Future Imperfect - Communications

Space is vast. You know this; it has been said frequently throughout this manuscript if nothing else. Yet it needs to be said. When considering the nature of the game you will play, you must consider how individuals in your universe communicate with one another. Over most distances, up to, say, planetary in scale, this does not differ in any noticeable way from other games. The real divergence occurs when considering communication between characters operating within disparate solar systems, quite possibly on opposite ends of the galaxy.

Another aspect of communication is access to information. With the coming of the public internet, we have fundamentally changed the way we interact with the world. No longer are people forced into making uninformed decisions, with all of the world’s knowledge at the fingertips of anyone with a connected device, there is literally no excuse for being uninformed.

But what happens when there are no connected devices, or when there is nothing compatible for the devices to connect to? Communication in Future Imperfect is broken up into three sections: Personal Communication, Extra-Planetary Communication, and Information Distribution.

Personal Communication

In Future Imperfect, personal communication is defined as communication between characters that are in spatially similar locations. This could be within a starship or starbase, or on the same planet or asteroid. Except in lower tech levels personal communication devices are “personal” in nature, in other words they are man portable and affordable.

With the ubiquitous nature of modern cell phones, it may be eye-opening to look back a mere 15 years and see a world where very few owned reliable, mobile communication technology, and those who did had virtually no legitimate access to the information we now take for granted. And all of this within the same tech level!

Even in the far future, access to reliable communication may not be as easy as it seems now. Our phones work so well when we stay within the confines of their abilities. Go out of range of cell towers, or into a foreign country (without an appropriate sim card) and delivery halts.

Characters in an RPG demand something more widely functional. In a campaign set on a single world, the logistics of personal communication are largely rendered unimportant. Of course, there may be times when it is story appropriate for a device to fail (besides when the appropriate symbol is revealed on an action card). These situations should be assessed on a case by case basis.

For sector-spanning quests, the compatibility of devices cannot be guaranteed across tech levels and locations. Devices which require specific types of network connectivity may deliver greater speeds, but will consequently have issues on planets which do not have those networks available. Devices which provide connectivity via carrier wave (or radiation of some other kind) do not require external technology to be present for support, but could have greater latency and susceptibility to ECM.

Of course, there are multiple kinds of communication as well. Some types are connection oriented, while others are not. Connection oriented communication offers instantaneous receipt of information, such as via phone call or video chat. Non-connection oriented communication sends a message to a device, and the device receives it when it is available. This is akin to text messaging, or email.

Reliability of communication varies across type. For example, it is harder to establish a connection oriented method, since it requires both devices to communicate directly and for some type of trust relationship. Weather conditions, motion and ECM can interfere greatly with connection oriented communication.

Non-connected communication can be blocked, but unless the blocking remains active the message will likely eventually find the source. Finding and “deleting” a message from subspace (or whatever carrier method) can be a very difficult proposition, and is rarely attempted unless the message is quite dangerous. This sort of operation would require specialized equipment in any case.

Both Master and Crew should be aware of these technical limitations, and when appropriate for story and drama they should become apparent. But outside of those situations, communication devices should just work. The goal of a sci-fi game is not to simulate working in a Space Radio Hut.

Extra-Planetary Communications

In Future Imperfect, extra-planetary communications are defined as communication from one disparate location to another, where those locations are separated by great physical distances and/or environmental hazards which complicate effective transmission of data between the locations.

Generally speaking, starship communication devices are too large and unwieldy for individuals to carry, and they also tend to cost substantial amounts of money. Personal communication devices can communicate with starship communication devices, and vice versa.

How does data get from one star system to another? How do starships in the vast reaches of space receive (as well as intercept) and transmit data to planets and installations? It would be naïve to believe that all civilizations that develop across the known universe would use the same communication standards, but for the sake of simplicity we will do exactly that. The Master is free to deviate from this as necessary for effective story and drama, but by keeping the core technologies and procedures constant across the galaxy, players who wish to explore technical roles need not devote significant time investments to learning technical details.

System Relays

A system relay is a device that acts to retransmit signals within solar systems. Planets point data transmission nodes toward the relay, and the relay takes in the signal and rebroadcasts it along the same path. This allows the range of the signal to be increased by receiving a weakening signal and amplifying it.

