[Hard Times] A Location Dilemma

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
It is really a hard choice - Daibei, which gives me a free reign (what was published of it anyway? A map? A dot-map?)...

2-4601,

Daibei has been published as a dot map in a DGP magazine and as a sector in AtoI.

Daibei is also the center of a faction. Subsectors A, B, E, F, G, I, J, and K are 100% Safe Zones. The rest are a mixture of Safe and Influence Zones. The only Wilds in Daibei are a tiny, ~5%, upper right corner of subsector D and a small, ~10%, lower right corner of subsector P. Heavy combat betweeen Sollie-Daibei, Dulinor-Daibei, Lucan-Daibei, and Dulinor-Lucan did occur in the sector, generally around the 'edges'. Damage did happen, whether it is the damage you're looking I don't know.

And Zarushagar is also an option, if it was heavily damaged - but how heavily was it? TNE-style wilderness?

You won't be using Virus I take it? A big chunk of Zarushagar is pure Hard Times, Rebellion shattered, Black War scorched, honest-to-Lucan wilderness.

Going by the 1120 map used as the Rebellion Sourcebook frontspeice, Zarushagar's 16 subsectors look like this:

- A: Spinward ~66% Dulinor's Influence Zone, trailing ~33% Wilds
- B: 100% Wilds
- C: ~25% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, ~75% Wilds
- D: ~90% Lucan Influence Zone, ~10% Wilds
- E: Same as A
- F: 100% Wilds
- G: 100% Wilds
- H: ~5% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, rest Wilds
- I: ~50% Dulinor Influence Zone, ~50% Wilds
- J: 100% Wilds
- K: 100% Wilds
- L: 100% Wilds
- M: 100% Rift
- N: ~90% Rift, 'upper right corner' Wilds
- O: ~50% rimward Daibei Influence Zone, ~50% coreward Wilds
- P: ~25% 'lower left corner' Daibei Influence Zone, ~75 Wilds.

By the way, was Zarushagar mapped in Traveller cannon?

AFAIK, it was mapped in the same fashion as Daibei; DGP dot maps and AotI.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Bill Cameron:
You won't be using Virus I take it? A big chunk of Zarushagar is pure Hard Times, Rebellion shattered, Black War scorched, honest-to-Lucan wilderness.

No, no Virus at all; anything that was at Omicron was destroyed during the huge battle between Dulinor and Lucan in that system, in which, by the way, Dulinor was victorious.

Going by the 1120 map used as the Rebellion Sourcebook frontspeice, Zarushagar's 16 subsectors look like this:

- A: Spinward ~66% Dulinor's Influence Zone, trailing ~33% Wilds
- B: 100% Wilds
- C: ~25% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, ~75% Wilds
- D: ~90% Lucan Influence Zone, ~10% Wilds
- E: Same as A
- F: 100% Wilds
- G: 100% Wilds
- H: ~5% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, rest Wilds
- I: ~50% Dulinor Influence Zone, ~50% Wilds
- J: 100% Wilds
- K: 100% Wilds
- L: 100% Wilds
- M: 100% Rift
- N: ~90% Rift, 'upper right corner' Wilds
- O: ~50% rimward Daibei Influence Zone, ~50% coreward Wilds
- P: ~25% 'lower left corner' Daibei Influence Zone, ~75 Wilds.

Sounds... perfect for my use, even though the factions and lines will change somewhat by 1135 - Dulinor will control most Lucan's former territory but will lose most of Illelish to an insurrection (the Illelish people were quite disillusioned with him by 1125; part of his fleet will decide to stop the crazy quest for "reunification of the imperium" and go hjome instead); Illelish would be torn between the Federation (anti-Dulinor) and the self-proclaimed "Third Imperium" (i.e. Dulinor's absolute monarchy) and so on.

AFAIK, it was mapped in the same fashion as Daibei; DGP dot maps and AotI.

So, what details about Zarushagar are cannon and what are not? Planet locations? Planet types (i.e. astroid/waterless/water)? Gas Giants? Starports and Bases? Full UWPs?

Were there any adventures or magazine articles based in Zarushagar?

My main problem with Zarushagar is its location - VERY close to the Core, and smack in the middle of the battle between Dulinor, Lucan and Deibei (sp?) and later on (in my variant) between Dulinor (who rules the Core sector) and the dissident Illelish Federation. The main advantage of the Marches (beyond the HUGE masses of cannibalizable material

) is the presence of many small factions but no big ones (since the Zhodani just take over a few parsects of a "buffer zone" and dig in and Norris' state collapses; the Vargr and Aslan are not big united polities but VERY loose - infighting included - coalitions of small raiding groups). The main disadvantages of the marches is the vast amount of cannon material (with is also an advantage, see above) and the lack of serious destruction (but even a short war involving Norris, anti-Norris factions within the proto-Regency, the Vargr, the Aslan, the Zhodani and the Sword Worlders would bring the right amount of destruction needed by a Hard Times campaign).

