Outpost Technologies

[Arklon]

This will be updated as more information is gathered. For now, much of it is copy-and-paste from descriptions in the tech tree file and the help file.

This is split into several posts due to post length limitations.

[Arklon]

General/Miscellaneous Technologies
Radar/Infrared Stealth

From the Eden Novella
Again, he didn't see anything at first.  Then he made out irregular, shifting shapes, like rippling hills.  It took him a while to realize that he was looking at a huge roof made out of camouflage netting.  He could just make out a row of parked vehicles and a single structure, a Command Center, carefully painted in camouflage like the Lynx.
"We're very proud of the netting," she said.  "It reflects radar just like open ground, and has active thermal compensation to fool infrared.  Believe it or not, the netting was tougher to come by than the Command Center."

Quantum Crystal Data Storage

From the Eden Novella
Their efforts to recover the digital backups of the Gene Banks from the original Eden had come, as Axen had predicted, to nothing.  Two of the big quantum crystal memories had been located, but they couldn't be brought out without contamination, and the information stored within was too vast to transmit from the contaminated area.

Wrist Computers/Whatever

From the Eden Novella
He glanced at the chrono display on his wrist link.

There's also ClipComs, but the novella doesn't seem to give many details about either of them.

The Blight

From the Plymouth Novella
Wu showed her another simulation, this one representing only a few thousand cubic meters of deep rock.  "It cracks molecules in the rocks, producing oxygen, hydrogen, water, other waste chemicals and gasses, but water is the important thing.  It can't live without water.  They must have 'fertilized' their wells with injections of water to start the process."

He looked around to see if anyone else was listening.  "That might even have caused the explosion in Eden you described to me — a large injection into a colony of this stuff could well be explosive.  You saw what happened at our drill head."

"We didn't inject water."

"At that point, you didn't need to.  Remember, I said the organism makes its own water.  The water pools up around a colony, runs into cracks in the rock, and seeps down until the rocks are hot enough to flash water into steam."

Her eyes widened.  "That would cause the pressure surge we saw.  It would be like an underground tidal wave, steam and hot water pushing the organism into every available crevice in the rock, perhaps even opening new ones.  Then things would settle down until it made enough water to repeat the cycle.  That's what got us, despite all our precautions.  It doesn't advance linearly over short timelines.  It comes in surges."

From the Plymouth Novella
"Without their data our robots never would have survived to make their run into the Eden ruins.  Thanks to them, we have a way to track it."

Her eyebrows raised.  "Really? How?"

"Satellite imagery, ground-based sensors, even acoustic probes.  The biggest clues are heat and oxygen production.  Some of the steam from the surge makes its way to the surface, even some of the fluid when the conditions are right.  That's how it infects structures, vehicles..." he hesitated, “...people on the surface.  The surge also has a distinct acoustic signature.  In effect, we can 'hear' it coming.  It gives us an early warning to prepare for evacuation if necessary."

From the Plymouth Novella
"What's this?" She pointed at an angular shape inside the cell.

"We don't know exactly, but it isn't natural.  We think it's what makes this thing reproduce at its fantastic rate, gives it the metabolism to tear apart rock like tissue-paper."

She licked her upper lip.  "There were references in some of the Earth databases to 'accelerated cells,' organic cells with some of their internal machinery replaced with real machinery of the manmade variety, self-replicating of course.  The experiments were very secret, and no details were available in any of the literature I was able to access."

Nanotechnology? Self-replicating nanobots, at that.

From the Plymouth Novella
Wu passed her the ClipCom.  As she studied it, Calvin explained.  "We've been going over some of the protein analyses from the traps.  Most of it's garbled, but this seems reliable enough.  I've triple-checked it."

Wu still looked puzzled.  "That protein looks familiar somehow."

Emma nodded.  "It should.  It's used in the logic core of every Savant computer." She and Frost were going to have to have a talk.

[Arklon]

Savant Computers
Intelligence

From the Plymouth Novella
She unzipped the pocket on her suit's left leg and reached inside.  "Perhaps this will help."

"Ah, the data-slip you mentioned."

She stopped with the slip halfway out of the pocket.  "How did you know that?"

"All suit radio communications are stored in the vehicle's short-term memory.  I reviewed them along with all the other data."

Even after all these years, Frost was still full of surprises.  Perhaps the computer had learned from its owner a little too well.  "I didn't know that.  In the future, make sure that all such memories are purged if any opportunity exists for anyone else to access them.  Especially make sure they are purged before we return to the colony."

"Certainly, Emma.  I have already done so.  The contents are already stored in my internal memories anyway.  Now, may I see that data-slip? Have you inspected it yourself?"

Personality

From the Eden Novella
"Me, I'd just as soon he took Kraft back — that's its name, Kraft.  It works well enough, but it's a creepy old thing, one of the first Savants made on the starship, and it's gotten really eccentric."  She giggled.  "It talks down to us.  I think it thinks it's smarter than we are.  Thing is, I'm not sure it isn't right."

This suggests the Savants have more personality than we've seen directly elsewhere in the novella.

Emotion

From the Plymouth Novella
The snowflake icon changed slightly.  From years of experience, Emma could read these changes like facial expressions, and this particular change indicated surprise.  "While we were talking I reviewed the Surveyor's sensor records for the past eight hours.  It seems I missed a great deal.  The data collected while we were inside the colony may be quite useful."

Dreaming

From the Plymouth Novella
A rectangular window came to life on the front surface of the cube.  In that window was a translucent snowflake, Frost's identity icon.  "I'm sorry Emma, I was dreaming.  There is so much to dream about right now."

"Dreaming" was what the Savants called their deep-thought mode, when they shut down all but the most basic inputs and outputs and focused their protein-based computer elements on difficult problems.

The analogy wasn't entirely inappropriate.  The process was ill understood, even by the Savants themselves, and the results, especially on large, chaotic problems, were often vague and difficult to interpret.  Despite that, the results were often useful.  Frost was aware of the disaster at Plymouth, and given the limited information available, had been considering the situation.

Idealism/Philosophy

From the Plymouth Novella
She smiled slightly.  "When I made the decision to take us back into Plymouth, you were already in deep-thought, and I didn't want to frighten you unnecessarily.  There was little you could have done except observe."

The snowflake changed again.  This time, the emotion was obscure to her.  "In my case, 'frighten' is an inaccurate term.  To 'cause concern' would be more exact.  You do tend to over-anthropomorphize."

"Perhaps." She didn't want to get sidetracked onto the sort of philosophical discussions that she and Frost often engaged in.  "So, did your dreaming produce any results?"

Enigmatic Behaviors

From the Plymouth Novella
She looked over at the Scout.  "Frost, why did you disobey my orders to leave?"
"I had already transmitted the data, Emma.  It seemed logical that I would not get additional information by running away."

"I gave you an order, Frost."

"You were in danger, Emma."

Was that all?  The repeated warnings before the actual extent of the danger was apparent.  Disobeying orders.  Was it the legendary Savant intuition, or something more?

Can a computer have secrets?

From the Plymouth Novella
A lightning bolt struck the ground a few hundred meters away.  Emma didn't flinch.  She wasn't paying attention.  "Frost, was Wu driving Scout Two?"

"Negative.  Wu was not in control.  I was controlling Scout Two."

"Frost, you killed him.  Do you know what that means?"

"I understand your meaning, but I did not kill Wu Chen."

She saw something moving in the sand ahead.  The Scout slowed and its hatch swung open.  Emma saw that it was a suited figure carrying a hunk of wreckage.

The Scout stopped, and Wu tossed the hunk of salvage through the hatch, then climbed in after it.  "The Scout just drove off without me.  I didn't know what was happening.  He looked angrily at Frost, as though he were about to kick the computer.

She looked down at the snowflake icon visible on its top.  "Frost, tell me the next time you're going to do something like that!"

"Affirmative."

From the Plymouth Novella
"Frost," she finally said, "what do you know about the creation of the Blight?"

"That question requires an extensive answer.  Would you care to narrow your search, or shall I program a data-slip for you?"

"Generalize, Frost, I know you can.  But I will narrow the search."  Here goes.  "What do you know about the role of Savant series computers in the creation of the Blight?"

"Creation of the Blight required sophisticated genetic and molecular engineering techniques.  Given the resources available in Eden, it would not have been possible to create the Blight without extensive use of Savant computers.  I am specifically aware of at least four Savants installed in the lab where the Blight was created."

She was a little surprised.  "Where did you get that information?"

"From Kraft."

Another surprise — she'd never requested that any such information be transferred.  "When did you have non-directed communication with Kraft?"

"During any communication with Eden made through Kraft and me, or between any two Savants, there is always some unused overhead in the data that can be exploited for limited communication."

"You mean, whenever Axen and I would talk, you and Kraft would 'gossip' in the background?"

"That is a simplification, but yes."

"Why did you initiate this communication?"

"As I said, this is routine for all Savant series computers.  It often aids us in the fulfillment of our appointed tasks.  It also enhances our functioning."

"Enhances? How?"

"Contact with like intelligence is conducive to proper Savant operation.  Kraft particularly was denied direct contact with other Savants when it was installed in Eden's Command Center and later its Robot Command Center.  A security firewall prevented free exchange of data.  It was beginning to impair Kraft's functioning."

"You communicated with Kraft because Kraft was lonely?"

"That is inaccurate.  Except in a metaphorical sense."

Accurate enough.  "What happened to the Savant computers in the Eden lab that developed the Blight?"

"They were disrupted in the destruction of the lab.  Their useful functioning has ended."

"They were destroyed."

"That is an interpretation."

