outpost_2:outpost_2_manual:detailed_unit_descriptions

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revision Previous revision
Next revision
Previous revision
outpost_2:outpost_2_manual:detailed_unit_descriptions [2015/11/28 21:26] – [Mines: Common Ore and Rare Ore] dave_eraldoutpost_2:outpost_2_manual:detailed_unit_descriptions [2016/10/12 21:32] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
Line 101: Line 101:
 While Guard Posts normally operate independently, they can be directed at individual targets in response to commands from the Command Center. While Guard Posts normally operate independently, they can be directed at individual targets in response to commands from the Command Center.
  
-//Notes:// If a guard post is left in a damaged state for too long it has a chance to spontaneously explode that could cause splash damage to nearby units.+//Notes:// Due to the energy charge and/or chemical compounds associated with each weapon type, a guard post that is left in a damaged state for too long has a chance to spontaneously explode that could cause splash damage to nearby units.
 ====Laboratory, Basic==== ====Laboratory, Basic====
  
Line 133: Line 133:
 Both the Common Ore Mine and Rare Ore Mine begin their lives as a vehicle, a Robo-Miner. Like the off-shore oil-platforms on old Earth, these mine structures are designed to be built in one location, then moved to a promising site to put down roots and fulfill their main function. While the Common and Rare Ore Mines use a common mining technology, the Robo-Miner is also capable of being deployed in a Magma Well configuration, which is described elsewhere. Both Common and Rare Ore Mines use "Robo-Mole" technology. This technology employs remote-controlled robot mining heads connected to the Robo-Miner by an umbilical. These Robo-Moles burrow into rock and soil, extracting useful ore and returning it in the form of a suspended slurry, which is pumped through the umbilical to the Robo-Miner for further processing. The umbilical also provides power and control linkages to the surface facility. Both the Common Ore Mine and Rare Ore Mine begin their lives as a vehicle, a Robo-Miner. Like the off-shore oil-platforms on old Earth, these mine structures are designed to be built in one location, then moved to a promising site to put down roots and fulfill their main function. While the Common and Rare Ore Mines use a common mining technology, the Robo-Miner is also capable of being deployed in a Magma Well configuration, which is described elsewhere. Both Common and Rare Ore Mines use "Robo-Mole" technology. This technology employs remote-controlled robot mining heads connected to the Robo-Miner by an umbilical. These Robo-Moles burrow into rock and soil, extracting useful ore and returning it in the form of a suspended slurry, which is pumped through the umbilical to the Robo-Miner for further processing. The umbilical also provides power and control linkages to the surface facility.
 ====Nursery==== ====Nursery====
 +
 +When little Colonists ask, "Mommy, where did I come from?" the answer is, of course, "the Nursery, dear." Given that birth rates are an important element in colony survival, that all able-bodied adults work, and that maternity leaves are necessarily short, the Nursery's functions are nothing less than vital to colony survival. The Nursery provides a wide range of services for Children from conception through teens. This starts with a fertility clinic. While about 50 percent of the colony's Children are conceived naturally, the rest are born of DNA taken from the colony's Gene Bank. The bank represents the full genetic diversity of Earth's population, and it saves the colony's small population from excessive inbreeding.
 +Genotypes taken from the bank are carefully chosen to represent the 99th percentile in key survival areas such as intelligence, strength, life-span, health, productivity, and emotional stability. The decision to engage in such a eugenics program is an ethically uncomfortable one; it was judged necessary for the survival of the species. The intent has always been to pick genetic material at random once a permanent and stable colony has been established. After conception, the Nursery provides birthing classes, routine prenatal screenings, routine deliveries, infant care, child care, and limited primary schooling (the rest being provided by home schooling, online classes, and mentoring programs throughout the community). The Nursery coordinates closely with the Medical Center on birth and Children's health issues.
 +The Nursery manages all this with a tiny staff, thanks to extensive use of robot "nannies" and of volunteers from the community. Research has shown that participation in child care substantially raises colony Morale, and the Nursery provides an important emotional hub for the community.
