Cyan Starport Impressions

Starport Impressions

Despite being around for several centuries, the Cyan star port has never received an official name.  Cyan government has not been actively pursuing interstellar trade.

The primary administrative complex is a rambling structure, added to almost randomly over the years. The original control tower was abandoned more than a century before and is used for storage and the rare sight seeing citizen.  The new tower, more than 80 years old, presides several stories above the old tower and give a good vantage over the entire port.

The massive customs building houses what appears to be hundreds of offices and officials. Security is very evident throughout this building, which is the primary way of leaving the port. Security checks are very thorough for a TL A egress. Returning to the port can also be a hassle depending on crowds, the mood of the local army at the time, as well as the latest edict from the dictator. There are dozens of warehouses nearby both inside and outside the fence, some of which are still not usable.

Accommodations are adequate, but not up to high passage standards. And in the current siege mentality, things are crowded. Most merchants do not leave the port, relying on local brokers for cargoes. The Marine squads are housed in one of the hotels, leaving even fewer spaces for visitors. Marines patrol the perimeter constantly, primarily to maintain a visible watch over the occasional crowds outside.

There is the constant sound of grav vehicles loading and unloading cargo. Despite being a class C port, it is on the leg to the subsector capitol so has a larger than expected number of ships. Additionally, the local SDB fleet is housed here, and make trips daily. There are two airport style runways, so that local aircraft can transport cargo or people.  All has to be inspected by customs prior to leaving the port.

Startown was damaged in the riots of 5 years ago, and several buildings remain burnt out husks of buildings. Military patrols are constantly roving through the city, with more near the port boundaries.  It is not as rambunctious as many startowns are, but still has quite the variety of people.  There are still several brokers and trading guilds available in startown.

Traveller Sunday - planning

Starting to look towards the end goal of Selshor, and looking at gravity anomalies:

Lateral variations in gravity anomalies are related to anomalous density distributions within the Earth. Gravity measures help us to understand the internal structure of the planet. Synthetic calculations show that the gravity anomaly signature of a thickened crust (for example, in orogenic belts produced by continental collision) is negative and larger in absolute value, relative to a case where thickening affects the entire lithosphere

Our next session will start as you approach the Countess' yacht (sadly the Kickstarter for this ship just started so we won't have the fancy poster) and go from there.  I'll try & have a few possible paths for you.  You will need to decide if you want to have Li along.  She is somewhat persuasive as you have noticed...Dinner is a few hours off, giving you some time to explore the star port if you like.  Li may want to buy some more clothes - she has a simple ship suit and boots, and that's about it. Plus, in talking with Travis, she likes to trade as well. She could be persuaded to keep on the legal side of things...Purity gets in contact and will return in 4 days. Her job is almost complete but she will accompany the group to Selshor and back to Glisten, then head off into her retirement.

Getting some local rumors: you do hear on the news about a massive manhunt for dangerous escaped criminals. Urban areas have increased police and army patrols.  On the flip side, listening to your Marines (who are accompanying you on your return to the starport) there is also an Imperial Marine search going on with a little more finesse.  You will notice flying over the port boundary that there does seem to be larger crowds, and squads of riot police.  The prison has been on light alert.

All the above occurs in the grav APC flight back to the port. The APC is utilitarian without much in the way of comfort.

You will also notice a fair number of ships in port, several merchant vessels, one of which is of Aslan design. And near the Countess' yacht is another yacht, a Prosperity class vessel.  You can always access the port net for public information about vessels, including flight plans if published (Imperial law does not force a flight plan, but it is strongly advised. Additionally a flight plan can be made but flagged as private, indicating only SPA [Star Port Authority] can review it).

Le Suroit is docked at one of the Vanguard stations, getting refueled and restocked. Dr Duk-Lyle's comm has several stored messages asking about better rations.

