.sec file questions

[Slink182]

Looking over the .sec files, I have a few questions:

1) Bases: "S" and "N" I understand, but what are the base designations "A" and "C"? And are there any other odd ones that I should be aware of?

2) Can the Allegiance column be left blank or filled with a dummy placeholder (say, a period)? Must they always contain a two letter code?

3) Name Field: are these reserved for subsector names or system names?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Flynn]

1) "A" is both Scout and Naval base. "B" is Naval Depot, I think. "W" is Scout Way Station. "C" is Corsair Base. There's a list of them somewhere on the net, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

2) Probably can be left blank or simply fill with "Na" for non-Aligned.

3) System/Mainworld names.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[tjoneslo]

Now that I have access to my work computer. The canon list of base codes is:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">code="A" desc="Imperium (or Solomani) Naval and Scout"
code="B" desc="Sword Worlds Naval and arine"
code="C" desc="Vargr Corsair"
code="D" desc="Darrian Confederation Naval with Marine contingent"
code="E" desc="Hiver Embassy Centre"
code="F" desc="Hiver Federation Naval and Miliraty"
code="G" desc="Vargr Naval"
code="H" desc="Vargr Naval and Corsair"
code="I" desc="Interface World"
code="J" desc="Independant world Naval
code="K" desc="K'kree Naval
code="L" desc="Hiver Federation Naval
code="M" desc="Independant world Naval, Marine and Army"
code="N" desc="Imperium (or Solomani) Naval
code="O" desc="K'kree Naval Outpost
code="P" desc="Droyne Naval
code="Q" desc="Droyne Garrison
code="R" desc="Aslan Clan Naval
code="S" desc="Imperium (or Solomani) Scout
code="T" desc="Aslan Tlaukhu Naval
code="U" desc="Aslan Tlaukhu Naval and Clan Naval
code="W" desc="Imperium Scout Way Station
code="X" desc="Zhodani Relay Station
code="Y" desc="Zhodani Depot
code="Z" desc="Zhodani Consulate Naval and Marine (Army units may be present)</pre>[/QUOTE]2) The Allegiance code should always be filled. Use "Na" for otherwise unknown worlds.

3) System names. I've seen using either a blank, hex number (0201) or "." for systems which are unknown.

 

[Slink182]

Thanks. Now, does anyone know what the statistical breakdown/occurance rate of:

1) scout way stations to scout bases, and
2) naval depots to naval bases?

 

[jappel]

Slink,

There's no real correllation between numbers of bases to way stations or depots. The numbers are independent.

Naval depots are easier: there's generally one per sector, at least outside the Marches. In the Imperium, anyway. Other major interstellar bodies may have different criteria. A depot system is likely to be TL 15 (or the highest TL available), high-population, industrial, with at least one belt (if it's not a belt system to begin with).

Scout way stations are located at key points in the X-boat network and really are dependent on how that's laid out. I know there's some canonical data for the Marches and possibly the Rim that can give you an idea of how the way stations are located. Not that the canonical X-boat network makes much sense, unless one subscribes to the "laid down hundreds of years ago and never changed" model.

John

 

[Flynn]

Naval Depots and Scout Way Stations are generally placed by hand. One Naval Depot per sector (with the exception of Delphi, which has two), and generally one Scout Way Station per sector, IIRC.

You are best to probably leave those off of your random generation, and let the Ref place them where he/she will.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[Slink182]

Hmm... then I'll use only the .sec codes A, N and S, and let the ref further dink around in the text before saving the file out. Probably for the best anyway.

Won't have time to implement the .sec changes until the weekend at the earliest. *sigh*

 

[robject]

"B" used to mean Imperial Naval base and Scout Way station.

"2" used to mean the same as "A".

 

[tjoneslo]

There is in CT Book 3 (IIRC) a table for randomly laying out the X-Boat routes. Which makes as much sense as having the population of the world completely independent of the planet atmosphere and hydrographic rating....

 

[robject]

Heh heh. Well, if you want a random XBoat route, then there ya go!