 ====Observatory/Meteor Defense==== ====Observatory/Meteor Defense====
 +
 +Still the risk was minimal throughout the colony's early years. But unknown to anyone, an event that had happened years before was about to change that. Two of the larger asteroids with orbits near New Terra had collided, sending out an invisible spray of billions of particles, some as small as grains of sand, some several meters across. Now those particles are being swept into New Terra's gravity well, causing a meteor shower that never ends, and New Terra's thin atmosphere offers almost no protection from the bombardment.
 +While most of these meteors can be handled by the micrometeor shielding incorporated into all buildings and vehicles, some are large enough to cause major damage to the colony. Unfortunately, these chunks are still too small for early detection, and too large to be easily destroyed. Plymouth's reaction to this was simply to grin and bear it, but Eden's Scientists weren't satisfied to sit and wait. A special Observatory was designed, employing radio and thermal targeting, along with special wide-field, computer-guided, optical telescopes. The Observatory provides minimal advance warning of approaching large meteors, allowing some time for Colonists to get to shelter, for emergency airlocks to be closed, and for other measures to be taken to minimize loss of life.
 +This offered small comfort to worried Eden Colonists, however, and a method was sought to eliminate the threat of incoming meteors. The Meteor Defense they developed works in conjunction with the Observatory, which provides targeting information. A huge bank of underground volt-sinks stores power for the weapon, a High Energy Ray-Composite (HERC). The HERC system produces pulsed beams of energy in optical and microwave wavelengths, as well as a particle beam. The effect is to rapidly pump energy into the meteor in such a way as to cause it to crumble into harmless dust.
 +Despite a pilot laser that detects and corrects for atmospheric disturbances and the best efforts of Observatory Scientists, tracking and targeting aren't always exact, and the weapon's long cycle time usually doesn't allow for a second shot. Still, Eden's Scientists reason that any protection is better than none.
 +
 +New Terra's orbit is near a huge asteroid belt, much larger than the one in Earth's solar system. A large gas giant located beyond the belt disturbs the movements of these asteroids, causing occasional collisions and orbital changes that have provided New Terra with a slow, constant rain of meteor impacts throughout its history. The geological record also shows clear signs of multiple asteroid impacts, hardly a comfort for Colonists from a planet whose ecosystem was destroyed by just such an impact.
 +
 ====MHD Generator==== ====MHD Generator====
 +
 +New Terra's magnetic field is currently in a period of flux, as fossil records indicate Earth's was during several periods of prehistory when the north and south magnetic poles flipped repeatedly. Though this phenomenon was known, it has never been observed. One of the biggest surprises was to learn that during the flip, the planet's magnetic field begins small but rapid movements. Such movement suggested that it might be possible to extract free and almost unlimited electric energy from the planet itself, but a new method had to be developed to tap the vast, but relatively weak and slow moving (by electrical generating standards), magnetic fields. The MHD Generator uses an array of coaxial Buckytubes, a few nanometers in diameter but tens of kilometers long, which are drilled outward from the plant through the soil using microscopic drill tools. Through this array of tubes, bursts of conductive plasma are sent at significant fractions of the speed of light, where they interact with the planet's magnetic field, are recirculated, and run through a Patterson coil: several more miles of Buckytube wound on a superconducting core and surrounded in turn by a second superconducting coil. The Patterson effect causes induction between the coil and core, creating electricity.
 +The MHD Generator requires no fuel, but maintenance is a consideration. Though Buckytubes are pound-for-pound the strongest substance known, they are also very thin, and in this application often buried only a few centimeters under the surface. They are easily damaged, must be constantly monitored, and when appropriate, repaired or replaced. This task is highly automated, however (just as well, considering the nano-scale of the tubes), and the need for on-site human maintenance is minimal.
 ====Recreation Facility==== ====Recreation Facility====
 +
 +The Recreation Facility provides a utilitarian play space that can be configured to support a variety of games, activities, and modest indoor sports. Favorite Rec Facility activities in Eden include handball, tennis, billiards, basketball, bridge, and poker. Among the favorites at Plymouth are gymnastics, volleyball, ping pong, go, and a primitive electo-mechanical game called "pinball."
