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	Archive through January 17, 2021	25		01/19 11:29pm
	Archive through January 29, 2021	25		01/30 01:31pm

That has already been noted (third or fourth IIRC) but what do the non-Lyrans do??

By A David Merritt (Adm) on Friday, January 29, 2021 - 08:24 pm: Edit

You were second with that, which is why I had not mentioned until now. After that, we've had a thread of, save a SVC reference to non-War designs, "no you can't do that". I thought I would throw it back out.

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, January 30, 2021 - 12:18 am: Edit

Some years ago, I came up with a REALLY screwball formula for arriving at a value for the time a ship could operate before needing a resupply (fuel and other consumables).

Each fighter was an additional "Demand Factor" of one, each Heavy Fighter was a "Demand Factor" of two, Interceptors had a "Demand Factor" of three, and Gunboats had a "Demand Factor" of four.

The presence of even one Gunboat could easily increase the total "Demand Factors" of a ship by 20% or more, causing that much of a reduction in time a ship could operate before needing to resupply.


While the formula and its potential ruinous effects are (thankfully) lost, the spirit behind them pushes me to suggest that even the presence of PFQs on normal survey ships might be a rarity, only normally happening in rare circumstances where the additional surveying capability would be worth the loss of time a survey ship might operate before needing a resupply.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, January 30, 2021 - 11:51 am: Edit

Jeff Anderson:

There is an ancient remedy for that problem called "logistics" which has been much improved by technology (such as communications over vast distances and accounting).

Basically your survey ship heads into the "unexplored zone," and when it does the "bean counters" have calculated when the ship will expend its available supplies to the point that it MUST return to a base on the edge of the unexplored zone to resupply. While the ship is out there, the communicators will report usage and if things are used up more quickly the ship can return (because there is a safety factor as noted to allow the ship to return.

Meanwhile the fleet has things like "Small Fleet Oilers," and when the ship uses a certain amount of its fuel an Oiler will be dispatched to a rendezvous with the ship (communicators), and the oiler will be accompanied by a Free Traded (or its equivalent of some other merchant) to resupply the ship while it is being refueled. They will include some replacement personnel, and some personnel from the survey ship will return (serious injuries), unexpected (when the ship began its survey mission) transfers, maybe even some disciplinary problems, etc.

If something unexpected happened, an Armed Priority Transport can be dispatched to deal with it (small vital cargo or a few critical personnel).

But as long as you know where the Survey ship will be going and what it it using up and have the logistics network of the empire you can deal with and keep the survey ship on the survey mission.

Of course, if you keep burdening the resupply network with added things the Survey Ship will need more and more support, has fewer and fewer scientists for survey and is not surveying efficiently . . .

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Saturday, January 30, 2021 - 01:31 pm: Edit

Taking into consideration things that can't be replicated....
Wouldn't a ship on an extended mission as surveying, be equipped with a replicator similar to a Base or even a small colony....
Has any ST site, put together a list of things that replicators can't be used to replace.....

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, January 30, 2021 - 02:15 pm: Edit

Mark S. Hoyle:

For me, that is above my pay grade. I do not know of any sanctioned list of what can or cannot be replicated in Star Fleet Battles. I would hazard a guess that delithium crystals cannot because if they could, no one would be mining or fighting for them. And obviously those elements that make X-technology work (same reason). But beyond that, I do not know.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, January 30, 2021 - 09:07 pm: Edit

If it helps, replicators (as they can, or cannot, function in the Star Fleet Universe) are discussed on pages 261-262 of the most recent revision to GURPS Prime Directive, 4th Edition.

Among other things, it notes that dilithium crystals, pergium, and topaline are among those materials which are impossible to replicate.

However, beyond what raw materials can be worked with, the GPD4e data speaks of how large and/or complex an item can be before it becomes impractical to replicate. (Essentially, not very much so, in either case.)

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Sunday, January 31, 2021 - 11:48 am: Edit

SPP, the thought you posted in response to my (dingbatty) comments is something I've known (in the back of my head) for quite some time, even if it is something that's not come to the forefront.

Between the two thoughts is the idea that if a survey ship has the additional load of the gunboats or fighters on it, the planners would need to construct its planned schedule around the reduced endurance from those items.

(...And that reads about as clear as mud. Can I just say we're on the same page about things?)