Starship Encounters: are there any more detailed 2e rules beyond the Core Book?

[Yenaldlooshi]

I am trying to find all the starship encounter rules that might be in any 2e source. Corebook, JTAS articles etc.

I found a few specifically referring to piracy from Drinax, but these seem more prey specific.

One of my specific questions is why is it only ever a 6 on 1D per day for an encounter? Couldn't there be more or larger encounters at busier systems or next to no encounter at less inhabited systems?

I know I can fix this myself by weighting the chances for an encounter higher or lower using a different die roll convention and modifiers. Changing the encounters table. etc. I just can't escape the feeling that perhaps this has already be done and published and I just can't seem to find it. I have almost all 2e rules and JTAS at this point (except vol#13-15)

Thoughts?

 

[MasterGwydion]

I am trying to find all the starship encounter rules that might be in any 2e source. Corebook, JTAS articles etc.

I found a few specifically referring to piracy from Drinax, but these seem more prey specific.

One of my specific questions is why is it only ever a 6 on 1D per day for an encounter? Couldn't there be more or larger encounters at busier systems or next to no encounter at less inhabited systems?

I know I can fix this myself by weighting the chances for an encounter higher or lower using a different die roll convention and modifiers. Changing the encounters table. etc. I just can't escape the feeling that perhaps this has already be done and published and I just can't seem to find it. I have almost all 2e rules and JTAS at this point (except vol#13-15)

Thoughts?

Ideally this would be affected by the planet's WTN, Bases, etc, but I am not aware of anywhere that has done that

 

[Anstett]

There is a TAS book out there on expanding the types of encounters but not the frequency of encounters.
Expanded Space Encounters 2e from 2017

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

There is a TAS book out there on expanding the types of encounters but not the frequency of encounters.
Expanded Space Encounters 2e from 2017

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

Well, at a $1.00 it didn't break the bank, but it was not really what I was looking for. This is more personnel, passenger and crew encounters on board a vessel, ex. while in j-space. I am looking for starship encounters after exiting jump or travelling in-system.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Well, at a $1.00 it didn't break the bank, but it was not really what I was looking for. This is more personnel, passenger and crew encounters on board a vessel, ex. while in j-space. I am looking for starship encounters after exiting jump or travelling in-system.

You may have to make one. I am not aware of one that is more of what you are looking for, but perhaps some of the OGs on here know of some from CT or other editions???

 

[Geir]

I am trying to find all the starship encounter rules that might be in any 2e source. Corebook, JTAS articles etc.

I found a few specifically referring to piracy from Drinax, but these seem more prey specific.

One of my specific questions is why is it only ever a 6 on 1D per day for an encounter? Couldn't there be more or larger encounters at busier systems or next to no encounter at less inhabited systems?

I know I can fix this myself by weighting the chances for an encounter higher or lower using a different die roll convention and modifiers. Changing the encounters table. etc. I just can't escape the feeling that perhaps this has already be done and published and I just can't seem to find it. I have almost all 2e rules and JTAS at this point (except vol#13-15)

Thoughts?

I have this whole campaign template with an Encounters tab that has both the Core and Drinax tables on it and a little section in it that weighs the D6 with the number of encounters basically being = D6 - 5 + DMs


The negative DMs in Empty Space drop the number of encounters beyond the main trade routes to less than 1:6, but you're guaranteed at least one encounter per day, and usually multiple on a Starport A, Pop A world. Pretty sure I just made the first part up, but the D66 part is from the Core Book.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I have this whole campaign template with an Encounters tab that has both the Core and Drinax tables on it and a little section in it that weighs the D6 with the number of encounters basically being = D6 - 5 + DMs
View attachment 2148

The negative DMs in Empty Space drop the number of encounters beyond the main trade routes to less than 1:6, but you're guaranteed at least one encounter per day, and usually multiple on a Starport A, Pop A world. Pretty sure I just made the first part up, but the D66 part is from the Core Book.

This doesn't include Trade Routes like the Hierate or the Florian, or worlds that are on the Mains.

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

I did find a cool little program called "Explanator-NSF" which automatically generates a lot of nice descriptive information on the fly based on the UWP of a planet. The only downside is it sounds like and extreme amount of vessels are encountered versus any rules as written. It might make sense though in the way it factors such high quantities.

It comes in the form of a single stand alone, no install .exe file.

Here it is if you would like to try it. Let me know what you think:

EXPLANATOR

EXPLANATOR is a software for GDW’s SF-RPG Traveller, especially for campaigns that play in the 3rd IMPERIUM. It is the perfect companion to travellermap.com. It uses a database of 15.000+ world’s, …

peterssoftwareprojects.com

 

[Anstett]

Also the idea of there are likely a large number of ships traversing a system but only a small handful are interesting to roleplay.

The tanker coming from the gas giant to starport for example. Sometimes would be interactive but mostly just in the background grinding away on the day to day life of the system.

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

Also the idea of there are likely a large number of ships traversing a system but only a small handful are interesting to roleplay.

The tanker coming from the gas giant to starport for example. Sometimes would be interactive but mostly just in the background grinding away on the day to day life of the system.

I hear ya. Still, just for flavor I would like some canonical way of rolling up the total traffic they can witness. It makes the busy systems look busy and the quiet systems look quiet. I kinda wring my hands wondering myself without pouring over the UWP and trade routes in detail.

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

This doesn't include Trade Routes like the Hierate or the Florian, or worlds that are on the Mains.

Where can one find these routes?
What mods would you suggest be done to reflect these routes or lack of them?

 

[MasterGwydion]

Where can one find these routes?
What mods would you suggest be done to reflect these routes or lack of them?

