How do you handle planets with no trade codes?

[VincentUrsus]

How do you handle no trade codes?

To help flesh out their characters, I've had all of my players use the world creation rules to create their homeworlds. Neither hard science nor space opera.

One fellow had an odd world with a size of 0, an atmosphere of 5, and a population of 9.

Weirder than that was the following world:

Size: 4
Atmosphere: 2
Temperature: 9
Hydrographics: 5
Population: 8
Government: 11
Law: 14
Starport: Class C (with a scout base)
Technology: 10

This didn't seem particularly weird until I went to identify which trade codes were applicable, and discovered the answer was none.

Not enough atmosphere for agricultural, fluid oceans, or rich.
Too big to be an asteroid.
Too much population to be barren, low population, non-industrial, or poor.
Too much water to be a desert or non-agricultural.
Too small to be a garden world.
Not enough population to be high population or industrial.
Not enough technology to be high technology.
Too much atmosphere to be ice-capped or vacuum.
Too much technology to be low technology.
Not enough water to be a water world.

Is this a sign that the world creation system is broken?
Or are the trade codes incomplete?

I'm open to suggestions of a trade code to add to the list to describe this world (and possibly others like it).

For the moment I'm leaving it without a trade code since that amused the player whose homeworld this was.

 

[captainjack23]

How do you handle no trade codes?

To help flesh out their characters, I've had all of my players use the world creation rules to create their homeworlds. Neither hard science nor space opera.

One fellow had an odd world with a size of 0, an atmosphere of 5, and a population of 9.

Weirder than that was the following world:

Size: 4
Atmosphere: 2
Temperature: 9
Hydrographics: 5
Population: 8
Government: 11
Law: 14
Starport: Class C (with a scout base)
Technology: 10

This didn't seem particularly weird until I went to identify which trade codes were applicable, and discovered the answer was none.

Not enough atmosphere for agricultural, fluid oceans, or rich.
Too big to be an asteroid.
Too much population to be barren, low population, non-industrial, or poor.
Too much water to be a desert or non-agricultural.
Too small to be a garden world.
Not enough population to be high population or industrial.
Not enough technology to be high technology.
Too much atmosphere to be ice-capped or vacuum.
Too much technology to be low technology.
Not enough water to be a water world.

Is this a sign that the world creation system is broken?
Or are the trade codes incomplete?

I'm open to suggestions of a trade code to add to the list to describe this world (and possibly others like it).

For the moment I'm leaving it without a trade code since that amused the player whose homeworld this was.

Well, there probably are some unspecified trade codes for later products -like Merchants or Possibly World gen handbook.

It just means that the planet is absolutely nothing special. A bit of everything, perhaps, but nothing spectacular, nothing needed especially, and not famous for any particular products. We get buy, and sell gas to merchants passing through.
Kind of like Mayberry RFD -or, less agricultural, your basiic bedroom community/suburb - Levittown (or on this coast, Foster city or Burbank)

But, on the whole, I doubt that it flags the sytem as broken per se. The characters still have the university base skills to work from, anyway. Thinking about it, maybe there should be an "everywhere" category with some basic skills, perhaps a mix of basic skills and basic human interaction skills: Ground vehicle if tech 5-9, grav if greater, Rider if less.
melee -0.
diplomacy or streetwise -0.

Just a thought.

 

[GypsyComet]

Note that there are some modifiers to the atmosphere and hydro rolls at the tail end of the size section. A size of '0' means that you will also have no atmosphere and no surface water.

 

[EDG]

One fellow had an odd world with a size of 0, an atmosphere of 5, and a population of 9.

It's not too obvious, but on page 170 it says in the text that any world of size 1 or less can't have an atmosphere (it must have atm 0). Under hydrographics on page 172 it says that size 0 or 1 worlds have hydrographics 0.

So he's from an asteroid belt with billions of people in it. Note that the minimum TL for the belt is TL 8 according to the table on pg 179.

C4258BE-A (just condensed it down to a UWP)

This didn't seem particularly weird until I went to identify which trade codes were applicable, and discovered the answer was none.

Not enough atmosphere for agricultural, fluid oceans, or rich.
Too big to be an asteroid.
Too much population to be barren, low population, non-industrial, or poor.
Too much water to be a desert or non-agricultural.
Too small to be a garden world.
Not enough population to be high population or industrial.
Not enough technology to be high technology.
Too much atmosphere to be ice-capped or vacuum.
Too much technology to be low technology.
Not enough water to be a water world.

