For a Moment, There Was Hope [Space Vehicle Design Quest]
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[X] Modern Fuel Cells [+1 Payload, +1 Weight. Establish fuel cell production line. 9 Budget.
As much as going with battery is tempting for saving the budget on performance in the mech, I think we're going fuel cell in the future anyway for better performance via weight savings. I think picking MFC means investing in an assembly line for future use and saving on the budget (even in the cost of the mech; building in-house will likely help offset the higher cost of an MFC even right now, with the markup in buying and shipping CFC from outside sources). That and it can be argued as being useful for other ventures if the mech thing doesn't pan out.
As much as going with battery is tempting for saving the budget on performance in the mech, I think we're going fuel cell in the future anyway for better performance via weight savings. I think picking MFC means investing in an assembly line for future use and saving on the budget (even in the cost of the mech; building in-house will likely help offset the higher cost of an MFC even right now, with the markup in buying and shipping CFC from outside sources). That and it can be argued as being useful for other ventures if the mech thing doesn't pan out.
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[X] Modern Fuel Cells [+1 Payload, +1 Weight. Establish fuel cell production line. 9 Budget.]
Probably a bad idea, but if we wanna make a Gundam we're gonna need.to take some risks.
Probably a bad idea, but if we wanna make a Gundam we're gonna need.to take some risks.
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- He/Him
In most cases, you would get a rough range of how many stages there will be as that can change due to your choices. As this is the tutorial project, I can tell you that there will be a total of four design stages and two non-design decision points.
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So we have twenty budget across four phases. That gives us a little bit of latitude, but we will need to be careful if we want the best fuel cells.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
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- Austria
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[X] Batteries [+1 Utility, +4 Weight. 1 Budget.]
[X] Batteries [+1 Utility, +4 Weight. 1 Budget.]
Yeah, I think this works best. With more budget saved, we can look at more expensive weight-saving options in later stages that also provide bonuses. This is the option recommended by our engineers:
And it's called out as being easier for miners/prospecters, since they don't need proper refuelling cycles:
Moreover, batteries are implicitly the cheapest option long term, both for the company, and implicitly for the miners:
That means the Abilkhan looks much more attractive to companies, both larger and small, and encourages more adopters early on. The Classic Fuel Cells require importation, which raises the base price, and the Modern Fuel Cells means that anyone who buys the Abilkhan will be stuck to our production line, at least for a while. While this may be good for keeping customers on a hook, it'd limit the amount of people who would genuinely consider it - particularly because theModern Fuel Cells are almost certainly the most expensive option for the end consumer, simply by the necessity of us having to set up a production line for it.
Yeah, I think this works best. With more budget saved, we can look at more expensive weight-saving options in later stages that also provide bonuses. This is the option recommended by our engineers:
And it's called out as being easier for miners/prospecters, since they don't need proper refuelling cycles:
Moreover, batteries are implicitly the cheapest option long term, both for the company, and implicitly for the miners:
That means the Abilkhan looks much more attractive to companies, both larger and small, and encourages more adopters early on. The Classic Fuel Cells require importation, which raises the base price, and the Modern Fuel Cells means that anyone who buys the Abilkhan will be stuck to our production line, at least for a while. While this may be good for keeping customers on a hook, it'd limit the amount of people who would genuinely consider it - particularly because theModern Fuel Cells are almost certainly the most expensive option for the end consumer, simply by the necessity of us having to set up a production line for it.
[X] Batteries [+1 Utility, +4 Weight. 1 Budget.]
I can only pray we have some weight decreasing option down the line on the remaining three design phases...
As is, we are looking at a -3 Evaluation, sort of.
I can only pray we have some weight decreasing option down the line on the remaining three design phases...
As is, we are looking at a -3 Evaluation, sort of.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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Something to consider as well for Classical Fuel Cells is that if they are imported in the event of political upheaval manufacturing delays or stops can sneak into our production track further down the line.
With Modern Fuel Cells, we'll have that line and that product in-house and use the remaining 11 Budget to fiddle with cheaper picks on the rest of the stages. Opening up use of this technology on all future smaller projects is kind of a big deal in my opinion - for small stuff we're guaranteed to basically want to deal with low weight concerns either because they are payloads carried by other craft or because the job needs them to be light and maneuverable.
Something that comes to mind is things like a EMT vehicle adapted from these asteroid miners - having a fuel cell power source allows for more weight room for life-saving medical equipment.
