Imperial Research Stations...

[signless]

I'm putting together as comprehensive a list as I can manage of the existing Imperial Research Stations (any canon era/setting).
I have a couple already, and I'm using greek nomenclature to identify each one.
I have managed to pull references from the CT Spinward Marches supplement, and of course Research Station Gamma.
Do you hep cats know of any others?
In addition to their names/locations, maybe we can focus on the actual research each is undertaking. I realize that I may be making the dangerous assumption that each station is focused on a single type of research - but for some reason that kinda makes sense.
While I prefer to put together as much of a canon list as possible for general reference, feel free to fire away at what those mad little gnomes are up to IYTU, as well.
Anyhoo, post away!

 

[kaladorn]

Just as an aside, I think you'd run out of letters. The imperium spans 11,000 worlds and 30 trillion (IIRC) sophonts. You'd think they'd have more than 24 (is it?) stations to do research....



Now, 24^3 might be about right...

 

[vegascat]

And Area 51 is the only "Area #" in the area.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I think you'd run out of letters.

Not if each Domain uses the same ones. That gives 6 per sector, which seems about right.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Behind the Claw has a complete list for the Spinward Marches. I'll have to check to see if Rim of Fire does the same for the Solomani Rim.

 

[signless]

Wellllll....when I was researching the Library Data supplements, the definition indicated that one of the considerations given towards the placement of a station was its economic impact on the region. That led me to believe most of them would be placed in relatively underdeveloped or otherwise out-of-the-way locations (I know, a dangerous assumption on my part, but I get mentally suicidal like that from time to time...).
Since canon inclines me to believe the Imperium keeps a rather heavy-handed (read "strangling") grip on new scientific development, I didn't think that such stations would be very commonplace.
There were only seven of them located in the Spinward Marches, after all (yeah, I know it's just one sector out of many...but it's one that seems to fit the bill for being both "underdeveloped" and "out-of-the-way"...at least as far as Capitol is concerned...).
Any thoughts?

 

[far-trader]

Good resource idea, nice one signless

Maybe it could be added to The Library when complete (or ongoing). Care to chime in librarians?

It does indeed seem that the Greek letter designation is used and perhaps reused per sector rather than domain. I note this since the CT Alien Module 6 Solomani has 4 Imperial Research Stations labled Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma.

So for the record you have:


Solomani Rim Sector c1111 Imperial

</font>

• Imperial Research Station Alpha - Shapam/Harlequin (3009-C232533-C)</font>

The subsector was once a hub of trade and x-boat traffic but has since been bypassed.

</font>

• Imperial Research Station Beta - Nyralathotep/Banasdan (2720-C000267-E)</font>

The subsector has three unusual worlds of note, each a unique atmosphere condition due to extremes in shape, density and size.

</font>

• Imperial Research Station Gamma - ASTERR TYUI/Vega (1917-A942786-E)</font>

The subsector is largly populated by Vegans and is also the location of the IN Depot for the sector.

</font>

• Imperial Research Station Delta - Llewellyn/Suleiman (0907-B20058A-D)</font>

The subsector is stable and relatively prosperous. Exceptions are a guerrilla war against colonists on Mudge and the xenophobic world of Khedish.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Yes, there are seven research stations in the Spinward Marches:

Alpha: Duale, 0308 in Mora subsector, engaged in secret research for the Navy.

Beta: Yori, 0510 in Regina subsector, engaged in research into gas giant weather.

Delta: Retinae, 0406 in Querion subsector, engaged in communications research.

Gamma: Vanejen, 0709 in Rhylanor subsector, the subject of the CT adventure "Research Station Gamma."

Eta: Judice, 0507 in District 268, engaged in zoological research into planet's unique lifeforms.

Epsilon: Vreibefger, 0805 in Lanth subsector, engaged in livestock breeding research.

Zeta: Froin, 0539 in Five Sisters subsector, engaged in research into genetic manipulation.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

The order is Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta...

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by Andrew Boulton:
The order is Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta...

D'oh, you're right, it's been too long...

 

[Vargas]

Originally posted by far-trader:

</font>

• Imperial Research Station Beta - Nyralathotep/Banasdan (2720-C000267-E)</font>

For some reasons, researches at this station tend to go insane. . .

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

May I suggest that instead of assigning a greek character to each individual space station, you assign a greek character to each class of space station.

Applying this idea to the previous list, I come up with:

Alpha Class: For classifed military research. Example: Duale, 0308 in Mora subsector.

Beta Class: For Gas Giant Atmospheric Research. Example: Yori, 0510 in Regina subsector.

Gamma Class: Prototype Research Station; only one constructed. Example: Vanejen, 0709 in Rhylanor subsector.

Delta Class: Designed for communications research. Example: Retinae, 0406 in Querion subsector.

Eta Class: Designed for Xenobiological research. Example: Judice, 0507 in District 268.

Epsilon Class: Designed for livestock breeding and heredity research. Example: Vreibefger, 0805 in Lanth subsector.

Zeta Class: Designed for research into genetic manipulation. Example: Froin, 0539 in Five Sisters subsector.

... and for all you Babylon Five fans...

Omega Class: Custom-designed for PsiCorp research and training. Example: * CLASSIFIED *

 

[TKalbfus]

What would happen if an Imperial Research Station were to discover FTL communication? Lets say they build a telephone network that uses tiny microscopic wormholes. These phones are portable hand held devices and each one contains one end of these tiny wormholes. These wormholes lead to the router located at the Research station itself. The router contains hundreds of tiny wormhole openings, each one leads to a specific handheld telephone. By dialing a number on a handheld, you can call up any other handheld wormhole phone in the network. What do you think the Imperium would do if one of its scientists built such a device?

