Best Subsector / Dates for New Campaign?

[Stan Shinn]

I'm about to start a Classic Traveller game in a few days, and I have not had time to read up on Original Traveller Universe history. Can someone suggest the best subsector / sates for new campaign with the following setup?

The setup: There is a newly colonized planet or asteroid belt in a system that is on the edge of Zhodani space. During some war between the Zhodani and the Imperium, this colony is invaded by the Zhodani. Some years pass, and the Zhodani withdraw and give the system (and, maybe the whole subsector) back to the Imperium.

I want to have the refugees who fled the Zhodani end up in the Regina subsector of the Spinward Marches. They then put together a large ship which journeys across the Spinward Marches (sort of Battlestar Galactica style) en route to their old homeworld. The campaign will end as they recolonize the system but also encounter their old Zhodani enemies which they have to deal with.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance

 

[robject]

For a world that's been traded between the Zhodani and Imperium, pick a world in the Jewell, Cronor, or Vilis subsectors:

http://travellermap.com/?x=-99.977&y=68.25&scale=32

Vilis subsector might be a good choice, if you are interested in pulling the players more or less naturally into Double Adventure 2 and Adventure 7 -- they lie on a more or less reasonable path from Regina to your target world.

Have their colony ship be a gigantic Jump-1 vessel, which to be on the safe side would therefore travel the spinward jump-1 main. From time to time the players can take a forward scouting ship for various adventures, and at other times they can take one of the mercenary cruisers hired as escorts as they get entangled in other problems along the way.

 

[Stan Shinn]

Great advice! Perfect. Thanks so much

 

[robject]

(1) Distance. Assume the colony ship is going from Wochiers (2207) to Stave (0710). That's 30 parsecs; 30 jumps in a Jump-1 vessel, not counting detours... and I'll just assume the ship is going to detour slightly and visit Regina, adding a couple more weeks. Call it 40 jumps. With a week in system and a week in jump, that's 80 weeks, not including unintended extended stays.


(2) Volume. How big a colony ship?

Back-of-the-envelope calculations: Say we've got, oh, a million people frozen in low berths. Colonists. And let's say we put them in "Colony Low Berths" -- say they're 1 ton and hold four people. That's 250,000 tons for payload alone. Figure another 200,000 tons for cargo. Add in enough shuttles to move 2.5% of the population per trip... call it 200 shuttles at 95 tons each... so hangar space will be 40,000 tons.

Payload Total: oh, call it 500,000 tons.

Engines: Jump-1 takes 2.5% volume, plus 10% volume for fuel. Maneuver-1 takes 1% volume, and Power-1 takes 1.5% volume plus another 1% for fuel.

Bridge: 2% volume.

Defenses: 1% volume.

Crew: call it 1% volume, which includes common space, life support, and staterooms.

Support Total: 20% volume.

Total Volume = Payload / ( 1 - Support )
= 500,000 / ( 1 - 0.2 )
= 500,000 / 0.8
= 625,000 tons

Call it 700,000 tons. Big but doable.
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[rancke]

Have their colony ship be a gigantic Jump-1 vessel, which to be on the safe side would therefore travel the spinward jump-1 main. From time to time the players can take a forward scouting ship for various adventures, and at other times they can take one of the mercenary cruisers hired as escorts as they get entangled in other problems along the way.

Where did the colonists get a gigantic jump-1 people transport when the Zhodani attacked? Judging from Earth history, refugees would be a small subset of the population, people rich enough to pay for passage (at inflated prices) on passing passenger liners. Or a group rich enough to rent a ship if they had sufficient advance notice of the invasion.


Hans

 

[rancke]

Call it 700,000 tons. Big but doable.

And how much would such a ship cost? Who pays for it?


Hans

 

[aramis]

And how much would such a ship cost? Who pays for it?


Hans

The hull alone is MCr56,000 as a saucer.

