Systems Diagnostics Chart

[Trebuchet]

Based on Nyrath's recent "Getting Rid of the {tech}" thread and the writeup for my Champions team's starship, I thought I'd post the systems diagnostic diagram Blackjack and I came up with. This is a work in progress and may end up color coded, incorporating Hit Location tables, or some such, but the current version works pretty well. The ship got its first combat under its belt last weekend and performed just as I'd hoped (2 8d8 RKA's from fighters knocked the shields down 43% as they dodged through the asteroid field.).

 

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

DARK MATTER REACTOR

 

Hey! Thats my idea!

 

Actually I was thinking of an entire scenario for my Space Opera campaign that surrounded Dark Matter, Dark Energy and a Dark Matter universe.

 

Basically, Dark Matter creatures from the DMU (Dark Matter Universe) are attacking our universe and they can't be stopped. However a mad-scientist creates a Dark Matter Reactor that creates Dark Energy and a power convertor that converts it into electricity. The power generation capability is astronomical (as in Billions of Terawatts) but since there is only one reactor and one convertor, they install them inside.......

 

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A Giant Robot of course.

 

I still haven't decided if it "Combines" yet, or if its just the "Big Guns" that gets pulled out when the shiznit has hit the fan.

 

Of course, during a crucial battle at the mid-point during the campaign, the mecha will get transported to the Dark Matter Universe where the PC's will discover that "The Enemy" is not so different....and that they have a valid reason for their invasion!

 

Sorry to hi-jack your thread, but seeing that "Dark Matter Reactor" brought this idea to the forefront of my brain.

 

To get back on topic, I like the flow-chart. This kind of thing would make it easier to visualize damage to specific ship-systems and gives good roleplaying aid for a techie who's job it is to repair these things....

[Nyrath]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

WOW!!

Now that's impressive! You have taken that article and used it with skill and foresight.

 

How do the player characters use this to deal with catastrophic damage to their ship? Find ways to route around the damage? Try to establish a bare minimum chain of functional components to accomplish the critical tasks?

[Trebuchet]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

To get back on topic' date=' I like the flow-chart. This kind of thing would make it easier to visualize damage to specific ship-systems and gives good roleplaying aid for a techie who's job it is to repair these things....[/quote']That was the general idea. I used to work as an electronic technician, so I have a fairly decent idea of how flow charts and block diagrams should work.

 

We've got two PCs who are very tech oriented, one of whom (Silhouette) got her superpowers when exposed to the strange radiation emitted by dark matter when exposed to a gravitational field. The dark matter reactor in our starship generates power when a grapefruit-sized mass of dark matter is exposed to an artificial gravity field within the reactor, which explains why there is no dark matter remaining on Earth: It all decayed away millions of years ago from Earth's gravity.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

WOW!!

Now that's impressive! You have taken that article and used it with skill and foresight.

 

How do the player characters use this to deal with catastrophic damage to their ship? Find ways to route around the damage? Try to establish a bare minimum chain of functional components to accomplish the critical tasks?

Thanks. I hope others who read the article might find it useful as a model for schematics of their own high tech gizmos and ships. (Mechs and powered armor would seem to be particularly suitable for this treatment.) BTW, feel free to post this on your website as public domain if you think others might find it useful.

 

I figure rerouting data lines, power conduits, over-riding or bypassing the safety interlocks, or coming up with alternate sources of power could all work in an emergency. Keep in mind hits on the ship which penetrate the defenses don't need to hit a component block; they can also sever or overload a data or power line and thus render the next component in line inoperative. Ultimately this is more a GM's tool to see what knocking out System A might do to System C. (For example, if the Structural Integrity Field fails it's impossible to get the ships drive components or Tractor Beam to work since the stress on an unreinforced superstructure might damage the ship - that's why the Structural Integrity Field has a data connection to the Safety Interlocks.) It allows the GM to make a logical decision as to what might and might not work, and obviously this chart is tailored more towards the effects in and of combat (Landing gear, for instance, is not likely to be needed in combat, so it's not on the chart. If it were I'd just stick it in Auxiliary Systems anyway along with the hatch motors, etc.). Our ship has highly sophisticated repair systems in the form of tiny robots and nanites, but they are not particularly quick to effect repairs, requiring a full minute to repair 3 BODY of damage. That's a long time in Champions, especially when attacks are 8d6+ RKA.

 

Didn't you once mention a bit of software that could automatically design these types of hierarchical diagrams once you'd input certain data? Called y-something? This was a lot of work in MS Paint.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

That was the general idea. I used to work as an electronic technician' date=' so I have a fairly decent idea of how flow charts and block diagrams should work.[/quote']

 

I can see that!

 

reminds me of my Navy days when I was studying in Grottin Ct. at Sub-school. We had to learn the entire submarine, from the Nuclear Reactor to the Sanitation tank. The Hydraulics system, the Electrical system, the water pumps....basically the whole enchilada.

