Creating Atlantis- world building exercise

[Colt Ward]

I have been re-watching Stargate Atlantis with my toddler and I got to wondering . . . how might you recreate that for the BTU?  It had a lot of bits that would not carry over, but for lore IMO it would have to be a Star League facility, the golden era of technology for that sort of matching up with SG's Ancients having better technology than 'current' humans.  I also think it would have to be the Star League as a 'mega' engineering project . . . but would it be a floating city?  or a underwater facility?  I figure it would be a deep deep periphery research facility for all sorts of advanced projects . . . maybe hunted for by the RWR after the Coup.  Sort of like the Wraith/Ancients, the Star League inhabitants tried to return to the IS for MetaReason X only to be attacked en route by the Rim Worlds forces assigned to find the city.

Since Alantis was filled with Ancient labs facilitating R&D projects, what sort of things might the Star League (or perhaps Hegemony) sent off to such a remote location to be studied- perhaps with testing at satellite labs?

Improving HPG range
Improving jump drive range
Shielding/Blue Shield
Null Sig, Chameleon LPS, etc?

Atlantis was armed . . . with capital missiles for drones and small craft for puddle jumpers?

[dgorsman]

Perhaps a submersible version of the atolls on Dagda faced by the Scorpions during KLONDIKE.

[Colt Ward]

Have to look back at Klondike, but certainly . . . after all, the SLDF in exile had to get it from somewhere.

[dgorsman]

For the drones, rather than capital missiles I would suggest conventional aerial drones, similar to the Bullet suicide drone but with better performance.  Perhaps some satellite facilities with drone fighters - would explain why the facility staff felt safe leaving it.

For test projects:

• Submersible version of the Nighthawk power armor
• Autonomous underwater defense drones i.e. Bluewater Caspars
• Part of the Long Baseline Array
• Various SLDF CAAN test projects

A lot of this would be tied to blue water development.

[Colt Ward]

Well, the Ancients were studying the world but they also had general projects . . . IMO, this would by like the US packing up everything from DARPA and shipping it off into isolation where they can run some really exotic tests without being observed and safe from surround population.

[dgorsman]

Yeah, but they also had the stargate and hyperspace ships.  Land based and larger than a lab space experiments were all off world in the series.

The SLDF already had a number of specialty facilities, such as Mundo Nublar and the Draconian Drift.  But I can't remember any specific bluewater test sites so I'm nominating this one.

[Colt Ward]

Sure that works . . . One thing I was thinking off was the 'next gen' of Star League battle armor, something less than Elemental or even GDL/IS Std but better than Nighthawks.

Would you say one complete structure?  What about CF/armor?

[dgorsman]

Make it from multiple, large docked sections.  All with limited individual propulsion, with the central main structure having the main propulsion.  That way, they can relocate specific modules for the best position without needing to move everything.  And if something goes "wrong" (cause that neeeever happens to either Atlantis or the SLDF) the rest won't be affected.

[Natasha Kerensky]

I’d use the Wyrm Submersible Fortress (Mobile Structures rules) as a starting point.  That way the base can operate on the surface or underwater as needed for research or to hide from prying eyes.

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Wyrm

Obviously a research version of the Wyrm would trade away some/most weapons, armor, and speed for more research capbilities and facilities.  A really big base could be composed of several of these “submersible fortresses” operating together, much like buildings on a research campus or base of operations (think McMurdo in Antarctica).

A small fleet of VTOLs, WIGEs, hovercraft, hydrofoils, boats, subs, and/or even industrial mechs and sealed tracked tractors for the ocean floor could accompany and be housed by one or more “submersible fortresses”.

I’d even reference the Wyrm in the fluff.  It didn’t come out of nowhere.  Maybe on Terra the Blakies came across old plans for the Star League’s “Atlantis” Ocean Research Platforms (or ORPs — the last of which were operating rimward of Canopus...) and militarized the concept to create the Wyrm Submersible Fortress.

Some Wyrms like the Lowyfur were captured intact, so maybe the Republic demilitarized them as part of their swords-to-plowshares program, bringing back the Atlantis ORPs for research applications, at least on Terra.

Edit:  Black Box technology might be another research focus for such a facility.  The Star League supposedly gave it up in 2630 after HPGs came along, but that might just be a cover story.  After the Blackout, the Republic no doubt would have pushed such research again.

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Black_Box

Also see Frobisher II if the rimward of Canopus reference wasn’t clear enough:

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Frobisher

[mbear]

For the drones, rather than capital missiles I would suggest conventional aerial drones, similar to the Bullet suicide drone but with better performance.  Perhaps some satellite facilities with drone fighters - would explain why the facility staff felt safe leaving it.

Also consider the existing SDS drones like the BlackWasp and VoidSeeker.

