Suggestions, lore and potato poetry.

[Roundsquare]

Apparently people seem to want kids and/or clones in the game, kids need too much time to grow up and are a liability for the entire duration and clones a potentially endless source of colonists making them difficult to balance in terms of cost and abilities.

I may have stumbled upon a solution: modified sleeping pods, basically by combining pod, cloning, and VR(or neurotrainer) technology infants could be placed in modified pods to undergo accelerated growth  in a relatively secure environment that also allows for some mental exercise.
This combines cloning and children into one mechanism that allows children to become useful colonists in a reasonable time-frame and limits the potential of large clone armies.
“Starting” skills would be largely dependent on available brain training technology with passions having a chance to be inherited and interests randomly forming (again certain tech/items might be able to influence this)
Body type would be decided by diet during hipergrowth stage (with hulks requiring both variety and quantity for example)
Due to accelerated growth food requirements would be proportionally increased providing a more interesting logistical challenge compared to simple power management (since you need to take variety into account there are more results than just success/fail)   
                   

This also opens up the door to another potential endgame : the self-sustaining colony, achievable by remaining above a certain threshold for a set amount of time and/or building a certain set of items.
Most ship parts can be repurposed for this situation:
   Sleep pods become growth pods (by connecting to paste dispenser probably)
   Ship structural beam becomes bunker support beam (with corresponding “reinforced constructed wall” for the area around it}
   Ship AI becomes colony AI -this can range from a central power controller makes sure power is only delivered to items while in use and prevents surges- up to a digital avatar that keeps all colonists company and makes sure they do not go insane by reassigning tasks when required  (basically something that automates the more tedious parts of colony micro)
   Ship generator does not really ned to change ( although a static version could potentially yield more power or cost less due to easier cooling* and less room/G-force constraints)
   Ship engines can become orbital catapults that allow permanent trading access with other developed settlements on the planet (developed meaning those that already have one)
*Things are harder to keep cool in a vacuum than most people realize



Bonus material :
“After decades of study and trials Duckhand&Warza™ have managed to exceed what was long considered the theoretical limit of plant productivity in a zero-tech environment by means of the new TripleS™[Segmented Stage Specialization™]  genome technology that allows them to more than match the overall production and growth parameters of plants in an omnitemporaly bright environment  by completely switching metabolic functions between a “gather” state during which the entire plant focuses on resource accumulation, and a “growth” state during with focus is shifted on converting previously gathered materials into useful elements (such as leaves, stalks and fruit).
   The end result is 250% process efficiency during each phase (or 125% overall)  resulting in hugely improved yields in unassisted conditions (while remaining a top contender for assisted growth scenarios).
   While this in itself would be groundbreaking, TripleS™ genomes do all this while maintaining compatibility with industry standard technologies such as HD-M™ [Hiperionic Dermal Mosaic™] for 99.9% less time-related spoilage (compared to non HD-M genomes) as well as U-MADBRO™ [Ultra-Molecular Algorithmic Distribution Bio-Reaction Optimization™] that guarantees adaptability to all but the most inhospitable environments.
   Clearly a better candidate for the colonization of newly terraform planets has not yet been produced, if ever it will be.
(Documents of Early colonization-Database)


Why do plants not grow at night
When I give them plenty light?
Do they sleep and dream of leafs
Have they hopes and thoughts and griefs?
When I cut them do they cry?
Do they know if when they die?
Speak to me that I may hear
While peel you my dear.
      (“To Potato” by an empath chef, probably psychotic)

[Quasarrgames]

*sheds a tear and quickly wipes it away with a hankie*

That poem... was beautiful

[Coenmcj]

Marvellous, Bravo!

Your take on kids/cloning is an interesting one surely. Somewhat similar to the Star wars clones for instance?

[ComradeCrimson]

This is a great idea and this man or woman should receive a glorious hug and internet cookie.

[BetaSpectre]

Full Support.

I have been swayed by the majestic spud of American descent.

Oh great and wise Hypnotado

[Roundsquare]

    I have been doing some research regarding the feasibility and required technology for both prenatal and postnatal growth acceleration; surprisingly it does not require any direct genetic adjustments of the “subject”.

    In the case of prenatal growth acceleration it seems to happen “naturally” in the case of diabetic mothers ,
    Additionally:  “Glucocorticoids have multiple effects on fetal development. An important example is their role in promoting maturation of the lung and production of the surfactant necessary for extrauterine lung function.” (In case the link does not work they are “a class of steroid hormones” so basically there is a chemical basis to build from)

   As for postnatal development I have come across an interesting patent titled Growth factor IGF-Il “he use of iGF-II or effective analogues thereof for the manufacture of a medicament for prevention or treatment of nutritional or gastrointestinal disorders and for promoting human or animal neonatal growth”

   This leads me to believe that once the point is reached where criptosllep pods are in production, similar technology could be used to significantly enhance the rate of development in humans both before and after birth without the need for genetic tampering and thus without side-effect of accelerated ageing.

What the colonists would need in order to achieve this would be:
-Repurposed sleep pod (with feeding system)
-Hormone Synthesis (can be considered a more complex form of protein synthesis)
-MM&M [Metabolic Monitoring &Maintenance] unit (to watch over the chemical balance of the accelerated metabolism)
-One SIN [Synesthetic Immersion Node] with sufficient programming to provide the required cognitive development and training (basically, a modified neurotrainer)

Somewhat similar to the Star wars clones for instance?

   I`ve been looking into that and … no, not like star-wars, those clones where modified to age faster not only so they could enter service faster but also because veterans tend to become a problem after the war is over as taking care of them can be quite expensive and ignoring them might make them feel abandoned/betrayed/discarded and nudge them towards revolutionary or underground factions, and in such cases a single ex-soldier is much more of a threat than a mob of civilians , having them age fast enough that they would die or be incapable of combat shortly after they where no longer needed is  a pragmatically sound decision (however objectionable the morality of this may be);

   In the context of an empire it made sense, in the context of a colony it does not, firstly because of the kind of precision equipment and specialized knowledge involved and secondly because it would lead to a breakdown in human relations as the children noticed they where aging much faster than the parents and feel resentful, and the parents seeing the children become old before they did, and having regrets for taking so much from them after bringing them into such a world in the first place.

[keylocke]

yep, +1 on this. i'm gonna clone meself an army of boba fetts.