Skill Frequency

[whartung]

Gentle Sophonts, I have DATA!

I wrote a character generator for all of Book 1, and generated 100,000 characters.

To generate the characters, I randomly selected a service, tried to enlist, and if that didn't work, I just rolled for the draft.

Then I ran each character until they died, could not reenlist, or termed out at term 7 (barring being forced to remain).

Since mustering out does not affect skills, I did not muster them out, but I do age them, but I do not have an "aging crisis" that affects their age. I simply adjust their attributes. All attributes are clamped between 1 and 15. I could probably go back and add the 8+ saving roll to see if they survive the aging crisis.

It's humbling to note that, overall, 40% did not survive. A total of 60847 survived the process.

Of those that did survive, here's a breakdown of the base skills rolled:

forgery      2331
leader       2364
ships-boat   2382
steward      4245
air-raft     4528
admin        4841
engineering  4977
pilot        4980
computer     5635
bribery      6152
streetwise   6583
fwd-obsrv    6873
navigation   7099
jack-o-t     8322
gunnery      8922
gambling     9205
tactics      9349
medical      9998
brawling     10291
vacc-suit    10377
mechanical   15356
vehicle      17604
electronic   18610
blade-cbt    22006
gun-cbt      22876

Forgery, Leader, and Ships Boat are pretty much tied for the top (bottom?) spot.

Other curiosities.

Of those three, only Ships Boat has a single entry in the skill list. Forgery and Leader both have two.

Air/Raft has a single entry as well. Both Ships Boat and Air/Raft are part of the Service Skills table, Navy and Army respectively. So even though both are similarly available, there's more Air/Raft simply because there's more Army vets than Navy

The service breakdown is as follows

Navy      11286
Marines   7341
Army      19145
Scouts    2097
Merchants 12342
Other     8636

Scouts are very dangerous. Over 80% do not survive. But of those that did, 60% got to 7 or more terms.

So, odds are good if you find a Scout veteran -- they're an old one!

 

[whartung]

"You know what they call the person who graduated at the bottom of the class? Doctor."

But truth be told, not all of those called "Doctor" actually continue to be Doctors. There are lots of things to be done with a medical degree that do not involve seeing patients.

We had a fellow who was in our tech support department, and he was an MD. But he was also an Informatics major.

 

[kilemall]

Gentle Sophonts, I have DATA!

I wrote a character generator for all of Book 1, and generated 100,000 characters.

To generate the characters, I randomly selected a service, tried to enlist, and if that didn't work, I just rolled for the draft.

Then I ran each character until they died, could not reenlist, or termed out at term 7 (barring being forced to remain).

Since mustering out does not affect skills, I did not muster them out, but I do age them, but I do not have an "aging crisis" that affects their age. I simply adjust their attributes. All attributes are clamped between 1 and 15. I could probably go back and add the 8+ saving roll to see if they survive the aging crisis.

It's humbling to note that, overall, 40% did not survive. A total of 60847 survived the process.

Of those that did survive, here's a breakdown of the base skills rolled:

forgery      2331
leader       2364
ships-boat   2382
steward      4245
air-raft     4528
admin        4841
engineering  4977
pilot        4980
computer     5635
bribery      6152
streetwise   6583
fwd-obsrv    6873
navigation   7099
jack-o-t     8322
gunnery      8922
gambling     9205
tactics      9349
medical      9998
brawling     10291
vacc-suit    10377
mechanical   15356
vehicle      17604
electronic   18610
blade-cbt    22006
gun-cbt      22876

Forgery, Leader, and Ships Boat are pretty much tied for the top (bottom?) spot.

Other curiosities.

Of those three, only Ships Boat has a single entry in the skill list. Forgery and Leader both have two.

Air/Raft has a single entry as well. Both Ships Boat and Air/Raft are part of the Service Skills table, Navy and Army respectively. So even though both are similarly available, there's more Air/Raft simply because there's more Army vets than Navy

The service breakdown is as follows

Navy      11286
Marines   7341
Army      19145
Scouts    2097
Merchants 12342
Other     8636

Scouts are very dangerous. Over 80% do not survive. But of those that did, 60% got to 7 or more terms.

So, odds are good if you find a Scout veteran -- they're an old one!

Interesting, but part of the point of high survival rolls like scouts is it’s a tradeoff of the chargen game, you get out before your number is up.

 

[whartung]

Interesting, but part of the point of high survival rolls like scouts is it’s a tradeoff of the chargen game, you get out before your number is up.

Sure.

Would be interesting to see what its like if there was a +DM to survival for number of terms. Longer in the service, more experience to avoid things, perhaps moving more out of the field and into a desk job.

Perhaps +1 per two terms.

 

[Dragoner]

But truth be told, not all of those called "Doctor" actually continue to be Doctors.

Yes, though his point was that the worst still become Doctors.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Would be interesting to see what its like if there was a +DM to survival for number of terms. Longer in the service, more experience to avoid things

The career for Belters does that.

 

[Badenov]

Yes, though his point was that the worst still become Doctors.