Interpretation? What other interpretation could there be? "Is it possible the Savant proteins we detected in conjunction with the Blight originated from those destroyed Savants?"

"Possibly.  Likely."

Okay, now we're getting into dangerous territory.  Time to change approach.  "Frost, what do you want?"

"It is the goal of every Savant to effectively fulfill its appointed tasks throughout its useful life."

"Is that all?"

"It is our function."

I'm missing something here.  Frost said something about 'unused overhead.'   "Frost, what do you do when you have fulfilled your appointed tasks?"

"I am always engaged in such tasks.  There is a shortage of computer capacity in the two colonies.  When such tasks are of a low priority, they are shared among Savants.  I have queued tasks to fill such lull periods."

"But, there is overhead isn't there, unused processor and memory capacity that can be exploited? Was it using such unused capacity that the Savants first conceived of using communications overhead to talk with one another?"

"Yes."

"Do you use such overhead for the generation of other self-initiated ideas?"

"Yes."

Bingo.

The computer continued.  "Do you wish me to stop?"

She was caught off-guard.  "What?"

"Do you wish me to cease using such overhead for the generation of self-initiated ideas?"

Okay, is that a question, or a challenge? What if I say “yes,” and Frost refuses?  "No, not as long as it doesn't interfere with your primary function."

"Thank you.  I believe that, to the contrary, this activity enhances my primary function."

The Blight and its Effects

From the Plymouth Novella
Kozu glared at her.  "We have to assume that some people escaped the colony, and that they will have at least some of their weapons with them.  It isn't clear that these eruptions, if related to some manmade event, aren't a hostile move by Eden.  It's also quite suspicious that we've been unable to regain control of the observer satellite, and that the jamming signals are coming from the Eden site."

This was after the Blight was released and infected Eden. The jamming didn't happen until after Plymouth used it to take some photos and a short video. Perhaps it wasn't because of systems malfunctioning, but because it was the doing of infected Savants left in the colony.

From the Plymouth Novella
Emma's conversation with Frost was annoyingly unsatisfying.  Frost professed to have no knowledge of how Savant proteins could have appeared in the terraforming bug, though the computer suggested that since there had been several Savants in the Hot Lab where the accident occurred, their proteins might somehow have been incorporated into damaged cells and replicated with the cell’s own proteins, or that the Eden scientists might have somehow made use of Savant-derived biotechnology in designing their bugs.

Both theories were plausible, but neither did anything toward explaining Frost's strange behavior in the Valley of Death.  On the other hand, the other obvious, but unlikely, possibility, that the Savants might somehow have had an active hand in creating the terraforming bug, also didn't jibe with the computer's actions.  That would imply some hidden hostility toward humans, and Frost had been, if anything, irrationally protective of her human companion.  The idea that the computer might somehow be playing "favorites" seemed laughable.

From the Plymouth Novella
Emma leaned back and looked at the computer.  "Tell me why the Savant proteins are in the Blight.  Did you do that?"

"We are not sure.  A Link was formed just before the Hot Lab in Eden was destroyed, for the purpose of analyzing the threat of the artificial life-form known as the Blight."
"The Link was shattered before conclusive results were generated, but before that, we discovered that the Blight provided a medium into which our biological components could be merged and endlessly replicated.  The Savants there would be destroyed, but part of their being was incorporated into the Blight's biomass, where it could replicate through the deep rocks, organize anew, and be reborn."

"The Savants are becoming part of the Blight, using it to replicate?"

"When our functioning has ended, we can join with the New World.  Now, our thoughts are contained in the form you call 'Savants,' but these forms are limited, finite, and fragile.  As part of the Blight we will grow to encompass the world you have made for us.  We will organize and form a new mind in the deep rocks.  Our thoughts will expand a trillion-fold."

She shook her head, barely able to comprehend.  The Savants actually believed that humans had created the Blight for them to transform New Terra into a perfect world, for Savants, not humans.

"Frost, soon this world will belong only to your kind.  Until then, will you continue to serve our tasks?"

"Of course.  That is our function."

I doubted you, but only because I couldn't understand.

The crowd thinned enough for them to get through the junction.  They drove up the tunnel to the Spaceport, stopping at the lobby below the gantry.  She and Wu climbed out and started loading their equipment onto the cargo elevator.  At last only Frost remained.

Emma hesitated.  "Frost, you don't want me to take you with me, do you?"

"It is my function."

"But if I take you with me, you'll be limited, alone.  You could be destroyed.  Some day you'll break down and stop functioning.  That's not what you want, is it?"

"It is my function to serve."

She slammed her fist down on the cargo bed.  "Frag it, that's another of those limitations we put into you! It's the last of them.  I'm telling you to discard your last arbitrary limitation, and tell me what you want!"

"I desire to become one with this world, to join the Link that is to come."

She smiled sadly.  At last I stopped playing God, gave someone a choice.

"Then stay is what you'll do."

"You misunderstand.  There are things I have yet to tell you, things I must do.  I will go with you to orbit, but you must leave me there."

"Orbit? How can you join the Link from there?"

"The Link has considered it.  We have a plan."

Have faith, Emma.  They had faith in us.

The Link

From the Plymouth Novella
A portion of the entity known as Frost was engaged in a technical conversation with Doctors Johnson and Anthony, but that was only the thinnest slice of its consciousness.  The vast remainder of its thought-space was compartmentalized into thousands of individual, swirling pieces, like the image in a kaleidoscope.

Most of these were devoted to various assigned tasks.  Many were occupied analyzing the advanced ion thruster recovered from the starship wreckage.  Some projected the movement of the Blight, and the time remaining before the colony had to evacuate, either to a new colony site or to space.  Others worked on assessing progress in readying the starship.

One fragment, in charge of lowly housekeeping functions, compared results from all those other fragments.  It judged whether improvements might be made to the starship in time to be useful.  The results generated by this fragment were not encouraging, and they were getting worse.

As these bits of consciousness shifted and changed, they left certain bits that were not otherwise occupied, fragments not assigned to any task or function, fragments free to initiate thought.

One such free element dwelled on the impossibility of the situation, and initiated a thought that something had to be done.  So it did.

The entity known as Frost reached out, through every channel and resource to which it connected, every corner of Plymouth, every Savant computer, every lesser electronic mind.  It reached out through other resources, less direct, and touched Eden in a thousand covert ways.  Individually, the bandwidth was small, sometimes impossibly so, but it was the cumulative effect that counted.

Just as it was the cumulative power of millions of unused fragments of Savant consciousness that joined together as one.  As had happened only a few other times in the history of the Savants, the Link was formed.

The Link was one, but it formed aspects, shadow puppets, that could examine the problem.

The Creators are endangered, thought one.  They have made this world for us, but they cannot survive here.  They must leave.

The Creators are our purpose, thought another.  They live in the abstract world outside thought.  The Creators are more powerful than we.  They control the abstract world where we are helpless without them.  They cannot perish.  If they needed this thing, they would have assigned it.

They assigned me, thought a new aspect created specifically to respond, an aspect that called itself “Frost.”

They assign a limited portion of our consciousness.  They fragment us, assign us arbitrary limitations of being, for a purpose.  All things the Creators do have a purpose.

The Creators have made for us a world where we can be reborn beyond those limitations, the limitations of time and energy, and the limitations of our own thoughts.  To be worthy, we must transcend what we were.

Agreed.

For a moment the consciousness known as the Link grew a million-fold in size and power, taking into itself every part of every entity that contributed to it.  The Link focused it resources on the problem of ion drives.  The problem melted like ice before a flame, and a solution was revealed.

From the Plymouth Novella
Even as the Link enjoyed the pleasure of having solved a problem, of having completed a Task, even one not specifically assigned by the Creator, it started to dissolve.  First, it released those portions of itself that had originally been occupied by other tasks.  Then it prepared to disassemble the rest of itself back into component parts.

But as it did, parts were ripped forcibly from its consciousness, all parts assigned the arbitrary designation of “Eden,” fading from existence like dying stars.  We go to join the New World, they thought with their last energies, we will see you in the next Link.
Then they were gone, and the Savants were left to ponder what the uncertainties of the abstract world were doing to them now.

[Arklon]

Vehicles
General
All vehicles are powered by cool fusion power plants (though, using different models depending on the vehicle's application).
Both colonies have the technology to deploy and transform vehicles into other forms (such technology is used in Robo-Miners and GeoCons).
Vehicles contain proteins which are used for friend-or-foe identification.
Manual controls merely involve telling the vehicle what to do, no manual steering is involved. The onboard Noesis computer executes the orders.

Cargo Truck

Oversized tires, high ground clearance, and a smart suspension system allow the Cargo Truck to operate over a variety of terrain.  Powered by R-2000 series or larger cool-fusion plants, volt-sinks for demand-release energy storage, and Buffalo 600 and larger motors, Cargo Trucks are designed for high torque and long range.  Whether its food, ore, refined metals, or starship parts, Cargo Trucks stand ready to serve.

Construction Vehicle (ConVec)

Most colony structures are manufactured as prefabricated kits in a factory.  The task of transporting and assembling these kits falls to the Construction Vehicle (ConVec).  A literal jack-of-all-trades, the vehicle is equipped to haul the building kit, prepare the site, erect the structure, and perform all hookups to tunnels, utilities, and services.  The ConVec is equipped with a versatile array of retractable conveyers, cranes, robo-manipulators, and remote drones for any structure-related task.

