Starship encounter tables: whaddya like?

[whartung]

So, where do encounters between ships in space take place?

At the starport.

Outside of intersystem traffic (which takes place is deep intersystem space, which is "big, really big"), or special situations, nobody has "time" for an encounter.

Ships are either burning to get to 100D as fast as possible, or burning to decel from 100D to dock at the planet. Any deviation from that plot is going to take HOURS to pull off, and, with 100D only 4 hrs away? "Forget it, we're not stopping."

So, the best time to encounter a ship, is at the starport, or when just leaving and the dV is low.

Otherwise a ship encounter is more like truckers with a CB radio.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Otherwise a ship encounter is more like truckers with a CB radio.

I would posit that "most of the time" you're not rendezvousing to dock, you're just chatting.

The 2 circumstances when you WILL need to dock with another craft are going to be "inspections" by system defense ... and piracy actions.

Another possibility is a mayday distress call ... but those are rare as "random encounters" and are often best left to The Professionals™ ... except in circumstances when your own craft can make the quickest rendezvous. Furthermore, even if you dock with another craft in response to a distress call, boarding that other craft won't always be necessary. Sometimes just an umbilical connection to power and life support can be enough for personnel trapped inside a craft in distress to shelter in place and survive long enough for The Professionals™ (such as system defense) to arrive and take control of the situation. It really just depends on how BAD™ the distress situation is.

 

[whartung]

The 2 circumstances when you WILL need to dock with another craft are going to be "inspections" by system defense

Barring terrorist cells exploding ships in dock, or erratic "we're not docking" style flight paths, those inspections may as well be at the starport -- both incoming and outgoing. Get to them before they leave.

I won't go into my opinion on piracy within 100D (or piracy at all), it would just get...tedious.

 

[Black Vulmea]

At the starport.

The inherent setting as described in all of the rules editions with which I'm personally familiar plus too many adventures, modules, supplements, and articles for me to count says that ships encounter one another in space.

The premise of this thread isn't to question whether or not that happens - again, the inherent setting unequivocally says it does - but what that looks like, in its many permutations.

Moving on.

After giving this a little thought, what I'm after is . . . more along the lines of ". . . and here are some ideas for WHAT'S GOING ON."

I finally figured out what I'm looking for: turning this . . .

Mutiny, hijacking, jump-space intrusion, disease, pilot suffering a fatal heart attack, primary buffer panel flying off, crazed passenger holding a hostage, livestock loose in the cargo bay, misfired missile now live in the launcher, orbital cargo transfer gone sideways, extreme space weather event, radiation leak, xenomorph hunting the crew, computer crash, contaminated provisions, just emerged from misjump, out of fuel, cabin fire, conducting research, searching for crewman lost during spacewalk . . .

. . . into a GDW 76 Patrons-like list of ship encounters.

As a basic framework for organization, I'm thinking about locale as a starting point: In Orbit, In Transit, and At the Jump Point. From there encounters can be further classified as Mainworld, Outworld, Asteroid Belt, Gas Giant, Between Worlds, or Oort Cloud, perhaps also taking into account starport type and bases in the system.

I have a list of encounter premises expanding on what I wrote above - basically wracked my brain for everything I could ever remember dropping on travellers in the various campaigns I ran since 1979 - and the next step is turning each one into an adventure seed with multiple potential hazards, secrets, objectives, and rewards, in the style of the different patrons books. The different premises present and play out differently based on where the encounter takes place.

Sounds pretty simple to do, right?

 

[Spinward Flow]

those inspections may as well be at the starport -- both incoming and outgoing. Get to them before they leave.

There is a fundamental FLAW in the presumption you're making.
That FLAW is ... where else could that traffic go?



For legitimate, law abiding parties, they're going to go to the starport ... where there's plenty of customs and inspections infrastructure in place to "handle the load" (depending on starport type, of course).

But what if a craft DOESN'T GO TO THE STARPORT for inspections and checks?
What if a (streamlined, 2G capable) starship decides to make a landing "outside the wire" of the downport jurisdiction territory ... thereby avoiding/evading ALL of the laws and institutions put in place to prevent the transfer of illegal goods to/from that world?

