T5 Worldbuild Take 1
- Thread starter Drakon
- Start date
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
The Fleet
Last visit to my friendly neighborhood gaming store, I purchased a set of Traveller miniatures. One of them was a Plankwell dreadnaught. Looking it up, I find this
From looking at the subsector map, there are 5 other Naval Bases in the subsector, for a total of 6 bases covered by two numbered fleets, the 60th and 105th. Being the subsector capital is seems reasonable Lemish would also be command headquarters for at least one if not both fleets. (CINCLEM?)
Which means in addition to dealing with the subsector duke, there may also be a couple of fleet admirals underfoot.
Last visit to my friendly neighborhood gaming store, I purchased a set of Traveller miniatures. One of them was a Plankwell dreadnaught. Looking it up, I find this
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Plankwell_class
From looking at the subsector map, there are 5 other Naval Bases in the subsector, for a total of 6 bases covered by two numbered fleets, the 60th and 105th. Being the subsector capital is seems reasonable Lemish would also be command headquarters for at least one if not both fleets. (CINCLEM?)
Which means in addition to dealing with the subsector duke, there may also be a couple of fleet admirals underfoot.
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Tainted Atmosphere help
Please excuse this request, but I am not understanding how the tainted atmosphere rules work.
Lemish has an atmo = 9 Dense, Tainted, effects P1 (Poison 1?)
Pg 230 says Atmo 9 has no Effect 1 but Effect 2 is Poison 1 Comments says Filter 3.
Now, if I understand this, each turn, character takes 1D against Strength, Dexterity, or Endurance, that they are not wearing a facemask outside.
Is this correct?
Please excuse this request, but I am not understanding how the tainted atmosphere rules work.
Lemish has an atmo = 9 Dense, Tainted, effects P1 (Poison 1?)
Pg 230 says Atmo 9 has no Effect 1 but Effect 2 is Poison 1 Comments says Filter 3.
Now, if I understand this, each turn, character takes 1D against Strength, Dexterity, or Endurance, that they are not wearing a facemask outside.
Is this correct?
Yes - a filter mask, or sealed armor such as a vacc suit, is required to avoid the atmospheric effect (poison-1). And yes, I think that poison-1 inflicts 1D against one of the physical characteristics per turn.
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Filter Mask
Okay, I need to figure out what would make the atmosphere poisonous, yet keep the planet attractive enough to support a population of about a million, and allow for a thriving agricultural market. Hmmmm
Thank you
Okay, I need to figure out what would make the atmosphere poisonous, yet keep the planet attractive enough to support a population of about a million, and allow for a thriving agricultural market. Hmmmm
Thank you
T5 makes all tainted atmospheres immediately toxic? Previously published material have had taints that had only long-term effect and/or increased risks of some kind. Breathing unfiltered air on Ruie bears a risk of contracting a nasty respiratory disease. Sacnoth's taint is unidentified, only deduced from more than expected incidents of cancer and the concomittant lower than expected lifespans. In numerous cases locals can acquire immunity to the taint.
Hans
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
History, past and future.
Okay, first off, I need to confess that I never really played with the OTU. There were plenty of rules to make your own universe and beyond a couple of star systems, what more do you need? So a lot of this is new to me.
I never played a noble before either, mostly due to class bigotry on my part, being a working class shlub. Later it was my disgust with politics in general, and the realization that the nobility gets stuck to one particular planet/system/subsector that kept my interest at bay. Where is the fun in that?
Now that I are one (a noble), I have been digging through the material on the Offical Traveller Universe that I have collected over the years, including old JTAS articles. Primarily it was to work out when and where the 5th Frontier War was fought. Assuming this is the year 1115, the war ended 5 years ago.
I find an article about the "Church of the Chosen One" (JTAS 27) that sounds intriguing, and useful. Somewhere in the Lemish system, the Vargr appear to have a base, which tells me these pirates have a charasmatic leader, and it is possible that such a leader is a high muckity muck in the church.
