Infinity's Paraconveyor(s) – Description and Operation

[DAT]

As we all know, a paraconveyor doesn’t exist/they tried but it was a complete failure/ there is a secret working prototype called “Alea” [GURPS Infinite Worlds, page 30]. The description of the non-existing conveyor/failed experiment/working prototype is of course vague: built by 7 Paralab scientists and “Based on technology ‘borrowed’ from other time lines, with cutting-edge AI and parachronic detector systems, its design is entirely revolutionary.” So if I want to have a paraconveyor in my game, I need to work out what one looks like.

My initial thought for a paraconveyor was to build it around a small stealthy nuclear* submarine. This would have the advantage of a good place to stay unobserved and a decent life support system for the crew if you had to wait 6+ days in hostile environments. But this is only a prototype, and they are trying to minimize the number of people working on it for security/secrecy reasons. So my next thought was for the old “mini-van on stubby legs” capsule conveyor [e.g., GURPS Infinite Worlds, page 6]. But even a test trip to Q3 and back could take 24+ days, which would be a large amount of food and water to carry for the crew, even assuming an ultra-tech power supply for the computer and other systems. So for my Game, I’m thinking about settled on a slightly larger mid-sized trailer capsule conveyor for the first prototype, then a small nuclear* submarine for the second.

Anyone have a different idea?

When thinking about the operation of the fictional/failed/secret paraconveyor, I’m not sure if I like a totally random “1d6 days to recalibrate” between jumps [GURPS Infinite Worlds, page 30]. I like the operator’s skill in Electronics Operations/TL8^ (Parachronic), Electronics Operations/TL8^ (Parachronic Sensors), Physics/L8^ (Parachronic) or some other skill to be able to influence the time to recalibrate. I like thinking that the recalibration involves taking a reading of the local parachronic conditions, then using algorithms to solve the “parachronic transport equation”. The solution is developed by the computers which have to have a convergence solution. The better the initial inputs, the better the initial “guess”, the faster the convergence to solve the equation, and the faster the recalibration goes. I’m thinking something like: A critical success would allow for a single day, different levels of success would reduce the time down from 6 days, a failure would be the full 6 days, and a critical failure would mean having to restart the process (i.e., the iterations are diverging, not converging, and the process has to be restarted).

Any opinions or alternatives?

I was also thinking about allowing for crediting recent trips through a given world. For example, a paraconveyor travels from world A to world B and take 3 days on world B to recalibrate before jumping on to world C. If after a couple weeks stay on world C, the conveyor jumps back to world B, they should be able to recalibrate at a much faster rate.

Any thoughts?

Now suppose Infinite does decides to build a mobile stealth paraconveyor around a small stealthy nuclear* submarine. The planned missions for the conveyor are recon of Centrum Q8-Q10 worlds. Questions:
1) Do you think the beginning premise and mission make sense?
2) Do you think a shakedown “cruise” to explore a Q2-Q1 world (previously found by a world jumper) or two would make sense?
3) For the personnel crewing the paraconveyor, I would see: command staff (Captain, XO, department heads), vessel crew (chiefs and seamen for operating the sub), parachronic crew (conveyor operators, sensor operators, and Paralab engineering/maintenance), intelligence team (sensor operators, drone pilots, ECM operators), scouts, and security team (SODs). Does this mix make sense - any group missing/any group doesn’t belong?
4) How big/small of a crew and support teams makes sense?
5) Does it sound like each player should have a character that is a member of the command staff, a different character who is a member of scout team,and a third character who is a member of the security team?
6) What additional sensors/equipment should the conveyor be equipped with?
7) What ultra-tech items does it make sense for the conveyor to have (Ghost Surface)?

Anyone thought about an alternative program where Infinity develops a world Jumper “piloted” paraconveyor?

-Dan

* Nuclear in this case could be fission, fusion, or something even more exotic. The idea is a non-air-breathing power source that can work for an extended period without refueling.

[Shrale]

My initial thought for a paraconveyor was to build it around a small stealthy
nuclear* submarine. This would have the advantage of a good place to stay
unobserved and a decent life support system for the crew if you had to wait
6+ days in hostile environments. But this is only a prototype, and they are
trying to minimize the number of people working on it for security/secrecy
reasons. So my next thought was for the old “mini-van on stubby legs” capsule
conveyor [e.g., GURPS Infinite Worlds, page 6]. But even a test trip to Q3
and back could take 24+ days, which would be a large amount of food and water
to carry for the crew, even assuming an ultra-tech power supply for the
computer and other systems. So for my Game, I’m thinking about settled on a
slightly larger mid-sized trailer capsule conveyor for the first prototype,
then a small nuclear* submarine for the second.

Anyone have a different idea?

Good Idea! I was re-reading my GRIMES RIM COMMANDER book recently and
they use a Tesseract to move between dimensions, but it's a "natural
phenomenom" rather than a tech device.

