The End Result
Iomaria A99889A-8 {0} (B7K-1) [7F08]
Trade codes: PH, PA, PI.
The Process
Where T5 starts to really differ is the in the extensions, native intelligent life (NIL), nobility and all that. Chunks of this are really Traveller 3rd Imperium specific, though abstract enough that you could use or ignore as necessary for other SF game universes.
There are three extensions: Importance (relative to some region, so I suppose this can be scaled up or down depending on the size of your universe you are playing in). Looking at the mods, we get +1 for the port, -1 for our TL 8, and that appears to be that, giving us an importance of 0, or unimportant. Based on the expected ship traffic, that gives is maybe 2 ships a week, maybe up to one per day. Despite having a type A port! Being in brackets this looks like {0}
The Economic extension is the strength of the world's economy. It is a bit more involved than the importance extension. For resources, 2D and I roll a 9. Then because we squeak by with TL8, we can add the belts & gas giant count. No belts but 2 gas giants, so Iomaria's resource value is 11. Our labor is population -1, or 7. The infrastructure is 2D + lx, which I am having to assume is the labor value. 12 + 7 = 19, which really seems to me to be a really high infrastructure value! However, efficiency is via flux, and -1: apparently, we take advantage of the amazing infrastructure and make it up in volume. Efficiency takes into account legal procedures, tariffs, customs and the like. I think the impersonal bureaucracy, along with the very high law level, has a LOT of red tape! Using these numbers, we can also calculate the resource units, and in Iomaria's case will be negative. R (11) * L (7) * I (19) * E (-1) = -1463. Probably due to having to import all those jump drives as Iomaria cannot support much by itself. In the end, assuming that we use the pseudo-hex, this looks like (B7K-1).
The final extension is the cultural extension. There are 4 parts to this. Heterogeneity is social diversity. Population + flux, so 8 - 1 or 7. A high value indicates a spectrum of differences. With the rolls, looks like it is close to a 2d6 curve, so 7 is right in the middle. This is another of those cases where there are some assumptions for the rules but no explanations, such as what is a high value? I am only assuming that a 2d roll + a flux roll will basically give us something similar to a 2d roll by itself. But hey - I can do math! Assuming a population of 1, the lowest you can get is 1 - 5, or -4. The highest you can get, is a population of 15 (quadrillions of people!), so 15 + 5 or 20. Ergo, the range is -4 to 20. 7 is actually on the lower side, so moderately diverse but not too crazy. Acceptance is population + labor, 8 + 7 = 15. This range is 1 (pop 1 + 0 = labor) to 29 (15 + 14). 15 puts us about in the middle. People accept off-worlders, no big deal one way or the other. Finally, strangeness is the degree of difference from the "norms" of interstellar society. This again assumes a norm for interstellar society. Flux + 5, so 0. With a range of 0 to 10, Iomaria is stock standard whatever the interstellar norms are. Nothing surprising here other than the sheer amount of red tape. Finally, we have symbos used by the culture. Flux + TL, or 0 + 8 = 8. With a range of -5 to 20+, 8 puts us on the low end, more concrete than abstract. The cultural extensions are square brackets, so [7F08]
So, what does all this additional information give us? We now know that Iomaria is not too important in the local region, and with such a high negative RU, is probably importing a lot and is a possible financial drain in the stellar community. Despite that or perhaps because of that, Iomaria has an immense infrastructure in place, but one that is fairly inefficient. Between tariffs, customs and red tape, it takes forever to get things done. Probably a lot of union jobs that are clearly delineated and rules that must be followed. With its class A starport, it is also importing a lot of high-tech stuff for ship repairs (one of those interesting discussions about ship repairs, starport levels and tech levels). Iomaria indifferent to visitors. It is a socially diverse culture that is plain vanilla in terms of its culture. Which probably does not help with visitors as basically it is like Wal-Mart - the same wherever you go. Visit far off Iomaria, just like home. Exactly like home. In fact, I get an almost state-run society that just does not innovate much.
This information is similar to classic character generation: you can read a lot into these numbers to help give the world a bit more character. In this case, Iomaria needs all the help it can get!
This could play into how the players interact with Iomaria: off-worlders are not big deal, but buying and selling cargo is going to take a bit longer. Heck - even after you buy or sell, getting it loaded or off-loaded is going to be an arduous task. While you would think that bribery might help, I seem to recall there is some correlation between success and law level (i.e., a higher law level is even easier to bribe). And huh - T5 no longer has the bribery skill! But looking back at Classic Book 1, I was right:
Note that the roll for accepting a bribe varies inversely with the law level of a world; the more stringent the laws, the greater the corruption.
Iomaria is ripe for greasing palms to get things done! This also implies that Iomaria potentially is very corrupt. With the government not directly associated with with people it governs, and married to that inefficiency, I see a lot of black-market deals and off-the-books deals. And probably a lot of things fall off the backs of those trucks...
Added a globe at least, though thinking I may want to make a few from different angles.
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