Regina Startown (1900)
- Thread starter robject
- Start date
Playing devil's advocate...
Port of london has been in use longer than that... almost 2000 years. Same for several other Roman ports. Ports have considerable inertia. Even when they moved Valdez in 1964, the port was the last thing moved. (It moved follow the '64 Quake, a monstrous magnitude 11.2... after half the city of Valdez slid into the water - 1/4 during the quake, 1/4 during the tsunami following)
I updated the OP with what I've compiled, including the first stab at a Startown generator.
Here's a test run of the generator. There's lots of room for improvement, and hopefully streamlining.
PROCESS
MAIN DRAG. 1D roll = 5. There are 5 streets giving off of the Main Drag. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd streets are arbitrarily placed on the right.
1st Street. North 1D roll = 2. Two buildings, one at the corner. South 1D roll = 1. One building at the corner.
2nd Street. North 1D roll = 4. Two buildings north (one at the corner), two buildings on Red Zone 21st street, at an angle north off 2nd Street. South 1D roll = 4. Two buildings south (one at the corner), and two buildings on Red Zone 22nd street at an angle south off 2nd Street.
3rd Street. North 1D roll = 3. Two buildings north (one at the corner), and one building on Red Zone 31st street north off of 3rd. South roll = 4. Two buildings south, one at the corner, and two buildings on Red Zone 32nd street south off 3rd.
4th Street. North 1D roll = 3. Building on the corner, building Off-Main, and one on Red Zone 41st street north off 4th. South roll = 3, same results (Red Zone would be 42nd street south off 4th).
5th Street. North roll = 2. Building on the corner, and one Off-Main. South roll = 3. Building on the corner, one Off-Main, and one on Red Zone 52nd street south off 5th.
Okay, I've got a zoned map. I can fill in whatever I want, but as I'm testing out my random tables, I'll roll for every spot.
RESULTS
I'll start with the Main Drag, which suggests there are 10 buildings, on corners where the Drag meets the Off-Main streets. From there, I'll do the Off-Main streets, and end with the Red Zones. The buildings and their locations are:
Main Drag:
Taxi service near extrality line.
Main @ 1st: Casino north, Greasy Spoon south
Main @ 2nd: Bar north, Greasy Spoon south
Main @ 3rd: Trade factor north, Bar south
Main @ 4th: Street vendor outside bar north, Bar south
Main @ 5th: Mass transit station north, Casino south
Off-Main:
1st Street: Used vehicles lot north
2nd Street: Arena north, Bail bonds south
3rd Street: Food kitchen north, Very greasy spoon south
4th Street: Bad hotel north, Bad bar south
5th Street: NEW equipment shop north, Bad bar south
Red Zones:
21st Street: Brothel nw, Bad greasy spoon ne
22nd Street: Equipment shop + Grifter, Mission
31st Street: "Tattoo" parlor and implant shop nw
32nd Street: "Zoo" sw, Loan Shark se
41st Street: Crooked Casino nw
42nd Street: Crooked Casino sw
52nd Street: Truly ghastly hotel sw
GIVING DIRECTIONS
Now (theoretically) a passerby could give directions to players to these locations.
PC "I'm looking for the Roasted Kian... it's a bar in Startown..."
NPC "Yep, it's south 4th Street off the Main Drag. Can't miss it."
-or-
NPC "Uh, yeah, that's northeast 21st Street, and are you really sure you want to go there?"
PC "Well... can you recommend something better?"
NPC "Sure can. Head to south 1st Street, the food and... ambiance... is a bit healthier."
Here's a test run of the generator. There's lots of room for improvement, and hopefully streamlining.
PROCESS
MAIN DRAG. 1D roll = 5. There are 5 streets giving off of the Main Drag. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd streets are arbitrarily placed on the right.
1st Street. North 1D roll = 2. Two buildings, one at the corner. South 1D roll = 1. One building at the corner.
2nd Street. North 1D roll = 4. Two buildings north (one at the corner), two buildings on Red Zone 21st street, at an angle north off 2nd Street. South 1D roll = 4. Two buildings south (one at the corner), and two buildings on Red Zone 22nd street at an angle south off 2nd Street.
