Traveller 5.10, Part 2

Book 1: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Money

We have a single page devoted to what purports to be the driver behind the Traveller universe: money. Okay, so money is not really the economy (and we'll stop there before getting into some real-world politics!). The credit is covered and is now defined as about 1/10 an hour of labor. 6 minutes of work for 1 credit or 6 Cr/hour. Though I would also go as far as assigning differing values based on the work done: hacking a secure computer system seems worth a bit more than washing dishes. It covers the megacredit, that driver of megacorporation purchasing power. And a brief paragraph about the RU, or Resource Unit, used in world-spanning costs but not having any direct correlation to the almighty credit. And we learn a new term, "aryu" for those big hauls for wealth beyond imagining. 

We also cover bartering and the "trader's cargo ramp" of frontier trading. While that is nice sounding, it does not cover the very expensive ship maintenance costs! While a lot of Traveller comes from the pulps, the financial side does not, and the two paragraphs on bartering and in-kind trading really don't work if you are running a starship. On the other hand, if you are just a passenger, then it may work.

Humanity

Another single page covering humanity. Humans are the benchmark for all the other races, and as we are the only intelligent (for a specific meaning of intelligent) species we know, that makes sense. It covers the various major branches of humanity in Traveller: Solomani, Vilani and the Zhodani, and makes mention of the numerous other minor human races. It also explains that 300,000 years ago Grandfather's minions took the humans of earth and scattered them for reasons unknown. For metagaming it makes for easier, human aliens that at least share our biology and we can play or encounter humans that are pretty alien to our way of thought. A very small paragraph mentions the wolves were also taken, and they of course become the Vargr. 

Expanded Hex Code

Another single page covers the expanded hex code. One of the many reasons I love Traveller: I am an old computer science major and used an awful lot of hex code in college, and even a tiny bit after. So, a game that used hexcode! Plus, I really enjoy that pseudo-encryption of getting the character, world and other stats into a single line that can be interpreted. It covers the values and code to 33 and explains why it does that. This is also one of those things that is Traveller to me, and I think every version of Traveller uses the same basic codes for characters and worlds. The explanation even expands it to include things like "?" means a single unknown. Which is the same as SQL. And probably a lot of other things, but what can I say: I write a lot of code and Traveller has a lot of software ideas in it!

Standard Units of Volume

Another mainstay of Traveller: the ton. Not as in weight, but as in the volume of 1000 kg of liquid hydrogen. 13.5 cubic meters. Just as a ship uses 1000kg of water displacement to measure it, a starship uses 1000kb of displaced liquid hydrogen to determine its volume. And of course, all the confusion over the years about using the term ton to interchangeably mean a volume displacement or a weight measurement. 

There is some explanation over legacy tons (the 14 cubic meters I was used to. My thought is that calculators were expensive back then so rounding to 14 made division and multiplication simpler. It also goes into deck squares so we can equate a 1.5.1.5.x3 meter square as half a ton in displacement tonnage. And a bunch of other volumes that that will probably never get used: a Lan is 1/100th of a ton, a half-Lan is about 67.5 liters or the size of a person. Then another table for ton equivalents to help convert between volumes. Which is what I often do when behind a truck that has a cargo container with the volume: convert that cargo container to its displacement tonnage. I do worry I think about Traveller an awful lot, especially considering I don't play it nearly enough!

A final table gives us the densities of various things. 1 ton of liquid hydrogen is 1,000 kg as mentioned; a ton of wood is 7,000 kg. A ton of steel is 100,000 kilograms. Which I had to verify and asked Copilot how much 13.5 cubic meters of steel would weigh (and dang, those things can be useful!):

To calculate the weight of 13.5 cubic meters of steel, we need to consider the density of steel. Steel’s density can vary depending on the specific type and alloy, but a common value is approximately 7,850 kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m³) ¹. Let’s compute the weight:

1. Volume of steel: (V = 13.5 , \text{m}^3)
2. Density of steel: (\rho = 7,850 , \text{kg/m}^3)

The weight (W) can be calculated using the formula:

[ W = V \times \rho ]

Substituting the given values:

[ W = 13.5 , \text{m}^3 \times 7,850 , \text{kg/m}^3 = 105,975 , \text{kg} ]

Therefore, 13.5 cubic meters of steel would weigh approximately 105,975 kilograms.

