Questions about Fabrication Chambers

[J. L. Brown]

Page 7 of the updated / 2023 version of the Central Supply Catalog includes rules for 'Fabrication Chambers'. Generally the price is 'volume x price per volume for specific capability', which is fine. Fabbers of better capability become available (but not mandatory) at higher Technology Levels, which is also fine. So what is the price of a lower-capability fabber built one or more TLs above when the capability became available? What is the price difference between Basic / Improved / Enhanced fabbers of the same volume, all built at TL 14? TL 15? The text doesn't give any guidance that I have found.

Do the rules for 'Prototech' and 'Retrotech' computers and electronics (pages 10 & 11) apply to fabbers? Do higher-tech versions of the same capability (a TL 15 'Basic' fabber versus a TL 10 'Basic' fabber) work any faster?

 

[Geir]

Page 7 of the updated / 2023 version of the Central Supply Catalog includes rules for 'Fabrication Chambers'. Generally the price is 'volume x price per volume for specific capability', which is fine. Fabbers of better capability become available (but not mandatory) at higher Technology Levels, which is also fine. So what is the price of a lower-capability fabber built one or more TLs above when the capability became available? What is the price difference between Basic / Improved / Enhanced fabbers of the same volume, all built at TL 14? TL 15? The text doesn't give any guidance that I have found.

Do the rules for 'Prototech' and 'Retrotech' computers and electronics (pages 10 & 11) apply to fabbers? Do higher-tech versions of the same capability (a TL 15 'Basic' fabber versus a TL 10 'Basic' fabber) work any faster?

It wasn't the intent to include them in the Retrotech rules, as they have the ability to create items at TL-2, which would move (with restrictions on types of devices) with the TL. Prototech rules, on the other hand, could conceivable be applied to any item.

 

[alex_greene]

How small can they get? I'm thinking about fab chambers the size of cybertech, synthesising drug doses at need, something attached to the lungs to recycle air and oxygenate blood, and so on.

 

[Geir]

How small can they get? I'm thinking about fab chambers the size of cybertech, synthesising drug doses at need, something attached to the lungs to recycle air and oxygenate blood, and so on.

That sort of falls into the nanorobot category (see Robot Handbook - but that concerns itself with purchasing nanorobots). As written, the fabs can be arbitrarily small, but they just don't get cheaper than the one chamber litre cost.

 

[alex_greene]

That sort of falls into the nanorobot category (see Robot Handbook - but that concerns itself with purchasing nanorobots). As written, the fabs can be arbitrarily small, but they just don't get cheaper than the one chamber litre cost.

Sounds good to me. Cost is irrelevant, when you can have nanofabs inside you to regulate your body's health. Nanofabs could render anagathics as written obsolete.

 

[Geir]

Sounds good to me. Cost is irrelevant, when you can have nanofabs inside you to regulate your body's health. Nanofabs could render anagathics as written obsolete.

Yeah, I hedged on that in the Robot Handbook. The Medical Nanorobots section on pages 83-84 in the RBH talks about age reduction, but it's more aging rate reduction than anagathics age freeze. And since it deals with purchasing nano packages, it doesn't deal directly with an implant 'fab organ' producing them, though that is a cool cybernetics option to consider.

 

[alex_greene]

Yeah, I hedged on that in the Robot Handbook. The Medical Nanorobots section on pages 83-84 in the RBH talks about age reduction, but it's more aging rate reduction than anagathics age freeze. And since it deals with purchasing nano packages, it doesn't deal directly with an implant 'fab organ' producing them, though that is a cool cybernetics option to consider.

There's always a chance that some Traveller with Science (gerontology) and Science (nanomedicine) 4 or 5 can work it out. That's a whole story or even campaign for them to follow the clues, and then there are the first experimental cyberfabs ...

 

[J. L. Brown]

I am trying to fill in the following 'Credits per CL of Standard Fabricator Capacity' table:

Technology Level​	Basic​	Improved​	Enhanced​	Advanced​
6​	---**​	-----​	-----​	-----​
7​	----*​	-----​	-----​	-----​
8​	2000​	---**​	-----​	-----​
9​	?????​	----*​	-----​	-----​
10​	?????​	10000​	-----​	-----​
11​	?????​	?????​	---**​	-----​
12​	?????​	?????​	----*​	-----​
13​	?????​	?????​	50000​	-----​
14​	?????​	?????​	?????​	-----​
15​	?????​	?????​	?????​	---**​
16​	?????​	?????​	?????​	----*​
17​	?????​	?????​	?????​	200000​

A value of '-----' indicates such a fabricator is simply not possible.