___MCr_ ___Td___
_56,000 700,000 Hull, Flattened Sphere (inherently streamlined) Code W6
_56,000 _14,000 JDrive J1
_42,000 _14,000 Fusion P1
_21,000 _14,000 Maneuver M1
______0 140,000 JFuel 2J1
______0 __7,000 PFuel, 4wk
_____55 ______7 Model 6 computer (minimum for hulls code R-X)
____720 __5,760 1440 Staterooms
======= ======= ============================
175,775 505,233 Subtotal
======= ======= ============================


Crew 2870 (1440 SR, DO.)
Cmd: 350
Eng: 420
Svc: 2100 (3x700)
We can go for either about 125,000 staterooms, or 1,000,000 low berths.

Live 250,000 double occupancy mids or 500,000 steerage
======= ======= ============================
175,775 505,233 Subtotal
======= ======= ============================
_62,500 500,000 125000 SR
______0 __5,233 cargo
======= ======= ============================
238,275 ______0 Total
======= ======= ============================

1 million popsicles.
======= ======= ============================
175,775 505,233 Subtotal
======= ======= ============================
_50,000 500,000 1000000 LB
______0 __5,233 cargo
======= ======= ============================
225,775 ______0 Total
======= ======= ============================

Design is TL12 due to computer need, TL 13 to reduce the PP.
So, roughly, GCr200 if multiples built at once.

 

[rancke]

So, roughly, GCr200 if multiples built at once.

So Cr200,000 per refugee, give or take. Interstellar transportation is expensive. So who paid for it? And who had one for sale at the critical moment?

If the planetary government taxed the whole population Cr2000 apiece, they would be able to afford a ship to transport 1% of the population.


Hans

 

[LeperColony]

Perhaps it was some sort of doomsday ark.

 

[Dagrill]

For a world that's been traded between the Zhodani and Imperium, pick a world in the Jewell, Cronor, or Vilis subsectors.

Whilst good choices aren't they a little close to Regina? Perhaps somewhere in
Foreven would be better?

Regards

David

 

[mike wightman]

If you go with the colonists originally colonising the asteroid belt of a system you have your ark ship right there.

They take their largest asteroid habitat and install a jump drive.

As the travel they upgrade the asteroid ship with a manoeuvre drive and use fusion tunnelling to add manufacturing areas for sub craft, hangers, yet further upgrades to the manoeuvre drive, extra fusion power plants etc.

You could actually make it so the players decide on how they will upgrade the ark ship as they journey.

 

[Stan Shinn]

Great responses! (Sorry for the delay, was a tough week at work).

I was thinking of adapting this space station:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byfss6V1QlrLaGxyUEt5MTVqS2M/edit

As a space transport. Maybe the rich owners of the station went bankrupt and the Imperial fund subsidizing the colony efforts took this station and fitted it with a Jump 1 drive. Could you fit a Jump 1 drive to such a ship, or does the ship have to be more 'aerodynamic'? The asteroid idea on the earlier thread is also intriguing.

Regarding financing of the ship, I figure it's subsidized by some sort of Imperium fund. It's sort of like the Jews getting Israel after WWII -- the international community recognized their injustice and subsidized the repatriotization of their old homeworld after the Zhodani war (this particular planet was brutalized egregiously).

Anyway, regarding ship size, I'm thinking something along the size of Babylon 5 (which had 250,000 inhabitants, without accounting for low berths). Is there any sort of graphics or official stats for such a thing? Maybe the graphic I list above would suffice? Robert Eagleton had put together some nice stats I may use.

 

[Stan Shinn]

Also, wanted to let you know the general setup I'm aiming for here:

1) A cross-sector colony mega-ship (think Babylon 5 with a Jump drive) means you get a large 'home base' that travels with you. TPK? No problem; new crew from same home base appears and takes up the adventure.
2) A large home base can also mean you have enemies that travel with you. Like Battlestar Galactica, some of the worst enemies are in your midst. No matter what star system you're in, the enemies are in your home base.
3) The cross-sector pilgrimage means you can have a 'planet of the week' adventure format and do everything from exploring new worlds to mercenary jobs.

