Common Sense: Evaluating UWPs

[Malenfant]

I think the Irregular Webcomic (I was the one that rendered the raytraced picture in that particular strip, BTW

) was just taking the piss out of the fact that in reality it's likely that most M V stars will be more likely to actually have barren rockball worlds.

If First In does that too, then it's only mirroring reality (that said I didn't spot any particular bias towards them in FI though).

(and besides, have you seen how many size 1 vacuum rockballs are in the GENII data?! OK, that's because it used a screwy algorithm to generate them, but still, you can hardly complain that something else produces too many of them if you're happy with the GENII stuff

)


As for FI generating GT World info... well it's hardly rocket science to convert it. Just because it doesn't give you a UWP doesn't mean it's unusable. Sizes are easily convertable, atmosphere requires you to parse the text data and turn it into the appropriate number, and hydrographics is a straight percentage that is also easily converted to a UWP. The social stuff is similarly straightforward (In fact, IIRC there's a conversion table in the GURPS Traveller Corebook too).

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
I think the Irregular Webcomic (I was the one that rendered the raytraced picture in that particular strip, BTW

) was just taking the piss out of the fact that in reality it's likely that most M V stars will be more likely to actually have barren rockball worlds.

If First In does that too, then it's only mirroring reality (that said I didn't spot any particular bias towards them in FI though).

(and besides, have you seen how many size 1 vacuum rockballs are in the GENII data?! OK, that's because it used a screwy algorithm to generate them, but still, you can hardly complain that something else produces too many of them if you're happy with the GENII stuff

)


As for FI generating GT World info... well it's hardly rocket science to convert it. Just because it doesn't give you a UWP doesn't mean it's unusable. Sizes are easily convertable, atmosphere requires you to parse the text data and turn it into the appropriate number, and hydrographics is a straight percentage that is also easily converted to a UWP. The social stuff is similarly straightforward (In fact, IIRC there's a conversion table in the GURPS Traveller Corebook too).

I'm not particularly happy with the GEnie data. But I would be happy with whatever UWP sets someone would be willing to declare canon, even if hideously misformed, although I would take well-formed and reasonable UWPs any day of the week. Once we get something declared canon, then I don't have to worry about the underpinnings of any "common" work I might try to do being knocked out from under me.

As far as MTU goes, I alter anything I want without hesitation, so canon/non-canon does not deter me from working on my own setting. I'm altering quite a few Core Sector worlds. Ion/Core, two parsecs from Capital/Core, has been alread been radically altered (it's been under terraforming now for 1,500 years). It was B-877655-C, and now it's A-867838-F. It's a major site of noble estates, artificialy stocked hunting grounds, nature preserves, and parks. It's also a major site for Imperial Services training, and their are Navy, Army, Marine, and Scout training facilities on world. A large percentage of military peresonnel chose to retire here (but are only allowed to do so if they're in good standing), and because this has been going on since the dawn of the Imperium, it has created a deep military/aristocratic culture on the planet. They've even got their own forms of martial arts, for which I invented the name of one, tongue-in-cheek, Ion-Ryu, the favored Marine martial arts form throughout the Core Sectors.

Oops, drifting off-thread.

 

[Straybow]

Starsystem #4: roll, write, roll, write, roll, write, roll, write, roll, write, roll, write . . . 2 hours later, done.

Hmmm, 2 hours to roll up a system, ROS? I guess if you are generating every planet, moon, significant asteroid and populating each one, assigning trade classifications, and a list of available spec goods.

Or maybe it is: roll, write, roll, write, get distracted by TV, roll, write, wander into kitchen for a snack, ... 2 hrs later, done.

I invented the name of one, tongue-in-cheek, Ion-Ryu

I don't get it.
/me feels dumb.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Straybow:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> Starsystem #4: roll, write, roll, write, roll, write, roll, write, roll, write, roll, write . . . 2 hours later, done.

Hmmm, 2 hours to roll up a system, ROS? I guess if you are generating every planet, moon, significant asteroid and populating each one, assigning trade classifications, and a list of available spec goods.

Or maybe it is: roll, write, roll, write, get distracted by TV, roll, write, wander into kitchen for a snack, ... 2 hrs later, done.

I invented the name of one, tongue-in-cheek, Ion-Ryu

I don't get it.
/me feels dumb. </font>[/QUOTE]1) Time for star system creation. The first time I went through Book 6, it took ten long slogging hours to resolve everything, including all figures for all worlds (it kept generating more worlds, I think there were 10+ orbits). I got faster after that. And this assumes working by hand, writing each element out.

2) I was working on some information for the Imperial Guards regiments, and I needed an futuristic-sounding martial arts form, I was being lazy, and I just randomly attached the the word "Ion" to "ryu". It thought that was overly trite, and discarded it. A little while later, I ran across my notes on the planet Ion, two parsecs from Capital, and I reversed my original decision to not use the name, and Ion-Ryu was born. I thought it was particularly humourous, which is why I said, tongue-in-cheek. Realize though, that many things I find amusing, others shake their head at.

 

[RainOfSteel]

After working through three star systems that way, I never did it again. Ever.

And I never worked through generating the techincal details of a world by hand.

I think, at least for me, that if I had to create, by hand, the world details for every system object generated in every system, as detailed in CT:Book, then the time I estimated, for me, would extend to many years.

 

[Malenfant]

I did about 10 systems by hand like that when I first got into Trav - that was when I realised the Book 6 system was crazy, since I was getting planets with habitable atmospheres in the outer zone...

I've spent pretty much the next 17 years trying to fix it

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
I did about 10 systems by hand like that when I first got into Trav - that was when I realised the Book 6 system was crazy, since I was getting planets with habitable atmospheres in the outer zone...

I've spent pretty much the next 17 years trying to fix it

Well, hurry up!

And let us know when you're done.

And where to download.