A Heretical Traveller Universe
- Thread starter Timerover51
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Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Okay, and I do believe that would hold for the Official Traveller Universe. This is an Heretical Traveller Universe.
It does, however, give you the designer's baseline accuracy. It's the math already done.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I am working up the first two sub-sectors in my Piper-Norton sector, with world descriptions. Precisely where should I post the maps, when finished, and the PDF with the world descriptions. Note, these are for the use of the forum, and would not be part of any additional work on the sector.
Maps can be uploaded to the image gallery, and I think PDFs can be posted as post attachments if you have the right permissions.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
After finding and going through my copy of Supplement 10, The Solomani Rim, and discovering that I do have a copy of the Solomani Alien Module (bound in hard copy with 3 other Alien modules), it looks like my Norton-Piper sector needs to be located to rimward of the Aldebaran sector. The idea is to be far away from any established areas of the OTU. It looks like I will be using a modified form of the Interstellar Drive options of Mongoose Traveller, along with some modified Classic ship building and world generation. The worlds will be spread out a bit more, so I will be needing ships with longer legs for travel.
One nice thing about Piper is that he gives you a lot of world ideas to work with, while Norton has some very interesting worlds, along with ruins of prior advanced species, and the Bald Space Rovers, aka "Baldies", and the Forerunners, who might still be around.
One never knows what one may encounter out in the Rim.
One nice thing about Piper is that he gives you a lot of world ideas to work with, while Norton has some very interesting worlds, along with ruins of prior advanced species, and the Bald Space Rovers, aka "Baldies", and the Forerunners, who might still be around.
One never knows what one may encounter out in the Rim.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
It looks like from the Traveller map, that the best sector Rimward of the Solomani Rim to abut my Norton-Piper sector to is to the rimward of the Canopus sector.
How canonical are the sectors to the Rimward of the Solomani Sphere?
How canonical are the sectors to the Rimward of the Solomani Sphere?
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Well, having received no reply, to the Rimward of Canopus it is. All 16 sub sectors are named, with planets and planetary locations to follow. As this is the Rim, there will be fewer planets per sub sector. Given 80 hexes per sub sector, no more than 20 to 25 planets for each. Ships will long legs will be needed. Oh, and by the way, I like a "small ship" universe.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
If I post something to the forum, may I use it elsewhere in a Traveller or other product, or does FFE own the copyright to it?
You can use it elsewhere, as you retain ownership, but forefeit the right to force us to take it off the BBS.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Okay, having material remain on the Forum would not be a problem.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Well, I have the 16 sub-sectors laid out, with Sword sub-sector nearest the Aslan for those who wish to go a-viking. The Vikings prefer to use hyperdrive ships for the long range it gives their activities.
Hyperdrive covers a parsec a week, and is limited only by power plant endurance and life support. Still working on how much tonnage to allow for life support, but leaning towards requiring one dTon of life support (this would include food for one year) per 6 men of crew. One dTon of Heavy Water will supply all needed ship's power for one year, with a very generous reserve. Note, that is not either hyperspace drive fuel or maneuver drive fuel, just what the ship needs to power its internal systems.
Up to Jump-6 is available and a jump still lasts only one week. Once you get past Jump-1, Jump Drive has an increasing speed edge to Jump-6. A Jump only requires 10 per cent of the ships displacement, regardless of the distance, as the planets are going to be spread out, and you will be needing Jump-2 or better to operate to any degree. As some exploring will be required, this would also allow a jump into a system and a jump back out without having to have massive amounts of Liquid H on-board.
Still thinking about maneuver drive fuel.
I should note that there will be a couple of Droyne ANNIC NOVA type ships out in the sector: ANNIC ANVIL and ANNIC FALCON. They will be similar but not quite the same as the ANNIC NOVA, and are the products of someone who has this Great-Grandfather lurking out in the Spinward Marches.
Hyperdrive covers a parsec a week, and is limited only by power plant endurance and life support. Still working on how much tonnage to allow for life support, but leaning towards requiring one dTon of life support (this would include food for one year) per 6 men of crew. One dTon of Heavy Water will supply all needed ship's power for one year, with a very generous reserve. Note, that is not either hyperspace drive fuel or maneuver drive fuel, just what the ship needs to power its internal systems.
Up to Jump-6 is available and a jump still lasts only one week. Once you get past Jump-1, Jump Drive has an increasing speed edge to Jump-6. A Jump only requires 10 per cent of the ships displacement, regardless of the distance, as the planets are going to be spread out, and you will be needing Jump-2 or better to operate to any degree. As some exploring will be required, this would also allow a jump into a system and a jump back out without having to have massive amounts of Liquid H on-board.
