New Non-Weapon Systems for Spacedock

It's funny to speak guns, guns, guns and more guns, but since this is Star Trek, it could be interesting to create stats for things that are a tiny little bit more Starfleety...:D

As such, I present my first proposal for system

Shipwide Integral Holographic Coverage
SU cost: to decide, I thought initially 1 SU/size, give me your thoughts
Power cost: 2 x size
In effect, this allows your ship's EMH to go pretty much where it wishes to, unless you cut off the Hologrid in your room, which I would do if I had a nosy hologram with complete freedom of movement on my ship. It also allows to create bigger simulations, install shipwide holographic personnel, although Starfleet tends to frown on this practice, (they prefer to send EMH I to do this :p ). Not much in term of game effects, except you can always try to do the Picard trick in ST: FC if you're caught weaponless in while being boarded, or add it to external hologrid coverage to simulate the internal rooms, like USS Incursion.

Hydroponics/Aeroponics food production unit

SU cost: Size -1, can't be mounted on a pod (please, tell me where would it fit in a shuttlepod)
Power cost: Counts as 1 person per 20 units or fraction (always round up) in the life support equation, negligible on most ships.
Special cost: 45 cubic meters of cargo space for each person to feed. Don't count consumables as carrying food supplies, the replicator supplies are used for the hydroponics.

Ah! Real fresh food. It is a rare thing nowadays onboard a Starfleet vessel, but sometimes things go bad and the replicator doesn't seem anymore like the wonder machine it was thought it would be back in 2353. While most often Starfleet ships only jury rig Hydroponics systems onboard (USS Voyager being a good example) when the replicators either blow up in their face or are strained by lack of power, Replicator tech is not that old in the Federation and many powers around are still using a good ol' galley. This is a proposed ship's system to represent that fact. Essentially, no power is required to run the galley, but if you want to try to pump their generators during a fight, I'd say you are lucky or lying if you manage to power a type 1 phaser with them.
If you have a jury-rigged Hydroponics system, meat will be harder to come by, unless grasshopper roast à la Neelix suits you, but if you are lucky enough to have it as standard, or well installed in a yard or a well-equipped dock, you could be lucky enough to have them produce fish, rodents, hare, or anything with such good production rates, for only 15 additionnal cubic metres of cargo space lost. For the milk products, part of the hydroponics serve just that purpose, through the use of recycled bones from animals, various plants and a set of tanks which simulate the fabrication process of milk in an animal body, it is produced in small doses, but sufficiently for an average being.
Of course, the main problem with them is their potential vulnerability to various biological problems and the few peoples added to service the hydroponics and galleys effectively. In terms of creature comfort, even the biggest hydroponics bay will not be able to accomodate more than a thousand various recipes using more or less the same basic ingredients, therefore, train your pallate in the subtlety of various flavours of dressing and spices, and you will forget about this limitation. The point cost only includes the installation of galley sections in mess halls, with no food teleportation or turbolift system, you'll just have to go get it yourself, or have your personnal tray set with a short range personal transporter locked between the galley and your room, assuming it has been invented...

Is it overly superior to food Replicators, or do you feel that it's O.K., I'd like your comments

By the way, the cargo area is using standard SD rules, I use a figure of 6 cubic meters (+2 for the pisciculture upgrade) and have toned down cargoes to something over 10%

David

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Styro, Arrgh you might want to check the TOS SRM...it has rules and stats for such manufacturiing and hydroponic style facilities in those pre-replicator days.

But can you make plain hot tomato soup? There's the challenge! :D ;)

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Originally posted by StyroFoam Man
Ok, Perrryyy brought up a valid point...

What kinds of plants/meat critters would you stock?

I've eaten bugs... Worms and land-hoppers. They're ok, but not for everyone.

Plants... I like yellow squash, tomatoes and peppers... Do they put out enough fruit to feed a crew?

What would a hydroponic bay for a 400+ crew ship consist of?

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That's a toughy. You've got to develope a dietary stock that includes everyone, yet doesn't allow anyone to get sick..