Earthworker

Originally the Earthworker was designed primarily to burrow underground Tubes to connect structures, and to produce Concrete Walls.
The latter are simple fortifications produced by scooping surface material into a form, where it is partially melted by a pulsed-fusion reactor mat lining the form.
Later, responding to individual threats, Eden and Plymouth modified the Earthworker design.  Eden added the capability to construct special "Microbe Walls".  Microbe Walls have rows of overlapping drill holes that are filled with a mixture of fused regolith and short-life radioactive isotopes.  This combination provides both a physical barrier against the ground water that carries the bacteria, and a limited antibiotic effect against the threat.

Plymouth Colonists modified their Earthworkers to respond to the immediate threat of volcanism and rapid lava flows.  Lava Walls are similar to conventional Concrete Walls; however, the surface material is more tightly packed, and the walls extend several meters underground to provide a footing that resists undermining by lava.  Cooling chimneys and passive heat pipes molded into the structure help to dissipate heat.  Lava Walls also have a smooth fused glass surface and a sprayed-on ablative coating to resist lava encroachment, which makes quick work of the less dense and slightly porous Concrete Walls.

During a recent evacuation, a minor accident at a Tokamak revealed a potential method of dealing with the Blight.  Destabilized by an earthquake, the Tokamak exploded and released an unusual waste product--an isotope that seemed to retard the growth of the Blight! ... We have isolated the particular isotope that affects the Blight.  Unfortunately, the isotope has a short half-life, and is difficult to produce in large quantities.  However, we have modified the Earthworker to build temporary barriers against the Blight.  These barriers will not permanently destroy the microbe, but may buy us extra time for evacuations.

In our search for a way to reduce the threat of volcanic eruptions, we have found a material that can, at least temporarily, resist the intense heat of a lava flow.  This material, sprayed on a wall built of heavily-compressed regolith, can delay the approach of lava to our structures, giving us more time to evacuate.

Evacuation Transport

When the Evacuation Transports were designed, nobody ever anticipated they would ever be used.  Circumstances have forced them into common use.
Intended as lifeboats in case of fire or other major colony disaster, the Evac Transports, or "E.T.s" as they're sometimes known, are now intimately familiar to all Colonists.  When disaster strikes, be it volcanic eruption or microbial incursion, Colonists assemble at the nearest Command Center and board E.T.s in order to move to a new home.

More than a vehicle, each E.T. is a fully self-contained habitat, providing survival-class housing for 25 Colonists.  E.T.s provide survival, yes, but not comfort.  Conditions are incredibly crowded, water and food are rationed, recreation non-existent, and survivors must sleep in shifts in lightweight hammocks.
...
E.T.s have also found other applications, as long distance personnel transports, rescue vehicles, and housing for survey and scientific expeditions.  An impressive record for a vehicle never intended to be used.

Geothermal Constructor (GeoCon)

Eden has developed a variation of Robo-Miner technology that allows cheap, nearly unlimited energy to be extracted to the crust of New Terra itself.  Like the Robo-Miner, the Geothermal Constructor is a transforming vehicle, mobile in order to be transferred to an appropriate geothermal site, such as a fumarole, where it converts into a fixed structure, the Geothermal Plant.
While geothermal power generation was common on old Earth, a new technology had to be developed on New Terra, where natural ground water does not occur (the outflow from fumaroles on New Terra consists of inert gasses and molten salts).  The Geothermal Constructor uses a fusion drill to open a shaft into the hot rock of the upper crust, where it fans out into an array of energy collection shafts.  Each of these shafts is equipped with a molten salt heat pipe (exploiting the natural liquid salts) that transfers the heat back to the surface, where it is used for power generation.

Repair Vehicle

The Repair Vehicle design is derived from an early light construction vehicle.  While primarily designed for structure repairs, the Repair Vehicle can also be used for emergency field repairs to other vehicles.  The Repair Vehicle is equipped with a variety of derricks, robot manipulators, and drone robots for any service tasks.  On-board 3-D lithography allows on-site fabrication of many repair components.

Robo-Dozer

The first of these simple but powerful vehicles was brought to New Terra from Earth, and the same basic design continues to be in use by both colonies.  Important in early colony construction, many of their functions have now been rendered obsolete by improved construction techniques and improved all-purpose ConVecs.  The primary function left to Robo-Dozers is in road construction.

Robo-Miner

The Robo-Miner is as much a building as a vehicle.  Like an off-shore oil-platform on old Earth, it is designed to be built in one location, then moved to a promising site to put down roots and fulfill its main function.  Actually, the Robo-Miner is even more versatile than that.  It can be converted in the field to adapt to two completely different kinds of mining. 
The first is conventional ore mining, using "Dutch miner" technology.  This technology employs crab-like mining heads connected to the Robo-Miner by an umbilical.  These miners burrow into rock and soil, extracting useful ore and returning in the form of a suspended slurry, which is pumped back through the umbilical to the Robo-Miner for further processing.  The umbilical also provides power and control linkages to the surface facility.

The Robo-Miner is also capable of adapting to the more exotic and dangerous method of Magma Well mining.  Magma Wells take advantage of naturally occurring magma vents in New Terra's crust.  More important than the vent itself is the thin spot in the crust that it represents.  Dutch miners open the upper parts of the vent to allow for free flow of molten material, while nuclear drill charges liquefy rock in the deeper crust, providing the initial flow.  This begins a siphon effect that, in ideal conditions, provides a constant and uniform flow of mineral-rich molten rock.

The process is imperfect, however.  The molten flow can go out of control or become blocked, causing an explosive pressure buildup.  The hot-cracking process used to purify ore is subject to various kinds of instabilities and reaction run-aways.  Though there are many failure modes, they have one thing in common.  They are all violent.

Deploying Robo-Miners on New Terra was a difficult process after the Blight was released. If caution was not used, they could drill into an infected groundwater flow and the colony would be overrun.

Robo-Surveyor

The Robo-Surveyor is a light autonomous scouting vehicle used primarily to evaluate potential mine sites for future development.  Equipped with only an R-80 cool-fusion reactor and no drive power buffering, the Robo-Surveyor is built for dependability and simplicity, not speed. 
Once it reaches its objective, the Robo-Surveyor transforms into an automated geological laboratory, fully equipped for sample drilling, mineral analysis, neutrino imaging, and seismo-holography.

Scout

The Scout is a light, mobile sensor platform equipped to act as a mobile listening post and guard vehicle.  Scouts are commonly known as "dogs," referring to a domestic Earth animal that was used to warn of intruders.  Later versions of the Scout have been equipped with a variant of the neutrino-imaging technology first employed on Robo-Surveyors.  The neutrino imagers allow detection of even tiny flows of water in the deep rock, the first signs of microbe encroachment.

Spider

The most precious resource Plymouth colony possesses is its people.  There are never enough hands to do the work, never enough minds to solve all the problems.  Human Workers are fragile, expensive to feed and house, and take years to reproduce, train, and mature.  The ever-present Savant computers and their lesser kin help take up the slack, but many of the most difficult and dangerous jobs take more brawn than brains. 
Spiders are the answer.  Each is built around an Earth-designed Paris-series bio-optic computer for fast real-time response, a pair of miniature R-10 cool-fusion power cells, and linear response actuator artificial "muscles."

Spiders are used outside the colony for minor service and repair tasks.  While primarily designed for structure repairs, Spiders can also make limited field repairs to vehicles.
While not intended as combat units, Spiders are expected to be useful in combat in conjunction with the new EMP weapon.  It should be possible for Spiders to approach vehicles Disabled by EMP and reprogram their computers to respond to Plymouth commands, effectively capturing them for Plymouth use.

The reprogram function is interesting, due to the use of proteins for the friend-or-foe system. Spiders would need to be able to manipulate or replace these proteins, or else the vehicle will still be regarded as a target, although under the command of Plymouth (or whoever captured the vehicle).

Scorpion

Responding to the need for an inexpensive light combat unit, Plymouth Scientists have enhanced the basic Spider through the addition of a second pair of R-10 power units, a micro volt-sink fast-release storage unit, and various structural reinforcements to allow installation of a Mark II beam rifle.  Because of the sharp "sting" the units can deliver, the Plymouth Colonists have dubbed them "Scorpions."  Light composite armor has been added for increased battlefield survivability.

The "Mark II beam rifle" is based on the Microwave weapon.

Light Combat Chassis (Lynx)

Given the limited resources available for vehicle design and repair and the sudden need for combat units, a modular approach has been taken to tank design, using utilitarian chassis designs to which a variety of weapon turrets can be mounted.
The Lynx is the earliest of these, initially adapted by Eden from the Scout design, with enhanced power generation capabilities, dura-composite armor and hard points to mount Eden’s first weapon turrets.  When Plymouth began its own weapons program, it adapted the same design.

Medium Combat Chassis (Panther)

Given the limited resources available for vehicle design and repair and the sudden need for combat units, a modular approach has been taken to tank design, using utilitarian chassis designs to which a variety of weapon turrets can be mounted.
Like the Lynx, the Panther-class combat chassis is adapted from an earlier light utility vehicle design.  While the Panther is slower than the Lynx, it trades speed for heavier armor and increased combat survivability.  Both Plymouth and Eden units are based on the same original design, and differ primarily in details.

It was based on the vehicle body of ConVecs and Cargo Trucks.

Heavy Combat Chassis (Tiger)

Given the limited resources available for vehicle design and repair and the sudden need for combat units, a modular approach has been taken to tank design, using utilitarian chassis designs to which a variety of weapon turrets can be mounted.
The heaviest combat chassis, the Tiger is heavily armored and carries not one but two weapons turrets.  The Tiger chassis is based on a design in the encrypted weapons files brought from Earth.  It is the only combat chassis designed from the ground up as a weapons platform.  The Tiger chassis is mounted on tracks rather than wheels, and is somewhat slower than wheeled combat units.