Traveller Sunday - Prison Escape

As we last left our Travellers, Dr. Duc-Lyle and the Warden, accompanied by Corporal Pagille Ortirez and Warden Brownartz, were heading to the site of the missile explosion. Travis, Purity, Pennity and the Level 1 Warden (whose name escapes me as I never came up with this one!) were also headed there in another grav APC.  As were 4 Imperial SDBs. They must have timed it well as they pretty much all arrived at the same time.

The Renegade (Scout ship) was missing it's mechanic/Engineer, who was driving the 4 wheeler with the additional sensors on board to help triangulate the mole vehicle. There was a smoking 30-40 meter crater in the jungle, with trees pushed back along the edges. Some terse communications later, there was a Cyan SDB settled on one side of the crater, an Imperial SDB parked on the other side, close to the Scout ship.  The two grav APCspark near the edge as well. Hoovert Brownartz, the chief warden, is in direct communication with both the Countess Barout (recently elevated to a Countess as that's what was needed by T5) and Aphix Irteepini, the xenophobic dictator of Cyan. While the diplomats parlayed, the Scouts were getting frantic about their missing crew mate. Travis, being an ex-Scout, volunteered to help search, as did Dr. Duk-Lyle. The guards were flying the grav vehicles in a spiral search pattern, and finally after half an hour, Travis saw the glint of metal in the jungle. Setting down nearby, they found the overturned 4 wheeler, but no sign of Og (Ognuearz Giokga) nearby.  A search finally yields the Vargr Scout, unconscious on the ground. The good doctor stabilizes our furry friend, and using a stretcher from the grav APC they rapidly transport him to the Renegade where there is a med-bay waiting.  It was a concussion with a hairline crack, but Og will make a full recovery.

Finally peace is made between Aphix and the Imperials, and the SDBs, except for 1 Cyan SBD, leave. The Cyan SDB is monitoring the Renegade, where a conversation in the common area is being held.  The warden thanks the good doctor for uncovering some shady drug losses, and verifying that medical treatment is fair, consistent and meets Imperial standards. There is some evidence of some brutality towards political prisoners, and the data will be further reviewed. Travis' efforts are also praised as he found some hostilities between Cyan and non-Cyan guards that HR should be better aware of. Purity will be returning to the Level 1 facility for a couple more days to finish up her research.

Li Brewster is getting early parole for her good behavior, and has offered her services as an additional engineer for Le Suroit. The parties separate: the Renegade launches for the starport with the SDB following, the grav APC, a bit crowded, takes our party back to the prison to interview Li and do a final farewell for Travis.  Li, who resembles Sally Field, and has Persuade-2 along with her winning smile, convinces Dr. Duk-Lyle that she would be a fine addition to the crew.

The prisoners in the mole vehicle, meanwhile, have disappeared. Imperial Marines are searching Brigham and the nearby jungle as they have discovered the abandoned vehicle, with tracks that lead out from a small truck or other personal vehicle. They are hoping to capture them before the Cyan police do. 

Our Travellers will be heading back to the starport. Here they will be greeted and feted by the Countess on her yacht, and by her personal chef.  She has a Kitaro class yacht.

I'll need to come up with some rumors, possible cargos to buy, and stuff like that. They are also seeing if they can outfit the lab ship with a fuel purifier: they have been lucky in that the Scouts have been getting their refined fuel the last few systems, but that is about to stop. And wanting to avoid a misjump, even with a new Jump engineer on board, they are looking into that. It will cost Cr180,000 and take 35 tons according to Book 5/High Guard. As they don't actually have that amount of cash on hand, and they will have to pay Li's salary at some point (she is happy to get a job and out of prison, so will work for free for the 1st jump, but she will want her salary after that.  The Scout engineers (this is a Way Station, so they do have a lot of engineers!) think the purifier is do-able, just figuring it out where to put it.  The current plan is to actually add a new spoke to the ship, and mount it there along with some extra tankage to continue to allow the Jump 2.  Putting it there makes some sort of sense - it will reinforce that single spoke, as the pinnace often is used as a fuel shuttle there are already fuel lines in the spoke, so they can purify the fuel before it gets to the tanks. Plus it make my mini we've been using for Le Suroit a closer model!

