System disposition at the time of Solomani-Vilani first contact?

[sudnadja]

Following along in Interstellar Wars, I've been trying to get a feel for the situation that Terra was facing at the point of first contact at Barnard's Star - where in the sky the Imperium actually was. I've marked stars that I believe to have been imperial at the time with yellow points, blue points represent other known traveller systems, and red points are stars that are real stars, but so far as I know have no traveller analogue.

Prometheus had colony ships en route via slower than light, but aside from that and the Barnard's Star expedition there were no other interstellar flights?

In the non-canonical 3d, the imperium was "below", coreward and spinward of Terra, above and Core-Trailing appear to have been wide open. Though with Jump-1, the only two systems available via a single midpoint rogue-planet hop were Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star. On the 2d map, Peraspera (LP 731-58 (edit: though this appears to be conjecture)) is also two hexes away, but it's 4.5 parsec away in reality. I was going to say it was fortuitous that Barnard's Star was chosen as the mission target, but really there were only two (or three if you count Peraspera) choices.

So, this is partly IMTU, or rather "how do you do your traveller universes for those of you that translate into 3d" - do I have the imperium stars correctly marked? Am I missing any that were imperial at the time of contact?

As another note, I'm not sure that I'm using the correct forum for this - is this Scout Service kind of stuff, or IMTU kind of stuff?

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

Prometheus had colony ships en route via slower than light, but aside from that and the Barnard's Star expedition there were no other interstellar flights?

There were an extensive number of major sublight colonization missions sent out from pre-contact Terra according to Trillion Credit Squadon, although the ESA Longrange mission to the Islands Cluster is the only one explicitly mentioned.

Also, the map at the back of AM6: Solomani shows scattered Solomani settlements in then-unclaimed space up to three whole sectors away from Terra. Some of these could be presumed to be sublight destinations, though of course they could also just be very determinedly isolationist jump colonists.

 

[sudnadja]

There were an extensive number of major sublight colonization missions sent out from pre-contact Terra according to Trillion Credit Squadon, although the ESA Longrange mission to the Islands Cluster is the only one explicitly mentioned.

Also, the map at the back of AM6: Solomani shows scattered Solomani settlements in then-unclaimed space up to three whole sectors away from Terra. Some of these could be presumed to be sublight destinations, though of course they could also just be very determinedly isolationist jump colonists.

Thanks, and if I may ask a naive follow up question: what is the Islands Cluster?

 

[whulorigan]

Thanks, and if I may ask a naive follow up question: what is the Islands Cluster?

It is a cluster of systems straddling the central subsectors (I & J) of Reft Sector.

 

[sudnadja]

It is a cluster of systems straddling the central subsectors (I & J) of Reft Sector.

Sublight from Terra to Reft? That's ~4-5 sectors away, wouldn't that be 500 light years or so, meaning at least 500 years travel time?

 

[mike wightman]

Yup it took the STL ships a long time to get there.

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE ISLANDS SUBSECTORS
AD
2050 ESA Longrange Colony Mission leaves Sol system
2089 Jumpdrive invented on Earth
2113 First Interstellar War
4512 C Jammer takes up orbit around New Home

 

[sudnadja]

Yup it took the STL ships a long time to get there.

I take it these were full on generation ships, with 2500 year flight times? That aspect of the canon traveller universe seems really disjointed, that local stars had missions launched toward them at the same time as quite distant stars.

 

[aramis]

I take it these were full on generation ships, with 2500 year flight times? That aspect of the canon traveller universe seems really disjointed, that local stars had missions launched toward them at the same time as quite distant stars.

Yot3I 1111 is 5631

Actually, 001-1111 Yot3I is 16 Apr 5631 CE. (AM6, page 30.)
2500 years puts them around 2100 CE.