Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Senko on <04-24-18/0342:39>
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I'm putting together a corporate facility. I've got most of it mapped out however I'd like to have a hostile environment as added defenses (and more importantly a way to trap the party in there with a ticking clock and threats). The two main possibilities are under the sea or in space although it could be put somewhere else where the environment is a severe danger and its remote from civilization like the actic. I can think of advantages either way but there's also disadvantages so I figured I'd ask for suggestions on where people think I should put it.
If people are actually interested in willing to post more information on the facility as well its just not really relevant to the question.
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Look at modern day corporations. What secrets do they have that drive them to build bases either under the ocean or in outer space and extrapolate from there. Walmart, for example, why do you think they chose an outter space facility while amazon chose an underwater one?
Jokes aside, once you have reached that level of whatever, the actual environment is likely to either stage dressing or immediately fatal so it doesn't really matter. For keeping with the fluff of Shadowrun magic has difficulties in space so unless that is something you are particularly after go with underwater.
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That was one of the disadvantages just like underwater you've got the a certain dragon who might not be happy with you being there. Annoyingly magic difficulties in space was also one of the advantages in a horror setting where the big gun's are taken out of play to a certain extent (magic and obvious weapons).
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I'm not certain that telling one or more players that their characters should just sit this one out is what I would call an advantage, but to each their own.
And as to the dragon it only comes up if you want it to. This isn't d&d, random encounter charts, if you use one at all, should not contain dragons.
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Matrix connectivity will be non-existing deep under water which will fuck up your decker.
The Gaiasphere will be non-existing in outer space which will fuck your magician.
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I'd say that underwater gives you more to play with, especially critters as well as environmental hazards. The lack of matrix access could perhaps be mitigated some by having the facility have its own extensive network, also it could also perhaps have scheduled matrix uplinks through the use of antenna and relay buoys or something like that like when a submarine surfaces to communicate.
If you want an alternative maybe the Arctic.
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In the sixth world there are numerous toxic zones left over from post-awakening magical disasters, post-regulation industrial mishaps, and etc. Places where nothing can live but toxic spirits provide free security for outside the perimeter for a hypothetical super-secure facility. Even if the toxics don't get them, having to approach the site in a radiation proof or biohazard suit limits what other gear shadowrunners can carry with them once they do infiltrate...
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Three also the middle of jungles or deserts. How about a huge ship in international waters or even a submarine.
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Hmmm I prefer the sea to space, just go super deep and then add some trained/rogue megaladons and you have an action packed summer thriller :D
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Any facility worth it's salt, especially one ran by one of the big 10, will have some form of matrix connectivity. They may have to wire it in but it will be there. Too much of the world runs on networking in the 2070s.
I do like SSDR's idea of doing this in the toxic wasteland, although that brings up how did the corp build it and how do workers get too and fro. But I have a soft spot for toxics personally so I'm not unbiased.
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First, figure out what the facility does. Then decide whether any particular environment offers unique advantages that benefit the facility ... e.g., zero gravity, high pressure, extreme heat or cold, accessibility vs. isolation, etc. Your solution may present itself.
Additional questions to resolve: How many people live and work there, and how frequent are the personnel changes? How important is regular communication with Mother Corp? (In space, there's a time lag; underwater, you'd need a hardline to a buoy on the surface.) How are they resupplied, and how often? If they make something, how are outgoing shipments handled, and how often? What internal risks is the facility designed to handle (hazardous materials, dangerous critters, hostile environment), and what emergency response or evacuation measures would they have in place?
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Or (at least for a pure research type facility), borrow a page from the Deathlands series, and put it under something like Lake Mead, with underground access through the Dam itself. Just a thought.
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What the facility is for will help determine where it should be. And, don't forget the logistical side of things either! While it sounds really cool to have a facility in space to keep it safe, the logistics of that say "Hell NO!" Especially if what happens in the facility has nothing to do with space.
Generally speaking, the things you have to worry about are: Power, Water, Food, and housing.
Building a facility somewhere there is no electrical grid is a huge problem as you now have to figure out how to power that facility. Do you build your own power generating station? What type is it?
People need Water to survive, and a lot of it! On average you need around 2 liters a day per person... which weighs about 1kilo per liter.
People also need to eat! on average, a person eats 2 to 4 kg of food a day.
And, people need to sleep, shower, and all the rest of it which means housing... a cramped jail cell is still 3 meters by 2 meters.... which people can live it.. unhappily.
