Traveller Sandbox: Identifying Resource Worlds...

Good Afternoon, All:

Step Four in the process of developing a sandbox setting for the Traveller Sandbox Experiment is to define a number of eight to ten Resource Worlds that the various "Powers That Be" of Beta Quadrant can fight over and exploit. These provide key locations for potential conquest, as well as exploration, espionage, diplomacy and other active missions to obtain and maintain control over the resources represented by these star systems.

Using the fantasy sandbox building methods suggested in An Echo Resounding and adapting them to a science fiction setting as we have been so far, the elements attributed to Resource locations can be easily implemented here, with new tables to reflect an interstellar setting, of course. Resource Types should become System Resources. Resource Obstacles could use the same System Challenges table I'd created previously, or I could modify it to better suit the role of these star systems as resources.


First, though, we should identify these Resource Worlds. Since Resources are best identified through the Trade rules in Traveller, that's probably the best place to look for features that would help us identify Resource Worlds. Since Resource are worlds that generate resources, those Trade Codes that grant bonuses in the Current World category for Freight Traffic should probably start us off well. That's Agricultural, Garden, High Population, Industrial and Rich Worlds. (Amber Zones also give some big bonuses, too, strangely enough.) Under Speculative Trade, it depends on the trade good type, but the following Trade Codes also grant bonuses occasionally: Non-Agricultural, Water World, Asteroid, High Tech, Desert and Ice-Capped. These additional tags occur much less frequent than those under Freight Traffic, so let's restrict our search criteria to only Agricultural, Garden, High Population, Industrial and Rich Worlds.

Looking over the UWPs for Beta Quadrant, I see the following worlds qualify:

Isis          1706 C655422-7  S Ga Ni              511 Se M8 III K1 V*
Bastet        1908 C558534-5  S Ag Ga Lt Ni        722 Se G4 V* M4 V
Abrakos       2108 A66876B-9    Ag Ga Ri           812 In K6 V M3 V*
Chancun       2201 C98657A-6  S Ag Ga Ni        A  100 Na M3 V M9 V*
Nyame         2202 B887797-8  A Ag Ga Ri           802 Ja M1 V M3 V*
GLETI         2205 C664976-6  S Ga Hi              503 Ja F1 IV G3 V* K6 V
Futsunushi    2704 EA7857A-5    Ag Ga Lt Ni     A  523 Ks G2 V
KOYANE        2706 A5699EF-B    Hi              A  712 Ks F7 V* M3 V
Suijin        2806 C688672-6  M Ag Ga Ni Ri        901 Ks G8 V
Prishiboro    2810 E596568-5    Ag Ga Lt Ni        201 Ja G8 V
Jizo          2901 A7978AA-A  M Ga              A  900 Ks K5 V
KANGITEN      3001 C664AFD-7    Ga Hi           A  722 Ks G7 V* M9 V
Amaterasu     3110 B688435-A    Ga Ni              921 Ks F2 V
Orvil         1813 C667368-6  S Ga Lo              115 Na F7 V
Lugh          1915 C676640-5  S Ag Ga Lt Ni        111 Ll F0 V
Misdariva     2012 B766537-8    Ag Ga Ni           512 Na G9 V K0 V M3 V*
2013-678      2013 X678000-0    Ba Ga Lt           001 Na K6 III K1 V*
Litha         2016 A7678A9-A  N Ga Ri           A  711 Ll F1 V
Gbadu         2112 C844563-5    Ag Ga Lt Ni        920 Ja G1 V* [G6 V]
Ghandi        2113 BA67879-6  A Ga Ri           A  725 Na K8 V
Melody        2119 B767565-7  S Ag Ga Ni           803 Na F2 V
Desa          2120 B561877-6  N Ri                 201 Na K5 V* K8 V
Hulene        2213 B754644-6    Ag Ga Ni           912 Na K2 V
Saki          2219 D68A772-5    Lt Ri Wa           613 Na F9 V
Tukirka       2220 C685478-5  S Ga Lt Ni           722 Na G4 V* K4 V
Mami Wata     2311 B784879-6    Ga Ri           A  914 Ja G0 V* M9 V
Kotera        2515 X587246-0    Ga Lo Lt           801 Na G4 V
Tesla         2517 C685634-4  M Ag Ga Lt Ni Ri     901 Na K3 V* [M7 V]
Tabaldak      2813 A6878CE-9  M Ga Ri           A  701 Tj M6 V
Umikeo        2919 C969776-6  S Ri                 403 Na G9 V
Shanan        3016 C578340-6  S Ga Lo              110 Na G0 V
Malen         3018 C983773-5    Lt Ri              804 Na K5 V
Milamapar     3113 B569879-6  M Ri              A  501 Na K7 V* [G1 V]
Polondo       3211 C895311-6    Ga Lo              912 Na M0 V
Djinn         3212 C658311-9  M Ga Lo              900 Na F2 V

Interestingly, there are no Industrial planets in Beta Quadrant (and maybe six over the entirety of Segin sector.) If I remove the Cultural Hubs from the list above, we end up with a list of 28 worlds. That's way too many. Okay, so let's look at a smaller list, choosing those that have the highest Freight Traffic total modifiers, aiming for a level that brings us down to 8 to 10 worlds (in this case, all with a +2 total or higher on the Freight Table for Current World). This brings the list down to:

Desa          2120 B561877-6  N Ri                 201 Na K5 V* K8 V
Nyame         2202 B887797-8  A Ag Ga Ri           802 Ja M1 V M3 V*
Mami Wata     2311 B784879-6    Ga Ri           A  914 Ja G0 V* M9 V
Tesla         2517 C685634-4  M Ag Ga Lt Ni Ri     901 Na K3 V* [M7 V]
Suijin        2806 C688672-6  M Ag Ga Ni Ri        901 Ks G8 V
Jizo          2901 A7978AA-A  M Ga              A  900 Ks K5 V
Umikeo        2919 C969776-6  S Ri                 403 Na G9 V
Malen         3018 C983773-5    Lt Ri              804 Na K5 V

That's more like it! Looking at this list, there's one Resource world in Subsector C, two in Subsector D, two in Subsector G and three in Subsector H. Not a bad distribution, all things considered.

Now that we've identified the Resource worlds for Beta Quadrant, in my next post, I'll look at the next sub-step in the process. We're going to build a System Resources table!

More Later,
Flynn