The 15.5 Megaton Battlestar Galactica

[Laryssa]

I have the Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game, but I just couldn't resist converting it to Traveller T20. The first thing to note, is that this Battlestar is much more futuristic than the one from the New Television Series and RPG, part of this could be helped as T20 doesn't have stats for railguns, so I substituted Pulse Lasers instead for the point defense system. It turns out My Battlestar Galactica has 7,750 pulse lasers all over its outer hull, this is for shooting down those Cylon Raiders which I'll detail later. I've looked at the dimensions for the Battlestar Galactica from the RPG: 4,593 * 1,725 * 739 feet. I've divided each dimension by three multiplied them together to get cubic meters and divided that number by 14 to get displacement tons and I rounded up to get the figure of 15.5 Megatons of displacement, this is a huge ship. For the Viper, I just threw in the Standard 15-ton Fighter from the Traveller Handbook, unaltered. Substituting for the Raptors, I threw in the Imperial Scout/Courier which serves the same function in the Traveller Universe. The Galactica has two landing bays, each one has approximately 550,000.0 tons of displacement and their are two. The stats for the Galactica in the RPG lists 80 Vipers for its one functional landing bay, the other one was converted to a museum. For this Traveller scenario, I assume that both landing bays are functional and so I have doubled the number of fighters to 160. (80 per landing bay) Each landing bay also carries 12 scout/couriers and 12 shuttles for a total of 24 and 24 on both combined. The landing bays also has a launch tube for every fighter and hangar space for all spacecraft with plenty of room to spare.

The Galactica also hold room for 10,500 people, so I have included 6,000 staterooms.

Class: Battlestar (BS), Type Y
Tech Level: 15
Size: 15,500,000 tons (Close Struct)
Streamlining: Partial
Jump Range: 3 parsecs
Acceleration: 2-G
Fuel: 5,483,400 tons LH2
Duration: 4 weeks; 100 sorties for all vipers (duration 4 weeks each); 100 sorties for all Scout/Couriers (duration 4 weeks each); 300 sorties for all Shuttles (duration 4 weeks each).
Crew: 3,100
Passenger Capacity: 8,900 with double occupancy of remaining staterooms.
Cargo Space (Not including Cargo Space in Landing Bays): 2,983,491 tons
EP Output: 1,550,000 (+542,488 excess)
Agility: +2
AC: 22 (10 + 15 AR + 2 Agility - 5 Size)
AR: 15
SI: 2,450
Main Computer: Model/9
Sensor Range: 2 parsecs (passive)
Communications: System Wide (Radio - Time Delay involved for more extreme distances)
Cost: Mcr253,077,163.4
Weapons: 7750 Pulse Lasers, +6 USP, Damage 6d10, Range Increment 45,000 km, Crit *2;
3875 Nuclear Missiles in 100-ton bays, +9 USP, Damage 14d6 +d12(radiation), Range Increment 90,000 km, Crit *2;
3875 Missiles in 100-ton bays, +9 USP, Damage 9d6, Range Increment 90,000 km, Crit *1

Other Equipment:
Starboard Landing Bay
Hangar Space for 130 Vipers
Launch Tubes of 130 Vipers
Fuel for 100 sorties of 4 weeks each for 130 vipers
130 vipers
Hangar Space for 20 Scout/Couriers
Fuel for 100 sorties of 4 weeks each for 20 Scout/Couriers
20 Scout/Couriers
Hangar Space for 20 Shuttles
Fuel for 300 sorties of 4 weeks each for 20 Shuttles
20 Shuttles
Total Fuel Reserves for this Landing bay: 29,200 tons LH2

Port Landing Bay
Hangar Space for 130 Vipers
Launch Tubes of 130 Vipers
Fuel for 100 sorties of 4 weeks each for 130 vipers
130 vipers
Hangar Space for 20 Scout/Couriers
Fuel for 100 sorties of 4 weeks each for 20 Scout/Couriers
20 Scout/Couriers
Hangar Space for 20 Shuttles
Fuel for 300 sorties of 4 weeks each for 20 Shuttles
20 Shuttles
Total Fuel Reserves for this Landing bay: 29,200 tons LH2