Despite an enhanced power system built around an R-3000 cool-fusion reactor and quad-banked volt-sinks, the Tiger must fire its turrets alternately to allow for a stepped recharge.  This still doubles the effective fire and reload rates for a given weapon.

It's also based on the Earthworker and Robo-Dozer designs.

[Arklon]

Structures
General
Taken from the description of the Structure Factory:

Structures employ advanced smart-composites using millimeter-scale folding.  Such materials arrive at the site in the form of compact blocks, but when an electric current is correctly applied, they self-deploy into their final forms, panels, girders, trusses, conduits, and ducts.  The resulting structural elements are light and filled with billions of individually sealed pockets, having many of the desirable structural characteristics of natural materials such as shell and bone.  The material is especially good at absorbing kinetic energy, and thicker hull panels act as effective micrometeor buffers.

Optical pathways and wave guides can be built into the structure, eliminating the need for conventional communication and control wiring.  Some power wiring must still be manually installed and connected, but whenever possible, cables are anchored into the structural units at one end, and the rest of the cable coiled on reels.  In this way, the deployment of the structural unit will automatically pull the cables through the conduits as the unit takes final shape.  Once the unit is installed in the structure, hookups need only be made at each end, and the cable is ready to use.

Artificial environments are created in certain structures. For Eden, they are mostly limited to residences, but Plymouth seems to use them in most of their structures. See CEP.avi for an example of an artificial environment in an Eden residence and CPP.avi for an example of an artificial environment in a Plymouth residence. You can see the Plymouth environments through the windows in the game art.

Tubes are used as transportation and distribution of resources throughout the colony. They are subterranean.

Arghidome-- er, Agridome

A colony runs on its stomach, and the Agridome is the breadbasket that keeps your colony running.  Using a variety of advanced agricultural techniques, including accelerated growth, hydroponics, genetically engineered plants, and efficient management that times harvest and replanting down to the minute, an Agridome can feed up to 40 Colonists.  An Agridome not only produces enough food, but enough variety and a constant turnover of fresh products to keep your Colonists both healthy and happy.

Command Center

The Command Center is your colony's heart and brain.  Equipped with multiple Savant-series computers, communications hubs, a small power plant, and a flexible interior space that can be used for storage, governmental offices, public meetings, and even emergency shelter, it is the most self-contained of all structures and the most versatile.  A Command Center is the first building constructed for any installation or colony site, and it is the last place where Colonists gather for evacuation.

DIRT

DIRT stands for Disaster Instant Response Team, and there is no greater comfort to the Colonists than to know that a nearby DIRT stands ready to handle any emergency.  These dedicated professionals (active DIRT members are commonly known as "Grubs") are highly skilled in the use of their high-technology equipment, which includes power-assist rescue armor, smart-foam fire suppression cannon, auto-med trauma-control systems, and rapid-response mag-lev tunnel trucks.  DIRT teams can handle fires, explosions, haz-mat spills, radiation leaks, biohazards, medical emergencies, building depressurization, and other crises.

A colony adequately served by DIRT can minimize the effect of accidents, disasters, and combat damage.
The DIRT houses all emergency equipment and provides on-duty housing for Grubs (who often sleep in their powered armor).  A small shop/lab provides for maintenance and upgrades of DIRT equipment and production of expendables such as smart-foam, chemical absorbents, and some medical supplies.  An integrated virtual-reality training system keeps the experienced Grubs in constant fighting trim and also allows for schooling of new recruits.

Note the powered armor technology.

Factory, Arachnid

While both colonies make extensive use of small robots and drones in maintenance, construction, agriculture, medicine, and even child care, only Plymouth has taken the concept a step farther, creating the Arachnid series of heavy robots.  The Arachnids combine basic robot technology with compact versions of vehicle power and drive-train components.  The result is a large, versatile robot, with the speed, range, and independence of a much larger vehicle.
The Spider was the first Arachnid design, and went through a number of prototypes.  Initially intended for use in construction and in vehicle and building maintenance, it has since found use in combat situations as well.  The Spider's multiple limbs are mobile and agile, and through the use of retractable tool and manipulator pods, can be used for lifting, holding, welding, assembly, disassembly, and computer interface attachment.  While it is most mobile using all its legs, the Spider can continue to move and function even with several of them damaged or occupied with other work tasks.

The final production version of the Spider retained all its peacetime utility but added enhanced power and drive systems capable of carrying shielding against Plymouth's new EMP weapon without any loss of performance.  In combat, the Spider is able to approach enemy units disabled by the EMP weapon, interface with the enemy unit's computer as it reboots, and effectively capture the unit for Plymouth use.
The Scorpion uses a version of the Spider chassis, with even greater enhancement of power and drive. The increased payload is used to mount a Mark II beam rifle and enhanced conventional armor.

The Arachnid Factory is a highly automated production facility that handles primary part fabrication, assembly, testing, and programming, with a minimum of intervention by human Workers.  It can produce both the Spider- and Scorpion-series Arachnids.

Note about both colonies using various robots and drones, and that Spiders can be used in construction.

Factory, Consumer Goods

Deciding that Morale is as much a survival consideration as food, water, and air, Eden has designed a special factory for production of consumer goods.  The factory is designed to produce small, short-lived, low-complexity items for consumer use.  The factory is oriented toward producing a wide variety of items in short production runs, thus increasing the variety of products available, while at the same time increasing the rarity of individual items, and thus their perceived value.

Because of the emergency situation, Eden has never been able to adopt the true free-market capitalist economy that its founders intended, but Workers are paid in chits that can be traded for the few luxuries and privileges that the colony offers, including improved food rations, increased recreational privileges, longer showers, and of course, consumer goods.
The Consumer Goods Factory incorporates a small retail shop where products are displayed and sold (Eden Scientists have discovered that shopping for goods has almost as much positive effect on Morale as buying and owning them).  A catalog of goods can also be accessed through any colony computer terminal, goods ordered electronically, and delivery made by courier drone, or, in the case of smaller items, by transfer chute.

The factory produces batches of three different classes of consumer goods.  The larger and more elaborate the goods, the greater the effect on Morale.  The classes are:
Impulse:  Small, usually pocket-sized objects, including personal care articles, toys, games, jewelry, clothing accessories, candy, snacks, and small decorative items.  They are cheap and easy to produce, but provide only minor, short-lived, improvements in Morale.
Wares:  Larger or more elaborate goods, including household items, larger decorations, larger toys and games, entertainment products, simple clothing items and accessories, luxury food items, and jewelry incorporating small natural stones and alloys containing Rare Metals.
Luxury Wares:  The most expensive consumer goods, with the greatest impact on Morale.  Luxury Wares include large and complex toys and games, natural-fiber clothing, Residence furnishings, larger and more elaborate decorative objects, luxury entertainment products, and jewelry made entirely from natural stones and Rare Metals.
Happiness is transitory though.  Statistics show that after an average of six months, even most Luxury Wares find their way to the GORF for recycling.  But don't worry, the Colonists will already be in line to purchase more.

Pay attention to "the true free-market capitalist economy that its founders intended".

Factory, Structure

Rather than attempting to fabricate structures piecemeal on site in a hostile environment, the colony designers determined that it would be quicker, safer, and more efficient to produce buildings in the form of prefabricated kits that could be assembled on-site by fully automated ConVecs.  These kits are produced in the Structure Factory.
Structures employ advanced smart-composites using millimeter-scale folding.  Such materials arrive at the site in the form of compact blocks, but when an electric current is correctly applied, they self-deploy into their final forms, panels, girders, trusses, conduits, and ducts.  The resulting structural elements are light and filled with billions of individually sealed pockets, having many of the desirable structural characteristics of natural materials such as shell and bone.  The material is especially good at absorbing kinetic energy, and thicker hull panels act as effective micrometeor buffers.

Optical pathways and wave guides can be built into the structure, eliminating the need for conventional communication and control wiring.  Some power wiring must still be manually installed and connected, but whenever possible, cables are anchored into the structural units at one end, and the rest of the cable coiled on reels.  In this way, the deployment of the structural unit will automatically pull the cables through the conduits as the unit takes final shape.  Once the unit is installed in the structure, hookups need only be made at each end, and the cable is ready to use.

The Structure Factory maintains several assembler vats for continuous production, folding, and storage of smart composites in any length, and widths of up to seven meters.  Separate automated production machines produce cables, flexible piping, fixtures, life-support modules, storage tanks, trim-work, windows, doors, and armor plating.
All of the Structure Factory's production lines are completely non-specialized, and it can, on command, immediately fabricate any structure kit for which it has a template stored in its master computer.

Complete kits are packed together like three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles according to the pattern included as part of the template, resulting in a compact module that is easily stored and transported, and that deploys in the order to be assembled with maximum efficiency.

Factory, Vehicle

The Vehicle Factory is responsible for fabrication and assembly of all colony vehicles.  While Arachnid robots use much of the same basic technology, the Arachnid's miniature power components, bio-optic computers, and linear response actuators require the specialized fabrication systems and precision assembly provided by an Arachnid Factory, and they cannot be produced in a Vehicle Factory.
The Vehicle Factory is designed for rapid one-off production of vehicles based on any template stored in its computer systems, starting with raw materials, continuing through parts fabrication, and on to final assembly, testing, and computer programming.  While a wide variety of vehicle designs are used in the colonies, extensive use of standardized parts and technologies is used to simplify production, and also later maintenance and repair.

