Abandoned Arcologies Options

[PlatonicPimp]

In an earlier thread about the Renraku Arcology, I posited the Idea that after the second crash it was just left to rot, no one wanted to live there anymore after all the shit. The idea of an abandoned arc as a adventure local seemed excellent.

But not everyone plays in seattle. I play in europe, for instance.

Are there any other abandoned arcologies to play in around the world?

[BishopMcQ]

I don't know of any canon references beyon the Renraku arc in Seattle. Though if you're the GM, you could easily add one. With the Jormungand and the various developments in Matrix tech, it could have been decided that retrofitting an aging arcology would not be worth the cost. Therefore, the arc became a more backwater area where lower end laborers were housed, while the new arcology was designed for higher ups.

This way depending on where you wanted to join into the timeline, runners could be responsible for sabotaging the new construction, causing additional problems at the old site, etc. Hackers modifying work orders to expand airvents and create literal and figurative backdoors into the system...the list of possibilities goes on and on...

Where in Europe is your campaign based? An abandoned Arc in Marseille would be very different than something nestled in the mountains of the Basque region.

[FrankTrollman]

I don't have the Deutsche material, but didn't Proteus lose an arcology?

-Frank

[BishopMcQ]

Frank--I believe the lost arcology you're referring to was Thor Shotted by Ares...I'm not sure how much would be left of that one.

Proteus does have several ArcBlocks out at sea--it could be an interesting long term mission to find out what happened on one to result in its abandonment.

[PlatonicPimp]

My campaign is based everywhere in europe, so anyplace one seems likely would be good.

Where are there existing arcologies acording to canon? If I hada semi-comprehensive list of arcologies, I could pick a few to fail.

[BishopMcQ]

SoE may be your best reference. I don't have a copy with me, but it should list out major players and give hints and references to arcology settlements.

The largest problem with a failed arcology is that the type of things which would cause abandonment are on the scale of Deus and the SCIRE. Smaller events are probably planned for and policies are in place for dealing with them.

[PlatonicPimp]

Actually, all it would take for an arcology to be abandoned is for it to no longer be profitable to run.

Arcologies would be subject to the same population issues of any neighborhood or city. I have trouble beleiving that the managers of an arcology would be any more copetent than today's city governments, which have great difficulty in promoting their cities as places to live. Keeping residents in an area is a very hard thing to do, and since arcologies are about as far from a humans natural instinct for habitat as it gets, they'd be very, very suceptible to people simply deciding not to move in.

I mean, really, do YOU want to live in a single building with 100,000 other people, with little to no privacy, with no outside, and everything pre-planned?

Arcologies have to market themselves heavily in order to attract residents, and keep residents. All it would take is a lack of faith in an arcology by the residents to trigger a massive exodus of tenants, leading to partial or total abandonment.

And actually, SoE is pretty bare on details for actual cities, much less the locations of various arcologies.

[BishopMcQ]

It sounds like you are describing a public works arc--which could be susceptible to the things you're describing. My understanding is that basically the Megas are the only entities with the will and resources to build an arcology. (At least that's the illusion I'm been living with...)

If one of the megas has a life-term contract with an individual, offering a crime-free location to live in where your rent will be completely absorbed by the corporation, many individuals will take the housing. This is especially true if their contract has stipulations stating that the Corporation is allowed to determine what the optimal housing situation is for the contractee.

[emo samurai]

[PlatonicPimp]

Just saying htat the people invovled are corporate personal doesn't change Human nature. If the corp forces an individual to live in an arcology and they don't want to, they will feel put apon. They will lose productivity, be more inclined to rebel, etc, etc. They will pull every string they can to leave. Only those unable to work the system will get assigned to what would be considered an Ass end assignment, and so that arc would only house the dregs of corporate society. These people would be teh least productive, least loyal people the corp has, and they certainly won't turn the reputation of the arcology around. Honestly, it takes very little to turn an area into slums, and arcologies aren't special in this regard. Arcs could become slums very, very easy, no matter who built them.

[Backgammon]

Hmm... Arcologies are HUGE investments. For a corp to totally abandon an arcology, I mean not even sell it to someone or scrap it for parts... the arcology would have to be seriously fucked up.

