[gurps] Brainships in GURPs 3ed

[Wyrm]

Troy Guffey wrote:
> Wyrm wrote:
>> 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
> 
> Not all shell-persons go into brainships.  Some are station-managers, like 
> Simon from /The City Who Fought/.  Other's run bases on planets.  And there 
> are hints of other work where it is an advantage to tightly integrate 
> computers with a human brain, like lawyers, or science.

I did say skills depended on the job. :)

> 
> There are also some dedicated combat brainships.  Those have two brawns, a 
> commander and a "gunner".  And even "unarmed" brainships have short-range 
> utility weapons like external mount cutting lasers.  (/....Searched/)

I have only re-read _The Ship Who Sang_ so far, large scale factories, 
cities (Regulus base for example) are mentioned as having brains.

> 
> Nancia from /Partnership/ had a hyperspace drive in addition or maybe 
> instead of a warp drive.

_The Ship Who Sang_ ends with the installation of a new super efficient 
power plant (Atomic power BTW) that will allow the FTL drive to be used 
in "high gear". Reducing a 4 week trip to 2 days, unfortunately thats 
about all that describes the mechanism of interstellar travel.

> 
>> 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.

Does not sleep is a valid advantage for any Shell-person in Helva's 
class or before. Ships numbered higher than 900? may sleep as mentioned 
else thread for 2-3 hours.(A guess based on: ~17 Shell-persons 
graduating per year)

 From _The Ship Who Sang_ Sensory inputs were built into the final 
shells in the beginning of the program. These were removed as 
unnecessary when they put the Shell-person into their final shell at the 
same time they were put into their job placement. After an incident 
where 5 Brainships were hijacked and the shells removed from their 
ships, resulting in insanity to one Shell-person and trauma to 3 others 
due to sensory deprivation, the shells lacking the inputs were fixed, 
and all shells after that were equipped.

>>
>> 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_?)

The Brawn may be assigned and not chosen as part of the Duty, though 
assigned Brawns are temporary, the longest assignment described as being 
two years. Of course there is a fine if the Ship dissolves a partnership.

> 
> Tia was the one who "invented" the human-form remote bodies.  Bought up the 
> company and pushed R&D to make them, anyway.

That is another thing... A Brainship can go from being massively in debt 
to filthy rich.
> 
>> Social Stigma?
> 
> No.  Maybe a reaction penalty to people who don't think about them being a 
> person.  It's considered VERY rude to talk to a shell-person like they are 
> an AI.

I would make sense that in the first decades of the program that there 
might be a backlash against them, social or religious. By the time of 
_The Ship Who Sang_ there were only a few individuals that saw 
Shell-people as freaks or machines.

Helva did not sleep and at one point wished that she could have that 
release, so maybe the ability to sleep was restored to later 
Shell-people for mental health reasons.

> 
>> 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???
> 
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