Traveller Sunday - Scout Crew

Still working on the stats for the Renegade class Scout ship, but I'm going with a 500 ton ship. I think I've a sufficiently large crew although there will be some specialists added at some point.  There is room for 9 by counting bunks.

Crew is mostly women - when generating characters I roll and even are female, odd are male. In 5000 years I am assuming the pay gap no longer exists or is even a memory :)

Holleng Giambice, 89C9A7, age 29 Scout 3, pilot of Renegade Class Scout Vessel. Near the end of her third term, she commands the Renegade class ship and is currently at Cyan, waiting to transport the Travellers to the Way station. Then off to explore space more.

Admin, Astrogation-1, Electronics [Comms-1], Explosives, Gun Combat, Language, Mechanic, Pilot [Small Craft-1, Spacecraft-2], Stealth-1, Survival, Vacc-1

McKennoz Langlert, 74CCD3, age 30, Scout 2, Astrogator Renegade Class Scout Vessel. Graduate of the Imperial University of Pixie, McKennoz always dreamed of being a Scout.

Astrogation-2, Carouse, Electronics [Comm-1], Engineer [J-Drive-1], Gun Combat, Language, Science [Linguistics-1], Survival, Vacc

Ognuearz Giokga (Og) 868875, age 25, Scout 1, Shuttle pilot, Mechanic, back up astrogator. Coming from the ice-capped plant of Najar, Og never wanted to go back. The lone Vargr on the crew.

Astrogation, Drive, Gun Combat, Mechanic, Persuade-1, Pilot [Small Craft-1, Spacecraft-1], Survival, Vacc-1.

Desision Thaddice, 98ABE7, age 34, Engineer, Medic. From the toxic Mithras system, Desison has lived a life of adventure and romance. A sailing accident two years ago has not slowed him down. He dropped out of college to join the Scouts.

Art, Astrogation, Carouse, Engineer (J-Drive-1], Gun Combat, Language, Mechanic, Medic-1, Science [Biology-1], Seafarer [Sail-1], Survival, Vacc-1

Alisiella Vereto, 86B9D7, age 31, Chief Engineer. Graduate of the Imperial College of Yori, her diploma hangs proud in the engineering section. She has large scars on her back from an accident she does not like to talk about. She has an antique pistol from a gambler she saved years back.

Animals, Astrogation, Electronics [Comouters-1], Engineer [Life Support-1, Power-2], Gun Combat, Language, Mechanic-1, Navigation-1, Survival, Vacc-1

Traveller Sunday - some interesting people of Cyan

Characters with stats were generated via software (RPGSuite) using Mongoose rules. Part of the game in play. This link should take you to the WIP for the Cyan system:  Cyan Guide 

The 3 Cyan Rebels listed below were part of a daring escape that our young Scout Travis was witness to, and Boris and Warden Browartz are on their way as we last left our game.

Aphix Irteepini, Dictator of Cyan  5C8A96, age 42. A ruthless dictator who rose through the army ranks, Aphix is terrified of off-worlders. She has attempted to close off the starport but enough people are against her rule that it can be done.  Admin-0, Athletics-0, Carouse-1, Drive-0, Gambler-1, Archaic-0, Energy-0, Slug-2, Heavy Wpns-0, Melee-0 [unarmed-1, blade-1], Recon-3, Steath-1.

Irel Onzatt, Port Warden. 737A96, age 53. Irel faces the unenviable job of maintaining an Imperial star port on what has recently become hostile ground.  He is assisted with the Marine garrison, but the local regime does have a large squadron of system defense boats much larger than Imperial forces. He is in daily contact with the Count in his attempts to defuse the tensions.  Admin-3, Computer-1, Sensors-2, Pilot-2.

