Systemwide traffic control in a star system?

[Condottiere]

 

[Spinward Flow]

1. XBoat 1 breaks out of jump in-system.
2. XBoat 1 beams communications to Tender.
3. Communications Specialist aboard Tender sorts and consolidates communications.
4. Tender beams communications to XBoat(s) 2+ already ready for departure.
5. XBoat(s) 2+ jump out of system with communications bound for specified destinations.
6. Tender maneuvers to recover XBoat 1.
7. Tender brings XBoat 1 aboard, XBoat 1 Pilot disembarks and may be swapped for another Pilot on standby aboard the Tender.
8. Engineering staff aboard Tender perform routine maintenance on XBoat 1 (after each jump requires 16 hours per LBB5.80 p17).
9. XBoat 1 is fueled for next outbound jump.
10. Pilot (previous or new) embarks onto XBoat 1.
11. Tender releases XBoat 1 and maneuvers a safe distance away.
12. XBoat 1 is on standby, ready to jump outbound, after next XBoat arrives in-system.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

The exact timing of when XBoats arrive in-system is not routine/regular/predictable owing to the uncertainty in jump duration (150-175 hours, a variance of up to 25 hours).

Just as a side note, my personal (not RAW) preference for how to handle this preference using multiple D6 (creating a bell curve of probable results) instead of a single D26 (for a nice even spread of possibilities) is to do a 5D6+146 yielding a result range of 151-175, rather than a 1D26+149 yielding a result range of 150-175.

150+16=166
175+16=191
24 hours * 7 days = 168 hours
24 hours * 8 days = 192 hours

So the expected turn around time on a XBoat after jumping out is going to be approximately 8 days (more like 8.5 when including maneuvering and docking recovery/launch and so on). However, individual XBoats are not "continuously carrying" communications (unless there are exceptional security procedures in place to prevent broadcasting), but rather are handing off communications like batons in a relay race. Consequently, if a particular "node" on the XBoat Network has multiple destinations to send communications out to (think Y split on the map) then multiple outbound XBoats will be needed for every inbound XBoat arrival, increasing the "density" of XBoats relative to Tenders needed on that section of the Network in order to not have delays in the transmission of communications.

Per the Express Boat wiki page:

Time between jumps is almost always under 4 hours, and the record is under 7 minutes, making the speed of the communication nearly the speed of jump

 

[mike wightman]

There is more than one xboat per system - reading the source material really does pay dividends in discussions.

High population and high technology star systems can be expected to have up to twelve xboats present at one time, probably distributed evenly between arriving and departing ships.
Lower population systems will have fewer xboats. The presence of a scout base will increase the probability of xboats being present.
Imperial Way Stations, maintained by the scouts to service and overhaul all scout vessels, will have many xboats present, although most will be in some state of disrepair.

 

[giant.robot]

You don't necessarily need multiple Xboats waiting to carry messages to multiple destinations. The Xboat network would be a "store and forward" model like e-mail. When ingesting to the Xboat network a message would likely be tagged with its own route through the network like old bang paths in UUCP e-mail.

Outbound messages are spooled on the tender (and/or Scout base). Anything bound in a particular "direction" get uploaded to an Xboat going that "direction". This happens at each system and messages propagate through the network.

An individual message will wait on the tender/Scout base until an Xboat arrives heading in the right "direction". Carrying excess load is also why there's "mail" cargo, if you're equipped for mail carriage and your filed flight plan is in the right "direction" you'll get an offer to carry it. I quote "direction" because it's the direction of the graph traversal and not necessarily a cardinal direction.

Individual Xboats would only ever run between a pair of systems except on the extreme fringes of the Imperium. A system with a low population might only two Xboats between it and another system so messages arrive at least once a week (or so). Two high pop world would have dozens of Xboats running between them (and requisite tenders).

I think tenders would have have fuelers serving them. Streamlined system boats with fuel scoops/processors. They circuit with gas giants and the tenders to refuel them. No sense in the tender wasting effort scooping and processing fuel if it doesn't need to. But I'd definitely agree tenders and Xboats would center operations on a gas giant rather than deep in the system. Fuel close by and maybe even an outpost on a moon for R&R and repairs.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I think tenders would have have fuelers serving them. Streamlined system boats with fuel scoops/processors. They circuit with gas giants and the tenders to refuel them. No sense in the tender wasting effort scooping and processing fuel if it doesn't need to.

This is why, now that I'm thinking about the question more deliberately, I'm thinking that Type-S Scout/Couriers can act as streamlined fuel shuttles supporting XBoat Tender operations when there isn't a gas giant around to skim for fuel. For one thing, the Scout/Couriers are going to be present ANYWAY just to take communications "off route" from the Express Network systems, although their operational tempo won't be the same as the XBoats and Tenders themselves. That means the Scout/Couriers can be tasked with "milk runs" for refueling Tenders as needed, and with 2G maneuver drives they can safely make soft landings on water oceans for scoop runs from surface to orbit on repeat to refuel a Tender on station.

