Transhuman Alpha Centauri (who comes to the party)

[Astromancer]

Calling all gamers!

I might get the chance to GM a gurps campaign. (SOB! It's been so long!) Some of the possible players like Transhuman Space, others like the Idea of Alpha Centauri, but want more realistic groups/nations/cultural movenments. I suggested that the two could crossover with groups/societies from Transhuman Space replacing the Alpha Centauri factions. So it's basically a game of settling a planet (TRANSHUMAN STARS!!) with groups out of the THS setting.

The backstory (which is nesecary in order to ask the question) is that two technologies, highly efficient and stable nanostasis and a radical new drive based on Monopoles (capable of maintaining 0.4 of C for decades) were used to set up a colony ship that went off to a star about 80 light years away from Earth. Durring the flight, about 45 years after leaving Earth, contact was lost after system wide wars. The ship has arrived in a viable star system with a planet with a biosphere.

The planet ( I'll name it after an Irish Goddess) has no multicell lifeforms. The lifeforms the planet has uses a smaller set of the same amino-acids Earthlife does and can't survive or evolve to survive Earthly levels of Oxygen (for reason based on chemistry). I.E. this is an easy planet to Terraform, and there'll be factions that would hate to allow that.

The ship has aged much more than allowed for. So the colonists/settlers are forced to land and start setting up civilisation. They no that for the next few centuries, no one is likely to come looking for them. And it's possible, they're what's with of Earth life.

Questions: Which Factions from THS space need to have been on the ship? Which factions will flop quickly and brutally? Which factions will grow on a frontier fighting to survive? Which factions will war with each other? Even at the cost of their own survival? Which Transhuman Factions are most like the given factions of Alpha Centauri, in terms of story/plotline uses?

Thank-you for your help and attention.

[wellspring]

A couple observations.

First, your drive system... is it a superscience reactionless drive? You might be able to accomplish the same thing without any such drive just by using staging and a gigantic propellant tank. Such a setup eliminates the other problems of having such a drive around once the settlers arrive. It also answers the question of why there was only one colony ship (if it's too feasible then subsequent missions will be sent-- perhaps even arriving before the initial missions!)

Alpha Centauri is much closer than 80 LY. The Virginis system is already known to harbor life or at least earth-life-friendly conditions (and is closer). AC doesn't have a habitable planet, but that's hardly a requirement for a colony. Rebel and separatist infomorphs actually like that last part, and are already in-canon considering such a venture.

Nanostasis is already in the books, and lasts "indefinitely". Infomorphs can be kept aboard in archived form rather than running. Even the ones piloting the ship can run at 1/100 speed or slower to make a journey bearable. A thousand year journey becomes quite doable without adding anything new to the setting.

Why would there be opposition to terraforming? Preservationists wouldn't want to join such a mission in the first place, would be screened out if they applied, and since you're positing nano-stasis, weren't converted en route. The scientist vs settler problem on Mars provides a prototype for why planners would be careful, but also due to distance everyone is a settler. An easily terraformed world is a relative statement; if the ships aren't even spaceworthy enough to remain in orbit, then it's unlikely that they can handle even rudimentary environmental adjustments.

Landing is unlikely. A ship that is in bad condition wouldn't be capable of landing. More likely, the first target for habitation would be the closest asteroid belt, to harvest raw materials for the colony. Trucking all that gear from human space makes no sense: not only does it mass more and age in transit, but you need production facilities anyway. Finally, earth is constantly radioing technical updates. They'd be assuming that by the time they arrive the gear they'd have packed would be hopelessly outdated.

Who would build such a ship? An "international coalition"? In the multi-polar, balance-of-power THS world, this is highly unlikely. Instead, each faction would send its own ships.

If you stick with the AC plotline, you'll need to do lots of twists and turns to make it all fit (as I've outlined above). And then, some of the coolest factions (like the Duncanites) won't even show up.

So you may want to modify your plans to allow a large number of ships to arrive, sent by different factions using THS-canon technologies. They may even be refugees from the Last War, or part of a pulse of colonization right before the end. Such ships would be packed to the gills with infomorphs (who, after all, take up almost no room unless they're running). In fact, the ships could consist entirely of infomorphs: AI's and lots of ghost colonists. The ghosts could always build bioshells when they arrive. A transit ship with a robofac, a vatfac, a fusion generator, and a computer library could unpack itself on arrival at an asteroid and build a series of colony ships to explore/seize the asteroids, planets and moons. (See Spaceships 5 for examples of seedships like this).

