The galaxy may swarm with billions of wandering planets

[abomination]

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/b...may-swarm-with-billions-of-wandering-planets/

The galaxy may swarm with billions of wandering planets A new result from astronomers who have spent years peering toward the center of the Milky Way has led to a startling conclusion: there may be billions of Jupiter-sized planets wandering the space between the stars, unbound by the gravity of a parent sun. In fact, there may be nearly twice as many of these free floating planets as there are stars themselves in our galaxy, and they may even outnumber planets orbiting stars!

The study, published in Nature, is the result of the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA) project. Instead of looking for tell-tale blips of light near stars, or the effect of planets on their parent stars, microlensing looks for the effect of the planet on background stars that are far more distant than the planet itself.

 

[navanod]

Cool stuff. If gas giants are that common (2x as many as stars?), suddenly those empty hexes on ye olde Traveller map more than likely have a fuel source there, and are perfectly accessible with a jump-1 drive. Admittedly a simplification, but still interesting. Makes the jump mains potentially more useful if you have two of them separated by two parsecs with a rogue connecting them.

 

[aramis]

Which means, perhaps, some of those worlds in the maps are really just the worlds...

life on an interstellar world is likely to be rather strange, tho...

• no eyes,
• chemosynthetic, or IR-photosynthesis, or both.
• translucent skin
• limited pigment
• echolocation

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Another slot in the misjump table.

Rogue gas gaints....

 

[Straha]

Pirate nests. You could jump to and from a rogue world to bypass watched civilized routes.

Same goes for brown dwarfs, which are supposed to outnumber stars either 8:1 or 10:1.

 

[gammamutant]

If a rouge gas giant put off enough IR or even a strong enough magnetic field like Jupiter it could serve as an energy source for life. In fact the tidal forces on one of its moons could create enough heat for liquid water like Europa. A larger GG would produce more heat, more tidal force, and more magnetism.

 

[HG_B]

This utterly changes the problem(s) associated with rifts in the OTU.

 

[aramis]

If a rouge gas giant put off enough IR or even a strong enough magnetic field like Jupiter it could serve as an energy source for life. In fact the tidal forces on one of its moons could create enough heat for liquid water like Europa. A larger GG would produce more heat, more tidal force, and more magnetism.

True, but at that point, one is still into the realm of "It's life, but not as we know it." Blind, and using non-photosynthetic sources of initial chemical energy deposition. IR Photosynthesis is less likely, but at least chemically doable, but tidal-thermal is quite able to generate heat, and vulcanism, and vulcanism to chemosynthetic organisms. From there, it's normal food chain.

Then again, a 0.2 m wire in on Europa should generate a couple milliwatts... so electro could work, but it's just not one that seems likely to arise naturally.

 

[Peter Newman]

life on an interstellar world is likely to be rather strange, tho...

• no eyes,

• 
  
  But gas giants do give off heat. I could see life that evolved on the moon of an rogue gas giant having heat sensing organs like a snakes. Those could evolve to become eyes. The giant will be brighter in the infra red than the earths moon is in the visible spectrum, and there are plenty of earth animals that see fine at night. The ability to sense things at a distance is such a powerful ability for an animal to have that it seems as if some rogue gas giant moon animals would have IR sight.

 

[samuelvss]

I am excited, like a native from a TL0 world having just found a TLF bit technology, knowing that is is "magic," may change my world, but having so stinking idea what to do with it!!

Here's the question: So-expletivedeleted-What for YOUR TU???

If these are going to be inserted into MTU, I would have to reverse-engineer the technology/physical reality so they do not change EVERYTHING.

So, some thoughts for putting these IMTU.

So the question is, why are these not on the "roadmaps?" The answer is that they are not used commonly, and are either secret, inconvenient, or perilous for use without special skills, equipment and knowledge.

I find analogies helpful for my little mind: One can drive across the U.S. using a roadmap. There are caves, bordellos, secret government installations and white water routes that do not appear on these maps, or in standard GPS data sets. These can be found, at various levels of detail and financial cost or government access, but finding them is not enough: there are various risks associated with them.

