I’ve been comparing the subsector generation of Mongoose Traveller (MGT) and Classic Traveller (CT) in the incarnation of The Traveller Book.
Here’s what I noticed:
The distribution of starports is different. Note how Classic Traveller has only a bit less D and a lot more A starports.
2d6 | MGT | CT |
---|---|---|
2 | X | A |
3 | E | A |
4 | E | A |
5 | D | B |
6 | D | B |
7 | C | C |
8 | C | C |
9 | B | D |
10 | B | E |
11 | A | E |
12 | A | X |
Bases are different: Mongoose Traveller has Research, Traveller Association, Imperial Consulate and Pirate bases; Classic Traveller only has Naval and Scout bases.
Temperature is different: Classic Traveller does not have it. Then again, I was always confused by the fact that it doesn’t show up in the Mongoose Traveller Universal World Profile (UWP).
Hydro is different: Mongoose Traveller has a modifier for temperature; Classic Traveller does not. That explains why temperature doesn’t appear in the UWP: it wasn’t used by CT.
Population is the same and limited to a maximum of A when rolling, but the table in Mongoose Traveller also describes B and C. Perhaps this is a nod to Coruscant, the world city in Star Wars?
Government is the same and produces a range of -4 to 15 (F) when rolling. Both only describe governments 0 to 13 (D), however. How strange.
E Religious Autocracy. Government by a single religious leader having absolute power over the citizenry
F Totalitarian Oligarchy. Government by an all-powerful minority which maintains absolute control through widespread coercion and oppression
– MegaTraveller Referee’s Manual, apparently
Law is similar in that the dice throw produces a range of -5 to 15 when rolling, assuming we limit Government to 0 to 10 (A). Mongoose Traveller only describes Law 0 to 9; Classic Traveller describes Law 0 to 10 (A).
Tech is different. Mongoose Traveller has modifiers in the table for populations B and C, but you can’t get more than A so this is a bit strange. Mongoose Traveller increases Tech by +1 if you have Hydro 0. Mongoose Traveller increases Tech by +2 if you have Government 7 (Balkanisation), which is weird. Mongoose Traveller decreases Tech by -2 for Government 12 and 13 (charismatic oligarchy and religious dictatorship); Classic Traveller only does this for Government 12. No penalties for religious dictators, I guess.
Trade is also different, mainly in that some codes are missing in Classic Traveller: Barren (Ba), Fluid Oceans (Fl), Garden (Ga), High Population (Hi), High Technology (Ht), Low Population (Lo), Low Technology (Lt).
Travel Codes (Red, Amber) are not codified in Classic Traveller; Mongoose Traveller suggests when to use the Amber code.
Routes appear only in Mongoose Traveller.
The pirate bases, the travel codes, and the routes sure make the maps generated for Mongoose Traveller more interesting to look at.
Here is an example subsector generated. Notice the limited bases created.
Traveller Subsector UWP List Generator (1619343301) Tizita 0102 C41058A-11 NI A Vibannare 0105 D7A38A6-3 A Nafaxe 0204 E447301-4 NI A Zititu 0207 B648663-7 S Ag NI Mavifainti 0208 X3016AB-3 Na NI Va IC A Pavima 0210 D200103-6 NI Va A Vinxena 0301 D88A644-8 S NI Ri Wa Zoziq 0302 B454842-8 Tituteluzi 0305 A310420-12 NI A Rabama 0306 B545412-8 N NI Totamavi 0310 B678563-7 N Ag NI Zon 0401 E88A522-7 NI Wa Qnq 0410 C87997A-11 In A Mavota 0504 A99A977-12 In Wa A Razutife 0505 B754867-8 S Zomanzi 0507 D67A355-10 S NI Wa Vizoetuvo 0508 B120510-12 NI Po De A Lurinan 0509 C4555A8-9 Ag NI A Zotato 0510 A66A632-9 NI Wa Lunainrina 0601 B747564-6 N Ag NI Rizo 0604 B77A7BF-8 S Wa A Lutomata 0605 C9769CF-6 In A Patoin 0607 A436784-13 Ineratu 0608 A978753-11 S Ag Zozota 0610 C220202-10 NI Po De A Femavita 0701 A302666-10 Na NI Va IC Titutemana 0703 BA9A796-12 NS Wa Titezofa 0705 C99A543-6 S NI Wa Favorivi 0709 C130383-11 NI Po De Qtelu 0710 AAA9000-0 NI A Nnafema 0802 C5376B9-5 NI A Tuzinare 0803 A564304-12 NI A Zupaezi 0804 B210964-12 N Na In Zoreluzu 0805 C78A589-6 NI Wa A Tofevomaq 0806 A200756-10 N Na Va Texebain 0807 C4428AE-7 Po A Favifabafa 0808 B99A88C-11 N Wa A Reinxenazi 0809 B401588-8 NI Va IC Zufate 0810 B9C8644-8 NI A ||||||| | Ag Agricultural ||||||| | In Industrial As Asteroid ||||||| +- Tech Lo Low Population Ba Barren ||||||+- Law Lt Low Technology De Desert |||||+- Government Na Non-Agricultural Fl Fluid Oceans ||||+- Population NI Non-Industrial Ga Garden |||+- Hydro Po Poor Hi High Population ||+- Atmosphere Ri Rich Ht High Technology |+- Size Wa Water World IC Ice-Capped +- Starport Va Vacuum Bases: Naval – Scout – Research – TAS – Consulate – Pirate
I’ve left the Mongoose Traveller suggestions for routes in place and this is what we get:
On G+, I got linked to TRAVELLER: Out of the Box – Interlude: Two Points Where I Prefer the 1977 Edition Over the 1981 Edition talking about the old 1977 trade routes. When I tried it, not bad! (Also note this forum thread, Default CT 1977 and CT 1981, comparing the 1977 and 1981 editions; log in to see more than just the first message of the thread.)