Basically, I'd say consult a biology book, if those you can have access to are detailed enough, you might even manage to find the detailed dietary fulfillment of a lot of foodstuffs. Plants which grow in vine are more likely to offer the greatest production rates, I'd tend to think, but I'm not really knowledgeable about it.

For the crewman who doesn't want to turn Veggie, bugs are the most efficient source of meat there is, and would hardly need any more space, but pisciculture is quite good and can be in extensive mode, as for the rabbit thing, I though of it when I saw Jean de Florette (wonderful movie, great adaptation of Pagnol's play, the actors are incredible), when Jean, Depardieu's character, details how he intends to set up his rabbit farm. Those critters appear to be quite good when it comes to meat production if you have the right plants to feed them (and the possibility to simulate perfect conditions in a dedicated hydroponics bay to grow them). It's a slight loss of space, but for a gain in variety, I'd tend to think. Small poultry (IMHO chicken would be too big, or stretching a lot) could be brought along if you don't mind a slight expansion...

At least, if your plain tomato soup is all messed up, you know that you shouldn't call the cook a glorified replicator operator next time you want it...:D And now you know whose fault it is if you roast is burnt, it allows you to spare the bulkheads of your wrath.

Soy-products, mixed with dehydrated meat stock for flavor. In the event of no real meat stock, certain plants in the correct proportion yields a very close flavor.

Also has anyone pointed Mr. Arrgh to the Spacedock R&D page? There are a few non-weapon systems there.

In fact, I looked at it later, just thought that there could have been some farther back in time than one ot two months ago. I happen to do this quite often, or so am I told... :D

By the way, great page of additions for post-DW games...

The soy idea is a great one (can't believe I hadn't thought of it, half our alimentation at home is soy-based).

Ships depending on hydroponics bays for food supplies would greatly benefit from protein resequencers as found on the NX-01 Enterprise. Dump some mashed-up hydroponic soy in the top, get a variety of beverages (milk included) and pseudo-meats (!) out the bottom. A protein resequencer might be considered "basic" tech for anybody who's got warp travel.

If you can find a few fish to put in it, any good engineer in the field should be able to rig a fish hatchery. Tank, pump, filter, temperature control, oxygen bubbler, put a lid over it in case gravity fails. Easy. :)

Ships designed for replicators that install extra hydro/aeroponic facilities in the field (Voyager) have an additional problem... they need to rig a system to collect the crew's wastes (urine, crap, Voyager scripts, etc), purify them, and reintroduce them into the garden. Assumedly there's a system for doing this built into the replicators (what, you thought they dumped it overboard?), but unless they run extra pipes through the corridors, somebody's lugging buckets of the stuff from the de-replicator intake tank up to the hydroponics bay.

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I thought Spacedock already stated that shipwide emitters for an EMH made the SU cost the same as buying a Mark II EMH (which includes the emitter cost in its SU rating)?

Still, we need rules for using the system to create holographic "redshirts" with the safety interlocks disabled - instant anti-intruder army, anyone?

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Originally posted by Captain Hunter:
Still, we need rules for using the system to create holographic "redshirts" with the safety interlocks disabled - instant anti-intruder army, anyone?

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I have some ideas for making custom EH systems:[list=1][*]Shipwide Holoemitters would cost 10 SU with a suitable base power cost.[*]The Holo would be generated as a character...his SU cost would depend on the number of character points used in making the Hologram template (more skilled holos would cost more SU to reflect the dedicated computers running the holo.).[*]Assume the holo has the same limitations on use as an EMH....for an additional 5 SU, it could be made a "long term" hologram similar to the LMH.[/list=1]
BTW I have a hard copy of the supplement on generating android characters if that would help.

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Originally posted by Highway Hoss

1. Shipwide Holoemitters would cost 10 SU with a suitable base power cost.

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Rather than a fixed number I'd make it Size x2 or some other size-related number, but that's just me. ;)

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Originally posted by Lancer:
Rather than a fixed number I'd make it Size x2 or some other size-related number, but that's just me.

