Non Splicer Tech

[89er]

Reading about future building materials, I wonder what high tech things can be made just by replacing the metal with ceramics, fullerene, synthetic diamonds and other nonmetals?

The potential of making hard tech that the splicers can use is tempting, but I'm sure NEXUS has thought of this in some way.

What other factions could use this and how can it marge with current Splicers tech levels?

[kaid]

In theory that type of materials should be fine although it runs into the problem of a lot of it would be really hard to work with if you cannot use any mechanical tools/metal. I would guess at least some of this probably was used prior to them getting a handle on the bio organic gear. Some may still be used in bases and constructions but its probably not that high of a priority to most due to the bio organics being easier to generate and have greater flexibility.

[Shark_Force]

the main problem is when you come to anything that requires electronics. the resistance does, however, have and use ceramic body armour, just as an example.

the second thing to consider is that it's not like biotech is not effective. in fact, it's incredibly powerful. if each resistance fighter was using a technological construction that was only as good as what the typical robot patrol uses, they'd be pretty much screwed. not only is it powerful, but maintenance of these incredibly advanced and complex biotech creations also seems to be very simple.

if you compare splicers biotech to what most other high-tech civilizations in the megaverse are using, the vast majority of those other civilizations (including such notables as naruni enterprises, the splugorth/kittani, and the megaversal legion) are actually using inferior equipment. about the only civilization that might be rocking conventional tech that is comparable to splicers biotech that I can think of would be the mechanoids. and they literally have to process stars into power cells to fuel their tech. host armour can be solar powered, run off of ambient temperature, or even just eat dirt and rocks.

(well, ok, possibly the invid and robotech masters have technology that is more impressive in some areas, but let's not fool ourselves: there is nothing "conventional" about technology that uses the flower of life as its basis )

[Razorwing]

I would imagine when the nano-bot plague first made touching metal deadly, the Resistance explored this possibility. Manufacturing such equipment without the use of metal however would be difficult. Of course, this also supports the lore that the Technojackers were vital to the resistance in the early years after the plague as they didn't have to worry about being killed if they used such machines. Thus I am guessing that during this time, before the discovery of the symbiotes and the bio-tech they would grant the resistance, it was the Technojackers who would manufacture such non-mental equipment and devices for the Resistance.

Of course this would hardly be an ideal situation as the manufacturing centers where such devices could be produced in sufficient quantities would be prime targets... both by the Resistance (to commandeer the facility) and by NEXUS (to keep it out of the hands of the resistance). Additionally, Technojackers aren't exactly common in the Resistance... making them high value targets for the Machine to kill.

In the end, it was likely decided by the majority of the Resistance that Bio-Tech was a more feasible option for continued opposition to the Machine. It offered nearly all the advantages of more conventional tech, with few of the drawbacks and some advantages that regular tech doesn't. True, there are also some drawbacks to it, but they are fairly minor.

Unfortunately this decision would also mean that the Resistance's reliance on Technojackers would also fade... making many of these individuals feel even more isolated from the Resistance than they already were. Which of course leads us to the current situation... where the Resistance makes use of Bio-tech over these alternatives.

[Slight001]

Without digging out my copy of Splicers... IIRC the nano plague doesn't effect pure metals. Gold conductors with ceramic components should work for most of the hardware, while semiconductors should be safe by their nature as nonmetals which would allow for computer controllers.

[Shark_Force]

precious metals, not pure metals... but yes, you're right.

there's just one teensy problem with that:

gold isn't exactly renowned for its durability. in fact, quite the opposite, if anything. it is also known for having a low melting point. it is also quite dense.

and while some other precious metals are somewhat better, that's not saying much. that might work fine for consumer electronics (and in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if there were a few relics of various technological devices kicking around that people made with precious metals before biotech really got going, but ultimately you'd be making devices that don't handle MD impacts well (and probably not even SDC impacts for gold specifically), don't handle the heat from MD energy weapon attacks well, and weigh a lot.

plus, you'd need to have factories to produce the redesigned goods in any reasonable numbers, and those all need to be wired up using precious metals too. lose those once or twice, and how much of those precious metals can you reasonably afford to lose? getting more means mining for it, and conventional mining methods are anything but subtle.

plus, if you use precious metals, that might just be a minor change in the nanobot plague to get right back to square one, since ultimately they're not really all that different from an assortment of non-precious metals.

[kaid]

I actually just did another reading of my splicers book and I do notice that ceramic body armor is an available option. It states that some of them are ancient sets that are found in ruins but it also implies that many are not ancient sets so there must be some level of manufacturing ability of high tech ceramics left.

[Zer0 Kay]

precious metals, not pure metals... but yes, you're right.

there's just one teensy problem with that:

gold isn't exactly renowned for its durability. in fact, quite the opposite, if anything. it is also known for having a low melting point. it is also quite dense.

and while some other precious metals are somewhat better, that's not saying much. that might work fine for consumer electronics (and in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if there were a few relics of various technological devices kicking around that people made with precious metals before biotech really got going, but ultimately you'd be making devices that don't handle MD impacts well (and probably not even SDC impacts for gold specifically), don't handle the heat from MD energy weapon attacks well, and weigh a lot.

plus, you'd need to have factories to produce the redesigned goods in any reasonable numbers, and those all need to be wired up using precious metals too. lose those once or twice, and how much of those precious metals can you reasonably afford to lose? getting more means mining for it, and conventional mining methods are anything but subtle.

plus, if you use precious metals, that might just be a minor change in the nanobot plague to get right back to square one, since ultimately they're not really all that different from an assortment of non-precious metals.

gold may have a low melting point. Gold is the preferred conductor for electronics.
just think if a Splicer made it to Rifts it is likely they'd be able to use much of the equipment. Much of the armor is likely ceramic composite and energy weapons probably use MDC plastic for the casing. A glitterboy is out of the question but who knows what type of material the rest of the PA and giant robots are made of.

The virus must also trigger based on amount of metal because there is trace elements of non precious metal in the soil everywhere. It is also more likely in centuries old higher technology civilizations that the metal content of the top most layer of soil will be higher than normal.

[Q99]

Reading about future building materials, I wonder what high tech things can be made just by replacing the metal with ceramics, fullerene, synthetic diamonds and other nonmetals?

The potential of making hard tech that the splicers can use is tempting, but I'm sure NEXUS has thought of this in some way.

What other factions could use this and how can it marge with current Splicers tech levels?

Some of that stuff may be possible without metal, but while fullerene gear may be something you can handle, making a machine that can make it... I don't see how it can be done. Well, other than growing it maybe

Like, if someone pre-nanoplague knew it was coming and made a bunch of advanced non-metal machines to do the job, then that'd serve as a base to make the tools to make more, but with every current advance-tech tool unusable (save to technojackers, who're few in number), you'd pretty much have to work your way back up from the bottom, and figure out new ways to make tools and machines when the non-metallic equivalents don't perform as well, which is all very very hard. We don't really think about it because we have so much infrastructure, but creating an infrastructure is very difficult and if it's lost, there's the problem that the tools to re-make it often aren't around, and sometimes you need to make the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make the thing you actually want.


The Splicer pools and such, are an infrastructure godsend, in short, because there's almost no other way to get up to that level without perhaps centuries of work- even before getting into robots killing those trying and erasing progress.

[boxee]

We do know that such items are around. Just that bio-tech is superior. From the splicers article on waste crawlers we know they use ceramic weapons and armor. Those are junk but they use what they have.