Hmmm, I was just discussing this with Dino yesterday and I wanted to ask a couple things here to see what everyone else thinks:

Is it possible to get a map/room list for the SC Sirius? I get the feeling we'll be using that ship as a bit of a hub between missions, more-so than the main office on the space station. With Abigail having practically lived (and cleaned) on that ship for a good 6 years now, it's unlikely there are any hidey-holes or crawlspaces she doesn't know about and I'd love to see what we can come up with.

Second, Abigail uses holopad tech/comms. A lot. If you couldn't tell by her equipment list, she's practically a walking mars rover, jam-packed with scanners and sensors that all report back to the holopad on her arm or the UI screen on her helmet. I think it would be rather stupid/selfish of me to have Abigail hoard all the info she gathers from the environment to herself, so I thought I'd ask about some sort of obligatory GAHL device that, at the very least, links everyone up with a means of communication (sci-fi walkie talkies) and puts whatever data Abigail manages to gather to good use?

Take K2B-894 for example. We might have a satellite map of the planet, but for a jungle world that's a pretty shitty resource to have. All we'd get to see are big blobs of canopy. With Abigail's helmet scanning the immediate surroundings, she could also be uploading a 3D "street-view" style map onto everyone's GAHL devices to zoom in and see what trees, bodies of water, rocks or dangers are nearby. A GPS system with everyone's location marked on the world map allowing people to locate each other easily or send SOS signals. A text channel [s]so Kaylx can hook up his robodog and everyone can enjoy Anubis' running commentary as much as I did[/s] for those moments when speaking might be a little too dangerous. After all, what's the point of having a scout if they can't report their findings back to you?

I can see the downsides of perhaps making the exploration/survival aspects of the RP a bit too easy, but the tech does have its limitations - Abigail's detailed map can only show where she's been and a little ways away from that, so anyone who decides to not follow Abigail into the unknown depths of an alien planet (admittedly a smart choice) would be on their own with nothing but the satellite map and a cluster of GPS dots to guide them. Equipment can be broken - earpieces that fall off into a muddy puddle, short out and cut off someone's voice comms. Abigail's helmet is ripped off her shoulders and flung miles off into the distance by an enraged alien, leaving a patchy trail of partially-scanned wildlife before it gets stuck in a tree and leaves Abigail and the rest of the party blind until the poor girl can find a way to get it back. Biosensors stop working and half the party, according to their tech, has sporadically died. Shitty WiFi in the depths of some underground cave.

Anyway, I'm rambling on a bit too much - I thought I'd throw these ideas out and get everyone's opinion on it as well as the GM's decision.