Post-nano Modern Building construction.

Throughout human history people have used many different materials and methods to construct buildings. Often the methods of building construction used for residential buildings have varied considerably from those used for the construction of commercial, public and industrial structures.
Many of these materials and construction methods were widely used for many years, if not centuries. Some were completely replaced by later methods or only found in certain niches. Many survived through the Progressive Era into the the time of the New Diasporia. It is still possible to find structures of stone, brick, wood, steel and glass, but most modern methods of the construction of buildings use monosurface construction. This building method uses a building shell of ceramic nanotech material formed in a single piece. Interior support members are formed in a uni-structure with the outer walls.

Typical mechanicals space w/ access panel removed.

The structural cross section of the outer shell consists of a skin which is capable of absorbing light and heat and converting it to power. The surface has the property of instant chameleon pigmentation control, that is, it can change color under the control of its inhabitants. Beneath the skin an insulating layer keeps the interior cool in summer and warm in winter. Over the insulating layer a mechanicals space exists where power and fluid transport systems are installed. These spaces exist between the  support members. Over these spaces the interior walls are fastened. These walls are removable, allowing rapid access to the systems beneath.
Window panes are capable of being adjusted from opaque to transparent and also have the ability to allow light to only pass from outside to inside, allowing for the perfect privacy barrier.
Natural materials are still used for trimming, though often they are coated or treated with advanced materials to prevent water damage, rotting or other problems, and to enhance their own structural capabilities and beauty.
Building design is a mixture of engineering limitations, artistic license and social trends. Residential design specifically is constrained by the above aspects. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century the limitations of heating technology resulted in the dominance of small rooms with many doors, to better utilize the inefficient heating technologies. Meals were cooked by domestics or the female spouse and served in a separate dining room (or eaten at the kitchen table, dependent on class and social circumstance.) In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century improved HVAC systems and a lifestyle shift resulted in the prevalence of large open floor plans, with kitchen, dinning area and living/media space all joined together.
Post-nano modern homes tend toward a large number of bedrooms, suitable for the large families of the New Diasporia era. Bedrooms tend to be either fairly small or else larger and used as nurseries with multiple inhabitants. Houses are designed around the hub, which is a multi-function room used by the whole family for most activities. Portable wireless devices, and the general lack of interest in what a Progressive Era person would call "major media" means that while video and audio technology is embedded throughout the home, spending hundreds of hours a week planted in front of flat or three dimensional viewing screens is not a common practice. Large viewing surfaces and three dimensional projectors allow instant access to media from the houses central inter-web, but information is much more likely to be accessed via anyone of a number of portable devices which are commonly worn by most family members.
While autonomous robotic devices are quite rare, computer control is built into almost every device in the home. Cooking is usually a collective activity, and most families demand children both engage in work about the house and expect them to spend time mastering the skills necessary to assist.
Homes tend to be very self sufficient, with power collected from sunlight and heating using geo-thermal systems. On most worlds stand alone wells and septic systems are preferred to collective systems.

Village of Santa Monica

The Village of Santa Monica is a typical Highland population center. Located on the Blue Highway world Cecilia's Promise, Santa Monica is named after the mother of Saint Augustine because the settlers claimed waters of the bay to be "as clear as the tears of Saint Monica as she prayed for the salvation of her son, Augustine."
Like many such habitats the center of the village is the parish church, the Church of Saint Monica.  With a population of about fourteen hundred, the Village of Santa Monica is about standard size for a population center on Cecilia's Promise. This does not include the nearby agricultural residences, which make up a separate dispersed settlement.
The architectural style of Santa Monica is post-nano modern. Like all villages the town is a collection of individual residences, commercial structures and official buildings. Official structures, besides the parish church, include the Parish Seat, that is the local government center, the Grand Post Office, and the Transmat Portal.

Official Structures

Parish Seat
The Parish Seat is a two story structure which includes the the office of the village council, the constable's office and the central repository, the local mirror of Cecilia's Promise inter-web.

Grand Post Office
The Grand Post Office is the local branch of the Highland spanning system. In the case of Santa Monica the office itself is attached to Params Deliveries and General Fabrications. The local Postie position is part time, and occupied by the proprietor of that establishment. Message traffic is downloaded vie satellite and package goods delivered via the transmat portal, which is also under the administrative control of Mistress Param, owner of said establishment.

Transmat Portal
Santa Monica's transmat portal is a standard mix use permanent portal. Mixed use means that it is designed to be used by both pedestrians and cargo. Permanent means that it is commonly maintained in an open state, that is both portal openings are more-or-less fixed in their connected state. Dry goods and drums are translated through the portal using transport sleds.  The farside of the portal is located in Ellisa, a small port city near the planetary capital.

Commercial Establishments

Params Deliveries and General Fabrications
Commercial buildings are dominated by Params Deliveries and General Fabrications, which has one of the village's commercial nanotech factories. Hettie Param is the local Postie and also handles commercial package mail. Much of the small industrial raw material importing, used to support home and small commercial nanotech fabrication comes through Params. The General Fabrications portion of the establishment tends to concentrate on the making of low to medium tech quick fabs, which require fairly simple design specs and a limited number of stock materials.

Moranti Livery
The village itself is small enough that every structure is within walking distance, indeed this is one of the criteria that distinguishes a village from a larger entity, such as a town, which may have some form of public transportation network, either transmat or vehicular. However residence do sometimes need to travel to the surrounding agricultural homesteads or desire to visit local wildlands. The irregular nature of such activities makes the personal ownership of transport capsules economically wasteful. Moranti's has capsules for rent at reasonable rates for a multitude of uses. Some are small enough to use the transmat portal, others are large enough to use for general hauling. Autopilot capsules act as taxi's and delivery vehicles.

The Clay Jar Pub
For nearly all of human history there has existed establishments where people could buy meals and enjoy a sociable drink. In many places such businesses become community hubs. The Clay Jar pulls in business from the surrounding agriculture community as well as from Santa Monica.

Wing's Inn
Primarily an eating establishment Hosea Wing's hostel also has a dozen or so bedrooms which can accommodate village visitors. The Inn has two semi-regular residents, but most of the other rooms are typically available for travelers. Breakfast is typically included in the price of a room.

Broadline Fabrications
A general purpose technology fabrication facility, Broadline provides the main local source for nanofactory produced items, which are typically made to order from their extensive design catalog. The dozen or so employees include two design engineers who can spot design items or turn external designs into product at a modest cost. Their large nanofactory machines also provide the main fabrication facilities for the surrounding agricultural community.