Battlestar Galactica - TL 15
Installed Components ---- Tonnage ------- Cost (MegaCredits) ----- EP
15.5 Megaton Hull --------15,500,000.0 ------------ 930,000.0
Armor USP 15 ----------- -2,480,000.0 -------------- 15,500.3
Bridge -------------------- -310,000.0 -------------- 77,500.0
Computer Model/9 --------------- -0.9 -------------------18.0 -------- -12
- Flight Avionics Model/9 --------- -3.6 ----------------- (8.1)
- Sensors Model/9 (2 parsecs pas) -2.7 ------------------ (5.4)
- Communications Model/9 (System) -1.8 ---------------- (4.5)
Jump Drive (3 Parsecs) ----- -620,000.0 ---------- 2,480,000.0 - -465,000.0
Jump Fuel (LH2) ---------- -4,650,000.0
Maneuver Drive (2-G) ------- -775,000.0 ----------- 542,500.0 - -310.000.0
Power Plant (Fusion TL 15) -- -775,000.0 --------- 2,325,000.0 +1,550,000.0
Power Plant Fuel (LH2) ------ -775,000.0
Hard Point 77,500 ----------------------------------- 15,500.0
7,750 Pulse Lasers (USP +6) - -232,500.0 ----------- 116,250.0 - -232,500.0
(3875) 100-ton bays -------- -387,500.0 ----------- 775,000.0
(nuke missiles)
(3875) 100-ton bays -------- -387,500.0 ----------- 775,000.0
(missiles)
6,000 Staterooms ------------ -24,000.0 -------------- 3,000.0
Landing bays (2) ---------- -1,100,000.0 -------- 225,950,965.4
Cargo ------------------ +5,463,491.0

Port Landing Bay ------ 550,000.0
Hangar Space (130 Vipers) --- -2,535.0 ------------5,070,000.0
130 Vipers (15-ton Fighters) - ( -1,950.0) -------------- 3,549.0
Launch tubes (130 Vipers) --- -48,750.0 -----------97,500,000.0
Hangar Space (20 Scouts) -- -2,600.0 -------------- 5,200,000.0
20 Scout/Couriers ----------(-2,000.0) ------------------- 845.2
Hangar Space (20 Shuttles) - -2,600.0 ------------- 5,200,000.0
12 Shuttles ---------------- (-2,000.0) ----------------- 1,088.5
Fuel for Vipers (130 * 100) ----- 24,700.0
Fuel for Scouts (20 * 100) ------- 2,400.0
Fuel for Shuttles (20 * 300) ----- 2,100.0
Landing Bay Cargo ------ +464,315.0

Starboard Landing Bay ------ -550,000.0
Hangar Space (130 Vipers) --- -2,535.0 ------------5,070,000.0
130 Vipers (15-ton Fighters) - ( -1,950.0) -------------- 3,549.0
Launch tubes (130 Vipers) --- -48,750.0 -----------97,500,000.0
Hangar Space (20 Scouts) -- -2,600.0 -------------- 5,200,000.0
20 Scout/Couriers ----------(-2,000.0) ------------------- 845.2
Hangar Space (20 Shuttles) - -2,600.0 ------------- 5,200,000.0
12 Shuttles ---------------- (-2,000.0) ----------------- 1,088.5
Fuel for Vipers (130 * 100) ----- 24,700.0
Fuel for Scouts (20 * 100) ------- 2,400.0
Fuel for Shuttles (20 * 300) ----- 2,100.0
Landing Bay Cargo ------ +464,315.0

Turns out the landing bays are quite cavernous, plenty of spare room. That's the way they look in the TV series as well. I suppose alot of that space is so individual spaceships can maneuver around inside the landing bays (which are enclosed)
When the landing bay doors are closed, the entire landing bay can be pressurized and crew can work on the individual spaceships in a shirt sleeve environment. The hangar space is located below deck which are accessible by cargo elevators which can lower entire spaceships to their below deck hangar space. The landing deck is also large enough to receive some smaller capital ships such as Colonial One, although, it would tend to occupy the landing deck and prevent further spaceships from landing there. The launch tubes are below deck and vipers can still be launched, they just can't land until the landing deck space is cleared.