Having generic Scout/Couriers available for fuel scooping/tanker runs out to Tenders then means that the Tenders themselves can get away with using configuration: 4 (close structure) rather than needing the more expensive configuration: 6 (flattened sphere) by partially offloading their fuel gathering responsibilities to a class of supporting ship that there will be a preponderance of in service and available for additional tasking anyway.

 

[Condottiere]

They can send a stream of fuel drones; routine operation would ensure a steady consumption of fuel.

 

[willtron3030]

And now that we've brought up store and forward, I'm falling back into the hole of, "how could we scam a planet by using asymmetric information"? Cough, cough *ForgedLamportTimestamps* cough.

Of course, you could only do that once, only in a subsector where you have a slight TL advantage, and only in a sector you don't plan to return to...

 

[agorski]

1. Communications Specialist aboard Tender sorts and consolidates communications.
2. Tender beams communications to XBoat(s) 2+ already ready for departure.

Insert another step:

Tender beams local destination communications to in-system planets.

 

[Enoki]

With the X-boats, I'd think the tender(s) operate from an orbital station or one further out in the system. A sort of truck stop in space. This would be a large enough platform that it only needs fueling once a month or so from a leased / contracted tanker that is not owned by the scout service.

The "truck stop" would be partially public, partially X-boat / scout restricted. This would make the operation pay for itself. The tenders tie up to the station when not on duty / retrieving a boat. This reduces their cost too by eliminating armament, reducing size, and crew and operating costs as they wouldn't be manned or powered up when docked.

It also gives you scenario material. The players have to infiltrate the X-boat / scout side of the station and retrieve a package or data from a secure location for a patron who's paying big bucks to them to get it. A further problem is even if they are successful, they are now potentially targets of a rather angry--putting it mildly--megacorporation, noble(s), or the government who is seeking to ID and eliminate them for exposing whatever was in the package or data.

 

[Spinward Flow]

It also gives you scenario material. The players have to infiltrate the X-boat / scout side of the station and retrieve a package or data from a secure location for a patron who's paying big bucks to them to get it. A further problem is even if they are successful, they are now potentially targets of a rather angry--putting it mildly--megacorporation, noble(s), or the government who is seeking to ID and eliminate them for exposing whatever was in the package or data.

Sounds a lot like a Shadowrun adventure ...

 

[Bartleby]

On traffic control, most Traveller versions really leave this to the referee.

I like the idea of every system being different, or shades of different.

So, for example, some systems might expect transponders on as soon as you arrive from jump. The computer on your ship is engaged in an ongoing discussion with the AI on the planet about your exact location at all times. You are expected to jump into specific arrival areas and follow lanes into the planet. SDBs and naval craft patrol and hound anyone without a transponder on or outside of a lane.

Others have little interest in your location until you are asking for a landing bay.

Little differences like this can make the Universe feel bigger. Any opportunity to make the systems more than just a UWP.

 

[mike wightman]

You are of course correct. It is up to the referee.

Consider a TL9 industrialised system with billions of inhabitants. Harvesting the resources of their entire system is a trivial feet with TL9 technology and so system wide traffic control is probably present.

Compare with a TL9 agricultural world that only has a few million inhabitants, mostly confined to the one world within the system there is no need for system wide traffic control.

There is not and probably will never be a one size fits all solution to this.

 

[Timerover51]

Hi!

I'm preparing a starting adventure for my group. They get a ship via a bankrupt shipping company.
The ship is somewhere in the Garda Vilis system and the players have to find it. Of course the ship is
not at a starport and they have to do investigations to get some clues, where in the system the ship
might be.

There is traffic control for planets and starports and the COACC, but what about the rest of the system?
My question is, if there is some kind of a systemwide traffic control in Traveller for a star system?
If someone could help me out in this matter or direct me to some stuff for reading, that would be great.

Thank you!

Your senors all operate at the speed of light. A radar signal trying to detect an object at 3o million kilometers takes 100 seconds to reach that distance, and another 100 seconds for a very, very reduced return signal to reach the receiver. That is 3 minutes and 20 seconds. As you are in a planetary system, the receiver is going to be moving as well. Now, this is for a single radar pulse in a single direction. Would you care to consider how long it would take to search out to 30 million kilometers over a complete sphere of coverage? Would you also care to speculate on how many chunks of rock and other debris you will pick up? Thirty million kilometers does not even come close to reaching the orbit of Mars in our system. I cannot even conceive ot some form of traffic control out to even the orbit of Jupiter, much less Pluto.

I would suggest that you make the ship a lot easier to find and get to that depending on it being able to be located.