I also, over the weekend, found out what happens to the Empire and specifically the Corridor Sector after the events of 1116. If I knew this was happening, I would probably set up some kind of redoubt up in the hills. And even if we survive that, there is some kind of computer issue that ends up ruining things.
Okay, first off, I need to confess that I never really played with the OTU. There were plenty of rules to make your own universe and beyond a couple of star systems, what more do you need? So a lot of this is new to me.
I never played a noble before either, mostly due to class bigotry on my part, being a working class shlub. Later it was my disgust with politics in general, and the realization that the nobility gets stuck to one particular planet/system/subsector that kept my interest at bay. Where is the fun in that?
Now that I are one (a noble), I have been digging through the material on the Offical Traveller Universe that I have collected over the years, including old JTAS articles. Primarily it was to work out when and where the 5th Frontier War was fought. Assuming this is the year 1115, the war ended 5 years ago.
I find an article about the "Church of the Chosen One" (JTAS 27) that sounds intriguing, and useful. Somewhere in the Lemish system, the Vargr appear to have a base, which tells me these pirates have a charasmatic leader, and it is possible that such a leader is a high muckity muck in the church.
I also, over the weekend, found out what happens to the Empire and specifically the Corridor Sector after the events of 1116. If I knew this was happening, I would probably set up some kind of redoubt up in the hills. And even if we survive that, there is some kind of computer issue that ends up ruining things.
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
That is what I am reading, although I am not sure. Where do you find this material for the old "taints" ?
I don't think it's 1115 any more. Or more accurately, you get to pick the year that your game is set in.
I had a quick look to try to find the page number, no luck - I remember reading that the year was around 1105, and I was a bit disappointed that the timeline didn't get advanced at all, 1105 is the 'classic' Traveller era.
But it's your game, pick your year.
Only if you decide to follow it in your game.
GURPS Traveller had a clever way around the whole Rebellion - Hard Times - New Era timeline so it never happened. Borrow it, or any alternate you like.
Original_Carl
SOC-12
Off the top of my head:
1. Domed cities with massive greenhouse complexes. Depends on TL.
2. Terraforming under way, pockets of non-toxicity exist and people live there, outside that, only the plants like it. See #5.
3. A genetically engineered population
4. An alien population
5. What easampson said about toxic levels of CO2. Plants love it. You have to wear breathing apparatus. Everyone lives in domed cities, underground or some other atmo-conditioned environment.
6. Some delicious/nutritious super food is native to the planet. Could be fish,foul, plant, beast or bug. Maybe all of the above, but the environment in which they thrive is toxic to humans.
Those are mostly means to let settlers survive on such a world. For motives to settle in the first place there are only three that I can think of:
1. The settlers were forced to settle there.
2. There's something on the world that is worth going there to get.
3. There's a purpose that will be served by having a base there (Trade, military, scientific).
Once a population is established, people born on the world tend to stay there because they can't afford to leave and/or because they come to regard their living conditions as natural.
Hans
Is it possible to take a page from Master Niven and postulate that the toxicity settles low, and the citizens reside on mountaintops? Depending on TL, they travel from settlement to settlement by air raft, or by dirigible, or by hot air balloon made from the lift bladder of the didgaseethat, or on domesticated pseudo-pterodactyls.
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Thank you for your responses and ideas
1) Thank you very much for responses and ideas. I cannot express how much I appreciate these comments. This whole thing was inspired by the patent of nobility cards that came as Kickstarter prizes, and has pushed me to look at areas of Traveller I have ignored, or forgotten over the years.
2) Esampson: CO2 is a really good idea. I do want to see what else is available first, but this is a good idea. It can be the result of volcanism.
3) Ranke: That is my understanding, that a type 9 atmosphere, dense, tainted page 230 says Poison-1 Filter -3. If I am wrong, I would love a correction.
