Post by neil on Jun 22, 2021 9:42:48 GMT
Long John is incredibly valuable but hard to find. The deposits are small, scattered, and they don't seem to associated with any particular geological structure. There's no real alternative to just scouring the seabed, looking for it. There aren't enough people on Poseidon to for them to spend time looking for xenosilicate, so robots take over the job.
A common pattern is to have a swarm of small autonomous underwater robots swimming along the seabed, using electromagnetic and chemical sensors to "sniff" for Long John. They mostly move in a random search pattern, unless they pick up traces of Long John in the water. In that case, they'll follow the scent trail in an attempt to locate the Long John deposit.
They're supported by a large "mothership" that acts as a floating recharging base for the swarm. The mothership uses its large solar panels to charge its batteries and crack water into hydrogen. When the sniffer bots get low on energy, they return to the mothership to recharge and report. The mothership also moves slowly across the water in a random pattern, sometimes guided by promising signals from the sniffer bots.
Each mothership serves somewhere between 5 and 15 sniffer bots.
Long John prospecting is a competitive business, and small operators can only make money so long as no-one else knows about a Long John node. That means secrecy is important, and that extends to prospecting swarm. None of these robots uses locating transponders or gives regular transmissions. The mothership will check in periodically with a short, hard to trace satellite transmissions. The sniffer bots typically use passive sonar to avoid detection.
Finally, Poseidon is a hostile place. Robots can be damaged by storms, reefs, hostile large animals and damage from things like keel vines. Even the best-made robots have a short lifespan. It's better economic sense to make many, cheaper robots than invest in a few, more expensive ones. It does mean there are plenty of damaged or lost prospecting robots out there, which can appear in the most unusual of places.
Sniffer bot
These are small autonomous robots, normally cylindrical, with electromagnetic sensors and chemical sniffers at the front end to seek out Long John. Some models tow a small "sled" with additional sensors, further from the disturbance of the MHD drives. The body of the robot holds a heavy cell and a simple MHD drive. The robots have simple passive and active sonar and a laser comms system. The robot's autopilot is simple. A robot will typically operate for a couple of days on a single charge.
Dimensions: 1-2 metres long, 30cm diameter cylinders, 30-50kg.
Power source: heavy cell.
Availability: Common.
Range: 600km
Speed: 10/15
Combat speed: 3
Cost: 500-1000cs each.
Tags: shoddy construction, simple, hard to spot.
Mothership
A larger autonomous bot that serves a collection of sniffer bots. The body is wide and flat, laying across the surface of the water rather than protruding up or down. The bot is normally even larger when it deploys a large sheet of flexible solar panels for charging. The bulk of the volume is taken up with some combination of industrial cells or hydrogen tanks for energy storage. The underside has a collection of docking stations for sniffer bots. The sniffer bots return periodically, attach to a station and recharge, before heading off again for more prospecting. Recharging will typically take an hour or so.
The mothership has simple passive and active sonar, a low-powered laser comms system for communicating with nearby sniffers, and a satellite comms link.
Dimensions: 5m diameter, plus up to 20m of solar cells, 100-300kg.
Power source: solar cells feeding industrial cell or hydrogen fuel tank.
Availability: Common.
Range: Unlimited
Speed: 10
Combat speed: 2
Cost: 1000-5000cs each.
Tags: shoddy construction, simple, hard to spot, entangling.
A common pattern is to have a swarm of small autonomous underwater robots swimming along the seabed, using electromagnetic and chemical sensors to "sniff" for Long John. They mostly move in a random search pattern, unless they pick up traces of Long John in the water. In that case, they'll follow the scent trail in an attempt to locate the Long John deposit.
They're supported by a large "mothership" that acts as a floating recharging base for the swarm. The mothership uses its large solar panels to charge its batteries and crack water into hydrogen. When the sniffer bots get low on energy, they return to the mothership to recharge and report. The mothership also moves slowly across the water in a random pattern, sometimes guided by promising signals from the sniffer bots.
Each mothership serves somewhere between 5 and 15 sniffer bots.
Long John prospecting is a competitive business, and small operators can only make money so long as no-one else knows about a Long John node. That means secrecy is important, and that extends to prospecting swarm. None of these robots uses locating transponders or gives regular transmissions. The mothership will check in periodically with a short, hard to trace satellite transmissions. The sniffer bots typically use passive sonar to avoid detection.
Finally, Poseidon is a hostile place. Robots can be damaged by storms, reefs, hostile large animals and damage from things like keel vines. Even the best-made robots have a short lifespan. It's better economic sense to make many, cheaper robots than invest in a few, more expensive ones. It does mean there are plenty of damaged or lost prospecting robots out there, which can appear in the most unusual of places.
Sniffer bot
These are small autonomous robots, normally cylindrical, with electromagnetic sensors and chemical sniffers at the front end to seek out Long John. Some models tow a small "sled" with additional sensors, further from the disturbance of the MHD drives. The body of the robot holds a heavy cell and a simple MHD drive. The robots have simple passive and active sonar and a laser comms system. The robot's autopilot is simple. A robot will typically operate for a couple of days on a single charge.
Dimensions: 1-2 metres long, 30cm diameter cylinders, 30-50kg.
Power source: heavy cell.
Availability: Common.
Range: 600km
Speed: 10/15
Combat speed: 3
Cost: 500-1000cs each.
Tags: shoddy construction, simple, hard to spot.
Mothership
A larger autonomous bot that serves a collection of sniffer bots. The body is wide and flat, laying across the surface of the water rather than protruding up or down. The bot is normally even larger when it deploys a large sheet of flexible solar panels for charging. The bulk of the volume is taken up with some combination of industrial cells or hydrogen tanks for energy storage. The underside has a collection of docking stations for sniffer bots. The sniffer bots return periodically, attach to a station and recharge, before heading off again for more prospecting. Recharging will typically take an hour or so.
The mothership has simple passive and active sonar, a low-powered laser comms system for communicating with nearby sniffers, and a satellite comms link.
Dimensions: 5m diameter, plus up to 20m of solar cells, 100-300kg.
Power source: solar cells feeding industrial cell or hydrogen fuel tank.
Availability: Common.
Range: Unlimited
Speed: 10
Combat speed: 2
Cost: 1000-5000cs each.
Tags: shoddy construction, simple, hard to spot, entangling.