TECH

TECH

The tech levels of most species varies widely. Some are still using simple slug-throwers, others complex plasma-casters. Some ships are little better than metal boxes with engines strapped onto the back. Others are palatial environments, comparable to works of art.

Here, we detail some of the basic technologies being used.

i)          RANGED WEAPONS

There are 5 basic types of ranged weapon in use on battlefields in Distant Vista. As described in the system section, these come in 3 types, Pistol, Rifle and Cannon. Anything larger than ‘cannon’ is not man-portable, and has to be vehicle mounted.

Slug-throwers. Slug throwers are probably the most varied type of weapons tech. Everything from cartridge loaded revolvers to rail-guns firing plasticised ferrous slugs at mach 10 can be found on the modern battlefield. Slug throwers do more damage than lasers, are more reliable (on the whole) than disruptors and tend to be popular with Mercs and other professionals who rely on their equipment to work even if it’s been mistreated. Disadvantages are weight and limited ammunition storage in comparison to energy weapons.  Slug throwers tend to come in 2 types – high-capacity, low calibre low damage, or Low capacity, high calibre high damage.

Lasers. Also called blasters, laz-weapons and ray-pistols. Fire a high-intensity ‘beam’ of energy. Lasers are the most popular ranged weapons in use in the ‘Verse.  No recoil, good combat range and low weight, they have an huge ammunition storage within a very small powerpack. The downside is that armour tends to be very effective against them, and the wounds, whilst painful, are less debilitating than those from slug-throwers or disruptors. Most ship-crews use lasers, which have no risk of permanently damaging a star-ship hull.

Disruptors. Also called disintegrators or screamers. The Disruptor is widely regarded as the most evil hand weapon ever created. The energy, a super-high wavelength of microwave radiation, causes the bonds between matter to disintegrate, in a violent and unpleasant reaction. This is what causes the telltale ‘scream’ when a disruptor is fired, a noise that can be heard across the nosiest of battlefields. The target, regardless of armour, will find a significant chunk of them has just evaporated. The massive shock, trauma and damage this does is enough to kill most creatures in a single shot. The downside is that the high-energy matrix takes an age to recharge, most disruptors can only fire once a minute, and even the most advanced or large weapons can only fire every 30 seconds. Disruptor fire can be stopped by material thick enough (bulk-heads, walls and the like), but the risk of penetration is so great that most spacers frown on disruptors being used on board ship.

Plasma-casters. The Plasma-caster is basically a hybrid of the slug-thrower and the laser, and has some advantages and some disadvantages over those weapons. The plasma–caster uses metallic ammunition, which it then turns into plasma via a high intensity laser, and throws at the target.  This has the advantage over slug-throwers, as the ammunition for a plasma caster is tiny, meaning more shots for a similar level of damage. However, the damage, whilst horrific, doesn’t have the same hydrostatic shock that a bullet has, and the range is less than both laser or slug-throwers. Again, whilst it has better damage than a laser, it still requires a separate ammunition supply, meaning it has fewer shots.

Sonics- Sonic weapons are purely stun weapons. Used by ‘humane’ civilised society for internal security and law enforcement, the Sonic weapon fires a silent, tight beam comms laser at the target. This signal disrupts neural energy (it even works on droids), causing spasms and unconsciousness. The effects are temporary and not debilitating. However, the Davinar, due to their unique neural pathways, take lethal damage from these supposedly humane weapons.  Whilst Sonics almost never run out of energy, they are utterly useless against anything in armour.

ii)          ARMOUR

Armour mostly consists of either ablative layers of anti-laser material, or solid plates of matter designed to stop projectiles. Most modern armour consists of a mixture of these things, enabling the armour to be good against all common weapons. However, only the massive powered armours have even the chance of stopping a disruptor blast.

Armour can be expensive, is restrictive, uncomfortable and bulky. Most non-combat personnel will either not bother, or will only wear a blast-vest.

The most advanced armour is the personal defence screen. This Marken invention actually projects a net of energy, designed to stop incoming damage. It will totally stop any incoming damage, regardless of its origin. Unfortunately, they overload remarkably quickly. Most will take one, maybe 2 hits and then drop, and will take up to 2 minutes to re-establish the net, by which time you may be dead. They are also bulky, cumbersome packs, which cannot be left on all the time, because they stop you from interacting with the environment.

iii)     SHIP TECH

In addition to the ‘dimension drive’ (G/K space drive, Fold-space-drive or Thread-space key), a vessel requires several things in order to function. Fortunately for most manufacturers, the requirements for life of most of the ’verse’s species are remarkably similar, so most life support is the same, although spending too long on another species ship could be bad for your long term health.  Gravity well- projection is now advanced enough that ships of almost any size can have artificial gravity. However, with the exceptions of certain ’shielded’ rooms, the gravity has to be the same everywhere, due to the stresses rapid changes in gravity causes on the ships hull.