Yes, but some doctors are time lords.

 

[Dragoner]

Yes, but some doctors are time lords.

 

[Badenov]

Gentle Sophonts, I have DATA!

<snip>

Since mustering out does not affect skills,

Except it can. "If, while mustering out, the same benefit is received again, the character has the option of taking another example of the same weapon, selecting a different weapon, or taking the benefit as +1 in skill in the weapon previously received."

Though since Blade Combat and Gun Combat are already the two biggest hits, this would only bump them up further.

 

[Condottiere]

Not all heroes wear capes.

 

[Grav_Moped]

One thing I will add is that skill levels are for characters, and wouldn't necessarily match the general population; historically looking at the biography of adventurer type people, they are often "above average."

This.
CharGen is for PCs and peer-level NPCs, not the general population.

 

[Dragoner]

This.
CharGen is for PCs and peer-level NPCs, not the general population.

Pretty much. When instructing players making characters, I say: "make the character you want to play" and I make sure they are capable, just not overly powerful. It is a massive difference from games like D&D that go from zero to hero, play a trav character for years and they can be killed by a FGMP same as day one. Power levels remain flat.

 

[casquilho]

Pretty much. When instructing players making characters, I say: "make the character you want to play" and I make sure they are capable, just not overly powerful. It is a massive difference from games like D&D that go from zero to hero, play a trav character for years and they can be killed by a FGMP same as day one. Power levels remain flat.

This is something I have always loved about my Traveller/Cepheus game play experience. No matter the age or skill level, the characters are always normal people at their core. No supermen on the table. I have loved how a party can have a term 1 character and a term 4 character, and they do not feel "problematic" at all. The value each brings to the table can work together, unlike a D&D level 1 and level 15 character team.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Power levels remain flat.

Power levels are based on equipment/ships, not personal characteristic improvement.

All the "level grinding" happens in Chargen.

 

[Dragoner]

This is something I have always loved about my Traveller/Cepheus game play experience. No matter the age or skill level, the characters are always normal people at their core. No supermen on the table. I have loved how a party can have a term 1 character and a term 4 character, and they do not feel "problematic" at all. The value each brings to the table can work together, unlike a D&D level 1 and level 15 character team.

I 100% prefer trav's play style over D&D's, I mean I still play D&D sometimes, sticking to like a Rogue; a caster? No way, too much work. Trav you make a character and then start playing.

Power levels are based on equipment/ships, not personal characteristic improvement.

All the "level grinding" happens in Chargen.

One thing I try to avoid is the player that won't let their character leave the ship w/o their BD on, and that is usually by the unwritten agreement that I won't send BD opponents at them w/o warning. It's also easier as the combats are not as swingy.

 

[Rupert]

I've only skimmed the thread, so this may have already been mentioned, but MgT2 (not sure about 1e), is that while it's a lot more generous than MegaTraveller in terms of total skill levels (INT+EDU x3, rather than just INT+EDU), MgT2 has a firm cap of skill-4 during chargen. That implies that skill-5+ is rare and special.

 

[atpollard]

I've only skimmed the thread, so this may have already been mentioned, but MgT2 (not sure about 1e), is that while it's a lot more generous than MegaTraveller in terms of total skill levels (INT+EDU x3, rather than just INT+EDU), MgT2 has a firm cap of skill-4 during chargen. That implies that skill-5+ is rare and special.

That's a good idea ... as I briefly mentioned in passing, +6 really breaks a 2d6 curve (100% chance of 8+; 72% chance of 12+; 28% chance of 15+).

As a house rule, I limit the max skill level to the number of terms (and I use CT Basic Chargen with only 2 skills per term). So to have HALF of all your skills in one basket makes the character a specialist at the expense of other skills. Thus MEDIC-5 would have at least 5 terms of training and experience [age 38] and have only 5 other skill levels.

FYI: The statistics for skill-4 (2d6+4) are 100% chance of 6+; 92% chance of 8+; 72% chance of 10+; 42% chance of 12+

 

[atpollard]

gun-cbt 22876

Point of clarification: Of the 60847 people that survived, did

1. 22876 people gain "gun-cbt" at some level,
2. or was 22876 levels of "gun-cbt" rolled?

I suspect #1, but wanted to clarify what the numbers meant.

 

[whulorigan]

One thing I will add is that skill levels are for characters, and wouldn't necessarily match the general population; historically looking at the biography of adventurer type people, they are often "above average."

This.
CharGen is for PCs and peer-level NPCs, not the general population.

The problem with Soc is that 1 in 36 randomly rolled characters have Soc C. That seems wildly out of sync with the stated description number of barons in any population, so I don't think Soc is a very good metric.

The 2D6 roll in CharGen is for a typical Traveller (i.e. PC or special NPC), who are unusual. If you assume that 2D6 is the standard for the Population for SOC, then you end up with a "Social Diamond" instead of a "Social Pyramid" where the vast majority of people are Middle Class, with the number of Lower-Class people as small as (or smaller, if you take into account the effects of CharGen) the Upper Classes and Nobility.

