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[Aseaheru]

Well, lets not do that part yet.

[TopHat]

That could have gone better... Or a lot worse.
Was the leading doctor guy one of the ones put into Cryosleep?

Ah, well. As for orders, perhaps we could try to look into the source of the disease?

[escaped lurker]

That could have gone better... Or a lot worse.
Was the leading doctor guy one of the ones put into Cryosleep?

Ah, well. As for orders, perhaps we could try to look into the source of the disease?

... its the flu. Quite prone to mutations, and some of them even became epidemic with fatalaties. Like the mentioned spanish flu, which - in.. 2 years or so? killed more people than the black plague ever did in. Well, true enough, the later was before industrialization, but still. It can happen, and you can't truly do anything about it.


However, seeing that this new strain is quite potent, I would advise the following;

1 Crewie is to manufacture further vaccine, as we might need it on landing. We want to be able to immunize a good deal of people.

[Nunzillor]

That sounds sensible.

[Draxis]

So, the following orders work?

[X] Manufacture more of the vaccine
[X] Do intensive maintainance to make up for lost time
[X] Once those are done, design a modular surface building system which can withstand extreme Earth weather

Mars doesn't have extreme weather so much, except for the sandstorms and general coldness.

[Aseaheru]

Orders work, yes.


The fun thing about mars is the sandstorms, yes. I believe wind-speeds in those can get over 250 MPH.

[Nunzillor]

Go for it.

[Draxis]

Update 17
Outskirts of the Alpha Toriga system, 2091

[X] Manufacture more of the vaccine
[X] Do intensive maintainance to make up for lost time
[X] Once those are done, design a modular surface building system which can withstand extreme Earth weather

[X] Manufacture more of the vaccine
(44) = 44 More of the vaccine is successfully produced and stored without major resource use.  There should be enough in stock to immunize 200 people or so.

[X] Do intensive maintainance to make up for lost time
(16 +5 Expert Crew +5 Rugged Construction) = 26 The crew works hard to keep the ship in good shape, and to try to make up for the month spent with minimal maintainance efforts.  They make up for it, but things are simply breaking down, and even using some new parts, they only manage to keep things going as they are.
Automatic no-effect roll to next turn's Ship roll, unless a better effect comes up
-0.1 Basic Parts

2076-2081
Crew: (77 +5 Expert Crew +5 Biodome) = 87
Ship: (04 +5 Expert Crew +5 Rugged Construction -4 Maintainance Modifier) = 10 minor critical fail OVERRIDEN
Modular Construction Research: (96) = 96 Major progress

It turns out that the maintainance efforts were very well-timed, as they catch a malfunctioning pump in Cryobay 2 before it can fail completely, which would likely have killed thousands of people before it could be fixed.  Besides that, operation continues according to plan.

The efforts to design a simple building system go well early, with a system consisting of spheres which can be partially buried and tubes to connect them being structurally designed and simulated.  While still lacking any provision for conduit mounts, floors, or other internal structures, the shells are quite durable and should stand up to all but the worst conditions found on either Earth or Mars. Of course, they are quite heavy and expensive, which the engineers hope to improve somewhat over the next years.

2082-2086
Crew: (04 +5 Expert Crew +5 Biodome) = 14
Ship: (44 +5 Expert Crew +5 Rugged Construction -4 Maintainance Modifier) = 50
Modular Construction Research: (94) = 94 Major progress, project complete!

In mid-2083, during the reactor switchover, an error is made - the coolant is cycled out of the powering-down reactor before it is fully cooled. The computer aborts quickly and spills the rapidly heating main tank into the buffers before any pressure damage can occur, but the pump system is wrecked and needs major repairs before that reactor can be brought back online.
-0.2 Basic Parts

Besides that, though, the crew almost manage to keep up with the ship's maintainance.  There are now no crew members l who are older than the ship itself, and it is still running well, a testament to its rugged construction and expert maintainance.
Maintaiance Modifier -1

The modular construction project continues to advance quickly.  The internal components are finished, and the final design has each sphere containing roughly the usable internal space of a small prefabricated dome.  The construction is of of cement, with some metal or plastic internal components; while it would be cheaper to just make cement box structures or underground caverns, this design allows for great durability, expansibility, and generic construction on any reasonable surface.

New Construction Project - Construct Small Modular Dome.  Creates small surface space.  40 point project; requires lots of construction materials and some metals.  A small, durable, modular sphere structure which can be easily connected to others, and which can be used for practically anything which fits in it.