The cost is being really tight on this project in specific and keeping our reach modest.
[x] Modern Fuel Cells [+1 Payload, +1 Weight. Establish fuel cell production line. 9 Budget.]
With Modern Fuel Cells, we'll have that line and that product in-house and use the remaining 11 Budget to fiddle with cheaper picks on the rest of the stages. Opening up use of this technology on all future smaller projects is kind of a big deal in my opinion - for small stuff we're guaranteed to basically want to deal with low weight concerns either because they are payloads carried by other craft or because the job needs them to be light and maneuverable.
Something that comes to mind is things like a EMT vehicle adapted from these asteroid miners - having a fuel cell power source allows for more weight room for life-saving medical equipment.
The cost is being really tight on this project in specific and keeping our reach modest.
[x] Modern Fuel Cells [+1 Payload, +1 Weight. Establish fuel cell production line. 9 Budget.]
- Location
- USA
[x] Modern Fuel Cells [+1 Payload, +1 Weight. Establish fuel cell production line. 9 Budget.]
I really can't get behind batteries given weight is something we want as low as possible. And this line will help future projects.
I really can't get behind batteries given weight is something we want as low as possible. And this line will help future projects.
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- Hollister
[x] Modern Fuel Cells [+1 Payload, +1 Weight. Establish fuel cell production line. 9 Budget.]
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Got overtaken huh? I'm morbidly curiously how expensive the end result will be...
..for anyone wondering, this is probably not!Ball for this universe.
..for anyone wondering, this is probably not!Ball for this universe.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
not!Ball?Got overtaken huh? I'm morbidly curiously how expensive the end result will be...
..for anyone wondering, this is probably not!Ball for this universe.
Also, it's a useful thing to remember going forward. We're going to have a modern fuel cell production line, and most other folks won't. That's going to be a competitive advantage in out-system situations (where effective solar is not readily available) that benefit from low weight and high power.
Add that to the innovation we came in with - directly beneficial for ease of use for human operators handling manipulator arms through complex activities
The effects of the choice to go with Musabayev co-op are complicated.
- We don't have scientific expertise. That means that we're basically going to be limited to the options on the table at any given time. We have to make do with what we have, because we're not going to be able to do the science to make anything truly new.
- We don't have industrial expertise or significant funding. We're not ready for any really big jobs. We're going to be looking at little niche tasks where we either win on efficiency or find roles that aren't impressive enough for the big government agencies or obviously profitable enough for the big corporations.
- Thankfully, we *do* have engineering expertise, which is going to be the thing that (hopefully) lets us stick the landing on those tasks.
- We don't need to be obsessive about profit motive or pandering to outside power groups that desire things other than our success, but we do need to be constantly thinking about the long-term viability of Musabayev in general. We can't afford to have any of our projects hard-fail, because our total resources are low enough that that'll be seriously damaging. Past that, we need to be looking at how we can find niches for our team, and develop the kind of rep that will help us thrive and endure, rather than the kind that will sink us. Our reputation is still being made.
- Our access isn't great. That means that it's especially important to focus on the stuff that we're good at, because reaching outside of the stuff that we have readily available is more expensive for us than for others... as we see in this little bit with the fuel cells. I think we made the right choice, because investment is how you get access... but we're going to want to be keeping this in mind for the next choice of mission.
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Ball from Gundam.
And I guess it's fine for our first design to be something... Especially if we're gonna put that Nerve Control thingy.
SP-W03 Space Pod
The SP-W03 Space Pod is a civilian use mobile pod from the design series Mobile Suit Variation. This simple ball-shaped space worker pod was built for constructing space colonies. The area around the cockpit is covered with glass to ensure visibility during work. In the short story "SOLDIER's...
gundam.fandom.com
2111: Project Abilkhan (Arms)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The debate over power supply was surprisingly vicious. There were yelling matches in boardrooms and several tense lunches before a team-wide vote settled the matter.
The fuel cell production line would be built, and would be Musabayev's first large infrastructure project. The Baikonur facility would expand significantly over the first half of 2111, and a land purchase in Kazakhstan's upcoming L2 colonies would ensure a spaceborne facility by the end of the decade.
But for now, there was a vessel to complete. Abilkhan was taking shape in truth: Main thrusters and docking interfaces had been designed with little issue, and there was high hopes that you could show off a testbed at the Delhi Aerospace Expo by year's end. The primary obstacle between you and a functional prototype is one you are uniquely qualified to comment on.