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Bill Cameron:
You won't be using Virus I take it? A big chunk of Zarushagar is pure Hard Times, Rebellion shattered, Black War scorched, honest-to-Lucan wilderness.

No, no Virus at all; anything that was at Omicron was destroyed during the huge battle between Dulinor and Lucan in that system, in which, by the way, Dulinor was victorious.

Going by the 1120 map used as the Rebellion Sourcebook frontspeice, Zarushagar's 16 subsectors look like this:

- A: Spinward ~66% Dulinor's Influence Zone, trailing ~33% Wilds
- B: 100% Wilds
- C: ~25% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, ~75% Wilds
- D: ~90% Lucan Influence Zone, ~10% Wilds
- E: Same as A
- F: 100% Wilds
- G: 100% Wilds
- H: ~5% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, rest Wilds
- I: ~50% Dulinor Influence Zone, ~50% Wilds
- J: 100% Wilds
- K: 100% Wilds
- L: 100% Wilds
- M: 100% Rift
- N: ~90% Rift, 'upper right corner' Wilds
- O: ~50% rimward Daibei Influence Zone, ~50% coreward Wilds
- P: ~25% 'lower left corner' Daibei Influence Zone, ~75 Wilds.

Sounds... perfect for my use, even though the factions and lines will change somewhat by 1135 - Dulinor will control most Lucan's former territory but will lose most of Illelish to an insurrection (the Illelish people were quite disillusioned with him by 1125; part of his fleet will decide to stop the crazy quest for "reunification of the imperium" and go hjome instead); Illelish would be torn between the Federation (anti-Dulinor) and the self-proclaimed "Third Imperium" (i.e. Dulinor's absolute monarchy) and so on.

AFAIK, it was mapped in the same fashion as Daibei; DGP dot maps and AotI.

So, what details about Zarushagar are cannon and what are not? Planet locations? Planet types (i.e. astroid/waterless/water)? Gas Giants? Starports and Bases? Full UWPs?

Were there any adventures or magazine articles based in Zarushagar?

My main problem with Zarushagar is its location - VERY close to the Core, and smack in the middle of the battle between Dulinor, Lucan and Deibei (sp?) and later on (in my variant) between Dulinor (who rules the Core sector) and the dissident Illelish Federation. The main advantage of the Marches (beyond the HUGE masses of cannibalizable material

) is the presence of many small factions but no big ones (since the Zhodani just take over a few parsects of a "buffer zone" and dig in and Norris' state collapses; the Vargr and Aslan are not big united polities but VERY loose - infighting included - coalitions of small raiding groups). The main disadvantages of the marches is the vast amount of cannon material (with is also an advantage, see above) and the lack of serious destruction (but even a short war involving Norris, anti-Norris factions within the proto-Regency, the Vargr, the Aslan, the Zhodani and the Sword Worlders would bring the right amount of destruction needed by a Hard Times campaign).

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Bill Cameron:
You won't be using Virus I take it? A big chunk of Zarushagar is pure Hard Times, Rebellion shattered, Black War scorched, honest-to-Lucan wilderness.

No, no Virus at all; anything that was at Omicron was destroyed during the huge battle between Dulinor and Lucan in that system, in which, by the way, Dulinor was victorious.

Going by the 1120 map used as the Rebellion Sourcebook frontspeice, Zarushagar's 16 subsectors look like this:

- A: Spinward ~66% Dulinor's Influence Zone, trailing ~33% Wilds
- B: 100% Wilds
- C: ~25% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, ~75% Wilds
- D: ~90% Lucan Influence Zone, ~10% Wilds
- E: Same as A
- F: 100% Wilds
- G: 100% Wilds
- H: ~5% 'upper right corner' Lucan Influence Zone, rest Wilds
- I: ~50% Dulinor Influence Zone, ~50% Wilds
- J: 100% Wilds
- K: 100% Wilds
- L: 100% Wilds
- M: 100% Rift
- N: ~90% Rift, 'upper right corner' Wilds
- O: ~50% rimward Daibei Influence Zone, ~50% coreward Wilds
- P: ~25% 'lower left corner' Daibei Influence Zone, ~75 Wilds.

