Space Gits: Session 3 Recap

Note: Not entirely sure I have the chronology all correct as I took no notes at all this time. But hopefully the gist of things is correct.

Having rescued Casimer Fontaine on the accommodation deck 3, the group has to decide what to do next. Fingers comes clean: he has a sensor that will lead them to the device in question and was actually hired by his contact the junkman Barloc Ros on Mars to retrieve the device. While I am pretty sure he did mention there is a trade for an alien craft for the power cell, there is that. 

They attempt to contact the Mistrios again. This time an alien voice is speaking in a language no one has heard before. They decide that the ship is probably not safe to return to though there was some talk about a rescue or possibly using the device as a bargaining chip, thinking the aliens where there for that. Spoiler: that was entirely incidental as there are two stories going on here. I'll have the meta-game view at the end.

As Quantum Sentinel still has the ropes, he and Mugwart "fly" down the zero-G shaft while the rest climb down the ladders. Standing outside the engineering space, Mugwart opens the door. And rolls initiative!

The alien attacks but sadly never actually connected except a couple times, but Mugwart's armor and power shield protected him. Viktor and Casimer both shoot & managed to miss at point blank range (not surprising in how I roll) and manage to set the filtering system on fire. The battle goes around with little movement other than another alien climbing down the shaft. It gave all the players chances to shoot. And as per our group, mostly missing. One player is pretty sure he never had a successful roll in the game, and I am fairly certain he did not. But he did help his brother which gives advantage, so he did help!

They eventually kill the two aliens, Quantum floating in the shaft shooting and missing as well. The other alien managed to get to the railing and tried to chew on Mugwart (he kept getting the random who is getting attacked roll). Getting through they managed to get the device, and then have to decide what to do again. The bad news was that the fire triggered an automatic lockdown to prevent it from spreading. The good news was that Fingers & Scabbs had a high-admin override. As Viktor found he could not exit the doors, but they could. 

a little fire

Knowing that below them there are only 1 and 2 man work pods, the head back to the docking deck. Knowing there is a 20 ton launch there. They were going to lock the docking clamps to the Mistrios, but the main terminal had no power. In this universe, docking clamps are mostly automatic but a station or ship that has them can override them to keep them locked. One of the emergent universe rules as I had not thought about it, and when asked, came up with this. 

They shuffle on after checking the shuttle, and launch. They can see the alien ship docked to their ship, and figure they cannot rescue anyone left behind. So, we asked another player to come up with a contact and a place: we now have a doctor who is currently on a mining station on one of the moons that is within reach of the launch.

Goodbye gas mining station

And we left at that point. Normally the game has an XP die set up based on stats: a lucky roller may bet a d12 and an unlucky one may get a d4. At a milestone (as this was) you roll that die for the number of XP points you get. You can then back them or apply them. As I've been told I'm stingy in that department, I just gave out 5 points they can use. If we continue to play, I will use that mechanic as I don't want to be too giving! 

I am hoping that another player picks up the game and runs it, and I can play one of the NPCs that they have with them: Quantum, Viktor, or Casimer. Though Viktor is the only one I did not roll up so has currently stat-free.

Meta-game plot if anyone is interested

Earthfirst was not sure what the device actually was, and they were going by rumor. They wanted it regardless as it was a higher technology than Earth has, and they want to improve not only Earth but also its technology. And kick aliens off of Earth. 

Ros had some schematics in the alien ship that was mysteriously left in his junk yard and knew this was worth a lot. He contacted his friend Fingers, gave him a sensor unit (which can be repurposed) and a trade: get teh power cell back and the ship is Finger's. It may need some work - leaving that open for future adventures: it may not even fly and need parts and stuff. And being an alien ship, good luck! But we have player characters with skill that apply so they may be able to fix things. Of course, it also depends on who runs the next session for that game.

The aliens were actually the children of the alien from the alien ship. They hatched a bit earlier than expected, and the protector dropped them off at the station to feed. His plan is to take them to another colony to continue to feed. They are higher-tech than Earth. and had basically done some EMP to the station systems. Carter Burke and the remaining mercenaries are probably dead, unless they made a deal with the alien, and then may have reason to go after our heroes for abandoning them at the station! Though to be fair, things seemed dire.

I also have a few alien ships we could use, and just today 0-Hr started another Kickstarter with yet another alien ship. I saw it as a sign and backed it. Despite saying I was going to stop...It could be that one or the traditional flying saucer...

Retropack

MTU: Montca

One of the worlds my solo game may go to next. 