Anyway, love any feedback anyone has on this approach

 

[rancke]

Regarding financing of the ship, I figure it's subsidized by some sort of Imperium fund. It's sort of like the Jews getting Israel after WWII -- the international community recognized their injustice and subsidized the repatriotization of their old homeworld after the Zhodani war (this particular planet was brutalized egregiously).

I see that I misread the original post. I thought the refugees had fled from the advancing Zhodani in the same ship they are now using to return. I see now that the way they escaped is not specified. If the refugees were the elite 1% of the population they could have paid for starship passage, I suppose.

The interstellar charity is an interesting touch. Assuming a good PR campaign that could work. Perhaps through cowdfunding.

So you want a world with 25 million inhabitants or thereabouts, invaded by the Zhodani and abandoned by them again as part of a peace settlement. I suggest Caloran. It has 50 million inhabitants, so your 250,000 refugees would represent half a percent of the population, the part of the upper crust that had both the wherewithal to get out from under and the lack of intestinal fortitude to stick around. (It's interesting to contemplate how the stay-at-homes will welcome them when they get back).

It may be too close to Regina for your purposes, but I can't find any other suitable world in the Spinward Marches that fits the requirements. I suppose you could always go into Foreven Sector.

The problem I still see is that actually giving the refugees a ship of their own is by far the most expensive option. It would be cheaper (less than half the cost) to give each refugee a dozen mid passages. Another option would be to hire a transport ship and ferry the refugees home, perhaps in several trips.


Hans

 

[Stan Shinn]

Good points on the economics and alternatives which are less expensive / more realistic.

Ideally though I'd find some narrative excuse to get some sort of cool ship like this:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byfss6V1QlrLaGxyUEt5MTVqS2M/edit

Where the PCs can have lot's of drama on the ship. Along the lines of:

Battlestar Galactica
Babylon 5
Star Trek Voyager
etc.

And where the ship is an iconic part of the campaign.

Anyway, any advice on crafting such a storyline within the bounds of the Traveller / Imperium setting would be greatly appreciated ;-)

 

[Quint]

For some other spin on things, perhaps the ship and colonists end up in Regina after a misjump that not only sent them across space but across time as well? Have them be from the 2nd or 3rd Frontier War -which will help you and the players lack of familiarity with the OTU.

D.

 

[Stan Shinn]

Quint -- interesting idea! I love the creativity

 

[Kilgs]

Good points on the economics and alternatives which are less expensive / more realistic.

Ideally though I'd find some narrative excuse to get some sort of cool ship like this:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byfss6V1QlrLaGxyUEt5MTVqS2M/edit

And where the ship is an iconic part of the campaign.

Anyway, any advice on crafting such a storyline within the bounds of the Traveller / Imperium setting would be greatly appreciated ;-)

You might want to get your hands on the Lighthouse supplement for Alternity. It has floorplans for a very similar traveling station. The station is the epicenter of civilization in the fringes of civilized space.

 

[aramis]

Anyway, regarding ship size, I'm thinking something along the size of Babylon 5 (which had 250,000 inhabitants, without accounting for low berths). Is there any sort of graphics or official stats for such a thing? Maybe the graphic I list above would suffice? Robert Eagleton had put together some nice stats I may use.

250,000 people is roughly 1,000,000 Td of quarters.
Long term LS is about 50 to 100 Td per person (and 50-200 Tons metric) (via T4). Which would push up the Td to 51 to 101 million.
It requires a lot of power plant and fuel.

 

[robject]

@Stan: there's no problem putting a Jump-1 drive on any shape of starship. Streamlining is not a requirement.

250,000 people is roughly 1,000,000 Td of quarters.
Long term LS is about 50 to 100 Td per person (and 50-200 Tons metric) (via T4). Which would push up the Td to 51 to 101 million.
It requires a lot of power plant and fuel.

To expand on that, you'll want to take an ice-asteroid in tow with you for fuel. Or else have some handwaved power source as a maguffin.