Rules Only: Reading the Traveller Map

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Folks,
I have a quick question as to how I interpret the details of systems on the Traveller Map. For example: I am looking at the stats for Karka 1412, which has a code of C200876-8. It has “11 Other Worlds” and “0 Plenetoid Belts”. What does that mean? What book can I look up the map codes/details in? At work so I don’t have my books with me.

On a side note -
Need a Desert World that is compatible to industry found in the 1860 AD, so I can run a Good The Bad and The Ugly type feel setting. My group member’s kids love westerns, so want to try to include them with lots of puzzles and western type flair.


Thank you

 

[Whipsnade]

I have a quick question as to how I interpret the details of systems on the Traveller Map.

You can toggle open further details at Traveller Map.

For example: I am looking at the stats for Karka 1412, which has a code of C200876-8. It has “11 Other Worlds” and “0 Plenetoid Belts”. What does that mean?

That's all explained at Traveller Map. Toggle the grey down arrow on the initial pop-up and then toggle the grey down arrow next to the UWP.

It's "1 Gas Giants - 0 Planetoid Belts - 11 Other Worlds" actually, so the system is comprised of the mainworld, one gas giant, and eleven other planets.

What book can I look up the map codes/details in? At work so I don’t have my books with me.

LBB:3 and S:3 among many many others. The codes are also explained at that site. Look for the key symbol in the upper right corner.

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

So does that mean our Solar System would be:

4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
1 Planetoid Belts (Earth)
4 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus Mars, Pluto ‘Might be debatable’)
Asteroid belt present (between Mars and Jupiter)

If Mars was Colonized, would that make our Solar System have:
2 Planetoid Belts

 

[inexorabletash]

What does that mean? What book can I look up the map codes/details in? At work so I don’t have my books with me.

This may help:

https://travellermap.com/doc/secondsurvey

 

[inexorabletash]

So does that mean our Solar System would be:

4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
1 Planetoid Belts (Earth)
4 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus Mars, Pluto ‘Might be debatable’)
Asteroid belt present (between Mars and Jupiter)

If Mars was Colonized, would that make our Solar System have:
2 Planetoid Belts

Planetoid Belt is another name a region of the system dominated by sub-planetary bodies. In Traveller jargon, the phrase "Asteroid Belt" is reserved for a belt that is the "main world" of the system, e.g. the Antares system. The phrase "Planetoid Belt" is used otherwise. So the belt in our system between Mars and Jupiter which we call the "asteroid belt" is NOT considered an "Asteroid Belt" in Traveller since Earth (Terra) is the main world in our system.

Our system is tricky due to our ever-evolving understanding of both our system and exoplanetary systems, in contrast to the 1977 understanding of Traveller. The vintage classification of the Terra system was:

• One main world (Earth)
• 4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
• 1 Planetoid Belts ("asteroid" belt)
• 4 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Pluto)

A more modern classification might be:

• One main world (Earth)
• 4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
• 2 Planetoid Belts ("asteroid" belt, Kuiper belt)
• 3 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus, Mars)

If dwarf planets are included then there are plenty more (Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, etc etc. - there are probably at least 30). Also, the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune) are very different beasts than the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) yet classified the same way in Traveller (although "large gas giant" and "small gas giant" terms are used in some places). And then there's the not quite discovered Planet Nine.

In systems like Regina the main world may be the satellite of a gas giant. That makes the count trickier; it's basically "promoted" to world status, even though other satellites of comparable size are not.

 

[Whipsnade]

1 Planetoid Belts (Earth)

You have to be trolling us. Earth is a planetoid belt? Really?

 

[Garnfellow]

Need a Desert World that is compatible to industry found in the 1860 AD, so I can run a Good The Bad and The Ugly type feel setting. My group member’s kids love westerns, so want to try to include them with lots of puzzles and western type flair.

If you search for "uwp:??[2-9]0???-4" the Map will return all desert worlds with TL 4. There are three in the Spinward Marches!

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

On a side note -
Need a Desert World that is compatible to industry found in the 1860 AD, so I can run a Good The Bad and The Ugly type feel setting. My group member’s kids love westerns, so want to try to include them with lots of puzzles and western type flair.