Wie Johnson, Marine Commander (Force Commander) A997C8 (age 46). A career Marine from Boughene, Wie was in Ground Assault and prefers an up front assault over nuance. He commands 3 50 soldier platoons.

Admin-0, Athletics-0, Drive-0, Engineer-0 [Power-1], Explosives-1, Gun Combat-0 [Energy-1, Slug-2]. Heavy Weapons-0 [Vehicle-1], Language-0, Leadership-2, Medic-1, Melee [Blade-2], Pilot [small craft-1], Recon-1, Stealth-0, Survival-2, Tactics [Military-1], Vacc Suit-2

Marquis Milueala (Millie) Barout of Rhylanor, Imperial Representative for Cyan 78865D (age 43). Having served as a diplomat for her career, Marquis Barout has settled down on Cyan as the Imperial Representative. Currently living at the starport in her yacht, the Aedil, she is brokering peace between Aphix and the Imperium. Her current duties are focused on the prison situation, which has escalated recently due to the underground escape of Janet Soo, Macahim Kaitloy and Ellina Hailion.  She does want to get back to her residence, hoping that it has not been damaged since the 1099 uprising.

Admin-2, Advocate-1, Carouse-1, Diplomat-1, Electronics, Gambling-3, Gun Combat [Archaic-1], Melee [Blade-2], Persuade

Warden Hoovert Brownartz, Commissioner 558D56, age 51. A small Asian male with over 30 years of law enforcement, Hoovert rose through the ranks and is now the Warden for the Cyan Prison.  He is also past the requirements for retirement, and plans on retiring sometime in the next year.  He also has reservations about the current political situation on Cyan and the Imperial Prison located on such a volatile world, and welcomes the review by our Travellers. He is close friends with the Marquis of Cyan as well as the starport administrator.

Admin-1, Deception-1, Drive, Flyer [Grav-1], Gambler-1, Gun Combat [Energy-2, Slug-3], Melee [Unarmed-2, Blade-1], Recon-3, Streetwise-2, Vacc

Janet Soo, Cyan Rebel. Former Army career officer who was disillusioned by some of Aphix’s treatment of non-Cyans. Refusing to take part in the attack of Startown, Janet has been in Level 1 for several years.

Macahim Kaitloy, Cyan Rebel. Janet’s trusty assistant, Macahim was also thrown into prison. He is as disillusioned as Janet, and has secretly (unknown to Janet) blown up more than 1 government building. No casualties as he was careful to choose times when people were not present.

Ellina Hailion, Cyan Rebel. Ellina was an actress who wanted to get more than local fame. Getting cut off from the wider Imperial audience she felt she deserved, she made several public announcements which eventually lead to her incarceration. There she met Janet and Macahim, and using her contacts, managed to stage the entire escape, basing it off one of her early adventure movies.

Traveller Sunday

Through a series of real life/miscommunications, we've managed to miss one of the 2 players the last two sessions.  As the characters had separated anyway, it worked out, and we've managed to pull them back together.

So, resuming on day 245 of 1104, Travis has been carousing with the guards and staff.  Few rumors of any import arose, although Li did communicate that something big was going to go down soon.  Dr. Boris found no widespread corruption or abuse, but inventory of certain drugs did not always match.  Purity's research found no systematic abuse.  There was a higher number of injuries to non-Cyan prisoners which was some indication of the hostilities from the often xenophobic Cyan natives.

