How Much of the UWP do you Know by Heart?

[robject]

POP QUIZ! Take a moment and, from memory, jot down each part of the UWP, to as much detail as you can possibly recall.

Start with each place of the UWP, and what it stands for, where the dash goes, and so on. Also recall where the OTHER dash used to be (for bonus points).

Next, identify the valid range(s) for each code.

Finally, identify the meanings of each of those codes, as far as you can.

In the spirit of all masochistic teachers worldwide, do not refer to anything for help, and be strict.

Give yourself a check mark for each bit you correctly identify. And post your score, if you want to brag one way or the other.


I scored a 12. Governments still elude me, as do the specifics of Law Level, and the upper Atmospheric codes, and of course TL 16+.

 

[mike wightman]

World size in miles or km...

 

[atpollard]

I score 7.
... and I still hate the UWPs.
[Like it would have killed them to write a short paragraph in case the data wanted to be used by people instead of computer programs.]

[EDIT: Score increased to 10 ... I guessed the order of the Social elements correctly, so I'll take credit for luck.]

 

[robject]

World size in miles or km...

Any units as long as they're correct. In stadion, if you're a time-traveller from ancient Greece or Rome (and the length of a stade of course will depend on where you come from in the ancient world) :coffeegulp:

Code  Stades
----  ------
1      8,600
2     17,200
3     25,800
4     34,400

... and so on ...

 

[mike wightman]

We have been arguing about the exact meaning of some of the government codes for years...

 

[mike wightman]

Any units as long as they're correct. In fathoms per fortnight (FpF) if that's what you need to know them in :coffeegulp:

They were miles in '77 edition, changed to km for every edition after that - do I get a bonus point

 

[McPerth]

Maybe I lose points by asking this, but what do you mean with old UWP structure?

Has it changed?

 

[robject]

They were miles in '77 edition, changed to km for every edition after that - do I get a bonus point

Use your own judgement.

 

[robject]

Maybe I lose points by asking this, but what do you mean with old UWP structure?

:rofl: I love it! MINUS ONE POINT! LOOKS LIKE MEAT'S BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS!

No, no punishment really.

In the ooooooold days the format was slightly different. Marc changed it sometime after the first editions. I think the writers were fully changed over to it in 1980 (the first year of JTAS has both formats).

 

[robject]

I score 7.
... and I still hate the UWPs.
[Like it would have killed them to write a short paragraph in case the data wanted to be used by people instead of computer programs.]

[EDIT: Score increased to 10 ... I guessed the order of the Social elements correctly, so I'll take credit for luck.]

As we all can attest, guessing is a valid tactic in pop quizzes.

However, looking at your answers (and comparing to mine) is enlightening: complex codes are generally a bad idea. This is not a striking revelation -- or shouldn't be. Human brains aren't built for this type of data density. This is further validated with the relative impenetrability of the USP (something I could never get the hang of, and I've programmed computers for 20 years).

 

[maksimsmelchak]

complex codes are generally a bad idea. This is not a striking revelation -- or shouldn't be. Human brains aren't built for this type of data density.

This is further validated with the relative impenetrability of the USP (something I could never get the hang of, and I've programmed computers for 20 years).

Right on. High data density = bad.

See how many Traveller has:
External Link: [http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Universal_Codes ]

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[aramis]

POP QUIZ! Take a moment and, from memory, jot down each part of the UWP, to as much detail as you can possibly recall.

Spoiler:

Identity block:
World name, hex location (in XXYY format)

Main block:
*-SAHPGL-T B
* Starport,
S Size
A Atmosphere
H Hydrographics
P Population exponent
G Government code
L Law Code
T Tech Level
B Bases

Starport
A= Full starship yard, refined fuel, TAS, banking, +4 broker, High Port
B= Repair yard, Boat Construction Yard, Refined fuel, Banking, TAS, +3 broker, High port likely
C= Limited repair, Fuel, TAS, +2 broker, May have a high port
D= No repairs, hangarage potentially available, has a chandlery for LS/food/fuel. +1 broker
E= No broker, but customers and a beacon. May have mail service in the form of a parked type S. Essentially, a designated spot where people expect interstellar commerce
X= Nothing at all.
G= Same as B, but not the main port in system

