Startown

[Zparkz]

In Traveller literature the mention of startown is rather frequent. However I wonder what is startown as in WBH all cities generated got their own starport or spaceport.

So, is startown just a small city connected to the various starports on a planet where employees of the starport lives, thus a part of the extradition zone of the starport? Or just a generic term for the city that the starport belongs to?

How do you define it YTU?

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

IMTU "startown" is indeed a section attached to the starport, but not included in the extradition zone.
You will never find a more "wretched hive of scum and villiany"

Guess, thats just the classical view of Startown and I think thats the typical view in most Traveller stuff, too.

Just as described in one of my favorite supplements: "Startown liberty"...

Regards,

TE

 

[Golan2072]

(By the way, the two MegaTraveller computer games had one starport per world, located in a "startown")

I view most worlds as having a single big starport each; high-pop worlds, and/or balkanized (Gov 7) worlds, might have several spaceports, but more than one starport is rare (and, again, it happens in most cases on Gov 7 worlds). IMTU (the Solar Triumvirate), most worlds are quite newly-settled (in the last 100-200 years), and rarely had the time or money to build more than one starport, and if time or money were available, in most cases it went into improving the original starport rather than building additional ones. In the OTU, as I see it, the starport plays a political role as an extraterritorial outpost of the Imperium on that world, and as a conduit of interstellar commerce; As the Imperium (and most Traveller products) see each world as one "location", I hardly see them building more than one starport. Again, local governments may build their own, but Imperial starports get big Imperial subsidies... Which keeps them in an advantage over the local ones.

Thus, the startown is the urban growth around the starport, and is usually composed of many warehouses, of entertainment establishment aimed at offworlders, of markets, of Imperial facilities, of residential areas for starport employees, and, ofcourse, of shantytowns or slumsinhabitated by various locals who seek their fame and fortune in temp jobs at the Starport.

 

[ravells]

Thus, the startown is the urban growth around the starport, and is usually composed of many warehouses, of entertainment establishment aimed at offworlders, of markets, of Imperial facilities, of residential areas for starport employees, and, ofcourse, of shantytowns or slumsinhabitated by various locals who seek their fame and fortune in temp jobs at the Starport.

Sounds like one or two airports I know! Which is why I imagine Starport towns in the same way, with the exception of Hounslow (the 'Starport Town' to London Heathrow), which is utterly souless (apologies to anyone who lives there).

Ravs

Ravs

Ravs

 

[kafka47]

Startowns could also be viewed just the suburban edge between the main city of the homeworld and the Starport proper. It belongs to really neither entity but policed jointly. Local laws may be relaxed and Imperial Authorities turn the other way, as the interface between commerce and capital are exchanged (as long as no High Crimes are being violated). The model for this is some of the Port Cities in the Caribbean whereby tourists are given tremendous latitude and the people who work in the shops and services may not even be citizens of the country but have bought temporary citizenship by becoming institutional investors bringing in the labour from off-world.

Conversely, it could be a trading settlement, just a place where exchanges (labour/capital/commodity) of all sorts are set up to manage the needs of starcrews replete with facilities to house them (warehouses, taverns, boarding houses, etc.)

Or just the urban corridor between the main city and the starport. Kinda like what Toronto airport is...as there is no real boundary between the city and the airport that exists, in say, most European cities.

 

[Plankowner]

You might also want to compare the Startown to the wharf area around a major sea port. There are warehouses and bars and hotels and bars and strip clubs and bars and offices and bars.

The Starport is the Imperial Spaceport, with the extraterritoriality mentioned in the books. The Imperium doesn't want to get involved in the internal politics on Balkanized worlds. As part of their admittance to to the Imperium, ONE spaceport was designated as THE Starport, and off they went.

While spaceports will also have a startown, it will be more for in-system traffic (if it exists).

In these areas around large airports and seaports, the rules are "relaxed" a bit due to the large amount of money flowing into the local economy. Even high law level governments might be willing to look the other way about certain things because of the extra cash.

I figure getting involved in a bar fight in Startown will cost you a fine. Getting involved in a bar fight anywhere else on the planet might get you some jail time and a fine.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

Using Plankowner's analogy, a generic startown might be populated on a 2D roll for each building. Option: DM is LAW-5, or whatever the Referee decides.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">2D: Building:
12 Roll on "Normal" table.
11 Church, Temple, house of worship.
10 Courthouse or Police Station.
9 Mission or Soup Kitchen.
8 Free Health Clinic.
7 Bar, Night Club, Pub, or Tavern.
6 Tattoo Parlour.
5 Strip Joint or Brothel.
4 Pawn Shop or Warehouse.
3 Flop House.
2 Drug Den.</pre>[/QUOTE]</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">2D: Normal Building:
12 Roll twice for same building.
11 Bank or Currency Exchange.
10 Jeweler or Medical Offices.
9 Library or Bookstore.
8 Restaurant or Market, Open Air.
7 Private Residence.
6 Restaurant or Market, Indoor.
5 Appliance Dealership.
4 Firearms Dealer.
3 Bail Bonds, Lawyer, or Justice-O-Peace.
2 Used Vehicle Dealership.</pre>[/QUOTE]Comments?

 

[Icosahedron]

I like the options. Not too sure about some of the table positions, though.
On Table 1 there won't be many normal buildings if you have to roll 12 to get one.
On table 2 I think used vehicle dealers should be more common than bail bondsmen or firearms dealers.
This could be the start of a good Startown Design Sequence.

 

[ravells]

Nice table, although I think you would need far more variety if you are talking over 30 buildings (which I would guess in the majority of Startowns you would be). With more data it's the sort of thing a spreadsheet could generate given some variables: e.g. Starport type, planet population, law level etc.

Great start though.

Ravs

 

[mbrinkhues]

I'd basically go with Plankowners description.

+ Unless the world has no import taxes, the imperial StarPort will have a large amount of warehouses on it's proper. These are used as temporary storage for cargo that switches ships. This is similar to IRL freeports and a major benefit for imperial Starports attracting lot's of traffic and thereby handling fees, fitting out services etc. Some freeports IRL actually are fenced of and guarded.

+ Unless the world is the equivalent of early Ayatolla Chomeinie Iran the Startown won't be part of the freeport. This makes it easier for the locals to go to work and reduces the "Imperial Footprint" on the world. IRL some Startowns where quite some distance from the harbour (i.e Hamburg before the port shifted), depending on how much the locals likes the district and how close the harbour was to the town. I.e I imagine that Piräus had all the Startown that Athens owned.

+ IMTU there is StarPort per system but there can be multiple spaceports, say on a moon, in the belt, on a daughter colonie (Think Earth-Mars). I treat the other spaceports in the system like IRL river harbours. Living close to Duisburg with it's Rhein harbour I can assure you that there is a small red-light district close by the harbour. And before the city spread, there was little housing in that area.

Same with the Channel-Crossing I grew up near. Back in the times of tugs the barges (and the tugs) had layover time there. Guess what the biggest building around used to house - right, the henhouse. Again, quite a bit away from the next city (you'd have to cross the channel). Funny that one mayor had a footbridge build right there...