Greengold's Market
Primarily an outlet for local agricultural products, such as dairy and meat, Greengold's also carries a small number of processed food items. Most residents travel to Ellisa regularly to get larger quantities of drygoods and stock food items.

Church of Saint Monica
The Parish Church complex includes the church itself, the associated rectory, the residence of pastor Fr. Martin Wolf, St. Augustine Hall, the parish's fellowship building and the parish school. The parochial school serves approximately 800 students.

Urban Life

The span of history of the New Diasporia actually ranges just over a century. Most of the great social trends originate from before that period. By the time of Fr. Borland Barnes and Joesph Gutierrez a Unified Catholic Church was already in existence. The Great Compromise was in place. In many ways the first wave of the New Diasporia was made up of people who had problems with both those facts of history. Only more slowly did the Church and society follow in successive waves.
The just of those facts means that throughout all extra solar space human civilization is barely a century old. For almost all of that time travel was limited to conventional road and air vehicles. Even in the farthest reaches of the Wilds civilization, or what passes for it, is just a generation or two old. In the oldest and most primitive places perhaps as many as six generations have passed since the invention of the B/G engine.
This tends to mean that on any particular world history is not too deep. On Earth it is not unusual to see structures several hundred years old. It is even possible to see man made structures thousands of years old. This is not the case on other worlds.
Because of the pace of technological development and the speed of transport cities tend to be smaller than the old Earth cities. Most terrestrial cities are old. They formed at transportation hubs, which is why so many cities were founded where rivers meet each other, or meet the sea. In the age of rail cities were founded at rail heads and junctions. Even in the pre-industrial age cities sometimes were built at places where gold, silver and iron could be found. Only in the age of the automobile did population centers swell over the land, tied together by concrete and asphalt ribbons.
In the Highland cities, towns and villages, founded before the mid-twenty third century, it is common to have roads and highways connecting buildings and other population centers. On many worlds these artifacts of an earlier age are abandoned and unused. At least by human traffic. Interior roads are still sometimes used to transport goods using autonomous robot vehicles. On others settled during the last seventy years often commercial transmat portals are still in use, connecting roads or monorails over vast distances. Some settled recently have no roads at all, with all transportation via transmat portal.
A matrix may be used to help determine the probable mixture of transportation technologies. Many of the other cultural and social characteristics of the world can be inferred from the combination of when the world was founded and what is it's present Tech Level.

Present Technology Level	A	B	C	D
Founding Year
2320
2310
2300					Nanotech
2290
2280
2270
2260					Transmat
2250
2240
2230					Hyperdrill
2220
2210					B/G Engine

Any Highland world founded after 2300 A.D. and founded at TLA will lack roads. Transmat portals will provide the primary transportation technology. Cities will be small and widely dispersed, perhaps even over several continents. A city, village or town is really more a designation of jurisdiction than of geographical area, since the shopping district can be in one place, the residential district in another place and facilities for space traffic somewhere else. Cities are differentiated from villages in that a village will have shopping, residential areas, churches and perhaps even a monastery all within walking distance, with transmat portals primarily used to travel to other places. Such population centers are not primarily vehicle friendly (since vehicles are seldom if ever used) and walkways and pathways are laid out with aesthetic and architectural considerations in mind rather than vehicular. If transportation is need to areas not served by transmat transport capsules will be used.These worlds are represented by the dark blue area of the graph.

Any world founded before 2300 A.D. but after 2260 A.D. and founded at TL A or B will have some form of road network. If they are still TL B they will have a mixture of commercial transmat portals and vehicle lines. Transmat assisted monorail and roadways allow trans continental and trans world travel using public trains or private road vehicles. Air travel will be relegated to orbital or extra-planetary transport. If they have advanced to TL A it is likely they will have abandoned roads. Streets will be relegated to older, economically depressed areas. New villages and towns will resemble those seen on worlds in the dark blue area of the graph. These worlds are in the medium blue area of the graph.

Any world founded before 2260 A.D. after 2210 A.D. will have as extensive a road network as would be required without transmat technology. Any population center which pre-dates the mid twenty-third century will have extensive road or rail or public transportation systems. If the world has advanced to TL B some of these systems, especially those between population centers will have been replaced with commercial transmat portals. If they have advanced to TL A whole population centers with their road systems may have been abandon in favor of more advanced, nanotech produced, villages and cities supported by transmat technology. Those areas not abandoned may be occupied by the economically disadvantaged or they may have been upgraded, with their street re-purposed as tracks or walkway or built upon as newly reclaimed land.

Worlds still at tech levels below B will still use their roads and public transportation systems. Gravity assisted ground vehicles and transport capsules will make up the majority of transport. Newer materials might be used for roads, and it is possible that planned communities could exist which separate vehicles from pedestrians. With lots of land and relatively few people the overcrowding existing in many areas of Earth is seen less, at least in the Highlands.

Outside the Highlands a much greater variety of technology mix and social and cultural geography is possible.

