Voices in the Dark: PreIOT Thread

[CivOasis]

Scientific expedition being run as a joint corporate-national venture out of South Africa confirmed. Universal language of crew will be Afrikaans; expect plenty of isiZulu/Xhosa speakers based off of demographic context.

Formal write-up to follow later today, anything you want to write on social stuff is still cool, I can post whatever gets confirmed as details a bit later.

Next phase will cover the equipment/crew makeup (read: scientists), which I'll post more details on shortly. That being said, you should probably have enough info to start working on characters now, and I'll finish with details that should answer most of it later. Feel free to post questions.

 

[CivOasis]

The Madiba Expedition​

For much of the world, the discovery of Uhlanga was a shock. Certainly, it was known alien life had existed, once - after all, unicellular fossils had been found on Mars, and probes to several moons of the outer Solar System had been seriously restricted due to suspicions of more - but actually finding it was another matter entirely. What sort of life was anyone's guess, but the present of an Earth-like atmosphere - and presumably, given the data, a similar climate and gravity - was enough to draw attention to the small world, even amongst those who took for granted or remained apathetic towards the extraterrestrial colonies within Sol's bounds.

While much of the world expected an eventual mission - the system was now a clear target for FTL - the announcement of the Madiba project was a shock, not in the least because it came so soon after the discovery. Apparently, SANSA had been working closely - some would even argue under - the Hemeljagter corporation to establish a South African expedition to the new world.

The ambitious plan entailed the use of the newly-developed Madiba-1 spacecraft, which would transport a small colony of scientists to the newly discovered planet; its primary goals were to establish a permanent research outpost on Uhlanga, one which would not only examine the planet itself, but also other objects in the system, and to take advantage of the vastly different vantage point for further deep space research.

The system's vast difference from that of Earth's quickly captured wide imagination - Uhlanga was located in a binary system, was known to contain a double planet system, and had its gas giants closer to the twin stars than its terrestrial worlds - none of which were unusual as far as astronomers were concerned, but which certainly distinguished the world from our own.

Naming policy for the new system was quickly established - often to the chagrin of those outside of South Africa, given that the decision was to name all stars and planets in the system after Zulu mythology, with other stellar objects dubbed after other traditional African stories, preferring those present in South Africa. As such, names ranged from what many foreigners considered reasonable - Uhlanga itself, and the twin worlds of Mamlambo (seemingly composed completely of water) and Inkosazana - to moderately inconvenient (Nokhulbulwane, another planet) - to downright awful (Unkulunkulu and Umvelinqangi, the twin stars of the system). While annoying to many of those in Sol's system, Hemeljagter was quick to point out that many of the crew would speak Zulu, Xhosa, and related tongues as first languages, despite the official policy only requiring Afrikaans, chosen as a universal language of the mission to ease communication. The crew members themselves would be drawn from lead scientists from SANSA and Hemeljagter, with only South African citizens being eligible for the initial mission.



Nobody really posted any novel ideologies or social movements, so nothing on that front.

The next - and final pre-game phase is outfitting the expedition. Go back through and look at the technologies, look at the setting, etc, and tell me what sort of equipment/supplies/people (if you want to ensure specific skills/fields make it; keep in mind that this is an expedition of scientists, and will be run as such) you want aboard the Madiba-1.

 

[Ailedhoo]

For the mission it might be best for us to use quorn instead of meat, for practical, environmental control and health purposes.

 

[Tyo]

Here's what I think we should outfit for the expedition:

Dual Base Initiative[working name]
I think a really good idea would be to have Madiba-1 be able to detach its major decks excepting the Crew Deck. Upon arrival to the system, the entire ship will reach the target planet and begin descent. Once a suitable location is found, the ship will touch down and detachment of the major decks, with the exceptions of the crew deck and the Hangar, will commence. The detachment will be the beginning of the colony. The remaining part of the ship will then ascend back up out of the atmosphere and position itself in orbit acting as a space station, following the ground base so that the two stay within relative vicinity of each other to make transport between the two easier.

This gives the expedition a sizable planet-side colony and a fully functional space station with its own research labs, to conduct a wide array of research and perhaps provide a lot of utility to the colony - such as weather reports and other planer-wide activity, and can be the base to create outposts in points of interest around the planet.

This of course means that the colonists have no means of traveling back to Earth. It will be the Engineering Deck's duty to use the Resource Extraction and Fabrication Deck to gather enough resources to build a space vessel to go back to Earth and give them a status report.