 

Don't even ask me if I remember any of it. That was well over 10 years ago...(coming up on 15 years I think)

 

We've got two PCs who are very tech oriented, one of whom (Silhouette) got her superpowers when exposed to the strange radiation emitted by dark matter when exposed to a gravitational field. The dark matter reactor in our starship generates power when a grapefruit-sized mass of dark matter is exposed to an artificial gravity field within the reactor, which explains why there is no dark matter remaining on Earth: It all decayed away millions of years ago from Earth's gravity.

 

Hmmm...not bad. Not bad.

 

My idea was that Dark Matter and Normal Matter don't normally interact...they are effectively intangible to one another..however, Dark Matter still has "mass" and effects (and is effected by) gravity. Thats why Dark Matter can be measured with Gravity-based sensors.

However, there is a specific energy "wave" that can cause a field where Dark and Normal matter can interact. (I have yet to determine the nature of this energy wave) This is how the existance of Dark Matter was confirmed (before that point it was mere theory)

It was discovered that certain elements of Dark Matter could be manipulated into generating vast amounts of power, much like radioactive elements of Normal Matter (such as Uranium), but it releases Dark Energy, instead of Normal Energy. Only within this special field can Dark Energy be converted into Normal Energy (and vice versa of course)

 

I was also playing around with the idea that active Psionics users actually power their abilities with Dark Energy. They "tap" into the Dark Matter Universe and syphon off a tiny amount of its energy each time they do Psionic activity. Telekinetics use the most amount of energy (and various forms of PK like Pyrokinesis and Electrokinesis etc) and Telepaths use the least amount.

 

I'm still working on it, though. Trying not to get too technical (it is Space Opera...the "how/why it works" is not so important in that genre) but with something as ambiguous and theoretical as Dark Matter/Energy, its just too tempting not to play with it a little...

[Trebuchet]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

I can see that!

 

reminds me of my Navy days when I was studying in Grottin Ct. at Sub-school. We had to learn the entire submarine, from the Nuclear Reactor to the Sanitation tank. The Hydraulics system, the Electrical system, the water pumps....basically the whole enchilada.

 

Don't even ask me if I remember any of it. That was well over 10 years ago...(coming up on 15 years I think)

 

 

 

Hmmm...not bad. Not bad.

 

My idea was that Dark Matter and Normal Matter don't normally interact...they are effectively intangible to one another..however, Dark Matter still has "mass" and effects (and is effected by) gravity. Thats why Dark Matter can be measured with Gravity-based sensors.

However, there is a specific energy "wave" that can cause a field where Dark and Normal matter can interact. (I have yet to determine the nature of this energy wave) This is how the existance of Dark Matter was confirmed (before that point it was mere theory)

It was discovered that certain elements of Dark Matter could be manipulated into generating vast amounts of power, much like radioactive elements of Normal Matter (such as Uranium), but it releases Dark Energy, instead of Normal Energy. Only within this special field can Dark Energy be converted into Normal Energy (and vice versa of course)

 

I was also playing around with the idea that active Psionics users actually power their abilities with Dark Energy. They "tap" into the Dark Matter Universe and syphon off a tiny amount of its energy each time they do Psionic activity. Telekinetics use the most amount of energy (and various forms of PK like Pyrokinesis and Electrokinesis etc) and Telepaths use the least amount.

 

I'm still working on it, though. Trying not to get too technical (it is Space Opera...the "how/why it works" is not so important in that genre) but with something as ambiguous and theoretical as Dark Matter/Energy, its just too tempting not to play with it a little...

One of my best friends was a nuc reactor tech in the Navy. He's been out about 13 or 14 years. He served on two boomers. One was the USS Georgia; I think the other was the USS Idaho. He's a locomotive engineer now.

 

I've the same thing: Dark matter can't be seen directly with normal senses (In our campaign, the PC in question won a Nobel Prize in physics for first devising a method to prove the existence of dark matter and then designing a method to retrieve it with a space shuttle.). So when the characters "see" the dark matter glowng in their reactor what they're really seeing is the event horizon where the gravity field intersects surface of the dark matter.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

My idea was that Dark Matter and Normal Matter don't normally interact...they are effectively intangible to one another..however' date=' Dark Matter still has "mass" and effects (and is effected by) gravity. Thats why Dark Matter can be measured with Gravity-based sensors.[/quote']

There's a novel I read years ago that deals with this, more or less. Check out Wreath of Stars by Bob Shaw. It's a very good read.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

There's a novel I read years ago that deals with this' date=' more or less. Check out [i']Wreath of Stars[/i] by Bob Shaw. It's a very good read.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I'll go to my local used bookstore and see if I can scare up a copy (thats the only thing I'm going to miss about Jacksonville Fl. They have this monster Used Bookstore here that is absolutely fantastic. It looks small on the outside, but the inside is HUGE...and they have a Sci-Fi/Fantasy section that would make any well-read geek cream his/her jeans)

[Nyrath]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

Didn't you once mention a bit of software that could automatically design these types of hierarchical diagrams once you'd input certain data? Called y-something? This was a lot of work in MS Paint.

