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--- outpost_2:outpost_2_manual:detailed_unit_descriptions [2015/11/28 21:30] – [Solar Power Array] dave_erald
+++ outpost_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.
-//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====
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 //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====
+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====
+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====
+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====
+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====
+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.
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+ - //Go Back to [[http://wiki.outpost2.net/doku.php?id=start|Wiki Home Page]]//