The morning of 245 was muggy, with the constant sound of insects loud against the jungle noises surrounding the Level 1 facility.  Suddenly, the sound of shouting and screams rent the air.  Travis, his 2 Cyan guards and his Marine guard Pennity rushed back to the guard station to the sensor ops room.  There, Almill, one of the remote drone monitors, seemed to be having problems with the drone that was near the area of disturbance. Purity and Travis got a call from Li about a mole vehicle breaking the ground.  Without footage, the players had no idea what was going on.  Travis, in his youth and inexperience, did not notice the furtive manner of Almill, but Corporal Mell did.  Drawing her firearm, she requested the drone operator to step away from the console.  He did so with some speed, and the operator next door got the video going in time to see the drone digging its way back underground, escaping from the approaching APCs.  Almill was arrested on charges of aiding and abetting, while Travis and his guard retinue went out to view the new hole in the ground. 

Boris and the head warden were now on their way from the main administrative/hospital area, almost 200 kilometers away. Via a grav APC it would take under an hour to get there. In the meantime, the Renegade class ship in orbit started using its gravatic sensors to see if they could track the mole.  Resolution was not ideal from orbit, so the ship was fast approaching to get closer and perhaps find the fleeing prisoners.  Looking into hole, Travis wondered about a drone going in after the felling vehicle.  The drones at Cyan prison are large, grav drive based drones about 2 meters long, with audio and video capabilities.  The hole in the jungle dirt did not look stable enough for another vehicle to follow.  The drone followed the tunnel for almost a kilometer when the radio signal started getting too low.  They retrieved the drone and by now the Scout ship was significantly closer and had an almost 80% probability to the location of the mole.  The Scout ship was being flanked by 2 system defense boats from the local dictator, Aphix Irteepini.  Weapons went hot when the mole vehicle was located, and a missile was launched.  Several Imperial SDBs were heading out the confrontational area.

The primary issue is political: Cyan has its own government, a non-charismatic dictator who controls the army.  While the starport is an Imperial domain, the planet, while part of the Imperium, does have its own government. While there is some contention, what with a small rebellion, the Imperium normally stays out of local politics.  However, the prison is an official Imperial Prison, and so there is some grey legal areas. Additionally, the three escaped prisoners are leaders in the rebellion, and Irteepini would rather have them killed than returned to prison.  They are local Cyan but were interred in the Imperial prison along with hundreds of other political prisoners.

Apparently the prison break was well thought out: while the jungle and air space were monitored, no one thought about tunneling at that scale. The molepod was constructed locally in secret, using plans from the Imperial Army Corps of Engineers.  Cyan, being tech level A, had the tooling and wherewithal to construct this vehicle.

Traveller Sunday, part 2

While our Travellers are exploring the prison, interviewing staff and prisoners alike. their ship, Le Suroit, is being transported to the inner planetoid belt for its refueling and refurbishing for the next leg of the journey.  The primary reason is that Cyan and the Way Station are moving further apart, and the 1G lab ship will take too long to get there if they wait much longer.  The 2nd reason is that I may as well use the deck plans I've bought over the years, so the Renegade class Scout ship (which is 4G as of now :) ) is waiting to take them to the station when they have completed their jobs on Cyan.

And I've got the Renegade from 0-Hr / Ryan Wolf, both the deck plans and the miniature.

Traveller Sunday - At the prison

Due to a miscommunication, Thomas missed Sunday's game. As the two characters had actually split locations, that worked out okay.

We've dropped Dr. Boris off at the admin/hospital complex at the main gate (the only gate) of the prison. He has an attached Imperial Marine and 2 guards at all times for local protection as needed. His task is to verify that there are no abuses in the legal system on the medical side - i.e., patients are cared for and all that.

Travis and Purity travel on almost 200 km to the Level 1 section, with Li and another prisoner in the back of the grav APC. Li will be infiltrating the local prison population, which will clear the rest of her sentence. Purity is heading into the administrative side of things, to review the paperwork and personnel files.  Travis is to use his carousing skill (level 0, but it is there) to wander around and get a more general feel for things.  After an all too aggressive beginning, he relaxes more into the role of low-key snoop.  In the first week he picks up a rumor of one of the drone/sensor ops guys having a far too nice condo back in Brigham.