Yep. And that's fine. It just means that it doesn't have any special trade goods to offer any other world, and doesn't prefer any specific kind of trade items from anywhere else. The Common Goods from the trade tables are available here, and there's no DMs on the passenger or freight tables (I'm assuming there are none for the freight tables anyway, they forgot to mention it in that one!).

The trade codes are fine, and the world creation system isn't creating a broken result here.

 

[daryen]

But, on the whole, I doubt that it flags the sytem as broken per se. The characters still have the university base skills to work from, anyway.

Actually, in some ways, having no trade codes is an advantage. You only get three (maybe four) of those non-career startup skills. If you have too many trade codes, they are all pretty much assigned from that. With no trade codes, you get to pick all of them from the "initial education" list. That sounds like a better deal to me.

So, it isn't like you are penalized for it. You still get your three (or four) skills.

 

[MrUkpyr]

How do you handle no trade codes?

Size: 4
Atmosphere: 2
Temperature: 9
Hydrographics: 5
Population: 8
Government: 11
Law: 14
Starport: Class C (with a scout base)
Technology: 10

It's a world where (per trade data on pg 165 of MGT) you can find basic electronics, machine parts, manufactured goods, raw materials, consumables, and ores.

And it's a world where you won't easily find advanced anything!

A simple boring run-of-the-mill planet.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I usually get 2-3 of these "no code" worlds per sub-sector. They are the generalist worlds. They can do a bit of everything, but haven't specialized like most of the other worlds.

No big deal.

 

[darktalon]

Terra itself had no trade codes in CT before Merchant Prince introduced the high population trade code. Make of that what you will.

 

[alex_greene]

Of course if the world has absolutely no distinguishing features, you could introduce the trade classification of "Bo."

Short for "Boring."

IYTU, you might want to create your own trade classifications. The scope of these classifications might be narrower than the broad brushstrokes of the established system, but they'd be a good shorthand for a trader captain to determine what cargos the ship'll need to sell there.

For example, "As" could mean "Predominantly Aslan population," "Dr" can mean "Droyne outnumber all other races present," and so on.

Classifications based on what the world needs most, and what it can trade chespest, could also be a good shorthand code for traders to use. A high tech, high population world is likely to need fresh entertainment as much as raw materials; a low population colony world is going to love you if you take on a regular mail run to them, particularly if the world lies 3 parsecs from the nearest civilised system (and your vessel can do Jump-3).

Finally, you could invent a few "anti-trade" codes for worlds where trade is generally detrimental to you: a world with an excessively high Law Level, for instance, and an impersonal bureaucracy such as Regina, is going to be hell for a trader specialising in small package trading (smuggling): all those inspections, tariffs and penalties for improper registration make the world a general black mark for illicit trades, so trade classifications for "stuffed shirt" worlds and "pirate" worlds where you can't breathe without having to bribe someone could be handy.

 

[EDG]

I did suggest a code of "Op" for "Oppressive" for worlds with law level A+. Those could have a significant black market, if traders knew how to get to it - but they carry significant risk to the smugglers.

 

[GypsyComet]

For example, "As" could mean "Predominantly Aslan population," "Dr" can mean "Droyne outnumber all other races present," and so on.

There have been such codes in the past. The Mongoose UWP barely gets far enough over, but UWPs have had an allegiance code that is especially useful in border areas, large states with internal wars, etc.

In the trade codes, a code of A3 would mean that 30% (roughly) of the population is Aslan, while an allegiance code of "As" means the whole world is Aslan, even if they are also Imperial. The precise meaning becomes location sensitive at that point.

You can also use an "Nr" code for Native Races.

As for the existing trade codes, the four that give you a good clue are the agriculture and industrial codes. Ag or In indicates net export, while Na or Ni indicates net import. If a world has none of the four, those categories are probably down to specialties and luxury items instead of bulk resource shipping.

Some large scale hauler *might* be bringing in raw materials to a net exporter, but he's either bringing in materials that the source can't process (but needs to) or is just an established part of that world's import/export equation. Commerce has many facets, after all.

 

[darktalon]

I did suggest a code of "Op" for "Oppressive" for worlds with law level A+. Those could have a significant black market, if traders knew how to get to it - but they carry significant risk to the smugglers.

And of course the higher the law level, the more goods will be considered contraband.