Could you stand living in a scout ship?

[Magnus von Thornwood]

What the?

Now you're putting up cute doey-eyed animal corpses on your walls?

Your starship walls covered with the animal skins of --->


Why not hang a taxidermist bust of Bambi?

Wait.....you fly a safari vessel, that's what you're telling us, right? :CoW:

Where did you get animal corpses hung on the walls from. Ermine is heraldic pattern. I wasn't talking about actual ermine pelts. Ick, I could get the fur cloned if I wanted without the ethical guilt of killing animals just for cool wallpaper.

And no, don't own one of those. No real need, I am not that kind of nob. I am the run around hire adventurers to fix problems for me kind.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

A thought occured to me about five minutes ago as I was reading. My office is approximately the size of a starship single occupant cabin; three meters by four-point-five (3m x 4.5m). I imagined four other rooms like it, connected by a corridor to a 747 cockpit and a galley area, itself connected to an area four times the size of my two car garage.

That is your living space. You have to stay there for two weeks, all the while you're sharing a bathroom, eating area, and a common entertainment center with three other occupants.

Would you, as your contemporary self, go stir crazy, or would you be able to take it?

I'd be able to take it.

It would be paradise if I was alone but had a couple of cats aboard and could drop in at a new port every month or so.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Where did you get animal corpses hung on the walls from. Ermine is heraldic pattern. I wasn't talking about actual ermine pelts. Ick, I could get the fur cloned if I wanted without the ethical guilt of killing animals just for cool wallpaper.

And no, don't own one of those. No real need, I am not that kind of nob. I am the run around hire adventurers to fix problems for me kind.

Ohhh. Okay. My bad. So you have shields, swords and armor like stuff adorning you walls ... that's cool. Better than paisley.

Got to get back to writing....

 

[Reban]

How about real-artificial-faux grass in the lounge and wall screens everywhere showing scenes like the classic Windows XP wallpaper of rolling grasslands and blue skies.

Paisley's good too. Ever repeating hypnotic fractal patterns when the ship's computer detects your mood is getting a little wacky, so it calms you down with visual ques and maybe subsonic sounds and scents.

Possibly the hardest thing would be to share with aliens, with other human cultures coming a close second.

 

[Patron Zero]

I would tend to believe some means of 'escape' from the confines of the ship would be essential if not a 'standard' feature of such.

Accepting that 'holo-deck' technology might not be accessible in various Traveller settings or campaigns, the presence and availability of state-of-the-art virtual reality simulators would be.

Mind if nothing more than a sophisticated arrangement of auditory-visual 'inputs' in some configuration as a helmet, supplemented with tactile 'presentation' (gloves) and appropriate scent-odor dispersal gimmicks, a reasonably well-executed illusion could be offered.

Conversely, some crew members might seek out sensory deprivation which would be infinitely easier to provide.

 

[aramis]

How about real-artificial-faux grass in the lounge and wall screens everywhere showing scenes like the classic Windows XP wallpaper of rolling grasslands and blue skies.

Grassphalt's canon... tough as asphalt, grows (slowly, most of the time), and quite hardy, and can be used indoors with proper lights, medium, and fertilizer...

Ever repeating hypnotic fractal patterns when the ship's computer detects your mood is getting a little wacky, so it calms you down with visual ques and maybe subsonic sounds and scents.

Not a small number of people find those not only unsettling, but positively nauseating. I've caused no shortage of mild queasiness that way.

 

[pendragonman]

Even if there are no color/pattern controls on the ship (being a basic type S) haven't you heard of posters and pictures?

 

[salochin999]

I could do the being alone part as long as there were plenty of distractions and I assume every stop at a scout base would upload all the latest movies, games, books etc. I think VR games / activities would deal with those problems.

I'd also assume the walls had wallpaper controls like computer screens so you could switch your cabin to tropical island if you wanted.

(As a GM that might be an interesting question to ask players - what is your cabin wall digital wallpaper set to?)

With view ports for the time out of jump space and days off in port and the ability to use internet type chat type abilities when in a system(?) I think I'd be fine.

(And I'd imagine the Scout service would use psychometric testing to ensure that only those people who were suitable did it.)

The big problems I'd see would be where multiple people had to share the same ship for long periods and/or where people were in a relationship and that other person wasn't there.

Being trapped in a scout ship with people you didn't like would be a nightmare.

I've never thought about it before but this question makes me wonder about scout couples. I now think there would be a lot - both scouts and stray drifters looking for passage to the next planet and long term couples.

 

[Reban]

Not a small number of people find those not only unsettling, but positively nauseating. I've caused no shortage of mild queasiness that way.

Is that a reference to your choice in shirts Aramis? :rofl:


The understanding of how architecture, design and environment are advancing every day. Perhaps by the time we get to Traveller tech levels, "life support" will include all the little cheats and stimuli needed to assist the crew to function for extended periods.

Oh just a thought. People who grow up in domed cities and space stations, wouldn't they be better psychologically prepared for confined quarters than us?

 

[aramis]

Is that a reference to your choice in shirts Aramis? :rofl:


The understanding of how architecture, design and environment are advancing every day. Perhaps by the time we get to Traveller tech levels, "life support" will include all the little cheats and stimuli needed to assist the crew to function for extended periods.

