Talk:Doug's Projects
A Better Man
The cross-training perk would work well for Doug, since he has been working a lot with Marie, and it would only cost 30 IPs, which is a readily-attainable goal, especially considering you completed the character background (which will earn some bonus points).
--Dieter the Bold 14:41, 15 June 2014 (MST) Excellent!
A New Base
SCUBA gear might be hard to come by in Elma, but a resource-gathering mission to Olympia might yield results.
Outside of using alien tech, using pre-fabbed components like shipping containers seems like the best bet to me, too, and probably the only low-tech means of creating habitable space underwater available with Doug's limited resources, plus, shipping containers are readily available, especially since there is a train yard nearby and with Doug's other weird hoarding behavior, adding a bunch of metal boxes to his collection probably wouldn't set off any alarms...until they started disappearing.
--Dieter the Bold 14:41, 15 June 2014 (MST) Sounds good. Doug will start slow, and he'll use his scout drones to search out SCUBA shops in Gray's Harbor (Hoquiam/Aberdeen/Ocean Shores/Westport) and Olympia. He'll make sure he has his welding techniques and everything down. Double-check his air-pressure and partial-pressure calculations correct. Test out fully pressurized rooms vs. snorkels to the surface, where to run a splice of power lines, internet, sewage, etc. Once he's got the testing out of the way, then a site will be decided and construction can begin.
--Melonberg 23:38, 22 June 2014 (MST)Yeah, a resource-gathering mission to Westport/Ocean Shores would be an even better idea. Easy to accomplish recon would reveal to Doug that Ocean Shores might be easier/safer to scavenge in, because there seems to be trouble on SR 105 (Westport highway) out of Aberdeen; Stafford Creek Corrections Center is just off the highway about 5 miles outside of Aberdeen, and it looks as though the inmate population has taken control of the road. There are alternate routes into Westport, however. But depending on how much of a do-gooder Doug is, now he knows that a population of about 2,000 inmates may be free to prey on a local community. As for the construction side of things, I imagine Doug's Basic Tech skill will be getting a workout...
Alien Machine Interface
With a little more time and using better diagnostic equipment than Marie's initial look-see at the chewy caramel center of this infernal brain-prober, the nature of this device might seem rather benign...until one remembers that it was crafted by furtive little alien hands to further their diabolical agenda!
At any rate, the more in-depth study would reveal that the neural projection capabilities are localized and low-power; they look to synchronize with and stimulate only the occipital cortex, left and right temporal lobes and auditory cortex (where the brain's centers for receiving visual and auditory stimuli are processed). The low-power component means that the input they send to the brain is ephemeral at best; the power output (and mechanism of transmission) is not capable of promoting axial or dendritic growth in any way, meaning the device cannot "burn in" memories or images. The input is as long lasting as a memory of seeing or hearing something with one's human eyes or ears. If the wearer focuses on something "seen" or "heard" from the machine interface, they can remember it, of course, but these memories would be subject to the same natural decay and whatnot as homegrown memories. The machine interface's receptors (pickups) are also localized, and pick up specific patterns and wavelengths of neural activity from the motor cortex and other parts of the brain involved in balance and spatial relationships. This is how the interface interprets the user's commands. Using the interface to control a drone would be far less clunky than the peripherals Doug is currently forced to use, as it would be far more intuitive and put the user "in the scene."
But that probably means very little to Doug; I imagine it would be about as appealing to Doug as riding around in a luxury sedan upholstered with the tanned hides of missing children.
--Dieter the Bold 14:41, 15 June 2014 (MST) Doug's trying to dance on the knife's edge. He knows alien tech totally outclasses Earth tech, so he's got to find some way to safely co-opt it. He's going to continue pursuing this line of research with the hopes of boosting the outgoing signal to act as an override. Good old Human willpower will overcome these alien invaders! So very careful and slow training in using the Interface will commence. Doug will actually have a fun time (not that he'd admit it) devising tests to make sure he isn't being unknowingly influenced and then doing his best to forget about the tests so his reactions will be honest. Think playing chess against yourself and rube goldberg machines set to go off for (seemingly) random reasons and then dial it up to 11. Feel free to surprise me and other players with these things, and then slip me a note saying it was actually a test Doug set up before and successfully forced himself to forget about.
--Melonberg 23:30, 22 June 2014 (MST)That last part sounds hilarious. If I can find a way to do it, I would love to slip that in. Maybe you could shoot me a tame example of the kind of shenanigan Doug might try to pull on himself (just so I understand your logic and intent), and maybe I can get some inspiration and run with it.
Alien Fabric
Microscopic studies of the material would reveal it is a very tightly organized, dense weave of unidentified fibers that have some interesting properties when subjected to the spectography and EM radiation testing you specified. The fibers have certain qualities of terrestrial fiber optic materials in that they dissipate and diffract light energy, which might make the fabric resistant to high energy lasers. The fibers also dissipate heat rather effectively, which in addition to improving resistance to high temperatures and fire, also reduces the wearer's thermal signature. With proper channeling and capacitors, waste body heat from the wearer can actually be collected and stored to power low-draw electronics.