Life in a distributist nanotech society

The most difficult aspect of adventuring in any society whose tenants are radically different from the players own is trying to imagine what life is like for the player characters. This is important because social norms color what kinds of choices are reasonable for the characters to make and so limit the options of the players. These limitations are most often enforced by the referee or storyteller or gamemaster, but automatic compliance of the players often is effected by how reasonable those limits seem.
Very few players would disagree with a GM who called a SWAT team in if their characters shoot up a police station. Their response might be different if the GM calls in a ninja hit squad because they've ambushed a Confederate scouting party in a U.S. Civil War era game.
So social environment is very important. If the society is radically different, say a devout Christian norm as opposed to the radical progressive secularism of the present day that still might not be that great a leap. The PCs could likely look back several hundred years to the societal norm of the pre-Reformation Christian eras. However such societies were very different from civilization in the Highlands, most notably due to the existence of nantechnology.
Now the limitations of nanotechnology quite put to rest the common fantasy of a nanite swarm creating a banquet complete with table, chairs, prime rib, and champagne cooling in its ice bucket out of thin air. Even so it is easy to see that a small group outfitted with a number of nanotech factories and the designs needed to utilize them would be quite independent of need for the economic structures typically organized along traditional capitalistic grounds.
While the economic structure practiced within the Highlands might be categorized as distributism, it is no more pure pure distributism than what is practiced in the twenty-first century United States is pure capitalism or what is practiced in twenty-first century China is communism or capitalism.
The very existence of nanotechnology makes old supply side economics obsolete. But even when anyone with a nanotech factory and a pile of materials can make just about anything there is still an advantage to a certain amount of specialization. Someone still has to design the patterns that factories use to create items. Metals, petrochemicals and other elements must still be mined, purified and transported. And even with nanotech factories it is still more efficient to grow a crop or raise a herd than it is to produce nano-tech food.
Some amount of capitalization, that is the concentration of capital for the purposes of investment still occurs. The difference being the lack of isolation from consequences which was inherent in the progressive era corporate system.
Corporations, as originally instituted, limited the liability of investors for debt beyond the amount of assets they had in the corporation. This shifted risk to the debtors of the corporation. In the 19th century this was extended to protect shareholders by limiting the corporation's liability in both contract and tort claims. This further isolated members of the corporation from accountability for the corporation's actions. In the 20th century, changing law served to concentrate authority for guidance of corporate actions in the hands of corporate managers, who were theoretically accountable to shareholders, but often beyond their actual control. This further isolated those controlling the actions of the corporation from the consequences of their actions, both moral and legal. Of course it was possible for governments to hold corporate officers accountable for illegal activities, and even for a corporation to be dissolved for a pattern of such activities. Such sanctions typically require extensive and expensive action on the part of government, with corporate officers often shielded from direct accountability and hapless shareholders punished through loss of asset value. This pertains to legal responsibility, attempting to hold corporations up to moral accountability was even harder. This ignored the inevitable corruptive effect exercised by many large corporations as they solicited beneficial laws from compliant political leaders in return for both legal and illegal bribery.
Like many types of destructive social patterns the initial consequence of the decoupling of cause and effect resulted in a temporary economic boom. Often such patterns extend for what in human terms is a significant span of time, making the inevitable consequences less obvious. But the cause and effect relationship is as true as the law of gravity. The consequences of the divorce of behavior consequences in the economic sphere would eventually lead to economic collapse.
As communism and socialism fail because they do not take into account the nature of man so to does capitalism fail when it too fails to take into account the concupiscence caused by original sin.
Adam Smith's "invisible hand" does not work when the natural balance of economic cause and effect is corrupted by government intervention, legal redirection of consequences or criminal intent. Corporations and capitalism on their own are neither morally corrupt or sinful. However in their original incarnation, that is chartered by governments, for the common good, rather than to realize corporate revenues for the state in the form of taxes or profits for the shareholders, corporations can produce enormous good and still produce profit, which is of itself not sinful. This is accomplished by keeping corporations closely regulated, focusing on the protection of the public good and limiting corporations to comply with the purposes expressed in their charters. This generally results in small corporations, which are closely regulated by government in the interest of the commons. Naturally this produces a lower rate of return than unfettered capitalism, but it also prohibits the fiction of the immortal corporate "person", beyond common morals and ethical constraints. It also tends to ensure profits over the long run, if limiting their unfettered expansion. In the Highlands this is considered an equitable trade.

Transport Capsule

Transport capsules are small utility craft used for short range transport in space or on planetary surfaces. Transport capsules are small enough to use commercial vehicle transmat portals. They have no facilities for sleeping or food preparation and so are unsuitable for use on the subspace transport networks. They are most often used to haul a few passengers or small amounts of cargo between spacecraft, transporting personnel between station modules or as transport on worlds to places not served by the transmat system. The capsule is not designed to be serviced in space, although the engine compartment is accessible by removing the floor decking. Access is through the single rear hatch. Transport capsules do not have an enclosed airlock relying on a membrane barrier to maintain cabin pressure when the hatch is open.

Transport Capsule in GURPS VE2 format:
TLA Transport Capsule-class

Crew: 2 total. 2 crew stations covering vehicle maneuvering system, communicator, 4 sensors.

Subassemblies: Vehicle +4, Body +4.

P&P: 52,000,000-kWs rechargeable power cell, 10,000 lbs. thrust Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine (Barnes Manifold deflector; no access space).

Occ: two roomy crew stations (gravity web), five roomy passenger seats (gravity web), three roomy passenger standing room locations, 10-man full life support system.

Armor F RL B T U
Body 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5

Equipment
Body: AESA (scan 17, 10-mile range; non-targeting); long range radio communicator (50,000-mile range); searchlight (0.45-mile range); PESA (scan 21, 50-mile range); gravscanner (scan 17, 10-mile range); multiscanner (scan 17, 10-mile range); small computer (complexity 8; compact, dedicated); routine vehicle operation program (piloting-12, C2); datalink program (C1); computer navigation program (C2); artificial gravity unit (27,000cf covering); full fire suppression system; sealed.

Statistics
Size: [LxWxH] 10'x8.5'x8' Payload: 2,000 lbs. Lwt.: 9,189 lbs.
Volume: 689 cf Maint.: 25 hours (3.85 mh/day) Price: P6420

HT: 14 HP: 750 [Body].

Space Performance: sAccel (unloaded) 1.09 G, ( 1.09 G), sDecel 1.09 G, sMR 1.09, sAccel 20 mph/s.

Aerial Performance: Stall Speed 0 mph, Drag 501, Top Speed 385 mph, aAccel 20 mph/s, aMR 5.5, aSR 4, aDecel 20 mph/s.

Design Notes:
TLA medium frame standard materials [Vehicle].
TLA DR 5 expensive metal [Vehicle].
Operating Duration: 14 H 11 M 46 S.
Vehicle Features: computerized controls, computerized diving controls, pressure proofed, no streamlining.
Volume: 689 cf [Body].
Area: 500 sf [Body].

The Pinnace

A Pinnace is an armed vessel typically carried aboard other vessels, or used from a base or station in system. Pinnace are typically built in the 250 to 400 thousand cubit foot range. They have shunting capability and are used as scouts or couriers.

Like most spacecraft which are larger than a brake or hypershuttle, but smaller than a Man-'O-War, pinnace are usually saucer shaped. Pinnace in service with the Legion usually are lightly armed, being intend primarily for planetary combat support and uncontested ship boardings. They can be used to land troops or to carry messages in areas where there is no hypercable system.
Because they are capable of independent operation most contain both eating and sleeping accommodations. Often small craft, such as ridged inflatable boats, air utility vehicles, or transport capsules are carried aboard to allow operations in frontier areas and regions off the grid. They are capable of water landings and can set down at unimproved landing areas and even remained tethered by a gravity anchor in mountainous areas too rugged for conventional landing.
All of these characteristics makes this type of vessel highly sought after by private users and traders guilds. Many second hand ones have found there way into this market, though most such vessels have had their weapons stripped and sensors degraded.