 

[mike wightman]

The Emperor would order them given to susector rulers and above in order to better coordinate disaster relief, medical emergency procedures, famine relief, colony aid etc.

Sorry I must still be dreaming. They would still end up in the hands of the nobility and high ranking military officers (usually the same thing). They would be used to better coordinate naval deployment and enforce the Emperor's peace.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Keklas Rekobah:
Omega Class: Custom-designed for PsiCorp research and training. Example: * CLASSIFIED *

Siria Planum? (spelling is probably wrong)

Sorry, in Travellerese: Mars, Terra/Sol/Solomani Rim

 

[shield]

There are only 3 Imp Research stations in Diaspora.

Alpha is in the Khulam subsector - research unknown.

One is on Monton and is invetigating an insect swarm that communicates by radio (possible hive mind job.

The third is the smallest imperial research station and is a small base monitoring a gas giant / protostar in the Sitthair system (promise subsector)

All info from the astrogators guide.

Cheers
Richard

 

[MrMorden]

Originally posted by Tom Kalbfus:
What would happen if an Imperial Research Station were to discover FTL communication? Lets say they build a telephone network that uses tiny microscopic wormholes. These phones are portable hand held devices and each one contains one end of these tiny wormholes. These wormholes lead to the router located at the Research station itself. The router contains hundreds of tiny wormhole openings, each one leads to a specific handheld telephone. By dialing a number on a handheld, you can call up any other handheld wormhole phone in the network. What do you think the Imperium would do if one of its scientists built such a device?

I don't know what the Imperium would do, but I know what *I* would do...destroy them before they f*ck up my game!

IMTU the Imperial Research Stations are often staffed by visionaries who can't see the consequences of the technologies they are developing. As a result, there tend to be a lot of "catastrophic mishaps" at these facilities. Playing around with mini wormholes sounds like another example of a project about to go REAL bad, probably just as the players arrive...

 

[Straybow]

Hint: don't carry it on your belt!

On this planet we have "Research Stations" at every major University. In the USA there are a couple hundred, at least. Perhaps one can look at the network of academia in a major country as one "Research Station" in which case there would still be dozens on Earth.

Granted, many planets are dustballs with only enough people to run the economic operations that drew people there. But for any major population planet there will be a Research Station (or several).

Now, an Imperial Research Station is another matter: a facility funded by the Imperium and placed to study some peculiar planetary ecology, stellar physics, weapons development, etc. In that case expect some moderate to heavy military security to be present. The Imperium protects its investments.
__________

On another note, why is it that everyone assumes FTL communication is instantaneous? If a means of tachyon transmission and reception were invented that was limited to 50c that would still be one-third as fast as a J-1 network and less than 1/12th as fast as XBoat network.

What kind of attenuation is suffered over long distances? Just because a signal can reach 15pc in one calendar year doesn't mean any significant amount of data can be reliably transmitted that far. It might be that practical range is only a few parsecs.

The power requirement and scale of equipment could be set too large to allow a standard Traveller sub-1000-dTon ship to have one.

aragraph: FTL communications would only be a relay network for planetary governments or perhaps very large corporations; essentially an XBoat network without the overhead of boats.

 

[Badbru]

To quote from pg5 C E Gannon's Assignment Vigilante
"IMPERIAL RESEARCH STATION GAMMA
This is one of the smallest scientific sites ever given the title "Imperial research station." It is more properly thought of as an observation station, as only data collection, rather than basic research, takes place here. The third of Diaspora's four Imperial research stations (Alpha at Quarry/2933, Beta at St. James/1521 and Delta at Moncton/2125), Gamma was tasked with the observation of Hamlet, the anomalous gas giant in orbit 6 of Sittahr's K0 V Primary."

Sorry Keklas Rekobah but this gas giant research stations got a different designation than the one you posted, perhaps they do things differently in Diaspora. Also the one at Moncton/2125 is conducting (or was until evacuated during the rebellion) Xenological studies of the indigenous lifeforms of Moncton. According to another of Gannon's works, The Astrogators' guide to Diaspora.
None of this work is mine, it's all Charles E Gannons, go buy it etc etc copywrite copywrite

 

[LordVince]

Originally posted by Tom Kalbfus:
What would happen if an Imperial Research Station were to discover FTL communication? Lets say they build a telephone network that uses tiny microscopic wormholes. These phones are portable hand held devices and each one contains one end of these tiny wormholes. These wormholes lead to the router located at the Research station itself. The router contains hundreds of tiny wormhole openings, each one leads to a specific handheld telephone. By dialing a number on a handheld, you can call up any other handheld wormhole phone in the network. What do you think the Imperium would do if one of its scientists built such a device?

The Emperor would have FTL Communications technology of such flexibility confiscated, Classified, and buried as deeply as possible.
Given the advocated Commercial nature of the Imperium, FTL communications would cause a destabilization of economic systems all across the Imperium.

For the Short Term, of course. In the Long Term, as markets readjusted, things would stabilize, and new markets would emerge. But such short term destabilization is EXACTLY what the Emperor, and the Imperium, promises to protect its member worlds from. So, FTL communications as convienient as a cellphone would be actively discouraged.