Oh just a thought. People who grow up in domed cities and space stations, wouldn't they be better psychologically prepared for confined quarters than us?

3000 years of selection pressure is plenty of time for suicidality to weed out most of the worst cases...

 

[Carlobrand]

Now you're putting up cute doey-eyed animal corpses on your walls?

Your starship walls covered with the animal skins of --->
...

I gotta admit, having your walls covered with stop signs accusing you of theft would be entertaining for a few days, but I don't think the entertainment value would last long enough to be worthwhile.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Dangnabbit!

I gotta admit, having your walls covered with stop signs accusing you of theft would be entertaining for a few days, but I don't think the entertainment value would last long enough to be worthwhile.

Well, it said "Ermine" in the damned catalog.

I am going to have my Secretary send a rather stiff note and speak to my Lord Barrister Jones-Smith as well.

My apologies, dear Carlo, I will see this is dealt with. *shrugs* Never actually tried it, I tend to starscapes, system maps and of course live J-Space feed (that's the best one, it does stuff).

 

[Blue Ghost]

You know, an Ermine would be a cool critter to have as a ship's mascot. That'd be cool.

 

[BillDowns]

Someone earlier mentioned living with Aslan or Vargr in a scout...I'm not sure that would be survivable !

Particularly, if you adorned your walls with a lion or wolf pelt...:rofl:

 

[infojunky]

A thought occured to me about five minutes ago as I was reading. My office is approximately the size of a starship single occupant cabin; three meters by four-point-five (3m x 4.5m). I imagined four other rooms like it, connected by a corridor to a 747 cockpit and a galley area, itself connected to an area four times the size of my two car garage.

That is your living space. You have to stay there for two weeks, all the while you're sharing a bathroom, eating area, and a common entertainment center with three other occupants.

Would you, as your contemporary self, go stir crazy, or would you be able to take it?

All that room, it would be a breeze.... But I am comfortable with myself.

 

[Patron Zero]

I think a lot of the question could-would be answered by the crew's compatibility with one another, that's from my own experiences in the military and shared housing at university.

Simple little matter of respecting privacy and the unwritten 'rules' of shared space can overcome the constraints of cramped quarters and communal facilities.

 

[WistfulD]

The understanding of how architecture, design and environment are advancing every day. Perhaps by the time we get to Traveller tech levels, "life support" will include all the little cheats and stimuli needed to assist the crew to function for extended periods.

I guess it depends on the universe of traveller you imagine. A lot of people think of it as the gritty and shabby ships of the movies that inspired this game invented in the 70s (the living quarters of ships from Alien and Star Wars leave something to be desired). Our games acknowledge that technology will be at least better than it is today in 2015, so if people are going to pay megacredits to add reflec to their hull, they can afford to put some cheap, energy efficient psychological influencers and comfort devices into a ship (especially if it reduces overall tonnage by making more space unneccessary).

Oh just a thought. People who grow up in domed cities and space stations, wouldn't they be better psychologically prepared for confined quarters than us?

Well, the original question was could we do it. My great great (not sure how many greats) grandparents came to North America on a wooden boat that was shorter in feet in its longest dimension than the number of people aboard, and the trip probably took 6-8 weeks.

 

[JimMarn]

I spent a little over 4 years aboard a Navy DDG destroyer. I had feelings of being closed in.

I mostly coped by reading the Lord of the Rings, out on deck, in my time off.

Not sure I could handle a journey on a free trader or x-boat.

White walls, um no. Beach scenes wold be better, or flat prairie with mountains off in the distance. Paisley, maybe for an hour or so change, then back to the beach.

The interior walls on the ship were either destroyer gray, or some off-green color. Kinda like pea soup.

I've been told my collection of beach shirts hurts peoples' eyes. So that may not work for close quarters with others aboard.

 

[JFGarber]

<<snip>>

(And I'd imagine the Scout service would use psychometric testing to ensure that only those people who were suitable did it.)

<<snip>>

I've never thought about it before but this question makes me wonder about scout couples. I now think there would be a lot - both scouts and stray drifters looking for passage to the next planet and long term couples.

I think Salochin999 is on to something here. Does natural selection operate over several thousand years of spaceflight to produce persons who are more able to tolerate long periods of (relative) isolation and (relatively) limited sensory input?

And I think that it's almost certain that spacefaring organizations would have developed (evolved, if you will) procedures to almost ensure that they would field crews capable of handling the emotional rigors of space travel.

 

[salochin999]

I think Salochin999 is on to something here. Does natural selection operate over several thousand years of spaceflight to produce persons who are more able to tolerate long periods of (relative) isolation and (relatively) limited sensory input?

And I think that it's almost certain that spacefaring organizations would have developed (evolved, if you will) procedures to almost ensure that they would field crews capable of handling the emotional rigors of space travel.

It's an interesting thought because in some ways natural selection might create the opposite effect i.e. those most suitable spend all their time alone on space ships and so breed less. However if you imagine a tested and selected and coed Scout service then over time they might breed ever more scout-suitable babies.