Structural Integrity Fields

So what are these structural integrity fields and why should I care? Structural Integrity Fields are a product of force field technology. They allow spacecraft to be constructed at a reduced cost and weight, while also permitting warcraft to be more survivable. A SIF is a system of planar force fields which are formed inside bulkheads and structural members to strengthen them. An SIF increases the amount of stress that such a bulkhead or structural member can take before it fails. As a side benefit SIF will prevent gravscanners and other force based technology from penetrating a hull which is reinforced with a Structural Integrity Field.
So how do I handle this in the game? An SIF allows a ship to be built as if it was built with a heavier frame, without the weight penalty. So in the GURPS VE2 or modular spacecraft system normally Hit points for a hull are calculated using the following formula:

area * 1.5 * Frame Value

Frame	Frame Value	SIF
Super Light	0.1	0.5
Extra Light	0.25	1
Light	0.5	2
Medium	1	4
Heavy	2	8
Extra Heavy	4	16

When a vessels has a Structural Integrity Field its Hit Points are calculated using the SIF multiple. It's cost is calculated as for the next highest Frame Value.
So for a vessel with a Super Light Frame the cost multiplier is normally 0.1. Outfitting the vessel with a Structural Integrity Field will raise the Hit Point multiplier to .5 while leaving the Mass Multiplier at .1, but the cost will increase to .25, still less then the 1 multiplier used for an equivalent light frame vessel. The technology's benefits are most dramatic at the heavy and extra heavy frame level used by Men 'O War.
Structural Integrity Fields do add a layer of cost and complexity to a vessel but the benefits are great enough that even small craft, such as brakes and HUVs often have them.

Anti-Missile Game Mechanics

As for other space combat mechanics in the game this section assumes GURPS VE2 rules modified using New Diapsoria modifications 
Assuming a Sensor Net Anti-Missile Missiles (AM Missiles) may be deployed whenever missiles are detected within a range of 1 million miles (100 hexes). From a game mechanics point of view an AM Missile which passes withing the same hex as an attack missile is an automatic kill, unless penetration aids are being used. In the case of an active Jammer there is a one in six chance of a missile hitting an actual missile as opposed to a false or spoofed missile. The GM records a number. If the attacker rolls that number it is a hit. If not a miss.
When jamming is used with a large number of missiles it becomes purely a numbers game. Determine the number of attacking missiles and subtract the number of anti-missile missiles to determine the number of missile which survive. At space combat ranges it is beyond the ability of sensors to determine the actual number of attacking missiles so for the defender it is a game of probabilities. If the defender launches too few AM Missiles attack missiles will get through to their targets. If the defender launches too many AM Missiles the excess missiles will be wasted and might be needed for subsequent attacks.
If penetration aids are used six times as many anti-missile missiles must be launched to stop every missile.
So if an attacker launches 300 missiles and the defender launches 200 AM Missiles, 100 missiles will survive to face the defender's point defense. If the attacker has used penetration aids then only 200/6 missiles (33.3, round up to 34) missiles will be destroyed and 266 missiles will survive to face the defender's point defense.
In the space combat round any missile within 10 hexes (100,000 miles) will be destroyed within the launching turn of the anti-missile missiles. Missiles within 40 hexes (400,000 miles) will be destroyed the turn after AM Missiles are launched. Missiles at 100 hexes (1,000,000) will be destroyed two turns after the AM Missiles are launched. Of course anti-missile missile ranges may be extended by launching them from a heavy missile booster package.  In that case the 500mm missile may travel to it full range before deploying it's 10 Viper anti-missile missiles. The Vipers accumulate the heavy missile acceleration as well as their own. Some ship launch Vipers from gravity pulse launchers which will give an extra 1000 Gs of initial acceleration. This really has little effect on game play because of the 10,000 mile hexes used. Difference in range and velocity are lost in the noise.

500mm attack missiles accelerate by one hex every turn. 250mm attack missiles accelerate by one hex every other turn. Missile with laser communicators may be commanded to move at any acceleration up to their maximum acceleration each turn. They may also be made to hold station, creating an kind of space mine which can then attack as the result of a remote trigger from a ship or station.
Any missile which survives will face the defender's point defense. Point defense consists of X-Ray Lasers and railguns firing canister shot. X-Ray Lasers are one-shot/one-kill weapons. In the anti-missile roll they are operated at reduced power and a higher rate of fire. Each laser will kill one missile per turn. For example a quad turret can kill 4 missile per turn. As for anti-missile missiles take the number of attacking missiles and subtract the number of point defense lasers to determine if any missiles survive.  Canister shot is an area effect weapon capable of destroying multiple missiles. This is because the range is so short because kinetic kill missiles and contact nukes must converge on the target in order to damage it. Any missiles which do not employ a "pop-up" trajectory will be damaged by canister fire.
X-Ray laser warheads detonate outside the range of point defense lasers and railguns. Such point defense weapons are ineffective against these weapons.

Sensor Drone Design

Using GURPS sensor rules if missile are allowed to utilize stealth technology and emission cloaking they become effectively undetectable at anything resembling useful ranges. This is especially true of missile which use some kind of gravity drive system, such as the B/G Engine, which itself is not highly detectable, except using a gravscanner. Gravity emission masking, which is available at TL A makes even that method of detection ineffective.
The answer in the New Diasporia universe is the use of sensor drones. To detect stealthed missiles a sensor net, consisting of hundreds of sensor drones are deployed. Such nets are deployed as far forward, that is as close as possible, to the perceived threat.
The goal is to deploy a sensor array that missile will have to physically pass. Optimum deployment forces missiles to approach  the sensor drones at a range of no more than 10 to 20 thousand miles at least half a million miles out from the fleet. This will give almost 11 minutes response time for anti-missile launch. As for many of the game mechanics of New Diasporia I have pillaged freely from other GURPS science fiction space based games. The Sensor array Rules are based on the home brewed rules for GT Sensor Arrays by Kenneth Witt located at John G Wood's elv GURPS Traveller site.
As with all my designs I run against the GURPS 3rd Edition TL progression limits. For most technology GURPS assumes that items which are developed in a specific TL cost half as much in the next TL and weigh half as much. Two Tech Levels after their introduction they weigh a quarter as much and their costs is again halved. They may also become more effective. Beyond that no improvement is seen. As one can see in the case of many devices this is not reflective of reality. Computers are an excellent example. Moore's law seems to have no boundary. Room sized at TL6, PC size at TL7, cell phone size at TL8, perhaps pin size at higher TL's. The cost was reduced at an even greater scale.
Rather than limiting progression to two tech levels I allow progression to continue. Since New Diasporia TLA is equivalent to GURPS TL14 in many areas, for sensors designs I continue to reduce sensor cost, mass, and volume for every Tech Level until TL14.
On this basis numbers for TLA sensor systems are:

