Protect Your Self-Storage Business Like a Hutt: Secure Self-Storage on Tatooine
We gave you our advice for securing your self-storage business in our article 7 Components of The Best Self-Storage Security.
Now, we take you back a long time ago to a galaxy far, far away. Here are our suggestions for a secure self-storage facility on the extremely dangerous Star Wars planet Tatooine.
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While those from the Inner Rim often think of Tatooine as nothing but uninhabitable desert, those of us who live here know different. While we have few cities and towns, each is an oasis of life and culture. We may not have flowing rivers, and what little rain we get may evaporate in minutes, but our proud moisture farmers keep us all happily hydrated and supplied with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Just like other planets around the galaxy, many on Tatooine at times rely on self-storage to keep their possessions safe. Of course, with crime what it is on our sunny planet, self-storage security is crucial. Here at StorageFront: Outer Rim we researched many ways to secure your self-storage facility. Here are our recommendations.
There are two materials that construction companies use for walls and gates: durasteel and permacrete. For this first outer layer of protection, we recommend the Loronar Corporation. Their mining operations excavate some of the purest materials in the galaxy. Their defense division uses these materials to create permacrete walls from 3 to 6 meters tall, and durasteel gates at the same heights, wide enough to ride a ronto through.
If your storage facility is in around Mos Espa, Bestine, or Mos Entha, what we’ve described up until now should provide all the outer protection your facility will need. However, if you have set up shop outside towns and spaceports like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, we recommend the following defenses, also provided by Loronar Corporation.
Get tasers installed with each camera, and three to five blaster turrets installed along the top of each 5-meter-wide wall segment. While this may seem extreme to anyone living in the Inner Rim, natives of Tatooine will understand the necessity of such measures.
These areas are prone to Tusken raider attacks, and storage facilities by definition are filled with possessions, some extremely valuable. In the case of a sand people attack, your company’s outer wall needs to be able to defend itself.
[caption id="attachment_2760" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Tuskin Raider: (cc) 2009 Josh Hallett"]
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Whatever wall defenses you install in the front, make sure to install them along the inner walls as well. While Tusken raiders don’t tend to have jet packs or small ships, many outlaws do. While you may not know what valuables your customers have stored, some treasure hunter may get wind of some valuable possessions stored within your facility walls. They are not likely to try your front gate, and more likely will fly over the walls to get in. Your wall-mounted blasters should be sufficient to stop them.
You can also cut down the cost of your droids, including surveillance units, by buying from jawas or junk dealers. However, you had best know exactly what you’re doing, or your purchases may unexpectedly break down.
Storage and Security on Tatooine
While those from the Inner Rim often think of Tatooine as nothing but uninhabitable desert, those of us who live here know different. While we have few cities and towns, each is an oasis of life and culture. We may not have flowing rivers, and what little rain we get may evaporate in minutes, but our proud moisture farmers keep us all happily hydrated and supplied with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Just like other planets around the galaxy, many on Tatooine at times rely on self-storage to keep their possessions safe. Of course, with crime what it is on our sunny planet, self-storage security is crucial. Here at StorageFront: Outer Rim we researched many ways to secure your self-storage facility. Here are our recommendations.
Walls and Wall Defense
There are two materials that construction companies use for walls and gates: durasteel and permacrete. For this first outer layer of protection, we recommend the Loronar Corporation. Their mining operations excavate some of the purest materials in the galaxy. Their defense division uses these materials to create permacrete walls from 3 to 6 meters tall, and durasteel gates at the same heights, wide enough to ride a ronto through.
If your storage facility is in around Mos Espa, Bestine, or Mos Entha, what we’ve described up until now should provide all the outer protection your facility will need. However, if you have set up shop outside towns and spaceports like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, we recommend the following defenses, also provided by Loronar Corporation.
Get tasers installed with each camera, and three to five blaster turrets installed along the top of each 5-meter-wide wall segment. While this may seem extreme to anyone living in the Inner Rim, natives of Tatooine will understand the necessity of such measures.
