Editing FederalSpace:Technology (section)

=== Items ===

At the moment, this is just skimming the GURPS 4e Ultra-Tech book for ideas. This is in no way an recommendation of GURPS as a system for this setting, but rather an endorsement of it as an idea source…

As mentioned, this is generally a TL10 Conservative Hard SF setting, so anything listed TL9 or below is available. It's the higher-tech stuff which is questionable.

==== Power ====

Both fusion and antimatter power are used in setting. I don't mind the possibility of "semi-portable" fusion reactors—the Starfleet Seebees need them for their field transport pads—but letting every vehicle have a fusion plant (as in some versions of ''Traveller'') seems pushing it. 

Microwave beamed power: sure, why not?

Summing up: Basically GURPS TL10.

==== Computers and Robots ====

As mentioned, sapience is restricted—volitional AI requires a dedicated neural net—but a sapient computer can be as smart as any mortal, and probably can access its databases far more quickly and more reliably than human memory. 

A quick rules check: a tiny computer can run a single high-quality translator program, which is nicely convenient. The ability to run several languages at once requires a bigger unit, though. 

I won't be using microbot swarms, and definitely not nanobots… but note that many functions could be handled with larger robots. I don't mind bigger, visible drones roaming around; it's nice color. 

I have to cheat just a little when it comes to the efficacy of unmanned probes. I assume that, somewhere, there are scout ships with lots of probes, dutifully charting all the uninhabited rocks of the galaxy. But this is boring, so we focus on those wonderful times that the explorers discover a world with a population. Intelligence is not duplicable in this setting, so we can't simply send a cheap AI probe, THS-style—and if the people have technology (and why wouldn't they?), they'll pick up our telemetry signals if we try remote control—and in any case, we gotta send down people eventually to say, "Hi."
==== Personal Items ====

Minor TL10 nanotech or chemical tricks, like depilatory cream, smart hairspray, "buzz fabric", and the like hardly threaten setting consistency, and are a good way to promote a "friendly technology" feel. Battledress uniforms incorporate programmable fabric, so they can flip between parade colors and appropriate camouflage in an instant. I don't mind video cloth, but let's not have spray-on video—that's a little too cyberpunk. 

The holographic "clothing belt" is completely ostentatious and unlikely, but… you know, why not? Make it expensive, and you have a "must have" item for those fancy dress balls. Approved. 

Ecstasy machines: Approved. And probably illegal.

Sleep machines: Approved. Though possibly doctors' prescription required.

==== Communications ====

Physical jacks, lasers, radio, and sonar. The FTL comm, as according to the scale rule (above), is building-sized only.

Translator programs are quite good, but each program only handles one language combination; the more you run at once, the slower the results. Imagine diplomatic gatherings, with each attendee carrying or wearing a translator computer—pausing every few moments to listen to the translation. Human translators can greatly speed up the process, and of course the best answer is always to learn the language yourself. 

As I said, I'm cool with passive neural input devices—akin to those being experimented with so paraplegics can use computers, and amputees can maneuver their bionic limbs more effectively. But computer-to-brain input makes me hesitate—it breaks the flavor. 

Presumably, any inhabited world has a computer net. The core worlds have ubiquitous coverage; colonies might have, or might have only a few core computers and limited terminal access. 

Physical mail can be sent very rapidly, thanks to transport, though transport direct-to-person is reserved for items of the utmost importance. 

==== Media ====

Video walls, and holodisplays, are a great way to combat claustrophobia. I bet the off-duty areas of starships will run scenic environments on a rotating schedule—this week, it's the desert; next week, the forest. Advanced sound tech can provide all-around sound, and chemical synthesizers for scent could complete the illusion. Do this in a holotank, and you get your holodeck—you can't touch the illusions, so you still need physical props. Entertainment centers make use of actors. Training simulations will go to a lot of effort to set up good physical props and sets, before overlaying the holographic imagery.

Although memory can't be recorded, it ''might'' be possible to have ''live'' sensory-input. But again, this might be too cyberpunky… on the other hand, it could be useful both for doctors and for entertainers. 

"Sleep teaching" is an amusing concept, and I might permit it with some drawbacks… like, it only works for certain things (like language skills), and the sleep doesn't count as ''sleep'' (so you need to take a walk and ''real'' nap after your session…).

===== Commentary =====
'''LordDraqo:''' Idea - Shadowjack didn't know what he was planning to do about tricorders. A couple of years back I was enjoying an article about soft-ware configurable circuits, for use in cell-phones, and the potential versatility that this would provide. Combine that with what we have at this time, with OnStar, and 3G, and a "realistic" tricorder becomes attainable.

