In The Eight Worlds (my Traveller-like game), a starship can be in
any one of six states of readiness. The nature, consequences, and
transition times between these states are:
DOWN- Cold, lifeless, inert, and covered with dust:
"Well, she flew pretty good ten years ago, but she's been sitting
in the shed since then."
COLD- On battery power and ready for opperational use.
"We rented a 'dozer an' pushed 'er out to the pad. 'Arry filled the
air tanks an put new filters in the lifesystem. Got a bit covered with
sludge an 'e's not to 'appy bout that let me tell ya. Arnie poked 'round
around Engineering an' says that looks pretty good. 'Arold replaced some
cracked boards in the avionics suite. Sheila put new seat covers on all
all the crash couches. We put 'er on battery power and nothing broke so
I guess she's OK. The whole job took about three weeks where's our cash?"
RESERVE- Fusors up, drives ready, ship pre-flighted and on internal
power. Reserve consumes a detectible but negligable amount of fuel and
resources. Reserve status also requires a small maintenance crew,
whisically refered to as the 'anchor watch'.
"Right boys, this is an old ship, no telling what we'll find, let's
tear this thing apart ourselves.
"Johnathan!"
"Aye Cap'n?"
"Go through the ENTIRE Engineering checklist before you pump down
the fusors and drives, and make sure the power conditioning equipment
downstream of the convertors is clean. I don't trust this Arnie person
one bit. Give me a call before you warm and flash the fusors so we can
co-ordinate things up on the bridge.
" Ensign Viggens!"
"Yes sir!"
"Take a look at the lifesystem and see if this 'Arry fellow filled
the tanks with oxygen. And check to make sure he didn't mount the filters
in the solid waste unit in backwards. Remember what happened last time.
"B'son Dgai!"
"Yes Captain?"
"Reboot the bridge hardware WITH the diagnostics option which this
'Arold fellow so conveniently forgot and check the antenna feed lines on
the fire radar. I'll bet those fools used solder!
"Ensign Peters!"
[Sultry voice] "Sir?"
"These crash couch covers are nylon, they'll burn like candles.
I want 'em replaced by the time we're on Low Standby.
[Outraged sultry voice] "Sir! Replacing them will take a week!"
"Don't worry, we've got the time."
o[Sultry voice] "Sir, may I ask a question?"
"Yes Ensign."
[Sultry voice] "How come the women always get the boring jobs?"
"Ensign Peters, Navy Regulations are not to be questioned."
LOW STANDBY- Engineering systems on line at low power, ship ready to
lift after drives and fusors have been warmed up and pre-takeoff checklist
has been completed. Low Standy consumes moderate amounts of fuel (about
1% what is used in normal opperations) to run the fusor and to circulate
through the various cooling systems.
"Bridge, Engineering, Johnathan here, ready to flash the fusors."
"Alert, this is the Bridge, all crew to damage control stations and
acknowledge."
[jumble of acknowledgements]
"B'son, your board?"
"Green board Captain."
"Engineering, Bridge, go ahead with the fusors."
"Aye Cap'n."
CLOOOOOOONK!
"Fusors up, engaging convertors."
PNINNNG!
"Convertors up, 101% nominal, batteries on charge, applying power to
drive coils."
TOOKA TOOKA TOOKA!
"Fusors, convertors, and drives are at Low Standby Cap'n, everything
looks nominal."
"Good work Master Johnathan.
"Alert, Crew, secure from damage control stations. Begin pre-takeoff
checklist, I want this ship off the ground in an hour.
"Ensign Peters, where are those new seat covers!"
[Hurt sultry voice] "They should have been delivered by now Captain.
Oh, look I see the truck arriving now. Permission to leave the bridge?"
"Granted."
