Infinite Worlds: Cross-Quantum operations

[RogerBW]

The rules in IW go into quite a lot of detail about how hazardous cross-quantum operations are - how you can't rely on being able to duck out in a hurry, and so on.

However, it seems that there's a trivial fix for this. Infinity takes over one timeline on each quantum as a conveyor base. It builds some sort of large-scale conveyor carrying infrastructure (perhaps an array of airports with road grids centred on each) so that a conveyor can be moved as close to the target as possible. Then all missions effectively become in-quantum missions, with a separate cross-quantum stage from a safe line to another safe line.

[Qoltar]

Interesting - how many years would that take to implement?

- Ed Charlton

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

The rules in IW go into quite a lot of detail about how hazardous cross-quantum operations are - how you can't rely on being able to duck out in a hurry, and so on.

However, it seems that there's a trivial fix for this. Infinity takes over one timeline on each quantum as a conveyor base.

Wouldn't that require the timeline in question to be one which supports projectors? Only two such timelines are known to exist, and a possible third, Shikaku-Mon would be a hard (and dangerous) nut to crack.

[Captain-Captain]

Projectors would be out, but you could set an emergency bug out switch to a specific unihabited Earth in a given quantum. It has facilities like a military force able to blow away pursuing conveyors. The escapees could at some laterpoint go through projection pick up.

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Wouldn't that require the timeline in question to be one which supports projectors? Only two such timelines are known to exist, and a possible third, Shikaku-Mon would be a hard (and dangerous) nut to crack.

The projector stay on Homeline in any case, the only difference is which world on the Quantum they're retrieving people from. This setup would have the advantage that emergency extractions wouldn't need to go right into Infinity's backyard, and that the evacuees wouldn't need to coordinate with Homeline for pickup.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Interesting - how many years would that take to implement?

- Ed Charlton

It might be a few, but you only need four and you are covered, and you can develop them in parallel.

The problem is, Centrum can do the same.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Wouldn't that require the timeline in question to be one which supports projectors?

No; as Diomedes points out, the projector stays safely on Homeline.

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Interesting - how many years would that take to implement?

Once you've found the empty lines, the basic version is trivial: just make each off-quantum mission a two-stage hop, projected to safe-line and then in-quantum to the target. This may take longer and use more energy than a one-stage journey, but it's rather safer.

We don't have hard numbers on the sort of labor force Infinity can deploy - the full infrastructure is obviously a huge project. But even without that infrastructure this offers such clear advantages that when I was running an IW game I could come up with no reason not to do it.

[Kelly Pedersen]

It's certainly not an impossible idea to implement, but there are a few issues, I think.

1) Cost. Infinity is very rich, it's true, but it's not infinitely (heh) rich. In particular, the Patrol has a limited mandate, and Infinity's stockholders probably object to several years of profits being eaten up like this.

2) Vulnerability. Interworld has better detection abilities than Infinity, and Infinity knows, or at least suspects, that this is the case. On Quantum 6 and 7, such a staging area timeline would basically light up Centrum's parachronic detectors like a Christmas tree. Such a timeline would rapidly become a target for Interworld agents, and they'd have a good chance of identifying the locations of Infinity missions simply by following the staging vehicles, and then tracking which timeline the conveyor went to.

Both of these issues can be overcome. The cost is simply a matter of building up slowly. The vulnerability issue can be addressed in a couple of ways. First, it's not much of an issue at all on the quantums where Centrum can't access. Possibly, such a staging timeline already exists on Quantum 4, and possibly Quantum 3 (although they might have avoided it based on nervousness about Shikaku-Mon). On the higher quantum worlds, avoiding it is trickier, but you probably do it by having several smaller staging stations, on different empty timelines.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Interesting - how many years would that take to implement?

- Ed Charlton

Ten seconds?

But for a fixed conveyer, I'm not sure there are any benefits. How long does it actually take to set up a projector recovery in your campaign anyway? I've always assumed it was pretty automatic - projector jumps take equipment on both sides of the trip, but otherwise don't work any differently than a subquantum trip. If you require scheduled coordination between the two ends, then there may be advantages to being able to make a subquantum trip at moments off the schedule, and you *must* run to a line with other Infinity installations on it, otherwise you'd never be able to get a signal back to homeline to schedule a new pickup moment.

On the other hand every mobile conveyer going somewhere risky really ought to be sub-quantum capable, so you can always run to a safe(r) line. That takes no additional infrastructure at all. Except, well, you still have to get the mobile back to where the equivalent location of the projector to recover to Homeline. Clearly that's doable on the mission line (you after all got it the *other* way after you arrived), but it might be harder on an undeveloped refuge line. Of course if there's nobody on it but Infinity, you can always radio for help and be picked up by helicopter or something.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

It's certainly not an impossible idea to implement, but there are a few issues, I think.

1) Cost. Infinity is very rich, it's true, but it's not infinitely (heh) rich. In particular, the Patrol has a limited mandate, and Infinity's stockholders probably object to several years of profits being eaten up like this.

Infinity's canonically a private corporation with effectively unlimited finances.