Sounds... perfect for my use, even though the factions and lines will change somewhat by 1135 - Dulinor will control most Lucan's former territory but will lose most of Illelish to an insurrection (the Illelish people were quite disillusioned with him by 1125; part of his fleet will decide to stop the crazy quest for "reunification of the imperium" and go hjome instead); Illelish would be torn between the Federation (anti-Dulinor) and the self-proclaimed "Third Imperium" (i.e. Dulinor's absolute monarchy) and so on.

AFAIK, it was mapped in the same fashion as Daibei; DGP dot maps and AotI.

So, what details about Zarushagar are cannon and what are not? Planet locations? Planet types (i.e. astroid/waterless/water)? Gas Giants? Starports and Bases? Full UWPs?

Were there any adventures or magazine articles based in Zarushagar?

My main problem with Zarushagar is its location - VERY close to the Core, and smack in the middle of the battle between Dulinor, Lucan and Deibei (sp?) and later on (in my variant) between Dulinor (who rules the Core sector) and the dissident Illelish Federation. The main advantage of the Marches (beyond the HUGE masses of cannibalizable material

) is the presence of many small factions but no big ones (since the Zhodani just take over a few parsects of a "buffer zone" and dig in and Norris' state collapses; the Vargr and Aslan are not big united polities but VERY loose - infighting included - coalitions of small raiding groups). The main disadvantages of the marches is the vast amount of cannon material (with is also an advantage, see above) and the lack of serious destruction (but even a short war involving Norris, anti-Norris factions within the proto-Regency, the Vargr, the Aslan, the Zhodani and the Sword Worlders would bring the right amount of destruction needed by a Hard Times campaign).

 

[Golan2072]

I'm now leaning back towards the Solomani Rim; this thread has just made me fall in love with Solomani Hardliners as villians.

I won't be using Terra as the center of my pocket-polity (the Hardliners will retake it); I'll use either something near the Vegan district (a Vegan/(Human) Pan-Sophonist joint state) or to the Spinward-Coreward of the sector.

But how much will the SolRim's concentration of high-pop worlds interfere with the Hard Times setting?

 

[Golan2072]

I'm now leaning back towards the Solomani Rim; this thread has just made me fall in love with Solomani Hardliners as villians.

I won't be using Terra as the center of my pocket-polity (the Hardliners will retake it); I'll use either something near the Vegan district (a Vegan/(Human) Pan-Sophonist joint state) or to the Spinward-Coreward of the sector.

But how much will the SolRim's concentration of high-pop worlds interfere with the Hard Times setting?

 

[Golan2072]

I'm now leaning back towards the Solomani Rim; this thread has just made me fall in love with Solomani Hardliners as villians.

I won't be using Terra as the center of my pocket-polity (the Hardliners will retake it); I'll use either something near the Vegan district (a Vegan/(Human) Pan-Sophonist joint state) or to the Spinward-Coreward of the sector.

But how much will the SolRim's concentration of high-pop worlds interfere with the Hard Times setting?

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
So, what details about Zarushagar are cannon and what are not? Planet locations? Planet types (i.e. astroid/waterless/water)? Gas Giants? Starports and Bases? Full UWPs?

2-4601,

Sorry, didn't see your question when you posted it.

AotI will canonical planet locations, planet types (belt, water, desert), gas giants, starports, all bases, names for pop code 9+, and allegiance codes for the classic era.

AotI will not provide UWPs.

As for your question about the Rim in your other post; higher starting populations means higher surviving populations. You'll have more/bigger worlds in a post-Hard Times Rim which would lead to more 'pocket empires'. Those 'empires' could be single worlds or small collections of worlds.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
So, what details about Zarushagar are cannon and what are not? Planet locations? Planet types (i.e. astroid/waterless/water)? Gas Giants? Starports and Bases? Full UWPs?

2-4601,

Sorry, didn't see your question when you posted it.

AotI will canonical planet locations, planet types (belt, water, desert), gas giants, starports, all bases, names for pop code 9+, and allegiance codes for the classic era.

AotI will not provide UWPs.

As for your question about the Rim in your other post; higher starting populations means higher surviving populations. You'll have more/bigger worlds in a post-Hard Times Rim which would lead to more 'pocket empires'. Those 'empires' could be single worlds or small collections of worlds.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
So, what details about Zarushagar are cannon and what are not? Planet locations? Planet types (i.e. astroid/waterless/water)? Gas Giants? Starports and Bases? Full UWPs?

2-4601,

Sorry, didn't see your question when you posted it.

AotI will canonical planet locations, planet types (belt, water, desert), gas giants, starports, all bases, names for pop code 9+, and allegiance codes for the classic era.

