Mechanic34
SOC-1
Looking some inspiration on inter system trade and exploration for group before they are sent outside. Hope will be to introduce them to the game in a smaller and easily managed setting. Thanks.
General Inter system exposure
- Thread starter Mechanic34
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mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
What is the TL of the world you are starting them on?
Assuming it is TL9+
Maneuver drive and fusion power plants open the entire system to development. Mining asteroids and moons for mineral resources and fusion fuel, space stations and habitats built all over the system - loads of adventure potential.
Map out the system - where are the rocky planets, where are the gas giants, where are the asteroid belts.
Every rocky planet could have a settlement - use the basic planet design rules but fudge it a bit to generate the world. The mainworld should have the highest population that sort of thing.
Many moons are large enough for settlements, and asteroids can become habitats with TL9+ engineering so you can have a pretty diverse sandbox to play around with.
As for trade think about what the settlement/habitat produces and what it is likely to need.
Is it a mining station - no point transporting metal ingots there. Luxuries, foodstuffs, that's where you will find your market.
An agricultural station will have plenty of food but may require a steady input of mineral resources.
A manufacturing centre is the place to pick up finished products for transport to where they will sell - they will likely be after foodstuffs, luxuries and mineral resources.
Once yo have designed your worlds and habitats slap trade designations on them - ignore the rules at this point just designate some ag, some ri, some ind etc.
For a starting adventure you can either have the players hunt around for their first cargo, or you can gift them it so they know they are taking robotic harvesting machinery from an orbital manufacturing centre to the agricultural domes on the moon of a distant gas giant.
Assuming it is TL9+
Maneuver drive and fusion power plants open the entire system to development. Mining asteroids and moons for mineral resources and fusion fuel, space stations and habitats built all over the system - loads of adventure potential.
Map out the system - where are the rocky planets, where are the gas giants, where are the asteroid belts.
Every rocky planet could have a settlement - use the basic planet design rules but fudge it a bit to generate the world. The mainworld should have the highest population that sort of thing.
Many moons are large enough for settlements, and asteroids can become habitats with TL9+ engineering so you can have a pretty diverse sandbox to play around with.
As for trade think about what the settlement/habitat produces and what it is likely to need.
Is it a mining station - no point transporting metal ingots there. Luxuries, foodstuffs, that's where you will find your market.
An agricultural station will have plenty of food but may require a steady input of mineral resources.
A manufacturing centre is the place to pick up finished products for transport to where they will sell - they will likely be after foodstuffs, luxuries and mineral resources.
Once yo have designed your worlds and habitats slap trade designations on them - ignore the rules at this point just designate some ag, some ri, some ind etc.
For a starting adventure you can either have the players hunt around for their first cargo, or you can gift them it so they know they are taking robotic harvesting machinery from an orbital manufacturing centre to the agricultural domes on the moon of a distant gas giant.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
For inspiration of what could be going on in just one system I would recommend the following Isaac Arthur youtube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIIOUpOge0LsIzYlIAIRdAGJTqAW6FmCE
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIIOUpOge0LsIzYlIAIRdAGJTqAW6FmCE
Mechanic34
SOC-1
Thanks for the reply. Confirms my initial thoughts but great link to YouTube clips for more depth. Recently received my Patent of Nobility from FFE T5 for Count of Askigaak E549AA8-B, so if I convince some friends to play I can use that as their patron.
As has been mentioned a lot depends on TL and system ‘geography’ I’d expect most in system trade to be metals from asteroid belts to industry on or orbiting the mainworld with water, foodstuff and manufactured goods being the return. That said I also envision most TL 9+ societies having orbital settlements and orbital farms which have their own needs for supply.
Also if you have a preponderance of rockballs in a system the simple transportation of fusion fuel would be a massively vital business (and a profitable monopoly)
I think it’s also worth mentioning that when it comes to in system trade orbits (even with the advent of non-reaction drives) orbits are paramount. Ships don’t fly A-B in a direct line they try to match orbits - this means that even trips between ‘close’ neighbours (say Earth and Mars) can vary in length significantly depending on what month it is.
Also if you have a preponderance of rockballs in a system the simple transportation of fusion fuel would be a massively vital business (and a profitable monopoly)
I think it’s also worth mentioning that when it comes to in system trade orbits (even with the advent of non-reaction drives) orbits are paramount. Ships don’t fly A-B in a direct line they try to match orbits - this means that even trips between ‘close’ neighbours (say Earth and Mars) can vary in length significantly depending on what month it is.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
I do this frequently.
