CT Only: Duke of Collace.

[mike wightman]

So the FFW has ended, and in recognition of aid and loyalty during said conflict District 268 is "welcomed" into the Imperium.

You are the newly appointed duke of the Collace sub-sector, what are you going to plan for the next ten years development of your subsector?

 

[TamsinP]

Political and Diplomatic:
1. Arguing for Flammarion, Caladbolg, Gunn and Caliburn to be included in the Duchy
2. Arguing for Mertactor and Mille Falcs to be transferred from the Duchy of Glisten
3. Building good relations with the non-aligned worlds and client states in Five Sisters, Menorial, Egryn and Pax Rulin subsectors
4. Diffusing tensions in systems such as Trexalon which have long been against joining the 3I
3. Arguing for a suitably large allocation from the Imperial budget for necessary infrastructure improvements


Communications and Trade:
1. Arguing for X-boat routes to come into the subsector and for an expansion of Collace's Scout Base with the eventual goal of it becoming a Waystation
2. Encouraging trade with surrounding subsectors, including upgrading of starports (particularly that of Collace itself)
3. Facilitating the creation of shipyards at the new class A starports
4. Facilitating improvements to TL of various systems (well, laying the ground work for this)

Military and Security:
1. Arguing for a suitably strong IN presence in the subsector to discourage Ihatei incursions
2. Building a colonial fleet capable of dealing with raiders and smaller Ihatei incursions
3. Dealing with any anti-3I uprisings
4. Raising personal huscarle forces (GroPos and Naval) as is appropriate to their Ducal rank.

 

[Spinward Flow]

You are the newly appointed duke of the Collace sub-sector, what are you going to plan for the next ten years development of your subsector?

Consolidation and build out.

A big concern would be linking up the Express Network between Glisten and Five Sisters subsectors.

• Wonstar/Five Sisters
• Inchin/District 268 (would need to upgrade the starport from type D to type B and build a scout base)
• Tarsus/District 268
• Collace/District 268
• Mertactor/District 268

As for the "Trexalon Rivalry" problem, make it clear that as the Duke of Collace you are not going to make it a policy to "pressure" Trexalon into joining the 3I. If they want to remain independent, they can remain outside the 3I just fine.

Begin the process for "annexing" Tarsus, Judice, Motmos, Tarkine, Dallia, Elixabeth and Talchek into the Duchy of Collace (all client states).

Political and Diplomatic:
1. Arguing for Flammarion, Caladbolg, Gunn and Caliburn to be included in the Duchy

I'll disagree on Flammarion/Sword Worlds.
Flammarion is "too close" to Iderati/Five Sisters for it to make sense to transfer Flammarion to a Duchy of Collace.
3 parsecs to Iderati vs 9 parsecs to Collace.
No.

Transferring Caladbolg, Gunn and Caliburn in the Sword Worlds subsector into a Duchy of Collace ... doesn't really make sense though. The lines of communication are simply "too long" between Collace and Caladbolg, relative to other options.

Caladbolg is J3+4 on the Express Network from Iderati/Five Sisters.
Caladbolg is J4+3+3 on the Express Network from Lunion/Lunion.
Caladbolg is 11J1 from Collace on the Spinward Main, with no direct Express Network link between the two.
Therefore, the Caladbolg, Gunn and Caliburn segment of the Bowman Arm is better managed from either Iderati or Lunion.

Political and Diplomatic:
2. Arguing for Mertactor and Mille Falcs to be transferred from the Duchy of Glisten

Agreed.

Political and Diplomatic:
5. Arguing for a suitably large allocation from the Imperial budget for necessary infrastructure improvements

Communications and Trade:
3. Facilitating the creation of shipyards at the new class A starports

Getting Collace to upgrade to a type A starport and adding a IN base (which seems to be necessary for subsector capitals) would go a LONG WAY to cementing the necessary infrastructure for Collace to become quite the subsector capital. The kind of soft power that could be projected by Collace through a fleet of merchant ships built at their own shipyard would be considerable.

 

[TamsinP]

I did say "arguing for", not that they'd be successful. Flammarion currently falls under the "Duchy of Iderati"; although it's unclear whether the Duchy has any power given that the 3I territories in Five Sisters has been under Imperial Navy administration since about 800; the other three (the County of Caldbolg) are in the Duchy of Lunion.

If the Duchy of Iderati is formally given administrative power in Five Sisters in the wake of the 5FW, then Flammarion would certainly remain with them; if not, then it wouldn't be unreasonable for it to be reassigned to the new Duchy of Collace.

Arguing for the County of Caladbolg to be transferred to Collace is more likely to be a bargaining position - there's no way that the Duke of Lunion would willingly cede it and his cousin, Duchess Delphine of Mora would never agree to his duchy being diminished. However, agreeing to drop the request could be traded for other agreements.

Getting Collace to upgrade to a type A starport and adding a IN base (which seems to be necessary for subsector capitals) would go a LONG WAY to cementing the necessary infrastructure for Collace to become quite the subsector capital. The kind of soft power that could be projected by Collace through a fleet of merchant ships built at their own shipyard would be considerable.