4) Jrcrocker: I am not sure where I got the idea that the cards were set in 1115. I am sure I read it somewhere, but I am not able to find it. While it is my game, I do want to get it as canony as possible, with an eye to possibly seeing if it can be adopted into the OTU.
5) Original_Carl:
As for 5 and 6, would make design of the city and starport easier.
6) rancke:
7)JFGarber: Funny you should ask. I created a map ( http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1570 ) using Fractal Terrains 2. On the equator is a large inland sea, south of an itsmus. The sea is about 1,000 feet below the surrounding hills, if I am understanding this software right. This might be doable. I am not sure how kosher it is, since the idea of the limitation is defeated.
1) Thank you very much for responses and ideas. I cannot express how much I appreciate these comments. This whole thing was inspired by the patent of nobility cards that came as Kickstarter prizes, and has pushed me to look at areas of Traveller I have ignored, or forgotten over the years.
2) Esampson: CO2 is a really good idea. I do want to see what else is available first, but this is a good idea. It can be the result of volcanism.
3) Ranke: That is my understanding, that a type 9 atmosphere, dense, tainted page 230 says Poison-1 Filter -3. If I am wrong, I would love a correction.
4) Jrcrocker: I am not sure where I got the idea that the cards were set in 1115. I am sure I read it somewhere, but I am not able to find it. While it is my game, I do want to get it as canony as possible, with an eye to possibly seeing if it can be adopted into the OTU.
5) Original_Carl:
Terraforming will be the first job, in order to adjust the atmosphere, regardless of the issue with the taint. So #2 will be first order of business. Page 436 tells me that a pop 6 world is in the initial stages of creating a colony. #3 and 4 are not appealing, since Travellermap gives Lemish a homogeneity of 9, which tells me the population is pretty homogenous.
As for 5 and 6, would make design of the city and starport easier.
6) rancke:
I will have to look further afield to justify any specialness. We do have a naval base, and we are the subsector capital, although we are not centrally located. It seems that Ginning would be a in a better position for subsector capital, closer to main trade route, more centrally located, but perhaps there is a reason why it isn't.
7)JFGarber: Funny you should ask. I created a map ( http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1570 ) using Fractal Terrains 2. On the equator is a large inland sea, south of an itsmus. The sea is about 1,000 feet below the surrounding hills, if I am understanding this software right. This might be doable. I am not sure how kosher it is, since the idea of the limitation is defeated.
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Colony growth rate
Page 436 says a Population 6 world, like Lemish, is "The initial steps of creating a colony." It takes time to grow a colony from an initial starting population to a million people. How long depends on the average annual growth rate.
Pf=Pi(1+r)^T where Pf=population final, Pi=Population initial, r=average annual population growth rate (which includes births, deaths, immigration, and emigration) and T is the time in years.
A little math gives us T= Log(Pf/Pi)/Log(1+r)
We know Pf=1 million people (via Travellermap.com). Pi=2,000 people. I picked this number essentially out of the blue, but it sounds about right. I get these numbers
Growth Rate (%) Years since founding
1 624.563
2 313.8275
3 210.2456
4 158.4522
5 127.3742
6 106.6539
7 91.85238
8 80.75005
9 72.1388
10 65.20403
If anyone can check my math or assumptions, please let me know
Akk, how does one load a table?
Page 436 says a Population 6 world, like Lemish, is "The initial steps of creating a colony." It takes time to grow a colony from an initial starting population to a million people. How long depends on the average annual growth rate.
Pf=Pi(1+r)^T where Pf=population final, Pi=Population initial, r=average annual population growth rate (which includes births, deaths, immigration, and emigration) and T is the time in years.
A little math gives us T= Log(Pf/Pi)/Log(1+r)
We know Pf=1 million people (via Travellermap.com). Pi=2,000 people. I picked this number essentially out of the blue, but it sounds about right. I get these numbers
Growth Rate (%) Years since founding
1 624.563
2 313.8275
3 210.2456
4 158.4522
5 127.3742
6 106.6539
7 91.85238
8 80.75005
9 72.1388
10 65.20403
If anyone can check my math or assumptions, please let me know
Akk, how does one load a table?