You could also have warfare between the factions as a result. With one sleeper ship, a war that destroys the ship would end all life soon after. Or, whatever faction controlled the crew could seize power and then wake up the colonists (see Niven's A Gift From Earth for an example of this). With a series of smaller seedships, you could have fighting that can be pretty cutthroat without annihilating everyone.

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

[...]a radical new drive based on Monopoles (capable of maintaining 0.4 of C for decades)[...]

Interesting. How does it work?

Originally Posted by wellspring

Alpha Centauri is much closer than 80 LY.

Yes, why not use Alpha Centauri?

Originally Posted by wellspring

AC doesn't have a habitable planet,[...]

Hmmm? Says who? AFAIK no one knows wether there are habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri System. It cannot even be ruled out that there are "earthlike" worlds in it. The system is so interesting because its close proximity to earth and because it consists of two very sunlike stars, each of which may have planets with conditions similiar to earth.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

Interesting. How does it work?

Handwavium drive. Monopoles and mini-Black Holes are in the setting, so I use them as Usual Suspects to be rounded up.

Yes, why not use Alpha Centauri?

It's a matter of taste. I'll have astronomers find a goldilocks planet without any major drawbacks (that they can see/find) in the system.

Hmmm? Says who? AFAIK no one knows wether there are habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri System. It cannot even be ruled out that there are "earthlike" worlds in it. The system is so interesting because its close proximity to earth and because it consists of two very sunlike stars, each of which may have planets with conditions similiar to earth.

Well, no one seems to have found anything yet. And besides, I want the two-century voyage bit. Further isolation/seperation.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by wellspring

A couple observations.

First, your drive system... is it a superscience reactionless drive? You might be able to accomplish the same thing without any such drive just by using staging and a gigantic propellant tank. Such a setup eliminates the other problems of having such a drive around once the settlers arrive. It also answers the question of why there was only one colony ship (if it's too feasible then subsequent missions will be sent-- perhaps even arriving before the initial missions!)

It's meant to be handwavium using jargon from the setting. The ship with be scrap and savage before the campaign starts. So I felt I could just hand wave that.

Alpha Centauri is much closer than 80 LY. The Virginis system is already known to harbor life or at least earth-life-friendly conditions (and is closer). AC doesn't have a habitable planet, but that's hardly a requirement for a colony. Rebel and separatist infomorphs actually like that last part, and are already in-canon considering such a venture.

I, and others in the group, didn't want Alpha Centauri for both our own aesthetic reasons and the unlikeliness of the Alpha centauri system having habitable worlds.

Nanostasis is already in the books, and lasts "indefinitely". Infomorphs can be kept aboard in archived form rather than running. Even the ones piloting the ship can run at 1/100 speed or slower to make a journey bearable. A thousand year journey becomes quite doable without adding anything new to the setting.

All the better to suspend your animation.....

Why would there be opposition to terraforming? Preservationists wouldn't want to join such a mission in the first place, would be screened out if they applied, and since you're positing nano-stasis, weren't converted en route. The scientist vs settler problem on Mars provides a prototype for why planners would be careful, but also due to distance everyone is a settler. An easily terraformed world is a relative statement; if the ships aren't even spaceworthy enough to remain in orbit, then it's unlikely that they can handle even rudimentary environmental adjustments.

I've never gotten the whole preservationist thing myself. A dead rock is a dead rock. Living systems deserve respect and care, empty lifeless rocks don't have rights. However, preservationists our a major source of villains and romantic idiot rogues in the THS setting.

Landing is unlikely. A ship that is in bad condition wouldn't be capable of landing. More likely, the first target for habitation would be the closest asteroid belt, to harvest raw materials for the colony. Trucking all that gear from human space makes no sense: not only does it mass more and age in transit, but you need production facilities anyway. Finally, earth is constantly radioing technical updates. They'd be assuming that by the time they arrive the gear they'd have packed would be hopelessly outdated.

A "crash landing" senario is part of the drama/storyline, a conventional trope.

