Technology

My version of the pseudo-science page. Same rules that Matt wrote out, basically. This will summarize the level of advancement in the various fields of tech that may be of interest to the players (or have been directly stated to be interesting to the players). 1.) Gravity on ships: whether a ship has gravity or not is largely up to the crew, though those who travel for long distances in space and those who carry passengers are strongly recommended to have it. Some technicians prefer to leave it out of the engine room, since it makes it much easier for them to get around and can actually permit them to move pieces of the ship much larger than if gravity is active (though they must be fairly expert at zero G movement for this, or just end up bouncing themselves like a pinball against giant metal things). Gravity is generated by means of a precursor based technology manufactured by one of the megacorps (Interstellar Robotics Inc.) that is still poorly understood on a theoretical level. The gist is that it allows 1:1 translation of electromagnetic energy into gravitational energy, so that a large gravitational force can be created with the expenditure of not a whole lot of electricity. It works in a "cage" format, with the wires that generate the field needing to circumscribe the space: as such, the gravity can't be relocated, although it can be turned off. Although this is a very ubiquitous technology, it is also fairly expensive since it is precursor based.

2.) Engines: Most ships draw their power from a small, highly stable (and therefore expensive) fusion reactor, although older power sources exist for those without much cash. Fuel cells for the reactor are relatively small: more space in the engine is taken up by a reactor that takes energy from the fusion reactor, uses it to super-heat/charge gas from the fuel cells, which then provides the thrust for flight. Directional thrusters can operate on the same principle (powerful and costly) or can simply use pressurized gas (cheap and puny). These thrusters also work for atmospheric flight, though some ships prefer to save fuel by installing propeller, turbine, or other atmospheric drives that utilize energy more efficiently when in atmospheric flight.

3.) Personal Weapons: can be divided into several categories. The most common remain standard cased/caseless slug throwers, from light pistols all the way to assault rifles and auto-shotguns. Variations include ramjet (tiny-missile guns), railgun, laser based weaponry (lasers function essentially as flamethrower/shotgun-esque weapons, directed laser energy being too energetically expensive with all that atmosphere in the way). Based on the type of weapon and the quality, the effects of these guns can vary significantly. The major advance in close combat weapons has been the invention of "vibro weapons": these do little to improve the damage of the knife (it still sticks in you) but has made them incredibly effective against armored targets.

4.) Armor: armor breaks down fundamentally into three groups: soft, hard, and powered. soft armor maxes out at 10 sp, hard at 20, and powered at 40. Again, quality of the armor makes a big difference. All armor is made from advanced composites, although much of the materials sciences and raw materials used to make them before the sundering are no longer available: thus, the best armor in the Gemini is armor from pre-sundering or precursor sites. Most Lycurgan aristocrats have pre-sundering armor, which contributes significantly to their reputation as the best foot soldiers around.

5.) Time's up, more later.