Size= 1000 miles (1600 km) diameter per point

Atm
0- none
1 Trace ≤0.01 bar
2,3 Very thin (≤0.25 bar)
4-5 Thin (0.25-0.75 bar)
6-7 Standard (0.75 to 1.25 bar)
8-9 Dense (≥1.25 bar, but still breathable)
A unbreathable but not otherwise hazardous
B hazardous and unbreathable. protection required
C corrosive - defeats vacc suits and battle dress in 2d6 hours.
D-G various funky stuff, that varies by edition.
I forget which are tainted.

Hydro: 10% per number, total ±5%

Pop 10^pop people

Gov't
0 None
1 corp
2
3
4
5
6 owned
7
8
9
A-F various forms of dictatorships

LL
0 Nothing
1 No CBR
2 No tanks
3 No man-portable energy weapons, no SMGs
4 no concealed weapons
5 no longarms
6 no sidearms
7 no large blades
8 no blades outside the house
9 no weapons
A+ increasing levels of paranoia
E - about the level of the novel "Lacey and his friends"

TL
0 - wood and leather
1 - Stone, bone
2 - Roman Empire
3 - medieval
4 - 1800's
5 - turn of the 20th C
6 WW II, first computers capable of jump calculations can be built... but first jump drives not doable, so this is the "we found a drive and can make it go" tech level.
7 'Nam era (late 1960's early 1970's) Gravitic Maneuver Drive can be built. Ship's turret missiles.
8 Supposedly 1990's; in practice, looking to be the 2020's. First gravitics supposed to appear. Fusion.
9 Jump Drive J1, practical gravitics, ship's turret lasers
A artificial gravity and inertial compensation; extended 3G+ trips possible
B J2, practical battle dress, man portable plasma guns
C J3, repulsors, practical clones, ground vehicles starting to be replaces with cheap gravitics.
D J4, tractors, meson spinals and bays, limb regrowth
E J5, first experimental AIs
F J6, computers still fail the turing test most of the time. 50T Bay Meson Guns practical

Bases
N Naval
S Scout
W Scout Way Station
D Naval Depot
A Scout and Naval
R Research station
M Military base

Trade Codes
As Asteroid
Ag Agricultural
Ba Barren (no locals)
Hi High Pop (≥8)
IC Ice capped
In Industrial
Lo Low pop (≤4
NA Non Agricultural
NI Non Industrial
Tp Terra-Prime (near duplicate of Earth)
Va Vacuum (Atm 0-1)

TPPG Star block: Travel zone|Population|Planetoids|Gas Giants|star system
T travel zone
empty or -: green
A = Amber
R = Red

population multiplier. Multiply the above pop by this digit to get pop to one significant digit.

Planetoids - number of non-mainworld asteroid/planetoid belts
Gas Giants - number of gas giants (in T5, it's possible for one GG to actually be coded as the mainworld, if so, it would be number of non-mainworld GG's. Note that a GG mainworld would be a referee fiat situation.

Star Primary and companions in standard format C# Size or DC
OBAFGKM broad color/temperature band
one number - 0 is hotter, 9 is colder, within band. O9 is one step warmer than B0, for example.
Size category 0, Ia, Ib, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII/D_
0 Hypergiant
Ia, Ib Supergiants
II Large giants
III, IV Giants
V dwarfs
VI subdwarfs
VII stellar cores (aka white dwarfs)

D_ notation - white dwarves on their own color scale. EG DG would be a "Type G white dwarf"

Someone else grade me... I think I'm between 10 and 12.

 

[Hyphen]

Right on. High data density = bad.

See how many Traveller has:
External Link: [http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Universal_Codes ]

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

It's just a bunch of reference data.

Or in modern terms, filters or dimensions. ;-)

My bread & butter, which is probably why I don't mind the UWP. But for business users, you must always be able to supply them with the decodes. ;-)

 

[Nathan Brazil]

14 - I still get Government Codes messed up as well. Sort of sucks because of how much I play around with UWP, you would think I know them all by heard. Also good thing you did not put in the T5 extensions. Still don't have HASS memorized.