how far away is the "frontier" in YTU

[Spinward Flow]

My thought is to turn the 20-ish Imperial Sectors into subsectors, ditch the surrounding alien empires, keep it a Book2 ship universe, and cap TL at 11 (I'm not a fan of higher jump numbers, capital ships, battle dress, or PGMP/FGMPs).

From a starship construction perspective, limiting to LBB2 (standard) "letter drives" for engineering with a TL=B cap means ... the biggest starships that can be built are 2000 tons ... which makes for a decidedly "small ship TU" (by historical standards).

I wouldn't necessarily throw out ALL of LBB5.80 (et al.) ... so as to permit things like hangar berthing rules (not really addressed in LBB2) and fuel purification plants (a SERIOUS oversight that ought to have been included in LBB2!) along with small craft construction rules (albeit, limited to Drive-A/B/C only options in small craft!) and "aftermarket fuel tankage" options (LBB A5) can make for a really interesting "frontier feel" in a YTU.

If you need to limit the maximum jump number(s) ... for whatever reason ... there's 2 ways to do so.

The first (and most obvious) is that each LBB2 drive letter "step" amounts to a +1 increment on a scale ... and that scale is measured in 200 tons per increment.

1. A = 200 tons
2. B = 400 tons
3. C = 600 tons
4. D = 800 tons (TL=9 maximum)
5. E = 1000 tons
6. F = 1200 tons
7. G = 1400 tons
8. H = 1600 tons (TL=A maximum)
9. J = 1800 tons
10. K = 2000 tons (TL=B maximum)

From there, it's just straight division to work out the tonnage "range" that yields various drive performance codes.

• Drive-J = 1800 tons
  1. Code: 1 @ 1800 tons
  2. Code: 2 @ 900 tons
  3. Code: 3 @ 600 tons
  4. Code: 4 @ 450 tons
  5. Code: 5 @ 360 tons
  6. Code: 6 @ 300 tons

Some drive performance codes "don't work out" when you try to shoehorn them into hull form factors that are "too small" to make everything fit (drives, fuel, bridge, computer, crew, etc.).

If you fall back onto a portion of the LBB2 computer programming rules you can stipulate that even though a particular combination of jump drive letter in hull size form factor "ought to" yield a specific jump number (say, J4, just as an example), the computer programming needed to perform jumps of that range has not be developed/perfected yet ... and research into the topic is ongoing (and hasn't borne fruit yet, so still waiting for the breakthrough). That way, if you want to limit YTU to a J2 experience, you can do so ... even though a starship can have a drive installed in it that ought to be capable of a J4 performance ... if it ever has a fully debugged (and verified SAFE) J4 computer control program loaded into the main computer.

In other words, if you want, you can create a circumstance in which the "jump limit" in YTU is not a matter of hardware ... but rather one of software.
The machines are capable of J4 (in this example), but the software breakthrough needed to realize that capability hasn't been discovered/unlocked yet.

 

[DeepBrine]

IMTU…

The OTU Travellerworld map is a flat map that represents 3D space. Due to space constraints for making a map on a 2 D surface, the map makers “flattened” charted space and left the less interesting stuff off to make it all fit. They also may have had some bias about what to include due to local politicking. A couple 100MCr can get your little backwater hell hole on the map.

This means, on the map, only J1 and J2 is accurate, except for the X-boat route. Any J1 main that has an “unconnected” free end is bent up or down away from the flat map. Every hex has 12 adjacent hexes. The six shown on the Traveller World map plus three above and three below.

I can now take many of the existing worlds that are at the end of a main and surround them with “less interesting” places. Make up a few “layers above and below” the Travellerworld map and now the frontier is just a few jumps away from everywhere.

These worlds may have been colonized before. They may have strange things that make it difficult to colonize. They may be TED worlds. There might be trade opportunities. There might be pirates. Secret factory worlds ( couple 100 MCr will keep you off the map). Secret military bases.

This allows me to use almost all the cannon material while still putting the frontier just a few jumps away.

Oh, and IMTU, the ships are limited to Classic Traveller size but the tables are converted to equations to allow for that 255 ton vessel to be built.