CT Only: LBB:0 Hidden Setting

[kilemall]

On the SOC point, if you are going to economic status and class behavior, might I suggest a read of my SOC postings in the IMTU forum?


Short answer, SOC is a basic roll for loans/business deals, roll SOC or lower for getting loans/investment with modifiers for amount/circumstance and appropriate skill.

SOC is also a basic roll for doing street/shady deals, have to roll SOC or higher to get a street deal done with circumstance and Streetwise skill.

Finally, negative adjustments occur with reactions between disparate SOC, with natural 2 or 12 making permanent enemies or fast friends despite class differences, and in situations such as military service or corporate business dealings most switch to their 'professional persona' at SOC 8 to smooth over rough points. Such skills as Liaison or Leader should help with reactions.

 

[mike wightman]

This is possible, but I am leaning in favor of aramis' implied point that Federation worlds are voluntary members.

If they all volunteer then why does the federation fight wars to absorb border states?

I like rob's idea of conflict between federation states out on the border.

 

[robject]

If they all volunteer then why does the federation fight wars to absorb border states?

I like rob's idea of conflict between federation states out on the border.

And I like Boomslang's big pictures because he writes interesting stuff. So I'm glad we're all discussing this.

1. It's a jungle out beyond the Federation.
2. In the Federation, war is used to bring pressure on non-member states.
3. Federation membership means others are watching your back while you expand your territory.
4. How does the Federation discourage war between its members?

 

[kilemall]

If they all volunteer then why does the federation fight wars to absorb border states?

I like rob's idea of conflict between federation states out on the border.

It occurs to me that the Federation might fight wars because they opportunistically 'redefine' what volunteer might mean. Could be a minority that asks for membership and the Federation takes that as a valid request, even though most of the system is not onboard, forcing a fight to suppress 'malcontents'.


Or it could be like the US getting Panama, a grab for real estate that is given a veneer of respectability.


On the conflict out on the border, perhaps the Federation is looser then the name implies. Without getting into the politics (please!), a RL example could be NATO and Greece/Turkey- nominally both were in the same treaty yet fought over Cyprus.

 

[Brandon C]

Sounds like the Federation is operating a mafia protection racket on an interstellar scale ...

 

[boomslang]

Worlds of the Cretaemus Subsector: 0308 Savsan, an Amber Zone

(Number whatever in an ongoing series of exercises in upholding the longstanding Traveller tradition of necessarily retconning procedurally-generated random results into something plausible as a setting.)

The two TAS-identified Amber Zone worlds in the Cretaemus Subsector present specific dangers to Travellers, for similar and different reasons.

Savsan (Cretaemus 0308 E43367A-3 | Trade: Po Na Ni A | PBG: 513 | NA) is a poor world, with few resources planetside and modest belt wealth it is in no position to exploit. Indeed, the combination of a Balkanized political system on the ground that is fraught with internecine conflicts and a collapsing manufacturing tech level that is no longer able to reliably provide life support to the dwindling population make Savvy not only poor, but an actively dying world.

Among the populace, the vicious rivalry for the scant, and often salvaged and/or stolen, resources needed to maintain life in the Very Thin atmo has led to the formation of a violent tribal system that is hostile to all outsiders, who are inevitably viewed as targets for theft.

This was, of course, not always the case. Back before the Recent War, Savsan was home to a thriving civilization of Pop 8, TL 7, Gov 5, and Starport C. But the war was not kind to Savvy. The EMPs from a series of tactical nuclear exchanges between the MF and the Other Major State wreaked havoc with the planet's electronics, which at TL7 were ubiquitous in all manner of machinery, especially the life support systems. Savsan orbits a quiet star, so hardened electronics were exceedingly rare (cf. Darrian).

Over the past century, things have slowly fallen apart. The life support systems are failing at a steady-if-not-precisely-predictable rate, and this is a larger contributor to the population crash than the ongoing civil wars are, but only just barely. The FSS is not at all welcome on Savvy -- no offworlders truly are -- so there is no organized relief/recovery effort in place. The Castilig Confederation, operating out of Zerap, has been periodically mining the Savsan Belt, but those efforts are hampered by the frequent hostilities among other wildcatters -- and such hostilities are often indistinguishable from outright piracy. To that end, the occasional patrols from the FiN maintain a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy when passing through the system on anti-piracy sweeps.