Most ships will have a navigation computer, although this may be anything from a simple ‘you are here’ co-ordinate calculator, to a full AI navigation and crew care system, possibly taking care of gunnery.

Most ships, even commercial ones, will have some kind of defensive screen, and some kind of weapon bay. Due to the ease with which computer systems can be programmed to shoot down incoming missiles, most ships utilise a large variant of one of the beam weapons. With this in mind, a defence screen is also used. Defence screens area net of projected energy, kept in place by subtle gravimetric changes.

On the whole, the field can be kept up indefinitely under ideal circumstances. Ideal circumstances do not include being shot at, defensive manoeuvring or the heavy use of the ships engines. Excessive energy flux (such as being hit by an laser bolt) causes the energy net to destabilise. Once destabilised, it may collapse, which the projector can then re-establish in a couple of minutes (which is a LONG time in a fire fight), or it may feed back and take out the projector. The same thing applies to excessive use of the engines whilst the screen is up. So the screen is good for deflecting shots, assuming the shot is not enough to destabilise the net.

‘Most ships’ assumes the vessel is part of a well-maintained trading fleet. Privately owned and maintained vessels often cannot afford a defensive screen, and may not even have weapons, as some systems have laws preventing freetraders from being armed (they call them Pirates….).

One other device some ships have, although only large vessels, as they require prestigious amounts of power, is a variable-flux gravimetric projector – or tractor beam, for short. Basically, this device, at short range, can replicate a large spatial bodies gravity well, which will pull, in a controlled fashion, other ships or items towards them. Pax Fleet ships often use these for their ‘stop and search’ procedures.

OTHER TECH

B.A.T.C.H (also known as SDA flu).

Bacterial Autonomous Translation/Communication (Humanoid), to give it the full Pax Humanis derivation, was a wondrous idea that has since been marred by it’s subsequent usage and development. SDA flu was developed from a liquid called Babel, a Marken invention by renowned Divasha’Pal’ou priest Chir-Kat One-chile. The liquid would give anyone who drank it the ability to understand many different languages instantaneously, as if the speaker were talking in the drinkers own tongue.  The effects of the liquid were permanent, re-wiring tiny portions of the drinkers brain in very specific ways. The idea was that a person could drink a mixed cocktail of the Babel liquid and understand any language the liquid had been tailored for. If both parties drank, then a full conversation could go on within seconds of meeting for the first time, without the language barrier, and without either side having to ‘give up’ their cultural language. It was designed to promote peaceful understanding.

Pax retro-engineered the liquid into a atmosphere borne viral gas weapon. A difficult and expensive task, this engineering allowed Babel to be used to ‘force’ any world Pax attacked to understand Pax Basic speech. The BATCH release is one of the first stages of any Pax attack on a planet. It enables the inhabitants to understand the threats and offers being made to them without ‘interpretation’ by local government. More insidiously, it forces a gradual change on the understanding of language, so those who have been infected will tend to use Pax Basic as their first language. It is also standard practice for Pax to introduce any prisoners they capture to BATCH, to ensure that there is no ‘misunderstanding’ of guards instructions.

RESTRAINT COLLARS/HALO COLLARS

Used in Slams, Cages and lock-downs of all types, as well as by better equipped Fee-trackers,  Halo’s are actually a rather nasty device designed by Bn’songats2x6, although an alternate but similar design has been produced by FCAS and by Pax Humanis. The collars snap around the neck, a simple metal tube/hoop design. Some glow in poor light to aid guards, others are just plain silver or black. They have no outwardly visible catches or controls. Everything is the ‘neck’ side of the collar. Upon activation, the collar injects microscopic wires into the neck, which latch onto the nervous system of the individual. Once this occurs, if the collar is tampered with, crosses certain boundaries/markers, is activated by a guard (or whoever has the control box), or detects excessive energy use, it will writhe the micro-fibres , causing mind-bending agony for the wearer. This will shatter the concentration of any being attempting to utilise any kind of xeno ability (Sl’a gates, Davinar tech links etc), as well as reducing most hominids to a crying mess on the floor until the pain passes. The Tendrils retract as soon as the unit is switched off for removal. One more thing. Collars designed for use in holding pens and transport ships, where large numbers of ‘angels’ (halo wearers…) are in close confines have an additional feature. If a collar is tampered with, it emits a high-frequency energy burst. This is non-harmful, but does activate every other collar in a 10 meter radius (or more). This effectively stops determined partners removing each others collars, because even if they want to continue trying, every other being in the cell is going to REALLY want them to stop.