[gurps] Brainships in GURPs 3ed

[Wyrm]

Zan Lynx wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-04-30 at 16:31 -0500, tprist wrote:
>> Howdy Everyone,
>>
>> I have a question for all the Gearheads out there, Especially either Onno,
>> or Brandon.  Has anyone tried to do a Brainship similar to the ones in the
>> Anne McCaffery universe in either GURPs Vehicle 3ed, or Space 3ed?  If so
>> how would you go about duplicating the brain portion of the ship?  I know it
>> would be some sort of biocomp, but that is as far as I can get.  I have GVB
>> to build the ship on after I figure out how to do it.
> 
> I wouldn't treat the shell person as a biocomp.  How rude! :)
> 
> How about a specialized life support system and a small crew station
> with neural link?  No need for a cabin.

I would not even TRY to do this with 3E unless you have Page 98 from 
Psionics (Disembodied Brain)and probably Ogre too. Much easier with 4E 
Basic and Powers.

For those who do not know the Shell-people from those books...
They have incurable deformities of the body but perfectly intact minds. 
They are given robotic bodies as infants (in most cases) and learn to 
use them the same way an ordinary child would learn to crawl; only 
instead of arms and legs they learn to move wheels via the neural 
interface. On graduation they are transfered into a "shell" that can be 
plugged into space ships, cities or space stations etc (depending on how 
they were trained). The autonomic nervous system is hooked into systems 
that need to be run continually like life support. Conscious control and 
over ride is given to all systems.

It is the goal of most Shell-people to pay off their debt and become 
freelance operators and to do that many will accept more dangerous 
assignments with a higher credit to their accounts.

There is a fail safe command word that will open the shell and allow the 
person inside to be killed easily if they go insane or given medical 
treatment if they are unconscious.

All that said:

The Shell:
Power,
Life Support(a few hours/days)
Armor
Audio/Video/Speakers
    (may or may not be disabled from outside the shell)

The Ship:
Top of the line scout ship,
Comfortable passenger space for about 8? + 1 Brawn
Cargo space capable of providing life support under emergency situations,
Computer,
Communications
Armor
Engines best available reaction mass.
FLT Engines Fastest of their TL type not really described. Warp come 
closest.
Weapons - None as far as I can recall.
Bridge

Shell-Person:
Skills (Dependant on job)
Typical of Brain-ship:
Navigation
Ship op.
Sensor op.
Computer op.
Engineer
Communications op.

Advantages:
Present every where on the ship at will
Complete control of ship
Increased life span (several centuries)
Ally almost always: "Brawn" a (who deals with everything a normal crew 
would that the Ships Brain can not)The "Brawn" is, in their own right, a 
highly trained scout, specializing in being a Brainships partner.
Does not sleep? Can't remember if this is true.

Disadvantages:
Duty to "Central" sometimes hazardous as long as in debt
Debt.... millions of credits - training, the ship, maintenance, fuel, 
upgrades etc.
Sessile on planet surfaces?
Disembodied Brain
   (higher TL's may allow for remotely controlled *cough* "fully 
functioning" human form robotic bodies _The City Who Fought_?)
Social Stigma?

Missions pay credit to the ship that can be used for anything from 
changing the color of the cargo compartment walls to paying off the 
debt. "Central" has a vested interest in keeping the ships in debt, but 
they are very honest.

What all this would cost???