Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
The tape could also get shredded after it's read, and stuck in random access.
Vote Your Canon #1: Empty Hex Jumps (consensus: YES)
- Thread starter robject
- Start date
My first real Unix grokked moment... Sysop left a hidden note to phone phreakers, but never changed the default root PW. So 10 seconds of docs later...
Code:
su
# rm -rfF /*.*He did have a backup. An acquaintance noted that, due to the way that device was set up, he had to reinstall from floppy to be able to untarball the backup, because the remote backup required a UUCP connection.
Ah, the days gone by...
Dirt, earth, something like that.
According to GT:IW, they found a deep space rogue world in the hex between Terra and Barnard, and used it as midpoint destination.
DaltonSpence
SOC-9
Fortunately for the existence of Terra as an independent world, Vilani expansion to rimward stopped several parsecs from Terra before the Vilani era of cultural stagnation began. Terrans discovered a Vilani outpost at Barnard in -2422 as part of their first interstellar voyage using the jump drive. The discovery of a huge interstellar state ruled by humans not from Earth caused panic and indignation among the people and nations of Terra.
The First Interstellar War began when a Vilani merchant convoy ignored Terran traffic control signals from the Terran base in the Barnard system; the Terrans believed an attack was imminent and destroyed some of the convoy's ships. It and the early subsequent wars tended to be limited affairs in which a few systems changed hands.
How did we get to Barnard Star?
So the only questions are:
- Which hex was the "jump point" (1826 or 1927)?
- Did they ever give the "rogue planet" a name?
- Did they leave anything behind? (A secret space station maybe?)
Dalton “the answer was out there” Spence
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HanleyTucks
SOC-11
I've always assumed the "parsec" was - well, approximately 3.26 light years for the purposes of Jump-X. After all, what fraction of star systems are precisely a parsec apart? Or even within 10% of it? And if we accept two-dimensional subsector maps, we can accept that the "parsec" Jump is actually something like, say, 51-150% of a parsec.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
The 2d subsector 'maps' do not show stars, they show planets. They are more like a tube train map than an ordinance survey. The maximum distance you can jump with a jump 1 engine is 1 parsec etc.
If GT:ISW was to be written today there is another, and in my opinion better, method for that first interstellar jump. Some current models for the Oort Cloud have it extending to between 1.6 and 3.2 light years from Earth.
So the first intersteller mission jumps from comet to comet, at each stage of the jump having to make extremely complex calculations and refine more fuel. This is why the mission takes so long and is also why Barnard's Star is chosen rather than the closer Centauri system, because the Oort cloud objects that make the trip possible line up that way.
If GT:ISW was to be written today there is another, and in my opinion better, method for that first interstellar jump. Some current models for the Oort Cloud have it extending to between 1.6 and 3.2 light years from Earth.
So the first intersteller mission jumps from comet to comet, at each stage of the jump having to make extremely complex calculations and refine more fuel. This is why the mission takes so long and is also why Barnard's Star is chosen rather than the closer Centauri system, because the Oort cloud objects that make the trip possible line up that way.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
In theory, accurate star maps with more precise distances would be required.
In practice, you can wait until the current franchise holder has access to (affordable) sophisticated computer programmes that can account for time and space (distances) for fifty sectors worth of solar systems.
In practice, you can wait until the current franchise holder has access to (affordable) sophisticated computer programmes that can account for time and space (distances) for fifty sectors worth of solar systems.
DaltonSpence
SOC-9
My philosophy is that jump maps are maps of jump-space which is essentially two-dimensional and cellular in nature. While the entry/exit points of adjacent hexes in normal space are generally a parsec apart, this can vary widely and may change over time. This doesn't really matter to your typical Traveller; it takes as long as it takes and you arrive where the referee wants you to. 
This is a major basis of my Near Earth J-1 campaign- Oort ice stations provide refuel points. Including the infamous Faust Station.
I don't bother with the requirement for a grav target, but do honor the 100D precipitous stop.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
For a moment ... consider the implications if a 100 diameters gravity well was required to exit jumpspace.