AotI will not provide UWPs.

As for your question about the Rim in your other post; higher starting populations means higher surviving populations. You'll have more/bigger worlds in a post-Hard Times Rim which would lead to more 'pocket empires'. Those 'empires' could be single worlds or small collections of worlds.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Golan2072]

I'm still wavering between the Solomani Rim and the Marches; the thing is that the Marches have a lot more low-tech, low-pop worlds that will be forced to cooperate in order to survive; recovery will also be slower.

That is not to mension the wealth of material concerning that region of space.

 

[Golan2072]

I'm still wavering between the Solomani Rim and the Marches; the thing is that the Marches have a lot more low-tech, low-pop worlds that will be forced to cooperate in order to survive; recovery will also be slower.

That is not to mension the wealth of material concerning that region of space.

 

[Golan2072]

I'm still wavering between the Solomani Rim and the Marches; the thing is that the Marches have a lot more low-tech, low-pop worlds that will be forced to cooperate in order to survive; recovery will also be slower.

That is not to mension the wealth of material concerning that region of space.

 

[daryen]

Assuming no Virus, the Spinward Marches will likely be one of the more stable areas in known space.

The Regency (which happened irrespective of Virus) would be stable, and not be forced by Virus to mount an insanely expensive Quarantine or to make bad deals with the Aslan. They would have been able to easily kick the Aslan back to the rimward half of the Trojan Reaches and completely out of Regency territory.

The Regency would still implement their psionic reforms, and have just as stable a relationship with the Zhodani as before. The Consulate likes to be surrounded by comparatively small, friendly powers. The Regency now fits this discription.

The two major areas of turmoil that would remain in the Marches are the Federation of Arden and the Sword Worlds. Without the threat of Virus to force their their heavy-handed expansion, the Regency would likely have not annexed most of the Sword Worlds (nor would the Sword Worlds have had an incentive to attempt their disastrous landgrab attempt), and they would have plied much less pressure on the Federation.

Obviously, this is YTU and you can do what you want/need to. However, if you are trying to stay close to canon, the Regency would provide a massive stabilizing influence to all of the former Imperial worlds and clients in the Domain of Deneb. (I.e. it would be far from the rough-n-tumble you are looking for.)

 

[daryen]

Assuming no Virus, the Spinward Marches will likely be one of the more stable areas in known space.

The Regency (which happened irrespective of Virus) would be stable, and not be forced by Virus to mount an insanely expensive Quarantine or to make bad deals with the Aslan. They would have been able to easily kick the Aslan back to the rimward half of the Trojan Reaches and completely out of Regency territory.

The Regency would still implement their psionic reforms, and have just as stable a relationship with the Zhodani as before. The Consulate likes to be surrounded by comparatively small, friendly powers. The Regency now fits this discription.

The two major areas of turmoil that would remain in the Marches are the Federation of Arden and the Sword Worlds. Without the threat of Virus to force their their heavy-handed expansion, the Regency would likely have not annexed most of the Sword Worlds (nor would the Sword Worlds have had an incentive to attempt their disastrous landgrab attempt), and they would have plied much less pressure on the Federation.

Obviously, this is YTU and you can do what you want/need to. However, if you are trying to stay close to canon, the Regency would provide a massive stabilizing influence to all of the former Imperial worlds and clients in the Domain of Deneb. (I.e. it would be far from the rough-n-tumble you are looking for.)

 

[daryen]

Assuming no Virus, the Spinward Marches will likely be one of the more stable areas in known space.

The Regency (which happened irrespective of Virus) would be stable, and not be forced by Virus to mount an insanely expensive Quarantine or to make bad deals with the Aslan. They would have been able to easily kick the Aslan back to the rimward half of the Trojan Reaches and completely out of Regency territory.

The Regency would still implement their psionic reforms, and have just as stable a relationship with the Zhodani as before. The Consulate likes to be surrounded by comparatively small, friendly powers. The Regency now fits this discription.

The two major areas of turmoil that would remain in the Marches are the Federation of Arden and the Sword Worlds. Without the threat of Virus to force their their heavy-handed expansion, the Regency would likely have not annexed most of the Sword Worlds (nor would the Sword Worlds have had an incentive to attempt their disastrous landgrab attempt), and they would have plied much less pressure on the Federation.

Obviously, this is YTU and you can do what you want/need to. However, if you are trying to stay close to canon, the Regency would provide a massive stabilizing influence to all of the former Imperial worlds and clients in the Domain of Deneb. (I.e. it would be far from the rough-n-tumble you are looking for.)