High Guard - Supply units

[Spartan159]

Biosphere and supply units... how do they interact? would there be any reduction on SU needed per day? I realize some SU would be needed by the biosphere itself but I would expect it produces more than it uses. recycling is a thing too.

I'm guessing Biospheres are a combination of gardening, hydroponics, aquaponics and maybe even carniculture?

PS: what cost to replace a supply unit?

 

[wintertraveller]

This is a good question. I've been assuming that the supply unit rules were alternatives to the standard rules outlined in the Core Rulebook and High Guard and haven't been mixing the approach of regular rules, including biospheres, with supply units. I'm curious how others will respond.

 

[Condottiere]

Enclosed ecosystem, whose exterior is actively hostile to it's continued existence.

Biologically it's probably self regenerating, but I suspect the power draw regulates temperature, water and airflow.

Mechanically, you have to keep that plumbing functioning and plug any holes in the hull.

 

[paltrysum]

Biosphere and supply units... how do they interact? would there be any reduction on SU needed per day? I realize some SU would be needed by the biosphere itself but I would expect it produces more than it uses. recycling is a thing too.

I'm guessing Biospheres are a combination of gardening, hydroponics, aquaponics and maybe even carniculture?

PS: what cost to replace a supply unit?

Nice thinking on this question. I wish we’d thought of it during design. I should think that biosphere would enable a ship to self-replicate a certain percentage of needed Supply Units.

We’d want it to work out where it would require a sufficient investment in biosphere to have a strong material impact; the reason being, Supply Units are major story drivers, and allowing Travelers to eliminate that motivator with clever ship designs does not serve the story well.

I’d like to hear what people think an appropriate self-replication rate would be.

 

[Shardan13]

Do the various manufactory plants, mining plant and ore refining plant affect supply units? After all the basic and advance manufactories produce tool and machine parts.

 

[Condottiere]

Assuming one supply unit per hundred tonnes per day at ten kilogrammes each, or 0.14 cubic metres, or one ten thousandths of volume.

What proportion of that is required for life support is an unknown.

I don't see specific or additional (monetary) cost(s)

 

[Spartan159]

Nice thinking on this question. I wish we’d thought of it during design. I should think that biosphere would enable a ship to self-replicate a certain percentage of needed Supply Units.

We’d want it to work out where it would require a sufficient investment in biosphere to have a strong material impact; the reason being, Supply Units are major story drivers, and allowing Travelers to eliminate that motivator with clever ship designs does not serve the story well.

I’d like to hear what people think an appropriate self-replication rate would be.

Well, to me a supply unit is more than just food, it also represents maintenance. Maybe a combination of life support cost and maintenance costs on a daily basis? The biosphere will extend the duration a ship could voyage for, but not replace the need for supply units, which represent gaskets and widgets and whatnot that wear out as well as sustenance.

I came up with this based on a ship I designed that was a dedicated exploration/scout cruiser, meant to go on long voyages like the Deepnight Cruiser. I think what I will do is divide monthly maintenance cost and life support unit cost into a daily requirement to achieve a supply unit cost, and allow the biosphere to reduce the daily SU requirement by X amount. If calculated at ship design it should be relatively painless to enact during play. For instance a ship that normally requires 500 SU per day might only need 400 per day with a large enough biosphere?

 

[Spartan159]

When I played around with the numbers what I ended up with was a reduction in cost of SU. So, any particular ship still uses dTons/100 SU per day, but the cost per SU is lower if you have a biosphere.

IMTU I use a 28 day cycle. For my calculations, I added maintenance cost + stateroom support cost + personnel cost - 2,000Cr per dTon of Biosphere, then divided by (supply units per day * 28) to get a cost per supply unit for that particular ship.

PS: I am also using the notion that ships have built in storage lockers equal to 100 days supply, per page 30 of the Naval Campaigns Sourcebook.

 

[Condottiere]

I'd need to have a concrete breakdown of costs, in order to speculate; these are just general figures.

Though it should be noted, it's cheaper to pay off the life support costs, than adding biodomes, unless you're going to a region where that option isn't available.