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Starport Concourse Contents-- based on Sizes & TL

L

Liam Devlin

SOC-14 5K
This thread is for ideas on descriptions of Starport concourse sizes & TL, with what may be expected to be found there.

we are going with the sizes as headings, Types A-C Imperial we know will have TAS facilities in them [a canon given], then d-e types; the other boundaries/ headings are Homeworld TL's

Tiny/Very small
Small
Medium
Large
Very large
Huge

The tech modifiers are:

1-Very Low tech: TL-0 thru 3
2-Low tech : TL-4 thru 7
3-Mid tech : TL-8 & 9
4-High tech :TL-10 thru 12
5-Very High tech : TL-13 thru 15
6-Extreme High Tech : TL-16+


lets keep the contents brief, as in the T5 draft of MWM:

1.The concourse - passenger services. Ticketing, baggage check, and boarding.
2.Passenger Accomodations - Hotel, Restaurants****
3.Souvenir shops, Theaters and Entertainment centers****
4.Data Terminals****
5.Message Center - Email, Xboat, old telephone****
6.Customs
7.Immigration.
8.The Freight Exchange - where the brokers lurk with their speculative cargo.
9.The Hiring hall - Crew needing work..
10.The Lone Star - I think people hang out here...
11.TAS - Travellers' Aid Society**
12.And A BANK****

footnotes thus far
*-if base type is present (see UWP)
**-On Imperial ports A-C-class
*** Population and TL dependent
**** TL-dependent. Those without electricity (TL-4/3 to 0 nearby may have "live entertainment" theaters, singers, etc; TL also determines whether or not banking even exits-barter may be the only recourse on low tech worlds.
 
Or for brevity's sake,
*TL-7 or less
*TL-8 or greater

--note this after we have determined the *size of the starport on the USFP... this thread is for how much of what makes the concourse up is there for the GM to impart in a few sentences to the visiting Players/PC's..
 
Let's not go overboard. Banking and other 'high tech' things need not be too TL dependant or missing on low TL worlds.
When I went to Guatemala, there were still ways of getting my banking or messaging, even though the hotel I stayed at didn't have electricity except for 4 hours a day. Remember that starports are subsidized by the SPA, so their development is always going to be higher than the native TL.
Let's say I have a class C on a TL 5 world
There's nothing to say that I WON'T have higher TL items within my port - The class mandates certain items be present. (If I find a Class A on a TL 1 world, does that mean the liquid H is bucketed around in gourds? No, there still is a proper high tech refuel tree.) So, my hypothetical port is supposed to have unrefined fuel available, repair bays, and possibly a scout base and maybe even a highport. I doubt that Earth had the knowledge to build an orbital station in the 1930's, but since the NATIVES aren't responsible, but SPA is...So there is still those things necessary for interstellar trading at the starport, even though it is a low tech world. Would it effect the interaction with natives? Yes - I unload my cargo, and maybe it's picked up by a 1930 style truck - but that truck still has the frame to hold my std. cargo container that the cargo is in. I go into the terminal, and log onto the starport Web to find new passengers and freight - The computers are modern, they work fine - it's when I goto contact the person that the terminal switches to voice-only mode (they have a telephone, not a vidphone)
NOT that the starport has a bank of cans with string or something....

-MADDog

-------------------------------------------------
Do not meddle in the affairs of the Vargr, for the are furry, and quick to biting you..
 
True, and there was banking/ moneychanging in biblical TL-1 & 2 times...but true banking I think may not have really formed until rebnaissance times. Barter still exits today, even in a high tech society as we currently enjoy (hi to us, mid tech by Travller of course)..

and barter is for societies that do not mint coinage/ or use it/ recognize it...Not necessarily an Imperial world (such worlds commonly get the red zone and X-port so aren't covered by us..) but non imp worlds-like those in Gateway Domain..well...there's another story!
 
this would cover very low tech worlds[see above], Maddog..ones that use bartering, for example. Not all worlds have X-mail system either..even in Imperium (they don't lie along the route!)...

lack of electricity..remember? Counting the cash by hand..weighing the coins for content/ purity..the pre-industrial days?(before TL-4) those are what I mean..
 
hey Liam... :D
My point is, it's NOT TL dependant. Yes, there may be worlds where barter is the name of the game. But there are also IMPERIAL worlds with Imperial Starports that are on TL 1 worlds, where I'll still find an ATM or other machine to read my Imperial SmartCash Card that I can use to pay my docking fees and some parts for repair...etc.
If I'm automatically stuck bartering for liquid H on said low TL world...How would the Imperium be able to effectively function? The SPA also serves as a medium of commerce...