So this is my vision for these rogues:

All these (rougue brown dwarfs and GG's) would, quite probably be X starports. This would be a HUGE task for the IISS to survey, and such surveys would likely be classified for strategic reasons.

If we can assume that the presence of a large mass (larger than a GG or even a Brown Dwarf) is advantagious for a accurate jump termination, then we get a reason even those that may be known are not used: if you jump in, you are more likely to have a "terminal misjump," technically not a misjump as we think it: the same roll is made as for a misjump, but with the following modifiers: into a space without a mapped star -5, -1 number of parsecs of jump, - number of asteroid belts in target rogue system, using an IISS- or IN- quality survey +2, using a black market survey +1 [only one survey modifier is possible], +(level of Navigation-Astrogation/4)[rounding down], +(level of computer/8)[rounding down]. One roll is made for misjump, but two results are calculated: the "normal" misjump, and the "terminal" misjump. A normal misjump occurence would obviously trump the need for a terminal misjump. The modifiers for a terminal include both the conventional ones, and those in this paragraph; if the results indicate no normal misjump, but a terminal misjump, then the results of the terminal misjump are calculated the same as a normal misjump, except that the distance of any misjump is converted to AU's instead of hexes. (1 AU = about 1.5 x 10^8 km). The terminal misjump is only possible/relevant if jumping into "black space."

Within the Imperium, the IISS is tasked with survey of the "black spaces." Surveys are classified, and any bodies therein are designated as red zones by the TAS and interdicted by the Imperium. As of 1105, the Zhodani Consulate, Sworld Worlds, and Darrian Confederation all have similar approaches. The approaches of the the Vargr appear obscure, shifting, and inconsistent, but some Corsair emergency bases are apparently located within 1 hex of border worlds; roll 11+ on 2D6.

The chance of a surveyed rogue system existing is the same as that an original system, but is rolled seperately from other systems. The presence of GG's is likewise the same, except that if 2 or more GG's are rolled there will be no brown dwarf, but just a single GG.

Black market surveys are available for a given hex at 10+, +(Streetwise/2); a roll of 4- indicates an imperial investigation/sting has occured, by the IISS, INI, or some other imperial intelligence service. Possession of a survey carries a normal sentence of life.

Starship encounters at rogues are rolled on the normal tables for an X starport, except that any encounters with other than naval/IISS ships, are rerolled: only the same result rolled twice in a row is counted commercial ships. For pirates, the roll is repeated not once, but thrice, and any match with the first roll counts.

Well, that's my whack at it.

The meaning is that routine jumps into "the black" at systems are not conducted, but it is possible, and the black is treated by most starfarers as the mariners of the middle ages treated the parts of their charts announcing "Here be Dragons," and for good reason.

 

[HG_B]

If these are going to be inserted into MTU, I would have to reverse-engineer the technology/physical reality so they do not change EVERYTHING.

This doesn't change technology or physical reality. At least not in the OTU...

 

[gammamutant]

If sensors could detect a rouge GG from far enough away (like with a 2 parsec sensor) Perhaps some of the mapped systems have no true star but are instead moons circling a GG

 

[far-trader]

If sensors could detect a rouge GG from far enough away (like with a 2 parsec sensor) Perhaps some of the mapped systems have no true star but are instead moons circling a GG

Not officially. From the beginning Traveller has begun system generation with the premise that you start with a star. Generally the first roll for a hex is to see if there is a star or not. If not, the hex is empty, move on to the next.

EDIT: Addendum

As for the crowded darkness between stars, most of that will still be empty. Even if every empty hex has several wandering planets the odds are still against any of them being at an optimal distance to make jumping through the empty hex useful. Most empty hexes will still be for all practical purposes an uncrossable gulf for J1 ships. And they won't be much more useful for higher jump ships. Some few hexes might have the golden wandering planet in just the right area to make the empty hex useful as a refueling point. I'd think these would have been long ago discovered and while kept secret as long as possible would almost certainly by now be common navigation knowledge.