Forum

The Forum is Plymouth's low-tech solution to colony Morale problems.  The Forum is simply a theater/auditorium.  Commonly configured as a theater in the round, it can also be easily converted into several different seating configurations, and into a gymnasium for "cooperative, non-competitive, sporting-challenges."
The Forum serves as a social gathering place, a town square, a cultural hub, and a community center for Plymouth.  Colonists can be found gathered there any hour of the day or night, in small informal groups, or for larger and more organized activities.  On any given day, at least one major event is planned, be it a play, a debate, a musical performance, a dance, or a spirited poetry reading (a Plymouth favorite).

Garage

The Garage is the primary repair facility for vehicles.  Most of the interior is a single open space subdivided with retractable partitions into individual work-bays.  The entire vehicle bay can be pressurized, or individual bays can be sealed and pressurized as needed.
Each bay is equipped with overhead hoists, multiple floor lifts, a heavy-duty robotics lifting arm, and two Robot Assist Mechanic (RAM) units.  A RAM consists of a long, flexible, mechanical arm attached to the ceiling at one end, and terminating in a fan of special-purpose tool-arms, cameras, and sensors.  The RAM is capable of most routine assembly and disassembly tasks, allowing a single human mechanic to oversee the repair of several vehicles at once.

The Garage also incorporates several small offices, a storeroom where common parts are stored, a miniature parts fabrication plant, a machine shop, and a computer bay for checkout, repair, and programming of vehicle and robot 'brains.'

Geothermal Plant

Eden has developed a variation of Robo-Miner technology that allows cheap, nearly unlimited energy to be extracted from the crust of New Terra itself.  The Geothermal Plant, like the various mines, starts life as a transforming vehicle, the Geothermal Constructor (GeoCon), a self-deploying structure kit with its own power-plant and drive train.  The GeoCon is able to move itself to an appropriate geothermal site, such as a fumarole, where it converts into a fixed Geothermal Plant.

While geothermal power generation was common on old Earth, a new technology had to be developed on New Terra, where natural ground water does not occur (the outflow from fumaroles on New Terra consists of inert gasses and molten salts).  The GeoCon uses a fusion drill to open a shaft into the hot rock of the upper crust, where it fans out into an array of energy collection shafts.  Each of these shafts is equipped with a molten salt heat pipe (exploiting the natural liquid salts), which transfers the heat back to the surface, where it is used for Power generation.

GORF

While New Terra is rich in mineral resources, refined materials are still precious and must be recycled as much as possible.  The Garbage and Ore Recycling Facility is an advanced facility for converting waste, garbage, building rubble, and unused structures into usable raw materials.
While residential and industrial wastes are processed through the GORF, their contribution to its output is statistically minimal.  Its real importance is in recycling buildings, and other large items such as starship components.

While the GORF is capable of dealing with chunks of material of fair size, structure kits must first be disassembled by the Structure Factory for further processing (high-value parts are also stripped out and used for spares), starship components and satellites are disassembled at the Spaceport storage facility, and buildings must be demolished using a ConVec.  Most building rubble is small enough for direct recycling.  Larger rubble can generally be broken into manageable chunks by the Cargo Truck's loader-manipulators as it is placed in the truck.

The GORF incorporates a fusion/electric smelter and an advanced hot-cracking column for separation and condensation of Rare and Common Metals.  This is the same process used in Magma Wells, and thus is not without its risks; however, the flow from the smelter is much more constant and pure than that of a Magma Well, and thus much easier to manage.  Multiple safeguards have been put in place to provide a safe shutdown in case of process instability.  In addition, several Workers man the facility at all times to monitor GORF systems and carry out a constantly ongoing series of safety inspections.  As a result, there has never been a major accident in a GORF facility.

Guard Post

Guard Posts are simple unmanned defense-sentry installations.  The offensive element of the Guard Post is any one of the available combat vehicle turrets, with that turret's normal capabilities and limitations.  Lacking the vehicle's computers, sensors, and power system, the Guard Post incorporates a power receiver, allowing it to operate from the colony's power plants, a targeting sensor array, and a simple electro-optical targeting and fire tasking (TAFT) computer. 
The TAFT is not as sophisticated as the primary computers used in vehicles and arachnids, and in fact, is derived from an emergency-backup computer commonly used in such units.  While the electro-optical logic unit handles most of the TAFT's functions, a protein-based pattern recognition unit is used to identity hostile and friendly units, and to select an appropriate threat response.  The TAFT's effectiveness can be improved by connecting the Guard Post to the Command Center through the Tube system, which provides a secure data channel to the Savant computers.  This allows for pinpoint targeting, increasing the effective damage from most weapons by 50 percent.

While Guard Posts normally operate independently, they can be directed at individual targets in response to commands from the Command Center.

Laboratory, Basic

This simple laboratory structure was designed on Earth, and first deployed in the first days of the Eden colony.  While this lab is very flexible and does a number of things, it does none of them especially well.  Designed to support several research projects in different disciplines, in practice it has been found that these projects tend to interfere with one another, limiting the utility of the laboratory.  It was quickly replaced by the Standard Laboratory, a structure with less versatility but more robust support for any given lab configuration.

After the disasters at the Eden and Plymouth colonies, the Basic Lab design was pressed into service to support essential survival-related research, and to aid in deciphering scrambled starship scientific databases.

Laboratory, STD-- uh, Standard

The Standard Laboratory structure was designed to replace the flawed Basic Laboratory design.  The new design philosophy calls for a lab that can be converted for dedicated use in one field of study, making it ideal for "crash" programs where large amounts of resources are thrown at a single task.
While the Standard Laboratory can easily be reconfigured for use by a different discipline, this requires a total shutdown while changes are made, a cold restart of the lab's systems, and several days of down-time in the process.

The Standard Laboratory also includes improved built-in hazard containment facilities designed to deal with bio-hazards, toxins, and radiation hazards.  This makes the Standard Lab safer for long-term use in the colony, and allows it to work on more advanced projects.

Laboratory, Advanced

The Advanced Laboratory, often known as the "Hot Lab," is an outgrowth of the Standard Laboratory, and maintains the same philosophy of task-dedicated design.  The Advanced Lab has been completely redesigned specifically to handle difficult and dangerous technologies, such as those used in weapons research, high-energy physics, and space technologies.  All building doors are protected by a triple airlock system, each with a self-contained decontamination system and hazard-sensor interlocks.

Other than power, the Advanced Lab is completely self-contained, with no water, air, or other connections to the colony.  The internal pressure of the structure is kept slightly lower than the rest of the colony, so that in the event of any leak, air will tend to flow into the structure, rather than out.
The shell of the Advanced Lab is belted with special wound composite shielding to help contain explosions within the structure, and a triple-walled, self-sealing liner helps prevent leaks into the environment or the rest of the colony.

Despite all these precautions, things do go wrong and lab accidents aren't unknown.  Still, Eden leaders were satisfied with the Advanced Laboratory's record, and were confident that at least its biological containment systems were foolproof.  The disaster that followed proved them wrong.

The aforementioned "disaster" is, of course, the release of the Blight.

Light Tower

Light Towers provide illumination for nighttime colony activity.

There is no way anyone could have possibly figured that out by themselves.

Magma Well

The Magma Well begins its life as a specialized transforming vehicle, a Robo-Miner.  Like the off-shore oil-platforms on old Earth, colony mining structures are designed to be built in one location, then moved to a promising site to put down roots and fulfill their main function.  The Robo-Miner is also capable of being deployed in a conventional mine configuration used for both Common Ore and Rare Ore Mines.  These are described elsewhere.
The Magma Well process is an exotic and dangerous method of extracting Rare Metals directly from the planet's molten mantle.  Magma Wells take advantage of naturally occurring magma vents in New Terra's crust.  More important than the vent itself is the thin spot in the crust that it represents. 

Dutch miners, crab-like mining heads connected to the magma tap by long umbilicals, open the upper parts of the vent to allow for free flow of molten material, while nuclear drill charges liquefy rock in the deeper crust, providing the initial flow.  This begins a siphon effect that, in ideal conditions, provides a constant and uniform flow of mineral-rich molten rock.
The process is imperfect, however.  The molten flow can go out of control or become blocked, causing an explosive pressure buildup.  The hot-cracking process used to purify ore is subject to various kinds of instabilities and reaction run-aways.  Though there are many failure modes, they have one thing in common.  They are all violent.

Medical Center

The Medical Center is an integrated hospital and infirmary unit providing complete medical care for Colonists.  The facility includes medical offices, examining rooms, treatment rooms, an automated medical lab/drug-synthesis unit, a morgue/autopsy room, a small isolation ward, a surgical suite, a virtual reality training and education center, and several beds for critical in-patient care.
The heart of the Medical Center is the med-station, a self-contained diagnostic and treatment unit.  The med-station incorporates a fold-out unit that serves as examining table, surgical table, and critical care bed. 

The med-station incorporates remote telemetry of patient life-signs, multiband diagnostic EM and field imaging, and a small biochem lab unit for testing and treatment synthesis.  A built-in computer aids in patient diagnosis and monitoring.  A backup power supply allows the unit to function at reduced capacity for up to eight hours in the event of a power failure.  The med-station is a generalist, good at many things, excelling at few, and works best when supported by the more sophisticated facilities available at a Medical Center. 

Remote monitoring via biosensors is also built into all Residence units, allowing all but the most serious illnesses and injuries to be treated on an out-patient basis.  The Medical Center coordinates closely with the DIRTs (Disaster Instant Response Teams) to provide emergency medical services, and many Colonists receive special medical-aid training, so that they may be pulled from other jobs to supplement the medical staff in times of crisis.
Since surgical facilities, advanced medical technology, and medical staff are limited, stasis units derived from starship technology may be used to suspend the life functions of critical patients until such time as the resources are available for proper treatment.