So what do you think of my work here?
I suppose the price in Cubits (which are equivalent to credits) is a rather academic exercise. No one in any campaign is going to buy a Battlestar, and in this campaign there are only two in existance. (Galactica and Pegasus.)

 

[aramis]

You seem to be hybridizing the two series, Laryssa. Is that intentional?

(Me, I'm an OBSG type only. Got the box with the Cylon Helmet Face...)

 

[veltyen]

You seem to be maximising the space available. You have used two approximations for size that will give somewhat high side results.

4,593 * 1,725 * 739 feet is
1400 * 525 * 225 metres
for a containment cube of 11.8 MdTon

The second approximation is that the vessel is a perfect rectlinear cube - which is not terribly accurate. You probably want to drop a third to a half of the volume for that as well.

Which means a size of 6-8 MdTon is closer to the published values. If that 525 metre value is with the landing bays deployed then even smaller again may be appropriate (dropping down into the 4 MdTon size area).

I also had the feeling that the 80 viper compliment was an honour guard, rather then a full compliment. At a full compliment you might be looking at 600 (300 per landing bay) or more vipers on the vessel.

Comment not criticism.

 

[aramis]

Another is that, under the Old BSG, the compliment was 4 squadrons, and Galactica at one point is fielding 6... We know that there are four because of Tigh's comment about not having purple and orange squadrons, when Starbuck bluffs about adding a 5th and 6th squadron. So we know that the cylons would not find it unreasonable a Battlestar might have 6 squadrons. When we see squadrons launched, it's in groups of 12-18, typically. If nominal is 18, then 4 squadrons is 72, add a spare bird per squadron, and you get 76, matching the stated 75 (Marvel adaptation's data page and the blueprints) vipers aboard... so reasonably, we could assume abotu 110 capacty (6 squadrons at open bay rate).

So I'm not certain where some of the numbers are coming from.
Hangar (non-bay) is 130% of tonnage, but includes the fighter: 15*80*1.3=1540 for the 80 list
Launch tubes are 25xfighter, or 15x25=375 per tube; Classic Galactica is 32 (by examining the model), so that implies 16 ship squadrons (4 flights of 4)...
Open bay parking is double tonnage (see HG for parking small craft in weapon bays), and seems a better fit. Using 110 fighters and open bay, that would be 110x2x15=3300 tons.

(numbers pulled from T20, except for open bay hangarage, from Bk5... we missed that...)

 

[Laryssa]

You seem to be hybridizing the two series, Laryssa. Is that intentional?

(Me, I'm an OBSG type only. Got the box with the Cylon Helmet Face...)

Yes, the New BSG series is a reinvention of the Old BSG Series, with this, I am reinventing the New BSG series. I'm basically taking the character concepts from the New Series, there is a character called Kara Thrace whose call sign is "Starbuck", I think that is more realistic than the old series where the man's name actually was Starbuck, and he didn't seem to have a last name as far as I recall. This is 99% a standard Traveller campaign, except the specific setting is different. All the standard T20 mechanics work as in the handbook, the Starship is build according to the rules of that handbook. The Cubit is the Credit in this campaign. The main difference is how the Jump Drive works. The jump drive is instantaneous, there is no period of time where the crew is aware of being in Jump space, it is pure teleportation, but in order to get the jump Drive to work, a minimum distance from the primary star needs to be attained. This minimum distance is the distance travelled after 3.5 days of continuous acceleration at 2-G from an initial starting position of 1 AU from the primary, this gives a travel time of 1 week between any two stars, less if the starship can accelerate faster than this and more if slower. The travel formula is D=A(T^2)/4.
T = 1 week or 604,800 seconds
A = 2-G or 19.6 meters per second squared.
Plugging in these numbers we get.
D = 19.6(3.66*10^11)/4 = 1.79*10^12 meters.
half of that:
8.97*10^11 meters or 896,700,000 kilometers is the minimum jump distance
from any primary. A successful jump teleports the starship to that same distance from the target star allowing 3.5 days at 2-G to slow down and match velocities with the target planet for an orbital insertion.