Madiba-1 Decks
These are the structures/features I believe the Madiba-1 should include.

• Research Deck: This is the soul purpose of the expedition after all. The Research Deck should be the largest of them all, being able to accommodate a wide array of scientific fields that would be doing research on this new system.
  • Research Equipment: The Research deck should be equipped in the most basic and advanced tools of research.
    • Earth-born lab specimens: for testing the planet's environment in a controlled manner.
    • Safety Gear: Lab coats, breathing masks, airtight and stab-proof suits, and other safety equipment. Chemical baths included.
    • Scientific Instruments: Ranging from Beakers and microscopes to telescopes and particle drivers, the scientific accommodations should know no bounds.
• The Bridge & Crew Deck: This is a given, as the ship needs crew to actually run all the facilities. This deck will pretty much be where all ship controls can be accessed, but only with proper ID. The crew deck should also house a Security Office sub-deck, which as the name implies is where security officers servicing the ship work. That, I think, should be near the bridge. Pretty much the only people allowed on the Crew deck will be members of the Crew who run the ship, Engineering personnel, and the top scientists who would need to make an appointment with the captain if they want something addressed in person. This deck should also include a smaller version of the Engineering, Residential, and Research Decks that will actually be inactive during transit.
  • Security Equipment: To maintain safety on the mission, the security station should be equipped with the best in public safety.
    • Standard Issue Equipment: Every officer should have a distinguishing uniform that everyone would know makes them part of the security personnel. Uniforms will be designed to be difficult to stab or break through and cushion blunt force. In addition, every officer should be commissioned a pistol and baton, as well as a taster. An officer's badge should be able to override most security-locked consoles and doors with the exception of the Engine Room, Fuel Reactor, and Bridge and also serves a technical purpose as the Officer's personal comm relay. Only the Chief, Captain, and Head of Engineering can grant access to the aforementioned places.
    • Combat Exoskeletons: These exoskeletons, only to be used in critical matters, are fit for combat. Combat Exoskeletons are difficult to stab through and very much bullet-proof. They also provide wearers with a lot of utility, such as life support readings, equipment load, aim assist and so on. They also boost physical capabilities as all limbs are machine-assisted. These suits are NOT designed for use off-planet and off-station, in a vacuum, or in the absence of gravity. There are only a few of these on board the ship.
    • Threat Level 5 Equipment: This equipment is for strict use under unforeseen circumstances where the entire mission is put at stake. Only unlocked by direct order of the Captain in a series of pass codes and identity checks, Level 5 Equipment includes a very limited array of automatic weapons and military-grade explosives, as well as military-grade exoskeletons that provide more protection than the aforementioned combat exoskeletons. Knowledge of Level 5 Equipment is limited to the heads of the varying departments.
• The Hangar: This is where all shuttles are stored. When we reach the planet and commence detachment, the hangar will provide transport between the space station and the colony. The Hangar will be inactive while in transit to the system.
  • Vehicles: The hangar comes equipped with an assortment of vehicles, other than the space shuttles.
    • All-Terrain Mobile Platform: The ATMP will primarily be used to haul equipment and resources throughout explored areas of the planet. That said, it is the biggest and most powerful vehicle on this expedition. It can also be used as a mobile base, being able to be outfitted with various modules and not just equipment and resource storage.
    • Scout Hover-Craft: A low-to-the-ground hovercraft design, it is used to deliver a small group of persons across any terrain that may not be possible with any wheeled design. Not designed for long-distance use as it is physically weak and is not fuel-efficient at all, but it is quite fast.
    • Passenger Helicopter: A helicopter used to transport a sizable group of people around the colony and various outposts. Moderately quick and durable. No combat capabilities.
    • Transport Shuttle: Shuttle used exclusively for transit between the Space Station and the Colony. Can transport equipment, materials, and personnel.
• Residential Deck: This is where everyone lives. This Deck would also be the primary social/entertainment hub, so fairly large in its own right. Although entertainment is not priority, these people will be spending a significant portion of their lives - perhaps even their whole lives - on this venture. I recommend we consider entertainment venues to secure the mental health of all personnel. There should be small quarters in the other decks, able to house at least 50% of those who man that deck.
  • Residential Outfit: Residential should of course have personnel quarters, but also accommodations for entertainment.
    • Rooming: I propose for general personnel, we have residential halls capable of holding a large group of people. Individual rooms will then likely have 2-4 occupants per room.
    • Mess Hall: Where everybody eats There would probably be several though, likely stacked on top of each other. Throughout the journey, food will be limited to what is growing in excess down in REFD, but it is hoped that as the REFD expands when we touch down, more food options will become available.
