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manipulation of matter into useable stuff / food ... Rifts earth. gold age nanotech / alien tech .. 3 galaxies. heros unlimited .?? ideas

One of my capitalist players wanted to harness the mutant power of resin to open a plastic injection molding shop. Adventurous he is not. More 'Venturous'.

Modification of the Stone to Flesh magic spell/cure for magical petrification to produce original (templated on samples of existing meat) flesh/meat from virgin rock.
Sort of like cloning and 3d-printing meat like they're experimenting with now, only the process is via magical conversion.
In conjunction with cheap TW PPE generation/collection from the environment, this means that asteroid mining in the UWW can be not only for minerals but for HAMBURGER.

Of course, true meat-lovers claim the magically synthesized stuff is lacking. certain something....muscle texture or hint of original life/blood, so seasoning is essential. The asteroid mines of the United Worlds of Warlock(and to an extent, Rifts Earth Sol System) either grow their own spices hydroponically or trade for the stuff(pepper is worth more than gold to the meat-moons and astro-burger joints).

One of the things to remember about Nano-tech is that you have different KINDS of nano-tech. And nano-tech can't turn one thing into another.
You can extract all the metals out of an asteroid and sort them by kind (maybe). But if you don't have chlorine and sodium handy you can't make table salt.

eliakon wrote:One of the things to remember about Nano-tech is that you have different KINDS of nano-tech. And nano-tech can't turn one thing into another.
You can extract all the metals out of an asteroid and sort them by kind (maybe). But if you don't have chlorine and sodium handy you can't make table salt.

I remember a TV documentary about future space exploration which had two future asteroid miners supervising a drilling mineral assay of an asteroid....Iron.....gold...platinum....gold.....then they go absolutely berserk with glee when they find water.

Cosmo-Burger! Our meals are out of this world!

We know there are nano repair systems in Phase World, Quatoria and Cyberai, have them but I have always wondered about larger things like spacecraft.

I don't think Phase World would have anything like the spray repair foam that Rocket uses in Guardians of the Galaxy V2 but some sort of nano repair should be possible.

Warshield73 wrote:We know there are nano repair systems in Phase World, Quatoria and Cyberai, have them but I have always wondered about larger things like spacecraft.

I don't think Phase World would have anything like the spray repair foam that Rocket uses in Guardians of the Galaxy V2 but some sort of nano repair should be possible.

1st Ed Robotech had it on the Zentradi ships. I don't find it unreasonable that equally or more advanced civilizations in the Three Galaxies would have it.

BookWyrm wrote:Cosmo-Burger! Our meals are out of this world!

Being hit with deep frozen burger patties at a good percentage of light speed...well, 'fast food' and 'KEW' should be easier to tell apart.
Having been a victim of a 'drive-by frenchfrying'(we got some weird people on the highways around here), I can attest that food-based weaponry even in the spaceplanes is a real possibility.


But I'm rather surprised that, outside magic systems, there AREN'T more extensive nano-repair systems available to starships.
But one explanation thatI can think of, is that smaller nano-machines would be much more vulnerable to radiation and other energies found in space. Lacking the mass for adequate shielding, nanites quickly malfunction in space. Unless inside the protection of a starship hull, or behind radiation/EM shields, nanotech just dies, so it's not considered worth the trouble of hauling around tons of nanites in the hopes of being able to make incremental repairs before each successive wave of the tiny 'bots expire.

I can only imagine the toys form the Kid's Meals....

BookWyrm wrote:I can only imagine the toys form the Kid's Meals....