When thinking about the operation of the fictional/failed/secret
paraconveyor, I’m not sure if I like a totally random “1d6 days to
recalibrate” between jumps [GURPS Infinite Worlds, page 30]. I like the
operator’s skill in Electronics Operations/TL8^ (Parachronic), Electronics
Operations/TL8^ (Parachronic Sensors), Physics/L8^ (Parachronic) or some
other skill to be able to influence the time to recalibrate. I like thinking
that the recalibration involves taking a reading of the local parachronic
conditions, then using algorithms to solve the “parachronic transport
equation”. The solution is developed by the computers which have to have a
convergence solution. The better the initial inputs, the better the initial
“guess”, the faster the convergence to solve the equation, and the faster the
recalibration goes. I’m thinking something like: A critical success would
allow for a single day, different levels of success would reduce the time
down from 6 days, a failure would be the full 6 days, and a critical failure
would mean having to restart the process (i.e., the iterations are diverging,
not converging, and the process has to be restarted).

Fixed Downtime on a Time Machine ??!! I don't know if that makes perfect
sense or not :) It could be the amount of time the device has to operate
causes issues in accuracy or success, so if the machine is calibrated
correctly quickly, and within a given window of time, it causes less
"chrono-drag" or something equally mysterious.

Options -- maybe use the average of all skills involved and subtract from a
target # like 18 or 21. Use the amount of success to factor into how precise
the 'port is if they're not only trying to cross dimensions but get there "on
time" so to speak :)

Strictly speaking in a Time Travel campaign the 6 days means little unless
there's some sort of deadline the PCs have to make -- like the base being
bombed or an invaision coming in 3 days and their goose is cooked if they
take 4 or more.

Would you allow a strictly "crap shoot" sorta following Traveller's misjump,
where to save themselves they simply fire it up and take the first
destination available (which will be determined by the GM) to evade some sort
of catastrophe ?

>

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

Originally Posted by DAT

My initial thought for a paraconveyor was to build it around a small stealthy nuclear* submarine.

1.) In the late 1960s the USN built a nuclear powered, highly automated four man submarine, the NR-1.

From fas.org:
Length overall 145 ft 9-7/16 in. (44.4 m)
Pressure hull length 96 ft 1 in. (29.3 m)
Diameter 12 ft 6 in. (3.8 m)
Maximum beam (at stern stabilizers) 15 ft 10 in (4.8 m)
Maximum navigational draft 15 ft 1 in. (4.6 m)
BOX keel depth (below base-line) 4 ft O in. (1.2 m)
Power Plant One nuclear reactor, one
turbo- alternator
Two motors (external to pressure hull)
two propellers
Four ducted thrusters (two horizontal, two vertical)
Design operating depth 2375 ft (725 m)
Displacement submerged 366 long tons, 409.92 short tons
Speed, surfaced/submerged 4.5/3.5 knots
Mean Draft (surfaced, presumably) 15 ft 3/4 in. (4.6 m)
Crew 2 officer, 3 enlisted, 2 scientists
Endurance 210 man-days (nominal)
330 man-days (maximum)

John Pena Craven wrote about it in his book on undersea work in the Cold War (the name of the book escapes me).

Due to it's low speed it normally is towed to operational sites by a tender, but apparently it can operate independently (if slowly) for days.

Apparently it was officially inactivated in November of 2008. (GMs may make of this what they will . . . )

[Langy]

I imagine it would look something like this:

http://www.awesomeave.com/images/bac...ne-replica.jpg

[DAT]

Originally Posted by Langy

I imagine it would look something like this:

http://www.awesomeave.com/images/bac...ne-replica.jpg

Dude, that's a time machine, not a paraconveyor. It wouldn't even make it out of the subquantum. Remind me not to go quantum road tripping with you. We'd be lost before we made our first hop ... ;-)
-Dan

[Frost]

Originally Posted by DAT

The planned missions for the conveyor are recon of Centrum Q8-Q10 worlds.
Do you think the beginning premise and mission make sense?
Do you think a shakedown “cruise” to explore a Q2-Q1 world (previously found by a world jumper) or two would make sense?

The short answer is yes to both of these. Trying to get a picture of the full extent of Centrum holdings does make a lot of sense and so does testing the conveyor somewhere out of reach of the enemy where the crew can be recovered if things go wrong.

Originally Posted by DAT

How big/small of a crew and support teams makes sense?
Does it sound like each player should have a character that is a member of the command staff, a different character who is a member of scout team,and a third character who is a member of the security team?

My first instinct would be to keep the crew as small as possible. As to precise crew organisation I would go with just two elements an operations team and a survey team (I would also slant the numbers in favour of this element of the crew). If you need a security team use cross trained personel rather than tying up habitat space housing rarely employed specialists.

