The problem so far, with both MOTA and SOTA is that both are horribly linear, with TPK a distinct possibility at many different points in both. Not just TPK but total destruction! Also I have a problem with the setting of each, particularly considering that spoilers in MOTA suggest that WOTA may be set in the Trojan Reach or to Spinward or Trailward of the Reach, as the distances to get from one adventure setting to the next, make the distances involved in POD seem miniscule in comparison. Glisten subsector in the Spinward Marches to Uthe in Gvurrdon, to some subsector in the Trojan Reach or Reft sectors, that is a lot of flying around, with well over a year in downtime in total in a Jump-2 ship, getting from one adventure setting to the next in the campaign. It makes me think that allowing the PC's to take both "Yusote's ship" and "the Dart" at the end of both published parts of the campaign is the only way to go! I know all my players will say, how can we afford all this flying around getting from one sector to the next sector over but one, and even the merchant player is going to tire of trying to keep his ship afloat, just using his Broker skill, to get from Glisten to Uthe, and then from there somewhere a long way Rimward. And don't get me started on the feasibility of even starting this campaign without a ship, unless the PC's are planning on using low berths everywhere, which the Noble will just refuse to do, quite rightly in my opinion!
Seems to me that a Scout Ship is the only logical ship for the PC's to have, with how the first two parts of the Campaign have been written so far?
Travel time and the "age of sail" feel is a part of the setting that is fairly foundational. A large part of the reason why some of these places are adventure sites instead of tourist destinations is because it is difficult to go there. An African safari for a European of the 18th century is quite a bit different than one for someone today.
I think part of the reason that some adventures feel linear is because people don't consider the travel time as space for other adventures. I look at MotA and see a bunch of scenes that will happen in a campaign over months, with plenty of other adventures in between as players travel to and fro. Traveller has always been like that. The original Twilight's Peak started in the Regina subsector and ended in the Rhylanor subsector. You weren't expected to be "playing Twilight's Peak" every session. It was an overarching through line as the group did other adventures between finding octagons and whatnot. Giving them a reason to go to planet X instead of Planet Y. The Kinunir, The Traveller Adventure, The Imperial Fringe, Leviathan, and a number of other adventures from the early days of Traveller were the same sort of sandbox design.
You can certainly accelerate travel speeds. The mindjammer setting for Traveller has very fast travel. The main effect on gameplay is to reduce the amount of adventure along the way. That's useful if you approach it as "I'm running this adventure, so that's what the players should be doing every week.". SotA has more rails than most, but there is still plenty of travel time to flesh it out and make it less linear. But if you like the linearity, as some do, then you can just be "and you travel to the next spot" with the tabletop equivalent of a cutscene. If the travel isn't interesting, fast forward it. Or change the travel paradigm entirely.
My players are not super interested in the minutiae of trade, so I just run it as contract space trucking. The broker turns up a list of contracts to ship goods from where they are to other places that pay enough to cover the expenses with a crew bonus. "Ship this machinery to the mining station at Fulacin within 8 weeks" or whatever. If they get to Fulacin within 8 weeks with the cargo intact, they cover expenses and make some personal money. If they are late, not so much. But which contracts they pick, the route they take, and so on are up to the players. As long as they a contract and fulfill it, then ship costs are not an issue. The adventures they have on the way are the meat of the campaign. They asked for Leverage, Firefly, and Lara Croft as touchstones.
Technically, they are playing an adventure loosely based on "Islands in the Rift". But they were hired at the naval base at Zuflucht to go Acadie to take over for the missing crew and find out what happened. But their employer and the players (and characters) knew that was gonna be a like a year long mission, which is why it pays so much. They started travelling commercial to keep under cover, having adventures in most of the systems they visit on the way. Some just local missions, some related to the fact that they are personally looking for a trafficking ring that had tried to kidnap them, the foiling of which was the opening of the campaign. Then they got to the ship and are basically doing the same thing, just with a ship to get around instead of going commercial.
There's lots of ways to play Traveller. Tailoring your campaign to suit what your players (and you) are interested in is critical. Published stuff can be pretty cool, but it can't know what your table really loves. Move things around, tweak elements, insert extra stuff. Make it yours. I like
Murder on Arcturus Station and
Nomads of the World Ocean, so I moved those to Serendip and Sansterre, respectively. And then I reworked Nomads so it would be something my players would actually do