Idea - I've felt that in a society with ubiquitous information access, everyone would wear a hat, that would also contain a Monocle and earpiece for receiving data from a personal computing device. Perhaps too Transhuman Space for Federal Space, but certainly an idea that I would use.

'''Shadowjack:''' Good thinking. Normal electronics today are already highly configurable, so extending this seems reasonable. Earpieces are a given; it was already Trek canon that the translator was worn like a hearing aid. Another idea: VR contact lenses! Invisible to an outsider, so it doesn't spoil the look, and it's a non-invasive technology…

'''LordDraqo:''' As long as your crew are already wearing hats, perhaps the earpiece is integral and the visor provides a HUD for the wearer.

'''Shadowjack:''' Glance up, and there's your monitor, running along the inner brim? …That's clever. 


'''jsnead:''' Holodecks: I'd go with holograms mixed in with formatable smart materials that can reshape themselves - also robots (covered in smart materials) for NPCs. Also, floor-based force-fields acting as endless omnidirectional treadmills would work perfectly for simulating distance. 

'''Shadowjack:''' I do like robots as NPCs, that works well! I hadn't thought of that. It also provides an opportunity for extra hand-to-hand combat practice for the Marines. And malleable smart materials aren't setting breaking, I'll have to think about fun uses for those.

But if I have force fields in the holodeck, I have to have them other places. And combined with smart materials and such, we could end up with a smart configurable machine shop, that extrudes and retracts new tools as necessary, or a smart defense station, that warps itself to confine and hold intruders, or a smart bedroom whose bed adapts itself to your activities (;)), or a smart configurable ''ship'', even. Now, these are all ''awesome'', but they're the wrong kind of awesome for this setting riff. I want to keep things more ''physical''.

'''Myth:''' Your malleable materials will be good for uniforms -- let them pad themselves when you're about to enter combat, get fewer broken arms as someone bounces off a corridor wall on their way to the changing room.  Those ubiquitous hats can also morph into combat helmets.  Mostly, it will be absorbing air into micropockets and firming up the fiber structure, nothing too outrageuous.

==== Sensors ====

We're going real-world here: optics, thermal imaging, radar, lidar, sonar, magnetic anomaly detectors, x-ray, MRI…

A stock tricorder has a handset and a shoulder pack computer, and incorporates a number of sensors, low-powered. For specific purposes, you should bring specific gear, but a tricorder is a great start, and you can of course link up your additional peripherals. Presumably, different specialties have different tricorders. A generic "science" unit would pack in chemical analysis units; an engineering unit would have interface cables and chip scanners; a medical unit would have biomonitor leads, that you attach to the patient; a "tactical" unit—mounted like a weapon scope—would combine target data, IFF, and so on.

==== Construction, Manufacturing, Agriculture ====

"Smart buildings" are a given. And I want to see O'Neill Cylinders and Stanfard Toruses a plenty—easy enough to do, when you can beam your parts into orbit.

Economy of scale and specialization still apply, so there are still factories—mostly automated, and incorporating whatever assistance this setting's limited nanotech can provide. "Fabricators" are general-purpose manufacturing units, used by starships and start-up colonies—the equivalent of modern "rapid-prototyping" systems. You still need parts and materials, but a full fabrication complex includes the necessary recycling and refining equipment to make use of raw materials, and parts can be manufactured like anything else. Fabricators do have some specialization, i.e. heavy manufacturing unit, fabrics-and-soft-goods unit, organic recycling and food processing, pharmaceutical synthesis, etc. You can't use the chemical synthesis unit to make a phaser, and you can't use the heavy manufacturing unit to make food. "Replicators" are hobbyist-grade fabricators, even more specialized, designed for small lots—plans and recipes circulate widely on the web. This doesn't kill commerce, because, most people don't have the time, knowledge, or interest in finding plans, replicating a device, testing it, maintaining it, etc., when they could just pay the company to do it all for them. 

I envision some truly massive and high-efficiency agricultural layouts, with food fabricators and small, "tradition" organic lots supplementing.

Given the materials technology, there would be some powerful adhesives, solvents, and lubricants, and I see the use of "construction foam" and "fusion-formed concrete."