Thank you

quick points, you can fit your "western" into a surprisingly large number of UWPs, once you sit down and think about it.

what your potential world needs:

Size: any large enough for a breathable atmosphere.

atmosphere: anything that can be breathed unaided.


hydrosphere: any between 30-60% would suffice. The deserts may simply be a small area of the planet (like a they are on earth), or they may be the dominant biome, but their needs to be enough water that people can grow corps and are generally not reliant on off world imports to stay alive (if they were they would be clustered in a few cities near the starport, not spread out over the plains in townsteads). just remember that most of the wild west was arable farmland or pasture suitable for grazing cattle.

Population: pretty much any pop up to 9 (billions) would work, as the adventure could simply happen in a sparsely populated area. bear in mind the TL would force most of the population into farming or farming related industry, so most (70%+) of it would be spread out in small farming villages.

Government and Law Level: pretty any much official government system could work, so long as the law level (and thus the effect control of the government in the adventure area) is low enough to allow the self reliant "frontier" feel of sorting out problems yourself,

TL:4-6. you have some leeway on TLs as the rated TL is the maximum
tech level that world can produce, not the only TL. On higher tech worlds the deserts may just be a backwater area that cant produce the more advanced stuff found around the starport and capital.

I think the most important thing to stress is that the whole planet doesn't need to be a desert, just the adventure area. planets are big places with many different biomes and ecologies, and its not unlreasonable that a world with most of its population along the costs of its major seas might have a large "outback" of small farming and ranching towns that would be perfect for a western adventure.

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

You have to be trolling us. Earth is a planetoid belt? Really?

++laugh++ was not trolling... just didn't understand the language used or what was trying to be conveyed.

You gave me a good chuckle. thanks... ++laugh++

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Planetoid Belt is another name a region of the system dominated by sub-planetary bodies. In Traveller jargon, the phrase "Asteroid Belt" is reserved for a belt that is the "main world" of the system, e.g. the Antares system. The phrase "Planetoid Belt" is used otherwise. So the belt in our system between Mars and Jupiter which we call the "asteroid belt" is NOT considered an "Asteroid Belt" in Traveller since Earth (Terra) is the main world in our system.

Our system is tricky due to our ever-evolving understanding of both our system and exoplanetary systems, in contrast to the 1977 understanding of Traveller. The vintage classification of the Terra system was:

• One main world (Earth)
• 4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
• 1 Planetoid Belts ("asteroid" belt)
• 4 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Pluto)

A more modern classification might be:

• One main world (Earth)
• 4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
• 2 Planetoid Belts ("asteroid" belt, Kuiper belt)
• 3 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus, Mars)

If dwarf planets are included then there are plenty more (Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Sedna, Quaoar, Makemake, Haumea, etc etc. - there are probably at least 30). Also, the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune) are very different beasts than the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) yet classified the same way in Traveller (although "large gas giant" and "small gas giant" terms are used in some places). And then there's the not quite discovered Planet Nine.

In systems like Regina the main world may be the satellite of a gas giant. That makes the count trickier; it's basically "promoted" to world status, even though other satellites of comparable size are not.

Thank you... you made everything make sense...

much appreciated.

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Planetoid Belt is another name a region of the system dominated by sub-planetary bodies. In Traveller jargon, the phrase "Asteroid Belt" is reserved for a belt that is the "main world" of the system, e.g. the Antares system. [/URL]

What I am confused - the link provided shows Antares, which details "0 Planetoid Belts", but in Remarks has "As Asteroid Belt".

So does that mean - they are no Asteroid Belts in the Antares system, and the main inhabited planet is technically a bunch of Asteroids?

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

basically, if their is no inhabited planet in the system, and all the population live on asteroids, then it is a Asteroid belt. if their is a inhabited planet, then the belt of asteroids is not called a Asteroid belt, but a Planetoid Belt instead.

so yes, your right, the Antares has no single big world as the mainworld, and the population is spread out over dozens of smaller asteroids.

 

[GypsyComet]

Planetoid Belts are, or used to be, any belts that were NOT the "main world"

The count for the W column is either "other" worlds or "all" worlds (seemingly depending on when and whom you ask). Belts are counted, but moons are not, except for the mainworld when it is a moon. Regina adds to the W for its system, but the other moons of that gas giant do not.

 

[inexorabletash]

Correct.

