LiminalMask
SOC-12
Back in Beta, I did an experiment with that early version of the Sophont maker. I made 100 Sophonts and analyzed the data for interesting trends. (You can find that thread here, though the info is outdated.) Now that T5 has been released, and some changes were made to the process (mostly involving the sophont Size figure and some other tweaks to tables) I thought I would do it again. Using an Excel spreadsheet, I made my own version of the Sophont fillform which puts both sides of the Card on one page, displayed for a screen. Thus automated, I created 100 new sophonts and crunched some data. Here are the results based on what I thought was interesting or remarkable.
The Sophont Fillforms I used as data for this post can be found by following this link. (PDF File)
Disclosure: I discovered too late a typo in my spreadsheet that would occasionally list C5 as "CHA" when it should have been "TRA". All instances of "CHA" in C5 should be treated as "TRA".
Also, the rules are not explicit when it comes to determining where the line between the various size categories are. I decided to split the difference between each category to the next one up and down. Thus, Small is Size 54 or lower, Standard is 55-108, Oversized is 109-216, and Titan is greater than 216.
I would also like to state my viewpoint as I look at this data. It's true, that a Referee can simply chose whatever results she wants, and that a random roll can produce unusual combinations. However, my feeling is that if this is the T5 Sophont Generator, the sophonts it generates should be representative of the kinds of sophonts one should expect to encounter in the game, all else being equal. In other words, this list of 100 sophonts should, IMO, be typical of T5s intelligent alien life forms, with some outliers expected from random generation. Thus, this data doesn't necessarily represent errata, as it's not necessarily "in error." The real question we should focus on is "does this system adequately represent Traveller 5 and the stories it tells?"
Possible Problems
I say possible because perhaps the system is working as intended, but when I saw the data it raised questions in my mind. There are a couple:
Limbs! Limbs Everywhere!
Average # Limbs: 9.62
Median # Limbs: 9
Most Common # Limbs on a Sophont: 6
# of Sophonts with 4 Limbs (like humans): 8
T5's sophonts have a LOT of limbs, at least when compared to humans. Note the above data counts the number of limbs per group. This number also counts "multi-limb groups" as a single limb, so that adds a whole bunch more little legs to those sophonts. It is, IMO, too much, especially considering that every time you meet a new race, they're almost certain to have legs all over. Or 5 wings, 7 flippers, and 4 legs. (Sophont #45 in the list.)
Where do all the legs come from? I believe its twofold. One, there is a bias in the Body Structure chart that favors 4 sets of limb groups, two front and two back. Two, Both Radial and Asymmetrical forms permit up to 6 limbs per group, though average out to 3.5.
Characteristic Variety - "Everybody Loves Training"
Sophonts with Caste: 31
Sophonts with Vigor: 40
Sophonts with Training: 43
Sophonts with Education: 21
Sophonts with SDEIES (like humans): 0
Just a few samples of different Characteristics above. While the addition of alternate C2, C3, C5, and C6 stats is interesting and logical, in this set of sophonts not a single one generated with the same characteristics as humans (SDEIES). Leaving aside the problem of trying to remember which skills/knowledges use which characteristic, what we see in these figures is that aliens are not like humans. While this might be intended, and even wished-for, this Characteristic Variety and the Limb Problem together make me wonder:
Historically, Traveller's aliens have been very human-like. Look at the major races: Vargr, Aslan, and Droyne are all humanoid. The K'Kree and Hivers are the most 'alien', and they only have 6 limbs. The Traveller universe has always been very human-centric, human-oriented. With such radically different bodies and statistics, is this what T5 intends?
Other Facts of Interest
Size
Average Size: 212*
Median Size: 72
Most Common Size: 60
Sophonts with added Bulk: 29
Average Size (Minus Bulk-added Sophonts): 63
# Small Sophonts: 26
# Standard Sophonts: 39
# Oversize Sophonts: 9
# Titan Sophonts: 26
* Includes some rather large outliers.
I think the large number of Titans is a function of Bulk, which adds to Sophonts with very high STR. The biggest size was 1836 (about 20x human size).
Gender
Average # Genders: 2.45
Median # Genders: 2
Solitaires: 23
Duals: 31
FMNs: 20
EABs: 15
Group Genders: 11
Manipulators
Hands: 30
Graspers: 16
Grippers: 19
Paws: 5
Tentacles: 20
Sockets: 10
Lifespan
Average Lifespan: 83.24
Median Lifespan: 86
Senses
Sophonts with Awareness: 42
Sophonts with Perception: 30
Sophonts with Both: 12
Blind Sophonts: 21
Deaf Sophonts: 33
Your comments and feedback are welcome.