Montca / Yontin 1107 A639997-C

It has an A4 V star. An A star:

The surface temperatures of A-type stars range from 7,400 K to about 10,000 K; lines of hydrogen are prominent, and these stars are white.

Montca is the 8th planet in a system with no gas giants nor planetoid belts. It is also the only planet with any hydrogen, liquid or otherwise, making it the sole place to visit in this system.

The extensive class A port follows most of the League's standard design patterns: a central hub with a multitude of concourse spread out over several miles. There is a a significant Space Patrol presence: a Type 1 Bureau, which has extensive facilities both at the ground and high ports, as well as stations for their Lancer Class Cruisers. Standard rates are applied for berthing. The low port Athena is located on the Graastle continent and uses the Deep Sea for its fuel source.

Moving through the rest of the UWP:

The size 6 planet has about a .81G gravity system, and orbits almost 10AU from the hot, white sun. It's day is 29.45 hours, and a year is 7,455 days, or about 20.4 standard years. 

The 3 atmosphere is very thin, averaging about .23 standard atmospheres of a standard oxygen/nitrogen mix. Generally a cold planet, the nights can reach -50C in some latitudes. 

Almost 90% water, it is not a frozen ice ball due to an active molten core and copious underwater thermal vents. The underwater life is more varied and plentiful than the sparse flora and fauna of the few land masses. A majority of the foods produced on Montca come from vast undersea farms. Additionally, there is some weather control to warm the planet up a bit - large mirrors are used to reflect additional light, often causing for multiple shadows during the day.

The population is just over 2 billion people. The largest city of Maqua has almost 800 million inhabitants, and sits on the southern continent's northern shelf. A large portion of the city is on and under the water, next to several large underwater farms. With the high population, robots and automation are not allowed, and manual labor is the base of their currency. Imperial currency is not accepted, but the port carries money changers, and cargo bought and sold is via the Credit. Outside the port, however, credits are not generally accepted. The legal age is 1 year, or just over 20 standard.

With an impersonal bureaucracy and several councils, the world is governed by an almost caste system. Most people tend to ignore the government as their lives are wrapped up in the day to day living. The port has its own Port Authority security, which is backed up by the Space Patrol. Outside the port, each city maintains its own police force under the auspices of world-wide police council with its own staff.

With a tech level of C, life is pretty easy on Montca. Basic needs are met easily and the average work day is 6 hours. Seafood is a specialty and cooking and preparation of various sea life are family traditions. 

I'll expand a bit more later. I do like undersea farms though :)

SOLO - League of Planets: Krim 245-1106 (part 1)

From the journals of Malik:

After finding that tracking device in the gas lines, I think I was the only one with any concerns over it. Especially as this was my first time to actually enter the League of Planets. I've circled it when doing that series a few years back, but never really entered non-Imperial space. The ISS sets all the ports to red zone as they are non-Imperial, but what does that really mean? The Navy also keeps a base out by one of the moons of Eyumiromi by mutual consent,and there is also a League Space Patrol base on the other moon as well as a major one in orbit about Krim. And Krim: so many rumors I heard on Preacep about how their medical science is beyond most of the Imperium's expertise. Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit the Meditech home office. I've visited some of those in the Imperium - expensive real estate and expensive care. But apparently well worth it. Just waiting at the comm board to get out of jump - should be any time now.

The No Refunds comes out of jump just a bit past the 168 hours and is a few hours out from Krim. Malik immediately answers the hails from the Space Patrol and soon a patrol cutter matches speed and links up. Sensors can pick out the high port where the cutter is based in a high orbit about Krim. Several Patrol Officers board and begin the customs inspection. The crew, other than Malik, have been through this before, and are nonchalant about the process, and the Space Patrol maintain a professional stance throughout the inspection. The textiles in the cargo bay bring an appreciative comment from the commanding officer: Krim has little in the way of producing textiles and knows that these will bring the No Refunds a good profit.

Note I did not roll on the ship encounter table for our initial foray to Krim. I wanted to set up the Space Patrol as guarding the perimeters (sort of tough with jump drives but we're still going with that). Krim is a high-technology planet, and has an even higher medical technological level. I have to say I really enjoy Grand Census.

Krim

Tried a version of the T5 system profile. Sort of okay though needs a bit of cleanup and work. Lacking the details about the main world though seems to be an issue for me (and players who don't memorize the UPP stat blocks!)