 ====Residences==== ====Residences====
 +
 +While their function may not be glamorous, Residences are possibly the most important structures in the colony, and they are deceptively sophisticated in their construction and functions. The interior of each Residence structure is divided into two major sections: the living level(s) and the lifeworks. The living level is in turn divided into the commons and the living suites. The commons is a shared living area usually located in the center of the structure. It provides lounging and play space, along with limited entertainment and educational facilities. Potted plants located around the commons help boost Morale, contribute atmosphere purification, and even provide occasional fresh vegetables.
 +Men's and women's communal bath areas are located at one end of the commons, along with a small exercise room. At the other end of the commons are small privacy rooms, which provide Colonists living in shared quarters an oft-needed retreat. Use of the privacy rooms is much in demand, and time is granted through a lottery system. The area devoted to living suites can be flexibly subdivided according to colony needs. The various suite configurations include singles (housing one or two unpartnered singles), doubles (housing childless couples), and quads (for families with up to two children). While a quad can also accommodate a family with two older children and an infant, larger families are generally given a quad plus an adjoining single. There are also VIP suites for Elders and a few of the colony's elite. While such suites generally aren't vastly larger than normal suites, they do have more flexible space and luxury furnishings. Most are located on the outside of the structure, incorporating at least one window with a view. VIP suites are built to individual specifications, and vary considerably in floor-plan and size.
 +More than just apartments, the living suites provide extensions of many colony services. Computer links and smart-paint wall-sized screens can be used for entertainment and education, as well as job-related and personal communications. Bio-sensors built into the beds can be used to monitor Colonists receiving out-patient care from the Medical Center, and can even occasionally be used to make a remote diagnosis of a minor ailment. Simple exercise equipment is built into the walls, as is a small personal cooking facility (while most colony meals are centrally prepared, access to home-cooking is again a Morale issue).
 +While quarters are small and crowded, human-factor engineering is used to make them as comfortable as possible without sacrificing efficiency and utility (the Plymouth colony seems to be better at this than Eden). In an emergency, Residence capacity can be temporarily increased by installing beds in the common areas, removing some partitions to create larger suites, and hanging hammocks for additional bedding. While this is possible, it should be a matter of last resort, due to its detrimental effect on Morale.
 +Hidden from view is the other vitally important section of the Residence, the lifeworks. The lifeworks is an integrated life-support system for human habitation. It provides climate control, air recycling, water recycling, waste treatment, automated food preparation (supplying dispensers located in the commons), and even clothing (made to order from syntharoy fabrics, which are synthesized and cut on-site, then assembled using laser-welded seams). Each colony has developed its own specialized variation on the basic Residence design. Eden has created an Advanced Residence. Its redesigned lifeworks serves a larger structure, housing more Colonists, but with the same Power and Worker operational requirements as the earlier Residence.
 +Plymouth has developed the Reinforced Residence. This version incorporates increased shielding, self-sealing bulkheads, extra safety gear, heavier construction, and a quake-resistant foundation to help the structure survive in especially hostile and dangerous conditions. While this structure has less interior space than the standard Residence, Plymouth's advancements in human engineering have made it no less comfortable.
 ====Robot Command Center==== ====Robot Command Center====
 +
 +The Robot Command Center supplements the main Command Center in coordinating vehicle operations, and offers a remote assist to a vehicle's brain power. Using a dedicated Savant-series computer and a powerful communications array that incorporates multiple layers of hardware encryption and anti-jamming circuitry, the Robot Command Center increases the piloting and navigation capability of all colony vehicles and Arachnid robots, increasing their efficiency and allowing them to operate with less human intervention. 
 +
 +//Note:// The vehicle list, available from the Status display for the Robot Command Center, only shows those vehicles that are "in the field." Vehicles in storage at Garages are not listed here.
 ====Smelter: Common Ore and Rare Ore==== ====Smelter: Common Ore and Rare Ore====
 +
 +Because of heavy asteroid bombardment several times in its early geological history, the planet's crust has been melted and resolidified several times. This process has resulted in a fairly homogeneous crust without the wide range of mineral and rock types found on Earth. In this respect, New Terra more closely resembles Earth's Moon, though it is much richer in heavy metals. In fact, any surface rock or handful of soil on New Terra is going to have a fair amount of useful metal in it; it is just that the extraction of that metal from common materials is difficult and expensive, and the concentrations, while considerable, are far below that of even poor ores on Earth. Fortunately, the crust is not completely uniform, and veins of material richer in valuable metals have been found.