PESA	TL	Scan Rating	Range	Hex	Mass	Volume	Cost
	A	51	4.5M	450	46.875	1.25	75

AESA	TL	Scan Rating	Range	Hex	Mass	Volume	Cost
	A	51	4.5M	450	4.45	0.5625	1.22

Gravscanner	TL	Scan Rating	Range	Hex	Mass	Volume	Cost
	A	42	.45M	45	0.703125	0.225	8.0

Using the modified sensor rules there is a +3 scan if >100 sensor platforms are used. If 300 sensor drones are deployed to cover a band of space between the attacking ship and the defender then the mass, volume and cost will be spread over 300 drones. Additional cost of the drone will be the B/G engine, Nuclear Power Generator, three laser communicators and a robotic computer brain. Individual drones will have radical stealth and emission cloaking.
Each drone will have a PESA  2.08 cuft sensor package, costing P2500, a AESA 1.0 cu ft sensor package costing P40.75, and a Gravcanner .375 cuft sensor package costing P5.6. Scann ratings for the whole system will be PESA:54, AESA:54 and Gravscanner:45.
A roll less than 4 on 3x6d will result in detection of a single 500mm missile. Obviously if 100 missiles detection odds are rolled the chance that some of them will be detected is almost a sure thing. So much so that a roll isn't necessary. Because the net is dispersed ignore the scan rating limit of size+36. Its actual size will be greater than size+36, but since each drone must be detected separately (for targeting purposes at any rate) this limit is unimportant.
Such a sensor net requires a signal processing program in a complexity 7 computer in the control node. The node is usually a forward deployed fighter or battlerider, although it can also be a destroyer or destroyer escort, which have the further benefit of being able to deploy the sensor net themselves.

Airlock Technology

An airlock is a device which allows movement from one kind of environment to another, while maintaining separation between the two. By the time of the New Diasporia airlocks have been in use for hundreds of years. Most spacecraft will have some form of airlock to allow people and objects in the shirtsleeve environment inside the craft to get outside the craft without completely depressurizing it.
The most elementary form of airlock consists of a room with two doors. Each door opens into a different environment. In the case of a spacecraft one will open into the hostile environment outside the ship and the other into the human standard environment inside the ship. Some primitive ships in the Wilds still use this technology.
More modern airlocks use much more sophisticated technology. Modern small craft, especially low tonnage commercial craft use an Airlock Containment Unit. An ACU is a device which is primarily mounted under the deck of a vehicle adjacent to the egress door. The ACU contains the air recovery system and a containment made of smart material. When the unit is in the stowed position it is out of the way and can be walked across like any other section of deck. When deployed the smart material expands to lock into the assembly mounted in the overhead and along the bulkhead. The overhead assembly usually contains a decontamination system. ACUs are available in a number of sizes, with the smallest just big enough for a single person. The ACU has no second door. Its user steps into the delineated square and activates the device which causes the walls to expand and isolate the area. The air is pumped out and the outer door to the vessel opened to allow egress. Most are controlled directly by the vessel's computer, although most also have an emergency power source and manual controls.
A more conventional airlock system for a larger craft consists of a multi-layered airlock system. The typical external airlock door consists of a blast door or safety shutter, which is normally closed during ship operation. Around the external door is typically a docking ring of compressed smart material which can be extruded to create a passage tube between vessels.
Behind the blast door is typically an airlock membrane. Membranes are v-branes which are selectively permeable. That means people and object can pass through them, but atmosphere can't.
A more advanced airlock consists of an opening with a brane which will allow vehicles or individuals to pass through while retaining atmosphere. An airlock planer force field acts as an emergency barrier should the brane fail.
A typical airlock on the most advanced vessels consists of a set of walls which form the airlock each with its portal protected by a brane, with an emergency planer force field and backup blast doors.
While the normal method of airlock control is through the ship's computer most airlocks have control stations located inside the airlock and at each portal. The inner control station typically has a touch panel which will  have controls for both sets of doors and for the planar force field. An interlock will prevent de-energizing both planar force fields at the same time. If a force field goes down the blast doors will close.
The station inside the airlock has controls for both the inner and outer portals. Emergency handles allow the brane to be manually deployed and emergency buttons can activate the force field and shut both sets of blast doors.
The outside control station typically has a communication terminal to allow a visitor to "knock" at the airlock door if the blast door is closed. It is possible to set the brane to keep out anyone not recognized as having authorized access, which is typically established using a wireless transponder or RFID tag.
An atmospheric testing station, which monitors the environment outside the outer door and in the airlock itself is also typically available, usually on the same touch panel as the controls. In normal operation the inside of a modern Tech A airlock is at ship's pressure, even during use. Should the brane fail if the planer force field deploys properly there should be little or no drop in pressure. If the force field should fail the airlock can be cycled in emergency mode from any of the three control stations.
A biofilter field in the brane can selectively keep out dangerous microbes and macropests. Still almost all serious airlock systems include a decontamination system and a dust recovery vacuum system to protect the vessel interior.
Airlocks can also be located between compartments of a ship, but it is much more common for a modern ship to have planer force field projectors installed to allow the ship to be segmented. Men 'O War typically supplement damage control force fields with pressure doors. Each pressure door consists of a pair of heavy sliding hatches with a small compartment between them. brane curtains, which will be activated by falling pressure, even without ships power, provides a final line of defense in preventing catastrophic depressurization. Segmenting barriers always include pressure displays to indicate the pressure on the door's far side.
Closed doors can be remotely overridden using the ship's computer, provided one has the proper access. They can be manually overridden only with the proper tools. If air is rushing past an open door it will automatically re-close unless disabled.

Of Saints and sinners.

