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 Post Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:01 pm 
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I've run out of things I want to do. I suppose we should wrap this up and head back to the ship?

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 Post Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 5:32 am 
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My inner spelling nazi is yelling about the difference between "vial" and "vile".

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:30 am 
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Well, if he's going to wake up, he needs to know something .

Engineering 5
Empathy 4, Mysteries 4
Leadership 3, Resolve 3, Academics 3
Guns 2, Art 2, Science 2, Investigation 2
Drive 1, Survival 1, Gambling 1, Endurance 1, Alertness 1

Which should be enough to wake up on. I'll get to the rest of it.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 3:10 pm 
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Time for a new game thread, I think.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 6:54 pm 
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Quick question; what's the main power supply for the starship? Deuterium fusion plants?

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 7:00 pm 
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Right now it's being run entirely off solar and wind. The original power generator was some kind of fusion plant, but I don't remember the specifics. I'll try and sift through the threads for it.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 9:33 pm 
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The original nuclear plant was expected to last a few thousand years longer than you were supposed to be asleep. It seems to have eventually run out of nuclear, though.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 9:41 pm 
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Oh, nuclear. Sorry. My bad.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 9:52 pm 
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As in fission? The problem with that is that almost any fission plant would have catastrophically failed before the first couple of centuries were out (neutrons are nasty) unless they were an absurdly low efficiency RTG of some kind, as they don't need heat exchangers.

Oh, and in passing; how did the ship land? Some kind of powered descent?

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:10 pm 
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I don't think it was ever specified whether it was fission or fusion; just that it was deliberately designed to run several thousand years maintenance-free.

However the ship landed, it did so before any of the passengers woke up. Almost certainly some sort of powered descent - that was what has been originally planned - but there don't appear to be any eyewitness accounts.

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:41 pm 
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Well, a fusion plant could theoretically be refueled and restarted given available equipment, which would quickly strike Arkady as a worthwhile thing to look into. Once he got past the rest of it.

I'm guessing the ship isn't an Orion drive, then. It would have left telltale traces upon landing.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:56 am 
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With the exception of the uranium fuel itself, you will find all the bits necessary to build a fission plant in storage. It will, of course, take some time and effort to assemble. (Aside from the cryosleep itself, I'm sticking with technology that we have got to work as far as possible; I don't think anyone's actually managed to get fusion working yet?)

The ship did not use an Orion drive for landing, as the intention was to settle and live in the area around the landing site. Irradiating the area would have been an undesirable outcome.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:38 am 
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From what I understand scientists have made strides in maybe possibly getting more energy out of fusion than is put into it, but I don't know the details.

Since Arkady and Felix are both top notch Engineers, maybe it might be feasible for us to get started on some kind of power source beyond wind and solar? Or maybe trying to get hydroponics back online. Come to think of it, we never actually looked at hydroponics at all. When David woke the Captain up, he completely disregarded it and has had us doing everything BUT looking at hydroponics. Has Felix had a chance to take a look at it and see if it can be repaired or salvaged? Or does it require so much power to run that the Captain rightfully ignored it completely?

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 Post Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:50 am 
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We've managed to get more power out of fusion reactors then we put in only in the last year or so. The trouble is keeping the reaction going. I'd say that within the next 20 years or so we'll have a working reactor, but not yet.

As for fission, its practicality depends on how old the planet is. If its any younger then about 3 billion years old, we can just shovel raw ore into a reactor with good old water as a moderator and we'll be in business. If it's around 4 billion years old, like earth, we'll have to either refine it down a bit, (at least some so we can start a breeder reactor, turning U238 into P239.) or use heavy water as a moderator. If the planet is much older then 5 billion years old, we'll have to both refine the ore, and use heavy water to start up a breeder reactor.

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 Post Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:47 am 
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balthazar wrote:
We've managed to get more power out of fusion reactors then we put in only in the last year or so. The trouble is keeping the reaction going. I'd say that within the next 20 years or so we'll have a working reactor, but not yet.


Okie dokie. Then we'll just say that there were practical problem associated with creating a fusion reactor that would last a few thousand years with zero maintenance, and therefore the ship's original central power core was fission-based.

Kajin wrote:
Since Arkady and Felix are both top notch Engineers, maybe it might be feasible for us to get started on some kind of power source beyond wind and solar?


You have the parts (but not the fuel) for just about any power source you care to name in storage (some assembly required, batteries not included). Well, any that's actually been able to be made to work.

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Come to think of it, we never actually looked at hydroponics at all. When David woke the Captain up, he completely disregarded it and has had us doing everything BUT looking at hydroponics. Has Felix had a chance to take a look at it and see if it can be repaired or salvaged? Or does it require so much power to run that the Captain rightfully ignored it completely?


Taking a proper look over the hydroponics section will show that it needs five things in order to work (two of which you have already):

1. Access to the computer, in order to look up the (intended) contents of, and unlock, the seed bins. (You have this already)
2. Distilled water. There's a river ten minutes walk away, and you have buckets. The ship's internal water distillation apparatus is unfortunately unpowered at the moment (and could probably do with a spot of maintenance); or you could set up an alternative distillation system of some kind if you prefer.
3. Suitable nutrient solutions must be found (the pre-packed ones that were on the ship are now no more than a funny-coloured stain at the bottom of the container). This requires either a suitable Science roll, to find the required materials in either the forest or the swamp, or getting the fertiliser refining plant out of storage, assembling and powering it (and then just tossing anything organic in the hopper).
4. The hydroponics lab's sunlamps need power (or the plants need another suitable source of light).
5. You need to have someone with some farming experience running things (Thomas Swale, farmer, is already awake and would be quite competent in that position).

In other words, yes, it can be repaired.

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