The subject of arms.
When you'd come on board, arms had been an uncontroversial subject. Abilkhan would launch with two lightweight arms and a pair of semi-articulated maneuvering thrusters, mapping to the pilots arms and legs respectively.
Then Team Three began testing the neuro-rig and the possibilities expanded exponentially.
With a few days of training, a pilot could learn to manipulate a second set of arms instead of leg-like thrusters. The interference issues you'd run into running multiple rigged pilots in the same vehicle were easy to solve once you had an actual budget and other minds on the problem. While you hadn't been able to make it work yet, you'd even theorized alternate 'bodyplans' for the vehicle, relying on neuroplasticity and clever engineering to make a three-armed rig work.
Unfortunately, you didn't have months or years to explore potential solutions. Abilkhan needed a neuro-rig demonstration for customers in eight months, which means you needed to choose a bodyplan now.
Two and four armed setups were straightforward. They only mandated one pilot and included a fairly simple trade of weight for strength and versatility, albeit anything besides a two-armed setup would require some expensive practical testing before your engineers would sign off on it.
The three armed setup was the most efficient setup you'd found, but you didn't actually know if it would be possible or prove an expensive failure that would require last minute redesigns.
More exciting were the six and eight armed options. A six armed Abilkhan would be a larger vehicle, mandating a minimum crew of two, but the gains in utility would be significant. An Octopodal approach was only possible due to the weight savings of your fuel cells, but would be unmatched in terms of sheer functionality.
With the rethinking on arm layout comes a rethinking of arm design. Lightweight arms are cheap and efficient, yes, but they do come with load limits on any given limb. Ruggedized arms would be a significant boost in weight, but would also be better suited to a wide variety of unplanned tasks at no real cost to the project's budget. They'd also save customers some long-term maintenance costs, albeit with a modest boost to the up front price tag.
There is, however, another option. Corporate espionage.
Gabon Aerotech has developed a fully water-independent electronically activated polymer, an artificial muscle breakthrough more than a century in the making. Unfortunately, they're incredibly tight lipped on the development and refusing to share, especially with a company made of borderline anarchists.
More fortunately, you've got a guy on the inside who can leak the designs to you.
Dry EAP would give you all the benefits of reinforced arm structure with the weight of a barebones design. And at a reasonable cost, too. There's just the minor potentiality of legal issues and attending bad PR if it gets out.
Arm Layout
Current Budget: 11
[ ] Two Arms. (+1 Payload, +2 Utility, +1 Weight. 1 Budget)
[ ] Three Arms. (+2 Payload, +4 Utility, +2 Weight. 2 Budget. 1 Hazard.)
[ ] Four Arms. (+2 Payload, +4 Utility, +2 Weight. 4 Budget.)
[ ] Six Arms (+3 Payload, +7 Utility, +4 Weight. 5 Budget. Mandates 2+ Crew)
[ ] Eight Arms. (+4 Payload, +10 Utility, +6 Weight, 5 Budget. Mandates 2+ Crew)
Arm Design
[ ] Lightweight Arms. (-1 Payload, -1 Weight. 0 Budget.)
[ ] Rugged Arms. (+1 Utility, +1 Weight. 0 Budget.)
[ ] Dry EAP Arms. (+1 Payload, +1 Utility, -1 Weight. 2 Budget. 2 Hazard.)
Hazard
Hazard represents risks of all sorts taken during the development process. This can represent safety compromises to the end user, illegal activity, gambles on untested technology, public relations catastrophes, and more. Hazard will not always tell you the cause of the hazard, and you may not know that a hazard option is hazardous in character, however any option that will cause hazard will be labelled appropriately.
At the mid and endpoints of a project, your hazard will be rolled to see if it generated any complications. Because you work for Musabayev, Hazards that your coworkers disapprove of will have increased effect.
Hazard will not end the quest, but can greatly alter its trajectory.
Current Design
Payload: 1
Utility: 0
Weight: 1
Maintenance: 2
Unit Cost: Medium
Hazard: 0
The fuel cell production line would be built, and would be Musabayev's first large infrastructure project. The Baikonur facility would expand significantly over the first half of 2111, and a land purchase in Kazakhstan's upcoming L2 colonies would ensure a spaceborne facility by the end of the decade.