2087-2091
Crew: (04 +5 Expert Crew +5 Biodome) = 14
Ship: (06 +5 Expert Crew +5 Rugged Construction -5 Maintainance Modifier) = 11

On the final stretch of the journey, it seems that everything is going wrong.  In the main conduit, one of the power lines from the reactors to the upper section blew out; while not as destructive as the engine or cryobay lines would have been, and even with the computer routing around it within seconds, it causes minor damage to systems across the ship.  Two crewmen are badly injured as well.
-5 to Maintainance Modifier

Meanwhile, the tension among the crew has been high; while serious nothing has come of it, the repeated problems with the ship and each other are finally really getting to them, as is the realization that they are approaching the most dangerous and vital part of the mission: landing on an unknown planet in a ship which is, while objectively still in surprisingly good shape, seeming to fall apart around them.


Update 17 Status: 2091


Starship: Heart of Gold, hybrid Ark-Outpost Ship
Total Size: 160 units
Structure mass: 105 units.

Installed components:

• 4 Ark Cryobays.  Size 10x4, mass 15x4.  -10x4 power.
• Closed-Loop Lifesupport and Hydroponics. Size 4, mass 3. -6 power. 1 crew.
• Damage Control & Machine Shop.  Size 4, mass 2.  -1 power.
• Large Cargo Bay.  Cost 4 RU. Size 43. Mass 2. Cargo Space Filled: 40/40
  • Organic sludge processor Cost 2 RU, Size 2, Mass 1.
  • Automated production line . Cost 20 RU, Size 4, Mass 7.
  • Prefabricated General Laboratory: 20 RU. Size 6. Mass 4. Electricity 3 MW.
  • Optronic Central Computer.  Cost 10 RU. Size 2. Mass 2.
  • Seed Bank. 2 RU, 4 mass, 3 size.
  • D&D vehicles. Cost 2RU, size 4, mass 4
  • Powered Exo-skeleton Constructor Units. Cost 2 RU, Size 2, Mass 2
  • Ore Processor. Cost 6 RU, Size 4, Mass 5.
  • 3.8x Advanced parts 3x4 RU. Size 1x4. Mass 1x4.
  • 2.1x Basic Parts 2.3 RU. Size 1x4. Mass 1x4.
  • Advanced Medical Supplies 2 RU, size 1. Mass 1.
  • 2x vac suits 1x2 RU, Size 1x2, Mass 1x2.
  • 2x Air tanks. 1x2 RU. Size 1x2. Mass 1x2.
• Medical Bay. Cost 3 RU. Size 2. Mass 1. -1 power.
• Recreational Commons. Cost 5 RU. Size 4. Mass 4 units. -1 power. Modified with optronic components in the VR pod
• Biodome. Size 20. Mass 2.
• MCF Fusion Reactor. Size 5x2. Mass 3x2. 75x2 to 37.5 power. Uses 1x2 to .5 Fuel/Yr.
• Smart Command Centre. Size 2. Mass 2. -3 power. 1 crew.
• 10 Small Fuel Tanks.  Size 2x10. Mass 3x10. Fuel 8x10
• 3 Improved Ion Drives.  Size 3x3. Mass 7x3. -6x3 power. Thrust 9x3. Refitted the main thrust parts in 2074.
• Focused Detection Array. Size 1. Mass 1. -2 power.
• 4x vac suits in hallways. 1x4 RU. Size 4/6. Mass 1x4

Expert Crew Bonus: +5 to all relevant rolls in the Flight phase, due to high levels of training and familiarity with the ship in the crew.
Masterful Engineering Bonus: Effects of having 40 vacuum suits in the crew spaces minimised - only minor mobility issues remain.
Rugged Construction:  +5 to all rolls relevant to the ship being overengineered and tested further than usual.
Atmospheric Flight Capacity: While not graceful, the ship is capable of landing with relative precision and control for a multi-thousand-ton brick, on any planet with an atmosphere at least.
Smart Command Center:  The ship's central computer allows a high degree of automation, independent reaction, and resilience in the computer systems.  It helps with lots of things.
Maintainance Modifier:  -10

Total mass: 286 units.
Free space: 1 units.
Required power: 72 units.
Maximum power output: 150 units.
Total fuel: 26 units
Fuel remaining at destination: 26 units

Crew Lifesupport: 25
Required Crew: 2
Crew Awake: 15

Destination: Star A, distance 1.
Max. thrust: 27
Flight time remaining: 0 years (mass/thrust*distance*5 years)

Standing Orders:

• Keep 15 crew awake, rotated in shifts of 5 on duty at any time.
• Shut down as much as possible 1 month every 5 years for intensive maintainance, and swap out which reactor is being run then to maintain the other.