All said, this is a HUGE expenditure for a Corp to set up, and we haven't even talked about maintenance and upkeep, or staffing or the equipment in the facility or to build the facility!
So, know what the facility is going to do, THAT will tell you where it is located, and from there, you can turn that environment to your advantage.
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Megaldons would require a freaking epic amount of food. Like blue whale sized. So make sure you keep your facility well supplied. You don't want rogue megaldons going out for snackies!! Oh no. That would be bad!
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Honestly I never even thought of toxic zones that could work very nicely thanks for that suggestion.
@Sphinx and Reaver
Ok seems I do need to post facility details.
Power and food are both taking a page out of the Renraku arcology specifically fusion reactors to provide power and a Delta sector with various aquariums and hydroponic farms so its mostly self sustaining if I read the renraku arcology supplement correctly. Its raw materials (metals, electronics and the like that need to be shipped in).
Officially the facility is a bio/cyber research facility dedicated to trying to figure out way's to reduce the impact that they have on metahumanity. Specifically if you get a cyber arm or a bio treatment how to reduce the essence cost of that. Unofficially its studying the CFD problem in order to find a reliable cure. However the person in charge of that research is a sociopath who believes its the way to create the perfect society. Use it on the masses and magicians to create obedient drone workers controlled by a central computer system programmed by the elite. The problem is a new hire misunderstood what they were doing and thought it'd be a perfect way to turn his attractive secretary into an obedient toy so he dosed her with one of the samples. Since the central controlling computer hadn't even been set up yet this resulted in a similar situation to Boston. That is rapid infection and homicidal attacks causing it to spread rapidly through Omega section (more on that in a moment). The players are there when delta gets opened up and the infected start spreading through the main facility. I'm thinking a sort of horror themed game with infected "zombies" moving around not only presenting a hazard in the terms of attacks but also that each attack could infect you. They need to avoid them, get through the facility and escape before its destroyed. Obviously this would be an intro meet the party type scenario so that if a character does die/get infected they haven't got a huge amount of time and resources invested in them yet.
Now on to the facility itself the design is basically a central core with linking passages to 4 outer towers/sectors that each have their own purpose. The core is the largest tower with 6 levels while the outer towers for Beta, Charlie and Delta are all 4 and differ in actual physical size as well. Omega sector is only 2 levels. They are linked together with access ways think an O with a + inside for general shape.
Charlie
Beta Alpha Omega
Delta
First off is Alpha sector which is the central core of the facility. On level 1 (probably sub level below ground for toxic wastes) there's the power generators two fusion reactors providing power for the whole facility. Level 2 is the security command centre for Alpha, Beta, Charlie and Delta sectors, the armoury, sleeping quarters/meal room for security and detainment cells if needed. Level 3 is the medical facilities where injuries are treated and is also capable of installing Cyberware/bioware if desired of standard and Alpha levels. Level 4 is a garden area and level 5 is living quarters and meal rooms for the base staff. Level 6 is the communications array. Level 3 (2 if power is a sub level) has access corridors to all sectors with security checkpoints, high security and more scans if your going to Omega Sector. This allows quick access to medical facilities if there's an accident in those sectors. Similarly level 5 (4 with a sub level has access to Beta, Charlie and Delta for staff.
Beta sector this is the only way into the facility (short of blowing holes in the outside) and has an entrance facilities/vehicle storage (bit vague yes because the actual entrance depended on the environment and I'll need to think up a design for a toxic location). There's two entrances here on level 1 a freight one and the personnel one. The freight one has large elevators to level 2 and 3 of Beta sector while the personnel one has smaller elevators to level 4. There's also parking for vehicles here. To get to the elevators in the personnel parking area you need to go through processing (scans, decontamination and a security checkpoint), freight has much the same only its aimed more at vehicles than staff. Level 4 is the meeting rooms and VIP visitor facilities (meal room, bedrooms, conference rooms). There's also a security checkpoint and access corridors leading to Alpha, Charlie and Delta sectors on this level. Level 2 and 3 are warehouses with raw materials and processed materials (wiring, computer chips, metal, etc.) stored here for use by the facility. Level 2 also has linking corridors and a security checkpoint to Alpha, Charlie and Delta Sectors.
Charlie sector is the manufacturing and food storage area. Its got facilities to produce most types of cyberware, computers and the like from the materials stored in Beta Sector as well as extensive hydroponic gardens and Aquariums. Levels 1 and 2 are manufacturing while 3 is the gardens and 4 is the Aquarium. Access on level 2 and 4 leads to Alpha and Beta sectors with again Omega being sealed off on lvl 2.