I had previously thought that TL7 'Basic' Fabs (and TL9 'Improved', TL12 'Enhanced', and TL16 'Advanced Fabs) would be Prototech1*, mass x10, cost x10, and 1 quirk. Similarly, TL6 'Basic' Fabs (and TL8 'Improved', TL11 'Enhanced', and TL15 'Advanced Fabs) would be Prototech2**, mass x100, cost x100, unreliable & 2 quirks. All this is just following the rules for Prototech on pages 10 & 11.

Whether or not any of that is true, it still leaves unanswered all of the (far more important) values with question marks.

Also -- 'Advanced' fabricators initially become available at TL 17, and they can build items of up to their own TL -0, instead of the usual TL -2 of lesser fabs. What would be the maximum TL of the products of a Prototech1 TL16 Advanced Fab or a Prototech2 TL15 Advanced Fab?

A TL8 'Basic' fab requires 2 hours to finish building an item; a TL13 'Enhanced' fab requires only an hour to finish building an item. A TL13 'Basic' fab takes how long? A TL 11 'Improved' fab needs two hours to finish building an item; how long does a TL13 'Improved' fab take? A TL11 'Improved' fab -- could it be built at Prototech2 to make it a TL13 'Improved' fab?

 

[J. L. Brown]

In the absence of any replies to the questions of cost with regard to changing Tech Level in my first post, here is my solution.

Technology Level​	Basic (TL -3)​	Improved (TL -2)​	Enhanced (TL-1)​	Advanced (TL -0)​
6​	---**​	-----​	-----​	-----​
7​	----*​	-----​	-----​	-----​
8​	2000​	-----​	-----​	-----​
9​	1600​	---**​	-----​	-----​
10​	1280​	----*​	-----​	-----​
11​	1000​	10000​	-----​	-----​
12​	750​	8000​	---**​	-----​
13​	560​	6400​	----*​	-----​
14​	400​	5000​	50000​	-----​
15​	260​	3750​	40000​	---**​
16​	165​	2800​	32000​	----*​
17​	100​	2000​	25000​	200000​

A value of '-----' indicates such a fabricator is simply not possible. Entries with one asterisk (*) indicate a fabricator built using a single level of prototech; entries with a double asterisk (**) indicate a fabricator built with two levels of prototech .

External fabricators (up until 'Advanced' fabricators) can only produce items of up to one TL lower than normal (internal) fabricators of the same type and TL.

'Basic' items are items which can be made in a 'Basic' fabricator; this includes simple electrical devices with relays and vacuum tubes, but not superconductors, metamaterials, advanced textiles, or anything which requires precision greater than a tenth of a millimeter. 'Improved' items are items that can be made in an 'Improved' (but not in a 'Basic') fabricator, this includes advanced textiles and simple electronics with transistors, capacitors, diodes, and similar attached to a circuit-board -- but no integrated circuits; or anything which requires prcision greater than a micrometer. 'Enhanced' items are items which may be manufactured in an 'Enhanced' (but not 'Basic' or 'Improved') fabricator; this includes electronics, spin-tronics, photonics, and gravitonic devices, electrical and thermal superconductors, and many meta-materials; but nothing which requires precision greater than a nanometer.

The hours taken to produce a given Basic / Improved / Enhanced / Advanced item are as follows:

Technology Level	Basic (TL -3)	Improved (TL -2)	Enhanced (TL -1)	Advanced (TL -0)
6	72**/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
7	48*/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
8	24/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
9	20/-----/-----/-----	18/56**/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
10	16/-----/-----/-----	14/36*/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
11	12/-----/-----/-----	10/18/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
12	12/-----/-----/-----	9/15/-----/-----	7/14/36**/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
13	12/-----/-----/-----	8/12/-----/-----	6/11/24*/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
14	12/-----/-----/-----	7/9/-----/-----	5/8/12/-----	-----/-----/-----/-----
15	12/-----/-----/-----	7/9/-----/-----	4/6/10/-----	3/5/8/18**
16	12/-----/-----/-----	7/9/-----/-----	3/4/8/-----	2/3/6/12**
17	12/-----/-----/-----	7/9/-----/-----	2/3/6/-----	1/2/4/6