And that's where you start getting into trouble when you start using something with such massive destructive potential as everyday STUFF.
I remember a book(a collection of stories about power armor) that had one story being essentially a future history. The far end of the history had galactic society building virtually EVERYTHING out of smart matter.
Warfare in that era consisted of cyber-sabotaging the smart matter to turn into your invading army; meanwhile, if the defenders couldn't lock out the enemy subversion codes, they'd effectively deputize as much public access smart-matter(including people's cars and outdoor furniture) to form their own military hardware.

we are really talking about different things with nano tech and matter manipulation

Nano-tech has a variety of possibilities/ outcomes but it really comes down to manipulating things at the atom/molecular level, IE you can move atoms around but not change atoms themselves is where I would say the fundamental cut off is. now that still leaves a lot of options.

1 example being the troy rising, and the legacy of the aldnata series by John Ringo. in legacy of the Aldnada most manufacturing is via people who mentally control "construction tanks" where things are assembled at the atomic/molecular scale to insane quality control tolerences, and stuff essentially never breaks

in troy rising fabbers do much the same, as long as everything goes right... except its a more technological process not a psychic /mystical process.

star trek also touched on the concept but their replicators can cross the line from nano tech to matter manipulation but at a rather significant energy cost

guardiandashi wrote:we are really talking about different things with nano tech and matter manipulation

Nano-tech has a variety of possibilities/ outcomes but it really comes down to manipulating things at the atom/molecular level, IE you can move atoms around but not change atoms themselves is where I would say the fundamental cut off is. now that still leaves a lot of options.

1 example being the troy rising, and the legacy of the aldnata series by John Ringo. in legacy of the Aldnada most manufacturing is via people who mentally control "construction tanks" where things are assembled at the atomic/molecular scale to insane quality control tolerences, and stuff essentially never breaks

in troy rising fabbers do much the same, as long as everything goes right... except its a more technological process not a psychic /mystical process.

star trek also touched on the concept but their replicators can cross the line from nano tech to matter manipulation but at a rather significant energy cost

"No, you can't program your kitchen nano-digester/recycler to turn your dinner scraps into metallic gold. Even if it could, it would require massive amounts of energy and produce equally massive amounts of heat and radiation for very little return."

it is worth remembering also there is a difference between Nano-technology (technology that manipulates things at the nano scale) and nano-robotic technology (nano scale robots) the later of which is what a lot of Scifi actually is using when it talks about "nanotechnology".

nano-robotics can manipulate things on the nano scale, but you don't have to have them for nanotechnology. (in fact, you have to develop technology able to manipulate things on the nanoscale just to built the nano-robots)

rifts and phase world definitely have nano-technology, since things like technological MDC armor pretty much require the ability to manipulate things on a nano scale.
but there are very few examples of actual nano-robotics in the game. the Tzee Goo weapons being one, and the Japanese armor dissolver warheads are another. the Wolfen Quatoria's repair system is a third. all are described as being virus sized and manipulating stuff on a molecular level.

most of the examples from rifts though are micro scale robotics.. the size of cells or insects. (the IRMSS and IRVT for example has robots the size of a pinpoint, meaning just barely visible to the eye, the RMK knitter's robots are the size of a shirt button, etc.) these are also called "nanotech devices" and "nano-bots" frequently in the write ups, but i would argue that said description is still sorta accurate since even these micro scale robots would be built using devices that manipulate nano scale things, and are an assembly of nano-scale circuits, parts, and tools.

You all DO realize, yes, that BOTH systems here are theoretical at best and pure handwavium fiction at the end of the day? Who cares.
If you are a GM, you can say "yeah... this exists and given projections of technology you can do that."
Period.
Full stop.
What's the problem / need to debate?

DhAkael wrote:You all DO realize, yes, that BOTH systems here are theoretical at best and pure handwavium fiction at the end of the day? Who cares.
If you are a GM, you can say "yeah... this exists and given projections of technology you can do that."
Period.
Full stop.
What's the problem / need to debate?

Kinda like how contra-gravity-propelled realistic missiles should be a real issue in PhaseWorld, but aren't?
Yah.

Fleets of the 3Gs has spray hull sealant, and I think one of the Rifts Merc books has quick repair spray for minor armor damage. For your Trash Panda like cravings.