I'd somehow missed that Collace doesn't have an IN base, and agree that it would be an essential addition to the capital, along with the starport upgrade. I'd expect other systems to gain IN bases to defend along the coreward and rimward borders; where they'd go would depend on which systems in the subsector actually join the 3I.

 

[Commander Truestar]

I'd suggest that Trexalon would be like "Ruie", because they are essentially a client state of the Sword Worlds at best, and the Zhodani at worst.
Mewey would cause issues, since they have settlements on Inchin (If I recall correctly)
Singer would also resist entry in the the 3I

And while Pavabid appears (per OTU data) to be courting entry, their government's work to cut off their entire population from off-world contact (not to mention near enslavement of said population) could be an issue.

There has been an on-going long-term research project to determine why colonies settled on Dawnworld all go sterile.
The Darrians, Sword Worlders and 3I have all "tried to" permanently settle the world and had to withdraw populations

And the Kuai Qing system would welcome entry but demand a significant presence of Imperial Navy defenses

 

[McPerth]

Inchin/District 268 (would need to upgrade the starport from type D to type B and build a scout base)

Why would it need to upgrade starport to B? Scout bases may be in D starports too.

In fact, according the tables on TTB page 84, D starports are the only ones without DMs agains having a scout base on them.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Why would it need to upgrade starport to B? Scout bases may be in D starports too.

Yes, but ... according to LBB3.77, p2 ... Jump Routes (which later became the Express Network on 3I maps) require starport type A or B on both ends (A-A, A-B or B-B) of a 4 parsec route link up.

Wonstar/Five Sisters is 4 parsecs from Inchin/District 268.
Therefore, in order to respect/honor precedent, Inchin would need to be upgraded to a type B starport (minimum) in order to make the connection to Wonstar.

One of those "just trying to be intellectually consistent" moments.

 

[McPerth]

Yes, but ... according to LBB3.77, p2 ... Jump Routes (which later became the Express Network on 3I maps) require starport type A or B on both ends (A-A, A-B or B-B) of a 4 parsec route link up.

And yet many systems with starport C are X-boat stops (e.b. Roup, SM 0207, in the Regina subsector), and, according Traveller Map there are also some stops in D rated starports (e.g. Teh or Suvfoto, Deneb 0208 and 0211 respectivelly).

According TTB and the LBB3 that appeared on the FFE compliation of Classic Books, systems with D starports, but they can have scout bases. And in this LBB3, when talking about Communication routes (page 6) there's no mention to starport classes...

 

[TamsinP]

I think it's because in the original 1977 edition, the table for generating the trade routes (which later became X-boat routes on the maps), it wasn't possible to have a J4 link to a class C starport, only to an A or B. So, for a connection between Wonstar and Ichin (J4) Ichin would have to be upgraded to a B to conform to the precedent and rules of the random route generator.

If you look at X-boat links to/from a C-class starport, you'll find that they are a maximum of 3 parsecs.

 

[McPerth]

If you look at X-boat links to/from a C-class starport, you'll find that they are a maximum of 3 parsecs.

Not always...

See in Travellermap that the x-boat line from Gulistan (C starmport, Deneb 0124) to Isurkun (A starport, Deneb 0524) is 4 parsecs long...

And the line from Dodds (SM 2739) to Bleack (Trojan Reach 2902) is also 4 parsecs long, and both systems have C starports (in fact, all 3 lines from Dodds go to C starports)

 

[TamsinP]

I suspect that those two were added manually - Dodds/Bleak to cross the border (although Farquahar would have made more sense, but perhaps they didn't want that system to have 4 links); Gulistan was probably chosen as it is on a flat horizontal line crossing the border between Mora and Isurkun, although Daumier would have been a better option - perhaps the presence of a Scout base at Gulistan is the reason it was chosen.

Quickly looking at some of the other links in Deneb sector there are some more links which must have been manually added, presumably to create links.

btw, I actually agree with you that there is no need to upgrade Ichin from C. I'd go further and suggest that all the X-boat routes in the 3I need to be reviewed, if only to correct the fact that 1 in 6 subsector capitals and 1 in 3 waystations are not actually on the X-boat route.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I think it's because in the original 1977 edition, the table for generating the trade routes (which later became X-boat routes on the maps), it wasn't possible to have a J4 link to a class C starport, only to an A or B. So, for a connection between Wonstar and Ichin (J4) Ichin would have to be upgraded to a B to conform to the precedent and rules of the random route generator.

If you look at X-boat links to/from a C-class starport, you'll find that they are a maximum of 3 parsecs.

This, basically.
In LBB3.77 (on p2), "jump routes" (which later became the Express Network in the OTU) had a maximum range contingent upon starport type.

• A = maximum 4 parsecs
• B = maximum 4 parsecs
• C = maximum 3 parsecs
• D = maximum 2 parsecs
• E = maximum 1 parsec

It'll make more sense if I just post the table here.