In any sort of "smuggling to evade local laws" circumstances, you need to have a customs and inspections system that isn't confined to the starport ONLY. You not only need a Coast COACC Guard, you also need a policing system that extends into orbit and beyond in order to establish a "continuity of manifests" dataset that then makes it possible to process quickly through the starport (or land elsewhere on planet away from the starport, without issues).

Note that even rights to wilderness refueling could be restricted and policed, meaning you can't just fly your starship out to any lake/ocean and siphon up as much water as you want to (for free!) on some worlds with low hydrographics percentages, where water resources are "too precious" to let starships simply "gulp and go" with no recompense to the world's inhabitants.



My point being that "intrusions of illegal activities" (such as smuggling) are best thought of in terms of a disease framework, in terms of response.

Having a "crust defense" can work if there is only a SINGLE point of contact with the "outside" ... such as when ALL interstellar traffic MUST be routed through a highport in orbit and NO interstellar traffic is permitted to land ANYWHERE on the surface, so ALL orbital transfers need to be made by locally produced (and inspected/authorized) orbital shuttle services. For this kind of setup, any kind of interstellar craft that attempts to make an unauthorized approach to the world for landing is immediately classified as hostile and will be attacked by local defense/policing forces (so don't even try).

However, if you've got a downport and a highport and there's lots of commercial interstellar traffic routinely landing on the world surface for wilderness refueling ... there's going to be PLENTY of opportunities for "illicit trading" outside the jurisdiction of the Starport Authority (SPA) that can enable the transfer of illegal goods and passengers in order to evade local laws (and the enforcement of them). Once the "points of contact" with interstellar commercial interests can no longer be confined to a single point of entry/exit, you're going to need what amounts to a "defense in depth" type of approach. There's going to need to be inspections both AT the starport(s) as well as a AWAY FROM the starport(s) to make sure that there isn't any smuggling of illegal goods going on. As soon as you get beyond a SINGLE point of contact with the "outside" ... you're going to need a "defense in depth" style of policing, with multiple layers, to ensure that local laws and prohibitions are being upheld.

Here's an example of how even a "routine wilderness refueling" type of maneuver could be used as a cover for a transfer of illegal goods by smugglers.

Guess what ... if a starship does a wilderness refueling maneuver before arriving at a downport for inspections of cargo/passengers and details of shipping manifests, this kind of "illicit exchange using vehicles" becomes extremely possible ... and thus something that local law enforcement would need to monitor (in order to prevent).

In the "small package trade" (smuggling of less than 1 ton of goods), a Speeder becomes something of an ideal option, since such anti-grav vehicles can make orbit in 1 hour. So rather than sending an entire starship down from orbit to a world surface for the transfer of smuggled illegal goods, you just send out a SMALL vehicle to slip through the sensor nets to make a fast run.

 

[Dragoner]

Mind that only a small percentage of cargo and vessels are checked in the real world. IMTU it's pay you fees, get your berth, if you cause problems, we'll take your ship. lol

 

[Spinward Flow]

Mind that only a small percentage of cargo and vessels are checked in the real world.

True ... but Law Levels are different on different worlds (as are Government types) ... and the starport type (A-X) almost certainly plays a role in how "well funded" the policing of interstellar commercial transport services are handled.

The "real world" makes for a decent example of a Government: 7 (balkanized) world system with respect to trading arrangements, but it shouldn't be used as a 1:1 expectations guide for interstellar commercial shipping. Useful starting point, sure ... comprehensive end point, not so much.

 

[whartung]

That FLAW is ... where else could that traffic go?

The point is that either way, they're likely not going to stop "in space".

If they're running for the 100D, they're just going to jump.

If they're running for the surface, then take them on the surface.

Or, you know, shoot them. Which is Bad. Especially in space.

Simply, it's "too hard" to stop, it's "too expensive". Stopping/docking/vector matching takes a long, long time.

So, for anything routine, as in not in the .00001% chance edge case of the bell curve, meet them in port.

 

[kilemall]

The point is that either way, they're likely not going to stop "in space".

If they're running for the 100D, they're just going to jump.

If they're running for the surface, then take them on the surface.

Or, you know, shoot them. Which is Bad. Especially in space.

Simply, it's "too hard" to stop, it's "too expensive". Stopping/docking/vector matching takes a long, long time.

So, for anything routine, as in not in the .00001% chance edge case of the bell curve, meet them in port.