In discussing character attributes it was mentioned that one of the goals of Characters in New Diasporia should be the quest to sainthood. It is not a goal every Player Character will attain to, but it is one to which some PC's should, if New Diasporia is to be different from every other space based science fiction RPG.
As was discussed every Character starts out with a level of holiness. The default starting level for any baptized character should be initially high, based upon their lifestyle. In what way do I mean? If the character is a Christian, and by design most characters will be Catholic Christians of one of the rites, East or West, then they must be what is commonly called a practical Catholic.
What is a practical Catholic? A practical Catholic is someone who follows the precepts of the particular rite of the Church to which they belong. So if they are a Roman Catholic they will abstain from meat on Fridays, attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and at least make their Easter duty of going to Reconciliation and receiving Communion. If they are members of one of the Eastern rites during Lent they will follow the strict fasting of Pure Monday and Great and Holy Friday. On Wednesday and Fridays in Lent they will keep the simple fast.
And they will adhere to the teachings of the Church on matters of faith and morals.
It is likely that in the course of their adventures that most Player Characters will fall. It is a component of the human condition and a Player will really want to have his character become a Saint to take the hard road. Becoming a martyr, when you've spent a good time building a character is not any more pleasant than the thought of real life martyrdom, though of course no where near as painful. So most characters will now and then take the easy way out.
Does that mean their quest is over? Not at all. As in real life a character can seek out a priest to receive confession.
So how is the game master ne referee ne storyteller to know where the lines are for characters? It's quite simple really. If the PC is following the authentic teaching of the Church then they are good. If they are going against it, even for good reason then they are not.
The difference between disciplines and dogma are discussing in broad terms here. Beyond that, look to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in this matter it is your rulebook. (Don't be afraid to apply it outside the game too.)

Pentaids, sensor probes and ECM drones.

Pentaids (Penetration Aids) are basically 500mm missile modified by having their warhead replaced with jammers. They have the ability to spoof targeting systems so as to make a single missile appear to be multiple missiles or a single flight of missiles appear as multiple flights. The purpose of Pentaids is to cause anti-missile missiles to expend themselves uselessly against targets which do not exists.
Pentaids are fired from standard missile launchers and expend themselves quickly, that is they are meant to travel at standard missile accelerations (1000Gs) and have a duration no longer than the missiles they are based upon.
They are very effective against the terminal guidance systems of anti-missile missiles, but somewhat less effective against ship based sensor platforms.

Sensor Probes are modified 250 mm missiles. The warheads are removed and smaller engines are installed. Some retain their normal energy cells, others are outfitted with Nuclear Power Units (NPUs) which give them longer endurance. For some purposes their laser communicators can be replaced with standard encrypted EM communicators, An advanced compact robot computer is installed. The sensor packages used are very much weaker than those available to a spacecraft, but the purpose is to get the probe in close without detection. To this purpose they have the ability to operate independently, following very complex program guidelines to reduce the likelihood they would be compromised.
Most probes use sensor packages optimized for a specific purpose. All have some level of PESA capability, but beyond that they may be either primarily passive platforms or primarily active platforms.
Large numbers of probes can be deploy to create a passive sensor net. Active probes can be combined with passive probes and passive shipboard sensors systems to create pseudo-passive sensor nets. These nets operate very much the way the human eye does, or the way sonar buoys do. The active probes send out an EM wave pulse which reflects off of targets. The reflected waves are picked up by passive sensors disclosing information about the targets, just as the human eye sees objects illuminated by the sun or another light source. The enemy can attempt to take out the broadcasting active sources, but cannot detect the passive receivers.

Drones are also based on 500mm missiles, but not only have their warheads been removed, but they have smaller engines and NPU (Nuclear Power Units) rather than Energy Cells. This allows them greater endurance. Drones are used to spoof enemy sensors by jamming, distortion, or projection. A drone can make a Battlerider appear to be a Dreadnought, or making a destroyer seem to be a whole squadron of destroyers.

Blue Highways

Blue Highways are the secondary subspace routes of the Highlands. Blue Highways are routes which do not have hypercable communication stations seeded along their route. Beacon stations are located farther apart and the Department of Roads does not have as many gravitational weather stations located along the route. This makes travelling along the Blue Highways marginally more dangerous than along the Major routes. Travel is also generally slower. This is reflected in the subspace quality factor. Blue Highways generally have had less spatial stabilization. Portal Gates generally tend to be located outside the 100 diameter limit, in orbit around the stellar primary. This is less convenient.
Waystations are also fewer and farther between. A greater majority of travel along the Blue Highways consists of commercial traffic. Hypertrains do not run along these routes, so most passenger traffic goes by hyperbus, a much less comfortable mode of travel. It also much slower than hypertrain travel as there are stop overs every few days at the waystations that do exists.
Most cartage goes by hyperlorries.
The lack of hypercable means that information travels no faster than the Courier vessels of the Grand Postal System. Worlds on the Blue Highways are often thought of as a little behind the times by the inhabitants of the  population centers on the Major Routes. The Church tends to be fairly strong on these worlds, its clerics and orders often receiving news via the Church's own couriers before it is delivered by the Post.
Many religious orders and lay organizations provide both help to travelers and relief to natives.
The Shelta, itinerant trader/technicians travel the Blue Highways in their caravans of hypershuttles. Most are devout sons and daughters of the Church, though often accused of having odd interpretations of some of the commandments (most especially the sixth and seventh,) on worlds where their travelling lifestyle is looked on with suspicion. On many worlds their talents with machinery and technology are welcomed. They often seem to have the right materials and design specs for hard to get spares and some seem to be almost able to talk to technology. They are often associated with the Grey Friars of the Renewal, who often seem to travel with the Shelta caravans, both seeing to their spiritual needs and smoothing over problems with locals. Along with hyperlorries and HUVs, they are a common sight on the Blue Highways.
Outside the Highlands almost every route could be considered a Blue Highway. Most of these routes are toll roads, either privately owned or short routes joining the worlds of a petty collection of worlds. Some few are extensions of the Grand Human Union, expanding into the Midlands.
Within the Highlands the Department of Roads in constantly upgrading existing Blue Highways to Major Routes, stringing hypercable stations along improved spacial structures in subspace. Likewise the Blue Highways themselves are extended to otherwise disconnected worlds, previously only open to traffic with hypershunting capability. Even so some worlds will never be connect via Blue Highways, and some that are will never get hypercable.

