Limpin Legin
Emperor Mongoose
Or maybe Terraforming tech would be improved . That would provide an increased number of Garden or near-Garden Worlds in your campaign, such that jump distances needn't always be so far.
Earth-Standard Worlds Only
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MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
The percentage of Mainworlds in Traveller that are in the Habitable Zone of their star system isn't explicitly stated in the sources I found. However, Traveller's world-building rules often place Mainworlds in the Habitable Zone to ensure they are suitable for human habitation and interaction.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
While true now, most of the main worlds, including all in the Spinward Marches, Solomani and the Judges Guild Sectors were generated before that was the case.
Consider asteroid main worlds. They are the most important feature of that system. No amount of goldilocksing is going to make them habitable.
Consider asteroid main worlds. They are the most important feature of that system. No amount of goldilocksing is going to make them habitable.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
One issue would be how much it would cost to make them human habitable.
Whereas something close to Terra standard, you can just drop off a bunch of colonists.
Like unwanted pets.
Whereas something close to Terra standard, you can just drop off a bunch of colonists.
Like unwanted pets.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Unfortunately...
I only say that because Earth is more than 70% water and even if it where at mid Hydro 9 (90%) it would still have 51 million km of land area, which is as much as Europe, North and South America combined... I would have made it Hydro 6-8 for Garden, but not something I can change.
To be fair, using a one dimensional hydro value is just a coarse measure that doesn't take into account location or fragmentation of land masses, but still, a supercontinent on a hydro 5 world would have a lot of arid regions (unless it was full of small seas). Dug into the dispersion of landforms a bit in the WBH, but didn't add such detail into the habitability rating.
Going by CT Book 6, the preference for main worlds is to put them in habitable zones when creating a star system. Most, not all, but most are in the habitable zone. The most important planet in the system is the main world and therefore most likely in the habitable zone.
That's ideal, yes. But there are reasons it might not be true. And a long journey from the sun's 100D to the planet is a very good reason for that. If there's anywhere suitable to put the starport that doesn't require that, the starport will be there. Then local traffic can ship it to the habitable world.
Again, most (but not all) main worlds are in the habitable zone of the system star (or stars). Most habitable zones lie within the 100D limit of the system's star. Thus, most main worlds are masked.
The system's main starport will be on or orbiting the main world, thus it too will usually be masked.
I am going strictly by classic Traveller rules.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
Again, many sectors, including the ones I named, were created before CT book 6 came out, and thus were not jump shadowed, and may or may not have been in the habitable zone.
CT Book 3 did not detail the star system. A Ref did not know how far the world was from the system's star, nor the diameter of the star. Star masking was completely ignored.
All Book 3 did was determine if a main world existed with a parsec hex.
It wasn't until Book 6 that we got the star's information (and star masking was still ignored).
Again, most worlds are masked by the system's star, and most worlds are in the system's habitable zone. Of course, a Ref can completely ignore star masking if he wants. It's not easy to determine, and some Ref's find it a pain in the bongo.
But, yes, if you investigate a sector that was created before Book 6 game out, you will indeed find that most main worlds are within the 100D of their system's star.
What's your point? That masking doesn't exist because it was ignored?
I'm not sure what anyone's point here is. Yes, most mainworlds are in the habitable zone because that makes the most sense. And it is moderately rare that worlds in the habitable zone are severely masked. That happens with certain sizes of stars. It's probably more common now because our understanding of star probabilities is different than in the past, but that's not how Traveller is designed.
The entire economic structure of the game is based around being able to jump to close proximity of the main starport. If you can't reach the main starport from the jump point within a day at merchant speeds (M1 or M2), that world is going to require specialized trading solutions.
One solution is to not put the starport on the main world. Another is to classify the more accessible world as the main world even if it isn't the 'best' world in the system. It's the main world for TRADE purposes. A third is to use some kind of LASH system where large trade ships unload cargo lighters and pick up new cargo lighters outside the jump shadow and continue on without a starport visit.
Another solution is to change the pricing structure of shipping so that you don't have to jump every other week to cover expenses.
The entire economic structure of the game is based around being able to jump to close proximity of the main starport. If you can't reach the main starport from the jump point within a day at merchant speeds (M1 or M2), that world is going to require specialized trading solutions.
One solution is to not put the starport on the main world. Another is to classify the more accessible world as the main world even if it isn't the 'best' world in the system. It's the main world for TRADE purposes. A third is to use some kind of LASH system where large trade ships unload cargo lighters and pick up new cargo lighters outside the jump shadow and continue on without a starport visit.
Another solution is to change the pricing structure of shipping so that you don't have to jump every other week to cover expenses.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
Pretty much what I've been saying. If you cannot access the "main world" easily with jump capable ships, another world will be the main one.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
The main world tends to be the most important, or significant, one.
A lot of seats of government tend to get moved away, for political, and/or security, reasons.
A lot of seats of government tend to get moved away, for political, and/or security, reasons.
Some systems (probably most) will opt for the jump masked garden. Others will pick a gas giant moon or that marginally habitable one that doesn't have an iron age civilization on it.
Resource extraction might be more important than agriculture, too. But generally, you'd think a garden world gets the nod.
And... it's not common that the hab zone is so far inside the star's 100D as to be a real barrier to travel. So it takes 19 hours to get there instead of 8? Um, I'm not seeing that a barrier to colonization.
Resource extraction might be more important than agriculture, too. But generally, you'd think a garden world gets the nod.
And... it's not common that the hab zone is so far inside the star's 100D as to be a real barrier to travel. So it takes 19 hours to get there instead of 8? Um, I'm not seeing that a barrier to colonization.
Right. If it's just inside the sun's 100D limit instead of using the planet's 100D limit, no big deal. That's not even worth noting as "shadowed". That's just flavor text. Every case where a world is called out as masked in Traveller, it's deep in the shadow. It takes days to get there. That does make a big difference.
