Trade Stations, Scout Posts, Beacons, and Bazaars - the Class E Starport Startown

[Patron Zero]

I have had that as a scenario. A orbital in a "remote" system that isn't heavily trafficked that acts as a cosmic gas station. It's abandoned and the crew needs fuel and some common spare parts...

Of course, there isn't any other populated place in the system (I make the assumption that this occurred between the last time a scout was there and the party showing up) to go so...

I would take it as a given of there being some sort of 'rest-area' or highway oasis to be scattered here and abouts the spaceways for the sole purpose of rescue-emergency assistance if nothing more than glorified tollway police phone 'boxes'.

If such only offered a means of long-range communication and acted as a 'survival' shelter or stationary 'life-boat' the cost would be justified in lives potentially saved. Such facilities could be 'staffed' by robots or drones if 'roadside' repairs or other basic services were available, said staff offline and conserving resources until being called upon.

 

[Carlobrand]

I would take it as a given of there being some sort of 'rest-area' or highway oasis to be scattered here and abouts the spaceways for the sole purpose of rescue-emergency assistance if nothing more than glorified tollway police phone 'boxes'.

If such only offered a means of long-range communication and acted as a 'survival' shelter or stationary 'life-boat' the cost would be justified in lives potentially saved. Such facilities could be 'staffed' by robots or drones if 'roadside' repairs or other basic services were available, said staff offline and conserving resources until being called upon.

Didn't the Octagon Society try something like that?

 

[HG_B]

I would take it as a given of there being some sort of 'rest-area' or highway oasis to be scattered here and abouts the spaceways for the sole purpose of rescue-emergency assistance if nothing more than glorified tollway police phone 'boxes'.

If such only offered a means of long-range communication and acted as a 'survival' shelter or stationary 'life-boat' the cost would be justified in lives potentially saved. Such facilities could be 'staffed' by robots or drones if 'roadside' repairs or other basic services were available, said staff offline and conserving resources until being called upon.

Who are you supposed to communicate with in an uninhabited system, in order to get rescued?

 

[atpollard]

Who are you supposed to communicate with in an uninhabited system, in order to get rescued?

HAL, the station's AI ... what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Carlobrand]

Who are you supposed to communicate with in an uninhabited system, in order to get rescued?

The same people you communicate with when stranded on a desert island - whatever passing ship happens by.

 

[HG_B]

The same people you communicate with when stranded on a desert island - whatever passing ship happens by.

So, your ship is disabled somewhere in a system, (most small ships have no small craft) and you make it to a shelter on a planet how?

It really makes no sense. The odds of something like that being useful precludes allocating the resources to build them. In an uninhabited sytem the only reason you are going to be there is probably to skim a GG. If your ships fails at that point you are screwed. I guess it could be for exploratory ships (wait, they aren't exploring explored systems) or Mil ships.

 

[martletsquire]

What makes sense to us, living in the instant world, where civilization is always just a few hours away for most inhabited locations, does not make sense in a long-travel time society.

Think of whalers and whaling stations, or coaling stations, or light houses in the 19th and early 20th Century.

Yes, there is a need for survival structures, locator beacons, nav-hazard beacons, and all the TL9+ version of what maritime aids were available to the TL2-TL6 naval world (both commercial and military).

It would make sense for a large commercial operation to have stashes around for emergency use (maybe even prepositioned supplies for disaster relief or such) at hidden locations known only to the pilots and/or astrogators of that lines. Thinking about it, might be a good adventure hook - your adventurers get in trouble and Merchant X gets a sudden message from a hypnotic memory from his/her time at Tukera or such..

 

[Enoki]

I would take it as a given of there being some sort of 'rest-area' or highway oasis to be scattered here and abouts the spaceways for the sole purpose of rescue-emergency assistance if nothing more than glorified tollway police phone 'boxes'.

If such only offered a means of long-range communication and acted as a 'survival' shelter or stationary 'life-boat' the cost would be justified in lives potentially saved. Such facilities could be 'staffed' by robots or drones if 'roadside' repairs or other basic services were available, said staff offline and conserving resources until being called upon.

The only problem would be piracy and theft. If unmanned, or unable to defend itself such things might be targets for a crew looking for scrap materials, useful parts, etc., that they could make a buck on.
Of course, there might be others who think such items are there for target practice...

A manned station with some defense capacity in an otherwise empty system amounts to a cosmic "truck stop" on some highway in the middle of nowhere. Now piracy or vandalism are at your own risk which probably is too high to make a reasonable return on the effort.

 

[Patron Zero]

.....A manned station with some defense capacity in an otherwise empty system amounts to a cosmic "truck stop" on some highway in the middle of nowhere. Now piracy or vandalism are at your own risk which probably is too high to make a reasonable return on the effort.

IMTU there were 'truck-stops' scattered here and about along the lesser traveled routes, such offering refined-processed fuel from a 'local' gas giant. Some facilities are part of large corporate interests, others simply independent owner-operator 'franchises'.

Before the interstates and superhighways came into the preferred routes in the late 1960s-early 1970s, the smaller national roads and state highways were dotted with independent gas stations, some just selling fuel, others having a diner or local grocery attached.

I can't see the space-lanes in Traveller being all that much different in origin and development as to not have similar amenities.

 

[Ulsyus]

I can't see the space-lanes in Traveller being all that much different in origin and development as to not have similar amenities.

...except that they would have been only a day or so away from other population, likely had radio comms available to them, and have law enforcement check on them every few days. As opposed to a remote outpost in an uninhabited system...

Are there any truly uninhabited systems in the 3I to make this idea viable? Are the emergency locations something that would appear in systems so anyone traveling off the main spacelanes can use them? How many people are really going to travel to outer planets that are beyond the 1000D limit for effective M-drive travel?

 

[HG_B]

.

Are there any truly uninhabited systems in the 3I to make this idea viable? Are the emergency locations something that would appear in systems so anyone traveling off the main spacelanes can use them? How many people are really going to travel to outer planets that are beyond the 1000D limit for effective M-drive travel?

These questions need to be answered before one can consider whether or not it is a viable proposition. So far, no one has made an argument taking these into consideration...

 

[Ulsyus]

That could then come down to a matter of how big an in-system economy was. I guess it would be cheaper to transport materials from one world within a star system to another than to do it in-between. Even if mining on a gas giant took place outside the 1000D limit of a primary, building a mass driver to shoot cargo containers at the mainworld, or wherever the processing plant was, would have to be cheaper than carting tons of the stuff about in a starship I imagine.