Okay, so a couple of months have gone by.....and I own a seemingly random collection of Traveller related stuff...and I still feel not much closer to figuring out what I want. I currently have:
GURPS Basic Character & Campaign set
GURPS Starships
GURPS Far Trader
GURPS Modular Cutter
GURPS First In
GURPS Interstellar Wars
Traveller TNE
World Tamers Handbook
Pocket Empires
LBB Canon on CD
I've kind of come to the conclusion that I must be stupid (or I'm not willing to apply myself sufficiently) because most of the GURPS basic set simply leaves me cold - the character generation system seems very complicated to me (I like the idea but the actual actualite seems very drawn out), and the idea that some fisticuffs could take an entire session to play out seems both ridiculous and a huge incentive to avoid trouble.
However there are parts of Far Trader that I could definately see myself looting for ideas, and I loved the Modular Cutter book (although I have major doubts that the Hydroponic Module could feed 400 people, and I thought the fusion plant in a different plane to to the other modules was ...odd).
GURPS Starships didn't set me on fire either - I think I preferred the old fashioned LBB methodology, to be honest. First In I liked a lot - but I think in order to get the best out of it you need to junk the rest of the OTU in order to find some really unexplored areas (and I'd definately want a spreadsheet to build worlds).
Interstellar Wars I bought because so many people said it was the bee's knees as far as source books were concerned ....and I was just unconvinced - a super book, very well presented, a great history of the beginnings of the Imperium - but it didn't strike me as a great background for gaming. Frankly, it was too different to use a lot of other official product with it, and at the same time not different enough from the 3rd Imperium in feel to grab me (and anyway my take on a long drawn out series of wars would be that the effects would be similar to Hard Times so it just didn't feel believable).
Traveller TNE I bought because I knew Twilight 2000 and was curious - but for some reason while it's "fun" and "cool" to play a game helping to rebuild a post-apocalyptic Earth (or a small part at least) at the end of the 20th Century I just don't see it as fun doing the same in outer space. Perhaps my imagination is poor but I can see it as a succession of adventures going off to find a widget, or attempting to subvert a TED kind of game - which doesn't appeal to me.
World Tamer Handbook I bought because I've been doing a lot of reading over the past year or two about the early colonisation of America and Australia, and as Traveller is essentially a game of the "age of sail" I could slot some ideas right in to the Traveller universe. But it seems both high level and somewhat limited in scope (it seems to assume a colony is going to be agricultural and on a Terran type world - which fits the premise of the milieu).
However I want to initially plan the colony in detail (ie - equipment, cost, lift capacity needed to bring in equipment, colonists and supplies) and I wanted it to be somewhere marginal (my thinking was prisoners mining "something", the ore being processed in a refinery manned mostly by professionals, and food and other basic needs for both prisoners and professionals provided by "indentured servants"). Ships would bring more prisoners / servants / professionals and carry out the refined product. It also needs to be 6-12 parsecs from substantial civilisation for the isolated from anything feel.
I also have some adventure ideas (again prompted by English 17th / 18th Century history) for back at the source planet, based upon the colony project.
I've looked at the contents page of Fire, Fusion & Steel and it looks like I can source powerplants from that - can it help me with any other details for my building plans? Essentially, while I'm happy to use some Handwavium to put together my plan, I don't want someone to be able to easily tear holes in my overall design (which obviously I'd like to be consistent overall with the Traveller universe).
Does anyone have any ideas for where I can go for this kind of thing? My mental image is of the colony being largely underground and constructed in a kind of cut and cover manner (rather like some road tunnels are today).
