deckplans of a Infinity Conveyor anyone?

[Byteknight]

Does anyone have any deckplans of the conveyors you see in Gurps Infinite Worlds or Time Travel.

I know any enclosed space can be used as a conveyor, but I'd like to show my players a conveyor with seats, etc. I can't draw worth a damn.


I'm thinking of using deckplans from a Star Trek shuttle, but it will be too easily recognizable by my players. Maybe the old FASA chameleon-class courrier from their Star Trek rpg. I dunno...

Thanks.

[Six_Gun_Sam]

A conveyor?

Now I was thinking that one of the PC's could have a remote control.

When it is activated a wormhole would open up and the PCs could just slide into a different reality.

Then every week the players would be a group sliding from reality to reality.

Sliding.

Groovy name for a campaign right?

[AOTA]

Originally Posted by Byteknight

Does anyone have any deckplans of the conveyors you see in Gurps Infinite Worlds or Time Travel.

You know what might work well as a conveyor is the Modular Cutter from GURPS Traveller Modular Cutter. The book has lots of variations and there are even large scale maps that you can get too.

[ArchonShiva]

Originally Posted by Six_Gun_Sam

Now I was thinking that one of the PC's could have a remote control.

When it is activated a wormhole would open up and the PCs could just slide into a different reality.

Then every week the players would be a group sliding from reality to reality.

Sliding.

Groovy name for a campaign right?

Wow, that's actually the premise of an old TV show from the eighties over here!

[Byteknight]

Originally Posted by ArchonShiva

Wow, that's actually the premise of an old TV show from the eighties over here!

Sliders (starring John Rhys-Davies) was mid-90s, I believe.

[Ed the Coastie]

I figure that Infinity isn't going to spent a lot of money on esthetics when it comes to conveyors, so for an Infinity conveyor I use a round room with inward-facing seats around the perimeter (static conveyor), or a rectangular room with seats arranged like on a bus (mobile conveyor).

Of the two non-Infinity conveyors that have appeared in my game, one is actually a stagecoach that was stolen from a museum and retrofitted with a parachronic generator. It's technically a static conveyor, although you can hitch horses up to it an move it around just like a stagecoach,

The other uses the deck plans of a wreckboat from the old AD&D Spelljammer setting and is painted up to resemble a Star Trek shuttlecraft, because the character who built it (and his player) was a die-hard Trekkie. It flies, but you can't take it into orbit.

There is a third conveyor, as yet unknown to my players, built into a modified X-15 that had been part of a now-abandoned Black Budget project. Eventually, the PCs will learn about it, but not until I finish working up the underground base where it is located...and the reptoids that overran it.

[Hex]

Originally Posted by Byteknight

Sliders (starring John Rhys-Davies) was mid-90s, I believe.

And, Jerry O'Connel...the "fat kid" from the movie "Stand by Me".

[digoraccoon]

For static conveyors, I've been partial to basing deck plans off the StarGate SG1 set. It's pretty nifty and you could probably accomodate a moving vehicle through the portal.

When I ran a Warehouse 23 game the PCs had use of a StarGate and would drive a hummer through it to their destination. I based it off the show's design and modified it with an elevator where it can take the vehicle up to a surface garage.

[AOTA]

I know in the Infinity book one of the color text sections talks about the character taking off in an ornithroper/conveyor.

[WineShark]

Sadly, the physical nature of conveyors is not well covered in IW. They’ll give you standard assault rifles, and gear, and even the average load-out for a conveyor, but other than the artwork of the “star trek shuttle” look-alike, and references that conveyors can look like many things, we have no concrete plans.

I have been tackling how to handle conveyors/projectors in my upcoming campaign.

1) The most important factors in “what conveyor to use” are the state of habitation on the parallel, and the need for mobility once you are there.
2) Parallels without human habitation don’t require disguises. You can use the most efficient TL8 vehicle for the job, mobile or not.
3) On parallels where being covert is necessary, conveyors must be camouflaged, wasting precious mass. If they must be mobile, it wastes even more. And if they be mobile and independent (see below), then they must have even more mass wasted in the actual power system.
4) Mobile vs. Static – transport conveyors should be more like big rig trailers. Why spend the mass taking a standard towing vehicle to the other world? Mobile conveyors vary as above, based on need.
5) I hate the fact that 50% of your mass is battery/power system. That just seems foolish and totally impractical for most conveyor use. For vehicles that are 100% independent, a fuels cell and a large pulsed power system makes sense. These are used by Penetration and maybe on some black ops stuff. But why not simply have standard cargo conveyors or ones making regular runs between established parallels run off of a power system hooked into the local grid? Why carry massive batteries with you? Use a stationary system to power the jump on both ends. Just get to the projector or conveyor jump point and plug in. Only conveyors with programmable jump programs should need independent power sources.
6) Projectors are fixed in space. That means that strategic locations for projectors for various points in the past (mostly for Echoes) are important.
7) Projectors on ships would be a practical way of keeping projectors mobile.
8) Attempting to make “assault conveyors” seems woefully impractical in light of the power system weight issue. Hell…even a practical truck is hard to do with only 49.5% of your mass available for non-parachronic equipment.

My solutions for my campaign are as such:

For scouting uninhabited worlds with no vehicle infrastructure, Infinity uses the Mobile All Terrain Conveyor. (Based on the Hagglund BV206 and BVS10 tracked vehicles ) This is the base exploration and armed/armored vehicle for ISWAT use. I’m working on an airborne self-powered conveyor for use in exploration, and maybe a survey airship or UAV-style vehicle. (Right now I need mass figures for such.) Marine conveyors are an attractive mobile option, especially if mobile marine projectors are used. (You float up to the modern day Italian coast, and jump a covert TL 2 conveyor ship back to the Roman empire.)

For covert use, various non-mobile, self-powered conveyors are available, targeted to the TL of the parallel in question. If mobility is required once outtime, a mobile covert conveyor will be used. This is not desirable in most cases, as the actual transport mass is low. Again, surveillance models vary from camouflaged rock-models with various types of gear in them, to high altitude balloons that monitor radio traffic or have cameras installed to support local Infinity personnel. (I haven’t really explored what satellite technology might be used to monitor Echoes or low TL worlds…)

For transport and commerce, non-mobile, un-powered conveyors are used, usually with fixed jump programs. These operate from jump stations and use local power systems to make the jump. They are basically larger trailers with jump computers onboard.

BV Family of Vehicles
US Army version
An example of their awesome mobility
My MATC/Converyor spreadsheet