Your ship could only exit when "hitting" a jump shadow.
At that point, you basically have hyperspace/warp drives ... except that you need good navigation to exit back to normal space.
If you "miss" your jump shadow target, you're staying in jump space until you do hit a jump shadow.
How fast do you move between hexes?
What's your jump number?
Point is, you wind up with a VERY different Traveller universe in such a scenario.
Jump-1 ships can traverse from (say...) Regina to Glisten in a single jump ... however they're going to be in jumpspace for a LOT longer than just 1 week (try 27 parsecs = 27 weeks @ Jump-1) so that Jump-1 ship better have PLENTY of reserve fuel to sustain itself for 28+ weeks in order to exit jumpspace with any survivors.
This is why changing the conditions to needing a jump shadow to "hit" in order to exit jump turns things more into a warp drive type of situation (where the jump number translates into a "warp factor" of sorts). At that point, ANY ship can reach ANY destination ... the only question is whether or not there are enough life support/power plant fuel reserves aboard to survive the trip.
Want to jump from Chronor to Rhylanor in 1 jump? You can ... it's just going to "take a while" to complete the transit.
Such a rules rewrite has VAST implications for both military naval campaigns as well as the operation of the Express Boat Network (think about it).
That doesn't seem to be the original intent though.
However, if you want to play in a warp drive/hyperdrive styled setting, that's the easiest way to do it.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Two dimensional travel is a game mechanic to simplify play, which we accept in lieu of a more complex three dimensional star map.
AM Solomani notes use of an oort cloud object...
HanleyTucks
SOC-11
We shall of course take your word for it. But I'd always assumed it was because stars are something you don't really want to Jump next to, might get a bit toasty in the ship, plus they're a bit rough to land on.
This was likewise my assumption. Most especially to simplify play for the referee. I've got good old Elite: Dangerous on my PS5, and they recently noted,
and the game has been out since 2014 December, and sold over 3 million copies. So the average player has discovered seventy new systems - and that's with, of course, most players never discovering any new systems at all, sticking to the local systems, or just never playing enough to get far enough away from those core worlds. There'll be some dedicated maniac who's done thousands.
A three-dimensional game universe creates a lot of work for a referee. A two-dimensional one, considerably less. Likewise restricting the players to Jump-1 to 3, rather than straight off to 6.
The trick to using a 3D universe is to keep jump capability somewhat limited -- you can still reach the same number of stars, they're just in different directions than they'd be on a 2D map.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
This is unlikely to happen until there is a three dimensional computer generated star map, and presumably, machines can learn how that's supposed to look like if you feed them in all the supplements.
But, of course, that's not going to work without human intervention redesigning them and readjusting their relationship in three dimensions.
But, of course, that's not going to work without human intervention redesigning them and readjusting their relationship in three dimensions.
Spinward Flow
SOC-14 1K
I would argue that the 2D subsector maps are a byproduct of the medium ... LBBs printed on PAPER in the late 70s early 80s. You basically couldn't "do" a 3D map all that well in paper books of that era.
The compromise, of course, was 2D maps ... which have weathered the last 40+ years reasonably well (although, we really do need computers to keep them all straight at this stage).
Simplifying play for the Referee was merely a byproduct of the limitations of the medium (paper), rather than the explicit design purpose from the outset.
Until Book6- Scouts came all you ever rolled for were main worlds and Gas Giants.
Agreed, and system density low.
Even with low stellar populations, the number of possible transits gets out of hand exponentially as jump range increases. My solution was to break the 'one parsec per jump number' heuristic and establish diminishing returns: J2 achieved 1.9pc, J3 --> 2.6pc, ... , J6 --> 3.5pc. Even then, most systems becomes reachable with low-jump capability once system density exceeds about 30%; At 40%, it becomes a tangled J1 main.
Side note: the SF RPG Diaspora uses a a map of inhabited worlds that is very nearly 1-D. It works well for the STRPG format, though I don't much care for it in practice.