These areas are prone to Tusken raider attacks, and storage facilities by definition are filled with possessions, some extremely valuable. In the case of a sand people attack, your company’s outer wall needs to be able to defend itself.
[caption id="attachment_2760" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Tuskin Raider: (cc) 2009 Josh Hallett"][/caption]
Whatever wall defenses you install in the front, make sure to install them along the inner walls as well. While Tusken raiders don’t tend to have jet packs or small ships, many outlaws do. While you may not know what valuables your customers have stored, some treasure hunter may get wind of some valuable possessions stored within your facility walls. They are not likely to try your front gate, and more likely will fly over the walls to get in. Your wall-mounted blasters should be sufficient to stop them.
Surveillance Droids
Make sure to get stationary surveillance droids installed into the walls, one or two per section. Loronar Corporation makes excellent camera droids that will visually follow anyone near them and record the images for playback later. When potential thieves know they’re being watched, they usually give up their plans. Ensure that each surveillance droid is hooked up to a central computer that saves their visual and auditory observations. A zettabyte of solid-state storage will store a decade’s worth of observation from 40 camera droids. Also, feed their visual input into a large-screen display in your main office. Ideally, this should fill a wall. We recommend a screen rather than holovid, as the latter would take up much more space and create a distracting view. In this case, the flat images on a screen make for superior monitoring.Access Control
Make sure that the people getting into the storage facility are actual customers with space-appropriate access control. We highly recommend the TT-8L Gatekeeper by Serv-O-Droid Inc.While Loronar Corporation does not produce this droid, the company will set up your gate with the space and plating necessary to install a TT-8L Gatekeeper. Now, keep in mind that the TT-8L is far from a protocol droid! It’s basically a camera eye on a stick that emerges from the gate when anyone knocks. While it can store and relay video, holovid, and audio to wherever the facility owner likes, it can speak just two languages. For Tatooine, we recommend ordering it with Basic and Huttese. It will have a curt personality, which some customers may find rude, but it’s purpose is to assess whether a visitor is a customer before letting him in. It does this using biometrics. Usually the TT-8L will scan a person’s iris for identification. What if the visitor has no eyes? Then other biometric data can be used, such as fingerprint or fur pattern. These are optional features that will raise the price of the droid, but the functionality is indispensable for any storage facility.Guards
TelBrinTel Corporation has an excellent, reliable line of security droids. For highly populated areas, program them to use non-lethal force. Their job is to discourage attempted theft merely by their presence, or to apprehend anyone who actually tries. For those outside of Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, your security droids should be as lethal as your outer wall. Tusken raids are more common than you might expect. If you don’t care for droid guards or want to avoid the general anti-droid sentiment that has gripped Tatooine, you can always hire a few guards. Humans are versatile, and many make fine security guards, particularly retired stormtroopers. Weequay are a strong species with a tradition of honor. Though difficult to communicate with, they make excellent guards, particularly for Tusken-infested areas, and will work for cheaper wages than most. Many hutts prefer Gamorrean guards, but these brutes are slow in a fight compared to Tusken raiders and can easily become overwhelmed.What Will it Cost?
A security system as robust as we have described will set you back on Imperial credits. We have recommended powerful wall defense, surveillance, access control, and guards. For a mid-sized, two story storage facility on a property about 70 meters wide by 40 meters long, expect the price for all of it to cost you about 25,500 credits. If you opt for living guards rather than droids, that price drops to about 13,000 credits. Remember, however, that over time wages, even for the least expensive guards, will cost more than the maintenance you would pay for your droid guards. Robots also often come with warranties, or their damaged parts can be traded back to their parent company for a discount on replacement models.
You can also cut down the cost of your droids, including surveillance units, by buying from jawas or junk dealers. However, you had best know exactly what you’re doing, or your purchases may unexpectedly break down.