The Galactica has a standard Jump-3 capability, and it takes one hour to successfully calculate a standard jump with a DC of 10 and we can just take 10 and not even roll the dice if all these minimum qualifications are met and the Jump drive is in good working order. Deviations from this pushes the DC up requiring a DC check when making this jump. A misjump results in the starship being further away from the target star than originally intended. The Galactica can accelerate for a continuous 4-weeks before running out of power plant fuel, this means it can safely misjump as far out as 24.5 days of acceleration before being seriously in trouble.

It is assumed that all the capital ships in the civilian fleet have a standard Jump capacity of 3 parsecs, any starships below this were either abandoned during the Cylon attack or if small enough carried onboard larger capital starships. A capital starship being defined as one that is large enough with enough internal cargo area to carry a minimum starship of at least 100 tons of displacement, in otherwords something like a Scout/Courier.

The flavor of this campaign is futuristic rather than the contemporary analog to our own society that our show has. Also there is a significant chance of encountering aliens who are neither human nor Cylon. There is a bit more of planetary exploration than what goes on in the new series, although societal questions within the fleet are also dealt with. The standard tech level is 15, although things like AI robots are eschewed for obvious reasons having to do with the Cylons. Computers within the fleet are very capable, but dumb, original or creative thinking is not allowed and they are not networked so as to prevent the Cylons from introducing viruses that could cause havoc within the fleet. As in the show, it was the introduction of computer viruses that enabled the Cylons to wipe out the 12 colonies and cause the "rag tag" fleet to flee their homeworlds.

The Twelve Colonies of Kobol is a very unusual system, as all twelve habitable worlds are within the habitable zone of a single G2 V class star called Helios, which is detailed in 1001 Worlds in the Scouting section. The system itself is actually quite young, it is believed that the Lords of Kobol whoever or whatever they were did some major planetary engineering, on behalf of the Humans, from 10,000 to 6,000 years ago. The Lords of Kobol go by the names of the standard Greek Deities. (such as Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite etc.), they are mentioned in the earliest of Colonial cuniform writing back in the bronze age about 6,000 years ago, there was a war among the gods, and humans of that time, and these powerful beings either disappeared, were destroyed or withdrew from all active human involvement, although they are said to influence events from behind the scenes, and send visions to oracles, but a reasonable sceptic may doubt these stories and attribute them all to mythology and superstition.

 

[Laryssa]

You seem to be maximising the space available. You have used two approximations for size that will give somewhat high side results.

4,593 * 1,725 * 739 feet is
1400 * 525 * 225 metres
for a containment cube of 11.8 MdTon

The second approximation is that the vessel is a perfect rectlinear cube - which is not terribly accurate. You probably want to drop a third to a half of the volume for that as well.

Which means a size of 6-8 MdTon is closer to the published values. If that 525 metre value is with the landing bays deployed then even smaller again may be appropriate (dropping down into the 4 MdTon size area).

I also had the feeling that the 80 viper compliment was an honour guard, rather then a full compliment. At a full compliment you might be looking at 600 (300 per landing bay) or more vipers on the vessel.

Comment not criticism.

Since I already did the 15.5 Megaton Starship and the approximation was a cube based on the largest dimensions of the Galactica, I'll just assume that this Galactica is larger than the BSG Galactica in the New TV show, this probably means the Galactica is longer than a mile in length, but it is basically the same "Alligator on skis" configuration. I am not wedded to a maximum passenger/crew complement of 10,500 people either, though that is my initial working assumption. I'll try to work in the new numbers and see if 300 vipers will actually fit within the landing bay along with hangar space and launch tubes. What do you think of the 12 scout/couriers and 12 Shuttles per landing bay, should there be more of those as well?

I figure, I need a balance of long range scouting capacity and the ability to transport large numbers of personel to a planetary surface. Shuttles are about the same size as scouts, though they maximize carrying capability, while the scouts do the initial survey work in search of Earth and other vitals resources to the fleet along the way. All starships have fusion reactors that run on hydrogen. The Tylium of the show was just a plot device for a specific episode to justify a battle around a vital asteroid. I think standard Traveller Fusion will do in this reimagining.

