Tech Level
- Thread starter miles1739
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phavoc said:
The colonial marines and there equipment including space travel and vehicles.I know theres several conversions for other systems out there and im starting to go thru some of them but i really thought Traveller would be a "ideal" system IMO.As far as the aliens are concerned im not to worried about statting them out at this time.Im hoping to keep my concersion file to maybe 25 pages at most if i can.A friend of mine has the colonial marines tech manual so i should be able to get my grubby little hands on that book either tonight or tommorow for some insight.
phavoc said:
apoc527 said:
Are you speaking from something I don't recall from the movies or something in an expanded universe including novels, etc?
Regardless, I too completely believe some sort of FTL drive must exist in the Alien universe. Even if you believe the crew were put in something akin to low berths for a long journey, it wasn't a very long journey. As in they weren't using slower then light drives (years from system to system). I would have to watch the movies again, but I got the feeling (was it stated in a movie?) that the trips in Alien and Aliens were something like weeks. Maybe months only at a stretch.
But sleeping off time dilation makes no real sense... It's going to occur no matter what. So sleeping during the trip, time would still go on. Unless they are going to be awake for long periods (many, many months) then why use stasis? A trip of a few weeks or months would most likely be done while awake, as has been done before. I do see how going to sleep would make things less boring for the crew... but it doesn't seem like you'd try to do something like that for something minor.
Actually, I think I was wrong about the anti-grav. They must have some sort to be able to have decking perpendicular to the thrust that gives them gravity onboard. Or it could be that magic 'handwavium" that movies use a lot..
I guess they would have some drive technology that was slower-than-light, but relatively fast enough to get between star systems. Though I can't find any sort of reference that talks about how long it takes to get from A to B. But definitely not jump gear. And the ships and flying vehicles all seem to use thruster technology. The guns the marines use are not too far removed from our tech today, and there aren't any energy weapons.
Actually, I think I was wrong about the anti-grav. They must have some sort to be able to have decking perpendicular to the thrust that gives them gravity onboard. Or it could be that magic 'handwavium" that movies use a lot..
I guess they would have some drive technology that was slower-than-light, but relatively fast enough to get between star systems. Though I can't find any sort of reference that talks about how long it takes to get from A to B. But definitely not jump gear. And the ships and flying vehicles all seem to use thruster technology. The guns the marines use are not too far removed from our tech today, and there aren't any energy weapons.
justacaveman
Mongoose
Possibly their FTL technology has bad side effects to concious personnel, so they have to use sleep pods to survive the trip?
RandyT0001
Mongoose
I think the main reason for the stasis during the trip is to save on consumables, water, food, and air. Granted one could recycle that material but it's probably more efficient both in terms of volume and mass to just use stasis chambers.
Don't forget that between Alien and Aliens seventy five years had passed as Ripley drifted in the escape pod. They had artificial gravity in Alien. Between Alien and Aliens the advances were made in medicine and androids. Aliens 3 wasn't too far removed from Aliens in terms of time. I seem to recall that Alien 4 occurred a century or two after Aliens/Aliens 3.
Don't forget that between Alien and Aliens seventy five years had passed as Ripley drifted in the escape pod. They had artificial gravity in Alien. Between Alien and Aliens the advances were made in medicine and androids. Aliens 3 wasn't too far removed from Aliens in terms of time. I seem to recall that Alien 4 occurred a century or two after Aliens/Aliens 3.
I wanted to keep the the setting based on the first 2 films only although after reading the responses on here im thinking maybe just focusing on just the first movie and taking it from there..After looking at the tech tree more closely im more apt to go with a Tech level 10 for the first movie/maybe 11 for the 2nd movie thereafter.Ive started reading the the colonial marine tech manual and it discusses the time dilation as the reason for the cryo-pods.The geist of what im reading so far indicates more of a fold in space versus entering a artificial singularity(aka Event horizon) for travel.Thoughts on this?
They don't necessarily have anti-grav. It's possible the ships are being spun to give a "floor" to the crew. This could be another reason for the crew to pod up during flight, though it's not too hard to come up with clever ways of coping with this (i.e. rotate the crew compartment so that the floor is now perpendicular to the axis of thrust).
I'd put the general tech at about 9-10. The standard ACR (TL10) feels right as the sort of weapon they're using.
Don't feel constrained to add or delete any tech or equipment you need. If your setting involves a consistent culture and tech, you don't really need to bother with the rating - it's there in default Trav to deal with a setting where planets very greatly in their technological capability. Aliens may qualify in that colonial planets probably have a reduced capacity, but it's unlikely to be much behind the core. I get the impression stuff is pretty homogenous.
