Some Skill Problems ...

[rust]

Tinkering at my Setting X (I have not yet found a good name), I have
run into two minor problems with skills.

1) The colonists will have to wear an environment suit to keep out the
cold and the sand, and they will have to use a rebreather because the
atmosphere is not breathable.
Does this kind of gear fall under the Vacc Suit skill or under the Survi-
val skill ?

2) The main task of the colony will be the terraforming of the planet by
biological means, using bacteria, algae and lichens to enrich the atmo-
sphere with oxygen, turn sand and rock into fertile soil, and so on.
Is this terraforming a Life Science, a Geo Science or an Engineering spe-
cialization ?

Opinions would be most welcome - Thank you.

 

[far-trader]

My own take...

1 - I don't think it'd be Survival skill. Vacc-Suit skill, though it does say that includes "environmental suits", might also be overkill (skill wise). I think I'd allow routine use with no skill, and Vacc-Suit skill to permit repair, maintenance and special circumstances (like kludging together a make shift filter or such).

2 - Sounds like (as in most things) it'll be a multi-discipline field. A little of each you mentioned and more. And also probably including it's own specialization field (MGT seems to have missed the chance to include it there) of Terraforming (maybe under the Space Sciences skill*).

* Off-topic, but just noticing it, why is Robotics under Space Sciences? Seems to me it should more properly be under Physical Sciences. Anyway, off-topic, topic for another thread, another day

 

[AndrewW]

Tinkering at my Setting X (I have not yet found a good name), I have run into two minor problems with skills.

Maropia?

1) The colonists will have to wear an environment suit to keep out the
cold and the sand, and they will have to use a rebreather because the
atmosphere is not breathable.
Does this kind of gear fall under the Vacc Suit skill or under the Survi-
val skill ?

Those born there would likely gain both at 0 as a background skill. Both are good ones to pick up for those heading there.

 

[Dave Chase]

1) The colonists will have to wear an environment suit to keep out the
cold and the sand, and they will have to use a rebreather because the
atmosphere is not breathable.
Does this kind of gear fall under the Vacc Suit skill or under the Survi-
val skill ?

Depends, is the atmosphere posion or just not breathable. If it is just not breathable, then I would say, Survival skill. Vacc Suit could be used but compared to the other (survival) gear there would be negative modifiers on certain skills.

On number 2
Yes, all the above. Possibly a lead committee made up of 3 individuals representing each; Life Science, a Geo Science and an Engineering spe-
cialization.

Because you know that 3 heads are better than one, especially 3 heads who are the Subject Matter Expert in their field and in charge. :lol:

Dave Chase

 

[Galadrion]

Question number one: either skill could work -- for day-to-day work/use, a skill level of 0 in either would be enough. For actually working on the equipment itself, a character would probably want higher training, and which one would be of more use would be a judgment call for the referee. (I'd suggest Survival for "small" items such as rebreathers or filter masks, and Vacc Suit for larger items such as actual survival suits, which tend to be more like conglomerations of separate systems packaged together.)

Question number two: as was pointed out, this would be more of an interdisciplinary project, with elements of Life and Geo sciences (probably with some elements of Space science as well), with plenty of opportunities for other skills to be used as well -- such as several Engineering skills. A project that large wouldn't be a matter of a few simple skill rolls -- it would involve many skill chain tasks, performed over a long time-frame, likely measured in decades. Terraforming a sizable proportion of the surface into viable soil isn't going to happen overnight; look at the time it took for the Mount Saint Helens area to recover, and bear in mind that that area was in a fairly hospitable place for the local bioforms. It took around ten years for the local flora to recover to the point where the surrounding fauna could recolonize the area. Now consider the fact that the region involved was a very small portion of the Earth's land surface -- for a global terraforming effort, the time scale will be a large multiple of that, unless you continue to bring in more and more teams to work in various locations.

More importantly, before you're going to make much progress on the soil conversion, you're going to have to get the atmospheric conversion mostly completed. That project alone is going to take decades or centuries -- a planetary atmosphere is a big volume to alter, and if you're doing the work using bioengineering, you can't perform radical operations without killing off your tools. So the process is going to have to be (from a human viewpoint) a very gradual one, although from a geological or evolutionary standpoint it will proceed blindingly quickly. (Nature carried out this operation on Earth over a few hundred million years -- using Third Imperium technology and life seeded in from elsewhere, this could possibly be compressed down to a few hundred years, but not likely any less.)

This is going to be a wonderful chance for scholars, as well. An entire planetary laboratory for evolutionary and geological science? I know several dozen scientists who would give almost anything you could name for the opportunity...

 

[rust]

Thank you all very much for your insights.