Li has found that something big is to occur soon but she has not had enough time to find out any details yet.  Purity has not found anything of obvious interest other than some petty thefts and minor guard abuses that have been recorded. She is pursuing some leads on potential guard/prisoner collusions.

On average, the local Cyan guards & staff, despite getting paid by the Imperium, are not forthcoming about much. About 70% of the staff are local Cyans, and have various levels of the native xenophobia traits.

So at this point I've rolled up Travis' Marine guard, one Pennity Mell, Corporal, along with the sensor ops guy and a bruiser thug that was in the back of the APC getting transported to the Level 1.  I'll need to generate some doctors, Boris' Marine guard, and a few other NPCs, and deal with reactions and all that.

We'll have to cover what Boris does, and we may do that via email to get the timelines synchronized.

Traveller Sunday - to the Prison

After a day of rest and non-ship food at the at least adequate hotel and dining establishment of the Class C starport on Cyan, our intrepid group, accompanied by Li Brewster from the prison ship, make the flight to the Imperial Prison known locally as the Jungle.

Dr. Boris is expected to inspect the hospital facilities, and question some randomly selected prisoners.  Travis, Purity & Li are flying over to the Level 1 prisoners to begin with.  They plan on inspecting various locations and seeing if there is any truth to the rumors of abuse and maltreatment.

So...yesterday's game play was fairly slow as I've not really had the time to get a lot of the background into place despite the 2 week hiatus between sessions.  As the prison is almost 200x200 kilometers, houses 100,000 prisoners, and has almost 10,000 personnel, it is a bit of an undertaking.

Hopefully this week I'll have time to get more details, gen up some interesting prisoners, figure out the hospital complex, the fusion complex, some sample guard barracks...at least I borrowed some deck plans that work well enough for the prison cells.

BTW: Li is getting a free trip as she was most helpful in the prison ship, she is nearing the end of her prison term, and she actually has some useful skills that may be of use to the players.  I need to flesh her out a bit more with emotional characteristics, maybe an interesting image or something.

And no - I've not had time to get back to the software development. Maybe when Bryson goes to college...

Traveller Sunday

After a longer hiatus than expected, we resumed our game.  Travis & Boris both failed to maintain the required concentration while studying to improve some skills. Travis' jump coordinates were far off the intended plot: instead of coming out of jump near the planetoid belt housing the Scout Way station, they emerged from jump at the 100 diameter limit of Cyan itself.  While this is not necessarily a bad thing, coming out of jump less than 45 minutes away from a captured Imperial Prison ship, was not fortuitous.

At this point, Purity Truth came out to let Boris and Travis know she is actually an Imperial Intelligence Agent, at the point of retirement but doing one last mission to inspect rumors of the Imperial Prison on Cyan.  While she was hoping for a more clandestine approach to her investigation, events compelled her to help out.

As the prison ship was approaching, the ISS Renegade was also approaching from the Way Station. Sadly it was still more than 2 hours out.  Knowing the prison ship only had 2 missile launchers for defense, Le Suroit opened fire with her pulse lasers in an attempt to disable the launchers. Sadly this was an epically bad night for dice rolls: the shot went wild, and they were notified by the prisoners that another attempt would be fatal. Part of the reason for the miss, despite having a gunner, is the pulse lasers on Le Suroit are more akin to mining lasers as well as having a more limited firing arc. That and rolling a 3 on the to hit did not help.

The two ships docked, but our crew could hear fighting in the background of the prison ship.  Communicating with the Imperial Starport below, our crew was deputized under Purity's command. A face to face parley was requested by Star, the leader of the prisoners currently in charge of the ship.  Docking was a bit problematical as the ships were at a 90 degree angle to each other do to the location of the docking ports (the lab ship really does not make it easy to get in and out of!).