Delta sector is the main work area for the staff providing offices, conference rooms, open work areas, meal rooms, stores of office supplies and the like. As with Charlie sector access on level 2 and 4 is provided to Beta and Alpha sectors but Omega is sealed off on lvl 2.
Omega sector has its own dedicated security centre on level 2 and the research facilities on level 1. Research facilities include storage, labs, offices and the like.
Staff for the facility is 70 people divided up between. . .
Reactor staff
6 technicians, 2 per shift.
Security staff
20 total security officers. 8 people for 2 shifts and 4 for the night shift.
Manufacturing and food facility staff.
5 staff 1 rigger, 3 farmer types and 1 Aquatic specialist (I need to look up an appropriate discipline)
1 rigger to run the manufacturing facilities. 3 people to maintain the hydroponics and garden areas of the facility. 1 person for the aquarium maintenance.
Research Staff
15 scientists working in Beta Sector.
Maintenance Staff
3 Janitors, 2 electricians and 1 decker.
Omega Sector Staff
3 security officers
5 research scientists
Admin
Facility Director
Facility Directors personal assistant
2 secretaries shared amongst the research staff.
1 Medical Doctor
Supplies are delivered quarterly unless a special request is made for something by the facility director. PC's are part of an annual staff turnover for health reasons. They'll be slotted into one of the above categories depending on their roles and will be attending an induction (putting them all together) when things go wrong. I'm hoping to have them run through Alpha either Charlie or Delta and Beta sectors in their escape. I'm also considering having them being SINless test subjecs in delta who didn't get used yet but that's a bit more difficult to work. On the other hand it lets me have the facility be completely overrun and working incorrectly as they try to get out of a completey uknown area. Plus it allows for other procedures to have been conducted on them before hand.
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If you want inspiration for a remote arctic base there is a series called Helix (you can see it on Netflix).
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I think you should re-evaluate your list and Add Megalodon Manager and feeding staff. Should be played by Samuel L. Jackson, so when they are like how are gonna get of the base? Past those Giant Magic Sharks, he can look at them crack wise.
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Ok, I get the premise and I can see you have put a lot of thought into this, which is good - it means its going to work out well.
The premise for the building being a cyber research clinic that requires trillion dollar investments? Not so much. Cyber research is a core item for all of the big 10, this is where we have gotten things like Cyber Zombies, Delta-ware, and Jar-heads from.
This is going back a ways to 3e but in the SOTA 2064 (or was it Year of the Comet??) they listed the cost of lifting a single Kilogram of material into Orbit at 10,000 nuyen for the Corps that owned their own launching facilities (at that time, there was 3 Megas that had their own facilities). The cost of just lifting the crew of 61 would be amazingly expensive! Such a station would have to be a multi-task project, probably in the high tech construction supply chain. ("they make the bio-crystals used in computer storage technology in space because the 0G environment leads to better dispersion of the cells in the quartz matrix.") Or several such items.
There are several underwater habitats already that such a facility could be found in however. 2 are owned by Maerak (a AA Corp) and 1 by Shiwase (I think). But again these are mostly aquacrop farms, and marine resource extraction sites... But they could put in a cyber research lab if they felt the need.
However, I can see this facility more in land. And actually fairly close to a major city. Glo City in Seattle would be a good spot. huge background count to keep astral snoops at bay, toxic environment to keep away most people, isolated enough that anti-intrusion measures can be used with impunity.
Toxic critters, awakened nasties, ghouls, toxins, diseases, radiation. No services, no shops, no running water, roads not maintained in 40 years for kilometers in any direction. Empty condenmed buildings crumbling all around making good hiding spots for devil rats, ghouls, or even shadow spirits, the few people to be found are crazy... and then you get to the gate....
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I'll look into Helix. We may not have it in Australia though.
I like that suggestion about glo city I'll need to look into that location as well. I didn't realise it was still that expensive for corps to send stuff to space thought that was relatively cheap with the cost in building/maintaining a space station.
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CFD victims.... Or metahuman.v2 as the sociopath would call them all have matrix access thanks to their nanites. I think it would work well having the research facility somewhere where the matrix connection could easily be controlled. Faraday cage the whole facility on land, or build it underwater.
And underwater facility has the advantage of it being very hard to escape from. So even if a single cfd fragger would break out of his cell, he might have problems leaving the facility, as it has no submarines itself.
In times intervals there will be resupplying and matrix uplinks. The rest of the time it's off the grid.