Just as a side question, mostly unrelated to this topic. How Canon are the UWPs on the travellermap for Milieu 0? I figure some of the gronards may know.
They are taken from that, but not Errata corrected AFAICT (as far as I can tell... oh, why use words when letter can do), It seems to have the procedure for First Survey that was literally broken (as in GOV=LL) and it doesn't looks like annoy overlay any lore over the poorly, random generated social characteristics (Vland shows as Pop 3, for instance.) Not sure what was corrected in the Errata).
That's not at all what my logic dictates, though it may be the way you're interpreting it. What it tells me is that there are some limitations to the amount of tech that can be support by trade in both theory (capacity) and practice (neglect or indifference). Some fodder for developing a Merchant Prince book (which if you call it a... PrinceX book, would also cover Pocket Empires, Wolrd Tamesrs, and... princesses?)
See, I think it's Traveller's biggest strength. You can look at something and say 'Well, that's stupid" or you can look at the same thing and say, "Well, why is it so? What does that tell me, or what can I make up to explain it?"
Even errata corrected that book is a cess-pit of wrong!
It is the logical extension of how you described local TL. I can mail order any TL15 item to any world in the Spinward Marches. If an individual vehicle say costs 10MCr the shipping cost is a small fraction of that. Or take an example of 1 ton of weapons consisting of laser rifles. Each laser rifle has an increased cost due to the transportation charge, but per it it is not a big add on.
This is deliberate. The high population TL15 worlds maintain their wealth by selling goods, the last thing they would want to do it trade the manufacturing capability to another world that can then become self sufficient or worse begin to take market share.
Yes a Merchant prince book would be nice to have, but if it is anyhting like previous attempts at modelling interstellar economies it is doomed to fail.
I completely agree, and I will go one step further and say that I am likely in the minority in that I don't want detailed rules, they end up being a hindrance. Take GURPS Far Trader - great trading supplement, right? I hate it. I do not agree with its underlying economic principles as I don't think they fit the Imperium as it has been described.
This makes every planet in the Imperium TL-15
If I have to explain every planet anyhow in an established setting, then why use the setting? The whole reason for creating your own setting is exactly that, so why pay for a setting if everything has to be interpreted? This makes every planet in the Imperium TL-15 and everything within a few jumps of Vincennes TL-16.
This. Just because you can buy imported goods of a certain TL, does not make that world, that TL. I agree completely.
You must hate science. Science is nothing but a bunch of increasingly detailed rules, just like game mechanics.
Gravity is a hinderance. I want to fly by just willing it to happen. Sorry, science says no. Dammit! Science/rules really do hinder My fun... lol...
Which also means they need to import an iPhone network, a source for apps and updates, etc. And that's where it breaks down (literally). You can have your gadget, but there's a whole world wide (system wide) infrastructure that needs to be there to support it. And your meson comm isn't going to work well on a steam engine infrastructure. Importing a fusion plant only works if you can support that, and have people educated enough to run it and a whole web of services for support.
I agree with you. This is where the whole system breaks down for Me as well. Everyone always keeps telling Me that all of the rules in Traveller are "player-facing" meaning that they don't represent the reality of the setting, they only represent the tiny sliver of a percentage that PCs experience. You see this with the Profession skill. That is clearly not designed from the point of view of someone actually earning a living. It is a way for broke PCs to make a little money between adventures. Same with the entire Trade chapter of the CRB.
I have always treated it as a generalized concept. If a world is TL-12 (the Imperial average) one can expect that in the major areas the items and infrastructure and other parts of society are generally TL-12. Outside of the major areas you may see lower level tech (our own planet is an example - you can see people traveling in carts pulled by donkeys on their mobile phone). And just because a planet is TL-12 doesn't mean you can't or won't see higher TL items available. Some may be assembled or built locally using things imported from TL-13+ worlds. The general knowledge is available, but the rest of a societal and industrial infrastructure isn't available in enough quantity to raise the overall TL.
Then why not remove them from the game? Problem solved. It seems to me that if you are a building a setting based on trade, then some thought should have gone into what that means. As an example, don't make it so that I can use the rules and build a 100% self-sustaining colony for 100 people for about a billion credits. This colony will expand and never drop in TL, because it can make anything that it needs, from mining and building robotic workers up through finished production. If you want a setting based on trade, like Charted Space, then including things that allow this, is a mistake. I personally love them, but it does break the setting.