Size:  3 4960 km diameter, so a very small planet. With the high tech level, grav plating is everywhere
Atmosphere: 1 - trace. Not enough to speak of or even breath.
Hydrographics: 8 - 78% ice-capped world. Not sure what freezes as purple but I thought it an interest color.
Population: A - 10 billion people living here! Arcologies, high ports and probably bases and colonies spread out over the system?
Government: A - charismatic dictator. Why do I keep getting dictators? Though the government rules tend to promote more authoratarian governments as the population increases.
Law Level: 8 - no open carry. Fairly strict law level but considering the lethality of the planet itself, probably a survival mechanism. We can't have the domes blown up!
Tech Level: E - High Interstellar. I'll need to check but I think it is the highest TL in the League.
Starport: B. Though I am going with that is how the Imperium may be ranking this as this is where starships are being made.

Got a really cool starport map from another of 0-Hr / Ryan Wolf's Kickstarters, Port Leonis. Going to borrow that as the standard design for class A and B ports in the League. The concourses will be the class C and perhaps class D ports. So let's take a look at the downport of Krim. There are actually two starports, the commercial one outlined here, and the construction yards which also maintain a high port for those ships that are never intended for planetary landings. The Space Patrol has a perpetual lease from the Port Authority for concourse 24 A&B.

The main hub connects via underground tube transport to the nearby cities. This is also the primary warehousing district and central control that coordinates with the 3 terminals. Each terminal is in turn in charge of the concourses they support, and each concourse is capable of handing two large ships of up to 5000 tons, or several smaller ships. See the lower image for that.

Internal security is fairly high throughout the port, and there are uniformed and plain clothes security personnel scattered throughout the station. Visas from Imperial citizens are handled at any of the terminals before access to the main main hub and from there to the rest of the planet.

The port also has several point defense lasers, and concourse 23 is the ground station for system defense boats that are planet-based.

Krim has 6 large cities with populations around 100-600 million, 84 moderately large cities  of 35-100 million, 392 small cities with a 2-80 million people, and thousands of smaller cities. Most cities are buried, though often have arcologies or domes above the surface. The city of Nohildu (pop. 491 million) is actually built into the cone of an impact crater.

Whew, enough for a bit. Added the part 1 to the title as I think there is always more.

And obviously I am not a follower of MOARN: Map Only As Really Needed. I just really enjoy building worlds.

So next post in the solo series: getting on Krim and following the SOLO rules as to what comes next.

Patrol Corvette variations

Found the spreadsheet - not entirely certain about parts of it as it will require a deeper dive into both it and the rules

"Using a 500 Dton streamlined hull, it has a M Drive 3B4, and a P Plant Q2 giving performance of jump-0 and 9 g acceleration. There is fuel tankage of 108 Dton, enough for 8 weeks and 0 jump-0.
The ship has 8 control consoles, 15 operating consoles, and a Gen m/5 computer.
There are six sensors: an Ult DS Surf Commu-14 +4 A+12 PA(Elec), a DS Surf EMS-14 ±0 A+12 PA(Elec), an Adv DS Surf Scope-12 +3 A-- P(Phot), a Mod DS Surf Neutr-14 +2 A-- P(Grav), an Adv G Surf Jamme-14 +3 A+5 A(Elec), and a DS Surf Steal-14 ±0 A-- P(All).
There are four staterooms for the crew with a Comfort of 2.
There is a weapon: an Ult D T3 Mini-14 +4 H:3 Def+3.
There is a carried craft: an ATV-W in an Interior/Hold.
Cargo capacity is 45 Dton. The ship requires a crew of 22: a pilot, three sensor operators, eight engineers, an administrator, two medics, a gunner, and four troops. The ship costs MCr 922.4. "

So pretty darn expensive and it indicates I really need to either play with that spreadsheet some more to figure out how to use, write my own via spreadsheet or software, or, as my group has nary a gearhead among them, don't worry about it other than a presumed threat level if an encounter happens (i.e., your ex-Navy character knows you have no chance to outrun or outgun this to you can easily outrun this ship and it has nothing to attack with). MOAR in ship details as well I suppose.

Krim's Patrol Corvette

Using Ryan Wolf's Jinda Wolf corvette as one of the Space Patrol's system defense boats, I decided to see if I could work my way through the T5 rules for the stats. So far, I'd have to go with no. I believe someone over on COTI has a spreadsheet over in the files section, so I may have to try that. But based on the existing plans and tonnage. the ship is 442 Traveller tons. Rounding up to 500 tons to keep things within the basic rules.

The QSP (Quick Ship Profile) would be PE-ES90, for Patrol Corvette, hull E (500 tons), streamlined, 9G maneuver and 0 jump. This is an in-system ship, and that actually works great with the deck plans. It is a TL14 design and one of the standards in the League of Independent Planets for the Space Patrol and system defense.