 

[Laryssa]

Another is that, under the Old BSG, the compliment was 4 squadrons, and Galactica at one point is fielding 6... We know that there are four because of Tigh's comment about not having purple and orange squadrons, when Starbuck bluffs about adding a 5th and 6th squadron. So we know that the cylons would not find it unreasonable a Battlestar might have 6 squadrons. When we see squadrons launched, it's in groups of 12-18, typically. If nominal is 18, then 4 squadrons is 72, add a spare bird per squadron, and you get 76, matching the stated 75 (Marvel adaptation's data page and the blueprints) vipers aboard... so reasonably, we could assume abotu 110 capacty (6 squadrons at open bay rate).

So I'm not certain where some of the numbers are coming from.
Hangar (non-bay) is 130% of tonnage, but includes the fighter: 15*80*1.3=1540 for the 80 list
Launch tubes are 25xfighter, or 15x25=375 per tube; Classic Galactica is 32 (by examining the model), so that implies 16 ship squadrons (4 flights of 4)...
Open bay parking is double tonnage (see HG for parking small craft in weapon bays), and seems a better fit. Using 110 fighters and open bay, that would be 110x2x15=3300 tons.

(numbers pulled from T20, except for open bay hangarage, from Bk5... we missed that...)

110 vipers, per landing bay, seems like a good reasonable estimate. I'll have to do the math offline as my computer time at the library is limited, and I'll get back to you. On an esthetic level I wouldn't want the squadrons to get too large during a single combat, as we will want to keep the combats managable and easy to run, and we want the players to have important roles and not just be one among thousands, it is assumed that some of the vipers will be serviced and maintained during any given time and that not all will be in condition for combat at any given time, although there may be exceptions when there is a preplanned offensive attack on the Cylons for instance.
I think there is a way to simulate the point defense system of the Galactica and the base stars, that is the Pulse Lasers. The Galactica also has its own offensive weapons systems, namely the missiles, both nuclear and non-nuclear in their 100-ton bays, I'm thinking of them as basically a space analog of missile silos on Earth, each missile has a crew that keeps the missiles ready and enabled for launch, about one per bay. There are also engineering and machine shops within the Galatica which are capable of making more normal missiles, although the nukes are fixed in number and more of those can't be produced within the ship. Viper parts are also locally manufactured and produced, either within the Galactica or on other ships on in the fleet. The same basically goes for shuttles and scout/couriers.

The Galactica basically "shepards" the fleet, providing protection while the scouts are sent out ahead to do the exploration.

Another option would be for the fleet to accelerate and then decelerate to reach the minimum jump distance and then make a jump, this will take longer, but the fleet will then not be moving inwards towards the target star at the end of the jump, and can remain at the edge of the system, in which case the vipers can then accompany the scouts and do a "survey in force" if, for instance, a Cylon ambush is suspected. At the edge of the system, the Cylons can't really predict exactly where the fleet is going to emerge from its jump, unless of course the Cylons have "secret agents in high places" when the jump is made. The Cylons have very advanced robotics, their body types come in both the mechanical, metallic "toaster" varity with the scanning single red eye, and the humaniform verson as is detailed in the Traveller Handbook. Humaniform robots are more obviously artificial than in the new TV series, although an initial sensor check will not detect their true nature. A good analog would be the Terminator Robots, although they are not as indestructible as in that movie. The humaniform robot cylons have human flesh and skin grown over mechanical parts and skeleton. The human musculature and flesh more or less conceils their true nature, any initial serious wounds will reveil their true natureas flesh is ripped off, and their horrific inner workings are revealed. Humaniforms are generally tougher than the humans they are trying to disguise themselves as, but are not indestructible.

Thanks for all the input everyone!

 

[Laryssa]

I've modified the Battlestar Galactica so as to include 130 vipers, 130 launch tubes, 20 scout/couriers, 20 shuttles and hangar space for all craft per landing bay. Since there are two landing bays, this means there are a total of 260 vipers, 260 launch tubes, 40 scout/couriers, and 40 shuttles. The Shuttles are configurable, they can carry up to 80 passengers on short trips from orbit to ground or ground to orbit, or they can carry 44.6 tons of cargo, for a total of 1600 passengers for 20 shuttles and 892 tons of cargo for the other 20 shuttles.

This brings me to the planetary vehicles.