At the upper jump pod, where the ships are joined, our crew hears knocking at the door.  An Imperial prisoner is on the other side, hands up in the universal sign of don't shoot me please.  They let her in.  The situation on the prison ship is explained: there are 3 groups, two of which are not really that violent. Star, the leader on the bridge, is one of the not violent ones who as requested the parley.

So our players, after removing all weapons as per Captain Boris, along with Purity, head to thge bridge of the prison ship. While Travis and Boris managed the athletic transition, Purity, despite being an Aslan and one would think land on her feet, was not as graceful (she has a lower dexterity due to failing a couple of aging rolls).

They are met by a Vargr who leads them to the elevators, past some bloodstained walls that were witness to the bloody uprising from the prisoners. The elevators still play musak in the far future it turns out.  A brief parley, and confirmation that the prisoners will be held at the Imperial starport pending investigation of the prison situation, and the ship is yielded to Purity.

While Travis goes back for Cudgel and his stunner, Star and Boris make for a quick survey of the ship to let the other prisoners know what the deal is.  There are a few bodies scattered, and a few prisoners still in there cells, refusing to come out.  In the starboard prison pod they find the remnants of the most xenophobic and violent prisoners. They refuse to be handed over to the Imperial scum, and one of them lunges at Boris with a hidden shiv. it was at this point Travis returns, and hearing the ruckus, fires his stunner. Sadly, another horrible roll and he takes out Star. Meanwhile, the good Doctor and the shiv carrying thug are tussling but both are inept at physical combat.  Finally our thug cuts the doctor, causing 4 points of damage. Travis has managed to get behind the struggle and attempts to pull off the thug. Sadly he is not nearly as strong, and only manages to distract him for a moment. Using Cudgel he attempts to smack the guy on the head. He does actually hit but does only 1 point of damage.

At this point, 2 ISS security guards (yes, my Scout Service has a security division) show up and the fight is shortly over.

And that's pretty much where we left off.  I'll try and get a better synopsis with names and all that in place, and the fallout of this.  Le Suroit is still orbiting Cyan, the amber zoned world, and may be there a while for legal proceedings.

Game and Software Update

Our Traveller game has slowed down - we've not actually played in a month or more. Between holidays, illness and other aspects of real life, we've been unable to meet up. Either that or my players are not really enjoying the game.  And I've been a bit out of contact myself for a variety of personal reasons. While next weekend (end of Jan) I am unavailable, perhaps we'll be able to play the following weekend.

On the software side, I've restarted the Traveller Tracker a few times.  Trying to get my head wrapped around the MVVM aspect of things.  I've got yet another restart in process where I've the basic MVVM set up, I've installed the SqlLite DB and tools, and I'm about to at least see about getting the various other models I had ported into the new program.  The Entity Framework sample I am following has migration built in it appears, so that my database will be maintained via the program.  So that's good.

I've got the basic idea for the main screen. Each button on the left loads the appropriate view.  Not sure how to implement this just yet, but I'll get there.  Eventually....

Software update

While I was making progress on the revisited UWP, I've decided I also want to learn some new things, not just keep rehashing the old things.

So...I will endeavor to make this a MVVM style software (Model - View - View Model) and embed SqlLite into it rather than using text files.

So, up front this will radically slow things down initially.  Long term, however, it should actually speed up things.  So Traveller3 is sort of stopping production, and I'll start on Traveller4 :)

If anyone wants the sort of functional Win32 version, I may be able to package that so it can be installed. I'm not really sure where I left it, other than replacing the IE8 web control with EO Chrome (with the nag screen as I had not paid for it) browser to verify if the TravellerMap API would still work (mostly, just need to adjust the call a bit).

As with all personal projects, I've no idea about an end date. I want to get it out before the year ends - I did state that as a goal on COTI after all :)

Traveller Sunday

Alas, one of my players was sick. So the rest of us (all 2) went to see Star Wars: Rogue One.  It was enjoyable.