Space Combat Missile Design

As for all New Diasporia technical game rules missiles are designed using GURPS 3rd Edition rules from VE 2nd Edition, modified for the New Diasporia Universe. If you use another system either just import the operating statistics into your ruleset or design your own, based upon what ever design rules that ruleset uses.
Standard missiles (250mm & 500mm) were designed using the vehicle rules from VE2 and using GURPS Vehicle Builder, a program which I believe is still available from SJGames. I created a custom Barnes-Gutierrez Engine Module for GVB. Basically it is a Gravity Drive with a low power deflector representing the Barnes Manifold Interface. It was created at TL12 and improves over the next two TLs per standard GURPS Tech Level rules.
Viper anti-missiles were created using the space missile design rules on VE2 p122. The P factor has a progression which goes from TL4 to TL11+. This progression discounts the fact that according to GURPS Reactionless Thruster (and Gravity Drive) rules a drive becomes 1000 times more efficient (that is its weight to thrust ratio is a thousand times greater at TL13+ than it is at TL9.) By increasing setting P=P*1000 to reflect this progression, I got a very high acceleration, but short endurance, anti-missile missile.
X-Ray Laser warheads use damage from GURPS Traveller rather than Gurps Space Third Edition, that is they do 9dx200(2) damage. Note divide by 2 only against Armor, not force fields. As can be seen at that level of damage a flight of 10 missiles could damage even a dreadnought, even with an operating force field. 10 flights of them could easily do in even such a first rater as a super dreadnought.
Missiles with X-Ray warheads are not susceptible to typical point-defense weapons (lasers and rail guns) nor to nuclear dampers at the ranges they deploy at. Anti-Missile Missiles are the best defense against them. Typical ranges of Vipers is 1 million miles (or 100 hexes if using the Traveller 10,000 mile hex based combat system.)
Point-defense weapons typically are only effective when missiles get within 3,000 miles of the target, or within the same hex. X-Ray Lasers detonate at ~10,000 miles from the target or just within the same hex.
Nuclear dampers are only effective in the < 100 mile range. Since nuclear tipped missiles are effectively contact weapons this is more than adequate. Even an active force field will not protect against the 12dx20,000 damage from a 250mm warhead or the 12x2,000,000 damage of a 500mm warhead.
I'll cover more about New Diasporia space combat philosophy in another post.

Space Combat - Missiles

In the New Diasporia Universe, at TL A at any rate, space combat is dominated by the missile. Energy weapons, especially among the largest ships, are formidable weapons with very great ranges. In single ship actions, especially between relatively small vessels at very close range, energy weapons are very effective. In fleet actions missiles are the deadliest weapons.
The Legion has standardized on offensive missiles in 2 standard sizes, 250 mm 6 cf missiles and 500 mm 30 cf missiles. Other armed ships inside the Union tend to use these same missile sizes. Because much of the weapon technology of the nearer Midland worlds tends to originate in the Highlands these sizes are also common there,
The typical light missile is a kinetic kill weapon, primarily a heavily stealthed B/G engine with a mass of collapsed matter for a warhead and a brilliant compact computer guided by a sensor targeting array. Topping out at 700G acceleration and with an endurance of 15 minutes and a range of almost 2 million miles light missiles are formidable weapons, even against a target with a force field, if you throw enough of them at it.
Heavy missiles are even more versatile. Topping out at 1000G acceleration and with an endurance of 18 minutes and a range of 3 miles heavy missiles can carry a variety of payload packages, including nuclear and X-Ray laser warheads.

Viper anti-missile have a crushing 10,000G acceleration, but only have a 3 minute endurance, but they can still have a range of a million miles of powered flight. A heavy missile can deliver 10 Viper anti-missiles, extending the usable range of these lethal fire and forget weapons. They can also be fired from a gravity pulse launcher, which conveys an even higher initial acceleration, extending their range. Vipers typically contain a force field warhead which gives them an intersection cross section larger than their own size.
Unlike Vipers, light and heavy missiles are a combination of guided and fire-and-forget technology. Each missile contains a long range laser receiver that allows it to be controlled from its firing vessel or any other platform with the proper access codes. When the missile gets withing close range of its target an on board computer uses the missile's own sensor package to guide it to its target. A self-destruct charge allows the remote operator to destroy the missile at need.
Modified heavy missiles can be used to control other missiles in its flight allowing one laser guidance transmitter to control a barrage of missiles.
There are versions of both light and heavy missiles which have been converted into surveillance drones, ECM drones and even delivery systems for smart bombs, glide bombs and deadfall ordnance.
There are a variety of different sensor packages that can be used for guidance. Passive systems include radscanners, which can be used for Anti-Radiation Missile Homing (ARM), ladar homing, and neutrino homing,  and  PESA, good for Infrared imaging, Radar homing, and even optical homing. Multiscanners can be used to target particular targets based on human occupation or even to avoid them, as well as working in radscanner mode as above. In chemscanner mode particular ship locations or economic targets can be chosen. Gravscanner homers can lock onto force fields or the Barnes Manifold of a B/G engine.
For the cost in weight of a laser transceiver a missile can send telemetry data back to its mother ship. This slightly reduces its payload.
Because they can be remotely controlled missiles can be seeded in a location and be activated later. A missile's engine can also be turned off to allow it to drift further extending its range, though ballistic missiles are easy targets for lasers or railguns.

Celestial Architecture

Celestial Architecture is the art and science of designing spacecraft. In the New Diasporia universe this typically means shunt capable vessels as opposed to space vehicles capable of using the Major Routes or Blue highways. The design of the smaller, mass produced vessels used on these routes is typically called Aerospace Engineering.
While small spacecraft are designed based on both aesthetic and practical engineering considerations, large space vessels are almost totally designed based on practical engineering design factors. This leads to a uniformity of design practices. That is, vessels of similar purposes will almost always be designed to the same constraints, and will look and perform similarly.
So for example, men o' war are almost always spherical in shape. This is because force fields which are spherical rather than conformal are lighter, cheaper and require less power. The size and strength of the field required by a hyper utility vehicle is small enough that the difference between maintaining a spherical or conformal field does not result in a great enough limitation to constrain the design. Other considerations, such as parking convenience and ability to utilize transmat portals are more important. For heavily armored war craft though, the spherical shape is the most efficient one.
Smaller vessels, like the pinnace, schooner and corvette are typically cylindrical or saucer shaped, depending on their size.
Unlike craft propelled by reaction engines a vessel which uses a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine is not constrained to a single axis of movement. A B/G engine can thrust equally well in any direction. In all but the smallest craft the control room, or as it more properly known, the bridge, is typically centrally located in the vessel rather than at the "front." Most modern vessels will typically thrust so that the vessel's motion is perpendicular to the main deck, with "down" facing the direction of origin. Since it is not required to change the orientation of the engine to change its direction of thrust vessels do not "flip" to decelerate. On larger vessels not all decks necessarily are oriented to the same direction. Such vessel are never meant to land on a planetary surface and provide their own gravity anyway. There is no reason they should maintain a consistent "down" direction, and often it is more convenient for them not to.
 Radial designs have many benefits and most modern vessels which are not spherical use a radial design. The very smallest craft; brakes, HUVs and hypertrains are the exception.