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Progress so far
1) I have posted the system map < http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1633 > as well as maps of Central Lemish
< http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1632 >
< http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1631 >.
Central Lemish is where most of the planet's population lives and works. Several towns dot the region, and serve the farms in the surrounding lands.
2) Corrections to earlier information:
..a)I have decided to reset the year back to 1105. Also to go with sulfides as the atmospheric contaminant. Although CO2 would be great, I have doubts that it is realistic in light of a habitable planet. Plants tend to reduce CO2 consentrations, producing oxygen, which is why oxygen is a dominant gas on earth, and CO2 exists in trace amounts. At least that is my thinking.
..b)The orbital arraignment for Vangon and Lemish needs to be revisited. Stellar orbit zero for a M1V star has a 30 million kilometer radius orbit. Orbit Oh for a size T planet is 2,160,000 kilometer. I am not sure if that makes sense and as another poster keeps saying, it has to make sense. Bringing Lemish any closer will mean Lemish is tidally locked to Vangon, however that may be more realistic than what I have now.
3) Other creations:
..a) Lemish started 125 years ago as a "Neo-Functionalist" colony of Solomani humans who had drifted out to the Corridor sector. Neo-Functionalism draws most of its inspiration from a creation of Robert Heinlein, although it differs in many respects. The early colonists sided with the Imperium during the Solomani wars, and ended up having to migrate. Aspects of their belief structure allows a level of trust in the government sufficient to leave most of its functions to a civil service bureaucracy with unrestricted invasion of their privacy. (I.e. Gov=8 and Law=C).
The arraignment seems to work for the Lemishites, keeping crime rates low. The government is far from oppressive and the population is homogenous enough in culture and values that political strife is rather low key. (Low crime based on high Ex and Law=C, low oppression based on high Acceptance in Cx = 8.)
..b) The Baron serves as planetary governor and the town of Franklin (pop. 106,000) serves as the political and economical capital of the system and planet. Novograd, (pop. 34,5000) outside the west gate of the Lemish Imperial Starport, serves as subsector capital and headquarters for the 60th and 105th fleets as well as the Archduke's residence. At present, the new Baron does not know what happened to his predecessor or his famliy.
..c) I had no idea how to figure out how many towns and what their population should be. What I did was looked up a region on earth roughly comparable in population. It turns out, that according to the census bureau, Montana has a population of about 1 million people. Finding a list of the population of the various cities and towns, then assigning those population figures to my fictious Lemishian towns. It is a guess but it seems to work. And it tells me that out of a population of about 1 million, only half live in those towns, the rest, like on Lemish, inhabit the farms and ranches of the planet.
..d)Somewhere in the Lemish system is a Vargr corsair base. Led by a charismatic Vargr captain and fanatical follower of the Church of the Chosen one, all that is known is they have at least 5 ships. They have been harrassing shipping for some time. Details to follow.
..e) One of the first acts of the new baron was contacting an old Vargr friend, retired Master Sargent Khazgho Zen of the Imperial Marines, to offer command of the Baron's company of huscalears. Now, Colonel Zen is in the process of recruiting the Baron's new unit.
4) Things that still need mapping/doing.
..a)Work out what the military assets are available to protect the shipping and hunt down the pirates. Both Imperial and Colonial forces. Mongoose Traveller's Sector Fleets tells me there should be a brigade of Imperial marines stationed here as well, (assuming I am reading it right)
..b) Dramatis personae of patrons, government and economical, as well what the different bureaus in the planetary/system government are and do. There is a knight somewhere on the planet.
..c) fine tune the details of the other planets in the system. The Baron's fiefdom consist of 4 terrain hexes on the home world and 4 hexes elsewhere in the system. Kakulu is also habitable, but quite far from the gas giant. Khen is a lot colder but at least hospitable to life.