I'd rather go on some simple point scale, where a starport A or B gets one point, E and X loses a point, a pop 9+ world gets a point, a pop 5- world loses a point, a base gets a point, a GG gets a point, red zones lose points, or something like that. Then you connect the worlds with the highest point values that are 3 to 4 jumps away from each other.

 

[robject]

I'm re-vectoring this thread a bit to talk about classifying worlds.

I've decided to build a short list of planet types and create a set of rules to tentatively classify planets in the Traveller Universe. The list I'm starting with is found here:

http://home.comcast.net/~downport/etc/worlds.html

What I'd like to do is programmatically look at the mainworld UWPs and make a best-guess at its type and orbit, and include that classification in a non-standard UWP.

Basically, most worlds in Traveller fall under these categories:

Size: Small / Medium / Large
Atmosphere: Vacuum / Thin / Medium / Thick / Exotic
Hydrosphere: None / Wet / Water world
Primary: Cool / Normal / Hot
Orbit: Inner / Hab / Snow Line / Outer

That yields 3 x 5 x 3 x 3 x 4 = 540 general possibilities; however, I think most of these will map comfortably to a couple dozen classes only. Additionally, we know some of these cases are mutually exclusive (size zero = no atmosphere and no water).

In fact, size x atmosphere x hydrosphere yields only these world types:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Size Atm Hyd Percentage (count)
------- ------- ------------ ------------------
Small None None : 20% (271)
Normal Normal Wet : 12% (168)
Small Normal Wet : 10% (146)
Large Exotic Water world : 5% (79)
Large Normal Wet : 5% (75)
Small Thin Wet : 5% (68)
Small Thin None : 4% (64)
Normal Thick Wet : 4% (60)
Normal Thin Wet : 4% (57)
Normal Exotic Water world : 3% (46)
Normal Thin None : 3% (42)
Normal Normal Water world : 3% (40)
Large Thick Wet : 2% (30)
Small Normal Water world : 2% (29)
Normal Thick Water world : 2% (28)
Large Normal Water world : 1% (20)
Normal Exotic Wet : 1% (20)
Large Exotic Wet : 1% (20)
Large Thick Water world : 1% (14)
Normal Normal None : 0% (12)
Small Normal None : 0% (12)
Normal None None : 0% (10)
Small Thick Wet : 0% (6)
Small Thick Water world : 0% (5)
Small None Wet : 0% (4)
Large Normal None : 0% (4)
Normal None Wet : 0% (1)</pre>[/QUOTE]I'm assuming the orbital position can be determined by the nature of the planet and the nature of its primary; this may not increase the number of planet types at all!

A sample of my non-standard UWP might be something like this:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">S Yori 2110 Imperial No-bases Gas-giants Asteroid-belts :1910
0.0 Liecs Star F1 V Yellow-White 100D = ? AU
0.3 Ninsun Molten Y-100000-0
0.8 Shalmaser Mercurial Y-400000-0
1.5 Amparak Belt Y-000000-0 Iron=10% Nickel=20% Ice=10%
2.6 Dectura Jovian 112kkm
10 Skyline Rings Y-R00000-0
30 Yori Martian C-360757-A RS-B Rich Desert PopMult=7 MAINWORLD
50 Tino Europan Y-200000-0
6.0 Niiku Jovian 200kkm
10.0 Amarilo Jovian 150kkm</pre>[/QUOTE]Any opinions or suggestions?

 

[robject]

Yeah, I've talked with Malenfant a little bit about UWPs and potential improvements. He's a gold mine, to be sure. I won't be done with his brain for a long time yet.

In the meantime, I've tentatively mapped my 27 mainworld profiles to my planetary classification scheme, and it seems like Earth-like worlds are the preferred worlds to colonize. Duh! I already figured that terraforming on a massive, perhaps gradual scale has been the norm since the First Imperium. Anyhow, here's one possible mapping:

Update: 'inside' refers to 'inside the Snow Line' of a system.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Size Atm Hyd % (Count) Class Orbit
------- ------- ------------ ----------- ------------- ---------
Small None None : 20% (271) Lunar -any-
Normal Normal Wet : 12% (168) Terran (any) Hab
Small Normal Wet : 10% (146) Terran (any) Inner hab
Large Exotic Water world : 5% (79) Terran Ib or II Outer hab
Large Normal Wet : 5% (75) Terran (any) Outer hab
Small Thin Wet : 5% (68) Martian Inside
Small Thin None : 4% (64) Mercurial Close
Normal Thick Wet : 4% (60) Terran (any) Hab
Normal Thin Wet : 4% (57) Martian Inside
Normal Exotic Water world : 3% (46) Terran Ib or II Hab
Normal Thin None : 3% (42) Mercurial Close
Normal Normal Water world : 3% (40) Terran Ib or II Hab
Large Thick Wet : 2% (30) Terran (any) Hab
Small Normal Water world : 2% (29) Terran Ib or II Inner hab
Normal Thick Water world : 2% (28) Terran Ib or II Hab
Large Normal Water world : 1% (20) Terran Ib or II Outer hab
Normal Exotic Wet : 1% (20) Venusian Inner hab
Large Exotic Wet : 1% (20) Venusian Inner hab
Large Thick Water world : 1% (14) Panthalassic Inside
Normal Normal None : 0% (12) Terran Ia Hab
Small Normal None : 0% (12) Terran Ia Hab
Normal None None : 0% (10) Lunar -any-
Small Thick Wet : 0% (6) Terran (any) Inner hab
Small Thick Water world : 0% (5) Terran Ib or II Inner hab
Small None Wet : 0% (4) Europan Tidal
Large Normal None : 0% (4) Terran Ia Hab
Normal None Wet : 0% (1) Europan Tidal</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[RainOfSteel]

I don't think there should be worlds with standard Terra-like Atmospheres that have 0 Hydrographics. The oceans of this world (I know, it's hard to form an opinion with only one example, our world, but there it is) form a hefty slice of the oxygen/carbon-dioxide pump cycle, and the heavy forests do the rest. On a 0 Hydro world, little to none (leaning toward none) of that will be happening. Pressure might be normal, but breathable? Either its a mandatory taint or A, B, or C type (old type Atm Codes).

I think there should be a minimum Hyrdo of 6 for Atm 6 or 8, and Hydro 4-5 for Atm 5. Lower Hydro values would introduce an obvious Taint of low-oxygen (short of positing some other form of world-wide mass oxygen generation).

 

[robject]

Well, that's only 28 of our 1300+ possible worlds. Actually, I think you're right: the atmosphere should be unbreathable, perhaps CO2 or N2 or methane or something like that.

...Not to mention the ceasing of tectonic activity due to no water, which would spell a slow death to any ecosystem. But hey, we're talking millions (perhaps hundreds of millions) of years, here. Plenty of time to colonize and begin terraforming. Intervention in these cases might be very productive; the atmosphere's already there, all you need to do is find several quadrillion tons of water.

Alternately, they could be very young planets, which have a proto-atmosphere built up (exotic, insidious, or corrosive) but haven't started their initial deluges to form proto-oceans yet.

Although, I can't imagine how a colony would be able to live there.

Alternate #2, the world is dying off. Its star could be expanding, and the world experienced a runaway greenhouse effect and has nearly all its water already burned off.

Alternate #3, the world has lost its water due to a freeze-thaw cycle that has been replenishing the atmosphere until recently.

 

[robject]

First installment: a concise perl script that parses a line of UWP data. This class is intentionally minimal; code which needs to translate the data should be in helper, utility, and/or broker classes.

This perl uses the relatively new 'inside-out' style of class definition, where fields are represented as hashes indexed by object id.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">package UWP;
{
my ( %name,
%loc,
%uwp,
%base,
%codes,
%zone,
%pbg,
%alleg,
%stars,
%xboat );

sub new { bless {}, shift; }

# read-write methods

sub name : lvalue {$name {+shift}}
sub loc : lvalue {$loc {+shift}}
sub uwp : lvalue {$uwp {+shift}}
sub base : lvalue {$base {+shift}}
sub codes : lvalue {$codes {+shift}}
sub zone : lvalue {$zone {+shift}}
sub pbg : lvalue {$pbg {+shift}}
sub alleg : lvalue {$alleg {+shift}}
sub stars : lvalue {$stars {+shift}}
sub xboat : lvalue {$xboat {+shift}}

