 December 9, 2011 - 5:36am | Due to limited utility of the Mk1 Atmo-probe, Buships has assigned you to the Probe Design Team. Your mission is to design a new model probe that will fit the Mk1 launcher. The new probe is to be capable of multiple missions and fully progamable through data links after launch. An on board power supply as well as deployable solar collectors for extended missions. Edit: Edited to fix smart phone auto-corrections I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 9, 2011 - 6:41am | Atmoprobes are not very useful IMO. Let design a new model probe with multiple capabilities that will actually be useful in game and even provide story hooks for the referee. At first blush it needs to be a sensor probe, and should have lower power e sensors (not as powerful as a ships) but because they can be launched into hostile areas possibly more useful. Ships without e sensors can gain them cheaply by just stocking the probe. Next the probe should be able to function as a satellite doing satellite kind of stuff the players need it to do. It should also be programmable as a beacon. Any other capabilities? It will need a computer or robotic brain, a radio, tight beam com laser, parabattery, deployable solar collector and a self destruct feature (small charge of TD19 sufficient to destroy the probe. Anything else? Edit: Note I typed e sensors but the could easily be called sensor and left unspecified- they do what the referee needs them to do. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 9, 2011 - 6:51am | Parachute for atmospheric entry and soft landing and compressed air for orbital adjustments, does it need a chemical rocket engine with limited fuel allowing for either 1 or. 5 ADF. A ship that wanted to put a probe on station in a particular spot would need to slow to a speed that it could overcome. Or the probe could be fired and accelerated to let it sweep the area of space before a ship that's coasting. EDIT: atmospheric entry allows it to double as a landing probe I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 9, 2011 - 6:06am | The beacon feature would be a story hook, frigate comes looking for a ship thats overdue only to be hailed by a probe operating as a beacon programed to hail a Space Fleet vessel when its sensors detect one and only to communicate by com laser. It uploads the data package sent to it before its ship exploded. In the data is its scans of life pods making their way to the planets surface. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 13, 2015 - 6:37pm | The main problem with the Mk-I is obvious that it was TOO specialized and high priced for for its job. And to lacking in capability :) Really you can get away with the Mk-III (assuming the "lander-drone" was the Mk-II) being a general "probe" that is space and orbital only and incorperating a Radio, Radar, and EM (including visual) sensors. The Mk-IV is a larger model Mk-III with provisions for the inclusion of several "remote probes" (KH campaign book, page-22) with single use orbital-to-surface landing capability. The Mk-IV is an advanced Landing Probe with incorporation of all the systems above plus capability of launching and recovering modifed "remote probes" for a more detailed study of a single planetary location. The Mk-V probe will not be usable from the Mk-I launcher so will not be covered here but it is the size and cost of a standard SpaceFleet Torpedo and includes all the functions of both the Mk-III orbital and Mk-IV lander probe types in a single probe bus with interplanetary capability. Mk-III: 152,000cr inclusive of (10) remote probe package (50,000 for the Mk-III probe bus alone) Mk-IV: 250,000cr which includes 10 configurable remote probes. (Note the Mk-IV has no interplanetary system and must be delivered to planetary orbit for use) Mk-V: 500,000cr for the basic model. Advanced models with multiple Mk-III/IV probes are available for additional cost of the Mk-III/IV sub-probes plus 10,000cr for each additional attachment on the base Mk-V bus. Note that for data transmission/beacon radio can be replaced or augmented with a subspace radio for an additional 20,000cr or 10,000cr if the sub-light radio is replaced. All probes include a radiostope generator capable of powering the probes main systems indefinatly. However the company only guarantees main sytems lifetime of around 10 months. Each probe may be programed with capability for low-power mode to extend the probe lifetime. (I'd really actually like to see about 100,000cr knocked off all the prices as these things are pretty easy for the SF tech to punch out. The "remote probes" really cost too much I think and adding them only makes sense for "probes" of any type and the Mk-I/II were really limited even "assuming" they are based on relevent technology probes of the 1980s under similar cirumstances. Probes SHOULD be pretty cheap and "throw-away" for the most part with higher sophistication equaling higher price tag to a degree but they SHOULD have included all the packages listed above under the circumstances) Randy |