Terraforming seems likely but it's slow. This requires some thought: if people have been among the stars for about six centuries, I do want some nice "M-class" planets, but not a wealth of them—they should be valuable! Though terraforming may be most useful for making "almost-but-not-quite" worlds into "good enough" worlds; a Mars or LV-426 may still be uninhabitable after 500 years of work, but a more Earth-like world may be a paradise after 200…

'''Pilgrim:''' For what its worth, the transporter can make terraforming '''much''' easier. For Mars, with a bit of work you can beam down water from a comet, without the worries of planetary bombardment. If you've got the power, heat the water, or beam down steam and methane. 

'''Shadowjack:''' It certainly does, doesn't it? That probably speeds up the scale few a few percentage points… 

The transporter really is our general-purpose device to explain lots of space activity. Some settings have super rockets, or beanstalks, or antigrav—this setting has the transporter. 

===== Commentary =====

'''jsnead:''' It makes post scarcity economies much harder though. ['''Shadowjack:''' That's a feature, not a bug, but I get your point. ;) ] I'd instead go with nanotechnology - just limited nanotechnology. Instead of being able to grow a skyscraper from a seed planted in the ground or other wacky-tech, nanotech doesn't work in a normal environment, it only works in ultra-controlled clean rooms, take it out of there, and the nanites die very fast and can't replicate at all.

==== Covert Ops and Security ====

I don't mind the idea of sonic privacy fields. Memory-metal or -plastic concealed gadgets—sure, why not?

I don't want invisibility cloaks, because this isn't ''Ghost in the Shell''—although that was one inspiration for this setting. On the other hand, it seems possible to set up a holographic "duckblind." (Though it'd glow in the dark, wouldn't it?) Programmable camouflage seems simplest.

Since we've got ecstasy machines and electronic anesthesia, similar devices for restraints seem likely—though again, I like that they should be tuned for a particular subject, rather than general-purpose. 

Can we erase memories? Can we brainwash? I don't know.

===== Commentary =====

'''jsnead:''' We're headed for actual neural-based lie detectors now. I could see short range (perhaps 5m) scanners &/or devices that require some form of contact with the individual's nervous system (please put your hand on the verifier plate) that would be essentially 100% reliable. 

If you want, you can make their use mostly obvious by only having contact based devices exist. So, other than sneaking a verifier plate into the table where someone regularly sits and then asking them questions before they get up from that table (which sounds like great RPG fun) people are going to know if they're having a verifier used on them. So, it will work less well on espionage, but will be the perfect tool for trials and a very useful interrogation tool (as long as someone hasn't been neurally programmed to fall unconscious or die rather than answer a question when hooked up to a verifier). So, once you get someone in court, the truth will always out. However, not so much in more ordinary circumstances. I'm certain that there would be various ranged handheld lie detectors (we have portable voice stress analyzers now), but while they will be considerably more reliable than those we have - there's a vast difference between 90% reliable lie detection & 100% reliable lie detection, especially since there are almost certainly ways to fool the ranged lie detectors with various forms of special training or conditioning or whatnot.

'''Shadowjack:''' This looks playable and realistic, and is an interesting twist—photographs can't be trusted, but people can be. 

'''mindstalk:''' I have trouble seeing how a hand plate is supposed to be a lie detector; sure, you can have contact with nerves, but those nerves aren't a general purpose data channel for monitoring the brain. You need good brain data, which may well mean a mix of EEG and MRI, neither of which is a range technology. And neither one's even 90% reliable yet, I have to note. 

Of course, the right brain implant might allow for much easier and more reliable monitoring of the brain, where you just send signals asking if its host is lying, or feeling certain emotions. Thin line between better policing and better police state, but the Federation might think it's on the right side while the Alliance disagrees.

'''Shadowjack:''' On the "scale" principle, if an MRI requires a room-sized device today, in Federal Space it can fit under a table or in a backpack. Maybe you can conceal the scanners somewhere.

I originally had the Federated cops using an expanded Miranda, which included, "You have the right to refuse active scanning measures." An expansion of the principles of personal privacy, and of being able to refuse to incriminate oneself. 

I like, however, the idea of a lie detector having to be tuned for a subject. Have to think about that…

'''Pilgrim:''' Of course you could try generating a low power version of the above - like by having a person walk through a magnetic field, or beaming some low power radio waves at his head and noting the scatter. Neuropath by Scott Bakker has stuff like this in the background of the story. I'll dig out my copy and steal some quotes.

==== Weapons ====

"Phasers" are multi-function lasers—with the tricorder scope, the laser can be tuned on the fly to the most effective wavelength for a particular atmosphere and target type. The power output is variable, too, from a harmless marker or dazzle beam, up to a high power burst. (Instant disintegration mode, as in the TV shows, seems unrealistic. Lasers blast and scorch.) In the default "stun" mode, it's an electrolaser. (A sad problem: electrolasers don't work in all environments. Sometimes, you ''can't'' just stun them!)