Still thinking about maneuver drive fuel.
I should note that there will be a couple of Droyne ANNIC NOVA type ships out in the sector: ANNIC ANVIL and ANNIC FALCON. They will be similar but not quite the same as the ANNIC NOVA, and are the products of someone who has this Great-Grandfather lurking out in the Spinward Marches.
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Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Having just downloaded the Drexilthar Subsector book, I will look for working up a similar book for my first subsecter in my Science Fiction sector, Sword, which will be close to the Aslan areas out near the Rim. To make it a bit different though, I am thinking of a subsector map showing the location of star systems, but allowing the Game Master to locate the star systems where he/she wants to, so in theory, no two subsectors should be alike. I am working up the planet names now, and while some will be familiar to H. Beam Piper readers, there will be some that are not. The ships will be a blend of Classic and Mongoose, but I am still working on that, and also world design changes.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I am going back to the 1977 edition of the LBB for the basic shipbuilding in my universe, along with adding some elements of the 1981 edition and a bit of The Traveller Book, as well as the additional player classes in Supplement 4: Citizens of the Imperium..
Given the worlds that I am building, along with the added skills from The Traveller Book and Supplement 4 in terms of Water Craft, I am going to have to work up a basic nautical shipbuilding system, and maybe an aircraft system. For that, I think that I will just take existing historical types and adapt that to the Traveller format.
The complex design sequences in MegaTraveller are one of the things that I greatly disliked, so the focus will be on Keep It Simple Stupid. However, there does exist the design sequences in T5 for a wide range of vehicles, and for aircraft, there is the design system in COACC for MegaTraveller. I do hope to improve on those.
Now, on to Piper Sector.
Given the worlds that I am building, along with the added skills from The Traveller Book and Supplement 4 in terms of Water Craft, I am going to have to work up a basic nautical shipbuilding system, and maybe an aircraft system. For that, I think that I will just take existing historical types and adapt that to the Traveller format.
The complex design sequences in MegaTraveller are one of the things that I greatly disliked, so the focus will be on Keep It Simple Stupid. However, there does exist the design sequences in T5 for a wide range of vehicles, and for aircraft, there is the design system in COACC for MegaTraveller. I do hope to improve on those.
Now, on to Piper Sector.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I am pulling this ahead so as to make it easier to get to some of my earlier ideas before getting Cepheus Engine, which makes some of the design work easier.
In another thread there was a discussion of counterfeiting and if you check out this thread on post #10, I was already looking at using radioisotopes for verifying currency.
Looking my earlier ideas over, I might go with the Credit for interstellar trade as worth 12,500 Credits per kilogram of 0.999 fine gold. A troy ounce is equal to 31.1 grams, so you would have 32.15 ounces per kilogram. At 200 Credits per ounce, which is given in Research Station Gamma, you would have 6430 Credits per kilogram of gold. At 400 Credits per ounce, allowing for some inflation since the adventure was published, you would have 12, 860 Credits per ounce of 0.999 fine gold. Now, El Paso uses the following denominations of gold coins: a quarter-ounce $5 gold piece, a half-ounce $10 gold piece, a one ounce $20 gold piece, and a 2.5 ounce $50 gold piece. Now, I was thinking of the El Paso coins being either 0.900 or 0.933 fine, or 22 carat, which would be 0,9167 fine. That would slightly overvalue the coins, but probably for everyday transactions that would work. High dollar value transactions would be made using either 2.5 ounce gold slugs or 0.999 purity, or gold bars of various weights. Optionally, I could double the weight of the coins and drop the purity to 12 carat or 0.500 fine. I will have to go back and give this some thought.
For interstellar trade to work, it has to have some form of fixed currency value, be in gold-based, silver-based, or purely dependent upon the acceptance of the community at large of some form of paper or computer currency. Given the nature of the Out Rim Sector, computer currency is not going to work, and on a fair number of planets, paper or plastic is not going to work either. Previously, I had pegged the price of gold at 20 Baldur credits to the ounce, with New Texas accepting Baldur Credits at par. So, do I keep that or go to a higher exchange rate.
Toss into back burner of mind and see what boils to the top.
In another thread there was a discussion of counterfeiting and if you check out this thread on post #10, I was already looking at using radioisotopes for verifying currency.
