The Cube: First System

So, I have System 134 pretty much done, maybe a few outposts, but that's it.  Anyway, I ended up with one substantial colony world in the system, in the form of a tiny sulfur moon orbiting a gas giant at the edge of the system.

134-VIIIa        Tiny (Sulfur)
No Atmosphere/Hydrosphere
Surface Temperature 47K (Frozen)
Density .6
Diameter .5
Surface Gravity .30
Mass .08
Heavy Volcanic Activity
No Tectonic Activity
Resources +2 (Very Abundant)
Habitability -1
Affinity +1

COLONY
Tech Level 10
Carrying Capacity 10m
Population 1.5m (PR 6)
Corporate Meritocracy (CR 6)
Per Capita Income 53,600 (Average)
Economic Volume $80B
Class B Star Port
Corporate Headquarters (PR 3)
Criminal Base (PR 1)
Espionage Facilities (1 Civilian (PR 1), 2 Enemy (PR 3, PR 1)
Private Research Centers (2) (PR 2, PR 1)
Rebel/Terrorist Base (PR 1)
Scout Base (PR 3)

For the most part, it seemed to start out as a simple mining colony on a resource-rich, but dangerous, moon.  When I did the random rolls for installations on the planet, that's when things got interesting.

It's a Corporate Headquarters for a seemingly huge company (the headquarters has a population in the thousands, after all) with a decent research base and a sizable Scout Service presence.  The criminal, espionage, and terrorist bases are the ones that raised my eyebrow.  An enemy government literally has THOUSANDS of agents on the system.

One of the technological themes I was debating was the lack of Jump-2 in the hands of the civilian sector.  While this is a TL10 world (giving them a mere Jump-1), what if this is the main locus of FTL research in the imperial portion of The Cube?  That would explain quite a bit of why so many people are interested in it.  One of the reasons the authority of the Imperial Remnant can be maintained is the monopoly they hold on Jump-2 starships.  Terrorists or criminals with Jump-2 would be game-changers.


I'm thinking that the large espionage contingent will be from whoever the most ambitious (and hostile) system I end up generating among the remaining 21 imperial systems.  The rest of them will be taking advantage of the meritocratic system, figuring out ways to crack the tests to get their people in key positions.  I'm seeing the strict control as a very flimsy house of cards, riddled with interlopers who are undermining it for their own factions' benefit.  Things could go south here in a hurry.


Fun Times in the Cube, folks.

The Cube: Reboot

Just as I was ready to post my 10% solution (a mini-gazetteer of the first 10 systems generated for my Traveller sandbox), I leave my thumb drive in the computer at a lab at school.  When I returned an hour later (after I realized I did it), it was gone.  I checked again this morning and no one had turned it in.  *le sigh*

While I can replace all of the PDFs on it, all of the work I did on the Cube was there, and a somewhat substantial chunk of my LotFP sandbox as well.  Grrr.  I haven't been putting as much work into that as I should, but the players are having fun, and that's what's important.  I'm running a lot of prefab adventures for them, anyway.  This week, "A Stranger Storm."

So, I'm starting over on The Cube.  I'm taking the lessons learned from the original effort and using that to shape out and better have something ready to share sooner, rather than later. 

I shrunk the size of the Cube from 6pc on a side to 4pc.  What I realized that while the number of stars is comparable to two subsectors, that GURPS Space generates so many habitations for each system, I'd have waaaaaay more than I needed, so 4pc it is.  As it stands, I'll be generating 30 star systems, 22 of which are in a cluster reachable by Jump-1, the remaining 8 systems (2 two-system pairs and 4 wholly isolated systems) are reachable by Jump-2.

So, instead of posting a 10% solution every time I get 3 systems done, I'll probably break the main cluster up into two parts and then do the independent systems in a third update.

See you in a few weeks!