    • Entertainment Venues: Varying venues I am proposing include a theatre(accommodating film, acting, and concerts), a museum(probably of space exploration), a library(stocked with actual books as well as digital books available for download on a smart device), and several vacant rooms that personnel can use to organize their own meetings.
• Engineering Deck: This deck is the main hub for maintenance of the ship. Other than the Bridge, this is the only place to get a full diagnostics report on the ship. The Engineering Deck should be in the center of the ship, to make for efficient travel for maintenance and repair. I also propose that Engineering should house the ship's fast-transit network, life support systems, power stations, and other structures essential to the ship's functionality so that repair and maintenance can be easily and efficiently done. Only Engineering personnel and Crew members should be allowed in the Engineering Deck with the exception of the part that houses the fast-transit network.
  • Engineering Equipment: Of course, the people maintaining the ship need varying kinds of equipment.
    • Tools: Laser cutters, welding tools, rivet and nail guns, and other tools engineers will be using along the course of this expedition.
    • Engineering Exoskeleton M-1: This civilian-grade exoskeleton covers the body in an air-tight suit. It lacks machine-assisted limbs but is very durable, being able to handle the stress of space as well as being very blast resistant, stab resistant, and blunt-force resistant to help our engineers fix any part of the ship with maximum safety. It is equipped with a personal jet pack(useless in anything but zero gravity), its own air supply, magnetic boots, and a personal communications relay otherwise only given to security personnel. The suit's helmet is equipped with a visor that covers the entire face that provides distance calculations and on-field material analysis. Life support readings can be found under a protective casing on either forearm.
    • Engineering Exoskeleton M-2: This exoskeleton is more of a robot than an exoskeleton. It is much bigger than the M-1, and is completely mechanically assisted, and even supports AI control(though it only has space for simple AI). Its primary functionality is heavy lifting and moving, mostly used for construction purposes, equipped with two hulking arms and two similarly hulking legs that support their own weight, following the commands of its pilot. Its defenses to varying dangers however are comparably less where it counts. While the machine parts are very durable, the person inside the suit must be careful not to put his torso in danger. Can be used in zero-gravity, but has limited air supply and should not be used environmentally unfriendly conditions.
• Medical Deck: This large deck will house the ship's medical facilities, staffed with experts in their field whose priority is the health of passengers rather than research.
  • Medical Equipment: Of course, the medical deck must be equipped with medical supplies.
    • Rooms: I want enough rooms to accommodate at least half of the people on this expedition at any given time. Although we must stress functionality of these rooms, I feel it is imperative to make them comfortable and friendly as well.
    • Robotic Assistance: Surgical units in particular should be equipped with full robotic assistance. It is preferred if robotic assistance spread throughout medical, though.
    • Waste disposal: Medical should take care of all the ship's waste as well, handling them with care so that no filth builds up on the ship. This job will also be carried out by medical once we touch down on the planet.
• Resource Extraction and Fabrication Deck: In order for the colony to be reliably self-sufficient, I propose this be put in place as well. This Deck, while in transit, will house the ship's in-doors farming to feed everyone. Once we touch down, other facilities that were actually inactive during transit will be made functional, such as mining and water gathering facilities and a small production plant to produce essential tools in case of irreparable damage or misplacement while planet-side. This facility should also have some capability to replicate itself and other facilities (or some major structures of these facilities) given some human direction, and should be the second largest deck, even though it is almost entirely self-ran.
  • Extraction Equipment: This equipment will be used to extract resources from the planet to be used by the colony.
    • Mining Platform: A pre-made mining platform equipped to mine any mineral or substance we might need to harvest from the planet.
    • Logging Rig: While we must limit as much environmental damage as possible, we must consider utilizing wood in our expedition in case of a permanent mechanical failure that makes use of metals impossible.
    • Refinery: We need to refine these raw materials to make use of them, so an automatic refinery is also necessary.
  • Fabrication Equipment: This equipment is what is used to fabricate all sorts of things - from tools to food.
    • Farming: Arguably the most important part of the REFD, farming should be nearly entirely automated. We should grow an assortment of crops(Corn, Wheat, Potatoes, Apples, etc) in their own dedicated fabrication chambers. No animals will exist for consumption in transit, but Fabrication holds embryos of various domesticated species that we might be able to grow once we land. Alternatively, cloning labs on the Research Deck could be used to grow cloned animal body parts using DNA from the embryos.
    • Production: The REFD should have a mass production line installed along with a comprehensive database of useful tools to make. This way, if tools become broken beyond repair, we can make more using resources we extract via mining.
    • Building: The REFD should also be capable of building modules to expand the colony, again using materials extracted via mining. These modules could include anything from residential expansion to building another mining platform. These modules can all be transported via ATMP.