# read-only methods

sub col { $loc{+shift} =~ /^(..)/; }
sub row { $loc{+shift} =~ /(..)$/; }

sub starport { $uwp{+shift} =~ /^(.)/; }
sub size { $uwp{+shift} =~ /^.(.)/; }
sub atm { $uwp{+shift} =~ /^..(.)/; }
sub hyd { $uwp{+shift} =~ /^...(.)/; }
sub pop { $uwp{+shift} =~ /^....(.)/; }
sub gov { $uwp{+shift} =~ /(.).-.$/; }
sub law { $uwp{+shift} =~ /(.)-.$/; }
sub tl { $uwp{+shift} =~ /(.)$/; }

sub pm { $pbg{+shift} =~ /^(.)/; }
sub belts { $pbg{+shift} =~ /^.(.)/; }
sub ggs { $pbg{+shift} =~ /(.)$/; }

sub DESTROY
{
my $self = shift;
delete $name {$self},
$hex {$self},
$uwp {$self},
$base {$self},
$codes {$self},
$zone {$self},
$pbg {$self},
$alleg {$self},
$stars {$self},
$xboat {$self};
}

sub create
{
my $line = shift;

# Convert really really old format into new format.
$line = sprintf( "%-49s 001 ?? ??", $1) if $line =~ /^(.{29,50}\s*)G\s*$/;
$line = sprintf( "%-49s 000 ?? ??", $1) if $line =~ /^(.{29,50})\s*$/;

unless
( $line =~
#
# name hex uwp - base codes zone pbg allg. stellar xboat
#
/^(.*)(\d{4}) (\w)(\w)(\w)(\w)(\w)(\w)(\w).(\w) \s?(.) (.{15}) (.) \s?(\d)(\d)(\d) (..) ([^:]*)?\s*.*)?$/
)
{
#croak "Cannot decode UWP format: $line";
return 0;
}

my $self = new UWP;

$self->uwp = $3.$4.$5.$6.$7.$8.$9.'-'.$10;

$self->name = $1;
$self->loc = $2;
$self->base = $11;
$self->codes = $12;
$self->zone = $13;

$self->pbg = $14.$15.$16;
$self->alleg = $17;

$self->stars = getStars( $18 );
$self->xboat = $19 || '';
$self->xboat =~ s/://;

return $self;
}

#
# There's going to be 1, 2, or 3 stars, I think. But maybe 4.
#
sub getStars
{
my $stars = shift;
chomp $stars;

return [ "$1 $2", "$3 $4", "$5 $6", "$7 $8" ]
if ( $stars =~ /(\w\d) (\w+) (\w\d) (\w+) (\w\d) (\w+) (\w\d) (\w+)/ );

return [ "$1 $2", "$3 $4", "$5 $6" ]
if ( $stars =~ /(\w\d) (\w+) (\w\d) (\w+) (\w\d) (\w+)/ );

return [ "$1 $2", "$3 $4" ]
if ( $stars =~ /(\w\d) (\w+) (\w\d) (\w+)/ );

return [ $stars ];
}

}
1;</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[FlightCommanderSolitude]

I don't think there should be worlds with standard Terra-like Atmospheres that have 0 Hydrographics.

It seems that Traveller, and early Traveller especially, had room in it for utterly fantastic situations, or at least stuff that didn't really need a realistic explanation if it was a cool, sci-fi thing to have in the game. Eg floating cities made of huge gravity-defying crystals; or, say, a desert world with essentially no water but a breathable atmosphere. (Dune, anyone?)

 

[robject]

Good point, Fli-Co-Sol. DUNE is an excellent example of a world whose water reserves form a hidden part of the eco-chain; to surveyors, the world appears to be a vast desert only. They'd figure out a term for it and stick it in a hypothetical slot with other planets that seem to fit the current hypothesis, and move to the next world. And thus an adventure is set, ready to go.

 

[robject]

Here are my rules-of-thumb currently. Any suggestions? Additions? I've been running these parameters on the Spinward Marches and doing some sanity checks.