My counter to that is small craft especially in the 4-6G range can match course more readily, to include flyby pickup of dumped cargo.

Probably the most likely scenario for the classic boarding/takeover is gas giant refueling. A very set hard to change vector and a huge jump shadow foreclosing quick getaways.

 

[Dragoner]

True ... but Law Levels are different on different worlds (as are Government types) ... and the starport type (A-X) almost certainly plays a role in how "well funded" the policing of interstellar commercial transport services are handled.

The "real world" makes for a decent example of a Government: 7 (balkanized) world system with respect to trading arrangements, but it shouldn't be used as a 1:1 expectations guide for interstellar commercial shipping. Useful starting point, sure ... comprehensive end point, not so much.

It is about flow of commerce more than law level.

 

[Black Vulmea]

There is a fundamental FLAW in the presumption you're making.

There's more than one.

But what if a craft DOESN'T GO TO THE STARPORT for inspections and checks?
What if a (streamlined, 2G capable) starship decides to make a landing "outside the wire" of the downport jurisdiction territory ... thereby avoiding/evading ALL of the laws and institutions put in place to prevent the transfer of illegal goods to/from that world?

IMTU traffic patterns in space are predictable, as noted above. At the Jump Point and In Orbit are the two most likely points of inspection - relative velocity is close to zero at both. Because 100D arrival and departure "boxes" are well-known and understood - frex, 1G maneuver starships arrive near THIS point in space in order to arrive at the mainworld expeditiously - it's a trivial matter to station a patrol cruiser or a corvette at that point, to rendezvous with arriving traffic before they develop high ∆v - a "long tail" in the spacer slang of MTU - en route to the starport and without disrupting time to orbital insertion.

And inspections occur for reasons beyond smuggling. Frex, Ag worlds are paranoid about invasive species; Hi worlds are concerned about infectious diseases. If systems can afford to intercept AWAY from the planet in these instances, that makes way more sense than waiting until the potential problem is already on the ground.

Note that even rights to wilderness refueling could be restricted and policed, meaning you can't just fly your starship out to any lake/ocean and siphon up as much water as you want to (for free!) on some worlds with low hydrographics percentages, where water resources are "too precious" to let starships simply "gulp and go" with no recompense to the world's inhabitants.

So I'm NOT the only person who considers this!

 

[Spinward Flow]

IMTU traffic patterns in space are predictable, as noted above. At the Jump Point and In Orbit are the two most likely points of inspection - relative velocity is close to zero at both.

Here's an added wrinkle to consider.

LBB5.80, p17 mentions that it is standard procedure to spend 16 hours on routine drive checks and maintenance post jump.

Because of the delicacy of jump drives, most ships perform maintenance operations on their drives after every jump. It is possible for a ship to make another jump almost immediately (within an hour) after returning to normal space, but standard procedures call for at least a 16 hour wait to allow cursory drive checks and some recharging. Most commercial vessels spend a week between jumps, using the time to maneuver to a world, land, unload cargo and load new cargo, and maneuver away from the world for the next jump.

What this cursory explanation fails to mention is WHEN those cursory drive checks "need" to happen.

• Do they "need" to happen IMMEDIATELY after breakout? Meaning you aren't going to be applying any ∆v maneuver acceleration for the first 16 hours post-breakout from jump ... in which case, an intercept by system defense patrols for inspections of shipping manifests post-breakout starts making a LOT of sense!
• Can they happen "at any time" during the "week of time" between jumps while the starship is parked? Such as say ... berthed at the starport or during wilderness refueling and purification while the starship is floating on an ocean/lake? If so, maneuver acceleration post-breakout is going to be the first order of business, so attempting intercepts of starships that are already maneuvering post-breakout doesn't make as much sense.

I rarely see "duties checklists" around routine jump operations that include this 16 hour wait to allow cursory drive checks and some recharging, post breakout from jump.

Which then brings up an intriguing option for orbital mechanics/interstellar navigation.

