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[Senn Typhos]

Admittedly this is mostly to settle a bet between me and a former EVE-player mate of mine, but maybe it'll spark some interesting discussion too, so, here we go. >>

I've read through plenty of chrons that describe experiences within the pod, without the pod, what the pod does, what the pod is/is not, long-lasting effects of the pod. What I can't find any info on (potentially because of my low reading comprehension, but that's a different matter), is just how long an individual could stay within the pod, in a ship, in k-space.

I assume there must be a variety of factors that would come into play. It wouldn't so much be a question of when the pilot would get too tired, but eventually, ammunition would run dry, crews would diminish in capability, life support systems would run out. The size of the vessel would contribute to the time limits, just as real-world naval vessels are limited by certain factors, including even their function, such as submarines.

But suffice to say, if a pilot were to be aboard a basic ship hull -for the sake of argument, something small enough that a crew wouldn't be required, a frigate hull of some type - with working life support systems and all integral components are optimal performance, just how long could they remain adrift? A matter of weeks? Months? Half a year?

[Hamish Grayson]

Perhaps Ectoplasm provides many of the same functions as Vernix Caseosa in the womb.  

Vernix does much more than just keeping the water out of the babies skin. It also acts as a skin nutrient and bacteriaside, keeping out underirables and allowing the skin to mature and develop to the point that it can cope with the outside world

http://realizebeauty.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/what-stops-a-babys-skin-getting-waterlogged-in-the-womb/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernix_caseosa

With Ectoplasm to keep your skin from falling off, an IV drip, catheter and plenty of stimulus to keep you from going too crazy I don't seewhy it can't be kept up for months or years.  

I did some googling and regular  IV needles need to be moved every seventy two hours which could me poblematic.    A Central Venous Catheter with a port might work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_venous_catheter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_(medical)

[Casiella]

(fixed your URL, sorry )

[Senn Typhos]

Thanks a bunch, that answered pretty much all my questions. XD

But, if anyone wants to keep discussing this, I'm game.

[Ken]

Since ship capacitors are apparently extremely resilient and long-lasting generators, I would think given sufficient preparation that a capsuleer could survive inside a pod... indefinitely.  Shut down the engines and run the CPU and other systems in "hibernate" mode, and I bet the thing could keep your body fed until you died of old age.  Now how long would that take in a state of complete sensory deprivation and physical sustenance akin to the womb?

[Senn Typhos]

Since ship capacitors are apparently extremely resilient and long-lasting generators, I would think given sufficient preparation that a capsuleer could survive inside a pod... indefinitely.  Shut down the engines and run the CPU and other systems in "hibernate" mode, and I bet the thing could keep your body fed until you died of old age.  Now how long would that take in a state of complete sensory deprivation and physical sustenance akin to the womb?

There could be multiple ways, I imagine, to rig a capsule such that the ship can generate some type of nutrient to keep your body in hibernation. If the capacitor functioned "indefinitely," that power could be used to translate to the ectoplasm of the pod itself, and in some way fuel the capsuleer's body. That coupled with the "vernix caseosa" effect...

I suppose, as long as the capsuleer's body could be maintained, maybe indefinite exposure is a possibility. As far as stimulae to keep your brain from shutting down, I imagine that would come in two parts.

The mental stimulation could come from any sort of VR, galnet interfacing, music and video streaming, even downloaded books of some kind...

As for the physical stimulation, perhaps a periodic, low-intensity pulse of electricity from the capacitor, to keep your muscles from atrophying.

[Casiella]

Interestingly, I just got a mission (Air Show! - Crash and Burn (3 of 5)) with the following bonus text:

Capsuleer pods are completely reliable and do not break on their own. They are, however, slow as all hell and liable to pop if looked at wrong. Traveling in one for any period of time is not recommended.

[Ulphus]

Interestingly, I just got a mission (Air Show! - Crash and Burn (3 of 5)) with the following bonus text:

Capsuleer pods are completely reliable and do not break on their own. They are, however, slow as all hell and liable to pop if looked at wrong. Traveling in one for any period of time is not recommended.