Currently, there are 31 worlds whose stats indicate terraforming.

Here's Regina:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Regina 1910 Terran II Hab-Zone A788899-C A Ri Cp Im F7 V M8 D M6 V :1909,2007 </pre>[/QUOTE]And here's a terraformed world:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">Alell 1706 T-form Hab-Zone B46789C-A Ri Im M7 V M7 D </pre>[/QUOTE]Note: 'inside' means 'inside snowline'.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">World Size Atmo. Hydro. Star Orbit
Metallic 1 0 OBA close
Metallic 0 0 F close
Metallic BC warm
Mercurial 0 0 outer
Mercurial 1 0 close
Lunar 0 0 any
Iceball 0-2 1-9 OBAFG outer
Iceball 0-2 1-9 KM any
Europan 0-1 1-9 warm
Thalassic A-F A-F A inside
Martian 1-4 1-4 0-2 FGK inside
Venus I A-F 0-1 FG inside
Venus II A-F 0 FG inside
Terran Ia 0 inside
Terran Ib > 0 > 0 inside
Terran II > 2 > 0 FG hab
T-Prime 6-9 4-9 3-9 FG hab
T-Norm 7-9 6-7 5-7 FG hab
T-Tundric 6-9 4-9 3-9 FG inside
T-Tundric 6-9 4-9 3-9 KM hab
Terran IV 0-A 0-2 inside
Terran IV 0-A 0-2 KM close
Terraformed 4-9 0-9 KM hab
Terraformed 4-9 0-9 OBA inside

Worlds usually qualify for multiple designations.
If the world atmosphere is 2, 4, 6, or 8, I return
the second match (to give terraformed worlds a
chance to surface); otherwise I return the first
match.</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[robject]

OK, and now here's the script that does the thinking. If you look hard enough, it will start to resemble Traveller's "Trade Code" determination rules. In fact, Iceball worlds are nearly the same thing as the "Ic" trade code.

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">package UwpClassifier;

1;

my @type =
(
['Molten' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[0BC]', 'hyd' => 'A', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Close' }],
['Metallic' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '1', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => '[OBA]', 'orbit' => 'Close' }],
['Metallic' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '0', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => 'F', 'orbit' => 'Close' }],
['Metallic' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[BC]', 'hyd' => '.', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Warm' }],
['Mercurial',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '0', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Outer' }],
['Mercurial',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '1', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Close' }],
['Lunar' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '0', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Any' }],
['Iceball' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[0-2]', 'hyd' => '[1-9]','pri' => '[^KM]', 'orbit' => 'Outer' }],
['Iceball' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[0-2]', 'hyd' => '[1-9]','pri' => '[KM]', 'orbit' => 'Any' }],
['Europan' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[01]', 'hyd' => '[1-9]','pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Warm' }],
['Thalassic',{ 'size' => '[A-F]', 'atm' => '[A-F]', 'hyd' => 'A', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Martian' ,{ 'size' => '[1-4]', 'atm' => '[1234]', 'hyd' => '[012]','pri' => '[FGK]', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Venus I' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[A-F]', 'hyd' => '[01]', 'pri' => '[FG]', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Venus II' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[A-F]', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => '[FG]', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Terran Ia',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '.', 'hyd' => '0', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Terran Ib',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[^0]', 'hyd' => '[^0]', 'pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Terran II',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[^012]', 'hyd' => '[^0]', 'pri' => '[FG]', 'orbit' => 'Hab-Zone' }],
['T Prime' ,{ 'size' => '[6-9]', 'atm' => '[4-9]', 'hyd' => '[3-9]','pri' => '[FG]', 'orbit' => 'Hab-Zone' }],
['T Norm' ,{ 'size' => '[789]', 'atm' => '[67]', 'hyd' => '[567]','pri' => '[FG]', 'orbit' => 'Hab-Zone' }],
['T Tundric',{ 'size' => '[6-9]', 'atm' => '[4-9]', 'hyd' => '[3-9]','pri' => '[FG]', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['T Tundric',{ 'size' => '[6-9]', 'atm' => '[4-9]', 'hyd' => '[3-9]','pri' => '[KM]', 'orbit' => 'Hab-Zone' }],
['Terran IV',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[0-A]', 'hyd' => '[012]','pri' => '.', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
['Terran IV',{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[0-A]', 'hyd' => '[012]','pri' => '[KM]', 'orbit' => 'Close' }],
['T-form' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[4-9]', 'hyd' => '[0-9]','pri' => '[KM]', 'orbit' => 'Hab-Zone' }],
['T-form' ,{ 'size' => '.', 'atm' => '[4-9]', 'hyd' => '[0-9]','pri' => '[OBA]', 'orbit' => 'Snowline' }],
);

