Bacta Consumption and Replenishment

[CRMcNeill]

Per the RAW, bacta doesn't appear to have an expiration date. There is no discussion of how much of it is used up when taking advantage of its healing properties. Yet the background of bacta strongly suggests otherwise; how can there be a thriving bacta industry on the planet Thyferra, complete with massive bacta tankers hauling the fluid around the galaxy, if bacta constitutes a perpetual healing potion that never runs out?

One piece of evidence in the X-Wing series suggests that the Krytos Virus was specifically formulated to consume large amounts of bacta in the process of curing its victims. So it makes sense that some bacta would be lost in the process of healing. The question is, how much? Should a bacta tank have a certain number of "charges", like a multi-use medpac, that once exhausted must be replenished before the bacta tank can be used again?
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[Dredwulf60]

I've always treated Bacta as a complete consumable.

If a person is immersed in a bacta tank...that fluid is disposed of afterward. One of the reasons they are so expensive to run and why more conventional healing measures are often taken when it's more economical.

[garhkal]

This kind of got discussed in this thread
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[Whill]

[Whill]

The thread garhkal shared has some fan-suggested Bacta pricing. I just scanned the REUP Medical Sourcebook for every reference of the word Bacta and I didn't see a single reference to Bacta pricing except that it was expensive.

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

It's also worth noting that, per the novel The Bacta War, bacta tank facilities have some pretty intensive recovery systems post-usage, even going so far as to suction bacta residue out of the patient's ears. Considering we can't see what's above the tank in ESB, I expect there's some sort of overflow mechanism, ala the gutters on a public pool or something, to minimize loss due to splashing. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the shorts Luke is wearing in the tank are run through a dryer of some kind to extract residue, as well.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

Also, found a reference in Wedge's Gamble (X-Wing Book 2). When discussing the Krytos Virus, Ysanne Isard states the following:

"Which means they will require unbelievably vast amounts of bacta. Just stabilizing a Krytos victim in the disease's incubation period - before the virus has begun to reproduce out of control - will result in the loss of a full liter of bacta. That doesn't seem like much, of course, since a bacta tank holds considerably more than that, but the losses will become significant as the disease spreads. Total production on Thyferra last year was seventeen billion liters. The amount needed to treat all the victims here on Imperial Center will require three quarters of last year's production. At the current prices for bacta, saving everyone they can will bankrupt the Rebellion."

Seventeen billion liters sounds like a lot, but based on the calculations on the linked discussion above, it works out to around 8.5 million bacta tank fill-ups galaxy-wide in a standard year. That isn't nearly enough to cover planet-wide demand across the galaxy.

Something else I noticed, however, is that the synthetic solution in the tank does not appear to have the same density as water. If it had the same density, a human would float in it, yet if you look closely, Luke is suspended under his arms by straps that are used to pull him up out of the tank. The fluid must be less dense than water, such that a human would sink in it instead of floating to the top. That has implications when discussing cargo weight and volume when installing a bacta tank on a starship.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Whill]

I am well aware of the realities of Earth's water cycle. Except for some new water that has continued to arrive here from meteors, Earth has all the same water it ever has since the rise of water-based life forms here. We don't just drink water that has been digested by other creatures - We drink water that was part of living creatures' cells.

And I completely agree that the bacta tank solution is not pure bacta. I meant that the bacta is not reused - The water is recycled like all water on starships, including human waste. (This year I designed a ship and accounted for its water recycling system, including maintenance access for it and water storage.) It does make sense that the amount of bacta in the solution would depend on the wound level, but I see some of the bacta is absorbed by the body in the cellular replenishment and repair process. What bacta is not absorbed is loaded with dead cellular material. Regardless of the technobabble, I've always seen bacta as a complete consumable. The bacta economy includes high demand.

As far as the bacta tank scene in TESB, we can't see Luke feet until he is being raised up out of it, so it is very likely that when they filmed it one or both of his feet were tied down so he wouldn't float up. Sure, we can say that in-universe the bacta solution could have a lower density than water, but the air bubbles inside of it behave exactly like they would in water (as well as Luke's body when he is moving upward). The most likely reason for that is because it was just plain water when they filmed it. Really the whole vertically-oriented bacta tank on Hoth just makes no sense to me. Yes we can't see what's above it but it seems that getting injured patients into it (and later out) would be a lot more trouble. And the bacta tank goes right into the ceiling, so there must be an upper level component to the med bay on the Hoth base. That wouldn't always be practical (or available) in a lot of places. In my SWU, most bacta tanks are horizontally-oriented, thus more like glass coffins. The only reason I can even justify vertical tanks would be if you just didn't have the space for a horizontal tank (and had the space for the "upstairs" entry/exit). It is likely that the only reason the film's bacta tank is vertically-oriented is the real-world cinematic concern that it was a cooler visual that way. I don't see any reason why the bacta solution isn't mostly water, and the Hoth base bacta tank is the exception rather than the rule. (In-universe, there could have been an off-screen ankle strap holding Luke down that was loosened when he was pulled up.)
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[Zarn]

You're partially reinventing Legends continuity here.

[Whill]

[CRMcNeill]

To clarify, my primary motivation is to retain as much of the old EU as possible if I can find a way to include it that is non-contradictory. Many of my nerd rage moments come when I encounter "unforced errors" on the part of the Lucasfilm story group that trample over some aspect of the old EU just to replace it with something silly, shallow and/or derivative in the Nu-Canon.

In this case, I default to the details we get from the X-Wing series because it is one of the few EU sources that dealt with bacta in a rational way, and none of it contradicts with what we know of bacta in the films.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Bren]

I'm sticking with vertical tanks and the better visual. On the plus side for the patient, I imagine a vertical tanks is less claustrophobic and less like climbing into a wet coffin than a horizontal tank. But really its all about the visual.

[MrNexx]

I thought about this thread as I was scooping cat litter, and refilling the pan. Coincidentally, it's kept under the fish tank, which works similarly.
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[Whill]