And I got more work done on the Traveller Tracker. Finally got the support files to load although I am not exactly happy with the technique.  And the regex did not work on the new SEC files. So I am deciding that only files as exported from Traveller map will be used, and using a fixed width file format (which frankly is a lot more efficient than regex anyway; especially since my knowledge of regex is pretty much copy/paste!).

So I've added the initial data template for the worlds of the sector. Needs work but it is at least working.  And I think I'll save off the last ship used and load that on start up automatically as well. But at least I am making some progress.

As for the game - I did collect enough Lego minifigs I think to handle things. I'll have to recheck before we play, as well as look into BITS At Close Quarters to handle the combat.  Ill work up a cheat sheet for the players.

UWP Traveller Tracker

Slow progress, but at least I am now loading the support files. I've expanded the ship class a little, and added at least the lookup to load a sector file.  Not processing it yet...Also the selector for the version (T5, Classic, Mongoose - I have those rule sets).

Traveller Game for Jan 1

We'll probably be playing Sunday, January 1st. Welcoming the new year in with Traveller. This round may curtail some combat, so I need to research that a bit more to see how we want to play it. T5 and abstract range bands, or use BITS Close Combat, or Snapshot....

No matter which way, I'll need character tokens and something to place them on, even if it is just abstract (although I do have my ancient hex mat, just need to get some erasable markers).  I'll probably use Lego minfigs. As I must have a few hundred by now, and enough of the same ones to take sides, that will probably work. I did search for some paper minis which may be an option later on.

And hopefully I'll have time to work on the Traveller tracker a bit more this weekend. I'd like to be able to load in the support files at least, and expand a bit on the various classes.

In the meantime, here's Cyan:

Traveller 3: Tracking our Travellers

I've vaguely resurrected the 7 year old Traveller tracking software. I've got basic functionality in the Win32 version, but I am now re-writing it for UWP - Universal Windows Platform.  Most of the logic will just move over, although I am replacing all the XML with JSON and serializing things - way too much work the older way.

I've got a very basic (and ugly) start going. It can now save off & reload my ship data. Not much shows up on the screen shot below, but getting asynchronous I/O working was (as always) harder than expected. I also have the data binding in place, and that seems to work.

So, many steps to go, but the plan is:

1. Expand out the various classes (ship, world, etc)
2. update the regex to handle the new SEC file format (that should be interesting)
3. verify that I can use the TravellerMap APIs (the win32 version used an older version of IE and that was not working; swapped it out for a 3rd party Chrome engine and it worked, but the AP has changed a little since I last used it 7 years ago...)
4. and several more things I've not really thought of

I plan on probably redoing everything that was in the old version, and that let you use, for trade at least, Classic, Mongoose and T5 trade rules/world trade codes.

And I plan on actually getting this into the Windows store - something published is always a good thing to add to my resume! 

And the code is available on GitHub - see my COliver988 account if curious.

Cyan Propoganda Poster

Just trying to think like a xenophobic dictator...

Off to Cyan

Well, despite having a small book of potential adventures, the adventurers are off to Cyan.  As this is an Amber Zone world with a Prison, I small something adventuresome to occur.  I believe I have the deck plans for something that could be a prison transport....

Dr. Boris gets a gun

Using the UWP Gunmaker program I generated the following gun. Then looked around for some SF revolvers.  I should have saved off where I got this image from...

Oai-ko thanks

After helping with the saving of his son, Oia-ko, the ahriy (pride) leader, celebrates with a lavish meal at the Saealin Geki Plantation, and gives a more formal letter of gratitude, as well as a replacement air/raft for the one the dustspice pirates (yes, we can have pirates) took.  The air/raft is from the local Scout base, and is an upgrade from what they had previously.

After the meal, Oia-ko extends an invitation for a hunt: there is a herd of hoioye that are grazing and destroying some prime geki bushes a few hundred kilometers from the plantation.

(Air/raft from Moon Toad Publishing - Pukharra Fast Scout)