sub classify
{
my $wsize = shift;
my $watm = shift;
my $whyd = shift;
my $wprimary = shift;

my @matches = ();

my $source = $wsize . $watm . $whyd . ' ' . $wprimary;

foreach my $type ( @type )
{
my $match = &matches( $source, $type );
push @matches, $match if $match;
}

push @matches, shift @matches if $watm =~ /[2468]/;

return @matches;
}

sub matches
{
my $source = shift;
my $type = shift;

my $size = $$type[1]->{size};
my $atm = $$type[1]->{atm};
my $hyd = $$type[1]->{hyd};
my $pri = $$type[1]->{pri};
my $orbit = $$type[1]->{orbit};

my $pattern = $size . $atm . $hyd . ' '. $pri;

return [ $$type[0], $orbit ] if $source =~ m/$pattern/;
}</pre>[/QUOTE]

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by FlightCommanderSolitude:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />I don't think there should be worlds with standard Terra-like Atmospheres that have 0 Hydrographics.

It seems that Traveller, and early Traveller especially, had room in it for utterly fantastic situations, or at least stuff that didn't really need a realistic explanation if it was a cool, sci-fi thing to have in the game. Eg floating cities made of huge gravity-defying crystals; or, say, a desert world with essentially no water but a breathable atmosphere. (Dune, anyone?) </font>[/QUOTE]Dune was written before the Gaean Hypothesis came into being.

There is some substantial conflict in the Science Fiction nature of Traveller. MWM and co. originally wanted something that could be a setting for all their favorite 60s and 70s SF novels (both hard and soft SF), and, especially, Star Wars (many of the original Traveller campaigns were copies or variants of Star Wars). This hard/soft SF dichotomy is evident in many places, going hand in hand with typical game design sacrifices of playability/realism in its earliest forms (this is mid to late 70s, after all).

I feel the CT Book 6 section on solar system design was the hallmark of the original "hard" side of Traveller's SF nature. It, along with Book 3, was designed to pump out worlds in large numbers. Less was known back then about planetology and the integrated world biology/geology/atmosphere functions. And yet, the authors produced, I feel, a fantastic product. For its time, there was nothing like it, no equal. Even as late as the 90s, SF writing workshops would refer their members to Book 6, Grand Survey & Census, and the World Builder's/Tamer's Handbook for ideas and inspiration in "hard" SF solar system design.


However, as the years have rolled by, our knowledge of such things has advanced. Traveller has advanced. I see no reason why we can't, for the new era (no pun intended) of Traveller, generate a new set of advanced world/solar system building design rules that takes into account the new things we know. These rules will, of course, not work the same as those of the past. With better knowledge and better cross reference of world facts with respect to each other (0 Hdrographics versus 6 Atmosphere; 0 Population with non-zero Social Stats, etc.), the random worlds produced have less of a chance of snapping the suspenders of disbelief in locations the GM never intended.

A GM is, of course, free to alter the worlds and solar systems so produced at will to contain whatever strange and fantastic features the imagination can conceive, but these strange features will be in places the GM choses, with explanations likely already thought up by the GM.

The Dune-like world can, of course, be created. It is the exception, though, and not the rule. Dune (even produced pre-Gaean Hypothesis as it was) is a lovingly crafted world and surrouding milieu, and there is little in it, from my point of view, that would trigger my disbelief. However, random world generation in Traveller plops this sort of 0 Hydro & 5, 6, or 8 Atmosphere world all over the place. That triggers my disbelief. That, I feel, should be prevented at the get-go.