Looking my earlier ideas over, I might go with the Credit for interstellar trade as worth 12,500 Credits per kilogram of 0.999 fine gold. A troy ounce is equal to 31.1 grams, so you would have 32.15 ounces per kilogram. At 200 Credits per ounce, which is given in Research Station Gamma, you would have 6430 Credits per kilogram of gold. At 400 Credits per ounce, allowing for some inflation since the adventure was published, you would have 12, 860 Credits per ounce of 0.999 fine gold. Now, El Paso uses the following denominations of gold coins: a quarter-ounce $5 gold piece, a half-ounce $10 gold piece, a one ounce $20 gold piece, and a 2.5 ounce $50 gold piece. Now, I was thinking of the El Paso coins being either 0.900 or 0.933 fine, or 22 carat, which would be 0,9167 fine. That would slightly overvalue the coins, but probably for everyday transactions that would work. High dollar value transactions would be made using either 2.5 ounce gold slugs or 0.999 purity, or gold bars of various weights. Optionally, I could double the weight of the coins and drop the purity to 12 carat or 0.500 fine. I will have to go back and give this some thought.
For interstellar trade to work, it has to have some form of fixed currency value, be in gold-based, silver-based, or purely dependent upon the acceptance of the community at large of some form of paper or computer currency. Given the nature of the Out Rim Sector, computer currency is not going to work, and on a fair number of planets, paper or plastic is not going to work either. Previously, I had pegged the price of gold at 20 Baldur credits to the ounce, with New Texas accepting Baldur Credits at par. So, do I keep that or go to a higher exchange rate.
Toss into back burner of mind and see what boils to the top.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I doubt it, especially given where gold is on the Periodic Table. You might have locally abundant concentrations of gold or silver, Potosi comes to mind, but overall, I do not view it as a problem. I am not sure that asteroid mining for gold or silver is going to be a big thing, but silver as a by-product is a possibility.
Some of the copper mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan had considerable quantities of silver as a natural alloy with the copper, but the smelter did have to separate them out. Overall, the influx of possibly cheap gold or silver would simply serve to increase the money supply, possibly causing inflation in some areas, but you are talking about multiple planets here. That should serve to localize the effects.
I am also not sure if asteroid mining is going to be such a cheap source of the rarer materials. Nickel-iron asteroids are likely common, but you still have to separate the nickel from the iron. The rarer elements are more likely to be found in the stony asteroids, and you have to get the ore from the asteroid to a smelter. That takes energy, and energy in an asteroid belt is not going to be cheap. Plus, the smelter you want might be on the other side of the belt, several hundred million miles away.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
On this point, IMTU I've got the solar foundires, big solar powered furnaces at the LaGrange points that can do smelter work through direct sunlight and solar panels for heavy energy work such as gravitic/nuclear force manipulation.
They originally were put out there for processing waste regolith from He3 processing into orbital colonies, but early on started into heavy metal processing from asteroids.
The cost then becomes surveying and tagging which asteroids get sent, and sending the low value ones on a slow near Earth trajectory to be wrangled eventually to the solar foundries (but not impact the Earth or colonies). High value ones would be broken up and sent by ship or process in place with fusion power, depending on how the economics pan out.
The rocks don't need to be sent at high velocity, it could take over a year for them to make it to Earth, the main thing is that there is a steady stream of asteroids to process. A slow constant 'river of rock' will IMO reduce crew/fuel/time costs over breakers and in-place processing.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
For further information, see the thread in the Cepheus Engine General Forum.
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=39544
That is, if you are interested.
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=39544
That is, if you are interested.
Flattened Sphere
SOC-5
Heresy? Far from it!
I always felt that "canon" completely frustrated the whole purpose of Traveller, which was to give you a loose framework of rules within which to construct your own sci fi adventure universe.
The Imperium et al were only ever suggestions; and the supplements were to give you scenarios, characters and ideas which you could adopt wholesale if you hadn't the time to do otherwise, adapt to your own requirements if you did, or simply draw on for inspiration.
So good for you, I say ... you're doing your own thing, and doing it well so far as I can see.
I always felt that "canon" completely frustrated the whole purpose of Traveller, which was to give you a loose framework of rules within which to construct your own sci fi adventure universe.
The Imperium et al were only ever suggestions; and the supplements were to give you scenarios, characters and ideas which you could adopt wholesale if you hadn't the time to do otherwise, adapt to your own requirements if you did, or simply draw on for inspiration.
So good for you, I say ... you're doing your own thing, and doing it well so far as I can see.