Sure that works . . . One thing I was thinking off was the 'next gen' of Star League battle armor, something less than Elemental or even GDL/IS Std but better than Nighthawks.

Would you say one complete structure?  What about CF/armor?

What's the weight class of the Nighthawk? I'd make the next gen one weight class higher and say that it was under development for the SLDF's Royal Mechanized Infantry Divisions. Maybe 5 points of armor max.

And you're missing an obvious assignment: Water purification systems. Not just to make potable water, but to remove valuable elements from the water. If you get germanium, platinum, gold, etc. out of the water at the same time you get potable water that's a good thing.

Edit: Don't forget the possibility of fixed defenses. You could mount a lot of energy weapons in a waterproof fortification. Maybe they were using a Naval Laser/55 as the biggest communications antenna ever. ;)

Edit: Just had another thought. How about a testing site for Swarm/Thunder torpedoes? Or NARC guided torps.

[dgorsman]

The reason I suggested suicide drones was to keep more in the SG:A aesthetic.  Someone could look at small BT suicide drone swarms and go "Ahhh, I see what you did."  8)

Nighthawk is a PAL.  There was an armed version being developed for Royal infantry but not deployed, so that could fit as well.  Going up to a light BA suit I would suggest a design being developed specifically for the Royal CAAN marines.  That could be narratively used as a base for the underwater suits used for mining on Dagda.  Close the circle, so to speak.

Water mining... perfect.   :thumbsup:

[Col Toda]

All FTL communication  is in a network  forwarding  messages from station  to station . New FTL com system that does not need to be relayed and that religious  whack jobs do not have the source  code for it . Just using a longer range hpg is not a game changer . Longer jump  the 120 light year of the Lucretia  would be ok Commercially combat units would still use the 30 ly w LF battery  for combat flexibility.  Also would not change much. . The only Star League  tech that did not get reintroduced is Terraforming  planets and moons . Making real estate  or reclaiming  real estate that was wreaked  by the Succession Wars or the Jihad would be good .. Just the introduction  of an actual  dead civilization  alien world would add flavor . 

On a water world a Couple  of Lysander  Supprt ships I stead of static bases and a good passive array so they only surface in orbiting asset blind spots .

New Generations of Military  Drop Ships with reconfigurable  bays .

[Cannonshop]

I have been re-watching Stargate Atlantis with my toddler and I got to wondering . . . how might you recreate that for the BTU?  It had a lot of bits that would not carry over, but for lore IMO it would have to be a Star League facility, the golden era of technology for that sort of matching up with SG's Ancients having better technology than 'current' humans.  I also think it would have to be the Star League as a 'mega' engineering project . . . but would it be a floating city?  or a underwater facility?  I figure it would be a deep deep periphery research facility for all sorts of advanced projects . . . maybe hunted for by the RWR after the Coup.  Sort of like the Wraith/Ancients, the Star League inhabitants tried to return to the IS for MetaReason X only to be attacked en route by the Rim Worlds forces assigned to find the city.

Since Alantis was filled with Ancient labs facilitating R&D projects, what sort of things might the Star League (or perhaps Hegemony) sent off to such a remote location to be studied- perhaps with testing at satellite labs?

Improving HPG range
Improving jump drive range
Shielding/Blue Shield
Null Sig, Chameleon LPS, etc?

Atlantis was armed . . . with capital missiles for drones and small craft for puddle jumpers?

Isolation that extreme doesn't speak to HPG's, Jump-drives, blue-shield or Null Sig-those are all projects that don't present a threat if they go off the rails and therefore can be done in the existing Hegemony facilities (or more specifically, inside the Sol system for security and production purposes.)

What you need that level of isolation for, are things you really don't want getting loose in or near your infrastructure.

1. Self-replicating robots/AI.
2. Biological Weapons research/macro genetic engineering projects (Terraforming life-forms, aka biosphere in a can, to turn an otherwise uninhabitable rock in the goldilocks zone into valuable real-estate for your expanding population in less than a century.)
3. Some combination of (1) and (2).

THAT sort of thing would require a lab that can be isolated and submerged in a hurry, and since biologicals have a built-in time-limit that large capital machinery doesn't, it's safe to evacuate your staff and cleanse the site, then return and start over in the event of an accident or failure.  (Note: this also 'fits' with the scale the Ancients were working on with Atlantis in the series.)

[mbear]

What you need that level of isolation for, are things you really don't want getting loose in or near your infrastructure.

2. Biological Weapons research/macro genetic engineering projects (Terraforming life-forms, aka biosphere in a can, to turn an otherwise uninhabitable rock in the goldilocks zone into valuable real-estate for your expanding population in less than a century.)

OMG it's the source of the Genecaste!