Trade routes are broken down by BTN back in GURPS Far Trader. Basically, it is the same as Geir's WBH, with some minor differences. Take Geir's WBH WTN and divide by 2. Add the WTNs of the 2 worlds together, then add a modifier for distance to the nearest system. +1.5 for 1 parsec or +0.5 for 2 parsecs. Subtract 0.5 if either of them is a non-imperial world. That gives you your BTN which you can then use to figure what type of Route you have. Also, if 3 routes of the same type overlap, upgrade the area where they overlap to the next higher BTN route. A little complicated and I have never been able to map it out well. Not on the computer anyways. I did it years ago on a paper map, by hand, but it was a supreme pain in the ass. I lost that in a housefire and decided that I didn't want to put Myself through the misery again of creating it.

This is on the Traveller Wiki. It might help you figure out how many ships are working that route and from there you can extrapolate how many ships are in system at any given time.

No Line Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Red Line Minor Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Yellow Line Feeder Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Green Line Intermediate Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Cyan Line Main Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Blue Line Major Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

I have this whole campaign template with an Encounters tab that has both the Core and Drinax tables on it and a little section in it that weighs the D6 with the number of encounters basically being = D6 - 5 + DMs
View attachment 2148

The negative DMs in Empty Space drop the number of encounters beyond the main trade routes to less than 1:6, but you're guaranteed at least one encounter per day, and usually multiple on a Starport A, Pop A world. Pretty sure I just made the first part up, but the D66 part is from the Core Book.

I think I am going to use this for now. Thanks!

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

Trade routes are broken down by BTN back in GURPS Far Trader. Basically, it is the same as Geir's WBH, with some minor differences. Take Geir's WBH WTN and divide by 2. Add the WTNs of the 2 worlds together, then add a modifier for distance to the nearest system. +1.5 for 1 parsec or +0.5 for 2 parsecs. Subtract 0.5 if either of them is a non-imperial world. That gives you your BTN which you can then use to figure what type of Route you have. Also, if 3 routes of the same type overlap, upgrade the area where they overlap to the next higher BTN route. A little complicated and I have never been able to map it out well. Not on the computer anyways. I did it years ago on a paper map, by hand, but it was a supreme pain in the ass. I lost that in a housefire and decided that I didn't want to put Myself through the misery again of creating it.

This is on the Traveller Wiki. It might help you figure out how many ships are working that route and from there you can extrapolate how many ships are in system at any given time.

No Line Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Red Line Minor Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Yellow Line Feeder Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Green Line Intermediate Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Cyan Line Main Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Blue Line Major Route - Traveller

wiki.travellerrpg.com

Thank you! Now, check this out. As I was going through all these, I did some more reading on the Explanator utility I posted about, and apparently this is why the ship counts are so high when you use it. It is actually using BTN and WTN values per GURPS Far Trader! WTF? that's pretty cool. Now I know the thinking behind the high numbers, I might use the Explanator utility more. If I don't like it, the site gives directions how I and dial down the number of ships just by changing a parameter in a flat text file defaulted to 100%.

Maybe I will use this for how many ships one sees in system, but the normal rules for how many they can interact with....

 

[MasterGwydion]

Thank you! Now, check this out. As I was going through all these, I did some more reading on the Explanator utility I posted about, and apparently this is why the ship counts are so high when you use it. It is actually using BTN and WTN values per GURPS Far Trader! WTF? that's pretty cool. Now I know the thinking behind the high numbers, I might use the Explanator utility more. If I don't like it, the site gives directions how I and dial down the number of ships just by changing a parameter in a flat text file defaulted to 100%.

Maybe I will use this for how many ships one sees in system, but the normal rules for how many they can interact with....

Glad I could help!

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

Looks like I will using Pirates of Drinax Book 1 page 15 to determine range from planet when encountered and direction of travel too.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Looks like I will using Pirates of Drinax Book 1 page 15 to determine range from planet when encountered and direction of travel too.

Now if you could just combine both of those things on to one spreadsheet, you could know everything in the system at any given time, their distance from the planet and their direction of travel, but I have no idea how to do any of that. Then you just click one button, and you have all you need for any system your players jump into with no prep required.

This would be a great tool for Refs!

 

[To Tha Moon!]

I am trying to find all the starship encounter rules that might be in any 2e source. Corebook, JTAS articles etc.

Thoughts?

If you have MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia, some seriously nice Starship Encounter tables are on pg. 91.

 

[Yenaldlooshi]

If you have MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia, some seriously nice Starship Encounter tables are on pg. 91.

I do and I did check, but if I remember correctly, it's the same volume; one ship per day period.

I am thinking we should rare encounters in backwaters and massive encounters at capitols. So far, a combination of Geir's house rule above rolled at 100d from the planet, but then using the Explanator.exe software (mentioned earlier in this thread) for how much volume of traffic there is at the port upon arrival/departure seems like the most playable way to go. Geir's house rule means there can be more than one encounter away from the port, and Explanator factors in tonnages versus trade network of surrounding systems (ala the GURP Far Trader Rules) and gives a feel of how busy the port is when traffic arrives/departs.

At least, this is where I have landed for now on the mechanics.

 

[To Tha Moon!]

If you really want a higher number:

Starport Type
E - 1 ship encountered per day
D - 2 ships encountered per day
C - 3 ships encountered per day
B - 4 ships encountered per day
A - 5 ships encountered per day

+1 ship encounter per day if a Scout Base or Way Station is present
+1 ship encounter per day if a Naval Base is present

It's up to the Referee is there are Pirates around.

Give that a shot.