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Approved Submission Sachiko's Tech Scanner

Charaa

Charaa

Staff Member
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Submission URL
https://stararmy.com/wiki/doku.php?id=technology:sachitech_tech-scanner#about_the_tech_scanner
Submission Faction(s)
  1. Yamatai (except Elysia)
  2. Outlaws (Independent)
  3. NDC
Submission Terms
  1. I agree
Alrighty, though the next in my personal list to submit is something from the Mining Guild. I thought it would be nice to submit this. before that one. Also SachiTech is a little thing, Sachiko would have put on her technology, and since she's still a member of the Army. I apologize if i screwed up the Nomenclature.
 
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How did she get access to schematics for all of the starships and technology of the NDC and YSE to such a level of detail that it would be a national security concern?
 
This is now old news, as there aren't schematics for the current star ships Yamatai and the NDC (And Indepentents0 use,
 
I was taking a look at this submission, I would like to make some suggestions: (Before I begin any official review)

  • The Star Army still has many of its older ship classes in service, across several of their fleets. The actual number of non-current active services classes is not that big. (The Star Army tends to repurpose decommissioned classes and keep them in service for as long as possible. So how useful would this be with this information?) I'm not sure about the NDC in terms of their ship lineages and honestly, I will have to spend some time investigating, but for now, let's just use the Star Army vessels as an example. I think maybe what you'd be looking for is some kind of access control system. For example, if the scanner is purchased by someone in the Star Army they would have access to Star Army ship designs and the Public NDC designs. Similarly, if it is purchased by NDC personnel it would have access to NDC Designs and Public Star Army designs. Independents would be able to upload their own designs maybe? They would likely only have public access to the other databases? It is also likely the Star Army system would have some kind of integration/connection with PANTHEON. Developing some kind of access control system would assist here.
  • The nomenclature you've produced having the "Ke" suggests this is produced by Ketsurui Fleet Yards / Ketsurui Zaibatsu. I'm not sure if as a corporation they would be too focused on producing a product for Independents or another faction. This might need to be produced under another corporation. Electronics also tend to be developed by Kessaku Systems on Star Army Space Roleplay.
  • I'd like to see it fleshed out a bit in terms of player character usefulness - More about the applications it can be used for like repairs, ordering new parts, modifications, reverse engineering. Remember it's one thing to create a product YOU know is useful, it becomes something good for the setting when a player can read the article and apply its usage into their roleplay.
 
Andrew said:
So how useful would this be with this information?) I'm not sure about the NDC in terms of their ship lineages and honestly, I will have to spend some time investigating
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In regards to this, the NDC does not currently have any mothballed ships or classes that are no longer in service.
 
Hiya Andrew

Thank you for taking the chance to look over this article.

In regards to your post I went in and added the access control for the factions, in terms of SPINE, as well as the Geist controls. In talking about the Geist, I added the old version as well as the new versions, in a neat trick. The Gei in Geist will go to the old version, while st will go to the new version.
I also changed the nomenclature, to show Ks for Kessaku Systems. I think I might have thought it was meant more for Yamatai’s colony affairs, though I think there’s a department for that now that I think of it.

I also added some applications for the Tech Scanner.

As for NDC ships, before Whisper came along, they used ships originally belonging to Origins, until they settled and they got a Department for their Engineers. Before Noval, and Conclave shipworks.
 
If you are looking for a Yamatai Corporation, the Ryu Keiretsu has an electronics subsidiary I can always flesh out. It (myself) is always looking for markets to sell to, not just Yamatai/Nepleslia.
 
That's not correct Charaa, we've never used origin ships, all our ships to date save for civilian freighters, have been of our own design. We required construction through local companies originally, but then constructed our own ship yards when the NDC was founded. We had a fleet development branch that used to handle all that.
 
I think maybe i got confused. I saw King and my mind just assumed that it came from Origins in one particular ship. I took a glance and saw yup i was wrong. I apologize for my blunder. Demi, that does sound interesting.
 
So, I noticed a little tidbit down at the bottom that has me a bit concerned;

Scanning for Reverse Engineering​

If Yamatai Star Empire or New Dusk Conclave Engineers receive a piece of technology of unknown origins, the Tech Scanner will be able to be used to get data on the technology, such as power usage, or whether it’s a weapon or any manner of item. Further scans, will allow the Engineering screws to figure out how the item was created and eventually how they can create the technology for themselves.
Click to expand...
To what extent can this reverse engineer technology, starships, etc.?
 
After a lot of thought about this submission over the past week or so, I'm afraid I'm going to be having to officially FM reject this, as it presents a huge security risk to the NDC. If you want to put it on hold to workshop it further with Whisper and I, you're more than welcome to, but I suspect Andrew will have more things to say in the near future if you want to go forwards with a full review.
 