First, you have to do the extended system generation to get the other planets and satellites in the system. During this, you might have to tweak or fudge some results slightly to get a good set of trade planets within the system. Binary stars and systems with lots of gas giants and asteroids tend to make better inter-system trade systems.
Once you establish the system, next you have to set up the trade between different parts of it. You might have to have minor governments that are seperate from the main world. This doesn't mean the main world is balkanized or that the UWP changes, just that there are other minor governments present but only if you go out into the system beyond the main world.
There can, and often are, outlying worlds that will be independent based on government and law levels too. Nothing like having the Wild West planet to go to...
Make sure that there is reasonable levels of population and technology on some of the secondary (or tertiary) worlds for players to interact with. They can have good spaceports on the order of being all but a starport.
I've had satellites that are owned by a corporation that has a factory or other facilities on it (think megacorp) where they do stuff that's best kept out of sight... -- The players get a "delivery boy" mission to go there and see things that they shouldn't have raising the ire of the corporation... That sort of thing.
There's mining the asteroid belt or a satellite.
Interactions in space going between worlds can happen. Space junk, a ship in trouble, lots of things you can toss in for them to do.
I've also set things up where the players start on different planets / satellites in the system and are given objectives or reasons they can interact and get together taking time and effort to do so.
Hope that helps.
First, you have to do the extended system generation to get the other planets and satellites in the system. During this, you might have to tweak or fudge some results slightly to get a good set of trade planets within the system. Binary stars and systems with lots of gas giants and asteroids tend to make better inter-system trade systems.
Once you establish the system, next you have to set up the trade between different parts of it. You might have to have minor governments that are seperate from the main world. This doesn't mean the main world is balkanized or that the UWP changes, just that there are other minor governments present but only if you go out into the system beyond the main world.
There can, and often are, outlying worlds that will be independent based on government and law levels too. Nothing like having the Wild West planet to go to...
Make sure that there is reasonable levels of population and technology on some of the secondary (or tertiary) worlds for players to interact with. They can have good spaceports on the order of being all but a starport.
I've had satellites that are owned by a corporation that has a factory or other facilities on it (think megacorp) where they do stuff that's best kept out of sight... -- The players get a "delivery boy" mission to go there and see things that they shouldn't have raising the ire of the corporation... That sort of thing.
There's mining the asteroid belt or a satellite.
Interactions in space going between worlds can happen. Space junk, a ship in trouble, lots of things you can toss in for them to do.
I've also set things up where the players start on different planets / satellites in the system and are given objectives or reasons they can interact and get together taking time and effort to do so.
Hope that helps.
Consider, also, that most economic endeavors will seek to minimize waste, or failing that, try to find a marketable use for that waste product. For an example, skimming and processing fuel could result in a lot of ammonia byproducts. As a farmer, I can tell you that we were paying over $1000/ton for the stuff a couple of years ago. An ag world would have use for it. There's probably a use for almost anything out there, if one can identify it and market it. Lots of possibilities in system.
AnotherDilbert
SOC-14 1K
It's only in the inner system that M-drive travel is efficient. Above a couple of billion km or so it's quicker to micro-jump.
So basically anything beyond Jupiter is about as far as the next star system; a week by jump.
So basically anything beyond Jupiter is about as far as the next star system; a week by jump.
kilemall
SOC-14 5K
One of the economic activities people might forget is all that fuel and gaseous feedstocks a gas giant is likely to have, infinite fusion power protected from solar flares by distance and a huge magnetosphere. Couple that cheap fuel source and raw materials with a few water/ice moons and you have the elements of a LOT of chemical processing/refining right there.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
Exactly. This would result in a micro-economy among the satellites of a gas giant. You could have some that are producing necessary precursors and catalysts for various products while others are using an artificial environment to produce food, say like greenhouses and such. The whole is done locally between the satellites and transit times are on the order of hours making it all very lucrative.
End exports go to the main world or out of the system, but these are concentrated at a shipping location like the best spaceport among the satellites.
Think of it like a rural area where production of stuff is going on that is shipped to the more urban main world or out of the system while this same area is importing goods they don't produce to make things more comfortable there.
There could even be a world-- depending on the number present-- that is reserved for the elites where they have built very exclusive villas and such that are completely out of the reach of any other authorities or the system government.
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