[HT] Microfilm libraries?

[AlexanderHowl]

One of the advantages of microfilm is that they are images, so they can be layered and tailored to react to different frequencies of light. So, you could have some images that react to near infrared, some that react to visible, and some that react to near UV, all possible at TL7 equivalents (just very expensive). A 10x cost over a standard book for a 100x density would probably be reasonable, it would be labor intensive at TL7 equivalents, and it is only stable for around 25-50 years.

[DataPacRat]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That would be "Ruggedized". It's in HT and I think maybe UT also.

(Forehead slap)

Originally Posted by RyanW

To give one number from actual practice (from the National Postal Museum, as quoted by Wikipedia): "V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space could be reserved for war materials. The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45."

That's about 97.3% reduction in volume and about 98.3% in weight. There's some loss of detail that's fine for handwritten letters but might be unacceptable for images or dense text.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

One of the advantages of microfilm is that they are images, so they can be layered and tailored to react to different frequencies of light. So, you could have some images that react to near infrared, some that react to visible, and some that react to near UV, all possible at TL7 equivalents (just very expensive). A 10x cost over a standard book for a 100x density would probably be reasonable, it would be labor intensive at TL7 equivalents, and it is only stable for around 25-50 years.

Alrighty, then; unless anyone comes up with a better idea, I'm going to go with microform libraries having a 50-fold reduction in weight, and a 10-fold increase in price. So that an emergency set of backup Small library for 100 rarely-used skills, at -2 to research apiece, would come in at $350k and 50 lbs; while a single Fine (+2) library of an important skill would be $700k and 100 lbs.


Now here's a new question for you all; what happens if somebody tries to put together a GURPS: High-Tech library dedicated to the skill of Research itself? For example, if the above Fine microfilm library was dedicated to the current equivalent of a card-catalogue of all the other microfilm libraries, with all sorts of metadata and cross-references, could its bonus to the Research skill cancel out the Research penalty of said small libraries (and even improve the Research rolls for larger libraries)?

Originally Posted by High Tech

A library can also act as a reference for a skill ...
It permits Research rolls to look up answers to ques-
tions germane to that skill, possibly at a bonus for quality. The
bonus for a high-quality library might sometimes extend to
the skill itself, at the GM’s option.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

(Forehead slap)
Now here's a new question for you all; what happens if somebody tries to put together a GURPS: High-Tech library dedicated to the skill of Research itself?

Two ways of slicing it.

1) Perfectly tolerable if the GM rules that the answer is not there sufficiently often, and just uses Research to determine whether the PC's can find the information.

2) No, larger libraries are considered to have more indices and such, so they have better research equipment.