..d) Continue work on the maps, adding detail and working out exact location of the different fiefdoms. I have decided that the baron's fiefdom (4 terrain hexes) occupies the area along the Claire river, while the Archduke's lands (128 terrain hexes, or approximation 1 and 1/3 world hexes) take up the west side of the itsmus and west coast of the Merrian Sea.
..e) What is a TL=12 farm like?
5) Things that need to be gamed.
..a)Negociate with Depot concerning the conversion of a Plankwell Battleship into the Lemish Imperial War Museum. What names are available?
..b)Work out the details of obtaining and operating atmospheric processing technology to reduce the atmosphere from a 9 to an 8. Prelimanary estimates are 75 RUs and 50 years. Need to explore ways of reducing costs/time. Creating the atmosphere processors via thingmaker may be worthwhile.
..c) The Baroness wants to set up an T-Rex and Mastodon ranch, both as products, (meat and leather), and tourist attraction/dude ranch. The first phase will be to identify planets that have such creatures, and hire teams to retrieve the original creatures. Or alternately, determine which genetic engineering company can create the creatures, and contract a hearty band of adventurers for pickup and delivery.
1) I have posted the system map < http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1633 > as well as maps of Central Lemish
< http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1632 >
< http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1631 >.
Central Lemish is where most of the planet's population lives and works. Several towns dot the region, and serve the farms in the surrounding lands.
2) Corrections to earlier information:
..a)I have decided to reset the year back to 1105. Also to go with sulfides as the atmospheric contaminant. Although CO2 would be great, I have doubts that it is realistic in light of a habitable planet. Plants tend to reduce CO2 consentrations, producing oxygen, which is why oxygen is a dominant gas on earth, and CO2 exists in trace amounts. At least that is my thinking.
..b)The orbital arraignment for Vangon and Lemish needs to be revisited. Stellar orbit zero for a M1V star has a 30 million kilometer radius orbit. Orbit Oh for a size T planet is 2,160,000 kilometer. I am not sure if that makes sense and as another poster keeps saying, it has to make sense. Bringing Lemish any closer will mean Lemish is tidally locked to Vangon, however that may be more realistic than what I have now.
3) Other creations:
..a) Lemish started 125 years ago as a "Neo-Functionalist" colony of Solomani humans who had drifted out to the Corridor sector. Neo-Functionalism draws most of its inspiration from a creation of Robert Heinlein, although it differs in many respects. The early colonists sided with the Imperium during the Solomani wars, and ended up having to migrate. Aspects of their belief structure allows a level of trust in the government sufficient to leave most of its functions to a civil service bureaucracy with unrestricted invasion of their privacy. (I.e. Gov=8 and Law=C).
The arraignment seems to work for the Lemishites, keeping crime rates low. The government is far from oppressive and the population is homogenous enough in culture and values that political strife is rather low key. (Low crime based on high Ex and Law=C, low oppression based on high Acceptance in Cx = 8.)
..b) The Baron serves as planetary governor and the town of Franklin (pop. 106,000) serves as the political and economical capital of the system and planet. Novograd, (pop. 34,5000) outside the west gate of the Lemish Imperial Starport, serves as subsector capital and headquarters for the 60th and 105th fleets as well as the Archduke's residence. At present, the new Baron does not know what happened to his predecessor or his famliy.
..c) I had no idea how to figure out how many towns and what their population should be. What I did was looked up a region on earth roughly comparable in population. It turns out, that according to the census bureau, Montana has a population of about 1 million people. Finding a list of the population of the various cities and towns, then assigning those population figures to my fictious Lemishian towns. It is a guess but it seems to work. And it tells me that out of a population of about 1 million, only half live in those towns, the rest, like on Lemish, inhabit the farms and ranches of the planet.
