Thanks. I was kinda wondering about the importance of the "first contact" (discovery) missions and the reasonable length of time between a "recovery mission" and estimating a planet's capacity for trading natural resources, raw materials and ancient technology.
Can this be done in one play session? Are hot recoveries the only type of scenario that is fun/satisfying in a game session. What kind of challenges, encounters and battles Would a party need to keep this interesting? For example, starting from "discovery," could a party of players be dispatched from Aubaine (or some other where) with the goal of making contact with an unknown civilization, estimating possible trade resources and, finally, reporting back to Aubaine that a suitable location has been found to plant a rudimentary class X starport?
Forgetting about the currency exchange rate (which is very low for a class X starport), how can this be made interesting and risky for the players. Is role-playing a survey simply a matter of "trickling" system information every time the players overcome an obstacle? Does the RCES have ships capable of landing on a dirt runway (decayed landing pad)or are we talking parachutes and long falls through the atmosphere?
According to "Path of Tears," Discovery consists of "identifying and locating key resources necessary to establish interstellar commerce." (30) Initial surveys are called "stardust," but the actual process of evaluating a world seems a bit confusing because with "hot recovery" we are talking about landing on a planet that may be truly hostile to outsiders. We could end up just like the Mary Ellen Carter (famous merchant ship of the Dawn League) If a party's starship becomes damaged, is the expedition lost (high tech shipyards would not be an option on an isolated world.)? Assuming global radio or meson communicators, could the party reach the rest of the expedition? Thank you for your responses,
Richard
-- On Tue, 1/29/13, Todd Kes > wrote:
From: Todd Kes >
Subject: Re: [Traveller_TNE] Trade routes in the RCES
To: "" >
Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013, 5:17 PM
For without a Starport, I'd try to evaluate the overall tech level. Do they have radio? Communicate with someone down below, and follow their transmission when you want to land. No radio? Land near the largest concentration of population, without incinerating the local crops.
As to the trade itself, I'd classify it as 'X' on the Starport chart, using the Exchange Rate table on page 230 of the Traveller TNE book for the relevant values. So on the bright side the characters39; currency is going to go a lot farther. On the downside, they are likely among the few visitors (or the first) to reach the planet. So the planetary government will be very interested in them (and their ship), and also has an incentive to upgrade its Spaceport to at least 'D' category for future activities.
For World Tamer's Handbook, just treat it as your starting colony essentially at the mercy of passing starships in terms of trade values, but hopefully you can expand enough to buy the basic items needed for a Space port:
Class - Offers:
E - Frontier Quality
D - Poor Quality, Minor Repairs, Unrefined Fuel
C - Routine Quality, Major Repairs, Unrefined Fuel
B - Good Quality, Spacecraft Yards (STL only?), Overhaul capacity, Refined Fuel
A - Excellent Quality, Starship yards (FTL vessels), Overhaul capacity, Refined Fuel
Here is the Traveller wiki description:
http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Starport
There is a Traveller Starports book or PDF that has a list of prices in it for various items to build your own starport.
Todd Kes
From: Richard Crowley >
In one of my previous games in RCES setting, I tried to establish possible trade routes after "second contact" was made to an isolated/backwater world in the Coalition region. Possible trade is still not guaranteed or even possible. Sometimes trade routes (in other versions) are determined by the presence of a gas giant and a serviceable starport. Starting from nothing, how does trade progress to a point of profit
The following is a concept from the World-Tamer39;s Handbook (GDW 0311). Initial trading is called "off-world trade" on (35), but how is this done by a civilization without a starport? Would we assume that damaged facilities exist? Am I confusing "second contact" with the actual tech level?
What is the value of making second contact in terms of opening a world to trade with other emergent systems
)
Can this be done in one play session? Are hot recoveries the only type of scenario that is fun/satisfying in a game session. What kind of challenges, encounters and battles Would a party need to keep this interesting? For example, starting from "discovery," could a party of players be dispatched from Aubaine (or some other where) with the goal of making contact with an unknown civilization, estimating possible trade resources and, finally, reporting back to Aubaine that a suitable location has been found to plant a rudimentary class X starport?
Forgetting about the currency exchange rate (which is very low for a class X starport), how can this be made interesting and risky for the players. Is role-playing a survey simply a matter of "trickling" system information every time the players overcome an obstacle? Does the RCES have ships capable of landing on a dirt runway (decayed landing pad)or are we talking parachutes and long falls through the atmosphere?
According to "Path of Tears," Discovery consists of "identifying and locating key resources necessary to establish interstellar commerce." (30) Initial surveys are called "stardust," but the actual process of evaluating a world seems a bit confusing because with "hot recovery" we are talking about landing on a planet that may be truly hostile to outsiders. We could end up just like the Mary Ellen Carter (famous merchant ship of the Dawn League) If a party's starship becomes damaged, is the expedition lost (high tech shipyards would not be an option on an isolated world.)? Assuming global radio or meson communicators, could the party reach the rest of the expedition? Thank you for your responses,
Richard
-- On Tue, 1/29/13, Todd Kes > wrote:
From: Todd Kes >
Subject: Re: [Traveller_TNE] Trade routes in the RCES
To: "" >
Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013, 5:17 PM
For without a Starport, I'd try to evaluate the overall tech level. Do they have radio? Communicate with someone down below, and follow their transmission when you want to land. No radio? Land near the largest concentration of population, without incinerating the local crops.
As to the trade itself, I'd classify it as 'X' on the Starport chart, using the Exchange Rate table on page 230 of the Traveller TNE book for the relevant values. So on the bright side the characters39; currency is going to go a lot farther. On the downside, they are likely among the few visitors (or the first) to reach the planet. So the planetary government will be very interested in them (and their ship), and also has an incentive to upgrade its Spaceport to at least 'D' category for future activities.
For World Tamer's Handbook, just treat it as your starting colony essentially at the mercy of passing starships in terms of trade values, but hopefully you can expand enough to buy the basic items needed for a Space port:
Class - Offers:
E - Frontier Quality
D - Poor Quality, Minor Repairs, Unrefined Fuel
C - Routine Quality, Major Repairs, Unrefined Fuel
B - Good Quality, Spacecraft Yards (STL only?), Overhaul capacity, Refined Fuel
A - Excellent Quality, Starship yards (FTL vessels), Overhaul capacity, Refined Fuel
Here is the Traveller wiki description:
http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Starport
There is a Traveller Starports book or PDF that has a list of prices in it for various items to build your own starport.
Todd Kes
From: Richard Crowley >
In one of my previous games in RCES setting, I tried to establish possible trade routes after "second contact" was made to an isolated/backwater world in the Coalition region. Possible trade is still not guaranteed or even possible. Sometimes trade routes (in other versions) are determined by the presence of a gas giant and a serviceable starport. Starting from nothing, how does trade progress to a point of profit
The following is a concept from the World-Tamer39;s Handbook (GDW 0311). Initial trading is called "off-world trade" on (35), but how is this done by a civilization without a starport? Would we assume that damaged facilities exist? Am I confusing "second contact" with the actual tech level?
What is the value of making second contact in terms of opening a world to trade with other emergent systems
)