 +The processes under which these veins were formed is unknown, and largely irrelevant to the colonies since they are easily detected without knowing their origin. Two general types of ore are known, each made from a soup of various metals. The first is simply called Common Ore, and it is rich in lighter metals such as aluminum, titanium, magnesium, yttrium, and chromium, as well as a few common heavier metals like copper and iron. So-called Rare Ores are rich in heavier metals including radioactives. Metals in this group include gold, silver, lead, cobalt, nickel, palladium, osmium, platinum, cadmium, zinc, mercury, thorium, and uranium.
 +The technology used in both the ore smelting structures is similar to that used in the GORF recycling structure. Ores are pretreated to maximize the concentrations of useful metal, then crushed to a uniform pellet size and fed into a fusion-electric smelter and pumped under pressure into a hot cracking column for separation into individual metals. While most metals are extracted in pure form, some, such as uranium and aluminum, require additional processing. The resulting molten metal streams are solidified into micro-pellets, which are mixed into a synthetic oil-based medium to create a slurry, which can be pumped through pipes, stored in tanks, and easily provided to factory machinery in the form of a constant flow.
 +While both the Common Ore Smelter and Rare Ore Smelter use similar technology, the smelting temperatures, operating pressures, and cracking column configuration for each is completely different, thus the need for two different dedicated structures. The Rare Ore Smelter also contains special equipment and facilities for handling radioactive materials and toxic heavy metals.
 ====Solar Power Array==== ====Solar Power Array====
 +
 +The Solar Power Array is the service end of the space solar satellite power system. The satellite in high planetary orbit collects sunlight and converts it using photovoltaic cells into electricity, which in turn powers an array of MASERS, the microwave equivalent of a laser. These produce a narrow, high-energy beam of microwaves that must be aimed precisely at the small target the Solar Power Array provides, but which can be collected by a relatively small antenna array with negligible losses. This antenna converts the beam back into electricity, which in turn is broadcast for use by colony structures and vehicles.
 +
 +//Operational Notes:// The Solar Power Array produces 400 units of Power. This structure, unlike the other Power generation facilities, is not prone to explosion when damaged. Each Solar Power Array requires its own Solar Power Satellite in orbit to produce Power; an Array is disabled without a matching Satellite.
 ====Spaceport==== ====Spaceport====
 +
 +While the Spaceport is treated as one structure for administrative purposes, it is actually a complex of tightly integrated structures that carry out a wide variety of space-related tasks. First, the Spaceport is a factory. The Spaceport can build launch vehicles as well as various satellites and starship components bound for planetary orbit. The Spaceport is also a warehouse facility, where satellites and starship components can be stored until needed for launch. Launch vehicles must be assembled on the launch pad, and may not be moved to the warehouse for storage. The Spaceport is also a fuel production and storage plant, capable of providing a number of exotic fuels and oxidizers.
 +Of course, the most obvious function of the Spaceport is to launch rockets, and that it does. In the interest of efficiency, a single pad is used for rocket assembly, fueling, loading, and launching. This pad is also used for landing Reusable Launch Vehicles, and for servicing and refueling them while they are on the ground. There are two main classes of launch vehicles. The expendable Single-Use Launch Vehicles (SULVs) are operated by both Eden and Plymouth. These vehicles are constructed primarily of composites and lightweight metal alloys and are usable only once. While their payload capacities and capabilities are much the same, Eden and Plymouth use somewhat different configurations. The Eden SULV is a two-stage rocket, using hydrogen/oxygen fuel in both stages, an aerospike engine in the first stage, and more conventional expansion nozzle engines in the second stage. The Plymouth system is a two and a half stage system using somewhat less advanced technology and ejectable strap-on solid-rocket boosters providing the "half" stage. All liquid engines are fueled by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and use conventional expansion nozzle designs.