Gravity Drives

The Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine is a form of gravity drive. A gravity drive is a type of propulsion engine which operates by manipulating space-time. A gravity drive produces a "bubble" which is gravitationally isolated from the rest of space-time. This produces a number of effects which define the operational characteristics of the Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine.

The interface or topological surface produced by the B/G engine is called the Barnes Manifold. Mass inside the Barnes Manifold is accelerated by the engine without translating the resultant inertial force to the the field's interior. In other words, inside the Barnes Manifold the usual acceleration force is not present. As a matter of fact vehicles and spacecraft which use Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engines require an artificial gravity web to maintain a comfortable gravity field, else the occupants would be weightless. This means that a passenger in a vehicle using a B/G Engine will feel neither acceleration nor deceleration. This allows such vehicles to perform hairpin turns, rapid changes in acceleration, and high speed stops, without fear of injuring the occupants. This also means that a spacecraft utilizing a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can provide thrust in any direction without the vessel changing orientation.

The strength and permeability of the Manifold Interface is a function of its size and differential interaction with outside space. So micro B/G Engines, such as are used by smart ammunition, have very weak Barnes Manifolds even though they accelerate at >200,000 Gs. A full size space vessel, accelerating at only dozens of Gs will have a substantial, and well defined Barnes Manifold. The Manifold Interface acts as a buffer between particles outside the field and those inside the field. That means that even without a force field, a craft with a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine provides it's own radiation shield and protection against particulate radiation and even micrometeorites. The higher the acceleration the better the protection. The lower the acceleration the less protection.
Most spacecraft using reaction engines accelerate for approximately one half of a trip through space and then turn over to use their engines to decelerate for the second half of the journey to arrive at their destination with approximately zero residual velocity. Because a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can produce thrust in any direction it is not required for a spacecraft equipped with one to "flip" during a typical journey. Most spacecraft that use reaction drives will adjust pitch and yaw through the use of small reaction engines. A vessel equipped with a Barnes-Gutierrez Engine can control its facing by manipulating the slip along the Barnes Manifold Interface such that the vessel can easily be set to any heading.
Because facing is not terribly relevant for a large vessel using a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine many are spherical with a fore and aft section designated more for reasons of tradition than from need. Such vessels typically maintain a single heading during a voyage, changing the vector of their thrust rather than their heading.
Because it is a form of gravity drive a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine behaves differently in subspace. On the gravitational topology of subspace too much gravitational thrust will actually result in a contra-gravitational force causing a vessel to lose velocity rather than gain it. To allow a vessel to move through subspace a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine must be adjusted to match local gravitational conditions. The vessel will then move at a more or less constant velocity unless affected by local gravitational eddies.
With proper modification a Barnes-Gutierrez Hyperspace Engine can open a temporary conduit to subspace. This is called shunting. A Barnes-Gutierrez Engine cannot provide both acceleration and open a shunt at the same time. This is a limitation of the nature of space-time and not of the engine itself. No one foolish enough to attempt to operate two engines in the same vessel, in different modes at the same time has survived to explain the result.
Engines operating in acceleration mode can easily coexists, though two vessels operating at high accelerations, with well defined Barnes Manifolds will have problems trying to dock. The effects will not be catastrophic, the vessels will simply tend to push each other away. This makes it easy to launch battleriders or shuttles even at high acceleration, but difficult to  recover them without moving at a constant velocity.

Subspace Transition

The Fabury Gate is located in planetary orbit far inside the planet's shunt limit. Besides the obvious convenience of having the gate just above the planet this location also means that no raiders or other enemies can simply shunt in to attack the gate, though this far inside the Highland such attacks are almost completely unknown.
As Trinity approached the man made interface between real and subspace gate control requested the craft follow a specific vector and set its autopilot on the far-side beacon. Through the gate the swirling photon field of subspace shown like an abstract masterwork. As the schooner penetrated the interface her measured forward velocity seemed to be reduced, as if she had dived into a body of syrup. Darvis reconfigured the drive for subspace service, reducing its output until the vessel sprang forward.
Outside, the tunnel like aspect of the conduit, the hyperdrill stabilized gravity structure which allowed vessels to reach the orbital gate-portal without being torn apart by the gravitational shear plane generated by Faury's planetary plateau, surround the vessel. Darvis could see another vessel ahead. The gravscanner showed two more vessels beyond his vision, hidden in the fog like photon field of subspace. 
The VORN showed the conduit end-beacon as the schooner left the conduit behind. The beacons for St. Pilimon up road and Grendmouth down road blinked on the display, as the automatic piloting computer awaited his verification. Darvis acknowledged the Grendmouth beacon icon and the Trinity's pilot computer turned the ship to follow the series of beacons. The counter showed 6 days estimated flight time until Grendmouth. 
The gravscanner showed the gravity plateau of Fabury falling behind, and the very much larger plateau of Fabury's primary beyond the curved display of the routing beacons. Below and above the shear planes of subspace waited for anyone unwary enough to leave the well marked Major route.
Darvis made sure the computer was monitoring the DOR storm watch channel, broadcast from the hypercable links on the beacon stations. He then left the bridge computer to its work.

Proximity Detectors

Proximity Detectors are short range, commercial grade, gravscanners which are used by light spacecraft for the purpose of collision avoidance and subspace navigation. The range of proximity detectors is much lower than even the lightest gravscanner. A proximity detector does not have an active mode.

Proximity Detector	Volume(cuft)	Mass	Cost	Power	Scan	Range
Proximity Detector/D	1000	25	11	neg.	35	10,000
Proximity Detector/C	2000	50	20.4	neg.	39	50,000
Proximity Detector/B	2000	50	20.2	neg.	42	100,000