The mission is a patrol corvette: PE. It has a streamlined hull (friction / 3, stability +1) with 3 layers of hull plate (aka superdense). There is also a anti-blast layer of armor. It has a type Y drive giving it Man-9, and a power plant type Y as well to power both the drive and the plasma barbettes. It has  wide variety of sensors: communicator, visor, EM, life detector (handy when checking ships), radar, neutrino detector to check for those fusion power plants, radiation sensors. The 6 plasma guns are housed in 3 dual barbettes, the 24 missiles are housed in a triple missile turret, and the 4 fixed forward mass cannons I am translating to 1 triple slug thrower turret. For defenses there is an electronic scrambler, but primarily they rely on speed and maneuverability, as well as a strong offense.

There is a bridge as well as a dedicated CIC. There are 2 double staterooms used as double staterooms, a 3rd double stateroom for the captain and his office, and squad barracks for boarding crew. It is a military crew consisting of 14 total: Captain, 1st officer, pilot, navigator, medical officer, 3 engineers, 2 gunners and a 5 person boarding squad that overlaps duties with the rest of the crew. In general there are at least 2 crew available for every position, except engineering.

I've not worried about the cost - this is a government ship. But I will eventually work that out. I'll probably do this also for Cepheus Engine, and maybe even Classic and Mongoose. Just to see.

And in reviewing the power plant section, I may not be able to get a power plant for 9G in there: looks like at TL14 it only goes to 7...I don't think I am reading that correctly. The design sequence is via a fill-form, that then relates to the tables, than then relate to the sections. So it is not exactly a linear process until you've done it enough times. But it makes sense - it goes from the most compact to the most expanded. The sensors need to be looked at as well, but there does appear to be a good interaction for actual playability in there: the charts indicate the ranges that sensors can sense things. So the ship has both photonic and visor sensors: visor works at 1 better range band effectively: at 5000km photonic can see an ACS (adventure class ship) whereas the visor can see small craft at the same range. And the EMS can detect missiles at that range. The neutrino detector can detect missiles out to 8 light seconds away at range 8.   So then looking at the sensor task roll lets you know how well you can sense things, and it takes into account the tech level (so TL 14 is pretty good to have here!), character skills, size range vs object size. So some interesting mechanics there: a higher TL ship will definitely have a better chance of sensing things. Makes you want to upgrade your TL9 sensors at the next high tech port!

So I really need to read the books a bit more: there does seem to be a lot to look forward to in the T5.10 version.

Traveller Solo, interlude

My solo experiment definitely took a long hiatus! A few other things kept coming up. One thing I may want to add to the Krim system is a ship inspection. Re-reading Foundations Edge and the experience the main characters have getting through customs, As we left our crew jumping from Preacep to Krim I still need to roll for anything happening during the jump transit, then what happens when they come out of jump at Krim.  I will add to any random roll a customs inspection: they are coming from Imperial space to League space. So time to beef up the Space Patrol, maybe create another ship and crew with that career book, and have an inspection. Hope I roll well on the reaction roll! Hopefully nothing like the image from the book from Stellagama and created by Ian Stead. I think I've had 1 quick overview of that book, maybe I should try and do a more comprehensive review for my 15 followers!

So the plans are to try & re-read that book a bit as it has some interesting things about how the law works on various planets and can add additional chrome. Plus next game it is a possible career choice.

And work up a ship and crew from that book to practice with its career paths. I had to combine that with the Clement rule books to get the entire thing to work, but it does create some detailed characters.

And process the in-jump events, then out of jump for the No Refunds and into League space!

Solo Session 0.35: With the Space Patrol

Just a note: I've not established dates just yet. I'll probably start our intrepid reporter in 1106 or so, and I am probably going to risk 1 more term, so this particular report would be probably around 1100 or so. I'll figure it out later. So the date as posted may not entirely match up but it sounded good. This is a report from his term when he was exploring the sector, or at least the Quadrant. Getting paid to visit stange new worlds and not kill people.


Please note that I am using the Stellar Games Space Patrol and Pirates, so references are made to those books. I've yet to get a player to generate a character with those books, but I am hoping...in the meantime, they are good reads and I think a good addition to anyone's science fiction RPG. The Opis class trader is an A2 Far Trader described in Moon Toad's Shipbook: A2L Trader. Also well worth it.