 +Eden has also developed a much more advanced Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV). The RLV uses an all-composite airframe construction for maximum strength and minimum weight. The aerospike engine uses a unique hybrid propulsion. Exotic monoatomic oxygen is used as the fuel for takeoff and final landing burns. For most of the flight, the engine is powered by a gas-core fission reactor, heating liquid hydrogen as a reaction mass. Bleed liquid-hydrogen from the fuel tanks is also used as a heat-shield and critical-component coolant for reentry and landing.
 ====Storage: Common Metals and Rare Metals==== ====Storage: Common Metals and Rare Metals====
 +
 +To maximize efficiency and automation, most ores and metals are processed in the form of a slurry: particles are suspended in a recyclable carrier fluid. In this form, both the ore and processed metals can be pumped through pipelines, stored in tanks, then pumped as needed directly to smelters and manufacturing facilities. Once the slurry reaches its final destination, the solids are extracted, and the carrier fluid pumped back for reuse. If any of these slurries is allowed to sit for any length of time, the particulates will settle out, and must be remixed before the slurry can be pumped and transported. The Storage Tank structures are equipped to solve this problem. While the problems and technology are the same for both Common and Rare Metals, somewhat different structures and strategies are needed for both.
 +Common Metals are normally stored in large bulk quantities, and are often moved and used in bulk as well. A Common Metals Storage Tank is subdivided into only a few large compartments, each equipped with stirring paddles that rotate through the mix just quickly enough to keep the particles in suspension. Despite this, problems still occur, and what has become known as "the Ketchup Bottle Effect" will sometimes clog outlet chutes, requiring human intervention. Rare Metals are stored in smaller quantities and larger varieties. Typical storage periods are longer, and the quantities used are smaller. Thus, Rare Metal Storage Tanks are subdivided into numerous small compartments. While these compartments can be continuously stirred when demand is high, typically the stirring paddles will be turned off, and the slurry allowed to settle out of suspension. Thanks to the small size of individual compartments, it takes very little time to stir up a given tank when supplies are needed.
 +Though these structures are relatively low maintenance, they do require constant supervision for inventory control, security, and handling clogs and other breakdowns.
 ====Tokamak Fusion Reactor==== ====Tokamak Fusion Reactor====
 +
 +The cool-fusion process used to power vehicles, Arachnid robots, and some self-contained structures like Light Towers and Guard Posts is best used when small, simple, and lightweight power is required. However, the cool-fusion process does not scale up well to the sizes required to power a colony. For this, a Tokamak Fusion Reactor is used. This ancient, brute-force power generation method works very well at city-sized scales. A ring of superconducting magnets is used to compress a ring of hydrogen plasma to the incredible pressures and temperatures necessary to create the hot-fusion reaction. The design used is a model of automation and efficiency, and the plant normally operates totally unmanned, requiring only occasional visits for repair and service.
 +The system is not without its flaws, however. The Tokamak Reactor harnesses powerful and violent forces, not only nuclear, but magnetic. Failures can be spectacular and destructive. For that reason, Tokamak Fusion Reactors are usually located a safe distance from other colony structures.
 ====Trade Center==== ====Trade Center====
 +
 +The Trade Center provides communications facilities for diplomatic transmissions, trade negotiations, barter-transfers, and contract verifications. A colony with a Trade Center can trade with any other colony.
 ====University==== ====University====
 +
 +The University provides for secondary and ongoing training of Colonists qualified for science/technician careers. It includes conventional classrooms, offices, small labs supporting each of the major scientific disciplines, and study areas. Important secondary functions of the University include helping coordinate the research efforts of outside labs, limited decoding of the damaged starship scientific databases, and support of educational programs for younger students, including teens in trade apprenticeship programs.
  
 ---- ----
  - //Go Back to [[Online Manual]]//\\  - //Go Back to [[Online Manual]]//\\
- - //Go Back to [[http://wiki.outpostuniverse.org/doku.php?id=start|Wiki Home Page]]//+ - //Go Back to [[http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=start|Wiki Home Page]]//
  • outpost_2/outpost_2_manual/detailed_unit_descriptions.1448745976.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2015/11/28 21:26
  • by dave_erald