Keep in mind that this is an estimate, and the actual weight may vary slightly based on the specific type and composition of the steel. So yeah, that's about right!

Distances and Range Bands

Now we are getting into some actual RPG mechanics. 33 pages to cover ranges, from standing next to each other to across a solar system. And not just physical ranges, but also fame, risks and the dangers of heat and cold. Essentially an excerpt from a physics book in many ways. And I think the mechanics of this are actually good in theory, though I've yet to use them in play. The basic premise is that there is a matchup between size ranges and distance ranges: any object with the same size band and distance band will look the same to the human eye. From coin (size 0) at range 0 (5 meters) to a moonlet (size 9) at range 9 (far orbit or 5000 km). There are also two distinct distance range bands: world surface and space ranges. And of course, a conversion factor to allow you to compare them directly as necessary. If necessary, you can also use decimal sub-bands to home in on the distance, particularly useful for those larger range bands. The example given was a gas giant, so that 6.2, 6.4, 6.6 and 6.8 all reflect different pressure (and range 6 is 5000m and range 7 is 50km, so 6.2 = 5K + ((50K + 5K) x 0.2) or 16km. If I am doing my math correctly and reading that rule correctly.

 

And of course then we have several tables to indicate the ranges with some helpful descriptions, such as contact, reading and talking up to the far orbit for world ranges. It also lets us know the altitudes of the atmosphere, so that a geosynchronous orbit is at band 10 or 50km. Though I am also assuming this is for a size 8 world such as the Earth. I would have to get back into physics (and it has been 40+ years!) to adjust for the sizes of different planets. 

The space ranges are nice and go from contact and boarding ranges, through close fighters, then far orbits, and missile ranges, all the way to the outer system at range 13 and 1,500 million kilometers. Which is 10AU in the chart, or orbit 7 using the not-quite-correct-but good-enough-form-gaming space mechanics. This also lets us know how long it takes radio waves (or laser comms, or meson comms) to get from point A to point B. Which can be a handy thing to know. There are notes in the space ranges on how to adjust based on the spectral class of the star. 

More charts for gas giants, strange worlds, orbital distances for various stellar types, grav, jump and manuever drive limits are handy. I am not sure how we would use the decimal orbits table as now we are getting deep into physics and mechanics that most players may not really care about. Some would, of course, but I don't think the majority of gamers, even Traveller players, really care much about that: they care about the transit time usually. 

The habitable zone chart by spectral type is nice (and pretty sure repeated in Book 3: Worlds and Adventures. If so I'll have to see if they match!) as is the satellite orbits tables. I spent a lot of time with Book 6: Scouts making up systems with all the details. That never got used. But it was still fun for me. Keep thinking I could write an application for that...but I already have Heaven & Earth and it does all that for me much nicer than something I'd come up with. 

The next couple of tables are useful: travel distances and times. Even nicer, for planetary systems it has the info for both on the same side (in conjunction) or far side (opposition) in the system. This is in space range but the following table lets you know just how long that space range will take at various maneuver speeds. The first table is for missiles and impact - no mid-journey turn-around! The next tables let us know for passengers that do not want to slam into the target. 

We move into a more conceptual range band: fame, danger and threats. 0 is unknown, 1 is family, and we reach all the up to band 36 for all of reality. Traveller 5 has really opened the doors to way, way out there stuff. At least in some ways. Then impact tables and just how much damage that 5000 ton ship is going to do when crashing into the planet at supersonic speeds (2000kph, 121 hits. Oddly there is a hits column in the table, but then we have Hits = v^2. So, the damage is either 121 * 5000 (60K hits) or 2000^2*5000 = 20 BILLION hits.In either case, it is going to leave a big hole somewhere. 

The hot and cold ranges let you know how much damage you will take. At absolute 0, -273C, 40 dice of damage. But this can be a useful table I think for survival types of games.