Hydrology - The Search for Water

[Tath]

Proposal for the Scientific Search for Water on Moons:

The presence of water on a planet is of considerable scientific significance. Water is the medium in which life can exist, evolve and flourish. Water provides nourishment. Water is the focus around which settlements can be founded, leading to crops, medicines, industries and terraforming.

Whilst water might actually be present in large quantities, extreme temperatures and atmospheric conditions (or lack thereof) can lead to it being trapped and frozen and hidden below the surface. Therefore finding it, determining the size of the reserve and its purity is of great importance.

Prospecting:

Discovering water on the surface of a moon is likely to require a crumb-trail approach and solution. By looking for certain signs of its hidden presence, the reserves might ultimately be uncovered. Clues might include:

- Recurring Slope Linae visible on certain crater rims.
- Surface Depression Discolourations, where soils are darker the deeper you go, suggestive of ancient lake beds and seas.
- Mineral deposits associated with water (Fool's Gold - Pyrites especially might be fun).

Discovering water might be best served by following a mission path from A-->B-->C rather than simply visiting a single site, to represent the effort of the scientific endeavour.

Determining the size of the reserve:

- The SRV is given the mission task of establishing a perimeter of scientific instruments / sensors around the designated site. The sensors and equipment will gather data and a sample.
- The SRV is given the mission task of returning 24 hours later to gather the scientific data and the sample and return it to the mission giver.

Purity and Payout: The purity of the final sample / the quality of the final data set, determines the value of the credit payout. Rare event discoveries could include fossils and the presence of microbial life.*

Such a concept would allow water to be discovered on planets which do *not* have geysers. Geysers would be a rarity. Finding water through prospecting would be the norm.

* An additional rare event might be -- the scientific endeavour might accidentally trigger geyser creation / eruption.

Why 24 hours to obtain a sample?

It offers an alternative approach and solution to missions. It encourages time investment into a task. The site could be made to change / evolve between visits. The game mechanics could be used / established for big game hunting (setting traps).

Further reading: http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars

 

[DocLooshkin]

Hello, Tath.

Very interesting idea. I'm a little ambivalent towards it though: I'm very much in favour of it as premise for a set of mechanics, but not so much in what it's searching for.

If we're colonising Mars or the Moon, here in the 21^st century, it makes perfect sense. In ED's time and place, however, we've already terraformed and colonised countless thousands of worlds - and by all rights, water-fabrication from other materials should be one of the easier things for a terraformer to be able to do.

I can see it making more sense in the more marginal worlds - micro-colonies set up to service mining rings and the like - but it would be a matter of economic efficiency, rather than something genuinely important for the colony's creation.

It would make a great deal more sense if expanded to encompass the whole range of useful or valuable materials in a given environment - and +1 for the idea on those terms.

 

[Tath]

Thank you for the thoughtful reply.

You raise some interesting points.

Regarding water fabrication: whilst making water is a relatively simple process, this process can also be dangerous, as any chemist will tell you -- even more so in a pressurised environment -- and when attempting to scale up to an industrial level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm9me9i13Q8

Water is bulky to store -- so having a nearby well to supply needs as needs arise becomes more attractive.

As for expanding the idea into a whole range of useful or valuable materials -- certainly! My suggestion was made with a fundamental question in mind -- what materials are required to establish a self-sufficient colony? The first of these -- water. From that beginning, others certainly spring to mind.

 

[c00ky1970]

I think that anything that promotes additional gameplay for exploration is great.

I also think gameplay reasons to revisit previously discovered locations is also something that should be brought into the game.

Maybe these missions are part of a multistep one, to enable a small scientific or micro-colony to exist for a brief period at a designated location.

Mission one locate water on planet, deploy basic water collection devices.
Mission two deliver and deploy power array and habitation modules
Mission three deliver personnel to location

Location on planet could be a static POI that is defined by algorithm in stellar forge database, so it is persistent across multiple missions, plus player 1 could do Mission one, player 2 mission 2 and player 3 mission 3 all at different time periods. Obviously mission 2 and 3 wouldn't appear until preceding missions completed and handed in.

 

[Tath]

I think that anything that promotes additional gameplay for exploration is great.

I also think gameplay reasons to revisit previously discovered locations is also something that should be brought into the game.

Maybe these missions are part of a multistep one, to enable a small scientific or micro-colony to exist for a brief period at a designated location.

Mission one locate water on planet, deploy basic water collection devices.
Mission two deliver and deploy power array and habitation modules
Mission three deliver personnel to location

Location on planet could be a static POI that is defined by algorithm in stellar forge database, so it is persistent across multiple missions, plus player 1 could do Mission one, player 2 mission 2 and player 3 mission 3 all at different time periods. Obviously mission 2 and 3 wouldn't appear until preceding missions completed and handed in.

[up] Excellent. Nicely explained. [up]

I especially like that you allow different players to be involved.

 

[c00ky1970]

Elite already has in game atrifacts for mining that appear on surfaces. prospectors I think?

We currently don't see these actually being deployed, so maybe with a change to what the graphical item spawns (currently you have to destroy it for it to drop some type of material) this could be used as a general prospector item, where (like limpet controllers) you set it when deployed to prospect for water, or iron or tellurium etc, depending on mission requirement.

it maybe that you don't see the item self constructing, but you deliver a prospecting module to the mission POI activate and then at the next visit it is shown as a working item.

i like the idea of output not being available for 24 hours, as it gives an opportunity for player to have a few of these to do in anumber of nearby systems and then the next day drop by to pick up the results. Also to have multiple missions in the go.