Personnel
These are the people I think would best benefit the expedition.
Crew: This is a given. We need people that are trained to use and operate the Crew Deck and keep the ship and later the space station working towards our goals. The Crew will also be responsible for transport between the colony and the space station once planetary operations commence. Perhaps naval officers would make the best crew?
Scientists: Also a given, we need scientists from a wide array of fields to conduct research. Priority scientists should be Biochemists, Geologists, and Meteorologists in my opinion.
Engineers: In transit, we need Engineers to maintain the ship and make sure everything stays in tip-top shape. Once we hit planet-side, however, the Engineers will have a wide array of duties, working with the scientists to complete them. In addition to maintaining the Colony and the space station, the engineers will have to be at work finding resources (with help of scientists), setting up facilities to extract them, and using the Fabrication facilities to make new tools and structures with the ultimate goal of making the colony self-sustaining and constructing a ship to report back to Earth.
Medical Experts: Another important part of the personnel. The expedition won't last long if a lethal pathogen makes it on the ship somehow and nobody is experienced enough to treat it. Their focus will be patient care rather than research.
Security Personnel: Security is required to keep the peace should any disagreement go out of hand, as well as keeping people safe once we touch down on the planet.
Entertainment Venues: Like previously stated, I realize this is a research mission but entertainment is quite important for a healthy lifestyle. I recommend some attention be given to the entertainment of personnel, but of course, this shouldn't have higher priority than any of the other people we need to service this expedition.



Feel free to give any input on all this.

 

[Ailedhoo]

For the Explorers (who will in their trips out of the base exploring the land be needed to monitor areas for research, account any wildlife etch) we are going to require vehicles to aid in transportation of equipment and to quickly travel in our discovering, along with needed resources to set up automated monitoring posts.

Scout Copter: to aid in aerial exploration/reaching monitoring posts quickly.

Hovercraft: to navigate rivers and coasts, which will be useful for monitor station maintenance too.

Rover: to take on distances and to carry equipment.

Soils, water, rocks, wildlife, maps, weather... we can help provide you the needed observations of local areas and farther later on!

 

[Tyo]

It's my opinion most exploration should be done by robotic elements. There's really no need for people to venture out into the unknown entirely blind.

Various vehicles would be advantageous though. We can store them in the hangar while in transit and create a makeshift parking lot when we touch down, probably somewhere in the residential :district/wing.

 

[Ailedhoo]

It's my opinion most exploration should be done by robotic elements. There's really no need for people to venture out into the unknown entirely blind.

From a player point of view manual exploration may be necessary for the benefit of the more exploring players; a element of fun for me and SE.

From a expedition point of view it will be useful for navigation to set up observation posts, for investigating caverns, on-the-spot annalist, survival testing and other considerations to consider. Robotic can however we used alongside.

Anyrate: I am volunteering to venture out with SE.

 

[Tyo]

I'm not arguing that exploration shouldn't be done, it should. I am arguing that sending humans to explore would be unrealistic and not the goal of this expedition. This isn't to say they can't go in /after/ robotic exploration, but having humans come aboard for the primary purpose of going out to the field and looking around seems.. Well, wasteful for this particular expedition's purpose. This is a research outpost whose primary objective should be gathering resources to report back to earth, and then researching different things about the planet and the system. Manned exploration as the primary form of exploration just doesn't fit in with the objective of this particular expedition.

Of course, I assume it's really left to popular opinion.

 

[Ailedhoo]

My argument falls down to my play-style wish to explore personally but it also will lead to geographical study, development of research outposts in aid of the colonial effort and will allow us to not fall into the trap of studying the whole with a single part. By this the expedition requires explorers to set up special posts and to aid in accessing data across the planet. Geographical explorers will aid in purpose of giving a field lens to the mission and their setting up of monitoring posts by the explorers will aid the expiation in the long term.

