the Port Net and Information in YTU

[Gadrin]

How do you handle handing out information in your games with regards to starports ?

Are lists of ships in port generally available to your public at large ?

I've gone with "Port Net" that ships with laser comms can tie in and find out general info such as a listing of ships, their pad or bay # and possibly even who their captain is. Megacorps or other wealthy travellers may or may not choose to display information.

Just curious how you guys handle it.

 

[chshrkt]

I have basically the same idea as you. You can hit the web and see what ships are arriving, leaving, or docked in a particular port, See this link.

Mostly I give the players general information when they ask for it, and if they want something more specific, I ask them to see if they can find that info on the Intarweb for say, the Port of Los Angeles, then go from there.

 

[deadlock]

Greetings and salutations,

The information provided by my "Port.Net" is provided by the starport facility.

It will provide a starship's name, arrival and/or departure time, next destination (starliners and free traders seeking passengers), and bay. For military and megacorporate ships, and ships of the very wealthy, the ship has to be contacted for detailed information.

Your ship transponder will relay pertinent information to the "Port.Net" and proper authorities on patrol.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Imperial ports will supply a basic information system together with the basic hookup (Water/Power/Air) that is supplied with the berth, delivering data on:

+ Arrivals/Departures
+ General port warnings and conditons
+ Whatever the local brokers/shiping agents post
+ Listing of companies on port (Yellow pages)
+ Useabel as a comm-net on port
+ Personal Hiring board
+ Some BBS system capabilities
The net is availabel to docked ships and to everyone with an office/bureaux/business on the port grounds.

Wether or not the system extends past the port depends on the planet and it's society. Assuming the tech exists, the port is likely willing to publish data/connect to local nets unless the locals have a tendency to attack the port net.

+ If the planet is an open/pro Imperial society the system will likely be linked to the planetary networks, maybe as a voice-only, maybe as a full-data net (tech dependend)

+ On more closed societies the locals might restrict access

+ On "no robots" style planets, the contact to the outside world might require a message transfer to paper/callers/pinboards due to local disinterest/rejection of computer BBS

 

[kafka47]

Yes, these things might be there but usually at a cost. Whilst the Imperium allows the worlds to decide, berthing costs would only include arrival & departure information and flight plan filing system. All other information is a commodity and it is up to the individual world to make it a public good or something that you have to pay/subscribe to. Naturally, I being a generious Referee, state there are exceptions. Low level data can be found through libraries and other freenets.

 

[epicenter00]

A ship that comes into a highport automatically speaks to the port-net via the SDB transponders it carries. Transponders of this sort cannot be turned off, that's part of the security of the transponder - at least on civilian ships. Military ships can shut theirs off. Anything you can glean off of the ID transponder is free game on the port-net. The name of the ship, the world of registry, the kind of ship, and the name of the captain and any kind of Point-Of-Contact liaison would be freely available. Bribes, contacts, hacking, and official business would also establish crew manifests, the date of the last overhaul, the shipyard of manufacture, and any notable record would become available.

Merchants and others would be required to declare why they're at the starport and how long they're renting the berth for. Ships are also required to declare where they plan to go next, though its with the understanding that might change. Optionally, they may also pay the starport an additional fee to list cargoes they are selling, cargoes they are hoping to pick up, and passengers they hope to pick up.

Military ships tend to have slips that can be sequestered. The slip the starship is contained in would have a thin fabric-type enclosure put around it which would make it proof from snooping eyes and most sensors. Most importantly, it also stops transponder signals from getting in or out. This allows civilian ships (with civilian transponders) on official TI business some privacy from getting snooped. Such services are requisitioned from the starport once bonafides are declared.

More importantly for my players, it's possible for anyone to rent spaces that can be sequestered. If there's no military or official TI ships requesting sequestration (and even official ships often don't) anyone can request it. Provided they're not wanted by Imperial law for anything they'll give you privacy - for an additional fee. This is how nobles who don't want to be known often travel the Imperium. Mind you, if official ships show up seeking sequestration and there's not enough slips available, such ships will be bumped out, which is an embarrassing situation for everyone.

When a ship is sequestered, it would require bribes, contacts, hacking, or official business to get any information about the ship which the captain doesn't slate for release.

 

[Vargas]

I would think that starport BBS would be a very big thing since all sorts of unofficial information, (rumors, gossip, 'the insde track'), would also be travelling at the speed of Jump, carried by ship crews.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

There's four categories of information:

The general port information (what ships are docked, where, origin, filed destination, rates for docking/water/waste/air/maintenance/etc.) would be freely available on approach, and the (minimal) cost would be covered by docking fees. Everyone could get this anytime.

The merchant boards would be accessible for a small fee (and might be included in the docking fees) - who has what cargoes for sale, who's looking for cargo, destinations beyond next jump, etc.

The "internet" would be a potpourri of information - true or not - for a small access fee.