"Blasters" are particle beams. Right now, I'm tending toward banning these as portable weapons, but ships definitely have them. Indeed, a starship's "phaser banks" may be ''very'' multifunction weapons, capable of switching between different laser or particle modes as necessary. 

There are also microwavers and sonic nauseators, though no "sonic stunners" or the like. 

No plasma, force, or neural weapons. 

Also, people still use GUNS. You can't "stun", and you need to manufacture and bring ammo, but bullets can penetrate through walls, are hard to resist or thwart, and the weapons themselves are inexpensive and durable. Presumably, modern guns are electrothermal caseless or liquid-propellant weapons, but there are undoubtedly lots of old models floating around, with hobbyist replicators still churning out ammunitions… and some old classics will still be in use, like the venerable Colt .45 autoloading pistol. 

One compromise is the airgun—it's easy enough to make 'em almost as powerful as chemical firearms (some exist today), and the ammo supply train is simpler. I envision the Federal Starfleet making wide use of airguns when it needs to deploy special ammo types (darts, grenades, etc.). The Alliance and the Empire prefer firearms, both from tradition, and also because they consider the need for a full ammo train an acceptable exchange for the increase in punch. 

'''Pilgrim:''' Also, this may break the feel, but smart/guided/homing bullets may be possible under this. With the right payload, this can open up some ''neat'' less lethal options (stun bag expands just before impact, or tase the target into unconsciousness, darts with a drug, etc.)

'''Shadowjack:''' I do think that various stun munitions are a good idea—a way to handle those pesky aliens who happen to be immune to whatever setting your phasers are tuned to, or to more carefully control dosage… I suppose someone out there is using gyrojets, no?]
I don't know about gauss guns—I may do with them as with blasters, limit them to large vehicles. 

'''LordDraqo:''' Stun weapons are provided by various forms of sonic attack.  True there needs to be an atmosphere, however unless you are acting in vacuum, or an evacuated ship, this is not a problem.

Missiles and hand grenades, oh my. One trick I think would be fun: hand grenades that function as a LAW or similar weapon. You can throw them around a corner, and their rocket motor activates, and they guide themselves toward the target. 

I'm sure there are mininukes, and I'm sure people are hesitant to deploy them.

All sorts of fun munitions are possible with smart materials and biotech, though I'm not sure that knockout gas would be as useful as all that in a society where multiple similar-but-different biochemistries live together, and air masks are over-the-counter equipment for space travellers. 

Cops will still have riot batons, just in case—probably electrically-charged.

'''Myth:''' Any given species/planet can have a reasonable safe stun solution (sonics, strobe, taser, gas, etc.)  Once you start adding other genotypes in, though, I'd think you get a huge possibility of non-stun effects.  They might be immune, they're more likely to take extra damage, but it's not a reliable solution for multi-genotype crowds.

==== Armor and Defenses ====

I imagine that even a single infantryman has a lot of electronic defenses, built into his helmet or carried with his kit, but we can handwave all that. Say that his automatic systems cancel out the enemy's automatic systems, and boil things down to a contest between each squad's EW man to get momentary advantage. 

Your basic ship uniform can seal for use as a light, limited-duty spacesuit; pull up a hood and pocket airmask, and hurry to a spacesuit locker. Battledress and protective suits can be sealed against NBC, and ablates when struck by high-energy blasts. 

There probably are powered battlesuits, but they seem to be a special-purpose, given how powerful hand weapons are. Say that they're like ''Appleseed'''s landmates, essentially very expensive and delicate armored infantry, used for close assault. Any star cruisers probably has a couple of them in storage, just in case. The rest of the time, just use normal troops. I'm tending towards a setting where armor is only helpful against casual violence—when the shit hits the fan, ''no one'' is safe. 

===== Commentary =====
'''s/LaSH:''' I can contribute a little to the concepts of shield and fields, however. Consider that modern technology has already produced the plasma window and electrically charged armour. Neither will look exactly like original Trek, however: plasma windows are likely only useful for high-energy applications like starship engines (they are extremely power-hungry), and ECA is most effective against physical penetrators, although a variation that squirts a cloud of beam-dissipative plasma would have its uses in reducing the impact of an energy weapon, and magnetic fields of all kinds are useful against charged particle beams if such weapons are ever used.</small>

['''Shadowjack:''' I suppose this means that a starship's "shields" are actually ''several'' devices, working in concert. Magnetic fields for anti-particle defense, sandscreens for anti-laser, the phasers themselves for anti-missile defense and sensor jamming, armor and energy absorbers as the final line of defense.

