A question about collectors

[Sigtrygg]

Yup, the original psionic owners could flick the switch with but a thought...

which brings me to the truth of automation.

Having a switch on the bridge means you need some way to sommunicate with the machinery in the engine room. Mechanical linkages would be too heavy and take up too much volume, but fortunately by the time TL9 jump ships are being built you can have control by wire and wireless...

but the machinery in the engine room needs the automation to receive the control signals and the actuators to then operate the machinery, you have to add electric motors and switches all over the mcahinery.

Good luck when one of those switches shorts out, or one of the motors burns up. Ahh, you say, but we have sensors. So you have a sensor connected to every switch, relay, motor, actuator...

now consider security - a hostile actor now has many electronic routes into taking control or just wrecking your ship. After all you have all those sensor providing feedback to the control systems, all those control systems talking to the machinery...

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yup, the original psionic owners could flick the switch with but a thought...

which brings me to the truth of automation.

Having a switch on the bridge means you need some way to sommunicate with the machinery in the engine room. Mechanical linkages would be too heavy and take up too much volume, but fortunately by the time TL9 jump ships are being built you can have control by wire and wireless...

Already exists. Everything is connected by the bridge. That is why the price of the bridge is based on the size of the hull, not the size of the bridge.

but the machinery in the engine room needs the automation to receive the control signals and the actuators to then operate the machinery, you have to add electric motors and switches all over the mcahinery.

See above.

Good luck when one of those switches shorts out, or one of the motors burns up. Ahh, you say, but we have sensors. So you have a sensor connected to every switch, relay, motor, actuator...

This is true of any control on the whole ship regardless of its location on the ship. Most ship doors are electronic and only can be operated manually with special tools.

now consider security - a hostile actor now has many electronic routes into taking control or just wrecking your ship. After all you have all those sensor providing feedback to the control systems, all those control systems talking to the machinery...

Security is handled by the ships Security and Anti-Hijack Software.

High Guard page 20 "Every ship needs a central computer, usually installed near the bridge. The computer is the heart of the ship, controlling all functions from life support to the complex calculations needed to perform a jump."

 

[rinku]

A well designed vehicle or building will allow for future alterations. That's why we install power points these days instead of wiring most appliances directly (although some things often still are. Stoves are wired in, fridges aren't. Go figure).

Standard Traveller designs have been in use for very long times and appear to be highly modular and standardised in their components. Makes sense; simplifies parts and keeps costs down. We do not usually bother tracking stuff like wiring or plumbing - it's assumed to be simple, logical and efficient. Issues were identified, solved and implemented centuries ago.

That's... not the Annic Nova.

Spoilers on, but most of you know the story:

Spoiler

It's neither standard nor was it designed to be anything like its current form. We don't actually know what that was, 9000 years ago. Marc used the Ship of Theseus as his inspiration - by now every original part has been replaced, and the resulting vessel is a weird kludge of antique and alien. The small craft are even implied to be a fairly recent addition (maybe whatever it was using for thrust broke down 150 years ago? we don't know.)

So... can't open the canopy from the bridge? Yeah. That's actually a clue about it.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Security is handled by the ships Security and Anti-Hijack Software.

If it has any. For many ships they would have to stop security software to run the jump software or buy a more expensive computer, obvious time for Hijackers to attack. TL 9 and 10 don't have the software. At 6 MCr it adds MORE than 10% to the cost of the most common PC ships even if they have the computer power to run it. So the software may not be all that common unless your ship is very expensive and at least TL 11.

 

[boggo2300]

That's why we install power points these days instead of wiring most appliances directly (although some things often still are. Stoves are wired in, fridges aren't. Go figure).

Thats actually a single phase, three phase power thing, and I suspect a particularly Australian thing

 

[Condottiere]

Except for smaller spacecraft, the size of the bridge has little effect.

As regards to the power grid, being exposed to the primitive hull had got me thinking.

Ship components, specifically engineering, need to have suitable electrical wiring.

In theory, so should energy weapon systems.

 

[MasterGwydion]

If it has any. For many ships they would have to stop security software to run the jump software or buy a more expensive computer, obvious time for Hijackers to attack. TL 9 and 10 don't have the software. At 6 MCr it adds MORE than 10% to the cost of the most common PC ships even if they have the computer power to run it. So the software may not be all that common unless your ship is very expensive and at least TL 11.

Yeah, which takes us back to computers and their software are broken in Traveller. These are things that exist today and are economical. Yet, somehow in the "future" computers are no longer able to run security software and the software somehow costs more than 10% of the whole vehicle. Every single computer would have some sort of security software. Hell, even Windows requires you to have a log-in and password. How it is handled in Traveller is just stupid.

 

[rinku]

I was initially confused here but there appears to be some conflation between Security software (anti-hacking) and Anti-Hijack measures. The former is cheap, included for free at a basic level and fairly effective against routine system intrusions. Cr20k buys you 14+ protection. The latter is expensive but is more effective. I see nothing that says you can't apply both against an intrusion attempt.

Someone trying to open a secure door if the computer has its default Security 0 has a 8+ Electronics (Computer) task to achieve it*. If the same ship were running Anti-Hijack/1 there's a -2 penalty on top of that, effectively making it a 10+ task. You would think that most ships that pay for Anti-Hijack would first spend some cash on the cheaper Security too, making the pairing even more effective. For MCr2.02 you can get a setup that requires a task roll of 16+. For MCr10.02 you can max it out to 20+. Which is definitely worth it for a navy ship, maybe overkill for a free trader. But hey... a hacker would need a +8 and a roll of 12 to get a marginal success, so there is that.

So... don't buy Anti-Hijack unless you think you'll need military grade security. Cr20k (per CRB) and 3 bandwidth will keep out all bar the best equipped and skilled intruders.

(*This is basically Windows password level of security)

 

[Terry Mixon]

I was initially confused here but there appears to be some conflation between Security software (anti-hacking) and Anti-Hijack measures. The former is cheap, included for free at a basic level and fairly effective against routine system intrusions. Cr20k buys you 14+ protection. The latter is expensive but is more effective. I see nothing that says you can't apply both against an intrusion attempt.

Someone trying to open a secure door if the computer has its default Security 0 has a 8+ Electronics (Computer) task to achieve it*. If the same ship were running Anti-Hijack/1 there's a -2 penalty on top of that, effectively making it a 10+ task. You would think that most ships that pay for Anti-Hijack would first spend some cash on the cheaper Security too, making the pairing even more effective. For MCr2.02 you can get a setup that requires a task roll of 16+. For MCr10.02 you can max it out to 20+. Which is definitely worth it for a navy ship, maybe overkill for a free trader. But hey... a hacker would need a +8 and a roll of 12 to get a marginal success, so there is that.

So... don't buy Anti-Hijack unless you think you'll need military grade security. Cr20k (per CRB) and 3 bandwidth will keep out all bar the best equipped and skilled intruders.

(*This is basically Windows password level of security)

This directly relates to an offline conversation that I was having last night with @mavikfelna! Thanks for the idea!

 

[rinku]

It's often easy to forget that there's some stuff relevant to High Guard that's only in the CRB.

 

[Jame Rowe]

No, that's where the giant hamster in the cage spins up the homopolar generator wheel . . .

They didn't include any gigantic space hamsters, miniature or otherwise.

 

[WHULorigan]

They didn't include any gigantic space hamsters, miniature or otherwise.

Why would you think batteries would be included?