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General Starport placement on planetary maps

gchuck

gchuck

SOC-12
Knight
During my use of 'Traveller Worlds', I've noticed that most of the starports seem to be in the polar zones of the planets.

I have been under the impression that equatorial zones are more economical for launches/lift offs, and recoveries.

Is this a quirk, or is there a reason polar zones seem to be predominant?

I can't seem to find OnjoTheRed in the member search function, and I keep getting 'msg undelivered' from em when using the address on the contact page of 'TW' website.

Just curious.

chuck
 
coliver988 said:
and with grav drives, really makes no difference where you launch from.
Click to expand...
Perhaps so. Then they'll be within convenient range of ground transport to settlements, whose distribution probably depends most on surface temperatures and biological resources if any, varying by planet.
 
I believe Traveller Worlds uses the T5 system, which should be placing the starport into a random world hex. There is nothing in that system to bias to a polar hex. There is a small bias to be dead center in the middle of a world triangle. "Pents" will never be selected. Within the world hex (1000km), there are 3 terrain hexes that will never be selected. Within the terrain (100km) hex, the starport is placed in a White Numbered Hex (10km), with two cities adjacent, also in a White Numbered Hex. Within the local hex, a white single hex (1km) is starport and a black single hex is city.

Placing does not have to be done randomly - the GM can choose if wanted, but I wouldn't expect a computer program to be making that choice.

As I look at this, it is interesting we are guaranteed to get some City terrain (essentially 3 adjacent local hexes) regardless of population - I feel like this is an oversight in the system. Cities don't have defined populations, so maybe that's OK, but for a low population world you would need some extra interpretation.

World Builders Handbook/Grand Survey probably did a slightly better job of handling starports, with each city getting some level of starport or spaceport.
 
Hard to say.

An old one could be equatorial, to assist take off of old rocket powered spacecraft.

Originally desert, if they wanted lots of (cheap) real estate, but has since developed.

Could be chosen for political reasons, or economic, being the least distance of major population centres and industrialized areas.
 
On a vacuum/0,1 world the polar regions might have the bonus of available water. On more habitable worlds, polar regions might have less problematic life.
 
I realize that it's kinda up to the GM where these are placed, but, the majority of the map 'generation' using 'TW' that I've done, seems to put starports in arctic zones, even on temperate worlds with much milder climates in the equatorial zones.Phlange 1008 Godrippe.png
(the most recent example)
This is what I got from 'TW' generation, and I went with it.

chuck
 
That’s not arctic although it’s close. It could be in Denmark/Southern Sweden, etc. Perfectly reasonable for a settlement (especially if there is something else about that location) but all triangles should have an equal chance in a generator)
 
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