 

[Double A]

I'm not arguing that exploration shouldn't be done, it should. I am arguing that sending humans to explore would be unrealistic and not the goal of this expedition. This isn't to say they can't go in /after/ robotic exploration, but having humans come aboard for the primary purpose of going out to the field and looking around seems.. Well, wasteful for this particular expedition's purpose. This is a research outpost whose primary objective should be gathering resources to report back to earth, and then researching different things about the planet and the system. Manned exploration as the primary form of exploration just doesn't fit in with the objective of this particular expedition.

Of course, I assume it's really left to popular opinion.

Humans successfully exploring the far reaches space would be a tremendous boost to the morale of everyone stuck on Earth. Also it'd make field work easier because they can analyze stuff before it comes home, or if it's too large or otherwise insignificant to be sent back.

 

[Tyo]

My argument falls down to my play-style wish to explore personally but it also will lead to geographical study, development of research outposts in aid of the colonial effort and will allow us to not fall into the trap of studying the whole with a single part. By this the expedition requires explorers to set up special posts and to aid in accessing data across the planet. Geographical explorers will aid in purpose of giving a field lens to the mission and their setting up of monitoring posts by the explorers will aid the expiation in the long term.

That can all be done by robots. They can collect the data for geologists and other experts to analyze without the human risk.

Humans successfully exploring the far reaches space would be a tremendous boost to the morale of everyone stuck on Earth. Also it'd make field work easier because they can analyze stuff before it comes home, or if it's too large or otherwise insignificant to be sent back.

I mean humans are going on this expedition and will set foot on the planet regardless, that's not the question. The question is requisitioning people for this manned scientific expedition whose sole purpose is looking around and I guess data collection, which can be easily (and probably more readily) done with robots who require no sustenance and are specifically built for the tasks given to them. Thinking purely on the need-based logic of this mission, that we are supposed to be bringing along only essential people, I don't see why requisitioning people whose only job is to explore would make sense. Especially given manned exploration in our own solar system is banned in this universe.

 

[SouthernKing]

For what its worth, even if we do use robots and drones, which we most definitely are - that's besides the point - someone has to manage them. That's where the human element comes in. If we have two or more humans in the field, they can manage things out there, and provide repairs etc. if necessary. It's not like we're repeating Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, it's no more than five people exploring, most likely only two or three. We're not going to have the all-covering network of unmanned vessels that our home solar system probably has by this point, which can do the job there - this is the first step into this system for us. Scientifically as well, having humans in the field would be a nice test of what prolonged exposure to the native environment does to the human body. Many of the early manned space missions in Earth orbit had that (well, explosure to zero-g) as a (secondary) purpose.

I hope that made sense. Besides, it's more fun for humans to explore

 

[Double A]

But can our robots explore caves? We should bring some spelunkers.

 

[SouthernKing]

But can our robots explore caves? We should bring some spelunkers.

Spelunking is one thing you absolutely don't want human explorers to do, if you have robots to do it for you, and we can do that easily with 21st century technology, let alone what we have now.

 

[Double A]

It wouldn't be a CivO game if we weren't doing absolutely insane things.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I heed SK's notions for our exploration purposes; trials are a good reasoning for specialist explorers, plus there has to be field maintenance for the robots and research posts.

 

[Kinich-Ahau]

I know we're talking about exploration now, but food also falls under the 'expedition outfitting' umbrella. I, personally, would rather bring a wide variety of food than hope that the stuff we find there won't turn us inside out. Insects would be very cheap, easy to raise, and could provide a good source of protein. Rats & Guinea Pigs are also cheap and could be brought if all want to be boring and say no to edible bugs. It's been established that aquaculture exists, so I assume that kelp & such is being brought. As with Tyo's 'we need entertainment to keep from going insane' point, I think we should avoid relying on just one or two sources of food.

 

[Double A]

Oh right we should also bring rats because human testing probably isn't an option.

 

[Tyo]

I am assuming the huge science wing has all accommodations for like everything science and stuff.

 

[CivOasis]

The food and scientific equipment will fit there, Tyo, but should not e assumed.

Anyways, yes. As-is, food and equipmemt definitely has some oversights.

Also, away from my apartment for a week, but should be more active after the 15th, with the new computer to arrive within a week of then max.