(Classic Traveller map, with minimal spanning tree)
I decided to drop the optimising I had been doing, to get a feel for the “raw” data. This also required some rewriting and this always messes with the random number generator. That’s why this map cannot be easily compared to the one above.
I did some rewriting and added the minimal spanning tree algorithm again. It looks less busy, the clusters are still clusters. But there are some drawbacks. Take a look at the top right corner: 0802 and 0703 are connected (distance 1, shorter connections go first), 0701 and 0703 are connected (distance 2), and thus 0701 and 0802 cannot be connected because that would introduce a loop.
(Classic Traveller map, with minimal spanning tree)
I think for the time being I’ll remove the minimal spanning tree optimisation again.
Comments
There should be a space lane between 0601 and 0701 by the 1977 rules (A-B J-1 is 1+ to have a space lane). Also 0504-0505 and 0508-0607, hmm and a bunch more...
– Frank Filz 2017-07-13 07:31 UTC
Indeed! A bug!
– Alex Schroeder 2017-07-13 09:25 UTC
New code produces:
– Alex Schroeder 2017-07-13 09:35 UTC
Highlighting jump-1 routes:
Not sure about the colour scheme. And the legend at the bottom needs fixing.
– Alex Schroeder 2017-07-13 10:59 UTC
Nice, I like the red to highlight the J-1. When I did my subsectors, I ended up not rolling for the J-3 and J-4 routes. I also didn’t bother with a J-2 route that was already connected by J-1 (for example 0604-0804 above, there’s already an implied J-2 route as 0604-0705-0804). Similarly you could remove the 0305-0604 J-3 route (unless there isn’t a J-2 between 0305-0505 and that blue line is actually JUST a J-4 route 0305-0705...).
– Frank Filz 2017-07-13 16:28 UTC
Hm... Isn’t that a bit like the minimum spanning tree optimisation? As Ian Borchardt said on G+:
I responded with the following:
So basically the jump-2 route 0604-0804 says that ships can and will make this jump directly – unlike the jump 0604-0703, which is also a jump-2 but somehow the dice have decided that it’s not profitable enough to do. It’s up to the referee to explain the difference. At least, that’s Ian’s argument.
For myself, I’m still undecided. All I can say is that it looks busy and messy and I don’t like it too much.
As for distance, I guess from a player perspective, at the beginning of a typical campaign all we care about are jump-1 and jump-2 routes. Perhaps I should just use a third colour for jump-2 routes.
– Alex 2017-07-13 16:52 UTC
Support for sectors, click to zoom. Note how I used a third color for jump-2 routes.
– Alex 2017-07-13 18:03 UTC
D’oh. I just noticed that my generator never generated any gas giants. Fixed!
This also means that all the random seeds will now generate different maps. Nooooo!
– Alex 2017-07-13 18:33 UTC
As for picking a subsector capital, Ian Borchardt says:
And regarding trade routes, he says:
– Alex Schroeder 2017-07-13 22:31 UTC
One thing I did to simplify my route maps is that if you have three worlds, One, Two, and Three, and there is a J-1 route from One to Two, and a J-1 route from Two to Three, I also assume the J-2 route from One to Three is also regularly travelled. I also in a few places, having rolled just the J-2 route, assumed that the J-1 routes were thus also regularly travelled (this makes a world that might otherwise have had less access have more, I’m not that bothered by that, and would rather have a simpler map).
– Frank Filz 2017-07-31 16:02 UTC