I suspect that those two were added manually

There's a LOT of "mistakes" going on with the Express Network routing, all across the sector maps. Lots of little failures to honor precedent (for reasons various and sundry).

Note that this kind of "roll 6 to connect J2s" is the reason why there's no "shortcut" link to spinward between Lanth/Lanth and Lunion/Lunion in the Spinward Marches. Similarly, why there is no direct link between Vilis/Vilis and Lanth/Lanth.

Oh, and according to this chart, Vilis/Vilis (type A starport) ought to be ON the Express Network linking through Garda-Vilis (type B starport) ... because roll 1+ on 1D to make a 1 parsec connection between A-B ... and yet, that's NOT what we see in LBB S3 or on Travellermap. Most likely cause would be human error, but it's an error that has been perpetuated for 40+ years now.

 

[McPerth]

Well, latter versions of LBB3 and TTB did not have this table, and jump routes must be made manually "as to make sense".

Nonetheless, there are many places where they don't.

As an example, Yori (SM 2110), in the Regina SUbsector, should be a way station, so that to go from Regina (SM 1910) to Inthe (SM 2410)you would need only 2 jumps, instead of the 11 you need with current configuration, that runs through Land and Rylanor...

And there are many more of such suboptimization, as Trin (SM 3235) to reach Zeng (Deneb 1339), that could be reached in 5 jumps, stopping only on A-B starports :Inkekush (Deneb 0233, already linked to Trin), Maricuting (Deneb 0534) or Preslin (Deneb 0633), Inquar (Deneb 0935), Dawn (Deneb 1335, already linked to Zeng). All the now not linked systems have starport B, and a base (IN in Maricutin and Prestling, IISS in Inquar).

And more strange is the case of Upuraku (Deneb 0335), as it has a IISS way station but no X-boat link...

From MT:IE, page 46 (I guess teh same as CT:IE):

Way Station: Link in the express boat network.

 

[mike wightman]

The point remains that this was the table used to build the original Spinward Marches x-boat routes, with some human dabbling.

I always thought the trade lane table should have been in the revised CT '81 version.

I agree with the various comments - thank you all who have joined in - that upgrading a couple of the starports should be a priority, along with convincing other worlds to join with Collace by offering incentives. Extending the xboat network to connect Five Sisters and at least one IN base should be prioritised.

Now how about encouraging industry, agriculture and population growth on worlds? Collace is part of a nice jump 1 main....

 

[Spinward Flow]

Now how about encouraging industry, agriculture and population growth on worlds? Collace is part of a nice jump 1 main....

All of those things would be a side effect of increasing (interstellar) trade activity in the region ... which requires a "fleet" of merchant starships ... which requires a type A starport. So if Collace upgrades to a type A starport @ TL=13, a LOT of those positive reinforcing knock on effects will start unfolding "naturally" in the following decades.

So really, upgrading Collace to a type A starport unlocks a LOT OF POTENTIAL in the region.

 

[whartung]

Well, latter versions of LBB3 and TTB did not have this table, and jump routes must be made manually "as to make sense".

Nonetheless, there are many places where they don't.

Yes but don't forget that underlying theme beneath all of Traveller's systems: "Making sense of things that don't."

 

[McPerth]

Yes but don't forget that underlying theme beneath all of Traveller's systems: "Making sense of things that don't."

Even those, having a way station where there's no X-boat line is as having a train station where there are no tracks. And if shown in the map, I guess it's active.

Sorry, but making sense to this is over my capacity...

See that way stations are not rolled for, and I've always seen them marked where there was X-boat line and no other base on the system, so I assumed that was where they are.

 

[TamsinP]

See that way stations are not rolled for, and I've always seen them marked where there was X-boat line and no other base on the system, so I assumed that was where they are.

It does depend on which sector you are looking at - as I noted above, 1 in 3 waystations aren't on the X-boat route. That could also be down to the definition of a waystation changing over time. Originally they were more of a supply depot for Imperial forces (army, navy and scouts) but over the space of a couple of years changed to become the IISS equivalent of a naval base. I suspect that the locations of waystations that aren't on the network was probably based using the earlier definition.

 

[McPerth]

Well, all definitions of the way stations I've read relate them to the X-boat service, so I don't see their meaning outside of it.

I don't doubt you numbers, and I've not looked at the whole Imperium in the Travellermap, but ITTR in the whole map of the Spinward Marches and Solomani Rim in times of CT all Way stations were along the X-Boat lines, Usually where no other base existed.

As the definition I quoted is from MT and the one below from TTB, this definiton lasted more than a couple of years. I cannot talk about other vesions, but I've never read any definition of them unrelated to the X-boat..

From TTB, page 156:

Way Station: Express boat repair and maintenance facility operated by the Scout Service. In some ways
equivalent to naval bases, way stations have a peacetime mission of refit and overhaul of express boats. In war, they serve as naval bases.

 

[mike wightman]

You've never read S:3 Spinward Marches?

lmperial Way Station. A base established for the repair, maintenance, and
overhaul of lmperial equipment. It may include provisions for Army troop
barracks, naval and scout ship overhauls, and intelligence operations.