Spacefarer Technology

Hocotation and Koppaite Technology


Spacesuits: Although they might be from different planets, the spacesuits used by Hocotations and Koppaites are remarkably similar in terms of physical functions. The main suit body is made of a combination of Kevlar and plastic that can stretch and maintain its shape quite easily, taking on the most spaciously-convenient shape for an explorer of a given size and profile. The suits encapsulate the head of the wearer in a clear helmet made from reinforced plastic and is custom-fit to give the wearer plenty of personal space relative to their head size and shape. Attached to the tops of the helmets are flexible but reinforced cords that lead to a homing beacon, which is also usually custom-colored to fit the whims of the wearer. This beacon acts as not only a light source for not only identifying fellow explorers at a distance but as a light source in dark environments, and as seen on ONF-404, bears such a strong resemblance to the native Pikmins’ true heads that explorers wearing this gear are often treated as powerful leaders and are given command of all the Pikmin they find and bring over to their side. In most cases, this is done by using a special signal whistle that is also built right into the suit. The sound each whistle makes can vary depending upon the type of suit and its manufacturer, but they all have the effect of alerting Pikmin within a given sound radius (which is indicated by a bright pulse of light that is released when the whistle is blown) and bringing the to one’s side. The colors of the suits may vary and are also usually custom-fitted for the wearer, though older Hocotation suits are usually hand-me-downs and leave limited choices (not to mention they lack the insulation needed to survive the ravages of extreme cold). Affixed to the back of each suit is a life-support system that can provide up to 30 days of breathable air on its own, though it can be extended if the pack is refueled with a portable gas cartridge on a regular basis. While the suits may be constructed to deal with basic environmental issues well, they can only take so much punishment before they cease to work. The suits will often spark when they are damaged by an enemy attack or a dangerous hazard, but the suits can be repaired to recover any damage they have been dealt at the end of a day or by simply taking a rest inside the underground reaches of PNF-404. Thankfully, the suits are not just for defense, as they can allow an explorer to deliver a powerful punch that can harm most creatures a little bit, and some models can even be upgraded with special parts and other gadgets that can enhance their performance, though doing so will require a considerable amount of money if natural resources cannot be gathered to build said enhancements from scratch.


S.S. Dolphin: The S.S. Dolphin was originally Olimar’s personal ship and was the craft that he was using when he first landed on PNF-404. The ship is of good design and is remarkably sturdy (the Bowsprit in particular was hand-built by Olimar), as even when hit by an asteroid it was able to keep itself together long enough for Olimar to survive the crash-landing on the alien planet in question. The S.S. Dolphin itself is comprised of 30 parts, not including the main body of the ship, and in many ways was the closest companion that Olimar had before it was nearly destroyed on his first adventure with the Pikmin. While the ship possesses a standard array of console devices and navigational systems, it is noted that it lacks the speech capabilities of older models, though Olimar seems to prefer this as it provides him peace and quiet; even so, it is noted that the ship does apparently have a personality, as Olimar has noted in the past that the ship can get angry rather quickly when things are not going as it would like, very similar to Olimar’s inability to control his temper over small problems. It is also interesting to note that the ship has its own small medical bay in the back, which can allow Olimar to rest and repair any damage done to his suit while in the confines of the ship. Sadly, despite all of the promise it held as a ship, this craft was once taken from Olimar’s possession when it was sold in order to help pay off some of his company’s debt after the loss of a Golden Pikpik Carrot shipment. However, Olimar was eventually able to raise enough funds to buy his ship back and include some upgrades to it as well (being christened the S.S. Dolphin II in the process), including a power system that utilized the potential radioactive fuel known as Sparklium.

Sparklium itself is a unique radioactive energy source that is found on many of the planets that have been explored by Hocotations and is highly valued not only because it can be condensed into highly-stable, compact energy units that just about any type of Hocotation technology can theoretically run on but, more importantly, is at least somewhat renewable as the energy can be easily incorporated into the biology of certain creatures, where it in turn can be biologically manufactured over the course of the organism’s lifetime by the organism itself. While the existence of the material has been known for some time and is often found in great abundances among springs on the planets that possess it, the technology needed to condense the energy into a useable form of fuel is still fairly recent, and is thus only used in the small number of manufacturing businesses that can afford the initial cost of purchasing organisms that can act as natural generators of the substance.


Hocotate Ship: The Hocotate ship was purchased when Hocotate Freight was first established, and while it may have been top-of-the-line when it was first bought, it is now seriously outdated and does not even begin to compare to the ships that Koppaites and even other Hocotations are using. The ship is capable of storing items gathered from the surface of a planet and its underground reaches, but it lacks the medical bay seen in the S.S. Dolphin and is thus not the best choice of ship for someone stranded in the middle of nowhere. The ship is of a decent construction and is alright for getting from point A to point B, but the only real reason why it is even used much is because it has two cockpits though support both a pilot and additional partner. Much like ships used to be, this ship possesses its own navigational system AI capable of speech, but unfortunately for Olimar, the ship is quite pompous and prefers to look down on Olimar and his partner Louie just like their boss does, leading some to speculate that the Boss had the ship’s personality shifted to match his own when it was first bought. Despite its attitude, though, the navigational AI is useful in giving advice based on information it obtains by scanning local areas and is equipped with a powerful treasure-detecting sensor that can instantly identify and analyze anything that comes near it and determine if it even remotely has any value (though some suspect that the supposed values it gives for many treasures are purposefully inflated). What makes the ship perfect for treasure-hunting, however, is the fact that the nose cone of the ship can detach as a portable Research Pod, which can allow it to accompany explorers as they traverse underground areas and act as a transport beacon, absorbing items brought to it and returning them to the main ship body at the end of the adventure where their true value can be better assessed. The Hocotate ship had certainly seen better days when used by Olimar, but it nonetheless proved invaluable to him and his associates the second time he landed on PNF-404, though the ship is now unusable as it was destroyed by a Quaggled Mireclops on its last mission to the planet.


