Simulator

The Simulator is a simulated reality device invented by the Gudersnipe Foundation for training purposes. It uses a third-stage A.I. and a series of other complex technologies to render a realistic simulation. The realism is, however, hindered by the computer programing: I.E., if the computer says steel breaks at a specific tolerence, it will always break at that tolerence no matter what.

Technology

The Simulator works on an effect called "particle synthesis". While very complicated, the basic principle is that photons can be made to temporarily "mimic" other subatomic particles. Under particle synthesis, these particles can be used to construct atoms, molecules, and compounds. Add in much lower-tech holographic technology, and a highly sophisticated illusion can be created.

Inside a simulator, the matter that the user actually interacts with will be created through partical synthesis. Alternatively, in prototyping applications, the prototype would be made this way. Objects that are further away are projected as holograms, and at the far end, sophisticated display technology renders the edge of the illusion on a two-dimensional plain. While the simulation can "move" with the user to a certain extent, large simulators are preferred for any kind of large-scale application.

Primary Roll

The purposes of the Simulator are training and testing. Though most virtual prototyping is done in computer, the Simulator provides a hands-on testing environment, before an actual prototype is complete. In addition, the Simulator can be programmed to "fill in" the functions for a device that has maybe not yet been completed.

Medical Training

Perhaps the most valuable roll of the Simulator is it's use in training medical personnel. Medicine is a very hands-on discipline and thus can best be learned by doing. However, the intense dangers of learning on live people makes this somewhat difficult. The Simulator handily circumvents this, by making a perfectly realistic simulation of a person that can be killed many times but will always come back with a smile.

With the Simulator, there are always enough patients to go around, medical interns can hone their skills without risking actual lives, and the program can tell them exactly what they did wrong. Training time is reduced to a fraction, and doctors enter the field already experienced and confident.

For this reason, medical schools are the one place outside of Gudersnipe School Proper where simulators can be found, however access to them is still tightly controlled, with armed guards supplied by the Foundation and access granted only to medical students.

Virtual Prototyping

The school makes extensive use of the simulator when testing prototype technologies. While the machine can only tell you how a device will function based on a computer model, it has highly significant impact. An especially useful capability is to use the simulator to fill in any gaps. Say a new spacecraft is being designed, and the team hasn't quite yet figured out how to build a power plant capable of supplying the needed output. They have the basic size and location; they can program the simulator with a "magic box" that sits in that space and produces power.

The technology is also helpful in reverse-engineering. A team wishing to re-create a technology might have a basic idea of what principle it operats under, and can use the simulator and "magic box" components to work backwards into a reasonable facsimile(notable the teams tasked with re-producing the Satyarans Cloaking device used this method to quickly gain a better understanding of the technology, even though they had schematics and working prototype).

Other Training Purposes

Gudersnipe School Proper uses the simulators for all manner of training, as it provided a fully realistic, hands-on, but ultimately safe opportunity. Aside from rapid medical training programs, simulators are chiefly used for explosive ordnance disposal training, early troop deployment training, and any other activity with a high risk of death.

In addition, students preparing for a specific mission can use the simulator to practice. It is also often employed as a problem-solving tool, the underlying AI has extensive capability in that regard.

Pseudo-Simulators

Technically, the term "Simulator" applies only to particle synthesis-based systems. However, the underlying AI is extraordinarily powerful.

Pseudo-simulators are devices that use the simulator "back end" but more mundane display tools. This can change from computer software that only produces a 2D image on a screen, to pseudo-simulator rooms that use light-projected holograms to create an immersive environment. In these cases, any object the user plans to interact with directly would have to be replaced by a prop. Limitations in holographic technology also mean projected images appear hollow and fake at close distances. The best use of the pseudo-simulator room is in some kind of vehicle system, whereby the user sits in a cockpit or control station and mostly interacts with images that are ten or more feet away.

While the full simulator AI has never been released comercially, cheap copies of the technology have found their way into theme park and arcade attractions.

Simulator Addiction

Use of the Simulators is tightly controlled. If used for pleasure, this system would be the most addictive anything ever invented. An artificial world, centered around a single individual, in which that individual has complete control and god-like powers would immediately render reality obsolete. While no studies have ever been done(the Foundation controls the technology and places very strict limitations on how it can be used), anecdotal evidence suggests that the addiction potential is astronomical.

At Gudersnipe School Proper, students have relatively free access to simulators, but their use of them is still strictly monitored. Records are not made public, but many graduates have shared stories about class mates who struggled with it. It has been theorized that the Ancients possessed something similar to Simulator technology, and that this in part led to that civilization's collapse.

Offshoots and Related

Various other technologies are either based on or otherwise related to the Simulator:

• Bladeth armor
• Cloaking device - not similar in function, but operating on several related principles.

Interestingly, the Satyarans developed several of these offshoots, but never assembled the entire simulator itself. The complex AI is the main piece that eluded them.