343-1100, Kolha, League of Independent Planets (0713 E783787-1)  This system is on the RImward of the League, the 5th planet of a bright F8 star. Not much to recommend for the casual tourist, yet Antares maintains a regular cargo run to this system. The week my ship, the Road Runner, came out of jump, we were met by the League's Space Patrol. A Dragon class Patrol Corvette more than twice the size of our 300 ton A2 OPis class Far Trader. They hailed us and within hours had matched our orbit. The Wyvern sent across two patrol men, Chief Investigator Sergeant Avril Hunter, and Investigator Corporal  Yen-She Lucas. They managed a fast yet surprisingly thorough cargo inspection first via an actual review of the cargo. Having two cargo bays, they did split their efforts. I followed and spoke with Sergeant Hunter as to why to Patrol is here, and what they would be looking for.

"Well, Kohla's population is basically barely out of the Stone Age. They have no defenses against any interstellar group. The League annexed the planet almost 50 years ago for a variety of reasons. They have some good resources in terms of fresh foods, and a surprisingly artistic crafting that can fetch some pretty good prices. Trading here is via goods and bartering. But before it was a member of the League, we had pirates based out of here on one of the moons of Kolha-1. They were a constant threat to some of our systems. The Imperials seem to want to ignore them, and have no Naval bases nearby anyway. In fact, some think that..." 

And here she quit talking, and concentrated on using her scanner to match inventory and packing info to the ship's cargo listing. She was quiet after that, seeming more aware of the AVBot hovering over my shoulder. 

She and Corporal Lucas then met up with Artic Pezal, our head steward and cargo master. He confirmed that one of the cargo containers was for Kohla, full of stainless steel farming implements. These were to be traded for furs, meats and exotic food stuffs, most going to Xabic two jumps farther on our journey. The natives of Kohla were unable to manufacture such farming implements themselves, and they were highly prized there. We went back to the cargo bay where that pod was stored. It was adjacent to the port cargo lock, and due to the other containers, we could not peer inside it. A few communiques between the Sergeant and Major Lupin, and it was decided that the Wyvern's ships boat would follow us down to the surface. Coming from my Imperial background, this did seem extreme but was, according to Artic, fairly standard practice. The fringe systems such as Kohla are not as safe as things are deeper in the Imperium. According to Artic:

"There's all sorts out here. The League is hard-pressed at times to keep things right. Heck, around here you never see any Navy ships we're so far out. There are bunches of them Scout bases, but they just look at the stars and map all these places. Seems like an easy job if you ask me!"

Almost four hours later, we are parked on packed dirt and rock, the ship's boat a few meters away with four well armed Marshalls of the Patrol wandering in what I would have thought were random paths. Sergeant Hunter disabused me of that pretty quickly.

"You may think it is random, but notice that there are always two others always in sight, and they cover a lot of ground. Marshalls are a different breed it seems sometimes. That's Beta Team Leader Danner Tesauro. Plays a mean game of cards. But see how he watches over his guys, as well as the natives coming up now? Everything under control and ready for anything."

With the aid of the overhead cargo system, we managed to get the cargo carrier positioned and opened. The Patrol Investigators watched as Artic opened the doors, and the natives, normal humans that looked straight out of a holomovie wearing furs and rough cloth, brought in carts of fresh furs, meats and sacked plants of some sort. Artic and the chief bartered for more than an hour while boxes of pitchforks, spades, shovels, scythes and things I did not recognize were opened, inspected, and transferred to the carts as the furs and foods moved to now empty cargo container. 
The Space Patrol still patrolled around the perimeter as the inspectors basically watched the proceedings. I did manage to talk with Corporal Lucas, a sometimes nervous appearing woman who seemed pretty young.

"Yeah, this croaky planet actually has this plant that can be used for all sorts of things. One of those botanical wonderplants apparently. Its use is pretty strictly monitored as it can be used as a fast poison, so we do these random checks. The Antares group has never given us grief but you guys aren't the only traders coming through here, and some guys can be pretty croaky. So we drop by a lot, this is part of our patrol. Ready to get back to base though - sometimes those rations can get pretty boring. Wonder if we can trade for some fresh food?" 

And then she wandered off to the Sergeant, apparently to ask about possibly getting some fresh rations. 

Bargaining completed, the Road Runner's engineers had already set up the wilderness refueling system. The dense atmosphere was also starting to fatigue everyone other than the natives. We'd be staying on planet the next few days, but the Patrol was ready to leave. We said our good byes and the ship's boat launched back to the Wyvern and to the rest of her patrol.

This is Malik Castillion, reporting from Kohla in the League of Independent Planets. 

Dragon Class Patrol Corvette, Space Patrol

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