Fabricator Container

[Maingunnery]

Inspired by the The Industrial Tycoons Handbook by Revanche
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=19307.0


Fabricator Container
I was thinking about a possible piece of Star League equipment, a minimum sized automated factory that can be easily smuggled for SLIC operations. Able to build anything of 1 ton or lighter, that has been encrypted into its database at the time of its manufacturing. Not economical for actually manufacturing but it can allow a hidden facility or Blackhearts teams to make critical parts from raw materials.


Format: 10 ton cargo container
  Tech E fabricator: 5 tons
  Assembly space: 1 ton
  Fusion reactor & refinery: 2 tons
  Material/parts storage: 2 tons

Features: Black-boxed, Fully-automated, Tech Rating E

Product size (max): 1 ton
Production value limit: 1 million C-Bills per year

Price: 50 million C-Bills



This does seeks the limit of plausibility so I thought that this could use a critical view from other players.

[RifleMech]

I'm guessing this would operate more like a 3D printer and less like a Star Trek replicator?

Would it produce intact items (engines) or would it produce parts with some assembly required?

Is it something that can be carried in a vehicle/mech? If so, does it operate from the vehicle/mech or does would it need to be deployed first?

[idea weenie]

Assuming you are making SL DHS (1 ton, 3 crits, 60k C-Bills/):

It can produce 1 million C-Bills/year, meaning 16-17 ISDHS per year.

I'd be happy with it being able to assemble the final product, by explaining that it has internal robotic arms to move pieces around inside.


Given the need to carefully manufacture I'd expect it to need to be stationary during use, and also have an option to 'pause' production with sufficient warning.  This pausing requires the Fabricator to carefully shut down current production, which will take a variety of times based on what is being assembled.  So you could have a large civilian truck with one of these in the rear, but it can only make the necessary components if the truck is completely stopped.

[Daryk]

Tying the time to the C-Bill cost makes some sense, but I think there should be some Tech Level aspect to it too (i.e., lower tech items, even if expensive, should be made faster).

[Grand_dm]

Inspired by the The Industrial Tycoons Handbook by Revanche
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=19307.0


Fabricator Container
I was thinking about a possible piece of Star League equipment, a minimum sized automated factory that can be easily smuggled for SLIC operations. Able to build anything of 1 ton or lighter, that has been encrypted into its database at the time of its manufacturing. Not economical for actually manufacturing but it can allow a hidden facility or Blackhearts teams to make critical parts from raw materials.


Format: 10 ton cargo container
  Tech E fabricator: 5 tons
  Assembly space: 1 ton
  Fusion reactor & refinery: 2 tons
  Material/parts storage: 2 tons

Features: Black-boxed, Fully-automated, Tech Rating E

Product size (max): 1 ton
Production value limit: 1 million C-Bills per year

Price: 50 million C-Bills



This does seeks the limit of plausibility so I thought that this could use a critical view from other players.

In my campaign the players have been sinking all their money into the husk of an old warship. It has a small fabricator onboard they have not repaired yet.

I think limiting your design to 1m c-bills a year balances the device. I like that idea very much.

[Maingunnery]

I'm guessing this would operate more like a 3D printer and less like a Star Trek replicator?

A bit in the middle, for example you can feed it raw materials (such as ore or scrap), which then gets turned into plasma, allowing for the refinement into pure materials or even directly into some specific combinations/alloys/liquids, which are then used for more traditional manufacturing techniques.   

Would it produce intact items (engines) or would it produce parts with some assembly required?

It can fabricate if the intact item weights one ton or less. If it weight more then you would have to assemble it yourself using sub-assemblies. Even then hope that all the sub-assemblies weight less than a ton and that all those sub-assemblies are actually stored inside the memory.

Is it something that can be carried in a vehicle/mech? If so, does it operate from the vehicle/mech or does would it need to be deployed first?

Everything that can carry 10 ton cargo container can carry it. And as noted by idea weenie it does need to be stationary, asking it to make electronics while on a truck that is riding over a rough road is a bit too much to ask. 

Tying the time to the C-Bill cost makes some sense, but I think there should be some Tech Level aspect to it too (i.e., lower tech items, even if expensive, should be made faster).

What type of ratio are you thinking of for each lower tech ratings?

[Daryk]

As a first approximation, 90% for D, 80% for C, 70% for B, and 50% for A.

[RifleMech]

It sounds cool, and I like it, but it feels too light. It's has a smelter, forge, fabrication, assembly and other equipment all for 10 tons. And that's just for metal things. A Mobile Field Base weighs 20 tons and can't do all that. That's why I wondered if it were a type of 3D printer. It could still smelt metal to use in the printer but the item would still need some assembly. Otherwise it does feel like a Replicator.

