Constructor uses a fusion drill to open a shaft into the hot rock of the upper crust, where it fans out into an array of energy collection shafts. Each of these shafts is equipped with a molten salt heat pipe (exploiting the natural liquid salts) that transfers the heat back to the surface, where it is used for power generation.

Operational Notes: GeoCons are available only to Eden. Their function is to transform themselves into Geothermal Plants. They can only do this over fumaroles.

Tales from New Terra

Ellen Vogle lifted her safety goggles to her forehead as she entered the Geothermal Plant's normally unmanned control room. Sweat trickled down her forehead and dust outlined where the goggles had covered her eyes, giving her a masked appearance, but she was smiling broadly. "That flaky cooling duct is sealed. That's the last of it," she said to Johnson, the junior tech who sat in front of the master computer console. Johnson was a small, cerebral-looking man, whose hands showed little sign of physical work, yet it was clear that Ellen was the one in charge here. "Sure thing, Boss," he said. "Want me to bring the plant online?"

"Bring the plant up, 10 percent power till we work the bugs out, but let me connect it to broadcast unit." Johnson raised an eyebrow, but began the power-up checklist. Ellen walked over to the observation window and looked out at the salt turbines that had been preheating for the last 30 hours. A rumble went through the floor under her feet as they began to spin. She walked back to the console and put her gloved hand on the master connect switch. All the rest of the plant’s switches and relays were computer controlled, but this was the manual cut-off, a mechanical switch connected to the master relay.

"This is what I live for, Johnson. Everyone has to have a purpose in life, and this is mine. This is my baby. I was here to guide the GeoCon in next to the fumarole. I've shepherded it all the way through setup. I made the final adjustments, and now, I get to throw the final switch." She grinned at him. "Sorry, but rank has its privileges." "We've got positive salt flow through the system. All indicators are green." He looked at her, his expression unreadable. "You think I'm a little crazy, Johnson? Maybe so, but this switch is power. Hear it? Feel it? The people hunger for it, as much as they hunger for food or thirst for water. They need it, and I'm the one who gets to give it to them. I think it was Archimedes who said give me a lever and a place to stand, and I'll move the world. Well, I don't have a lever, but I have this switch, and that's close enough for me." And with that, Ellen Vogle moved the world.