If a system had 3 belts and one was considered the most important population center in the system, Traveller would say that it has 1 Asteroid Belt (serving as the "Main World") and 2 Planetoid Belts. This is true even if there are planets in the system - the belt might be more important than the planet for some reason.

If another system also had 3 belts but instead a planet was considered the Main World, then Traveller would say it has 3 Planetoid Belts (and there is no Asteroid Belt).

 

[inexorabletash]

The count for the W column is either "other" worlds or "all" worlds (seemingly depending on when and whom you ask). Belts are counted, but moons are not, except for the mainworld when it is a moon. Regina adds to the W for its system, but the other moons of that gas giant do not.

Per T5.09:

W = MW + GG + Belts + 2D
MW = MainWorld
GG = Gas Giants (includes Ice Giants)
Belts = Planetoid Belts
Does not include Worldlets and Satellites (except if MainWorld is a Satellite)
​

MW is always 1 (even if As or Sa); I assume Worldlet is by definition any other "debris" worth caring about, from dwarf planets to asteroids to comets, but it doesn't really matter other than implying that Traveller systems do have lots of other stuff in them, and aren't the neatly ordered environments of 70's era SF.

If you have references to any place that uses W for "other" (vs. "all") let's see if we can get it fixed.

 

[aramis]

So does that mean our Solar System would be:

4 Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
1 Planetoid Belts (Earth)
4 Other Worlds (Mercury, Venus Mars, Pluto ‘Might be debatable’)
Asteroid belt present (between Mars and Jupiter)

If Mars was Colonized, would that make our Solar System have:
2 Planetoid Belts

No. Close, but not quite.

1 star (G2V)
4 gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
2 planetoid belts (Asteroid belt, Kuiper belt)§†
14+ other worlds (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Pluto, Eris, 2007 OR₁₀, Makemake, Haumea, Quaoar, Sedna, Ceres, 2002 MS₄, Orcus, Salacia)*
0 Asteroid belts §

9 Notable planetoids (400 to 799 km across): .
7 Size 1+ moons -

* Traveller defines planet as 500 miles or larger; the inaccurate but simple conversion used on the tables means 800km+. Pluto and Eris both qualify.
§ An asteroid belt is a mainworld that is a planetoid belt; there can be only one. (Defined in CT Bk 6, p 34, and in T5.09 on page 403.)
† Arguably, the Kuiper belt may considered just random space junk due to the lack of density.

 

[kilemall]

Here's a thought- don't worry about locating the scene on Traveller Map, AT ALL.

Or, just make your preferred planet a secondary world in whatever system you want it to be in your main story area, presumably with a main world that is of higher starport and/or TL, which should be easy.

The characters can 'get out of Dodge on the next train' at the starport, or the planet can be a nice 'hey we been there' moment for a later regular campaign crew passing through.

Robbing the stagecoach to get enough money for a Low Passage for the outlaw and his horse- could be!

 

[inexorabletash]

went to the travellermap.com yesterday looking for elaborated data on a system, but couldn't get anything. right-clicked on a bunch of planets, but couldn't get the pop-up to pop-up. is that feature off-line or am I doing something wrong?

It's never been right-click. Just normal click on worlds to get the info cards to pop up.

As always, when reporting a problem, please indicate the OS, browser, and version you are using, and indicate the actions you are trying, what you expect to happen, and what happens instead. And let's not spam the thread - PM me if you are still having trouble.

 

[Fovean]

@ the OP --
Junction (Darrian 0122) might be of interest; non-aligned Human world just outside the Darrian Confederation in the Spinward Marches:

D550441-4 De Ni Po

https://travellermap.com/?x=-109.947&y=56.767&scale=90.5078125

 

[LeperColony]

Correct.

If a system had 3 belts and one was considered the most important population center in the system, Traveller would say that it has 1 Asteroid Belt (serving as the "Main World") and 2 Planetoid Belts. This is true even if there are planets in the system - the belt might be more important than the planet for some reason.

If another system also had 3 belts but instead a planet was considered the Main World, then Traveller would say it has 3 Planetoid Belts (and there is no Asteroid Belt).

The curious thing about that nomenclature to me is that "Planetoid Belt" sounds more significant than Asteroid Belt, so it would seem more appropriate as a substitute for the Main World.

Perhaps that's just because I think of our asteroid belt when I hear the term.