..d)Somewhere in the Lemish system is a Vargr corsair base. Led by a charismatic Vargr captain and fanatical follower of the Church of the Chosen one, all that is known is they have at least 5 ships. They have been harrassing shipping for some time. Details to follow.
..e) One of the first acts of the new baron was contacting an old Vargr friend, retired Master Sargent Khazgho Zen of the Imperial Marines, to offer command of the Baron's company of huscalears. Now, Colonel Zen is in the process of recruiting the Baron's new unit.
4) Things that still need mapping/doing.
..a)Work out what the military assets are available to protect the shipping and hunt down the pirates. Both Imperial and Colonial forces. Mongoose Traveller's Sector Fleets tells me there should be a brigade of Imperial marines stationed here as well, (assuming I am reading it right)
..b) Dramatis personae of patrons, government and economical, as well what the different bureaus in the planetary/system government are and do. There is a knight somewhere on the planet.
..c) fine tune the details of the other planets in the system. The Baron's fiefdom consist of 4 terrain hexes on the home world and 4 hexes elsewhere in the system. Kakulu is also habitable, but quite far from the gas giant. Khen is a lot colder but at least hospitable to life.
..d) Continue work on the maps, adding detail and working out exact location of the different fiefdoms. I have decided that the baron's fiefdom (4 terrain hexes) occupies the area along the Claire river, while the Archduke's lands (128 terrain hexes, or approximation 1 and 1/3 world hexes) take up the west side of the itsmus and west coast of the Merrian Sea.
..e) What is a TL=12 farm like?
5) Things that need to be gamed.
..a)Negociate with Depot concerning the conversion of a Plankwell Battleship into the Lemish Imperial War Museum. What names are available?
..b)Work out the details of obtaining and operating atmospheric processing technology to reduce the atmosphere from a 9 to an 8. Prelimanary estimates are 75 RUs and 50 years. Need to explore ways of reducing costs/time. Creating the atmosphere processors via thingmaker may be worthwhile.
..c) The Baroness wants to set up an T-Rex and Mastodon ranch, both as products, (meat and leather), and tourist attraction/dude ranch. The first phase will be to identify planets that have such creatures, and hire teams to retrieve the original creatures. Or alternately, determine which genetic engineering company can create the creatures, and contract a hearty band of adventurers for pickup and delivery.
That may very well be correct by the rules as written. There are numerous canonical examples of tainted atmospheres that does not conform to that, though. Sacnoth's taint is an unidentified one that has been detected only as a statistically significant increase in lung cancer. Ruie's taint is a risk of getting a respiratory infection (For which immunity can be had, although the process takes so long that visitors to Ruie usually don't avail themselves of it).
Basically, judging only from the existing examples (and saying nothing whatsoever of the rules), if visitors are adviced to wear breath masks outdoors in sizable parts of the world, the air can be classified as tainted.
Hans
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
For the time being, I am trying to keep it strictly by the T5 rules, partly to learn what those rules are, and partly, it has been a long while since I have done any worldbuilding using any rule sets. So part of this is having to relearn stuff I have not used in years. I would like to see the taint rules clarified, and expanded on the different types.
Thank you for your comment.
I love World Tamer's Handbook (TNE) for detailing out worlds. In there they have an Atmospheric Contaminants table:
Each result is described further and detailed out. When I rolled High CO2 or high O2 I usually added another roll giving about a 25% chance of requiring masks, but that was just what I did.
I mention this table because there's one result there, #2, that would meet your needs quite well...a fungi in the air that it poisonous when breathed via lungs, but potentially wouldn't affect plants at all as they don't breath (in the conventional sense).
Each result is described further and detailed out. When I rolled High CO2 or high O2 I usually added another roll giving about a 25% chance of requiring masks, but that was just what I did.
I mention this table because there's one result there, #2, that would meet your needs quite well...a fungi in the air that it poisonous when breathed via lungs, but potentially wouldn't affect plants at all as they don't breath (in the conventional sense).
