AquaTech

Originally Posted By: Morninman (morninman@aol.com) Copyright © Big Brain Industrial, All Rights Reserved. My efforts to actually put a ScubaPunk campaign together are happily chugging along and I've put together some more equipment you might find useful in your own games. Now that the equipment seems fleshed out I'll actually have to start doing some creative writing. Oh joy. B-) As always, your suggestions and comments are welcome.

Diving Gear

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Name Description Availability Base Cost Weight Opogomo Dive Rig Common 140 eb 10 kg A basic set of old-tech dive equipment including mask, fins, wetsuit, weight belt, air tank, regulator, etc. Opogomo has a reputation for rugged reliability and targets the beginner and casual diver with inexpensive, plain vanilla equipment. You won't win any fashion awards wearing it, but in certain dive circles that puts you right on the cutting edge of cool. Usable down to the recreational dive limit of 40m and holds a 2 hour single tank air supply. Gleason Hydrotech "Manta" Long Duration Air Supply Poor 850 eb 8 kg The Manta is one of the best air systems on the market. The streamlined hard shell backpack contains a standard 2 hour air tank and a battery powered electrolytic system that extracts oxygen from sea water. With a full battery charge a diver can stay submerged for up to 48 hours and then insert new batteries to extend his time underwater indefinitely. Industrial users love the fact that dive time is limited only by user fatigue, but the obvious bubble trail and traceable electrical field has made it a tough sale to military forces. Good for dives down to 60m. GaltCo AB-4 Osmotic Rebreather Poor 1,300 eb 4 kg The only thing better than a diver with this system is a neo- dolphin. The backpack unit looks intimidating, but it's filled with a lightweight osmotic aerogel that removes oxygen from the surrounding water while the diver swims. A bellows style compressor regulates breathing pressure while integral scrubbers in the mouthpiece prevent CO 2 build up. Total silence and no bubble trail make this the premier air supply for the covert community. The only drawback is that the aerogel becomes saturated in about ninety minutes and needs to de-gas on the surface for an equal amount of time before another dive. Dive depth limited to 40m. GaltCo Osmotic Skin ("MythSuit" May Be A Better Name) Rare? 2,500eb? 4 kg? As far as I know this is just a rumor, but I include it out of a sense of completeness. From what I've heard it's a full body wetsuit that incorporates GaltCo's osmotic aerogel and links to the circulatory system through shunts mounted in a neck ring. Blood, or possibly a synthetic replacement, flows directly into the suit where it picks up oxygen and expels carbon dioxide and nitrogen into the surrounding water. I know it sounds wiggy, but there are too many stories about "guys in funny wetsuits without air tanks" floating around to discount the idea out of hand. If you run across more information feel free to contact me anonymously.

Underwater Equipment

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Name Description Availability Base Cost Weight Reflex "Dryad" Series Life Rafts 2-Person Common 900 eb 10 kg 4-Person Common 1,600 eb 16 kg 10-Person Common 4,000 eb 40 kg If you find yourself stranded in the middle of open water this is the raft you can trust to get you through alive. Reflex has licensed technology from companies better known for their space equipment to produce the state of the art in emergency shelter craft. The non-tip inflatable hull is topped off with a fully sealed shelter incorporating flexible solar cells into the upper roof panels to power a ten channel radio, water purifier, combination optical/radio locator beacon, and an environmental system that can keep you comfortable from 0 to 50C. On top of that every Dryad series raft includes a one week supply of food bars for every occupant and a well stocked survival kit! They don't come cheap, but when you need them you'll know it's the best money you ever spent. Wave Technology "Sea Crane" Ascent Bag Common 20 eb 0.5 kg An opened ended polymer bag used to lift objects from the sea floor to the surface. Once you unfold it and fill it with 3-5 minutes worth of your air supply it'll lift 100kg to the surface at an ascent rate of 1m/second. Broome OS-1200 Personal Sonar Common 350 eb Negligible The OS-1200 is a useful accessory for divers working in deep water or murky conditions. A comfortable imaging monocle is wired to an external sonar unit that attaches to the upper rim of any facemask using a universal mount. The 50m range of the standard setting gives you low resolution imagery while switching to fast pulse mode gives you crystal clear video of anything within 10m. Real diehards would go for cyber sonar, but that obvious bulge in the forehead ain't for everybody. McHarris Aquatics "Seahorse" Diving Sled Common 575 eb 45 kg If you plan on covering any kind of distance underwater it would be a good idea to buy a sled. You not only move faster, but get to conserve your own energy for when you really need it. The Seahorse is typical of the models available and features a meter long torpedo shaped body with a battery powered prop and diving planes controlled from the rear mounted handgrips. Attachment points for external equipment like lights, spare air tanks, and the occasional mini-torpedo launcher are built-in to the streamlined casing. Max Speed : 30 kph Acc / Dec : 5 kph / 5 kph Range : 100 km (On A Full Battery Charge) PanOceanic Emergency Ascent Pod Poor 850 eb 9 kg It's a sad fact that accidents happen deep underwater. If help isn't available at depth there's a good chance the victim will die from their injuries or from pressure sickness induced by rapid surfacing. PanOceanic solves the problem with a carbon fiber/kevlar pod equipped with a single use rapid ascent bag. Once the victim is placed in the unfolded pod all you need to do is seal it up and activate the attached gas generator to fill the ascent bag and get him to the surface. The EAP has mounts for an external air supply and is guaranteed to maintain up to 10 atmospheres of pressure at the surface to prevent decompression until a hyperbaric chamber is available. Voted "Best Product of the Year" by Pro Diver infozine. Wave Technology "Hotsuit" Common 150 eb 3 kg It's amazing how fast your body heat gets sucked out underwater. The Wave Technologies Hotsuit looks just like a standard full body wetsuit, but contains an integral battery powered heating system and automatic thermal regulator that can keep you comfortable for 3 hours in water temperatures down to 10C. Just the thing for late season surfing or winter diving.

Personal Defense

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Name Description Gleason Hydrotech "Lancer" Boomstick EX +5 N P 4D6+1 10 1 ST 0 (10m) 700 eb Gleason advertises this little baby as a shark defense weapon. The truth is that even in the unlikely event that a shark wanted to munch on you he'd probably bite your arm off before you were able to do anything about it. Any moron can see just from the Lancer's design that it's meant to kill people underwater. It's a slim meter long cylinder with a recoil cylinder in front of the rubberized rear handgrip and a projecting T-grip for close in work. The clip is inserted just behind the head of the weapon and holds 10 standard 12mm rounds that fire when the trigger is squeezed and the tip of the boomstick is pressed against the target. It's not fancy or complicated, but at that range it blows a hell of a hole through you. For an additional 200 eb there's a version that neo-dolphins can use as a snout mounted weapon. (The Lancer gets the large Accuracy bonus because it has to be right up against something to even fire. If you make a hit with it in HTH combat there's only a slight chance it'll snag on clothing or drift from the contact point so it's pretty tough to miss, but still possible. Don't forget that point blank shots from weapons in actual contact with the target do maximum damage. Ouch! The range in brackets is for when the weapon is used out of the water.)