[idea weenie]

Fabricator Container
I was thinking about a possible piece of Star League equipment, a minimum sized automated factory that can be easily smuggled for SLIC operations. Able to build anything of 1 ton or lighter, that has been encrypted into its database at the time of its manufacturing. Not economical for actually manufacturing but it can allow a hidden facility or Blackhearts teams to make critical parts from raw materials.

Format: 10 ton cargo container
  Tech E fabricator: 5 tons
  Assembly space: 1 ton
  Fusion reactor & refinery: 2 tons
  Material/parts storage: 2 tons

Features: Black-boxed, Fully-automated, Tech Rating E

Product size (max): 1 ton
Production value limit: 1 million C-Bills per year

Price: 50 million C-Bills

This does seeks the limit of plausibility so I thought that this could use a critical view from other players.

One other limit might be that it takes time to set up for a production run.  To make the math easy, this takes an amount of time equal to the cost of the product.

So if you have to produce items costing 50,000 C-Bills, and you can build 1 million per year, you could conceivably build up to 20 per year.  However the setup means you can only build 19 of them, due to setup time.  The next year you could build 20 of them, as the Fabricator is already configured for the item.

Net result is if you want to build a lot of different items, you will be spending most of your time performing setup instead of getting useful products.

[Maingunnery]

One other limit might be that it takes time to set up for a production run.  To make the math easy, this takes an amount of time equal to the cost of the product.

So if you have to produce items costing 50,000 C-Bills, and you can build 1 million per year, you could conceivably build up to 20 per year.  However the setup means you can only build 19 of them, due to setup time.  The next year you could build 20 of them, as the Fabricator is already configured for the item.

Net result is if you want to build a lot of different items, you will be spending most of your time performing setup instead of getting useful products.

But what about a fixed setup time? Couple of hours or one day? It would discourage lots of switches, but would not overly punish expensive items.

[willis]

Based on this would it be possible for this to be scalable....lets say a 100 ton unit being able to produce items of 10 tons or less, or going big or going home, a 1000 tons unit with a production capacity of items 100 tons or less....

[idea weenie]

But what about a fixed setup time? Couple of hours or one day? It would discourage lots of switches, but would not overly punish expensive items.

I was figuring more complex items would take a longer setup.

[Retry]

Based on this would it be possible for this to be scalable....lets say a 100 ton unit being able to produce items of 10 tons or less, or going big or going home, a 1000 tons unit with a production capacity of items 100 tons or less....

The point of this is to be small enough to be portable via (and concealed as) standard-sized cargo containers.  If you scale it up 100x, you just end up with a regular factory.

[Lycanphoenix]

It sounds cool, and I like it, but it feels too light. It's has a smelter, forge, fabrication, assembly and other equipment all for 10 tons. And that's just for metal things. A Mobile Field Base weighs 20 tons and can't do all that. That's why I wondered if it were a type of 3D printer. It could still smelt metal to use in the printer but the item would still need some assembly. Otherwise it does feel like a Replicator.

Don't worry, it can't make food. /s

A mobile field base has life support concerns, not to mention a whole bunch of other functions which aren't directly related to eachother and can't share equipment.

A fabricator, on the other hand, can be heavily optimized for its one task, reducing size and weight. Also, metal matrix composites (like cermets) are fairly lightweight and have excellent thermal properties for these sorts of tasks.

[Red Pins]

Inspired by the The Industrial Tycoons Handbook by Revanche
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=19307.0


Fabricator Container
I was thinking about a possible piece of Star League equipment, a minimum sized automated factory that can be easily smuggled for SLIC operations. Able to build anything of 1 ton or lighter, that has been encrypted into its database at the time of its manufacturing. Not economical for actually manufacturing but it can allow a hidden facility or Blackhearts teams to make critical parts from raw materials.


Format: 10 ton cargo container
  Tech E fabricator: 5 tons
  Assembly space: 1 ton
  Fusion reactor & refinery: 2 tons
  Material/parts storage: 2 tons

Features: Black-boxed, Fully-automated, Tech Rating E

Product size (max): 1 ton
Production value limit: 1 million C-Bills per year

Price: 50 million C-Bills



This does seeks the limit of plausibility so I thought that this could use a critical view from other players.

Tried to do this, but couldn't manage to figure it out for a project of mine.  Is there a 'fabricator' in some equipment chart I don't know about?  Or is this yours?

[Maingunnery]

Tried to do this, but couldn't manage to figure it out for a project of mine.  Is there a 'fabricator' in some equipment chart I don't know about?  Or is this yours?

Mostly mine, but I was inspired by The Industrial Tycoons Handbook.