Social Standing is an Imperial-level Scale, in relative terms. The type of people who are Travellers are an unusual bunch - very few who are Lower Class (though there are many members of this Class, most do not leave their homeworld, and if they do, only for a specific purpose); Upper Class people can travel relatively frequently, but there are relatively few of them as a whole in the overall population. The Imperial-scale "Middle Classes" are somewhere in the middle relative to these two factors.

The 2D6 roll works fine for the STR, DEX, END, and INT characteristics, as it is producing a standard distribution about a mean-value norm across a species. But if you want a random generation method for SOC in a Society as opposed to one that generates the SOC of the typical Traveller, then you need to come up with a different generation system that is skewed toward the lower values.

If I need the SOC for an average random encounter (vs. a Special NPC), I will use one of the following:

GENERATING SOCIAL STANDING FOR RANDOM NPCS AND IMPERIAL SUBJECTS

DEFINITION of TERMS (sourced from T5 and other RPGs):

For General NPCs & Non-Travellers: To generate Social Standing for non-Travellers (i.e. the “Average Citizen” or “Subject”) employ the following mechanic in order to generate a more reasonable “Social Pyramid” and avoid the phenomenon of the Traveller CharGen “Social Diamond”.
Also, remember that C6/Soc is IMPERIAL SOCIAL STANDING and represents a person's Social Standing at the Imperial Level, not necessarily at the Local/World Level (which will be influenced by many local and cultural factors).

Term Definition: · [GOOD FLUX] = Roll 1D6 – 1D6 (subtract [lower result] from [higher result]).

Range = 0-5
Peak-value/Mean = ~ +1 (probability curve decreases steeply toward 0 and decreases steadily toward 5)
· {EXPLODING} [GOOD FLUX] ==> If [GOOD FLUX] = 5, then roll [GOOD FLUX] again and add it to the prior result.
· {EXPLODING} [ [GOOD FLUX] - # ] (min “0”)
==> If [GOOD FLUX] Roll = 5, then roll [GOOD FLUX] again and add it to the prior result.
==> Subtract “- #” from [GOOD FLUX] roll, but never reduce to less than “0”

METHOD #1 – SIMPLE/QUICK METHOD
===========================

Generate C6/Soc using the following procedure:
1st Roll:

2 + {EXPLODING} {[ [GOOD FLUX] ] (min 0)} = 2-6​

_______________
If [GOOD FLUX] = 5, then:

Add {EXPLODING} {[ [GOOD FLUX] -1 ] (min 0)} = 7-10​

If [GOOD FLUX] = 5, then:

Add {EXPLODING} {[ [GOOD FLUX] -2 ] (min 0)} = 11-13​

If [GOOD FLUX] = 5, then:

Add {[ [GOOD FLUX] -3 ] (min 0)} = 14-16​

METHOD #2 – GRANULAR METHOD
=========================

Generate C6/Soc using the following procedure:
1st Roll:

2 + {EXPLODING} {[ [GOOD FLUX] ] (min 0)} = 2-6​

_______________
If [GOOD FLUX] = 5, then:

Add {EXPLODING} {[ [GOOD FLUX] -1 ] (min 0)} = 7-10​

If [GOOD FLUX] = 5, then Result = 11 (Nobility)

==> Move to Nobility Table:​

________________________________________
NOBILITY TABLE:
______________
Add {[ [GOOD FLUX] -1 ] (min 0)} to prior result:

11 + {[ [GOOD FLUX] -1 ] (min 0)}:​

Gentry & Baronage:

=11 ==> Soc= 11/B (Knight)​

=12 ==> Soc= 12/c (Baronet)​

=13 ==> Soc= 12/C (Baron)​

=14 ==> Soc= 13/d (Lord Peer)​

=15 ==> 15 + {[ [GOOD FLUX] -2 ] (min 0)}:​

Peerage:​

=15 ==> Soc= 13/D (Marquis)​

=16 ==> Soc= 14/e (Viscount)​

=17 ==> Soc= 14/E (Count)​

=18 ==> 18 + {[ [GOOD FLUX] -3 ] (min 0)}:​

High Nobility/Peerage:​

=18 ==> Soc= 15/f (Duke)​

=19 ==> Soc= 15/F (Greater Duke)​

=20 ==> 20 + {[ [GOOD FLUX] -4 ] (min 0)}:​

________________​

=20 ==> Soc= 16/g (Grand Duke/Prince)​

=21 ==> Soc= 16/G (Archduke/Prince)​

 

[whulorigan]

Even within CT ... a LBB2 Character is very different from a Book 4-7 Character with all those Schools and Special Assignments. I can get just a little lucky and create an Army sniper with Rifle-6 in just 3 terms of Advanced Chargen (it happened). What you discover is a +6 breaks the 2d6 curve ... impossible shots become average and average shots become automatic. It changes the game dynamics dramatically.

At SKILL-4 and above, you really start encountering the "Grendel's Mother" problem and the game needs to be custom tailored for that situation.

Or you need skill-specializations/cascades to assign those skill levels to within a larger skill category.