 November 25, 2013 - 1:14pm | Atmoprobes are 3 meter long missile like objects. Ships carry one atmoprobe per point of hull size.The probe can be launched from anywhere inside a star system and programed to seek out a specific planet or other body. It will travel at 10 million km per hour until it reaches its target. When the probe reaches its destination, it will go into orbit around the planet and gradually drop toward the surface. As it enters the atmosphere, it will send back messages to the ship that launched it. After a few dozen orbits (several hours), the probe will burn up in the atmosphere. If the planet has no atmosphere, the probe will crash into the surface. So the atmoprobe has fuel to accelerate to a velocity of 10 million km per hour then halt in orbit at a planet and it has a transmitter to send back messages over an unspecified distance. I'd like to propose some changes: There is a basic probe launcher and it can hold and fire all of the following kinds of probes. Com and atmo probes both have a self destruct feature. 1. New generation atmoprobes are fitted with a parachute to land gently enough and continue sending back data from a planets surface. Note: no atmosphere or thin atmosphere still means the probe crashes. Impact on a game besides the obvious: ship enter's a system and detects a signal from an atmoprobe on a planet's surface- away team to investigate. 2. Com probe same probe body as above and same capabilities as to transmission of data and abilitiy to be fired off in the system. However able to remain in orbit as a com relay, beacon that transmits a message, passive scanner to relay data to a ship hiding elsewhere. various uses but one important use is as a mayday beacon when abandon ship order is given- the act of giving the order sets a com probe to eject and either hold position or fly to a designated spot in system to act as a mayday beacon giving ships name, number of passengers and some other limited data. Great for more investigative plot hooks. 3. Survival drop pod: built on a probe shell but lacks the fuel cell. instead its equiped with a parachute and survival kit (temporary shelter, water purifier, rations, radio, holo flares, potentially weapons, and etc) and must be fired from orbit with astrogator plotting its entry path (skill roll) to get it to the stranded characters on a planet's surface. 4. Survival drop pod: same as above but with the survival kit removed. a space suited character is put inside and then spray foam is injected into the probe shell to lock him in place and pod is fired at planet surface. Once the pod lands a pannel is blown and the character makes a str check to begin breaking the foam encasing him. Once he extricates himself from the probe shell he has safely landed on the planet's surface from orbit. Again the astrogator must make a skill check to put this pod down in a specific location. EDIT: other kinds of probes? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 25, 2013 - 1:37pm | Obviously the mars rovers where not even something in consideration back in the 80s. But really it is silly they have to crash. But... that said... I'm worried of ... and I have one player in particularl... that will try his best to have the robots do everything and thereby destory the possibily of putting boots on the ground to experience the adventure. That is one aspect I'm liking about running SF instead of something more high tech like a Trek knock-off. In Trek, they are constantly having to come up with narative tricks to deny the characters of some super tech thing they just have that would make all the problems non-issues. So, onto your probes. 1) really even in a atomsphere free environment I'm picturing thrusters and computer control could land a three or four foot lander without it crashing. 2) so this is basically a probe you shoot from the ground to put it in orbit? Sort of a orbital UAV? One that also brodcasts a distress signal? I suppose subspace is bulky, rare and expensive to assume escape pods might have them to call for help. I would think an orbital UAV would still have a max duration before it runs out of fuel and falls back to planet. 3) No reason this wouldn't be possible. Just like we air-drop supplies into war zones and disaster zones. 4) ODST! I might suggest the passenger should make a Sta check or suffer damage. I don't see elderly and children living through dropping from orbit. 5) How about something that deploys an arial drone to remotely explore a planet? I'm picturing it planetfalls in a reentry captsule and is times or computer controlled to have the capsule blow apart and release the arieal drone at whatever air density can support the flight of the drone. ----------------------------------------------- |
 November 25, 2013 - 2:04pm | Well it's a 10 ft long 3-5 foot diameter object, not just a couple of feet, although the sensor package is probably about that size or maybe even smaller. Basically they are just a big engine+fuel tank with a sensor package and no room for all the extra guidance system/rocket engines to handle a landing. I think the idea was for them to be disposable. If you want the same functionality but reusable, you buy landing drones. And just for numbers, to get up to a speed of 10 million km/hour and stop at your destination, you need ~9.3 ADF of thrust (assuming 1 ADF = 1g acceleration for 10 minutes) so you say the atmoprobe has 10 ADF worth of thrust/fuel. Which is reasonable conisdering the amount of thrust in the various rocket weapons in the game. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
November 25, 2013 - 2:21pm | if that is the case... i don't see any ship small enough to not have torpedoes as being able to carry probes people inside a ODST capsule would need to be release from a ship in orbit. Research vessels are typically only HS3 and don't have torpedoes so I guess they don't go out torpedoes tubes. ----------------------------------------------- |
November 25, 2013 - 7:59pm | To clarify: On the com probe: it can be dropped or sent somewhere and cna handle communicaitons tasks- relay signal data or broadcast pre recorded messages or function much like a communications satellite. On the orbital parachute job I was thinking of something someone posted in the past year or so of a NASA concieved emergency orbit to ground escpae method- heat shield filled with foam and astronaut laying on his back attached to a parachute and nothing else. So I figure that riding in a probe shell locked in with an expanding spray foam would do the same thing thus no STA check vs damage. But having a STA check for 1d10 damage would enforce the idea that this is not the best method of getting down from orbit. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 26, 2013 - 6:14am | MOOSE system proposed by NASA, was the inspiration for the probe shell as a de orbit emergency landing method. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOSE http://www.theconquestofspace.com/2012/08/the-ultimate-seven-minutes-of-terror.html I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