It's called yEd. It free, available at

http://www.yworks.com/en/products_yed_about.htm

 

It can be used online, or downloaded if you have Java installed.

Once you add the boxes and the connecting lines, select from the format menu. It can make hiearchical, circular, organic, all sorts of arrangements.

[tomd1969]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

The Anti-Matter Reactor doesn't have a direct causal relationship of the "data" type to the Safety Interlock system, but it does to the Computer. If the Anti-Matter Reactor's state goes from "Functioning" to "Malfunctioning," how does this effect the state of the Computer? Now the computer itself, I'm sure, has two states: "Functioning" and "Malfunctioning." Could there be a third (or more) state such as "Alarm?"

 

Hmmm....

[Trebuchet]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

The Anti-Matter Reactor doesn't have a direct causal relationship of the "data" type to the Safety Interlock system, but it does to the Computer. If the Anti-Matter Reactor's state goes from "Functioning" to "Malfunctioning," how does this effect the state of the Computer? Now the computer itself, I'm sure, has two states: "Functioning" and "Malfunctioning." Could there be a third (or more) state such as "Alarm?"

 

Hmmm....

While there is no direct data link from the Dark Matter Reactor to the Computer, the Computer still monitors the power input to the Power Distribution Matrix from the DMR and/or the Auxiliary Reactor. And if you're wondering why I didn't show the Computer with outgoing data connections to other systems, it's because there was no need and it would have been a pain in the butt to draw all those lines. The Computer controls EVERYTHING.

 

Like most complex RL systems, there are multiple states of capability; not just it works or it doesn't. A Computer malfunction in one aspect may still allow other functions to work normally, just as a Windows computer may be having problems but can still run hobbled in "safe mode" in order to effect repairs. And the system on the starship makes a modern supercomputer look like a cheap kid's toy in terms of both capability and reliability. Here's a quote from my original posted writeup of the ship:

 

It is a fairly powerful quantum-state computer and can operate all ship's systems and sensors' date=' but it is not an AI by any stretch of the imagination. It is self-programming but cannot initiate independent action unless previously programmed to do so. The computer can be accessed by voice anywhere within the ship or by hypercom from with a given star system. Internal monitors in most of the ship's compartments are constantly monitored by the computer at all times. The computer is connected to a backup power supply, which can keep it operational for several months without outside power.[/quote']

[AlHazred]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I'll go to my local used bookstore and see if I can scare up a copy (thats the only thing I'm going to miss about Jacksonville Fl. They have this monster Used Bookstore here that is absolutely fantastic. It looks small on the outside, but the inside is HUGE...and they have a Sci-Fi/Fantasy section that would make any well-read geek cream his/her jeans)

[minor derail]What's the name of the book store, if you don't mind my asking. In case I'm every down Jacksonville way.[/minor derail]

 

Is the Micro-Manufacturing Unit related to the Automated Systems Repair module?

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

I forget what its called. But I was planning on dropping by there in a day or two to see what RPG-stuff they had in. When I do that I'll get the name and address for you.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Systems Diagnostics Chart

 

Is the Micro-Manufacturing Unit related to the Automated Systems Repair module?

No. The Automated Systems Repair consists of a large number of tiny robots, from millions of microscopic nanobots to several cat sized models, which collectively assess damage and worn components and repair or replace components as needed. The Computer may assign repair and maintenance priorities, and the ASR continually reports status to the Computer (hence the data arrow to the Computer from the ASR), but they operate completely independently and can even repair the Computer itself if needed. The Micro-Manufacturing Unit produces new robots as needed to replace worn or damaged ones. The MMU is as follows:

 

Micro-Manufacturing Unit: This sophisticated device is used to synthesize consumables, clothing, parts and other necessary materials and devices for the ship and its occupants. It also produces additional air and water to augment the relatively small on-board storage tanks. While it can produce simple items such as a meal or hand tool quickly, complicated items can require considerable time. It cannot produce any item not stored within the ship's computer or for which a sample is provided unless the device is first programmed. Manufacturing time can be considerably reduced by providing adequate raw materials, otherwise the MMU must manufacture all elements from interstellar hydrogen. A ready supply of many often-used elements is generally maintained in the ship's storage compartment. The MMU cannot construct in one piece any object wider than 75 centimeters, although it can produce longer items if they are narrow in cross-section. Its databanks contain a large selection of compact, multi-piece or collapsible devices for manufacture. With the exception of the (seldom-used) tractor beam the MMU uses more reactor power than any other device on the ship including the engines; and hence should not be used frivolously.