-MADDog
 
Originally posted by MADDog:
hey Liam... :D
My point is, it's NOT TL dependant. Yes, there may be worlds where barter is the name of the game. But there are also IMPERIAL worlds with Imperial Starports that are on TL 1 worlds, where I'll still find an ATM or other machine to read my Imperial SmartCash Card that I can use to pay my docking fees and some parts for repair...etc.
If I'm automatically stuck bartering for liquid H on said low TL world...How would the Imperium be able to effectively function? The SPA also serves as a medium of commerce...-MADDog
Click to expand...
Well, not all worlds covered by this system are Imp worlds either. ANd certainly A-c class ports, you have a point--D-E ports..you might lose that argument. Especially OUTSIDE of the Imperium on low tech worlds that aren't interdicted. Imp client states, yeah I can see them having yer magic money card--but the idea is for some variety too.

Say you were heading to that A-class 10mill pop world and misjumped to the A-class, low pop, low tech one ..oops..now what? Fewer facilities, smaller ones certainly..thats what I'm saying.

And if you had to barter in MTU for such-well, roleplay it out! This is an RPG, ain't it?<wicked grin>
 
Facilities are usually maintained by planetary staff (they're Imperial citizens, too, and cheaper than importing personnel). This means, to my mind, that while the starport remains at some relatively high tech level for essential services, a lower tech level world will have fewer facilities (they are too expensive to maintain with imported personnel and/or technology). The lower tech level world will then try to compensate by providing what it can. Banking is actually a real issue: an ATM can't "phone home" to a database on another world - to have an ATM you need a bank with employees and a computer. No bank would send the techs and bankers to a TL4 world; they'd set up a TL4 bank with a few gizmos to make it outcompete the local competition. No other interstellar bank will come into that market to compete the tech level up; the profits are no longer there if they have to compete with another interstellar competitor.
So it's possible there's no ATM in some starports. Cash and carry. As to whether the cargo will be offloaded onto a wagon, remember that we're talking about a situation where it is expensive and time consuming to move across space (a month or more between the hi pop in systems). We're not talking a third world country where electricity is in use - that third world country is still no more than a couple of day's travel away, and it is relatively inexpensive for third world citizens to get a technical education in more developed countries. The proper analogy is the British Empire, when travel took months. Look at pictures: in the 1900s, when cranes and various other labor saving devices were in use in London, Chinese laborers were unloading and loading those same goods using muscle power alone, and the East India company moved cargo in wagons.
So, I think some technology will come with the starport, but less than one might think if you make the mistake of analogizing to the modern world.
 
The modern world is the perfect analogy. There are wide variations in TL across the globe, yet all are dominated by one high tech giant. So if I go to a 3rd world country, they still understand how to deal with my American tech - I pay with my dollars, which are preferred in some countries over even native currency (=CrImp). I can send mail homeward (=xboat message). I can even use computers in the airport, even though the natives might not even have electricity...

I started the arguement as a GENERALITY that the TL of the world doesn't always adversely effect the TL of the port, not about banking per se - That there are going to be high tech things in a port on a low tech world - It's the nature of the beast.
I'm not carrying my liquid H fuel in a gourd on a TL 1 world...I'm not banging on my ship with a rock...I'm not unloading my SPACESHIP with a donkey - Yes, maybe the locals use such things in their day, but a starport is still set up to handle starships...Even the lowest of tech person will still have an idea that things exist if they are going to deal with a starship - otherwise you are talking about an X class port...

-MADDog
 
Greetings Master Liam!

>plop looks topic over<

What about security? I see customs and Immigration, but I don't see security.

How about vehicle rental and/or charter? Where do I pick up my Model 1000 SUX luxury air/raft?

Where's the bathroom? :D GTSP had a little blurb on plumbing that was kinda amusing.

More as I think of it.

PS When did class C ports get TAS facilities? I thought they were only in A and B ports. This is news to me.
 
Hey Plop...see that little wood shed over there...yeah..the one with the half moon cut into the door....see that little whit roll hanging on the nail....well guess what!!!! :eek: :eek:
 
Originally posted by MADDog:
The modern world is the perfect analogy. There are wide variations in TL across the globe, yet all are dominated by one high tech giant. So if I go to a 3rd world country, they still understand how to deal with my American tech - I pay with my dollars, which are preferred in some countries over even native currency (=CrImp). I can send mail homeward (=xboat message). I can even use computers in the airport, even though the natives might not even have electricity...

I see yer point, Maddog. a gas station in USA vs a gas station in say Guatemala will have pumps, etc..but you might not get breakfast in bed/ or a truckstop's facilities, or clean water there as in the other.(or leaded gas in a vehicle using UNL only!)!
SInce you emntion it-the X-boat service doesn't NOT touch all worlds.[was reading Gateway <HOOAH!> Ley/ portions today]..hence the *generality* of X-boat service isn't there. Ri Worlds, Cp's, and Hi In worlds tend to see more stops of the X-boat service. Feeder news lines (carried by PC sized ships earn that subsidy mail fer taking it to and from the X-node system to those along main/ cluster, IIRC..)