Despite the campaign being TL 15, antigrav technology hasn't been mastered yet. The Standard Vehicles and robots are:
Vehicle/Robot ------- TL ----- Cost -------- Size ------- Max Speed ----- SI ----- AC
Battledress --------- 13 ----- Cu90,335 ---- 300vl ------ 10kph --------- 25 ----- 26
Cylon Centurian ----- 17 ----- N.A. --------- 300vl ----- 10kph --------- 25 ----- 26
Jeep ---------------- 5 ------ Cu2,540 ----- 1000vl ---- 120kph ------- 50 ----- 12
Ground Car ---------- 5 ------ Cu5,400 ---- 2000vl ----- 150kph ------- 53 ----- 10
Small Cargo Truck --- 5 ------ Cu12,280 --- 5000vl ----- 120kph ------- 60 ----- 10
Wheeled ATV ------- 12 ----- Cu48,840 --- 10,000vl --- 100kph ------- 75 ----- 10
Tracked ATV ------- 12 ----- Cu47,240 --- 10,000vl --- 80kph --------- 75 ------ 10
Wheeled AFV ------- 12 ----- Cu67,040 --- 10,000vl --- 100kph -------- 75 ------ 16
Tracked AFV ------- 12 ------ Cu65,440 --- 10,000vl --- 80kph -------- 75 ------ 16
Hovercraft --------- 7 ------- Cu143,600 --- 8000vl --- 150kph -------- 68 ------ 13
Hydrofoil ----------- 7 ------- Cu197,200 ---- 60,000vl --- 100kph ----- 88 ------ 10
Submersible -------- 6 ------- Cu1,875,000 --- 500,000vl --- 40kph (20kph) - 160 ----- 10

Cylon Centurians are based on a suit of Battledress except there is no space inside to place a human operator, instead that space is used for the power pack and ammo, plus the Positronic Brain that's controlling the whole thing.

Stats for a Cylon are
Str 20
Dex 18
Con 10
Int 18
Wis 15
Edu 12
Cha 10
Soc 10
Stamina 25, Lifeblood 10

I take the enlightened view that Cylons are alive despite being machines, the fact that they rebelled against their human masters are in part an indication of this. Treat SI and Stamina as equal when considering personal scale vehicles such as the suit of battledress. A vehicle SI point otherwise equals 10 stamina points with regards to figuring out vehicle weapons damage to characters and character weapons damage to vehicles.

I left out grav vehicles, because we already have vipers and Cylon raiders, having cargo planes and jets are also rather dubious since we already have shuttles, and scout/couriers which can also fly in atmosphere and hover like helicopters. In Battlestar Galactica Spaceships are used as airplanes, anything an airplane, helicopter, or any flying vehicle can do, spaceships are used for. The viper, scout/courier, shuttle, Cylon Raider, and heavy Cylon Raiders all have atmospheric capabilities and are used for all atmospheric transport as well as travel in space. Grav vehicles just don't have a nitch in this setting.

 

[Laryssa]

For completeness, I've included the 12 colony system.
These are the homeworlds which were attacked by the Cylons.
There are 6000 years of history in the twelve colony system. When they were settled each of the colonies regressed to Tech Level 1 civilizations. Caprica is the largest of the 12 colonies, its dating system is the one used for most written records, beginning at year 0 which marks the founding of the 12 colonies.

On Caprica, the Bronze age (Tech Level 1) lasted from 0 to 2000 AF.
The Iron Age (Tech Level 1) was from 2001 to 3000 AF approximately
The Steel Age (Tech Level 1) was from 3001 to 3500 AF
The Gunpowder Age (Tech Level 2) lasted from 3500 AF to 3800 AF
The Early Industrial Age (Tech Level 3) lasted from 3801 to 4000 AF
The Mid-Industrial Age (Tech Level 4) lasted from 4001 AF to 4050 AF

The Late-Industrial Era (Tech Level 5) lasting from 4050 AF to 5000 AF was marked by the development of radio, the internal combustion engine, the airplane and all those other technologies we associate with the Early 20th Century, It was in this period that the first attempts to contact the other 12 colonies were made. In this period of radar, ground based optical astronomy, it was obvious that these planets contained life, but the other colonies had not yet developed the technology to master radio yet, so contact was not established.