I don't think it's reasonable to believe the Seattle Arc would be abandonned. It's smack in the middle of dowtown. Authorities, civil and corp, wouldn't let that happen.

Arcologies out in the middle of nowhere, now that's possible. Say a submerged aqualogy, or partially submerged one, was to suffer damage and be flooded. And say, due to recent shakeups, the owning corp faced great financial problems, and went out of business, or did not have the funds to recycle their arc just yet. You would then have an abandonned arcology, out of sight, so no one cares.

Alternatively, one of these far away arcs could have been sold to a smaller corp at a discount, but that smaller corp when out of business. Maybe the record that said it owned the arc was destroyed in the crash of 64. Totally abandonned.

Anyway, my point is, urban arcologies are unlikely to be left alone. They're an eyesore. And that counts for a lot.

[PlatonicPimp]

I think a corp is MORE likely to simply abandon a failed arc, considering the MASSIVE expense demolition would be. The cost of salvage would probably be more than the value of the salvage.

Not to say that the corp wouldn't strip it of everything of value that wasn't bolted down on the way out, Just that they wouldn't bother undoing the bolts on the stuff that was.

Besides, Its hella thematically appropriate to a dark future game to have abandoned arcologies. It's a towering, shadow casting metaphor for the shatterd hopes for the future we had. Its the skeleton, the carcus of our dreams being lived in and picked apart by those disenfranchised by the corrupt, profit driven, souless system that allowed such projects to fail in the first place. Its our collapsed tower of babel, our hubris the beleif that technology could change human nature and make the world better.

Damn, I got to get me one of these in my game.

[Moon-Hawk]

[PlatonicPimp]

And if the fail in that campaign, the arcology will fail. I don't buy that just because it's important to them, they will succeed. A corp could fail in their brainwashing, fail in convincing people it was a palace, and then the arc would slide into slumhood.

Really, cities don't do anything different. Look at LA. Everyone agrees that objectively its a shithole, but it's PR is so good that people move there in droves. meanwhile, perfectly nice places turn into slums. boom towns and bust towns, most places have been both in their time. Arcologies would be no different. If the PR fails, the Arc fails.

[Moon-Hawk]

I completely agree. I'm just saying that not everyone will necessarily look at an arcology as a crappy assignment. Good PR will make people want to live their, and want to stay.
Of course, sometimes the PR will fail, but sometimes it will succeed. At least for a while. That's all I'm saying.

[PlatonicPimp]

Then we're on the same page.

Or almost. My architectural education has shown me that arcologies, as they are typically conceived, have so many design issues to overcome that they are inherently more succeptable to failure than other potential types of development. I'm not saying they can't succeed, just that it is harder for one to succeed than , say, a comparitively sized suburb.

[emo samurai]

Why did Renraku build one in the first place? Also, here's a page for proposed arcologies, in Tokyo, no less.

The largest one is supposed to be larger than Mt. Fuji, in case it ever gets the 2 gajillion dollars necessary to build it. Is that bigger or smaller than the SCIRE?

[TonkaTuff]

[Stormdrake]

I believe there is a arch mentioned in London near the containment zone that has been abandoned. Am at work so no reference book for specific page but I do remember a bit about it being abandoned in preference for a new arch being built. Will look up the specifics when I get home.

[stevebugge]

[the_dunner]

[fistandantilus4....]

you could also try Australia for abandoned arcs. The mana storms there have a way of cleaning house. And they don't always even do structural damage. Wouldn't it be jsut swell to come across some cultivated farm land in the outback, find an Aztechnology arc in the middle of it, and find it completely empty. Or go all Resident Evil and have all of the residents cahnged into something else?

[emo samurai]

Dude, you just had to mention Australia, but here goes...


DROP BEARS MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

[Ranneko]

Bah, keep it in the proper thread.

However, the book with Australia in it (which I cannot remember the name of right now) does mention one thing that could be useful, the big arco in Sydney CBD has sealed off and abandoned the carpark, and has a big market in there now.

That I would see more likely, abandoned sections due to lack of numbers, or serious faults because of damages of various kinds, where the corp doesn't feel they are worth maintaining.

[fistandantilus4....]