Control Tower (Types A-E ports)

[Liam Devlin]

Going with the flow here..lets see what kind of table we can draw up for our 5 types of 'ports.

table 1: based only on size of port A-E with perhaps a modifier for the type of base present (because this is affected neither by atmoshere nor by tech level)--Mythmere

 

[Mythmere]

I'd say one table for control tower and beacon,
another table for ships in port

Type E is a beacon only
Type A might have:
Naval control tower handles system traffic
Starport Authority handles system traffic
Rival starports try to persuade traffic into their patterns
ships are required to use a tug or port captain (rare, but might make sense in hi-traffic systems)

other ideas?

 

[Mythmere]

Here's another idea - there might be a secondary "flavor" table at the end of each major table, like this:

Flavor Table
1 Controller has a sultry voice
2 Controller is very authoritarian
3 Controller changes flight plan several times
4 Controller forgets about the ship (endless orbit)
5 Controller has bad cold
6 Controller is instantly convinced the ship is a smuggler

 

[Liam Devlin]

Continuing Flavor table:
7.- Controller is a robot, always emphaticaly polite.
8.- Controller had a bad evening day before-grumpy.
9.-Controller on (Prozac)-so laid back its not normal...
10.- Controller a frenetic panicky type..

 

[Antares Administration]

Originally posted by Mythmere:
I'd say one table for control tower and beacon,
another table for ships in port

Type E is a beacon only
Type A might have:
Naval control tower handles system traffic
Starport Authority handles system traffic
Rival starports try to persuade traffic into their patterns
ships are required to use a tug or port captain (rare, but might make sense in hi-traffic systems)

other ideas?

Type A might have (consider separately):
Separate control authorities for transient/highport traffic and aerospace traffic.
Multiple landing priority systems, i.e. large liners and VIP yachts get 'Platinum' service, while Free Traders are held in parking orbits waiting for a slot to open.
Prohibit routine access to the downport by passenger ships/empty cargo vessels. The downport may just be too darn busy. That port would probably have a "taxi" shuttle service from orbit ("Park n' Ride"), and landing charges would be high.

Paul Nemeth
AA

 

[mad13142000]

Either the biggest/best starport in system is in charge of contacting new arrivals and then either landing them or handing them off to another starport for landing; OR the world's homeguard/system defense force is responsible for initial contact and then hands off to a random starport for landing....

-MADDog

 

[Mythmere]

On reflection, this part of the book might be more playable if it were called "Approach and Departure," and described not only the control tower but anything relevant to flying in and out of the port's airspace. Escort ships, for example. No-one really cares what the control tower looks like, but the personality of the controller, the approach vectors (if there is some crunch to them) and the escort ships would all add playability.

 

[Falkayn]

Good idea Mythmere!

Some ports might have Port Pilots who the union insists be the only ones to steer ships into port. Alternatively there might be compulsory tug services to avoid accidents when some twitchy Tukera pilot 'accidentally' rams their 100,000-ton cargo hauler into a competitor's 1,000-ton trader.

 

[Ran Targas]

Pilots may also be a "requirement" when there are things to avoid flying over/by such as military bases, mining operations, spacestations, or baronial estates.

I imagine flying your Fattie through the microwave beam from an orbiting power satellite might not be good for the paint job.

 

[Mythmere]

Ran Targas posts:
I imagine flying your Fattie through the microwave beam from an orbiting power satellite might not be good for the paint job.

Well put!

 

[Smiling DM]

Originally posted by Liam Devlin:
Continuing Flavor table:
7.- Controller is a robot, always emphaticaly polite.
8.- Controller had a bad evening day before-grumpy.
9.-Controller on (Prozac)-so laid back its not normal...
10.- Controller a frenetic panicky type..

And even more flavor:

11. - Controller is hopeless romantic, and hears the call of love in the PC's voice . . . but then again, he/she hears it in the voice of another ship coming into dock at the same time. Rivalry?

12. - Controller is desperate to get off-world, and begs for stories of the PC's life among the stars.

13. - Controller is incompetent and gives you a duplicate heading of a 1000-ton freight liner.

14. - Controller has medical emergency while crew is coming into orbit. Distraction in tower causes delays not only for PC's, but everyone else.

15. - Controller offers to hook PC's up with contraband materials/cargos/etc.

16. - Controller gets a kick-back from local corp by piping long boring commercials hawking said corps ware's to PC's in between actual control directions from the COntroller (so the PC's can't just turn it off).

17. - Controller is long lost buddy of member of the crew and inists on buying the first round after they dock.

18. - The Controller is good looking, competent, and for some odd reason interested in one of the PC's - love at first sight. (no hook here, just a small miracle)

19. - The Controller is a pathological liar.

20. - The Controller has a bitter rivalry with another Controller and places you on an aggressive approach to the port to try and 'up' his/her numbers.

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Port is built on low bidder equipment and both it's systems and 'dockers guild' are strectched to the limit, as you dock an impatient foreign diplomat demands clearance and get's accidently routed to your flight path, the pilot of the other ship panics and losses the wealthy powerful and vindictive diplomat a precious cargo. Leading to the Diplomat being most wroth with YOU as the port shuts down do to a dockers strike triggered by fatalities in that acci....

...It's been done?

oh sorry

 

[sandman]

- You get cought in the middle of a DockWorker`s strike.

- [...] SPA Locked-out the Dock workers.

- If not an SPA port, get cought in the port while the dockworker's instigate a full occupation of the port.

- [...] The port's authorities tries to clear the place

- [...] with armed goons

- [...] back-up with Military grade weapons

- Another Trader has crashed just before you began your landing procedure, long delay/re-routing before landing (maybe not in the same port)

- [...] Trader contained miscellaneous nasties
(Biohazards, Radioactive material, chemical reactant, solvent or otherwise very dangerous materials)

 

[mad13142000]

According to my trusty JTAS #22, there is an easy way to determine the number of ships and berths in a system.
POP code with a -DM (A=0, B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4)
ths gives the number of dice thrown on D6
with a further DM (A=+1, D&E=-1)
This number is the number of ships in port.
ie- Pop A, Class A = 10d6 +10
The Max number is the number of landing bays available. ie 70
Because worlds gain an additional starport for every 5 billion in population...
If the example has one A, then 2 B class ports. Each B would then be 9d6 ships with a max of 54 bays. Thus total # of ships in port would be up to 178 ships...
The number of bays could be reduced by a half to increase traffic density. Then you'd have to roll a 1d6 -1 to find # of days waiting in parking orbit (-1 DM for pop 9+) treating 0 as 2d6 hours wait...

Taken from- From Port to Jump-point by Leroy Guatney.

Just a thought...
-MADDog