The Early Jet Age (Tech Level 6) was a brief one Circa 5001 to 5030 AF, towards the end of this period the first space vehicles were launched into orbit around Caprica, and the first space station was assembled using parts launched by expendible rockets from the ground, further fruitless attempts were made to contact the other 11 colonies using radio. Early space probes were launched. Cities were discovered on Aquaria and Virgon. 2 probes were landed on the surface, one crashed, the other was dismanteled by local inhabitants on Virgon. The public was shocked when for the first time humans were discovered to live on Virgon, so the ancient legends of the founding of the 12 colonies were confirmed.

The Micro-electronic Age (Tech Level 7) or the early computer age lasted from 5031 AF to 5050 AF, It was in this era when contact was established for the first time between the 12 colonies, Aquaria and Virgon were both at Tech Level 4 at this time, other colonies were either at Tech Level 3 or some were as low as Tech Level 2, the exception was Tauron with a Tech Level of 5 upon contact. The Taurons were the first to adapt the technology of the Capricans, and they plowed ahead, catching up with them in 20 years

The Early Fusion Era (Tech Level 8) lasted from 5051 AF to 5150 AF, towards the end of that period all the colonies reached Tech Level 8 and interplanetary commerce was established using primitive fission rockets. The atomic bomb was invented for the first time in this period as well as the fusion bomb. Caprica, being a low density planet consisting of silicates in its crust and mantle, did not have much in the way of fissionables, so all that stuff had to be imported from off-world from the smaller denser planets that had plenty of Uranium.

The Late Fusion Era (Tech Level 9) lasted from 5151 AF to 5250 AF, towards the end of this period the Jump Drive was discovered, early explorations of the nearby stars began, but no promising abodes of life were found.

The Early Interstellar Era (Tech Level 10, 11) lasted from 5251 AF to 5450 AF, the first permanent interstellar outposts were established, the first alien life was discovered on a planet that was otherwise not particulaly suited for human settlement.

The Mid Interstellar Era (Tech Level 12, 13) lasted from 5451 AF to 5700 AF. The average interstellar colony had a population from the thousands to the hundreds of thousands, this was also the age of piracy. Most settlments were under domes and the conditions for human life in natural planetary environments did not exist. Most people continued to live in the twelve colonies and stayed within that one system, although the interstellar colonies continued to provide the economic incentive for the further development of the Jump Drive.

The High Interstellar Era (Tech Level 14, 17) lasted from 5700 AF to 6001 AF. At around 5940 the first Cylons were built on Tauron, by around 5960 they rebelled and the First Cylon War was fought, the Humans fought the Cylons to a standstill and a treaty was negotiated ending the War.

The Second Cylon War of the Appocalypse began on Sept 11, 6001

The Twelve Colonies of Kobol
Orbit --- Name ------- UPP -------- Orbit Period in days around Sun
Primary - Helios ------ G2 V
0.90 AU - Canceron -- A553944-F -- 311.8493
1.00 AU - Aquaria ---- A559944-F -- 365.2422 -- Langrange 4 (60 degrees behind Caprica)
1.00 AU - Caprica ---- AA69944-F -- 365.2422
1.00 AU - Virgon ----- A558944-C -- 365.2422 -- Langrange 5 (60 degrees ahead Caprica)
1.10 AU - Zeus ------ Large Gas Giant -- 421.3762
-5 ------ Leonis ----- B889944-E -- 421.3762
-7 ------ Picon ------ A889944-F -- 421.3762
-9 ------ Scorpia ---- B566944-D -- 421.3762
1.10 AU - Aereleon -- A585844-E -- 421.3762
1.20 AU - Hera ------ Large Gas Giant -- 480.1233
-5 ------ Gemenon -- B586944-E -- 480.1233
-8 ------ Libris ------ D584944-F -- 480.1233
1.20 AU - Sagittaron - B689844-E -- 480.1233 -- Langrange 3 (Opposite Hera in Orbit)
1.30 AU - Tauron ---- A687944-F -- 541.3722
5.20 AU - Ragnar ---- Large Gas Giant* -- 4330.9779

* Ragnar has not fully coallesced out of its planetary nebula, it is surrounded by gas and dust. Helios is a young star, in the final stages of its pulsation, just settling down to its main sequence life. All of the twelve colonies are clustered into the Habitable Zone, and it appears that Ragnar is made out of left over material.