3rd Street. North 1D roll = 3. Two buildings north (one at the corner), and one building on Red Zone 31st street north off of 3rd. South roll = 4. Two buildings south, one at the corner, and two buildings on Red Zone 32nd street south off 3rd.
4th Street. North 1D roll = 3. Building on the corner, building Off-Main, and one on Red Zone 41st street north off 4th. South roll = 3, same results (Red Zone would be 42nd street south off 4th).
5th Street. North roll = 2. Building on the corner, and one Off-Main. South roll = 3. Building on the corner, one Off-Main, and one on Red Zone 52nd street south off 5th.
Okay, I've got a zoned map. I can fill in whatever I want, but as I'm testing out my random tables, I'll roll for every spot.
RESULTS
I'll start with the Main Drag, which suggests there are 10 buildings, on corners where the Drag meets the Off-Main streets. From there, I'll do the Off-Main streets, and end with the Red Zones. The buildings and their locations are:
Main Drag:
Taxi service near extrality line.
Main @ 1st: Casino north, Greasy Spoon south
Main @ 2nd: Bar north, Greasy Spoon south
Main @ 3rd: Trade factor north, Bar south
Main @ 4th: Street vendor outside bar north, Bar south
Main @ 5th: Mass transit station north, Casino south
Off-Main:
1st Street: Used vehicles lot north
2nd Street: Arena north, Bail bonds south
3rd Street: Food kitchen north, Very greasy spoon south
4th Street: Bad hotel north, Bad bar south
5th Street: NEW equipment shop north, Bad bar south
Red Zones:
21st Street: Brothel nw, Bad greasy spoon ne
22nd Street: Equipment shop + Grifter, Mission
31st Street: "Tattoo" parlor and implant shop nw
32nd Street: "Zoo" sw, Loan Shark se
41st Street: Crooked Casino nw
42nd Street: Crooked Casino sw
52nd Street: Truly ghastly hotel sw
GIVING DIRECTIONS
Now (theoretically) a passerby could give directions to players to these locations.
PC "I'm looking for the Roasted Kian... it's a bar in Startown..."
NPC "Yep, it's south 4th Street off the Main Drag. Can't miss it."
-or-
NPC "Uh, yeah, that's northeast 21st Street, and are you really sure you want to go there?"
PC "Well... can you recommend something better?"
NPC "Sure can. Head to south 1st Street, the food and... ambiance... is a bit healthier."
Wouldn't that be pop matrixed with starport class?
Sure. Good idea. Perfect use for a warn out freighter. Move it next to an office building in the port. Have another for hands on testing. Perhaps with dual controls (2 bridges, 2 engineering control consoles, etc).
Highorbit_drifter
SOC-12
I'm not saying a "lot" of people. Just the poor, displaced, shunned or ostracized. Growing up near Long Beach, one of the busiest ports in the country, there were pockets of neighborhoods pretty much like that. They didn't work the well paying Union port jobs, but were janitors and such (that I knew of), as well as gang members. Many worked outside of the area, in the surrounding cities.
Its been a while since I've been around there. I'm guessing those were prime gentrification areas. Or places to be bulldozed and megacorp skyscrapers erected.
The starport no, but the town served by the starport do have a strong connection to the port that is linked to a geographical feature. (think hard to find a major city, let alone a megapolis without at least a river flowing through it.)
Starport/large urban area/land communication network/airport/ port are likely to be "grouped" (say within few miles).
have fun
Selandia
for modern cities, sure. but traveller is an environment where energy is almost unlimited, and where gravitics make movement of any quantity or volume of material easy, and where roads theoretically are unnecessary. even modern cities flow slightly - most have "old towns" and all have new developments, think of the migration to the suburbs - so for traveller cities to be outright fluid would be entirely possible (included this concept in my write-up of porozlo in the imperial culture thread, page 9). given that starships are even more fluid in delivery and pickup then the concept of a "starport" becomes a little weak.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
One common feature will be a lack of highrises.
Though it could also be below the landing pads, especially on airless worlds.
Though it could also be below the landing pads, especially on airless worlds.