I started the arguement as a GENERALITY that the TL of the world doesn't always adversely effect the TL of the port, not about banking per se - That there are going to be high tech things in a port on a low tech world - It's the nature of the beast.
I'm not carrying my liquid H fuel in a gourd on a TL 1 world...I'm not banging on my ship with a rock...I'm not unloading my SPACESHIP with a donkey - Yes, maybe the locals use such things in their day, but a starport is still set up to handle starships...Even the lowest of tech person will still have an idea that things exist if they are going to deal with a starship - otherwise you are talking about an X class port...-MADDog
Click to expand...
True- YOU might not use a gourd to refill yer tanks. You might have a water tank filled by an aqueduct! [and gravity does the rest-refine it yourself please!]. *IF* you're using a gourd, you truly are on TL-0..and an X-port.
for *IMPERIAL* worlds, I concede your point. Even the Solomani confederation. On worlds with those kinds of downports without refined fuel- you're doing it yourself (seas, lakes, rivers, ice caps, etc)..or doing the Gas Giant run...

And if thats what the locals have to unload with, buddy thats what they've got.(Donkeys, camels, horses, Banthas, etc). Been to a lot of D & E class ports have you? yeah, some things are standardized to rate the port classigfication-but not everything IMO. <which adds variety, and flavor and isn't GT-generics.>
 
Originally posted by plop101:
Greetings Master Liam!

>plop looks topic over<

What about security? I see customs and Immigration, but I don't see security.

O mighty plop101, Starport Security is covered on another thread.<bows>. Customs will also predicate how hard the local security force responds/ and reacts to infringements to law.

How about vehicle rental and/or charter? Where do I pick up my Model 1000 SUX luxury air/raft?

TL driven again.

Where's the bathroom? :D GTSP had a little blurb on plumbing that was kinda amusing.

well, tis definitely a TL-driven thing. [see TJ's reply]

More as I think of it.

PS When did class C ports get TAS facilities? I thought they were only in A and B ports. This is news to me.
Click to expand...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As C-class yards/ports a were included as possibily selling refined fuel (usually an X-boat node port of call/ not to mention Tukera Lines' shipping preference for A-C ports of call for their 3kton class famous "liners" from canon.
 
Liam - I don't disagree that low TL adds flavor, I'm mearly lobbying that it doesn't overwhelm the idea of a port devoted to intergalactic trade.
Even the lowliest and most pathetic E port on some out of the way rock will still have SOME luxuries not natural to the native TL...

I'm coming into Crudball - E152424-2. My Navcomp picks up the station's Automatic Beacon as I come into the system, after my jumpin. The beacon tells my computer some data - There is a landing area (no defined pads) at location so&so, and currently there is 1 vessel in port (listed as the Niven, a gypsy trader of 200dtons...) I land.
The port isn't much - a big 'pad' with a small office and a decent sized building that looks like a barn - the cargo warehouse. The port dude meets me halfway to the office. After we go inside, there are a couple of rooms inside, and a reception area. The SPA director dude takes my Imperial Smartcash Card and runs it through the reader to deduct my landing/berthing fees. He says that the office next door is a trader/banker that also has access to a card reader if I want to generate some hard CrImp. I tell him I got plenty from the ship's locker. But I do look him up for his ability to scrounge up some cargo on this world. His fee is too high, so I troddle over to the barn to meet with the manager. He whips out his handcomp and notes that he can find me some stuff.
Oh look - the port has electricity. It has computers and a 'ATM'...
Meanwhile, my crew has used our own gravplate to unload our cargo container destined for the 'barn'. There, the customs officer scans the BoL and checks the seals. The buyer is picking up, I get paid in laudinum strips, as per my contract. The buyer breaks open and begins loading onto some camel-like thing with 6 legs...
The cargo manager thinks he has something. We go in HIS aircar to a dealer in rare spices. A deal is struck. The spice dealer delivers his stuff to the 'barn'. My crew helps load up a cargo container (I hate stinky things in my hold) and the cargo manager affixes the Imp. seals onto it after it's loaded....
Yeah, another worthless port down...

The purpose of said port is to facilitate trade between planets. Just like airports on Earth, they still have things to support trade and the spaceships that carry that trade. Otherwise its a X port - just a stretch of rock with no facilities that I have to barter with the natives myself. Could there not be an ATM - YES Could there be nice ceramacrete landing pads instead of a dirt landing area? YES too.. That's the purpose of randomly determining. My point is not to get too caught up in the flavor to loose track of what we are designing..

-MADDog

-------------------------------------------------
"To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman."

-George Santayana
 
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