Research Stations Query

[Dagrill]

Hi,

I was looking at CT Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma and wondered if it supposed to be a typical 3I Research Station.

With 1 Researcher , no security and 2 dozen robots it seems rather understaffed to me and even it's maximum staff of 14 seems rather slim.

Regards

David

 

[rancke]

I was looking at CT Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma and wondered if it supposed to be a typical 3I Research Station.

With 1 Researcher , no security and 2 dozen robots it seems rather understaffed to me and even it's maximum staff of 14 seems rather slim.

My take is that Imperial research stations typically have the buildings, equipment, and staff that they need for their individual purposes. In other words, there is no such thing as a typical Imperial research station.

(I vaguely recall an Imperial research station that was made up of several decks of a reclaimed AHL. In a Challenge, I think?)


Hans

 

[mike wightman]

IIRC RSG mentions that the station used to have more personnel but the lead researcher gradually got rid of them over the years,

 

[Supplement Four]

IIRC RSG mentions that the station used to have more personnel but the lead researcher gradually got rid of them over the years,

Also note that the adventure is considered to be only partially completed. GDW wrote adventures back then not as complete scripts, like the AD&D modules of the time, but as tools for the Ref's imagination. Consider the adventures to only be, say, 80%, complete. The Ref is expected to go in and create the remaining 20% of the adventure, customizing the scenario for his own game.

So...if you want a bunch of researchers and security men, then pop out Supplement 4 (for the researchers) and Book 1 (for the security men), and create some!

Take the base that GDW gives you and create on top of it.

If you notice, just about all of the early GDW adventures were written with this expectation.

 

[Dagrill]

So...if you want a bunch of researchers and security men, then pop out Supplement 4 (for the researchers) and Book 1 (for the security men), and create some!

Do you see the security is being provided by Imperial Marines, as I'd assume
a Research Station would have a suitable guard force?

Regards

David

 

[Dagrill]

My take is that Imperial research stations typically have the buildings, equipment, and staff that they need for their individual purposes. In other words, there is no such thing as a typical Imperial research station. Hans

My thinking was that anything important enough to named as an Imperial Research station on a star map, would be fairly large (an AHL seems the perfect size to me).

This was seems to barely exist and research of such importance too...

Regards

David

 

[mike wightman]

Just checked the adventure. The chirper was kidnapped by IN intelligence troops, who are nowhere to be found on the station.

Since the research involves psionic communication over planetary/system/interplanetary scales there is a good change that there is an unmentioned IN ship or two tasked as part of the station - a Kinunir class pluss a couple of close escorts would be my guess since it fits the early adventure and background themes.

The station itself has rooms for sixteen plus a director, so seventeen in all. The mad scientist in charge has indeed dismissed the rest of the staff over the years.

 

[robject]

Do you see the security is being provided by Imperial Marines, as I'd assume a Research Station would have a suitable guard force?

It depends!

My thinking was that anything important enough to named as an Imperial Research station on a star map, would be fairly large (an AHL seems the perfect size to me).

This was seems to barely exist and research of such importance too...

I think RsG probably is on the lower end. I had a SuSAG research station posted just outside the border of the Imperium that displaced 30,000 tons. There is a Deneb research station (HRD, Deneb 1623) that is more or less the entire mainworld's population. I suppose that's at the upper end.

Consider a possible range of research stations with Flux dice (2D-7):

-5 an outbuilding on a forsaken rock somewhere (10 tons)
-4 an equipped smallcraft, with attached lab (40-60 tons)
-3 an equipped Scout (100 tons)
-2 a Lab Ship or Donosev (400 tons)
-1 a larger ship or small installation (1,000 tons or so).
+0 the size of a destroyer or small cruiser (4,000+ tons)
+1 the size of a cruiser (10,000+ tons)
+2 dreadnought or large installation (100,000+ tons)
+3 a planetoid (millions thru billions of tons)
+4 a world
+5 a star system

 

[Reban]

I'm in the "It depends" camp. Location purpose and plot are probably deciding factors.

Looking at real world research stations to get a feel for numbers I see Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station has 200 residents in the summer and a few dozen caretakers or crew in the winter. Usually the researchers are there working on their own projects in the earth sciences area.

The International Space Station has a max crew of six who carry out a range of experiments and observations in all kinds of areas that they either pre-train for or receive instruction on from the ground.

You can probably tell a lot about the character of an Imperial Research Station by knowing who the patron of its research is. Is it the Navy, the Scouts, some branch of the Imperial University, etc.?

 

[Supplement Four]

Do you see the security is being provided by Imperial Marines, as I'd assume
a Research Station would have a suitable guard force?

I'm in the "it depends" camp, too.

Obviously, an "Imperial" research station would logically be guarded by Imperial Marines, or Army, personnel. But, the station is also highly secret--even "black"--so, maybe some non-military "black" force is in charge. The equivalent of the Empire's Delta Force, Rainbow (from Tom Clancy), Seal Team Six, Army Rangers or Green Beret.

Or...since we're dealing with research that is highly illegal in the Imperium, maybe the powers that be want to put some distance between themselves and the research station. What if they're using Merc? Corporate Security types. Hired Guns.

Or...maybe the Empire shut this research station down a long, long time ago, and it's been reactivated by the Zhodani? The zho's are operating a base within the Imperium, and it's allowed to exist because the previous base was so top secret.

Or...let your imagination run wild.

It really depends on what fits best in your game? If you're not running an on-going game,then what appeals to you most? What do you want to play?

Take the adventure as a base and mold it into what you want/need to play.

 

[Dagrill]

Thanks for the help

I was looking at it in conjunction with running an adventure on Dostoevsky in the Trojan Reach.

I like the idea of having a Kinunir in orbit, gives me a chance to use my new deck plans.

Thanks

David

 

[rancke]

I was looking at it in conjunction with running an adventure on Dostoevsky in the Trojan Reach.

I like the idea of having a Kinunir in orbit, gives me a chance to use my new deck plans.

A good idea. A Kinunir makes for a pretty paltry prison, but it's a very decent size for a research establishment.


Hans