The Sophont Fillforms I used as data for this post can be found by following this link. (PDF File)
Disclosure: I discovered too late a typo in my spreadsheet that would occasionally list C5 as "CHA" when it should have been "TRA". All instances of "CHA" in C5 should be treated as "TRA".
Also, the rules are not explicit when it comes to determining where the line between the various size categories are. I decided to split the difference between each category to the next one up and down. Thus, Small is Size 54 or lower, Standard is 55-108, Oversized is 109-216, and Titan is greater than 216.
I would also like to state my viewpoint as I look at this data. It's true, that a Referee can simply chose whatever results she wants, and that a random roll can produce unusual combinations. However, my feeling is that if this is the T5 Sophont Generator, the sophonts it generates should be representative of the kinds of sophonts one should expect to encounter in the game, all else being equal. In other words, this list of 100 sophonts should, IMO, be typical of T5s intelligent alien life forms, with some outliers expected from random generation. Thus, this data doesn't necessarily represent errata, as it's not necessarily "in error." The real question we should focus on is "does this system adequately represent Traveller 5 and the stories it tells?"
Possible Problems
I say possible because perhaps the system is working as intended, but when I saw the data it raised questions in my mind. There are a couple:
Limbs! Limbs Everywhere!
Average # Limbs: 9.62
Median # Limbs: 9
Most Common # Limbs on a Sophont: 6
# of Sophonts with 4 Limbs (like humans): 8
T5's sophonts have a LOT of limbs, at least when compared to humans. Note the above data counts the number of limbs per group. This number also counts "multi-limb groups" as a single limb, so that adds a whole bunch more little legs to those sophonts. It is, IMO, too much, especially considering that every time you meet a new race, they're almost certain to have legs all over. Or 5 wings, 7 flippers, and 4 legs. (Sophont #45 in the list.)
Where do all the legs come from? I believe its twofold. One, there is a bias in the Body Structure chart that favors 4 sets of limb groups, two front and two back. Two, Both Radial and Asymmetrical forms permit up to 6 limbs per group, though average out to 3.5.
Characteristic Variety - "Everybody Loves Training"
Sophonts with Caste: 31
Sophonts with Vigor: 40
Sophonts with Training: 43
Sophonts with Education: 21
Sophonts with SDEIES (like humans): 0
Just a few samples of different Characteristics above. While the addition of alternate C2, C3, C5, and C6 stats is interesting and logical, in this set of sophonts not a single one generated with the same characteristics as humans (SDEIES). Leaving aside the problem of trying to remember which skills/knowledges use which characteristic, what we see in these figures is that aliens are not like humans. While this might be intended, and even wished-for, this Characteristic Variety and the Limb Problem together make me wonder:
Historically, Traveller's aliens have been very human-like. Look at the major races: Vargr, Aslan, and Droyne are all humanoid. The K'Kree and Hivers are the most 'alien', and they only have 6 limbs. The Traveller universe has always been very human-centric, human-oriented. With such radically different bodies and statistics, is this what T5 intends?
Other Facts of Interest
Size
Average Size: 212*
Median Size: 72
Most Common Size: 60
Sophonts with added Bulk: 29
Average Size (Minus Bulk-added Sophonts): 63
# Small Sophonts: 26
# Standard Sophonts: 39
# Oversize Sophonts: 9
# Titan Sophonts: 26
* Includes some rather large outliers.
I think the large number of Titans is a function of Bulk, which adds to Sophonts with very high STR. The biggest size was 1836 (about 20x human size).
Gender
Average # Genders: 2.45
Median # Genders: 2
Solitaires: 23
Duals: 31
FMNs: 20
EABs: 15
Group Genders: 11
Manipulators
Hands: 30
Graspers: 16
Grippers: 19
Paws: 5
Tentacles: 20
Sockets: 10
Lifespan
Average Lifespan: 83.24
Median Lifespan: 86
Senses
Sophonts with Awareness: 42
Sophonts with Perception: 30
Sophonts with Both: 12
Blind Sophonts: 21
Deaf Sophonts: 33
Your comments and feedback are welcome.
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I'm self-taught with Excel, too. There's probably far more elegant ways to accomplish what I did, but this seems to work.