But for now, there was a vessel to complete. Abilkhan was taking shape in truth: Main thrusters and docking interfaces had been designed with little issue, and there was high hopes that you could show off a testbed at the Delhi Aerospace Expo by year's end. The primary obstacle between you and a functional prototype is one you are uniquely qualified to comment on.
The subject of arms.
When you'd come on board, arms had been an uncontroversial subject. Abilkhan would launch with two lightweight arms and a pair of semi-articulated maneuvering thrusters, mapping to the pilots arms and legs respectively.
Then Team Three began testing the neuro-rig and the possibilities expanded exponentially.
With a few days of training, a pilot could learn to manipulate a second set of arms instead of leg-like thrusters. The interference issues you'd run into running multiple rigged pilots in the same vehicle were easy to solve once you had an actual budget and other minds on the problem. While you hadn't been able to make it work yet, you'd even theorized alternate 'bodyplans' for the vehicle, relying on neuroplasticity and clever engineering to make a three-armed rig work.
Unfortunately, you didn't have months or years to explore potential solutions. Abilkhan needed a neuro-rig demonstration for customers in eight months, which means you needed to choose a bodyplan now.
Two and four armed setups were straightforward. They only mandated one pilot and included a fairly simple trade of weight for strength and versatility, albeit anything besides a two-armed setup would require some expensive practical testing before your engineers would sign off on it.
The three armed setup was the most efficient setup you'd found, but you didn't actually know if it would be possible or prove an expensive failure that would require last minute redesigns.
More exciting were the six and eight armed options. A six armed Abilkhan would be a larger vehicle, mandating a minimum crew of two, but the gains in utility would be significant. An Octopodal approach was only possible due to the weight savings of your fuel cells, but would be unmatched in terms of sheer functionality.
With the rethinking on arm layout comes a rethinking of arm design. Lightweight arms are cheap and efficient, yes, but they do come with load limits on any given limb. Ruggedized arms would be a significant boost in weight, but would also be better suited to a wide variety of unplanned tasks at no real cost to the project's budget. They'd also save customers some long-term maintenance costs, albeit with a modest boost to the up front price tag.
There is, however, another option. Corporate espionage.
Gabon Aerotech has developed a fully water-independent electronically activated polymer, an artificial muscle breakthrough more than a century in the making. Unfortunately, they're incredibly tight lipped on the development and refusing to share, especially with a company made of borderline anarchists.
More fortunately, you've got a guy on the inside who can leak the designs to you.
Dry EAP would give you all the benefits of reinforced arm structure with the weight of a barebones design. And at a reasonable cost, too. There's just the minor potentiality of legal issues and attending bad PR if it gets out.
Arm Layout
Current Budget: 11
[ ] Two Arms. (+1 Payload, +2 Utility, +1 Weight. 1 Budget)
[ ] Three Arms. (+2 Payload, +4 Utility, +2 Weight. 2 Budget. 1 Hazard.)
[ ] Four Arms. (+2 Payload, +4 Utility, +2 Weight. 4 Budget.)
[ ] Six Arms (+3 Payload, +7 Utility, +4 Weight. 5 Budget. Mandates 2+ Crew)
[ ] Eight Arms. (+4 Payload, +10 Utility, +6 Weight, 5 Budget. Mandates 2+ Crew)
Arm Design
[ ] Lightweight Arms. (-1 Payload, -1 Weight. 0 Budget.)
[ ] Rugged Arms. (+1 Utility, +1 Weight. 0 Budget.)
[ ] Dry EAP Arms. (+1 Payload, +1 Utility, -1 Weight. 2 Budget. 2 Hazard.)
Hazard
Hazard represents risks of all sorts taken during the development process. This can represent safety compromises to the end user, illegal activity, gambles on untested technology, public relations catastrophes, and more. Hazard will not always tell you the cause of the hazard, and you may not know that a hazard option is hazardous in character, however any option that will cause hazard will be labelled appropriately.
At the mid and endpoints of a project, your hazard will be rolled to see if it generated any complications. Because you work for Musabayev, Hazards that your coworkers disapprove of will have increased effect.
Hazard will not end the quest, but can greatly alter its trajectory.
Current Design
Payload: 1
Utility: 0
Weight: 1
Maintenance: 2
Unit Cost: Medium
Hazard: 0
My gut says 4 rugged arms.