Prime Base version 2.0

[tsofian]

So Prime Base now consists of a complex of sites and facilities that are spread over a fairly large part of Nevada:

An unmanned SETI receiver array linked to the old Microwave tower system that then links either through a ground line or various microwave links to the base

An entrance to the base in the middle of the desert, either a town or a paper recycling facility or some such, about ten miles from the ridge, connected to the Base via a deep tunnel.

An entrance on top of the ridge which until it uncorks has almost no footprint. It consists of a large rock. Under the large rock is a tube that is twice as deep as the depth of the tunnel into the base. The top half is full of sand and the bottom half is empty. There is a plate in the center. The plate holds the sand in place and when removed the sand flows downward filling the void and opening up the upper half to the surface. The shaft has a set of handholds as well as points to tie off. It is wide enough so that a prefabricated spiral ramp can be installed when the base goes active after the war. There is also a prefabricated airlock hatch that includes a MPID access point.

There is the tunnel from this to the base and the decon facility as I described a zillion years ago.

There are five cylinders, Operations, Support and Three Life Cylinders

Around the bottom of the pentagon shaped array of cylinders there are a number of rings of annexes and such. These could also operate as deep "lifeboat" shelters if a nuke actual hits that close to the base

The five cylinders are attached to each other by the type of tubes mentioned in the original module, except they now make a pentagram rather than a triangle. there is also a much smaller cylinder in the center that serves as a utilities and transportation hub, sort of a giant transcore.

The Grand Deception only uses the top level of three cylinders, the others are blocked off.

The shaft from the surface had the rock put back in place and the spiral ramp removed. The hand holds were also removed. This leaves a clean shaft a couple of hundred feet deep that characters will need to repel into.

The Players may find the shaft because they hear water echoing through it as it drips into it, and they find the rock eschew with a void space of some-kind beneath it. The upper airlock has been badly corroded over the time and is now leaking like a sieve, The badly rusted remains of the card reader will be there, but it will not function. The bottom door opens to what should be the spiral ramp, so there is a hundred fifty foot drop into the darkness!

A particularly mean PD might put just enough water in the shaft above the sand to cover up the doors into the tunnel and force the players to pull several zillion buckets of water up the shaft so they can get to the door without swimming.

[cosmicfish]

I don't see the value in the vertical tunnel. It is a clever idea, but is the Project really going to use a vertical tunnel as their primary (or only!) access? Or was this meant to be an emergency entrance/exit? The geometry of this is bothering me, making it a one-at-a-time escape hatch is one thing, regular access makes this massive and massively inefficient.

If you do keep the tunnel, use demolitions or pyrotechnics to destroy the barrier. A few hundred feet of dirt on that plate is going to mean using literally ridiculous amounts of hydraulics to move it.

I might keep that as an emergency entrance or for the techs who will service the surface sensors, perhaps never even opened, perhaps as one of several. Keep the long tunnel for pre-war and immediately-post-war operations, let it have been destroyed/damaged by the ages. Add another large vehicle entrance (horizontal, not vertical!) that was meant to be the primary entrance once the base was "safe" post war, but that was never uncovered.

So perhaps the players find the pre-war tunnel, caved in from above, and fight their way through the grand deception. Or perhaps they take it the other direction and find the town, and find a reference to maintenance tunnels on the ridge.

[tsofian]

The vertical shaft is the "scout" entrance, that sits on top of the ridge. When the base is really active it will use the tunnels down on the valley that exits through the old mine

[cosmicfish]

I am still not sure that a 150'+ spiral staircase is a practical entrance/exit for any kind of regular use. And that's a shaft that is at least 4' wide if you hate the people who are going to use it, 6' wide if you don't, 8'+ if they need to take anything bulky with them.

[nuke11]

Both 3rd and 4th editions have a clear number of personal at PB, 150 persons.

So if you are going to increase this number and the size of the base, that will not jive well with what is already written in the 4th edition.

An update module for Prime Base will need to be developed that covers both 3rd and 4th editions, unless TML has made the decision that everything before the 4th edition is no longer supported, then you have about 15 to 20 more years of update possibilities.

[mmartin798]

Originally Posted by nuke11

Both 3rd and 4th editions have a clear number of personal at PB, 150 persons.

I would disagree on this point. The 3rd edition project manual mentions 150. The module, made for use in 3rd edition clearly state that the max total population is 838. My reading of 4th edition does not even make a specific number. So canon does not make any of this conversation moot nor inconsistent with 4th edition.

[tsofian]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

I am still not sure that a 150'+ spiral staircase is a practical entrance/exit for any kind of regular use. And that's a shaft that is at least 4' wide if you hate the people who are going to use it, 6' wide if you don't, 8'+ if they need to take anything bulky with them.

I figured it was between 8 and 12 feet. in diameter. It is possible that there was also an elevator package for it, but that in the events surrounding the destruction of the base the elevator was never constructed. Even if it was I suspect that in the effort to make it hard to get into the base the elevator would have been wrapped in det cord and was reduced to a heap of wreckage at the bottom of the shaft.

In fact a "Killer PD" would have the bottom of the shaft flooded to a few feet above the top of the entrance doors and the water would be filled with the shattered, jagged and rusty debris of the elevator.

Is that too cruel?

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by tsofian

I figured it was between 8 and 12 feet. in diameter.

That seems unnecessarily large, and I still don't see why a circular stair. If they are going to use it for any kind of heavy cargo they would definitely need an elevator, and that would make stealthy entrances and exits difficult (as does the sheer size of the opening!) and would make anything other than an emergency ladder impractical. If it is just going to be a couple of Recon teamers or a couple of repairmen, antenna guys climb that far every day - I would make it a narrow tunnel with a ladder and make them climb.

Originally Posted by tsofian

It is possible that there was also an elevator package for it, but that in the events surrounding the destruction of the base the elevator was never constructed. Even if it was I suspect that in the effort to make it hard to get into the base the elevator would have been wrapped in det cord and was reduced to a heap of wreckage at the bottom of the shaft.

An external elevator structure would be a beacon that would be noticeable for a long distance, and an internal elevator would not work well with your overall concept. This is basically a postern, I wouldn't make it big or complicated or it just becomes a weak point.

Originally Posted by tsofian

In fact a "Killer PD" would have the bottom of the shaft flooded to a few feet above the top of the entrance doors and the water would be filled with the shattered, jagged and rusty debris of the elevator.

Is that too cruel?

Depends on the circumstances. Is it the only entrance? How do the doors open? What kind of gear do they have?