This is part of an ongoing series about the preparations I've made to
run Mongoose's revised edition of the Bayern campaign for 2300AD.
Spoilers for Interlude 6 Part I.
I have given up believing the MET numbers. I'll put together my
own table as part of the inevitable "Bayern Companion" document (which
will otherwise be, mostly, these blog posts in a single convenient
place).
This is a fairly straightforward section. The main thing that seemed
unclear was the physical nature of the lander, which isn't illustrated
the way the rover is (and for a wonder the rover illustration is
fairly consistent with the text). My mental model is a very basic
platform with an airbag system for landing, which would then right
itself and unclamp the lander from its top surface. After that, its
job is to store data from the rover, and to send them out when
interrogated by a future mission in orbit. So it doesn't have any
remaining thrusters or anything like that, it's basically just a
ceramic-composite platform (with an antenna grid embedded in its
surface) with a lot of data storage and a decently capable radio
underneath it, and some stubby legs mostly destroyed in the mishap.
Because of the nature of the Builder stutterwarp, the mission team
didn't leave an orbiter in place; the ship dropped off the rover
package on this planet and then went on to drop rovers on other
worlds, and the plan was for a follow-up mission to accept the data
upload.
The rover is very obviously powered by an RTG of some sort, and some
Science (Physics) or Engineering (Power) will tell the explorers that
it's on the order of a hundred years old. The lander's RTG was
compromised in the mishap and its contents have long since been
scattered.
The most practical way of righting the rover would seem to be (a)
brace the lower wheels to the ground (dig down until you hit rock),
(b) attach a rope to some part of the upper wheel assembly, (c) brace
a winch at a safe distance (see step a), (d) pull.