Spaceship-scale Turrets on ground structures

[MasterGwydion]

Nobody "builds" an asteroid or moon (cept maybe the Empire). You can generate specifics for them from WBH, but not build in the ship-sense.

I don't know why anyone would bother trying to "build" a 50 billion ton station. What is the point? These are locations, not PC structures and/or ships. This goes beyond what is needed in any game. For things such as these you simply create them without need for building.

Rules for worldbuilding are a good thing. I am not only a player, I am also a Referee. Also, some people like building and then mapping things out for their players to adventure in. Some players enjoy designing and building bases for their Travellers. How big is the power plant on the colony? Is it one big one or a bunch of smaller ones? Is there space available for rent? What is the average income per capita. Maybe you are not detail-oriented, but others are. Not having rules for worldbuilding is why things like the trade system do not really function well. Or the manufacturing rules. Or pretty much anything that isn't, use a skill, do a thing. Same reason We have robot creation rules, vehicle creation rules, weapon creation rules, space and star ship creation rules, etc. Players and Referees like to design and build stuff. Having rules to do so, as long as they are not overly complicated, like FFS, is great. Players can found a colony. Should there be no rules for this?

Just because you do not understand why a person enjoys such a thing, why discourage others? We are enjoy the same game. If I am talking about a part of the game that you have no interest in, then that is okay, but don't tell Me nobody does a thing, when I am actively sitting here, at this moment, and for the last two weeks, worldbuilding bases, patrons, contacts, allies, rivals, enemies, trade routes, ships, robots, and factions.

 

[phavoc]

Rules for worldbuilding are a good thing. I am not only a player, I am also a Referee. Also, some people like building and then mapping things out for their players to adventure in. Some players enjoy designing and building bases for their Travellers. How big is the power plant on the colony? Is it one big one or a bunch of smaller ones? Is there space available for rent? What is the average income per capita. Maybe you are not detail-oriented, but others are. Not having rules for worldbuilding is why things like the trade system do not really function well. Or the manufacturing rules. Or pretty much anything that isn't, use a skill, do a thing. Same reason We have robot creation rules, vehicle creation rules, weapon creation rules, space and star ship creation rules, etc. Players and Referees like to design and build stuff. Having rules to do so, as long as they are not overly complicated, like FFS, is great. Players can found a colony. Should there be no rules for this?

Just because you do not understand why a person enjoys such a thing, why discourage others? We are enjoy the same game. If I am talking about a part of the game that you have no interest in, then that is okay, but don't tell Me nobody does a thing, when I am actively sitting here, at this moment, and for the last two weeks, worldbuilding bases, patrons, contacts, allies, rivals, enemies, trade routes, ships, robots, and factions.

Not meaning to discourage you. I just don't see it as a practical thing.

Say you wanted rules to establish a colony for 1,000 people on an airless moon. How much raw shipping tonnage is needed to supply habitable structures? How much water should be brought in to start and give them 12 months of average recycling loss? What about food? Would you get better yields with aquaculture that included fish, or just pure hydroponics? How much spares would be needed for TL 10 vs TL 11? The list of questions is vast and endless and that's just scratching the surface.

The issue here is that for a game company or author to create the literal tome(s) required for this requires a lot of work. And the payoff is comparatively small since the audience size is small. A company called Zozer games has a book (not specifically Traveller ) for colony building. If you want to get more details on logistics read Dunnigans book How to make War that lists all kinds of tables and data for the care and feeding of soldiers in combat. There are a ton of actual books out there on construction science, estimation and logistics.

It's all fascinating stuff if you are into that. The level of detail you are asking for isn't really in the norms of gaming though- or at least none that I've seen. I've known people to build out extremely detailed gaming backgrounds because they enjoy it - just never seen any publisher get to that level. It's far more a labor of love than one of business.

Personally I like details, and do that sort of thing for my own enjoyment. But at a point we all have to draw a line somewhere between fun gaming and accountants in space.

As I said I don't mean to discourage you, just offering my $.02 here. That's the point of the public forum - we are all here to share, kibbutz and dissemble.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Not meaning to discourage you. I just don't see it as a practical thing.

Say you wanted rules to establish a colony for 1,000 people on an airless moon. How much raw shipping tonnage is needed to supply habitable structures? How much water should be brought in to start and give them 12 months of average recycling loss? What about food? Would you get better yields with aquaculture that included fish, or just pure hydroponics? How much spares would be needed for TL 10 vs TL 11? The list of questions is vast and endless and that's just scratching the surface.

The issue here is that for a game company or author to create the literal tome(s) required for this requires a lot of work. And the payoff is comparatively small since the audience size is small. A company called Zozer games has a book (not specifically Traveller ) for colony building. If you want to get more details on logistics read Dunnigans book How to make War that lists all kinds of tables and data for the care and feeding of soldiers in combat. There are a ton of actual books out there on construction science, estimation and logistics.

It's all fascinating stuff if you are into that. The level of detail you are asking for isn't really in the norms of gaming though- or at least none that I've seen. I've known people to build out extremely detailed gaming backgrounds because they enjoy it - just never seen any publisher get to that level. It's far more a labor of love than one of business.

Personally I like details, and do that sort of thing for my own enjoyment. But at a point we all have to draw a line somewhere between fun gaming and accountants in space.

As I said I don't mean to discourage you, just offering my $.02 here. That's the point of the public forum - we are all here to share, kibbutz and dissemble.

No, I totally get that. There has to be a balance between detail and playability with the emphasis on playability. Before RH existed, you couldn't build robots. Before the VH, you couldn't make vehicles. Before HG, you could only build the most basic of spacecraft designs. I am trying to expand the game, just like with those other books. Adding capabilities, not trying to overwhelm with detail. I think that My favorite Traveller book of all time was the World Tamers Handbook. I loved the construction and colony management details. I just wish that book could be updated to MgT2. Heck, it even tied in defensive forces, although not well...lol... A rewrite of that is what I was really hoping to get out of the WBH, but alas, it was not to be. I am not a hack and slash gamer. Most of My characters, both PC and NPC, have long-term goals, such as building a colony, or a merchant line, or things of that nature. The adventures are then what happens while they are trying to accomplish that, from Patrons all of the way down to the lowly PCs