Apocalypse Package/meta

The apocalypse package was designed using Mongoose Publishing Second Edition High Guard rules, as a TL-15 combination of a small biosphere, power plant, manufacturing plant (...of each of the four types), fuel refinery, collapsible fuel tank, and (by far the largest line item in the credit budget) a computer/35 with about MCr10 of (mostly Expert) software. It is 10 tons, MCr50, and produces 3 spare power points in addition to the outputs listed in the article. The only "revolutionary" aspect is the miniaturization (and resulting portability) - which, per the rules, results in a low production rate.

The limit on [[anagathic] manufacture is a handwave based on other apparent restrictions of anagathic manufacture rate, relative to other goods at TL-15. Any high-tech item, such as spaceships, might require a slower production rate than for bulk goods, such as spare parts and food.

An apocalypse package is a mcguffin of the highest order. Actually having one can be powerful (though see next paragraph), but only on the individual scale, and then only with significant amounts of time. Having one, and time and crew to make and run many, can found pocket empires (which is rather the point, in-universe).

It is not an instant "I Win" button. It does not produce tons of weapons per minute. It is slow, and it is up to its users to put whatever it makes to good use. It is an enabler for sufficiently creative individuals, but lackluster in the hands of the unimaginative.

In the OTU this did not change history at the large scale by itself, whatever its impact on certain small groups or even worlds (even when its sole impact was merely the result of actions taken in response to the rumor of its presence, while it was never actually there), and basically all of them were accounted for by the end of the Fourth Imperium (save a few that some adventuring groups might yet find). Though bounties were sometimes collected on apocalypse packages (or, more often, on what was passed off as one), they were never for sale at any price measurable in credits by anyone who knew what they were.