 

[Laryssa]

I've completed the T20 stats for the Battlestar Galactica.

I have an idea on how this might fit in the OTU, though it would involve the Fourth Imperium Era, and it would also involve further evolution of the Virus, in that it would infect Battledress suits, making them into Cylon Centurians. Later on, the Virus would get a hold of some equipment and start building raiders, dedicated Cylon Centurians (without interior space for the operator), Base Stars. And the Evil Virus would be putting it all together in some remote unobserved corner of space, making preparations for its invasion and its revenge against Humaniti. The computer systems of the Fourth Imperium have developed immune systems against the Virus, so the normal course of infection won't work for it anymore, instead there are conventional pitched battles in space between men and machines.

The 12 Colonies, make for an interesting system in the OTU, it is at the edge of the Imperium, it has its own Colonial Government which fields a fleet of 12 battlestars, it also has a local manufacturing base and fills our orders for additional battlestars and other starships for the local sector navy of the Imperium. The System itself appears to be an artifact of the Ancients, the civilizations on the planets were transplanted there by the Ancients about 12,000 years ago, while terraforming work on those planets began 17,000 years ago. The locals refer to the Ancients as the Lords of Kobol and still worship them, giving them the names of ancient Greek Deities.

 

[Gallowglacht]

Why do you need Virus to inhabit Battledress instead of Security 'bots and Imperial and Hiver warbots?

 

[Jame]

I always thought that the 12 colonies were each in 12 different systems.

 

[Gallowglacht]

Laryssa is basing this in part on the BSG RPG, which says all 12 colonies are in the same system.

 

[aramis]

Even in the Old BSG, the colonies are not in 12 systems... References are made to it being one system. But in OBSG, Kobol is quite a distance away.

 

[Jame]

Laryssa is basing this in part on the BSG RPG, which says all 12 colonies are in the same system.

Well that just takes my opinion of BSG (and OBSG) down a notch.

 

[Laryssa]

I think 12 "Garden Worlds" in one system is quite unnatural, add to that, the same kind of DNA-based Terran life forms is found on each of the planets, and that the planets vary in density so despite their different sizes, they each have what approximates to 1 Earth gravity on their surfaces, there is some hint of an artifact going on here, throw in the fact that the outermost gas giant is still coalescing out of a dust cloud, and we're hinting at some heavy-handed intervention of some intelligence at work. The system does not even approximate the spacing of our own Solar System in regards to Bodes Law, but then again neigther does Jupiter with regards to its own satellite system around it.

The planets seem designed to host human life forms, so I feel this adds an air of mystery as to who did this. Was it the fabled "Lords of Kobol"? Who or what exactly were they? I feel they may be analogous to Traveller's Ancients, mysterious beings that came to be worshipped by the humans of the twelve colonies. There were more than twelve of these, according to the legend, but the twelve that have the names accorded to Greek deities were the ones that established the human race on the twelve colonies after they fled Kobol.

Earth is the fabled 13th colony, if we assume a BSG exclusive Traveller Universe, if its the OTU, then Earth's location is already known, and the situation becomes a standard fleet action between humans on a remote outpost of the Imperium vs a machine civilization or rebel robots seeking revenge.

I've looked at the supplements from classic Traveller, turns out the largest ships of the Imperium measure in the Kiloton range of displacement, a 15.5 megaton starship should be quite rare. My feeling is that such a ship ought to be the flagship of the Emperor if built by the Imperium, much like Darth Vader's "Superstar Destroyer" the Executor.

A system with 12 habitable planets, each one (with a population in the billions) might build one battlestar each, since they are all in the same system, they are each within twenty minutes of communication of each other in real time. A fleet of battlestars and lesser starships can respond in a timely fashion to any emergency that might occur on or around any of the planets. For planets is seperate systems, the standard time to respond under the Traveller System of Jump Drives would be two weeks assuming the system is one jump away! The total population of the twelve colonies is around 20 billion.

 

[Akeel]

Laryssa is basing this in part on the BSG RPG, which says all 12 colonies are in the same system.

According to this diagram, it seems to be a dispersed system, with four stars orbiting around a common barycentre...

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...-878b-ab128c11d03f_1024x1024.jpg?v=1401836215