 

[aramis]

If we can assume that the presence of a large mass (larger than a GG or even a Brown Dwarf) is advantagious for a accurate jump termination,

That's a mighty contentious assumption. Entire flame wars over it, even.

Only one rule set shows any clear requirement for such a mass (GTIW).
One offhand "historical" reference, and two board games, produce a support for it, but several canonical adventures show it to be no change to rules to jump to an empty hex in deep space.

Further, the implications in one of MWM's articles are that a gravity well actually makes exit more dangerous, tho' said article provides no mechanical adjustments.

 

[HG_B]

Even if every empty hex has several wandering planets the odds are still against any of them being at an optimal distance to make jumping through the empty hex useful.

Same exact odds as a star system in a hex.

 

[samuelvss]

several canonical adventures show it to be no change to rules to jump to an empty hex in deep space.

Well, that's how I'd always played it, as well. However, what I proposed was simply being an average of 18 AU's off, IFF you didn't have the requisiste combination of survey, computer, and uber-navigation/astrogational skills. If I jump into the black, and jump back out, this will be transparent; it's only if I'm jumping into the black to a precise point that the navigation becomes harder. THIS is what would make the things not show up on the road maps: they're too risky for the average bear to use.

I'm open for other ways to make it work with the OTU, though. What's your plan?

 

[aramis]

Well, that's how I'd always played it, as well. However, what I proposed was simply being an average of 18 AU's off, IFF you didn't have the requisiste combination of survey, computer, and uber-navigation/astrogational skills. If I jump into the black, and jump back out, this will be transparent; it's only if I'm jumping into the black to a precise point that the navigation becomes harder. THIS is what would make the things not show up on the road maps: they're too risky for the average bear to use.

I'm open for other ways to make it work with the OTU, though. What's your plan?

There's no canonical penalty for aiming for a calibration point, either. (A Calibration point being a deep space tanker.) All you have to do is know where you're going, and you'll be within a few thousand KM (not AU, KM) per parsec jumped. The error on jump in location is often less than the motion of a planetary target in the same jump's temporal variance (±16:42 H:M).

In short, there's no good extant canon reason why they don't show up in the OTU; the only logical reason is that they don't exist in significant numbers in the OTU's universe. Which, since it has only one human species on earth for the last 170K years or so, clearly isn't OUR universe. (unless, of course, there's a 100KY fallback in tech at some point down the road, but then there are issues with the Pyramids...)

 

[kafka47]

Come on is only me, who read this article and immediately thought Grandfather playing billiards with AGRA intelligences? Rogue planets have long been a staple of my Traveller game (legacy of watching Space 1999 as a kid with captured attention) now that they have evidence is all the better. It could also be the malign influence of Goroth...but surely these could be more than just collabouration points but be supply caches - forward bases - pirate havens - Imperial Research Stations safely testing captured mini black holes and FTJ tech...

 

[McPerth]

If sensors could detect a rouge GG from far enough away (like with a 2 parsec sensor)

But when rules say sensors can detect them up to 2 parsecs away, they're talking (IMHO) about GG orbiting a star. THere you have sevral advantages to locate them: you know where to look for, gravitational disturbances in th star's EM emmisions, etc...

Looking for them on the void, without those advantages may be quite more difficult, ans so, sensor range may be quite less.

Same exact odds as a star system in a hex.

Probably, if you have it equally well surveyed and know its exact position, as uses to be when talking about star systems...

BTW, as this is a Traveller forum, please forgive me for talking about another game, but I guess in 2300 AD this would have more influence, as they provide places for shutterwarp discharge and you can find them more easily, as you move (or pseudomove) through the normal space. 'Skipper, our warp has dropped to 0.001 G performance, and we're not near any star... what in the hell is here?'...

 

[HG_B]

Probably, if you have it equally well surveyed and know its exact position, as uses to be when talking about star systems...

Actually, the odds are identical regardless of whether surveyed or not. This isn't a Schröders cat situation where observation changes the result...