Survey Index

[RadioFreeWABA]

I am trialling Survey Index from Book 4: Deep Space Exploration Handbook from the Rift box set. I believe this sequence is correct.

Activity	Time Lapse	Survey Index
Look out the viewport, see a star	-	1 (presence of star)
Hit spacer bars gathering rumours: Average carouse 7(roll) + 2 (Carouse) + 0 (SOC) 1 pertinent fact	2 days (1D)
Theoretical Work: Difficult Science (cosmology) 4 (roll) + 1 (skill) + 1 (EDU) + 2 (fact) fail	6 days (2D)
Distant Sensor Operations: average Electronics (sensors) 8(roll) + 2 (skill) + 1 (INT) + 1 (equipment) 4 effect	8 days (2D)	1 + 4x2 = 9 All stars, planetary bodies, planetoid belts, and the first 3 UPP digits of all objects
Jump	7 days
Preliminary Survey of star system: Routine Electronics (sensors) 4 (roll) + 2 (skill) + 1 (INT) + 1 (equipment) 2 effect	12 days (3D)	9 + 2 = 11 Full UPP of all objects and rogue planetary bodies
	35 total days

Is that correct?

If so, what if instead of the preliminary survey of the whole star system one does a survey of a planet. The time drops to 6D hours but still adds to the survey index. The Survey Index could hit 11 but in much less time. I am having trouble rationalizing doing a survey of a planet and getting full details of the system. Does each object in the system have its own survey index? If so, does a survey of a solar system mean return counts and types of bodies (survey indexes 1-6, and 11, 12+) but survey indexes 7-10 on an object can only be obtained by surveying the object directly?

Thanks.

 

[Epabaa]

According to the new World Builder's Handbook, a detailed survey of an entire hex (Class III) takes 10 weeks (table, page 12) or "as little as 30 days" (IISS Procedural example section, page 137), and yields an SI of 8 (for the entire system), "providing a reasonably accurate estimate of the Size, Atmosphere, and Hydrographics of all planets and significant moons."

That would seem to loosely conform to your application of the Survey Index rules in Great Rift Book 4, that a focused survey of an individual world takes 6-36 hours (6D) but only adds to the SI for that world. Of course the time scales for a whole-system survey (3D days in GR 4 vs 30-70 days in WBH) don't match up. But conceptually it's consistent that you can survey a single world in less time.

The Survey Index / Survey Class table in WBH (page 13) seems to indicate that SI / survey class designation apply to the whole system but it seems reasonable to have individual world-based SI ratings, especially if you're trying to use a mechanic like in GR 4 where Travellers can add to SI through a sequence of skill checks.

I think the original MT WBH (or maybe the TNE World Tamer's Handbook?) had a rule that a world could be surveyed/mapped from orbit in a number of hours equal to 1D x Size.

There's also the Survey Index / exploration rules in Deepnight Revelation Book 3 that are similar but not exactly the same as the GR and WBH rules. I'm interested to hear thoughts and experiences from anyone who has tried to harmonize these!