To further complicate the situation, actual, organized pirate outfits active in the frontier have been making economic inroads with the Savsan locals, primarily though generous gift-giving and carefully-strategized military support of certain tribal warlords. So far, the MF has been unable to get sufficient intel or build sufficient trust (even through proxies) to put itself in a position to actively oppose this infiltration campaign, and the MF is increasingly open to alternative approaches to hopefully avoid a pirate freeport emerging.

Thus, from the combination of all these concerns, TAS strongly recommends that Travellers avoid the Savsan system if at all possible, until further notice.

(Insert PC undercover Op here.)

 

[boomslang]

On the SOC point, if you are going to economic status and class behavior, might I suggest a read of my SOC postings in the IMTU forum?


Short answer, SOC is a basic roll for loans/business deals, roll SOC or lower for getting loans/investment with modifiers for amount/circumstance and appropriate skill.

SOC is also a basic roll for doing street/shady deals, have to roll SOC or higher to get a street deal done with circumstance and Streetwise skill.

Finally, negative adjustments occur with reactions between disparate SOC, with natural 2 or 12 making permanent enemies or fast friends despite class differences, and in situations such as military service or corporate business dealings most switch to their 'professional persona' at SOC 8 to smooth over rough points. Such skills as Liaison or Leader should help with reactions.

I think this is close-enough-for-government-work consistent with what I proposed earlier, as it simply extends the details with practical consequences.

 

[boomslang]

4. How does the Federation discourage war between its members?

By maintaining a monopoly on interstellar naval power.

Which is why ambitious member worlds are keen to subsidize big ol' (well, LBB2 TU 1000-to-2000dt-sized) "merchants" that can be easily commandeered and pressed into service as troop ships as may be desired.

I am telling ya, it's mercenary tickets more often than not.

 

[boomslang]

Sounds like the Federation is operating a mafia protection racket on an interstellar scale ...

Yeah, "voluntary" membership is a very loose and widely-variable concept; ask any country's former colonies.

(For the U.S., The Republic of Texas, The Kingdom of Hawai'i, the District of Columbia, and the nation of Puerto Rico come readily to mind as assorted examples.)

 

[robject]

I see we're going to have to build a document to organize Chad's enthusiasm into a supplement.

Which is why ambitious member worlds are keen to subsidize big ol' (well, LBB2 TU 1000-to-2000dt-sized) "merchants" that can be easily commandeered and pressed into service as troop ships as may be desired.

Secondary question related to Small Ship Universe.

LBB2's drive table forbids not ships up to (I believe) 12,000 tons. Yes, they're J1M1, but still, a ship that size could certainly qualify as a kind of dreadnought. 120 hardpoints.

And might require ground rules for ship design and combat.

 

[boomslang]

I see we're going to have to build a document to organize Chad's enthusiasm into a supplement.



Secondary question related to Small Ship Universe.

LBB2's drive table forbids not ships up to (I believe) 12,000 tons. Yes, they're J1M1, but still, a ship that size could certainly qualify as a kind of dreadnought.

Hull size is, as per LBB3, limited by J-Drive availability at various TLs.

For TL 12, you are looking at J-Drive-N as your biggest, which brings in an upper limit of 2000-dton hulls.

And might require a couple of ground rules for ship design and combat.
1. Ships > 1000 tons must have heterogenous turrets?
2. Ships > 1000 tons allocate at least 2% tonnage for the bridge.
3. Ad hoc battery fire (120 hardpoints). One to-hit roll, index damage based on number of turrets firing?

Thoughts?

I think that this is moving beyond Setting into YTU details, so would definitely be optional, house-ruley stuff. And I have several of my own I have chosen not to muddle the discussion by sharing. Here is one, however:

Import something like the ship design and construction rules from the CT AM3, K'kree. They are a sort of High Guard Lite so you can have big ships (I have spec'ed them out to 100,000dt as an experiment) using only B2 fittings (other than drives). In practice, I would allow B2 "letter" drives to be "military" regarding fuel and misjump DMs, while ruling custom behemoth ships have "commercial" or "civilian" drives for such purposes, with Fuel Scoops using centrifugal force to refine skimmed fuel as it is intaken. Thus, you could theoretically build a supercarrier (to borrow a concept from EVE Online), but given the long build time and the significant combat vulnerability of having all your eggs in one basket, that is an arms race you probably do not want to start.

