[Basic] Skill of the week: Fishing, Survival and Urban Survival

[safisher]

Originally Posted by whswhs

All of whom are normally visiting other worlds of the same planetary type. That's characteristic of a lot of classic SF.

That's not the case, and is besides the point anyway. I assume the skill is like other GURPS skills in that they can be learned if they are taught to you.

Having been to a military survival school (in Panama), and having a held a scuba license and a Hazmat specialist license in the past, I see nothing related between the two. The environment, and the protective gear you wear in it, are totally different issues. Knowing the lay of the land, the hazards in it and how to avoid them, as well as understanding the basic skills necessary to acquire water, food, and shelter, is very different from donning and maintaining protective gear used in a specific environment. It goes without saying that if the environment will kill an unprotected human, then of course you need a protective suit. But if the suit will allow you to go into that environment, you need to learn to survive out there, if for any other reason, than to preserve your suit's protective abilities! The NBC suit the US Army uses has a charcoal filter -- if you sit down on wet grass, you'll compromise the suit's effectiveness. When and where you might encounter such grass is a matter of other training. Jungle saw grass, cactus, black palm, and such will do a number on a MOPP suit, for instance.

But whatever the case, GURPS Space 3e says this:

Colonist
The hardy folk who carve new lives out of the wilderness of a virgin planet. They may be part of a religious or ethnic group, sponsored by a government, part of a commercial venture, or on their own. Survival is the most important skill here.

The new specialty types that seem to be confusing everyone came from Transhuman Space, where the extra detail for dolphin characters, etc. made sense. That's really the extent of the mystery there.

From 3e:
This is the ability to "live off the land," find good food and
water, avoid hazards, build shelter, etc. A different Survival skill is
required for each type of terrain, including:
Desert Woodlands
Plains Jungle
Arctic Island/Beach
Mountains Swampland
Radioactive (no default use)
One successful roll per day is required to live safely (if not comfortably) in a wilderness situation. One person with this ability can
look after up to ten others. A failed roll means each member of the
party takes 1 die of injury. Modifiers: -2 on an unfamiliar continent or
planet; up to -5 for extreme weather conditions; -5 if you are
wholly without equipment.
This skill also gives an "eye for country." It can be used to pick
the best direction of travel to find flowing water, a mountain pass, or
whatever other terrain feature is desired - assuming that it exists.
This is also the skill used to trap wild animals. (A city-bred thief
could use his Traps ability, but he's used to different game . . . so
the roll would be at a -5.) Make one roll for each trap set. It takes
about 30 minutes to improvise a trap from ordinary materials, or 10
minutes to set and hide a commercial steel trap. Pit traps for large
game, of course, take several hours to dig.