I think that's in reference to flying a pod on it's own without a ship

[Z.Sinraali]

Huh. Don't remember that from the last time I did that chain. Nice catch.

[Senn Typhos]

So the pod itself is very fragile, if left on its own. But in a ship, given power for its internal life support systems and protected from the "elements" of space, it can last for what appears to be an indefinite amount of time...

So we're all eggs in the nosecones of gargantuan, cutting-edge Estes rockets.

[Isobel Mitar]

Throughout the period where the capsule and the clone had not yet begun their courtship, pods saw some use among those select few able to handle the intense nausea, hallucinations and general mental instability engendered by prolonged occupancy.

( http://www.eveonline.com/background/eggers/ )

I vaguely remember some other PF bits referencing to problems of capsuleers staying in pod too long, but also some conflicting stuff, referring to long pod stays.

Personally I kind of like the interpretation of capsuleers generally needing regular breaks to stay sane because it fits nicely with players needing to sleep, work and such stuff. Making PF fit the established in-game reality is good for RP.

[Mithfindel]

Parts of the nausea, hallucinations & madness thing might be negated with training (the first pod pilots became such as adults), but some might remain. The thing might be related to the AR (Augmented Reality) of the pod being not quite up to real reality, so eventually the brain would realize the "uncanny valley" and go mad. Also, there is a PF mention of Jove having pure sensor inputs fed into their interfaces whereas most people must use camera drones, since feeding an image reconstructed from ship sensors isn't going to be a pleasurable experience for non-Jove. (And hence, it is not done by most pods.)

[Silver Night]

It's my impression that you can stay in the pod nearly indefinitely. I think stuff like muscle atrophy, food, and filtering the pod goo properly long-term are things I feel comfortable hand-waving, with a faster-than-light, interstellar, Nano-machine, clone-using tech level.

[Elsebeth Rhiannon]

I'd rather people did the handwaving via the fact that whatever the mechanism for side-effects is, it is likely to be something that different individuals are differently susceptible for. So if you want to stay in the pod for a loooong time, just say it takes very long for you for it to get uncomfortable, rather than claim you have a nanotech cure. This, because the nanotech cure should also be available for anyone who wants to play someone who needs their off-the-pod life. If it is about personal susceptibilities to existing side-effects, both players can play it the way they like without contradicting.

(Else gets a little crazy under prolonged exposure. But she does not think it is unpleasant, actually, so...)

[Shintoko Akahoshi]

I'm bored at work, so I'm trolling through old threads.  This one is interesting, and I'd like to explore it more.

There's a bunch of contradictory information about things like ship flight duration, endurance, and the like.  My pet example is ship crews.  The old 2003-era ship BPs (from the website, not the in-game BPs) listed crews for ships, with things like the Thorax having a crew of 600.  There's a piece of PF somewhere that mentions, too, that the crew on capsuleer ships only do low-level functions - cleaning and the like.  Which opens up all sorts of questions.  The first one is, if the crew on a ship is there to just maintain the thing, how many are actually aboard during normal flight?  I'd wager that most ships in Eve stick relatively close to a home base, and only spend a few hours in flight before returning to that base.  Would the full maintenance crew actually fly with the ship, then, or would they simply be at the base and attend to the ship when it returns?  Maybe that Thorax would only carry a skeleton crew of (say) 50, with the other 550 coming aboard when its docked to take care of maintenance.  Likewise, what about the possibility of drone crew?  I recall reading somewhere that Gallente factories are largely staffed with robots.  Would this apply to their ships, too?

Another thing that's unclear is the ability of a pilot to decant themselves from their pod in space.  I've always RPed it as if pilots can do this.  They drop the ship into a sort of standby mode, decant, and then take care of themselves out of their pod.  It does fit with the mechanics of logging off, and I've always liked the image of the ship "going dark" while the pilot takes a shower and plays with the slaver hound.  I've run into other folks who think that the act of decanting/re-interfacing requires support equipment that isn't on most ships.  I'd like to hear the prevailing thoughts on these.