But all that has nothing to do with the Subsector itself, of course.

SSTU FTW.

 

[robject]

For TL 12, you are looking at J-Drive-N as your biggest, which brings in an upper limit of 2000-dton hulls.

Thank goodness. Onward then.

 

[boomslang]

Worlds of the Cretaemus Subsector: 0606 Rasohatesia, an Amber Zone

If Ganymede and Io had a baby, and then it grew up to become Iceland's massive, violent, delinquent older brother, that would be Rasohatesia (Cretaemus 0606 E211100-6 | Trade: Ic Lo | PBG: 623 | NA).

Spanned by immense, jagged, sparkling icy rock fields, riven by active lava flows, illuminated by nearly-constant electrical storms, and rocked by dozens of seismic quakes per day, So-what is one of the least-hospitable worlds in the Cretaemus subsector that anybody still tries to live on.

In their defense, they are dedicated -- if perhaps arguably slightly deranged -- life scientists living and working together in a long-term communal expedition sponsored originally as a joint venture by the University of Glapobfan and Glapobfan Biotech Frontiers, LLC, to study the deep-subsurface, primitive biology of this untamable world.

So-what is also situated right smack on the Little Loop of the Creteamus Main, making it -- or at least one of its 3 GGs -- an often-unavoidable refueling stopover for J-1 ships transiting between 0506 Irula and 0706 Ninvurizla (of which there are quite a few on a regular basis).

Avoiding a comparatively-more-dangerous-than-skimming planetfall thereby however, does not, in itself, avoid the larger problem. Rasohatesia's two rather-rich belts are the site of a full-on wildcatting free-for-all between the Moladon Federation, the Irulan Alliance, and the Glapobfan Commonwealth (they dropped the Glapozep Concordat monicker a while back, BTW), with even resource-hungry industry on 0505 Ytoberbi directly sending its own mining ships over from time to time. And pretty much Anything Goes in So-what space; there is no Law, there is no Government, there is no Civilization. Just lasers and ore and hard vacuum.

TAS recommends that Travellers passing through the Rasohatesia system travel only on clearly-identified commercial liners or merchantmen that rigorously adhere to established refueling flightpaths and traffic safety protocols, and, for good measure, do not mount pulse lasers.

 

[boomslang]

Thank goodness. Onward then.

For the record, under LBB2 interstellar haulage kind of hits a plateau at TL11 with 1000dt hulls mounting J-drive-K, leaving approximately 60% of the vessel's displacement (600dt) as payload over Jump-2. This hull/drive combo forms the backbone of greater-than-J-1 hauling fleets all the way up to TL15, where -- due to the nonlinearity at the upper end of the Drive Potential Table -- J-drive-Z allows the sudden introduction of 3000dt, J-4 hulls that have 40% of their displacement (1200dt) as payload.

So in an LBB2 SSTU like this one, you can use "600dt of materiel over J-2, per 1000dt transport" as your default rule of thumb when estimating TL11+ fleet logistics (such as those of the MolaFed), either mercantile or military.

"Amateurs talk strategy; professionals talk logistics" and all that...

 

[Brandon C]

I'm going to drop out of discussions of individual worlds. Decades ago I learned it was far better to adjust UPPs than try to justify a bunch of random numbers (in particular, that fact that the physical characteristics of a world have no bearing on population is IMHO a distinct flaw).

I know most people here are Old School By-The-Book people and would not appreciate me fiddling with UPPS so I'll just do it in my own campaign.

 

[Leitz]

My last campaign started with a blank map, a quadrant of 2x2 subsectors. Players could be anything they wanted, we had a Scout, an Agent, a Marine and a Scholar.

During char-gen, every step of each character’s development put something on the map: a Base for the Scout, Megacorp HQ for the agent, a University and rival Megacorp for the Scholar, etc etc. Birthworlds were determined using some house rules and placed with everything else, and even the simplest term event generated several data/map points and of course, hooks for future adventures.

We ended up with a map that was quite unexpected and the players were really invested in the setting as they had helped create it. It took two Session 0 nights before we really started playing but it was great fun.

That sounds cool!

Add some data and you can make your own TravellerMap poster.

 

[Leitz]

I see no value in setting seeds like the one in Bk0...

Just enough to be limiting, not enough to save any time.

Now, the full subsector in TTB...