<s>Warp bubble as shields does conveniently connect technologies—come to think of it, Honor Harrington did the same deal—but it might be putting too much onto that one technology. 
Another idea that did intrigue me: using a ship-wide forcefield as a sensor lens, turning the entire ship into a sensor dish as big as itself. You can get a similar effect with a big-enough sensor network and computing tricks.</s> I've decided to keep the warpdrive for transport only.]

…can you charge one's perimeter with ionised plasma or some such in order to make it harder to collapse, or just cause diffraction in beams passing through it, such that the energy is distributed over a larger portion of the ship's armour? This is very important: a beam weapon works by destructive heating of a small area. The same energy spread out over a ship's entire hull will be much milder, and the heat sinks can deal with it at their leisure. Heat sinks are another kettle of fish, however, and if you want to go that far I'd advise you to just go to Atomic Rocket and weep silently as you learn about Hohmann transfer orbits and brehmstrauling radiation and other things I can't even spell, let alone see as relevant to Star Trek.</small>

['''Shadowjack:''' I agree; heat sinks are as frustrating to space adventure as relativity, and just as quick to be jettisoned. :) 

The warp bubble itself collapses under attack, but the dispersal idea is worth considering… if only there was a decent physical way to achieve it.]

'''Myth:''' You have superconductors, don't you?  A network of superconductive wires on the ship's skin would disperse the heat all over the ship, making it near-impossible to melt through.  (Probably a net, though, for cost reasons.  That leave the possibility of hitting a gap, either one built-in or one created by a prior physical attack.)

==== Medical Tech ====

Cold sleep and fancy high-tech treatments (purging the body of all foreign materials, etc.) are cool, but they should take time, so you don't do them as spur of the moment things—inject a drug and done. No, they should be proper operations, requiring a trained doctor and equipment. 

Neural inhibitators to serve as electronic anesthesia: cool.

Since I've put the kibosh on hyperactive nanotech, that means no nanotech stasis, regeneration, or rejuvenation. And definitely no "healing rays." And growing biotech body parts is iffy—maybe it works, maybe bionics are faster or more reliable, I gotta think about it. On the other hand, sonotherapy sounds fun—so maybe we have healing rays after all, they just take a while! And we do have some pretty spiffy nanotech therapeutics and tailored drugs already; I bet the Federated Worlds CDC works overtime, tracking the latest flu strains and ginning up new vaccines.

I guess in general we won't do any resurrections or mass reconstruction here, but if you reach the operating table in close to one piece, they can save you.

===== Commentary =====

'''jsnead:''' With that level of tech (GURPS TL 10) significant life extension seems fairly inevitable. If you want to go fairly conservative, you could say human lifespans range up to 250 or so, with people starting to look and feel old around 200. This is only a mild extension of what ST already has, and it makes sense.

'''Shadowjack:''' This means that there are a great many people around who remember the early days of the Federated Worlds, and the bad times before… and a few old-timers who remember the old Empire. 


==== Vehicles ====

There's no antigrav, so aircraft still need to fly. I like enclosed vertol/aerodyne designs, though, and with this setting's good energy storage, they seem do-able. Inexpensive, durable ground vehicles. Watercraft, particularly on developing worlds that don't have a transport network; both normal (though advanced) ships, and maybe some hypercavitating subs. Maglev and other rail, to link the transport hubs together. And so on.

Given the nature of the weapons in this setting, I imagine that AFVs have finally become obsolete, although ''light'' armor is useful for any vehicle that'll go near harm's way. Military craft consist of various varieties of flyers and surface-based utility vehicles.

This changes, though, if any of the ship-style screens can be miniaturized (and work in atmosphere)—then you can have tanks again. 


===== Commentary =====
'''Kaiu Keiichi:''' This sounds great! Now, what role do Giant Robots play in all of this?

'''Shadowjack:''' GIANT giant robots are exceedingly impractical, but there was an awesome thread in RPOpen that combined Gundam and Star Trek, so the two concepts are not wholly incompatible. I think it could make another fun alternate. 

I've already mentioned landmates for special assaults, and I think that ''Aliens''-style powerloaders would be useful in many functions, from cargo handling and construction to firefighting and salvage. 

Most ground vehicles probably use wheels or treads, though. I do like those Syd Mead ATVs with the expanding wheels.