Just because you're supposed to be zero-G acceleration post-breakout from jump doesn't necessarily mean you need to be zero velocity relative to the planetary orbit capture intercept plot you'd want to be on after breakout. In other words, rather than being "zero zero zero" relative to your destination both before jump and after breakout from jump ... you could instead have picked an exit course before jump that would put your craft on a heading which would bring your starship "near" your destination ~16 hours post-breakout from jump on an inertial zero-G acceleration but "useful" velocity vector. Therefore ... you can "idle" your drives at zero-G for 16 hours while following an inertial trajectory from breakout to "near" orbit while the 16 hours of routine post-jump checks are being done by your engineering crew on your starship's drives.

Once your "in flight drive checks" are completed, you are free and clear to power on your maneuver drives and ... oh hey look, you're most of the way from the jump shadow to the starport already ... fancy that.

The downside of that kind of "time saving" maneuver (zero-G for 16 hours while inbound from the jump shadow) is that it makes your starship relatively easy to intercept by other craft (system defense and/or pirate), so there are pros and cons in the Trust But Verify direction.



Conversely, if starships routinely "power down" to allow for 16 hours of routine drive checks post-jump and aren't maneuvering (zero-G acceleration) ... their jump flashes will be a known quantity, but the vector of their course post-breakout isn't necessarily going to always be in the same direction. So over the span of 16 hours, a starship that is NOT maneuvering could potentially drift "somewhat far" on inertial momentum from their breakout point ... meaning that if you're a system defense boat (or a pirate ) and you see a jump flash "nearby enough to be interested" in the new arrival, you may need to maneuver towards where the jump flash WAS and then initiate a search pattern to find the starship that produced that jump flash (so you can maneuver to intercept it).



The "next level" of obfuscation for all of these assumptions is that 1G is "extremely common" for commercial merchant traffic.
But what about "fast traders" capable of 2G (or more)?

The obvious conclusion is that starships with "more maneuvering power" are going to be harder to intercept (I mean, go figure, eh? ). Taken to extremes, you wind up with "blockade runners" that have extreme maneuvering power and are therefore "increasingly difficult to intercept" ... except by force (and possibly not even then, depending on the design of the craft both sides are using).



I'll easily agree that post-breakout is going to be "one of the better opportunities" for intercepts by system defense (and/or pirates ), but depending on how the "standard operating procedures" around jump operations work in YTU, it ought to be possible to "bias" the vulnerability to intercepts (either legitimate or not) post-breakout AND while maneuvering outbound beyond a jump shadow using maneuver acceleration as a DM to the random encounters table.

For example, pirates are "less likely to try their luck" against a starship capable of higher acceleration than they are against starships with lower acceleration ... simply as a rule of thumb.

Starships capable of higher acceleration are going to use a "wider array of potential approach vectors" between near world orbits and jump shadow limits. That higher maneuvering power makes it possible to choose "less than optimal" vectors in order to make unwanted rendezvous even less likely. "Going the wrong way" because you've got an excess of maneuvering capacity makes it a lot easier to avoid ambushes (and harder to predict your actual intended course to set up an intercept opportunity during flight).

 

[Starglim]

Cepheus Engine has some, and I adapted them to Kosmic

FTL Nomad encounters look good. I'm going through in more detail.

 

[Dragoner]

FTL Nomad encounters look good. I'm going through in more detail.

Nice, I added more in Motor Cycos, and now other in Knife Party, which is a more space war type module: fight pirates, explore alien ruins, get the greatest treasure of all, or at least a real one. The deck plan I posted the other day is from that.

 

[Black Vulmea]

LBB5.80, p17 mentions that it is standard procedure to spend 16 hours on routine drive checks and maintenance post jump.

What this cursory explanation fails to mention is WHEN those cursory drive checks "need" to happen.

I read that passage as specific to jump drives, so if a ship is going to jump-and-jump, without a port call, that's the "manufacturer's guidelines for safe operation" - ignore at your peril, may void your warranty, that sort of thing - but a ship can jump again in about an hour, as noted and as needed.

There's a mental illness, translation anxiety disorder (TAD aka "greyspace blues"), which is associated with jump-and-jump IMTU. It's treated with anti-anxiety meds. Without treatment, in severe cases a spacer may refuse to jump - crew members have preferred being marooned over translating - and if forced into greyspace may experience anything from catatonia to a psychotic break.

IMTU most merchants do their diagnostics and maintenance in port, with the ship's power plant in standby mode and electricity provided by shoreline - SPA likes to minimize the number of ticking fusion bombs on their pads at any given moment.