How you organise the PC's will depend upon your preferences when running a campain and how big as small a crew as possible turns out to be. If the operations team turns out to be fairly large I would probably just run them as NPC's and concentrait on the survey team, ship and organisation campaigns tend to work better when everybody has a single direct responsibility and bigger crews cause this to break down. If you are determined to go with multiple characters keep the crew small enough that everybody has something meaningful to do as often as possible.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by DAT

3) For the personnel crewing the paraconveyor, I would see: command staff (Captain, XO, department heads), vessel crew (chiefs and seamen for operating the sub), parachronic crew (conveyor operators, sensor operators, and Paralab engineering/maintenance), intelligence team (sensor operators, drone pilots, ECM operators), scouts, and security team (SODs). Does this mix make sense - any group missing/any group doesn’t belong?

The only hole I see is medical. I'd definitely send a doctor along with my experimental world jumping submarine.

Originally Posted by DAT

4) How big/small of a crew and support teams makes sense?

Depends on the answer to your 5th question. I'd want to minimize the number of NPC's to a handful who serve a utilitarian purpose, and wouldn't do any adventuring.

Originally Posted by DAT

5) Does it sound like each player should have a character that is a member of the command staff, a different character who is a member of scout team,and a third character who is a member of the security team?

That's one way to go, and a perfectly effective one if everyone likes making characters and each team will have it's own adventures.

I would opt for a smaller crew of (higher point total) cross-specialists, if there's only one world jumping ship in existence, you could be very selective with your crew: "Of course we need Lieutenant Commander Smithwick, where else will we find a SEAL trained combat medic with a PhD in Parachronic engineering?"

[DAT]

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym

1.) In the late 1960s the USN built a nuclear powered, highly automated four man submarine, the NR-1.

From fas.org:
Length overall 145 ft 9-7/16 in. (44.4 m)
Pressure hull length 96 ft 1 in. (29.3 m)
Diameter 12 ft 6 in. (3.8 m)
Maximum beam (at stern stabilizers) 15 ft 10 in (4.8 m)
Maximum navigational draft 15 ft 1 in. (4.6 m)
BOX keel depth (below base-line) 4 ft O in. (1.2 m)
Power Plant One nuclear reactor, one
turbo- alternator
Two motors (external to pressure hull)
two propellers
Four ducted thrusters (two horizontal, two vertical)
Design operating depth 2375 ft (725 m)
Displacement submerged 366 long tons, 409.92 short tons
Speed, surfaced/submerged 4.5/3.5 knots
Mean Draft (surfaced, presumably) 15 ft 3/4 in. (4.6 m)
Crew 2 officer, 3 enlisted, 2 scientists
Endurance 210 man-days (nominal)
330 man-days (maximum)

John Pena Craven wrote about it in his book on undersea work in the Cold War (the name of the book escapes me).

Due to it's low speed it normally is towed to operational sites by a tender, but apparently it can operate independently (if slowly) for days.

Apparently it was officially inactivated in November of 2008. (GMs may make of this what they will . . . )

Thanks for the information fred. I was vaguely aware that NR-1 existed, but not any of the details. It gives me a good starting point, but it is a little slow and the crew size is a little too small to use directly in a game; unless I assume a large upgrade in equipment for the speed. The crew size is still a problem.
-Dan

[DAT]

Originally Posted by Frost

The short answer is yes to both of these. Trying to get a picture of the full extent of Centrum holdings does make a lot of sense and so does testing the conveyor somewhere out of reach of the enemy where the crew can be recovered if things go wrong.

Thanks for the sanity check!

Originally Posted by Frost

My first instinct would be to keep the crew as small as possible. As to precise crew organisation I would go with just two elements an operations team and a survey team (I would also slant the numbers in favour of this element of the crew). If you need a security team use cross trained personel rather than tying up habitat space housing rarely employed specialists.

Small and cross trained sounds good.

Originally Posted by Frost

How you organise the PC's will depend upon your preferences when running a campain and how big as small a crew as possible turns out to be. If the operations team turns out to be fairly large I would probably just run them as NPC's and concentrait on the survey team, ship and organisation campaigns tend to work better when everybody has a single direct responsibility and bigger crews cause this to break down. If you are determined to go with multiple characters keep the crew small enough that everybody has something meaningful to do as often as possible.

I was thinking about the multiple PCs (now at two, one vessel operations and one survey team) to cover the time spent getting there plus the surveying.

If I go with the two groups, I need to expand on my notes, but I think I can come up with 6+ "department heads" so each PC does have a meaningful position in the operations team.
-Dan

[robkelk]

If the crew is large enough, you might want to consider a couple of specialists.

First, a historian. Considering the number of echoes out there (they aren't all on Q6), having somebody on board who knows enough to say "no, we really don't want to be sitting on the bottom of Halifax harbour tomorrow," or whatever else is appropriate to the time and place, can save the entire crew's life.

Second, a diplomat. As much as Homeline wishes otherwise, there are timelines out there where The Secret isn't a secret. (Yrth is a canonical timeline where The Secret is out; Gernsback-2 is a fan-made one. And both have ways of detecting interdimensional incursions.) The mission might end in failure if nobody can talk their way out of an interdimensional incident.

The diplomat is a good choice for a PC. The historian would probably be better as an NPC information source.