[Colt Ward]

While the Ancients had that R&D site co-located with their capital, my posit put it out (WAY out) in the boonies just to explain why it was not previously destroyed, or used by Aramis/Kerensky/failing Hegemony/Blakists.  To me you place your most dangerous projects that far away, the most secret (like next next gen speculative weapons), or some combination and by putting all these brilliant scientists & engineers together you can hope for some synergy as well as allowing them to focus on the research.

So . . . teleoperated capital missiles (another that resembles SGA drone function), theoretical/cutting edge BA design (will be simplified/refined down back in TH), maybe telescopes/sensors to the galactic core, advanced physics applications & engineering- like next KF drive or HPG improvement, and the two cannonshop mentioned would all be possible to me.

[Cannonshop]

While the Ancients had that R&D site co-located with their capital, my posit put it out (WAY out) in the boonies just to explain why it was not previously destroyed, or used by Aramis/Kerensky/failing Hegemony/Blakists.  To me you place your most dangerous projects that far away, the most secret (like next next gen speculative weapons), or some combination and by putting all these brilliant scientists & engineers together you can hope for some synergy as well as allowing them to focus on the research.

So . . . teleoperated capital missiles (another that resembles SGA drone function), theoretical/cutting edge BA design (will be simplified/refined down back in TH), maybe telescopes/sensors to the galactic core, advanced physics applications & engineering- like next KF drive or HPG improvement, and the two cannonshop mentioned would all be possible to me.

there's possible, then there's likely.  look at the political situation of the Star League-the real one, not the one celebrated in legend or venerated by Kerensky Fanbois.

any project that can give a strategic advantage would not be located in the territory of a successor state, nor in the rim, unless it was ALSO blackly dangerous and unstable.

the Mckennas and Camerons needed to be paranoid because they were jackals surrounded by jackals.  Heck, the whole reason for the Gunslinger program, was that the (Nominally SLDF aligned) Draconis Combine was constantly killing Star League mechwarriors in somewhat-legal duels that bore more resemblance to an ongoing low-level insurgency, so your "must be kept out in the boonies" project needs to be something that is both dangerous IN the wrong hands, and also equally dangerous TO the wrong hands.

not a lot of projects fit that bill.  I only suggested two, but in either case, advanced drive tech would be something the Camerons would want under their own, direct, at-home supervision as it's a game-changer that could topple the house of cards that was the Star League's political structure.

[mbear]

How about underwater drone systems based on the SDS? That would probably cause a few concerns given what happened with some of the early space based models.

Having them based in an underwater base, possibly with booby traps to prevent them from running wild, would make sense (to me at least).

[truetanker]

Why not look up https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Space_Defense_System#Word_of_Blake_Caspar_III_Command_Automated_Robotic_System_.28CARS.29?

There's your runaway Atlantis project, complete with a submersed Wyrm as the command link...

TT

[killgore444]

I have been re-watching Stargate Atlantis with my toddler and I got to wondering . . . how might you recreate that for the BTU?  It had a lot of bits that would not carry over, but for lore IMO it would have to be a Star League facility, the golden era of technology for that sort of matching up with SG's Ancients having better technology than 'current' humans. 

  Maybe not STRICTLY Star League. A lot of government organizations do a lot of 'Black Box' work. Lots of revenue gets dumped into things the leaders know nothing about. Maybe even to the point of using the funds to commit treason or fund an insurrection.
  So a possibility is a Star League funded and built research station organized by Amaris before his coup. Or some other power had managed to get a spy into the management of SLR&D, so was able to arrange a facility in their territory. It'd explain why Comstar/WoB never found it.
  Or maybe leave it an unknown. A facility that has NO indication of who built it. Not really plausible I know, not unless ALL the computers had been wiped.

Improving HPG range
Improving jump drive range
Shielding/Blue Shield
Null Sig, Chameleon LPS, etc?

Atlantis was armed . . . with capital missiles for drones and small craft for puddle jumpers?

  The Black Box/Fax machines found by Katrina Stiener, and given to Hanse Davion came from a research facility in the periphery. Maybe that facility was an off site sub station that had the other end of the test units. So Atlantis held the most research.
  Likewise, the book about the exploration company and it's findings [forgot the name], had 2 different worlds that had genetic research as it's focus.
  Materials research would be a big one. Maybe trying to come up with artificial elements [naquada and trinium].
  Another possibility that fits the program, but limits the possibility of over powering tech; deep space research and exploration base. All the science labs were secondary, and supportive of the exploration of new worlds. It'd be a home base that the explorers didn't have to travel all the way back to Terra to get to. It's still have a lot of lost science, but it'd be less militarized. It'd also contain lots of maps to unknown regions for the players to explore.