After reading them, I think I will allow the everyday routine use of the
environment gear unskilled and require either Vacc Suit or Survival for
its use in more difficult situations, with Vacc Suit more important if it is
a problem caused by the technology and Survival more important if it
is a problem caused by the environment.

You are of course right about the Terraforming, a single skill really can-
not cover the entire field. So I will treat it as a task that requires the co-
operation of characters from different fields, like for example operating
a starship requires a crew with different skills instead of one person with
a "Starship Operation" skill.

 

[rust]

Nature carried out this operation on Earth over a few hundred million years -- using Third Imperium technology and life seeded in from elsewhere, this could possibly be compressed down to a few hundred years, but not likely any less.

This is the time frame I have in mind, with a total of about 250 years be-
fore the planet is really a habitable one, but with interesting changes of
the environment over the entire period of time: Massive sandstorms cau-
sed by the warming climate, terrain broken up when subterranean ice is
melted and caves collapse, earthquakes and volcanism, microorganisms
mutating and causing weird effects ("Why is the southern polar ice cap
turning pink ?"), and so on - many opportunities for the colonists to get
into trouble and to have to solve problems.

Tinkering at my Setting X (I have not yet found a good name), I have run into two minor problems with skills.

Maropia?

Since this colony and terraforming project is financed by some incredibly
wealthy people who see it as a way to build themselves a lasting glorious
monument, it would probably have to be something grand, but slightly
megalomaniac and a bit silly.
For a moment I was tempted to use Utopia or Futureworld, but that would
probably be a step too far ...

 

[AndrewW]

Since this colony and terraforming project is financed by some incredibly
wealthy people who see it as a way to build themselves a lasting glorious
monument, it would probably have to be something grand, but slightly
megalomaniac and a bit silly.
For a moment I was tempted to use Utopia or Futureworld, but that would
probably be a step too far ...

Grand Old Colony of the Stars.

Of course one of the financiers is named Gocs...

 

[rust]

Grand Old Colony of the Stars.

Of course one of the financiers is named Gocs...

Yep, something of this kind would be fine. :lol:

 

[IanBruntlett]

(Nature carried out this operation on Earth over a few hundred million years -- using Third Imperium technology and life seeded in from elsewhere, this could possibly be compressed down to a few hundred years, but not likely any less.)

That reminds me... Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a trilogy about the terraforming and colonisation of Mars. After the trilogy he wrote at least one other book about that project. You can get an overview of his work at:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Mars

 

[rust]

That reminds me... Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a trilogy about the terraforming and colonisation of Mars.

Yep, a great inspiration (and one of the few examples of really "hard" sci-
ence fiction).

 

[Mithras]

I'm sorry to hear you haven't got a name yet! For me, that's a top priority. But then I write alot of books, and I cannot even start writing the introduction until I have a title for the book

 

[rust]

I'm sorry to hear you haven't got a name yet! For me, that's a top priority. But then I write alot of books, and I cannot even start writing the introduction until I have a title for the book

Well, if the name is not one I feel comfortable with, it continues to disturb
me all the time, keeping me from working on the project. So better no na-
me than a bad one. :wink:

 

[Jame Rowe]

That reminds me... Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a trilogy about the terraforming and colonisation of Mars.

Yep, a great inspiration (and one of the few examples of really "hard" sci-
ence fiction).

I'm glad someone enjoyed it. (My reaction to it was the same as my reaction to Cherryh's work - loved the concept but couldn't actually make myself read it. Pity, that; it sounded like a wonderful book.)

 

[IanBruntlett]

I'm glad someone enjoyed it. (My reaction to it was the same as my reaction to Cherryh's work - loved the concept but couldn't actually make myself read it. Pity, that; it sounded like a wonderful book.)

I've found that after watching all of Deep Space Nine, my mind can only stay engaged in lumps of 45 minutes. This, amongst with other factors, makes it harder to read books. My response to that is keep on reading books and hope for the best

 

[far-trader]

A "Name my setting!" contest perhaps

Kolonie Dreizehn

 

[rinku]

That reminds me... Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a trilogy about the terraforming and colonisation of Mars.

Yep, a great inspiration (and one of the few examples of really "hard" sci-
ence fiction).

I'm glad someone enjoyed it. (My reaction to it was the same as my reaction to Cherryh's work - loved the concept but couldn't actually make myself read it. Pity, that; it sounded like a wonderful book.)

Stan's books are often hard to get into (I myself didn't finish Antarctica), but they're probably some of the best science-fiction in terms of literary value around. Loved the Mars books, loved The Years of Rice and Salt, but I have to admit you have to be in the mood for something that requires a bit of thinking when you go to tackle him.