STANDBY- Ready for takeoff. Even though the drives are not running
(in fact, in the Eight Worlds, fusion drives can not be used if the
external atmospheric density is greater than 1.0E-15 atoms/cc or they
will explode, BOOM, with a consequent reduction in the ship's opperational
capabilities. Atmospheric flight is accomplished through the use of
thermal scramjets driven by heat from the fusor), Standby consumes
considerable amounts of fuel, about 10% what is used in normal opperations,
but a ship can be lifted from Standy in the time it takes to spool the
lifters.
A ship can also be lifted from Low Standby in an emergency. This
involves omitting the pre-takeoff checklist, and thus any chance of
discovering if there is something wrong with the vessel (In Eight Worlds
game mechanics, I roll dice before each liftoff to determine if there
is a malfunction in any of the ship systems. This chance depends on
the quality of the vessel. If the crew perform their pre-takeoff
checklist, they get a chance, dpependant on the relevant skills, to
detect and prevent the malfunction before it occurs. If they fail to
do this, they must prevent the malfunction after it occurs, which is
considerably more difficult and entertaining.)
[Sultry voice] "Sir, that's not the truck from the chandlery, it's
a truckload of Plieades Federation death cyborgs. Ick."
"Alert! Secure for lift! Pilot! Hit it!"
Cloonk.
"No! I meant hit the throttles!"
Ting.
"B'son, execute a liftoff, full thrust, NOW!"
THOOM ROAR POWER LIFT ALL SORTS OF GOOD STUFF!
[The entire crew] "Grunt"
"Launch plus eight seconds, altitude 1280 meters, speed 320 meters
per second."
"Bridge, Engineering, Johnathan here, I think..."
SPUTTER DIE KAPUT
"... that we might have a problem."
"Can you fix it?"
"Altitude 3980 meters, speed 220 meters per second."
"Johnathan?"
"Altitude 5680 meters, speed 120 meters per second."
"Working on it Cap'n."
"Altitude 6300 meters, speed 0 meters per second."
"Johnathan, better hurry."
"Altitude 5680 meters, speed negative 120 meters per second."
"B'son, what's our estimated time to impact?"
"Hard to say sir, it depends heavily on aerodymanic effects,
and whether our trajectory carries us into that mountain range over
there. Altitude 3980 meters, speed negative 220 meters per second."
"B'son, I want an answer!"
"Sir, I gave you an answer. Perhaps your request was
insufficiently specific."
"Damn Kiwade and their crazy sense of humor! Why couldn't I
have found a Human pilot?"
"I can't imagine. Altitude 1280 meters speed negative 320
meters per second impact in 3.84..."
"JOHNATHAN!"
"Lifters ready Cap'n"
"B'SON!"
THOOM ROAR POWER LIFT ALL SORTS OF GOOD STUFF CAN THEY MAKE IT
IN TIME SEE IF YOU CAN CALCULATE THE APPROXIMATE SURFACE GRAVITY OF
THE PLANET AND THE APPROXIMATE FULL THRUST OF THIS SHIP FROM THE
INFORMATION GIVEN ABOVE!
bounce
"Altitude 100 meters speed 300 meters per second. Do you wish
me to strike the throttles for good measure?"
"NO!"
[Sultry voice] "Captain? Ground control wants to know why we
took off without clearance."
FULL- Opperational at full power. In Eight Worlds ship opperations
Full power is only used during manuvers or combat. During the long
10-20 hour coast out to the jump limit the ship is usually dropped
back down to Reserve.
[Sultry voice] "Captain? I've found the seat covers I ordered.
Special padded seat covers made from fireproof Nomex cloth with
integral thermal control matting."
"Very good Ensign Peters, let's see them."
"PAISLEY!!!"
[Hurt sultry voice] "It was the only color they had."
[Captain stomps out of the bridge, in as much as it is possible
to stomp in zero g]
"Thanks for the idea B'son."
"Oh, don't mention it. Got any fish?"
Bringing a Ship Up is an ancient ritual, refined by 1500 years of
tradition. I can, in fact, re-construct the elements of this ritual
for anyone who is interested.
Paul R. Gazis
[email removed] or
[email removed] or
something like that