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I am hoping I am calm enough to write this, but I must apologize because I am confused about how it can be a security risk? From my Standpoint there is Zero, security risk, plus keep in mind, the NDC does sell technology, including weapons technology to the outside as far as I recall.

Yes, I concede I was mistaken about some of the major ships being made by Origins rather than only a piece of Electronic systems were.

If Yamatai Star Empire or New Dusk Conclave Engineers receive a piece of technology of unknown origins, the Tech Scanner will be able to be used to get data on the technology, such as power usage, or whether it’s a weapon or any manner of item. Further scans will allow the Engineering screws to figure out how the item was created and eventually how they can create the technology for themselves.
Click to expand...

In the quote, I mentioned that the technology received was from Unknown Origins I meant that this technology would have been either in the ground or something that drifted in from outside the Kikyo Sector. I am pretty sure Yamatai, and the NDC will be able to recognize their own and each other's technology, and because of the Alliance they have and for Peace, this technology, including ships would likely be transported to the factions it belongs to.

I didn’t include that in the wiki because I assumed they would be able to do so.

Unfortunately, I wish to submit and to get through NTSE approval, and having things on Hold, will I fear cause problems for me personally. I am willing to hear what Andrew would have to say on the topic, and Whisper, but this is as far as I will be writing until I hear from either of them.
 
FM approved for Yamatai as long as the part about old Star Army ships is removed. Just say that it has a lot of tech knowledge and can download the appropriate tech info as long as its current user has access and give it an automated way of clearing the info after the technician is not using it anymore. I'd love to have this available to the Star Army and Ketsurui Zaibatsu would be happy to purchase manufacturing rights to make copies of it.
 
Is it possible that instead of maintaining its own database, the tool just routes to a database maintained by the relevant faction? So if you've got an NDC "key" scans are compared to the database that's safely and securely stored in the NDC? I'm trying to figure out a way to make this work without presenting a security risk that no faction would reasonably accept.
 
Hey Charaa-

I'm seconding Alex's rejection on the submission as it stands for the NDC, but also his "but we want to help!" offer, too.

I am fully in support of "a device that can scan an object, whether it be intact or not, identify major components within it, compare those to a public (or secure faction) database of parts, and use that comparison to identify what parts might be used elsewhere based on the database's recommendation". That seems like a cool concept and is certainly useful for any given engineer, whether they be working a scrapyard or repairing a ship that they work in.

Out of character, I feel like having a device that is capable of reverse engineering things on its own takes away some of the fun of engineers 'figuring things out'. In character, I think it still presents a security risk even in its current form.

I'm happy to help with clearing things up on the 'it scans things and can assist an engineer in figuring out how they could reuse the parts they've identified' and on the 'this device can be used by a skilled engineer as part of an effort to reverse engineer something'. I feel like we're 'thrashing' a bit trying to solve things right now, though, and understand why you're frustrated!

If you're interested, we can hash things out on Discord and get this into a place where I think Alex and I would feel good about it.

Thanks!
 
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Alright, before i forget again. I worked with Whisper who gave me some great ideas. So i am hoping its even better now.
 
Hey Charaa! I went through and cleaned up some areas. A few things that stand out on the current iteration:

- The very first section needs a brief summary of what the Scanner can do. Sort of a "if you don't read the rest of the article, this little blurb is enough to give you the basics".
- Some section headers don't have text right after them. It's a minor thing, but it's part of the formatting guidelines. :)
-
==== Modifications ====

After scanning and data retrieval, engineers can use the Tech Scanner to make modifications to the ship if they need to. They can learn how to make the ship travel faster than it had been able to previously. Its weapons could be modified to be far superior than ever before, thanks to the scans. The Tech Scanner will show data on how much the ship systems, ((Weapons, Shields, and Repulsion)) will be able to be modified to give an edge against the pirates.
Click to expand...
'Far superior' weapons, etc, seems like something that might be problematic down the line. It might be safer to say something like, "the Tech Scanner can help engineers ensure that their ship's drives and weapons are operating at peak efficiency. The Scanner can identify parts that are worn down or out of date, simplifying the maintenance process. For older drives and weapons, the addition of new parts may even improve their performance somewhat."

Something like that still leaves the door open for engineers to make things better, but it doesn't make them explicitly better. I think you had broken down or damaged ships in mind when you wrote it, but the original phrasing could be applied to a brand new ship.

Hope that helps. Thanks for sticking with us!
 
Alex and I have worked with Charaa to resolve the issues we'd identified and are comfortable with this submission moving forward. Big thanks to Charaa for being patient while we worked through things. :) FM Approved for the NDC.

I was originally going to take on the review for this submission, but I think I've been involved too much at this point to remain sufficiently bias-free. I'll let someone else pick it up. Thanks!
 
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