S.S. Drake: The S.S. Drake was built by the grandfather of its engineer, Alph, for the purpose of taking Alph and two crewmates (Brittany and Captain Charlie) to explore PNF-404 in the search for a new food supply for the overburden planet of Koppai. Compared to the ships used by Hocotations, this vessel is substantially more advanced and is used primarily as a storage vessel for fruit and other items. The cockpit area is large enough to support up to three passengers with an extra access hatch and sits on the ground on four supporting legs in order to keep the ship from coming into direct contact with ground hazards, with each leg powered by hydraulics. The long antenna on top of the ship is used for communicating across vast distances with the inhabitants of Koppai and the satellite dish adjacent to it fires a blue beam that enables the ship to analyze the terrain of a world as well objects on its surface from great distances, complete with a world map on the inside of the vessel. The ship is capable of processing the juice from fruit it is provided with and can easily separate the seeds from said fruit for safekeeping before disposing of the rest of the fruit carcass. While the ship is much more advanced than those used by Hocotations, this comes at a cost as the ship requires more energy in order to get from one point to another, and as a result, the Warp Drive Key needed to activate and power its warp drive engine is fairly large. The good news about this is that the Warp Drive Key is detachable and thus can easily be repaired and refueled when needed, but this also made it possible for the device to be lost when the ship encountered severe turbulence upon approaching PNF-404 on its maiden voyage. Thankfully, the three explorers sent in it were able to recover the Warp Drive Key and return home with the spoils they had obtained from the planet, making its maiden voyage a highly successful one. It is likely that this ship will be used in future expeditions to the planet and will only continue to become more advanced as trips to the alien world become more frequent.


S.S. Shepherd: The S.S. Shepherd is the pride and jot of the Rescue Corps and has served dutifully as their main form of transport, among other functions, for many missions without fail. The ship itself was designed by the Shepherd family that the ship’s captain is a part of and is quite large compared to most other spacefaring vehicles; this is because it houses not only a full crew of Rescue Corps members for every flight, but also every single amenity they could need, including communication systems, sleeping quarters, a kitchen, medical bay, science lab and much more. Unlike similar ships, the vehicle is capable of landing horizontally thanks to its two sturdy support beams that can be deployed when landing and then retracted when taking off both vertically and horizontally. While it can handle some rough landings, or more specifically crash landings, they have been known to knock out its systems and damage it, but at the same time the ship is robust enough that it can actually self-repair as long as it has plenty of fuel. It normally requires high-octane fuel to support itself, but it can be run with the Sparklium that is found everywhere on the surface of PNF404, much as the Rescue Corps discovered in their attempts to repair and power up the ship’s systems over time. The vessel also has a special radar system installed into it that allows it to scope out large swaths of land and detect SOS signals that might be given out by standard spacesuits on any planet’s surface and even underground, with the strength and reach of the radar system increasing the more Sparklium it has at its disposal. It is lastly noted to be capable of interfacing with the S.S. Beagle in order to take treasure and any Sparklium it has managed to acquire out in the field, which made it crucial in being able to eventually lift the Rescue Cops and nearly every single stranded spacefarer on PNF-404 off the planet and send everyone back to their home planets.


S.S Beagle: This small private ship is owned by the Rescue Corps and serves the same functions that are seen in the ship pods made in Hocotatian ships, acting as a multi-purpose transporter that can absorb treasures and other objects brought to it. It often accompanies Rescue Corps members when out conducting field work, both on the surface and whenever and wherever they choose to go beneath the surface of a planet. The overall manufacturing of pods like this is typically taken care of by Koppaites, and with the capacity to warp through space to reach just about any location, plus its capacity to synchronize its movement with Pikmin Onions, it has more than demonstrated its overall effectiveness out in the field.


KopPad and Data Files: The KopPad is an advanced device used by the Koppaites on the S.S. Drake to receive calls and obtain information on a specific planet and its native biota. As such, each device contains a number of apps that allows it to keep track of the area one is in from a bird’s-eye view, keep track of Pikmin statistics, examine the archive of gathered fruit, take photographs of the immediate environment and keep track of exploration notes, which help record all gathered data on Pikmin types, native life forms, spacesuit equipment, data logs and an assortment of other features. KopPads are usually color-coded to fi the color of the spacesuit worn by their owners, allowing each to keep their own personal notes and images stored safely from the eyes of others. In addition, the KopPad has the ability to record information gathered from Data Files, which usually are seen in the form of SD data cards. The three explorers from Koppai probably would not have needed to use this last important feature in most cases, but it seems that Olimar (who had arrived on the planet with Louie shortly before the Koppaites’ arrival) had been having some problems with his own recording equipment, as a bug in his file management software lead to the device spitting out data files from his own notes. Thankfully, these data files were of great use to the Koppaites and helped them get a better understanding of their surroundings and opposition, though a few of those collected merely possessed numbers whose purpose is still unknown.