Updating UWPs for Certain Time Periods

[ovka]

First of all, I know that this is not all canon material. I am trying to reach some interpretations of what this would mean if it were.

I am reading through the adventure Rescue on Ruie from JTAS #1. I know that there are several versions of the adventure out there, as well as other information on Ruie, but I am focusing just on this for now.

The "From the Management" section of the issue, lists the date as 183-1105. The adventure lists the UWP as C776977-7. It also says that Ruie was a former lost colony, was rediscovereded by the Scout Service 31 years ago, and that by that time it had worked itself up to TL 5. So presumably that would mean that in 1074, Ruie had a UWP something like E776?7?-5. While it is possible that the starport was already C, because there are no non-Imperial worlds within J3 of Ruie, it is unlikely that they provided fuel or maintenance for starships (hence E, not C). Also, I would imagine that the original colonists had some place to land (hence E not X).

Nebelthorn has been ruled by the same family for the last 120 years (i.e. they took over c985). Presumably, c985 Ruie had a UWP of E776?7?-?. Nebelthorn's economy has been in a depression for the last 12 years, they blame the Imperium, and the nation is considered an Amber zone. So, their economy tanked in 1093. The entire planet isn't an Amber zone, just that country.

Sergi is 20 and landed on Ruie about a year ago. This means he was born c1085 and landed there c183-1104.

Somewhere along the line between the years of 1074 and 1105, the starport increased from E to C. I am guessing that Size, Atmosphere, and Hydrographics remained the same during that time period (though that isn't necessarily the case). Also during that time period, it is very unlikely that the population digit increased by more than 1. I am guessing from my reading that the government type didn't change between 985 and 1105. The law level could have a wild swing after the takeover. TL could have been lower than TL 5 in 985.

Let's say I wanted to run a campaign based on and around Ruie during the time period 1070-1105 using the above information. I know that I could very easily declare that IMTU the UWP was u1 in 1070, u2 in 1074, u3 in 1085, u4 in 1093, and so on. I have no problem doing that.

My questions are these. First of all, do my interpretations of potential UWP changes seem reasonable based on the given information? Second, what is a typical rate of change for UWPs?

Setting aside Ruie for the moment, If I wanted to use the entire Spinward Marches as my playground, treat the TravellerMap data for various time periods as gospel, and set my campaign between two of the dates for which TravellerMap has data, I know I could interpolate and derive values x% of the way between the two dates, but what is a believable rate of change for various UWP characteristics?

How often are worlds Terraformed? How often would a main world change because a different world in the system surpassed the previous main world in population?

Just some thoughts ... And I know the obvious answer is "you are the ref, make it up." That's not what I'm looking for here.

If none of this seems relevant to anybody, it may be because I spent last night in the ER with my MIL and need sleep.

Cheers,

Baron Ovka

 

[tjoneslo]

TL;DR: Your changes look reasonable. I would believe them for your campaign.

I'm going to answer your questions in a different order simply because this order makes more sense to me.

Physical characteristics.
Size, Atmosphere, Hydrographics: Planets are big places. Even the small ones. So changing these requires a huge effort. This would mean either a human effort over a long period of time, or a sudden very large event. Examples of the latter include major asteroid strikes, Maghiz level solar events, and the like. So changing the physical characteristics of worlds over the time scale of the Third Imperium is a rare, and very notable, event.

Social Characteristics
Starport, Population, Government, Law Level, Technology. These are human (or sophont) controlled, and therefore can change very quickly.

Population: Population of less than 5 (<100,000) can change over-night. There are ships capable of carrying this may people, and landing one on a small population world will change the population (and culture). Larger populations would take longer to change. Populations of less than 8 can go +/- 1 per decade. And +/-1 per century beyond that.

Government/Law Level: These can (and frequently do) change at the whim of the population. However you want to set these within the limits of the rules probably works just fine.

Starport: This is a power scale effort to improve. That is going from X to E port requires and open space and a beacon. Going from E to D requires adding a pond, and perhaps some concrete. Going from D to C requires adding a shed with spare parts. Going from C to B requires adding a larger shed, a passel of workers, and the implication of the infrastructure of a real (if small) airport. Going from B to A requires a doubling the previous efforts.

Technology Level: In this instance TL is a measure of economics rather than anything else. It can be modified pretty quickly, people overall getting richer or poorer, based upon factors not otherwise listed in the rules.

I would says that if you are increasing the population at a moderate pace, and/of the starport, you should also increase the TL. If the written history shows increased trade, the TL should be increased. Modifying this by 1 or 2 per decade would not be out of line, but like the Starport, at the higher levels increases should be increasingly rare.

 

[whartung]

Barring significant immigration, the population going up an order of magnitude (10x) naturally, is quite unlikely. That's about an 8% annual growth rate, which is pretty striking.

As contrast, our planets historical rate has been 2-3%.

 

[ovka]

Barring significant immigration, the population going up an order of magnitude (10x) naturally, is quite unlikely.

Unless the pop digit is low and the pop mod is high. 9 -> 10 is an immediate increase. :rofl:

Cheers,

Baron Ovka