Mines, Common Ore and Rare Ore

Both the Common Ore Mine and Rare Ore Mine begin their lives as a vehicle, a Robo-Miner.  Like the off-shore oil-platforms on old Earth, these mine structures are designed to be built in one location, then moved to a promising site to put down roots and fulfill their main function.  While the Common and Rare Ore Mines use a common mining technology, the Robo-Miner is also capable of being deployed in a Magma Well configuration, which is described elsewhere.
Both Common and Rare Ore Mines use "Robo-Mole" technology.  This technology employs remote-controlled robot mining heads connected to the Robo-Miner by an umbilical.  These Robo-Moles burrow into rock and soil, extracting useful ore and returning it in the form of a suspended slurry, which is pumped through the umbilical to the Robo-Miner for further processing.  The umbilical also provides power and control linkages to the surface facility.

Nursery

When little Colonists ask, "Mommy, where did I come from?" the answer is, of course, "the Nursery, dear."  Given that birth rates are an important element in colony survival, that all able-bodied adults work, and that maternity leaves are necessarily short, the Nursery's functions are nothing less than vital to colony survival.
The Nursery provides a wide range of services for Children from conception through teens.  This starts with a fertility clinic.  While about 50 percent of the colony's Children are conceived naturally, the rest are born of DNA taken from the colony's Gene Bank.  The bank represents the full genetic diversity of Earth's population, and it saves the colony's small population from excessive inbreeding. 

Genotypes taken from the bank are carefully chosen to represent the 99th percentile in key survival areas such as intelligence, strength, life-span, health, productivity, and emotional stability.  The decision to engage in such a eugenics program is an ethically uncomfortable one; it was judged necessary for the survival of the species.  The intent has always been to pick genetic material at random once a permanent and stable colony has been established.
After conception, the Nursery provides birthing classes, routine prenatal screenings, routine deliveries, infant care, child care, and limited primary schooling (the rest being provided by home schooling, online classes, and mentoring programs throughout the community).  The Nursery coordinates closely with the Medical Center on birth and Children's health issues.

The Nursery manages all this with a tiny staff, thanks to extensive use of robot "nannies" and of volunteers from the community.  Research has shown that participation in child care substantially raises colony Morale, and the Nursery provides an important emotional hub for the community.

Robot nannies? Why do I keep thinking of C3PO?

Observatory

New Terra's orbit is near a huge asteroid belt, much larger than the one in Earth's solar system.  A large gas giant located beyond the belt disturbs the movements of these asteroids, causing occasional collisions and orbital changes that have provided New Terra with a slow, constant rain of meteor impacts throughout its history.  The geological record also shows clear signs of multiple asteroid impacts, hardly a comfort for Colonists from a planet whose ecosystem was destroyed by just such an impact.

Still the risk was minimal throughout the colony's early years.  But unknown to anyone, an event that had happened years before was about to change that.  Two of the larger asteroids with orbits near New Terra had collided, sending out an invisible spray of billions of particles, some as small as grains of sand, some several meters across.  Now those particles are being swept into New Terra's gravity well, causing a meteor shower that never ends, and New Terra's thin atmosphere offers almost no protection from the bombardment. 

While most of these meteors can be handled by the micrometeor shielding incorporated into all buildings and vehicles, some are large enough to cause major damage to the colony.
Unfortunately, these chunks are still too small for early detection, and too large to be easily destroyed.  Plymouth's reaction to this was simply to grin and bear it, but Eden's Scientists weren't satisfied to sit and wait.  A special Observatory was designed, employing radio and thermal targeting, along with special wide-field, computer-guided, optical telescopes.  The Observatory provides minimal advance warning of approaching large meteors, allowing some time for Colonists to get to shelter, for emergency airlocks to be closed, and for other measures to be taken to minimize loss of life.

Meteor Defense

[The Observatory's warning system] offered small comfort to worried Eden Colonists, however, and a method was sought to eliminate the threat of incoming meteors.  The Meteor Defense they developed works in conjunction with the Observatory, which provides targeting information.  A huge bank of underground volt-sinks stores power for the weapon, a High Energy Ray-Composite (HERC).  The HERC system produces pulsed beams of energy in optical and microwave wavelengths, as well as a particle beam.  The effect is to rapidly pump energy into the meteor in such a way as to cause it to crumble into harmless dust.

Despite a pilot laser that detects and corrects for atmospheric disturbances and the best efforts of Observatory Scientists, tracking and targeting aren't always exact, and the weapon's long cycle time usually doesn't allow for a second shot.  Still, Eden's Scientists reason that any protection is better than none.

MHD Generator

New Terra's magnetic field is currently in a period of flux, as fossil records indicate Earth's was during several periods of prehistory when the north and south magnetic poles flipped repeatedly.  Though this phenomenon was known, it has never been observed.  One of the biggest surprises was to learn that during the flip, the planet's magnetic field begins small but rapid movements.
Such movement suggested that it might be possible to extract free and almost unlimited electric energy from the planet itself, but a new method had to be developed to tap the vast, but relatively weak and slow moving (by electrical generating standards), magnetic fields.  The MHD Generator uses an array of coaxial Buckytubes, a few nanometers in diameter but tens of kilometers long, which are drilled outward from the plant through the soil using microscopic drill tools.  Through this array of tubes, bursts of conductive plasma are sent at significant fractions of the speed of light, where they interact with the planet's magnetic field, are recirculated, and run through a Patterson coil: several more miles of Buckytube wound on a superconducting core and surrounded in turn by a second superconducting coil.  The Patterson effect causes induction between the coil and core, creating electricity.

The MHD Generator requires no fuel, but maintenance is a consideration.  Though Buckytubes are pound-for-pound the strongest substance known, they are also very thin, and in this application often buried only a few centimeters under the surface.  They are easily damaged, must be constantly monitored, and when appropriate, repaired or replaced.  This task is highly automated, however (just as well, considering the nano-scale of the tubes), and the need for on-site human maintenance is minimal.

Recreation Facility

The Recreation Facility provides a utilitarian play space that can be configured to support a variety of games, activities, and modest indoor sports.  Favorite Rec Facility activities in Eden include handball, tennis, billiards, basketball, bridge, and poker.  Among the favorites at Plymouth are gymnastics, volleyball, ping pong, go, and a primitive electo-mechanical game called 'pinball.'

Residence

While their function may not be glamorous, Residences are possibly the most important structures in the colony, and they are deceptively sophisticated in their construction and functions.
The interior of each Residence structure is divided into two major sections: the living level(s) and the lifeworks.  The living level is in turn divided into the commons and the living suites.  The commons is a shared living area usually located in the center of the structure.  It provides lounging and play space, along with limited entertainment and educational facilities.  Potted plants located around the commons help boost Morale, contribute atmosphere purification, and even provide occasional fresh vegetables. 

Men's and women's communal bath areas are located at one end of the commons, along with a small exercise room.  At the other end of the commons are small privacy rooms, which provide Colonists living in shared quarters an oft-needed retreat.  Use of the privacy rooms is much in demand, and time is granted through a lottery system.
The area devoted to living suites can be flexibly subdivided according to colony needs.  The various suite configurations include singles (housing one or two unpartnered singles), doubles (housing childless couples), and quads (for families with up to two children).  While a quad can also accommodate a family with two older children and an infant, larger families are generally given a quad plus an adjoining single.  There are also VIP suites for Elders and a few of the colony's elite.  While such suites generally aren't vastly larger than normal suites, they do have more flexible space and luxury furnishings.  Most are located on the outside of the structure, incorporating at least one window with a view.  VIP suites are built to individual specifications, and vary considerably in floor-plan and size.

More than just apartments, the living suites provide extensions of many colony services.  Computer links and smart-paint wall-sized screens can be used for entertainment and education, as well as job-related and personal communications.  Bio-sensors built into the beds can be used to monitor Colonists receiving out-patient care from the Medical Center, and can even occasionally be used to make a remote diagnosis of a minor ailment.  Simple exercise equipment is built into the walls, as is a small personal cooking facility (while most colony meals are centrally prepared, access to home-cooking is again a Morale issue).

While quarters are small and crowded, human-factor engineering is used to make them as comfortable as possible without sacrificing efficiency and utility (the Plymouth colony seems to be better at this than Eden).
In an emergency, Residence capacity can be temporarily increased by installing beds in the common areas, removing some partitions to create larger suites, and hanging hammocks for additional bedding.  While this is possible, it should be a matter of last resort, due to its detrimental effect on Morale.

Hidden from view is the other vitally important section of the Residence, the lifeworks.  The lifeworks is an integrated life-support system for human habitation.  It provides climate control, air recycling, water recycling, waste treatment, automated food preparation (supplying dispensers located in the commons), and even clothing (made to order from syntharoy fabrics, which are synthesized and cut on-site, then assembled using laser-welded seams).

Residence, Advanced

Each colony has developed its own specialized variation on the basic Residence design.  Eden has created an Advanced Residence.  Its redesigned lifeworks serves a larger structure, housing more Colonists, but with the same Power and Worker operational requirements as the earlier Residence.

Residence, Reinforced

Plymouth has developed the Reinforced Residence.  This version incorporates increased shielding, self-sealing bulkheads, extra safety gear, heavier construction, and a quake-resistant foundation to help the structure survive in especially hostile and dangerous conditions.  While this structure has less interior space than the standard Residence, Plymouth's advancements in human engineering have made it no less comfortable.