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Sounds reasonable...so be it...Shipwide Holoemitters will cost 2xSize SUs with the power cost beings 2xSize/round also.
I'm also thinkiing of how this system would be used besides EH projection...a few ideas:[list=1][*]Shipwide holocom capability (perhaps with floating holoscreens similar to the anime series Nadesico).[*]Linking with Security force fields to create bubbles to trap intruders without blocking a corridor.[*]Using the Light projectors to blind intruders also.[*]One idea: maybe build microphaser emitters into the projectors (individually weak, but together could project a stun blast into a corridor or conduit).[/list=1]

Actually, I'm fairly sure I read in one of the Tech Manuals that the holodecks can simulate a stun beam even with the safeties engaged - that's how a character would know he'd been "shot" or "punched" in a holodeck scenario.

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Originally posted by Highway Hoss
Linking with Security force fields to create bubbles to trap intruders without blocking a corridor.

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You should already be able to do that even without shipwide holoprojectors, if you use the fire-fighting system's forcefields.

Apart from that I think you shouldn't allow this new system to do too many usefull things. Granted, it makes sense to include all these niffty new functions in a shipwide net of holoemitters and it should be possible to build it with the post-TNG technology. OTOH, IMHO what you propose is too usefull to give any PC access to.
It certainly makes a nice system to theorize about, but if you actualy want to include it on ships for an RPG, you are likely to end with just one more piece of technology that breaks down whenever it would solve the PCs problems for them. And I think we have more than enough of those already. ;)

But again, that's just me. :)

You'd have to modify the firefighting forcefields, as they're designed to stop oxygen getting in to feed fires, and thus enveloping an intruder in one would kill them.

Unless of course you're playing Cardie, they don't really seem to care if SRM2 can be considered as semi-canon...

If the options begin to pile up, you can always rule that a few of the to useful solutions require a better security clearance (using the Venture PBEM security clearances, make sure the Tactical and Security department heads have higher clearances than the other heads except the CO, XO, 2O, Duty Officer.). I always like this option better than having the system break down at a random moment if there is no other explanation than " you were using it differently than I thought and you are scrapping my plot devices" (which is why I love the book scene in the Undiscovered Country, they didn't need Techno-babble to explain it, apart the fact that it lags because of the translation, and it shows on communication reception, and unlike Uhura who could have had a basis in Klingon, my campaign's Commo officer wouldn't possibly have the slightest knowledge of the alien language, so it's up to them to see what they will do, and how I will respond if they do a faux-pas :D :D :D :D )

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Originally posted by Lancer:
Apart from that I think you shouldn't allow this new system to do too many usefull things. Granted, it makes sense to include all these niffty new functions in a shipwide net of holoemitters and it should be possible to build it with the post-TNG technology. OTOH, IMHO what you propose is too usefull to give any PC access to.
It certainly makes a nice system to theorize about, but if you actualy want to include it on ships for an RPG, you are likely to end with just one more piece of technology that breaks down whenever it would solve the PCs problems for them. And I think we have more than enough of those already.

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Good point, Lancer...I'm thinking that the base system should do only projecting various EHs and holocommunications throughout the ship...you could jury rig or modify the system to do other uses using Courage points and skill rolls.

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Originally posted by Ensign Arrgh:
If the options begin to pile up, you can always rule that a few of the to useful solutions require a better security clearance (using the Venture PBEM security clearances, make sure the Tactical and Security department heads have higher clearances than the other heads except the CO, XO, 2O, Duty Officer.). I always like this option better than having the system break down at a random moment if there is no other explanation than " you were using it differently than I thought and you are scrapping my plot devices" (which is why I love the book scene in the Undiscovered Country, they didn't need Techno-babble to explain it, apart the fact that it lags because of the translation, and it shows on communication reception, and unlike Uhura who could have had a basis in Klingon, my campaign's Commo officer wouldn't possibly have the slightest knowledge of the alien language, so it's up to them to see what they will do, and how I will respond if they do a faux-pas).

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Not a bad idea...sounds like a good tool for game balance.