I'd put the general tech at about 9-10. The standard ACR (TL10) feels right as the sort of weapon they're using.
Don't feel constrained to add or delete any tech or equipment you need. If your setting involves a consistent culture and tech, you don't really need to bother with the rating - it's there in default Trav to deal with a setting where planets very greatly in their technological capability. Aliens may qualify in that colonial planets probably have a reduced capacity, but it's unlikely to be much behind the core. I get the impression stuff is pretty homogenous.
Gentleman John
Banded Mongoose
phavoc said:
This comes from information in the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, which was published in 1996. I am not sure whether it was official or not, but it has been accepted as canon.
The FTL and STL drives used in the Aliens universe are described in the section on the Sulacco transport vessel. According to the manual, the hypershunt mechanism used on the Sulacco (and on all FTL vessels in the Aliens universe) has a slight drawback. While time outside the bubble the vessel travels in moves at its normal pace, time inside the bubble moves faster.
According to classical time dilation equations, as you approach the speed of light, the traveller experiences a slowing in time. This continues until, at the speed of light, the traveller will experience no time passing at all. The equations do not predict what happens when the traveller exceeds the speed of light. However, the time dilation equations do contain a square root and a number of square factors. These lead to the interesting possibility that as the traveller moves faster than the speed of light, the time dialtion effect reverses and the traveler starts to experience time moving faster than normal.
The authors of the Technical Manual decided to use this possibility in their description of the hypershunt mechanism. As a result, travellers going faster than light experience time at a faster rate. So, while your vessel may reach its destination, the journey may well last longer than the passengers' life time.
Not a very good situation. By travelling at 4 times the speed of light, it takes 1 year to reach Alpha Centauri (for example), but it takes 16 years of the traveller's life. You may as well not bother.
Hypersleep capsules are used in the Aliens universe to overcome this. By putting the traveller into stasis of some kind, they are able to survive the long journeys without aging as much as they would do otherwise. Synthetics are used as crew on many vessels to deal with situations that might occur while the crew is in hypersleep.
Bonus fact: The Sulacco uses reaction drives to move in normal space. However, the reaction mass is provided by powdered diamond analogues. Apparently diamond sublimates when exposed to extreme heat. So, you can store the reaction mass in a small volume and gain extra thrust from its conversion into a gas. Or so the theory goes.
If you want to try and get hold of a copy of the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, you will find it an invaluable source for any Aliens-based game. It is a lot more useful than the LEG RPG from the late 80s.
Garnfellow
Cosmic Mongoose
There are deleted "Hadley's Hope" scenes from Aliens (available, of course, on YouTube) that discuss the travel times from LG-426 to Earth.
Supposedly it took two weeks to get answer from Earth to the colony. (One jump out, one jump back?)
So we're definitely talking some sort of FTL technology.
Supposedly it took two weeks to get answer from Earth to the colony. (One jump out, one jump back?)
So we're definitely talking some sort of FTL technology.
Rather then hit the forum with some epic threadromancy, you might want to have a quick read through this thread on the Aliens Universe from a couple of years back. It could be useful to you, and may indeed be worth ressurecting.
In any recreation of a scifi universe you should settle on having a mixed scale of TL's. It would be hard to get anything to line up perfectly across the board with Traveller TL's.
For example, in Aliens you might settle on something like warp/jump drives at TL 10, personal weapon technology TL 9, and gravitic TL 8.
For example, in Aliens you might settle on something like warp/jump drives at TL 10, personal weapon technology TL 9, and gravitic TL 8.
superc0ntra
Mongoose
I'd go for TL10 since they obviously have ACR:s
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
As Sturn says, it'll be a range of TLs.
No single TL is going to be an exact fit for the variety of technology used. So, I'd say just use overall descriptive terms rather than tell the players a TL (which will be likely inaccurate anyway).
No single TL is going to be an exact fit for the variety of technology used. So, I'd say just use overall descriptive terms rather than tell the players a TL (which will be likely inaccurate anyway).
Silvereye,thanks for the thread..it was immensly helpful.Ive started gathering a lists to start stating out...1.weapons/equipment 2.starships. 3.the aliens. 4.char generation/options and hopefully transform that into a pdf.After doing some searching i found a descrepency..In leading edge games aliens(i can hear the sighs already..)it descibes space travel by entering another dimesion with a jump drive while in the colonial marine manual it descibes using a time dilation effect..so which would everyone think be more "canon"?