Information brought aboard various ships. This would be a commodity, and would be for sale to those who wanted it - for the right price. (I have to give credit to Cherryh's Chanur books for this.) If information travels at the speed of jump, then information on current (as of a week ago) conditions - market needs, pricing, goods available, traffic, political info, etc. - at your last location become quite valuable. Of course, if 30 ships left just before you did, that commodity becomes much less valuable....

There is a fifth category that you have all mentioned, but it isn't really "available" as such....

 

[Jame]

Strikes me as any C or better port will have a "port.net" site regardless of what TL of planet it's on, even if the local government doesn't have the tech for it - the "port.net" would be imported with the rest of the stuff.

A D-class port might have it but it's not as likely, and an E port wouldn't have much of anything beyond a laser/radio comm, a beacon and maybe an email for the port personnel.

 

[aramis]

Most D ports are liekly to have a computer BBS tied to the "port master's" computer. Sure the port sucks, but haivng the terminal for the viral distribution of TASNF or SMART is probably worth it for the locals.

At least one E-Port IMTU has a SMART link, not so much for the ships, but because the local Baron wants the news, and paid for it, cash. (He was a PC.)

 

[Gadrin]

World 567-908 from the Safari Ship Adventure... (sorry for the quality, mine was a blurry PDF)

E532000 0 Poor...

The Starpon Tn s norlo's rlarpon r merely s markea Dawn of oeclrocr mdr,eo
on fie na>lCdf,"" ct>ar,< I % "CdlPll "I> ln"PllLdl"r ""1 1.1 from I"? e.ster0 Snore
of the sea. This region has patches of exposed bedrock, and one such patch has
been designated the starpart There are no factlltles, no personnel, and no buildings
or services. A nearby river is a source of unrefined fuel.
The starport beacon is an unobtrusive installation, the antenna extends a few
meters above the ground, while the beacon transmitter IS located below ground
I" a sealed vault. At the antenna base 4s a handoet lwhlch lnterfacer to the beacon)
and an electronic starport log.

The log is simply an automated recording of stsrport landings. act#vit#esn. otable events,
and other basic data about starport activity, Informatton 1s entered manually at the beacon lteelf (such data entry is voluntary and lo
used like a fllght plan for reECue purposes).

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Oh, dude, you really have to retype it when it's that bad....

 

[Gadrin]

only if you want to preserve the status quo -- dude

 

[tinker123]

Gadrin Down, this is free trader Heorot; say again please?

What do you think Jim, is it safe to land?

I have so got to use that as a transcript of a garbled communication on my next session. I can already see the party arguing about whether to land, or take a couple of extra orbits just scanning for trouble.

 

[Gadrin]

Gadrin Down, this is free trader Heorot; say again please?

What do you think Jim, is it safe to land?

I have so got to use that as a transcript of a garbled communication on my next session. I can already see the party arguing about whether to land, or take a couple of extra orbits just scanning for trouble.

yup, that's the trouble with those "Class E PDFs"

 

[mbrinkhues]

That's actually the message from a Class E starport beacon a few weeks after Dullinor liberated a certain superweapon.

Soon you all wish you had invested in a good anti-virus package.

 

[Icosahedron]

Gadrin Down, this is free trader Heorot; say again please?

What do you think Jim, is it safe to land?

ROFLMAO!

(How do you get the icons that don't show up below the reply form, guys? I've seen you use at least smirk and eek, but I can't find 'em.)

 

[Gadrin]

(How do you get the icons that don't show up below the reply form, guys? I've seen you use at least smirk and eek, but I can't find 'em.)

edit your profile and you'll see smiley's on the right hand console of the REPLY edit box.

 

[Darkhstarr]

On most of my starports information is pretty restricted-shadier ports even more so. There is of course information posted for commercial arrivals & takeoffs; cargo ships for hire; & passenger ships, their destinations, open capacity & fares; as well as posting for help wanted. Private, coporate, & military would be very restricted. In my campaigns, a starport is one of the best places for corsairs to steal a ship. In the group I started playing Traveller with the most bandied about plot idea( if we could find a newbie to pull it on) was all players except the newbie were pirates; & and that said pirates were had just acquired or was in the process of acquiring a new ship from their present owners. And see how long it took the newbie to catch on.

 

[Jame]

Most D ports are liekly to have a computer BBS tied to the "port master's" computer. Sure the port sucks, but haivng the terminal for the viral distribution of TASNF or SMART is probably worth it for the locals.

At least one E-Port IMTU has a SMART link, not so much for the ships, but because the local Baron wants the news, and paid for it, cash. (He was a PC.)

Now, that's kinda been adopted - on any E port that's more than a beacon and a deliberately-cleared space (I've adopted the Class I Port Module from GT Modular Cutter), there'd be a SMART system for the ships, but other than that there'd be the beacon/commo and nothing else.

An X port would be just a cleared space, whether deliberately cleared or not.