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Old 09-09-2016, 11:45 AM   #1
Captain Joy
 
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Default [Spaceships] Basic Planetary Analysis

For readability, sections referenced from Spaceships are in italics, and skills are bold.

Quick question about doing a Basic Planetary Analysis a-la Spaceships 5: Exploration and Colony Spacecraft, p. 32. Do the modifiers given in the previous section, System Mapping, apply to the Basic Planetary Analysis as well?

The System Mapping modifiers apply to the Electronics Operation (Sensor) roll to do a system map; that is clear. My assumption is the Astronomy roll to do the Basic Planetary Analysis is more of a follow-up roll which makes use of the data gathered as part of the system map, and therefor the System Mapping modifies do not apply. Or, is it that Basic Planetary Analysis assumes you're continuing to gather data, and therefor, the System Mapping modifiers should still be in effect?
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Old 09-09-2016, 02:07 PM   #2
RogerBW
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Basic Planetary Analysis

That's a very good question. As written, Basic Planetary Analysis doesn't even say that it requires a roll - and the other two tasks in that section do say that they need it. I suspect that this may be intended to be a time-consuming task to be done to the data from System Mapping.

Though one could also argue that flipping the array into spectrographic mode isn't necessary for determining the position of a planet, and say it's a separate analysis task, in which case one could make a case for rolls on EO (Sensors) and Astronomy.

Odd that it's Astronomy rather than Geology, too.
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Old 09-09-2016, 02:28 PM   #3
Captain Joy
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] Basic Planetary Analysis

Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
That's a very good question. As written, Basic Planetary Analysis doesn't even say that it requires a roll - and the other two tasks in that section do say that they need it. I suspect that this may be intended to be a time-consuming task to be done to the data from System Mapping.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SS5, p. 32
Each planetary analysis is a long task requiring eight man-hours of Astronomy work.
I'm assuming it's an Astronomy skill roll; and at the very least, time spent modifiers (from B346) would be appropriate. The question is, are the range and comm/sensor array type modifiers appropriate as well?

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Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
Though one could also argue that flipping the array into spectrographic mode isn't necessary for determining the position of a planet, and say it's a separate analysis task, in which case one could make a case for rolls on EO (Sensors) and Astronomy.
I don't know. I think you'd want doppler shift information to nail down the planet's orbits, which means you're doing some spectroscopy during System Mapping.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
Odd that it's Astronomy rather than Geology, too.
Well, you determine a planet's size, mass, temperature, atmosphere, and tentatively assign it a world-type. Maybe they figured Astronomy was more general in nature than Geology and therefor more appropriate?
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