Until you start to write fiction and don't want to violate Intellectual Property. The advantage you gain is someone's ideas that are not tied to a specific set of data. It's much easier to take the idea and mix in your own data for an entirely new thing.

 

[robject]

https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Cretaemus_Subsector

 

[boomslang]

Worlds of the Cretaemus Subsector: 0405 Zejero

Zejero (Cretaemus 0405, E611544-9 | Trade: Ic Ni | PBG: 123 | Align: MF) is, and has been for centuries, a sleepy little "backwater" world located within the interior of the Big Loop of the Cretaemus Main. Traditionally, it -- or more precisely, the smallest and outermost of its three gas giants -- has served as a convenient refueling stop for Jump-1 starships taking a shortcut across the Big Loop.

Typically, this shortcut traffic is transiting either the 0305-Zesysobifa-and-0506-Irula route or the 0306-Glapobfan-and-0505-Ytoberbi route, either as a two-hop run, or else as part of a longer three-parsec haul between 0304 Bihodokace and 0506 Irula, or 0306 Glapobfan and 0604 Canonyt.

As a rule, most commercial vessels in the Cretaemus subsector are fitted to burn unrefined fuel at no penalty, for situations such as this (and the others that may be found within both Loops) that regularly require either skimming/dipping or refueling at class-C starports.

Zejero's two asteroid belts are fairly picked-over at this point, and most activity consists of longstanding, well-ensconced-and-fortified mining operations on long-established claims maintained by various nearby polities and/or large-capital industrial concerns based within them. As part of the armistice that ended the recent war, in addition to continuing to respect the right of free passage for refueling purposes, the Moladon Federation also agreed to respect any pre-existing mineral claims in the formerly-independent Zejero system in exchange for the right of first refusal to any new claims that may be made in-system. (In game terms, this means that in Zejero the first bid on a claim or load of ore always comes from the Federation; only if the sale falls through or the bid is rejected does any other entity come into play.)

To facilitate prospecting of the modest-quality belts, the MolaFed charges a flat Cr75 annual fee for a prospecting license, application for which is rarely (12+) rejected. A barebones combination assay office and clearinghouse is maintained on-planet at the class-E starport to handle the administration, such as it is, of prospecting activities, and provide minuscule, temporary office space for factors waiting for claims to bid on. These factors are typically based elsewhere in the system, on mining facilities, and rotate in and out of this particular duty.

It is generally agreed by the various local, non-Federation Navies and Armies around the Cretaemus Subsector that the Moladon Federation has long-term plans to make Zejero the primary base of military operations for the subsector once the Federation begins the next expansionist war in this direction. Although it is only a so-so source of raw materials, the Jerry system has an ideal strategic location, and was already the site of several extensive clashes in the recent war.

To this end, the MolaFed is openly encouraging prospecting in order to tacitly gain a reasonably-accurate, in-depth idea of the system topology, to facilitate defensive planning.

On the other hand, nearby systems are encouraging entrepreneurial prospectors to poke around the Zejero system for quite a different reason: there are at perhaps as many as a dozen 1000-dton-class attack carriers and men-of-war believed lost and/or abandoned by the FIN during the several large, messy in-system skirmishes of the recent war. While the MF does not consider them worth the cost of recovery (since they have the technology to replace them and it would take a rarely-seen-on-the-Fringe 2000-dton FMM galleon to recover such a capital ship intact and then haul it to a shipyard for possible repair/refit, and then only after an extensive, expensive search has found the derelict in the first place), the other governments in the subsector are quite eager to get their hands on TL11 or TL12 technology, functional or not, for detailed reverse-engineering studies, battle damage assessments, and so on. Not to mention any logs, flight data recorders, encryption systems, and other sensitive MF MilTech that might not have been properly destroyed prior to scuttling/abandonment.

To the casual observer, then, Zejero looks like a quiet system producing modest resource output and serving as a convenient, quick refueling stopover; in reality, the groundwork for a large war (hopefully still) centuries in the future is being laid here, and the stakes are already quite high.

 

[infojunky]

I know most people here are Old School By-The-Book people and would not appreciate me fiddling with UPPS so I'll just do it in my own campaign.

Heh, I add whole worlds to systems myself. Everybody talks all about the Main Worlds and ignores the potential twice the number of secondary worlds in the same volume of space.

Recently I have been pondering the Trade route mechanic in '77 Book 3. Consider that trade routes between Starports are more important than the underlying worlds.