There will soon be an update describing the possible destinations within the system.

[Aseaheru]

So we are there? Good.

[escaped lurker]

Hmhm~ took us quite some time. Or so I thought initially. But seeing as this thread still is only ~40 days old, and we had 17 updates - a lot of which were delayed because of our plentifull discussions, especially at the start... Nice going there, Draxis.

Else, good that we made it. With no-one dead yet, which is actually quite remarkable. Now for the question of where we might land.

[10ebbor10]

Yeah, we haven't even had a hull breach, or anything. Truly, I'd expected 10% or more casualties. (Though, those'll probably materialize sooner or later. I doubt cryo is flawless.)

[Nunzillor]

Let's stay positive!  What's the system look like, Draxis?

[Draxis]

Update 18 - Planet Choice
Outskirts of the Alpha Toriga system, 2091

The Alpha Toriga system centers around a small, red-orange star about 1/3 the size of Sol.  There is one asteroid belt, fairly massive and close to the star - presumably a failed planet.  Outside that are four small, freezing rocks and one medium-sized, temperate rock.

Toriga I, less than 12 million Km out from the star, is generally the most interesting.  It is significantly larger than earth, but has a gravity level within 5%; this presumably means that it has not much of a liquid core, as also is testified by relatively high radiation levels on the surface.  While the average temperature is a warm 12 degrees Celsius, there is a relatively sharp divide in warm and cold climates due to its near-tidal-lock: of  the roughly 60% of the planet which is covered in water, just under half is frozen.  The atmosphere consists of around 75% nitrogen, with the rest being oxygen and a little carbon dioxide and water.  This is due to the large patches of algae which cover most of the warm areas of the planet.  More cannot be seen about these, but there is no sign of animal life or large plants - not that much could be seen from this distance.  The exposed patches seem to be rock, not dirt, but again that cannot be absolutely confirmed.

Toriga II is an extremely cold, rocky planet with a few randomly-placed ice patches orbiting around 43 million Km out.  While only about a third the mass of Earth, it holds on to a substantial atmosphere of nitrogen, CO2, and a surprisingly high level of argon.  There are signs of current volcanic activity, but there are few mountains and no active lava flows - of course, the temperatures which never seem to come above -80 degrees Celsius would tend to stop them in favor of more explosive eruptions, which have covered the surface with huge craters.  These craters contain many elements often found only in the depths of the Earth, but it is unknown how substantial these deposits really are.

Toriga III is an oddity - a small rock planet with a rocky ring.  Orbiting nearly 300 mKm from the sun on average, but on an extremely elliptical orbit, and covered almost entirely in ice, the only interesting things about it are its ring and its unusually dense atmosphere consisting of nearly half helium.  The ring is small, but contains several chunks of rock which would be considered asteroids.

Toriga IV is an even smaller ball of ice and rock, but also has a ring - this time of ice.  It has almost no atmosphere, but seems to have significant volcanic activity on the surface.  It is around 360 mKm from the star.

Toriga V is around half the mass of Earth.  At a staggering 1.3 bKm from Toriga, its average surface temperature is only about 60 C above absolute zero.  Its atmosphere is nearly as dense as Earth's, and is composed mostly of hydrogen, with a good bit of helium as well.  There are two rocky satellites, roughly comparable to Mars'.

    Choose a planet: __________________
    [ ] Other? ...

Yeah, I was planning to kill some colonists on the less serious Ship critical fails, but nothing really came up between the "pretty bad" and "mission-endangering" zones.  The one which got overriden by the maintainance action's result was like the only one.

The next update won't likely be for some days, both because it will be quite substantial, and it is likely that there will be a multi-day power outage here.

[RulerOfNothing]

When you say that Toriga III has an extremely elliptical orbit, how elliptical are we talking about (i.e. what is its periapsis and apoapsis)? Also, can we determine the surface pressure on Toriga I from where we are?

[Draxis]

When you say that Toriga III has an extremely elliptical orbit, how elliptical are we talking about (i.e. what is its periapsis and apoapsis)?

I'm not sure exactly where they are, as the generator I have doesn't specify and I don't want try to figure that out, but the farthest point is about 4 times the distance as the nearest.

Also, can we determine the surface pressure on Toriga I from where we are?

Not precisely, but it is a little higher than Earth's.  Between 1 and 1.3 atm.