• Registered: 2006-10-01
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Topic: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

TAU Disconnection

Problem: Various parts of TAU have lost contact with each other. In some areas, the AINNs are completely disconnected form each other. Other kinds of communications, such as radio links, have also been severely hampered.
Cause: A massive amount of electromagnetic interference coming from the Lower Cluster.
Symptoms: Disconnection from the Lower Cluster and the main database; lack of necklink contact in the Maze of Stairs and other areas below The Canyon; Chimbots wondering aimlessly in disconnected areas.
Attempts for a fix: Various explorations to find the cause; the TAU Master Processes Project.
Status: Very much a problem at the moment. (Oct 104)

  • Registered: 2006-10-01
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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Material Shortage

Problem: There's a shortage of raw materials used for spare parts, tools and other necessities.
Cause: The mining machinery down at the base of the Tower were damaged during the floods. Made more severe by a block in one of the material delivery pipelines.
Symptoms: Slowing down of production; competition over resources.
Attempts for a fix: Recycling of materials.
Status: Very much a proglem at the moment (Oct 104).

  • Registered: 2006-10-01
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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Equipment Decay

Problem: The various machinery in the tower are constantly breaking down.
Cause: TAU's self-repair systems are hampered due to the disconnection problems. The colonists have also made things worse by installing life-support systems and living spaces in locations where there wasn't supposed to be any. Many systems are overloaded due to others being down, particularly those lost in the various catastrophes such as the big rock hitting the top of the Tower.
Symptoms: Life-support failures; production holdups; towerquakes...
Attempts for a fix: Plenty of damage-control teams working day and night fixing equipment; burrow jobs to get to previously unaccessible locations.
Status: A severe and time-consuming problem at the moment (Oct 104).

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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Trapped in the Middle Cluster

Problem: The colonists are limited to certain parts of the Middle Cluster.
Cause: The spaces between the Middle Cluster and the Lower Cluster are a mazelike wasteland of collapsed machinery, toxic fumes, rampant electricity, radioactive radiation... The collapses and much of the rest happened when the rock shook the structures of the Tower, bending it a little below the Middle cluster. (That's why the floor isn't quite level, by the way.)
Symptoms: Many systems suffering due to malfunctions in unaccessible locations; no access to the speedgrowth chambers and its database, as well as various other resources.
Attempts for a fix: Explorations, repairs.
Status: A severe problem at the moment (Oct 104).

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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Disconnected from the Seedship in Orbit

Problem: There is no contact with the Solidarity monitoring the terraforming process from orbit.
Cause: Contact with the Solidarity was lost before the first human was speedgrown. After the Solidarity settled on a place for the first tower and sent down everything needed, contact was somehow lost, perhaps due to the even more extreme weather supposedly plaguing the old tower.
Symptoms: Lack of data about the global status of the planet; no access to status reports from Earth.
Attempts for a fix: Stray thoughts about building shuttles to visit the station.
Status: Not immediately threatening but not solved either (Oct 104)

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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Dependence on the Floatbeds

Problem: The colonists can't survive for more than a few days without being able to visit the floatbeds.
Cause: The natural digestion and waste handling systems of the colonists have been turned off by physiological modifications. The purpose of this is to make them not need to grow food or take care of their wastes. (Another effect is their sterilization.)
Symptoms: Having to return to the floatbeds every 24 hours or became exhausted and nauseated. After two days in the row the feelings become near unbearable, and lead to death in about five.
Attempts for a fix: Stimulants and Inhibitors are used to stretch the time one can act and survive without access to the floatbeds. Several projects have also been formed to address the problem, most notably Mira's Custom Floatbed Project and Corteza's Counter-Tampering Project.
Status: Not an immediate threat - as long as the floatbeds remain functional... (Oct 104)

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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Fragmentation of the Mirror Database

Problem: The Mirror Database located in The Middle Cluster is severely damaged. Lots of data has been lost and the rest has been fragmented enough to make the database practically useless to the common colonist.
Cause: When the big rock hit the tower, it caused a huge power spike in one of the conduits. This fried the systems.
Symptoms: No access to huge amounts of data, among others historical (both Earth and the Tower).
Attempts for a fix: TSR is in the process of defragmenting the remaining data. Sometimes they've shared their findings. The TAU Master Processes Project hopes to reconnect to the TAU Master Processes which may have their own mirror intact.
Status: A severe problem at the moment (Oct 104).

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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

The Swiss Cheese Phenomenon

Problem: The Canyon and many connected areas aren't airtight. Far from it. Instead, it's connected to the outside world.
Cause: When the big rock hit the Tower, it caused cracks - especially at the spot where the top of the Tower used to be. Some areas have been sealed off by Radlocks, but The Canyon is too spacious for that.
Symptoms: Without the overpressure (see below), the Canyon would be filled with air from the outside, with its biological contaminants, as well as lower air pressure, oxygen amounts, and temperature. In addition, massive amounts of energy is wasted for the heating of The Canyon.
Attempts for a fix: Currently, the situation is being kept under control by applying overpressure inside The Canyon.
Status: Definately a problem as shown during The Blackout.

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Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Biohazards

Problem: There's are harmful biological agents inside the Tower.
Cause: Some of the agents are microscopic life-forms either native to Da Vinci or resulting from the terraforming process. Either way, they make their way in from the outside. The overpressuse keeps most of the airborne spores and microbes out, but some grow along the surface of the tower, growing their way inside. Once inside, they're very hard to dispose of.
Symptoms: Some of the agents are harmful to the health of the colonists (there's been epidemics), while others reside inside machines interfering with their function. Some even corrode away at metal.
Attempts for a fix: The overpressure keeps the worst of it out. In addition, Bio Security Squad regularly seeks out and cleans infested areas.
Status: A constant problem that might get out of hand at any time (Oct 104).

  • Registered: 2006-10-01
  • Posts: 912

Re: The Problems of the Colony (Technical)

Floods

Problem: The lowest part of the Tower is flooded by water.
Cause: The flood gates were broken by the huge floods caused by melting ice.
Symptoms: The malfunctions in the Speedgrowth Chambers, especially column 6, may be because of this.
Attempts for a fix: None have been made so far, considering even reaching the Lower Cluster is a problem. Building new flood gates outside of the Tower have been suggested.
Status: A severe problem (Oct 104).