Found in
Rifter 31 is the following.
As the players are not this O.C.C. they will suffer a -30 to attempt to emulate this ability.
Research and Development: The Triax Research Scientist and his associates are almost solely responsible for the creation of new technologies used by the anned forces of the NGR. As long as they have the resources (and Triax makes sure that they do) and enough time, they can develop new prototype weapons and tools that may be able to help soldiers, adventurers, or other scientists. Below is the formula for figuring out how long the development of such technological prototypes would take. The formula is based on three variables, which are availability of the technology, the I.Q. of the research group, and the I.Q. of the project leader (referred to as the management bonus). Ultimately, it is up to the G.M. whether or not to allow the player character's creation to succeed based on the relevance of the invention to the campaign. (NOTE: The following section contains a somewhat simple formula for calculating the man-hours needed to develop the various new technologies. For those garners who find the mathematical elements of this ability too daunting, they can be ignored and G.M.'s discretion can take precedence.) Each level of availability is assigned a numerical value from one to five based on the level of the desired technology and whether or not it is readily available.
The levels are as follows: |
Level | Type | Equivalent Producer |
1 | The desired device is common tech item. Example: Laser distancer or language translator. | S.D.C. based technology |
2 | The desired device is of medium- to high-tech. Example: Laser pistol or Vibro-Blade. | Bandito |
3 | The desired device is of high-tech. Technology exists and is superior quality. Example: Railgun, power armor, heavy laser rifle. | Wilks |
4 | The desired technology is theoretically possible but has not been totally developed yet. Example: Force field generator. | Triax |
5 | The desired technology doesn't exist and is very radical. The majority of super-high-tech devices fall into this category. | Mindwerks |
This tech number is used to find the multiplier for the formula. Now depending on the numerical value selected, another multiplier is assigned as follows:
This value is the value for
X in the final formula. There are two more variables,
Y and
Z.
Y is the total I.Q. of all the researchers in the group, including the project manager, and
Z is the I.Q. of only the project manager, which represents the manager's ability to delegate responsibility within his group. (The project manager is selected by the group before research begins and is one of the most important positions.) The selected values are then put into the following equation to get the total amount of man-hours.
(50,000 x X) / (Y * Z) = total man-hours.
Example: A group of four Triax Research Scientists decides to develop a new heavy laser rifle. Three of the scientists have an I.Q. of 15, while one has an I.Q. of 18. The scientist with the I.Q. of 18 is selected as the project manager, making the value of
Z equal to 18. By adding the I.Q. values together we can find the value of
Y to be 63. Since the tech level of the desired product is a 3, the multiplier (value of
X) is listed as 52.
By plugging the values into the formula it would look like this:
(50,000 * 52) / (63 * 78) = 2293 man-hours (rounded up).
With all four scientists working forty hours a week, it would take a little over 14 weeks to get an experimental weapon from the drawing board to a working prototype. Sometimes researchers will work 60 to 80 hours a week just to rush a prototype to production. G.M.s can add any penalties they deem necessary for a rushed prototype.