Megacorps in T5

[parmasson]

O powers that be . . .

First, I am not suggesting that this be included in the UWP but in extended information.

I would like to suggest that a note might be made as to the presence of the 13 Megacorps.

Reason: the megacorps have existed longer than any other institutions in imperial space. They survived the fall of the First Imperium, the Rule of Man, the downfall of that empire, The Long Night, the formation of the Third Imperium and even held together during the bloody Rebellion. I am not sure if they make into TNE but I wonder if a rump survives in Deneb. In all I like to suggest that they be considered for the system information the same as military and scout bases.

My suggestion:
Alpha: 0101 0-000000-0
Ri, In, Ag/ HeC, Del, Tur

This shows that Hortalez et Cie, Delgato Trading and Tureka Lines have a presence in the system.
Obviously they would prefer capitals, Rich, Industrial, Agricultural, High Population worlds. But they might have spotty coverage on the frontier and off the beaten track. I know this introduces a new and perhaps unwanted level of complexity at a rather late stage but I just though it worth mentioning.

Thanks

 

[robject]

Opens Can of Worms. Passes them to Kurt.

"Enjoy."

Or is that Diet of Worms?

It would be cool. And it's probably going too far.

A consolidation along the lines of Merchant Prince might be as far as we'd dare to go: knowing what they ship and what kinds of worlds they ship to. The referee usually has his own ideas about what that means; i.e. there are implications that reach into Holy Wars about Economics, Ship sizes, and Long-haul traffic.

 

[parmasson]

Mmmm squishy worms, nice and fresh…

I understand, it was just bugging me. I really can't imagine the program that would evaluate the UWPs and assign codes to each one where you have thirteen different companies and all the variables over 11,000 systems. The Excel formula would be my worst nightmare. Forget I mentioned it. It has been a slow day here, "in school suspension" only has one quiet kid today.

 

[robject]

I know what you mean. But the post above was my opinion. Marc may have something in mind. After all, he is planning on having a bazillion optional extension modules for UWP data. Why not one for trade traffic data?

Actually, taking the modular concept forward, I can't see why he wouldn't define the format for encoding trade type and density for a world.

Hmm.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Kurega, the Excel formula would be simplicity itself:
=CHOOSE(TRUNC(RAND()*13+1),"HeC","Del","Tur",...)
Heh.

 

[parmasson]

"bazillion" Wow

Sometimes all MCs would be represented in a single system. For example: Hi pop, Ri, Ag, In with navy base and a capital on an x-boat route for example. Low pop, Non In, Vacc worlds might only have Sternmetal Horz. Many “non In” and “Po” backwaters would have no MCs at all. Tureka would only connect In, high/medium pop or Ri, Ag or some desirable combo. HeC might only want Hi pop, Ri. Alas, my Excel skills are rudimentary as teachers only need to use a few very basic formulas.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Well, Kurega, the key is is immediately inside the second set of ()s: RAND()
I was being facetious because the whole trade/economic system is such a Gordian knot in Traveller. GDPs, taxes, XBoat trade routes, etc. make randomizing the simplest method to assign those codes.

 

[robject]

or

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">=vlookup( int(rand()*13), a1:b13, 2 )</pre>[/QUOTE]Boy do I wish Excel used Perl...

 

[parmasson]

…such a Gordian knot in Traveller. GDPs, taxes, XBoat trade routes, etc. make randomizing the simplest method to assign those codes.

Ah ignorance,

I was wondering about that formula. I looked at it, looked again and could not for the life of me figure out how that was going to draw on the massive set of tables that I would need to even consider something like that.

I kept thinking NO, NO it can’t work!