PBG Help

[rust]

About populations on other worlds?

Both GURPS Space in general and Transhuman Space in detail are much
more realistic and scientifically accurate than Traveller, and Blue Planet
is an excellent example of the design of a plausible human colony on a
planet with an alien biosphere - to name just two. :wink:

As for planets and atmospheres, in Traveller both Mars and Venus would
have the UWP atmosphere code A for Exotic, because both atmospheres
consist mainly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. For game purposes this is
about as useful as the information that a mouse and a blue whale both
are mammals.

 

[DFW]

Sure it does, just not obviously.

I meant living without gravity and being constantly exposed to rad. Being in a ship doesn't qualify for either. That's what I meant.

N.B. Living in a nuc sub (near huge Fission reactors) means your living environment is LESS radioactive than the average civilian in country or city...

 

[GypsyComet]

A Belt Miner who can spend his entire working life in a ship managing drones instead of outside boots-to-rock is at the rich end of the breed. Several careers have Zero-G skill in prominent spots on the tables. Working in the black is not all that rare.

 

[DFW]

Working in the black is not all that rare.

Correct. But living in it is pretty much non-existent. One works in a coal mine. One doesn't live in one. As was my point.

 

[zero]

Should I have Survival checks for sending my players out on an EVA when theyre in their Vacc Suits anyway?

 

[GypsyComet]

Only if you've decided to have a solar flare going. The Survival check I was refering to is the career-based roll every four years...

If you have a casual EVA that your Vacc Suit-0 or better PCs had a chance to properly suit up for, there will generally be no issues.

If someone sabotaged the suits, the PCs had to suit up in a hurry, or there is a lot of dangerous, fast, or fiddly stuff to do out in the black, then some rolls (on Vacc Suit, Zero G, or even just END or DEX) could be called for.

 

[zero]

Would you a solar flare past 15 AU onwards to the Kuiper Belt to be relevant in our solar system for radiation issues?
My Pbp Crew are currently at about that point and one might come up in future.

 

[GypsyComet]

Depends on the suit you were wearing and how long you needed to stay outside, and whether you had the good anti-rad drugs available. A strong flare can be almost beam-like, so distance is not always the cube root safety cushion it is for broader flares.

15AU? Out past Saturn a flare stands a good chance of not being pointed at you. Of course, unless the star has a good web of monitoring sats around it, your players won't know where a flare is aimed. They'll just hear the warnings. Good for some tension.

 

[DFW]

Would you a solar flare past 15 AU onwards to the Kuiper Belt to be relevant in our solar system for radiation issues?
My Pbp Crew are currently at about that point and one might come up in future.

Amost never in our solar system would a flare be any issue that far out. At least we've never witnessed one that would be at 15 AU.

 

[zero]

We're past that point now, either way

For future reference, how far out has a solar flare been known to be? Eventually they'll be heading back in-system, so it'd be good to know when to introduce these.

 

[rust]

For future reference, how far out has a solar flare been known to be?

The radiation of a solar flare is reduced depending on the distance from
the sun according to the inverse-square law, but it travels all the way to
the stars, which is why we can observe stellar flares of other stars.

Whether the radiation of a solar flare can still be dangerous for a starship
and its crew at any distance from the sun depends on the original power
of the flare, and there is no defined upper limit of this power.

So, you could have a solar flare powerful enough to be dangerous for a
starship in the vicinity of Jupiter, but in this case any planet in the flare's
path outwards from the sun would suffer severe damage to its infrastruc-
ture.

If you intend to surprise your players with that kind of super flare, make
sure that Earth and Mars are currently far from the path of the flare, or
change the campaign to a post-apocalyptic one ...

 

[Ishmael]

Depends on the system...red dwarfs can be particularly active and violent...much more so than our sun.

 

[zero]

So solar flares are generally more exceptable in an inner system game then?

 

[DFW]

So solar flares are generally more exceptable in an inner system game then?

Yep, and you want to do it in a TL 6 or lower system. Otherwise your players will get warning in time to avoid. Same as we have in our TL 7 system.

 

[GypsyComet]

That will depend somewhat on distance from warning to the nearest rock, and the atmosphere and port ratings of the main world. A nice thick atmosphere and a D or E port means "who cares?", while a better port and thinner atmosphere will lead to more "social" awareness and a higher likelihood of early flare detection systems.

Just because you trade with them doesn't mean they have to like you. A system within the Imperium or Consulate (or Hiver, K'kree, or Solomani space) is more likely to inform known ships as the ports are run by the interstellar government and/or are less influenced by local politics. Get outside the larger polities and all bets are off. The K'kree are less likely to inform filthy meat-eating xenos, but as long as you can read their internal travel advisories you'll know which systems are flare prone.

 

[Ishmael]

It depends
There would be no real need for a warning system for ships in space..they'll see it soon enough... huge jumps in the UV and soft X-ray bands for our sun. Red dwarfs will be more energetic due to their stronger magnetic activity as a result of their fully convective zones' dynamo effect.

http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News/2005/06/GALEX%20catches%20dwarf%20star%20superflare.aspx
http://asylum.za.org/pda/thread.php?topic_id=2236
red dwarf make up nearly 3/4 of the stars in the galaxy, too.

Sunspot 720 let out an X-3 flare where the proton storm hit only about 30 minutes after the flare's visible light was detected. This gave the protons a velocity of nearly a third of the speed of light.
The CME from the Carrington Flare hit just over 17 hours after the first visible detection.
With times like this being possible, and considering the time lost understanding what it is, whether it is a danger, and what actions should be taken, there might not be a lot of useful time left for real action.

 

[DFW]

A nice thick atmosphere and a D or E port means "who cares?"

Not true at all. The deciding factor is TL 7+ satellite telecommunications and ships coming in from 100d limit.

 

[GypsyComet]

A nice thick atmosphere and a D or E port means "who cares?"

Not true at all. The deciding factor is TL 7+ satellite telecommunications and ships coming in from 100d limit.

With not enough traffic to justify a real port, not enough Pop to justify commsats, and a big cushion of atmosphere, you are going to get worlds that don't know and don't care. They won't all think that way, or be that insular and under-developed, but some will.

 

[DFW]

A nice thick atmosphere and a D or E port means "who cares?"

Not true at all. The deciding factor is TL 7+ satellite telecommunications and ships coming in from 100d limit.

With not enough traffic to justify a real port, not enough Pop to justify commsats, and a big cushion of atmosphere, you are going to get worlds that don't know and don't care. They won't all think that way, or be that insular and under-developed, but some will.

Sure. Worlds that aren't really worth stopping at.