System relays exist between inhabited planets within systems, as well as to outposts on satellite moons and orbital platforms. There may be multiple relay stations within a system, each transmitting the same or very different information to different installations or to interstellar repeaters.

Data Encryption

Data security can be maintained in many ways, one of the most common is through software encryption. It is also possible to restrict data interception via other means, such as only accepting connections with trusted sources (which can be done via software or software and hardware trust management).

In the real world, security is an enormous and ever-evolving landscape, and while this is likely the case also in the far future, the goal of the game is to abstract the concepts to a level where they become playable by individuals of any technical proficiency. The characters have the knowledge, the players develop interesting jargon to understand concepts which we ourselves might not understand in the slightest. For gameplay, assume that some types of information is encrypted, and there are multiple kinds of encryption. If the Crew is interested, the Master can elaborate on the nature of the encryption, but this is not necessary for the game mechanics. The level of encryption should be borne out in the difficulty of the decryption check.

It also could be possible that some types of data cannot be intercepted because of technology, or that the level of encryption is unbreakable given the technical limitations of the equipment being used. In cases like this, the Master should remain flexible for player ingenuity. Statements like “that is impossible” should be avoided when possible, and replaced with something such as “the TN is 17”. If the player should happen to generate such a result, this is your chance to be extremely creative and figure out exactly how!

Interstellar Repeaters

Repeaters are devices that receive an incoming signal and copy the signal and resend it on an interstellar path. Interstellar repeaters are located near the fringe of the system, a few thousand light seconds from where incoming vessels appear (toward the stellar mass). Incoming transmissions from relays are translated to tachyon hyperspace and sent on their way to other systems.

Each repeater takes in data from the system and sends to a single destination, or, in rare cases, a small set of relatively close destinations. Hyperspace messaging is not omnidirectional. Hyperspace packets travel at approximately 100 LY/day.

Interstellar messages are the space equivalent of “tight beam” in that because of their method of transmission they are almost impossible to intercept once they enter hyperspace. Because of their near infinitesimal mass they are also able to take more efficient paths to their destinations with little to no risk of interference from gravity wells. The repeaters themselves send the messages into hyperspace millimeters in front of the transmission dish, making them quite secure.

Interstellar repeaters are extremely important for the civilizations within the system. They provide the only reliable communication link to the outside. Because of this, they are often well guarded, be it with orbital platforms or naval stations.

Information Distribution

What sort of information is sent via interstellar repeater? Any kind that is conceivable. Hyperspace communication packets are able to aggregate messages from many sources, and even to encrypt some portions with one algorithm, and others with a different one (or none at all). In effect, each message capsule is an individual cargo vessel of microscopic size, carrying immense amounts of data.

Outside of hyperspace packets communication is limited to light speed. It would be possible to intercept random messages or information from civilizations that were sent years, if not centuries ago (if you were far enough from the source, of course).

Accessing Information

Messages themselves have addressing information that allows them to be routed to the appropriate party, assuming that party is known and available (or has a location that is known for delivery). The data that comprises the message is housed somewhere, be it on a sending location or the receiving one. This information may or may not be deleted once successful delivery has been confirmed.

But what about publicly accessible information? Planetside, it is relatively easy to find access to information stores, assuming they exist (TL 6+ for internet-like information access). From in system, it may be possible to also access this information, albeit at great latency. This is fine for reading a news article or researching information on an interstellar criminal, but much less useful for real-time, connection oriented types of communication. In system messages are not hyperspace capsules!

Starship Information Stores

While traveling through hyperspace, starships are virtually their own private universes. This means that the only information available via the ship’s computer would be that which is present in the library program, and other internal databases.

Information Theft

Just like today, knowledge and information are big business. In civilizations with the appropriate technical level, hackers (operating independently or in cadres) could act to acquire and redistribute information gathered from many locations. Aggregating information from many systems could be a very profitable enterprise.

These enterprises could conceivably operate their own relays and repeaters, protected and concealed to the level of their skill. Of course, these operators could be independent or agents of governments or other political or religious groups.