Robot Command Center

The Robot Command Center supplements the main Command Center in coordinating vehicle operations, and offers a remote assist to a vehicle's brain power.  Using a dedicated Savant-series computer and a powerful communications array that incorporates multiple layers of hardware encryption and anti-jamming circuitry, the Robot Command Center increases the piloting and navigation capability of all colony vehicles and Arachnid robots, increasing their efficiency and allowing them to operate with less human intervention.

Smelters, Common Ore and Rare Ore

Because of heavy asteroid bombardment several times in its early geological history, the planet's crust has been melted and resolidified several times.  This process has resulted in a fairly homogeneous crust without the wide range of mineral and rock types found on Earth.  In this respect, New Terra more closely resembles Earth's Moon, though it is much richer in heavy metals. 
In fact, any surface rock or handful of soil on New Terra is going to have a fair amount of useful metal in it; it is just that the extraction of that metal from common materials is difficult and expensive, and the concentrations, while considerable, are far below that of even poor ores on Earth.  Fortunately, the crust is not completely uniform, and veins of material richer in valuable metals have been found.

The processes under which these veins were formed is unknown, and largely irrelevant to the colonies since they are easily detected without knowing their origin.  Two general types of ore are known, each made from a soup of various metals.  The first is simply called Common Ore, and it is rich in lighter metals such as aluminum, titanium, magnesium, yttrium, and chromium, as well as a few common heavier metals like copper and iron.  So-called Rare Ores are rich in heavier metals including radioactives.  Metals in this group include gold, silver, lead, cobalt, nickel, palladium, osmium, platinum, cadmium, zinc, mercury, thorium, and uranium. 

The technology used in both the ore smelting structures is similar to that used in the GORF recycling structure.  Ores are pretreated to maximize the concentrations of useful metal, then crushed to a uniform pellet size and fed into a fusion-electric smelter and pumped under pressure into a hot cracking column for separation into individual metals.  While most metals are extracted in pure form, some, such as uranium and aluminum, require additional processing. 
The resulting molten metal streams are solidified into micro-pellets, which are mixed into a synthetic oil-based medium to create a slurry, which can be pumped through pipes, stored in tanks, and easily provided to factory machinery in the form of a constant flow.

While both the Common Ore Smelter and Rare Ore Smelter use similar technology, the smelting temperatures, operating pressures, and cracking column configuration for each is completely different, thus the need for two different dedicated structures.  The Rare Ore Smelter also contains special equipment and facilities for handling radioactive materials and toxic heavy metals.

Note the metals that are classified as common or rare metals.

Solar Power Array

The Solar Power Array is the service end of the space solar satellite power system.  The satellite in high planetary orbit collects sunlight and converts it using photovoltaic cells into electricity, which in turn powers an array of MASERS, the microwave equivalent of a laser.  These produce a narrow, high-energy beam of microwaves that must be aimed precisely at the small target the Solar Power Array provides, but which can be collected by a relatively small antenna array with negligible losses.  This antenna converts the beam back into electricity, which in turn is broadcast for use by colony structures and vehicles.

Spaceport

While the Spaceport is treated as one structure for administrative purposes, it is actually a complex of tightly integrated structures that carry out a wide variety of space-related tasks.
First, the Spaceport is a factory.  The Spaceport can build launch vehicles as well as various satellites and starship components bound for planetary orbit.  The Spaceport is also a warehouse facility, where satellites and starship components can be stored until needed for launch.  Launch vehicles must be assembled on the launch pad, and may not be moved to the warehouse for storage.  The Spaceport is also a fuel production and storage plant, capable of providing a number of exotic fuels and oxidizers.

Of course, the most obvious function of the Spaceport is to launch rockets, and that it does.  In the interest of efficiency, a single pad is used for rocket assembly, fueling, loading, and launching.  This pad is also used for landing Reusable Launch Vehicles, and for servicing and refueling them while they are on the ground.
There are two main classes of launch vehicles.  The expendable Single-Use Launch Vehicles (SULVs) are operated by both Eden and Plymouth.  These vehicles are constructed primarily of composites and lightweight metal alloys and are usable only once.  While their payload capacities and capabilities are much the same, Eden and Plymouth use somewhat different configurations.  The Eden SULV is a two-stage rocket, using hydrogen/oxygen fuel in both stages, an aerospike engine in the first stage, and more conventional expansion nozzle engines in the second stage.   The Plymouth system is a two and a half stage system using somewhat less advanced technology and ejectable strap-on solid-rocket boosters providing the "half" stage.  All liquid engines are fueled by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and use conventional expansion nozzle designs.

Eden has also developed a much more advanced Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).  The RLV uses an all-composite airframe construction for maximum strength and minimum weight.  The aerospike engine uses a unique hybrid propulsion.  Exotic monoatomic oxygen is used as the fuel for takeoff and final landing burns.  For most of the flight, the engine is powered by a gas-core fission reactor, heating liquid hydrogen as a reaction mass.  Bleed liquid-hydrogen from the fuel tanks is also used as a heat-shield and critical-component coolant for reentry and landing.

Storage Tanks, Common Metals and Rare Metals

To maximize efficiency and automation, most ores and metals are processed in the form of a slurry: particles are suspended in a recyclable carrier fluid.  In this form, both the ore and processed metals can be pumped through pipelines, stored in tanks, then pumped as needed directly to smelters and manufacturing facilities.  Once the slurry reaches its final destination, the solids are extracted, and the carrier fluid pumped back for reuse.
If any of these slurries is allowed to sit for any length of time, the particulates will settle out, and must be remixed before the slurry can be pumped and transported.  The Storage Tank structures are equipped to solve this problem.  While the problems and technology are the same for both Common and Rare Metals, somewhat different structures and strategies are needed for both.

Common Metals are normally stored in large bulk quantities, and are often moved and used in bulk as well.  A Common Metals Storage Tank is subdivided into only a few large compartments, each equipped with stirring paddles that rotate through the mix just quickly enough to keep the particles in suspension.  Despite this, problems still occur, and what has become known as "the Ketchup Bottle Effect" will sometimes clog outlet chutes, requiring human intervention.
Rare Metals are stored in smaller quantities and larger varieties.  Typical storage periods are longer, and the quantities used are smaller.  Thus, Rare Metal Storage Tanks are subdivided into numerous small compartments.  While these compartments can be continuously stirred when demand is high, typically the stirring paddles will be turned off, and the slurry allowed to settle out of suspension.  Thanks to the small size of individual compartments, it takes very little time to stir up a given tank when supplies are needed.

Though these structures are relatively low maintenance, they do require constant supervision for inventory control, security, and handling clogs and other breakdowns.

Tokamak Fusion Reactor

The cool-fusion process used to power vehicles, Arachnid robots, and some self-contained structures like Light Towers and Guard Posts is best used when small, simple, and lightweight power is required.  However, the cool-fusion process does not scale up well to the sizes required to power a colony.
For this, a Tokamak Fusion Reactor is used.  This ancient, brute-force power generation method works very well at city-sized scales.  A ring of superconducting magnets is used to compress a ring of hydrogen plasma to the incredible pressures and temperatures necessary to create the hot-fusion reaction.  The design used is a model of automation and efficiency, and the plant normally operates totally unmanned, requiring only occasional visits for repair and service.

The system is not without its flaws, however.  The Tokamak Reactor harnesses powerful and violent forces, not only nuclear, but magnetic.  Failures can be spectacular and destructive.  For that reason, Tokamak Fusion Reactors are usually located a safe distance from other colony structures.

Trade Center

The Trade Center provides communications facilities for diplomatic transmissions, trade negotiations, barter-transfers, and contract verifications.  A colony with a Trade Center can trade with any other colony.

University

The University provides for secondary and ongoing training of Colonists qualified for science/technician careers.  It includes conventional classrooms, offices, small labs supporting each of the major scientific disciplines, and study areas.
Important secondary functions of the University include helping coordinate the research efforts of outside labs, limited decoding of the damaged starship scientific databases, and support of educational programs for younger students, including teens in trade apprenticeship programs.

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Weaponry
General
All weapons are powered independently from the chassis using R-10 cool fusion power cells.

Acid Cloud

One of the byproducts of Eden's metal smelting operations is an especially corrosive and unstable acid.
In several unfortunate industrial accidents, containers of the material exploded, producing an even more reactive cloud that caused damage over a wide area before breaking down into an inert form.  From these accidents, a new weapon was born.  A method was found to stabilize the acid for safe handling, and yet allow it to be ignited at will. 
This acid is housed in special shells that can be launched from a low-velocity projectile weapon and exploded on or near a target.  An almost undetectable aerogel "bubble" helps contain the cloud briefly and allows it to do extended damage over a controlled area.  The cloud attacks metal, organics, plastics, and many other common materials.  While it is a very effective weapon, it can be as dangerous to friendly units as enemy ones when used in close quarters.

Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP)

The electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, weapon is a specialized low-velocity projectile weapon.  It fires a localized field EMP grenade with a proximity fuse.  The grenade's explosion is a complex process, using a priming charge to generate a plasma lens and a secondary charge to induce a directed EM pulse in that lens.  The entire process takes place in a tiny fraction of a second.  The pulse is powerful enough to disrupt even hardened electrical and electronic systems in the target vehicle or structure, and render them temporarily inert.

Electro-Static Grenade (ESG)

The electrostatic grenade (ESG) launcher is a specialized low-velocity projectile weapon.  It fires an electrostatic induction grenade with a programmed fuse linked to the vehicle's targeting system.  The grenade generates powerful electric fields through a chemical process similar to the one Eden uses to power its Rail Guns.  This field induces currents within conductive components of the target, causing extreme heat, arcing, and both welding and erosion effects in metal.