Who would build such a ship? An "international coalition"? In the multi-polar, balance-of-power THS world, this is highly unlikely. Instead, each faction would send its own ships.

That's part of why I need a handel on whose going on the trip. It's the reason I asked for help.

If you stick with the AC plotline, you'll need to do lots of twists and turns to make it all fit (as I've outlined above). And then, some of the coolest factions (like the Duncanites) won't even show up.

GURPS: Alpha Centauri is mainly a source of plot ideas, tropes, and inspiration.

So you may want to modify your plans to allow a large number of ships to arrive, sent by different factions using THS-canon technologies. They may even be refugees from the Last War, or part of a pulse of colonization right before the end. Such ships would be packed to the gills with infomorphs (who, after all, take up almost no room unless they're running). In fact, the ships could consist entirely of infomorphs: AI's and lots of ghost colonists. The ghosts could always build bioshells when they arrive. A transit ship with a robofac, a vatfac, a fusion generator, and a computer library could unpack itself on arrival at an asteroid and build a series of colony ships to explore/seize the asteroids, planets and moons. (See Spaceships 5 for examples of seedships like this).

You could also have warfare between the factions as a result. With one sleeper ship, a war that destroys the ship would end all life soon after. Or, whatever faction controlled the crew could seize power and then wake up the colonists (see Niven's A Gift From Earth for an example of this). With a series of smaller seedships, you could have fighting that can be pretty cutthroat without annihilating everyone.

These are all problems of the Alpha Centauri senario, but I still want humanity stranded on one planet durring the campaign. As in G:AC, I intend the rough/crash landing to seperate humanity into seperate groups on different continents striving first for survival and then to rebuild civilisation.

But thanks for the in-put. Hopefully review what you wrote will give me new ideas.

[jacobmuller]

Some random ideas
You could opt to have three ships - only one arrives (the others can arrive if the plot needs it). One from China, one from nano-socialist groups, one from all of the Americas + Europe + whoever else you fancy. The first two would make good latecomers.

The dissenters would need to be Dr Smiths, ie outwardly for the mission but secretly opposed/ self-interested.

Make it a modular ship - each module is designed to act as a base and land separately to increase the chances of survival.

You could opt for a new duncanoid group who stay in orbit - they chose not to land but try to survive in orbit with a module as base.

[cptbutton]

Will nano-socialism or non-nanosocialism matter that much in this scenario?

In settling a new planet, how much new IP will be being created? How much of that will only be created with a private profit motive to drive it?

I'd assume all the IP they bring with them will be de facto public domain unless they want to intentionally cripple themselves

[jalapeno_dude]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Handwavium drive. Monopoles and mini-Black Holes are in the setting, so I use them as Usual Suspects to be rounded up.

I remember the black holes, but where are monopoles referenced? Can someone provide a book/page number?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by jacobmuller

Some random ideas
You could opt to have three ships - only one arrives (the others can arrive if the plot needs it). One from China, one from nano-socialist groups, one from all of the Americas + Europe + whoever else you fancy. The first two would make good latecomers.

Good thoughts Jacob. And as the ship aging more severely and rapidly than expected is part of the setting, the lateness and/or nonarrival of the other ships would need no explanation.

The dissenters would need to be Dr Smiths, ie outwardly for the mission but secretly opposed/ self-interested.

As in Alpha Centauri, good call.

Make it a modular ship - each module is designed to act as a base and land separately to increase the chances of survival.

This was an element from Alpha Centauri I planed to use. We clearly see things in a similar way.

You could opt for a new duncanoid group who stay in orbit - they chose not to land but try to survive in orbit with a module as base.

I could see some colonists opting for deep space. But I don't get the impression that folks trust the Duncanites, especially not with the high ground!

But thanks.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Will nano-socialism or non-nanosocialism matter that much in this scenario?

In settling a new planet, how much new IP will be being created? How much of that will only be created with a private profit motive to drive it?

I'd assume all the IP they bring with them will be de facto public domain unless they want to intentionally cripple themselves

Agreed, Capitalism requiers a context (like any other social construct). No context no Capitalism. Markets, yes, very likely. Full blow Capitalism before the population has grown to at least a few hundred million, wildly unlikely.