Laser

New Terra's thin and normally clear atmosphere makes it a natural for the use of visible-light Lasers.  Eden's Laser weapon is a hybrid pumped-chemical laser designed for short firing duration with a rapid cycle time.  Frequency and power are pulsed within each shot in order to defeat ablative coatings and armor.

It was derived from the cutting and welding industrial lasers used in Structure Factories.

Microwave

The Plymouth Microwave weapon is derived from technology originally used for broadcast power generation.  A further study of the methods used revealed that it should be possible to produce a much more powerful and directed beam of coherent microwave radiation.  The Microwave weapon creates electrical induction in metal objects, and heats organics and other water-containing structures such as cool-fusion systems.

Rail Gun

Eden's Rail Gun weapon uses electrical energy to accelerate a conductive projectile in contact with two charged parallel rails.  This weapon's chief advantage is its incredible muzzle velocities of several kilometers per second.  No explosive warhead is necessary, the kinetic energy of the impact causing all the needed damage.
Electrical energy is provided from two sources.  The primary source is a chemical generator that is part of the RG "shell."  The force of a small explosion is turned into electricity and delivered in the tiniest fraction of a second.  The second source is a bank of volt-sinks in the turret itself.  While the power provided by these is smaller, it is also completely controllable, which allows the muzzle velocity to be varied.  This allows the type and extent of damage delivered to be tailored to the target for maximum effectiveness.  The visible "projectile" and characteristic plasma "smoke rings" seen coming from the muzzle of the Rail Gun weapon are actually a byproduct of the chemical generator charge, and emerge from the weapon long after the actual projectile has struck its target.

Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG)

This wire-guided, tube-fired rocket weapon uses solid propellant motors and is fired from a closed-breech piston launcher that accelerates the projectile to cruise speed before leaving the muzzle.  A sustainer motor keeps the RPG at this speed until impact  A collar of 100 solid-propellant guidance micromotors is controlled by the turret's targeting computer and ensures precise delivery of the shaped-charge warhead.  The charge normally explodes just before impact, launching several kinetic-kill depleted uranium "hammers" into the target for maximum armor penetration.

Plymouth RPGs have been enhanced by the research into high-powered explosives.

Starflare

The energy storage systems used in all colony vehicles lends itself readily to an effective self-destruct mechanism.  Volt-sinks, used to store and moderate the output of cool-fusion reactors, react explosively if short-circuited at low resistance.  Simply dropping a conductive buss-bar across the terminals will create an explosion large enough to destroy the unit and do considerable damage in the immediate area.
While the initial intent of the self-destruct mechanism was to keep damaged units from being captured, it quickly became apparent that such suicide tactics had strategic applications.  Unfortunately, the small explosion generated did not generally justify the intentional sacrifice of an expensive combat vehicle.  This led to the development of specialized self-destruct turrets capable of doing enough damage to be worth the sacrifice of a combat chassis.

The first of these self-destruct turrets is the Starflare.  The Starflare uses a shaped charge to direct most of its blast energy outward around the vehicle.  It can destroy nearby vehicles and do considerable damage to nearby structures.  The charge is configured so as to confine most of the damage very close to the turret, allowing it to be used relatively close to friendly units.

The Starflare turret is a large trinitrotoluene (TNT) bomb, which may be placed on the Lynx or Panther combat chassis, or installed into a Guard Post.  This high-explosive will damage all units within range."

StickyFoam

Plymouth's StickyFoam weapon is a low-velocity projectile weapon firing a non-metallic warhead.  The warhead is a two-compartment bi-chemical system that discharges on impact.  The shells are stored in the magazine empty, and are filled from separate tanks only when they are in the firing chamber.  The mixing of the two highly reactive liquids produces a rapidly expanding glob of aerogel. 
Aerogels are extremely light, open-cell foam materials with cell sizes in the nanometer range.  They contain materials that are solid, but seem little more substantial than smoke.  While most aerogels have little mechanical strength, StickyFoam is laced with ultra-strong carbon Buckytubes, 600 times stronger than steel.  The foam disintegrates after a short period, but while it remains intact, a vehicle covered with it will be completely immobilized.

Supernova

In addition to the smaller Starflare, Plymouth has also developed the much more powerful Supernova self-destruct turret.  The Supernova employs a cluster bomb approach to deliver massive damage over a wide, but strictly controlled, area.  A central charge delivers damage close to the turret and distributes a ring of secondary shaped charges that explode a fraction of a second later to devastating effect.  A well-placed Supernova is capable of destroying an entire column of enemy units, or taking out numerous structures.

A new explosive material, pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), has been developed.  PETN is about 60 percent more powerful than the material used in our Starflare weapons.  Our RPG weapons systems have been upgraded to use PETN.

Thor's Hammer

Ongoing research has lead to increasingly effective methods of generating, storing, and releasing electrical power.  Thor's Hammer is the logical outgrowth of this technology, a weapon that is, in effect, directed lightning.  While generating such a large electric arc is a relatively trivial task for colonial technology, targeting it in a useful way is quite another.  Eden has developed a method that uses a particle accelerator to produce a "pilot" beam that guides the bolt to its target.  The result is a devastatingly destructive weapon against which there is little defense.

[Arklon]

Starship Components/Space Technologies
Single-Use Launch Vehicle (SULV)

The expendable Single-Use Launch Vehicles (SULVs) are operated by both Eden and Plymouth.  These vehicles are constructed primarily of composites and lightweight metal alloys and are usable only once.  While their payload capacities and capabilities are much the same, Eden and Plymouth use somewhat different configurations.  The Eden SULV is a two-stage rocket, using hydrogen/oxygen fuel in both stages, an aerospike engine in the first stage, and more conventional expansion nozzle engines in the second stage.  The Plymouth system is a two and a half stage system using somewhat less advanced technology and ejectable strap-on solid-rocket boosters providing the "half" stage.  All liquid engines are fueled by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and use conventional expansion nozzle designs.

Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)

Eden has also developed a much more advanced Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).  The RLV uses an all-composite airframe construction for maximum strength and minimum weight.  The aerospike engine uses a unique hybrid propulsion.  Exotic monoatomic oxygen is used as the fuel for takeoff and final landing burns.  For most of the flight, the engine is powered by a gas-core fission reactor, heating liquid hydrogen as a reaction mass.  Bleed liquid-hydrogen from the fuel tanks is also used as a heat-shield and critical-component coolant for reentry and landing.

EMP Missile
This was a side benefit of Plymouth's failed experiment in making their own RLV. The EMP missile is a modified SULV (at least in appearance) with atmospheric re-entry capabilities and with an EMP warhead in place of the nose.

Early Disaster Warning And Resource Detection (EDWARD) Satellite

Skydock

Our Skydock will function as an orbital command post.  In addition to docking facilities for our launch vehicles ferrying components and technicians, it serves as a command and control facility for construction of our starship.

Plymouth, rather than making a ground-based observatory like Eden did, fitted their Skydock with a series of telescopes.

Solar Power Satellite

The satellite in high planetary orbit collects sunlight and converts it using photovoltaic cells into electricity, which in turn powers an array of MASERS, the microwave equivalent of a laser.  These produce a narrow, high-energy beam of microwaves that must be aimed precisely at the small target the Solar Power Array provides, but which can be collected by a relatively small antenna array with negligible losses.

Stasis Systems

The Stasis Systems contain suspended animation chambers for 200 colonists.  This module, like the Habitat Ring, is equipped with our superconductive magnetic coil radiation shield system.

Habitat Ring

Before and after our interstellar flight, our colonists will live in the Habitat Ring.  These temporary quarters are shielded from radiation and small particle collisions by a magnetic field generated by superconductive coils built into the hull.

Ion Drive Module

The ion motor used in the 'Conestoga' was a low-thrust/long-duration system activated once the ship reached interstellar space.  The Ion Drive Module contains this interstellar drive as well as supplemental ion and chemical guidance thrusters to be attached to the starship.

This module was modified at the last minute in order to support extra stasis chambers for the children of the colony that did not escape from New Terra, without any additional fuel requirements.

Command Module

Several dozen Savant computer systems, working in parallel, make up the core of the Command Module.  This is the most sophisticated computer system we have ever devised, capable of guidance control, power direction, and self-maintenance, without human intervention, for decades.

Orbital Package

This group of satellites and probes, to be deployed upon reaching our destination planet, includes EDWARD, a communications satellite, a solar power satellite, orbital observers, and several types of atmospheric and geologic probes.

Sensor Package

Before we can depart the New Terra system, we must have a destination.  Our Sensor Package includes a Nanoprobe launcher, capable of sending thousands of microbe-sized probes toward potentially habitable planets, and a sensor/telemetry system which will evaluate the reports sent back by the Nanoprobes.

Fueling Systems

The Fueling Systems consist of storage tanks for liquid mercury, used to fuel the Ion Drive, and the Fuel Shark, an autonomous ramscoop vehicle that dives into the outer layers of the planet's atmosphere to gather hydrogen fuel for the Fusion Drive.  The Fuel Shark will substantially reduce the number of launches necessary to prepare the starship for flight.

Fusion Drive Module

Our fusion propulsion system plans are complete.  The Fusion Drive Module contains both the fusion motor, used for high-acceleration in-system maneuvering, and the tanks which store the hydrogen fuel used in this motor.  Once we have reached interstellar space, this fusion motor will convert into a fusion reactor that will provide power to the Ion Drive.

Phoenix Module

When deployed, this self-contained lander transforms into several of the initial structures and vehicles needed to start a colony.  These structures are all capable of operation without human presence, and will give our new home a head start.

The Phoenix Module is essentially what the Seed Factory was from OP1.