12-04-2020, 12:06 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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The Return of Defaultspace
The last time I was unclear so first let me precisely define what I'm calling "Defaultspace". Defaultspace is the setting in which most non-licensed sourcebooks for Space 3rd edition are set by default. To be specific, that would be the four Space Atlases, Star Demon, Flight 13, Unnight, GURPS Space Adventures, Space bestiary and Aliens. It might also include some pyramid articles. It specifically does not include Atomic Horror, Solar Patrol or any licensed property.
What we know about Defaultspace are these things: It is very far in the future. Human colonized planets nowhere near Earth have reached their carrying capacity and there was a "Long Night" that broke up human civilization. Before humanity first developed interstellar travel there was a previous period of interstellar civilization but the only identified technological races from that time that haven't been rendered extinct or possibly ascended to become Auroras are the Engai and the Markann. And the Markann are nothing more than a rumour to humanity. The reference tech level is probably TL 11 in the more advanced areas with backwaters like the Great Spiral Confederacy being TL 10. Identified interstellar polities include: The Corporate Worlds, a loose and fractious association of corporate states in Space Atlas 2. All of the worlds shown to us are human worlds. The Federation: A tightly knit human(and parahuman) dominated representative democracy in Space Atlas 4. It is located on the outer edge of the Orion arm bordering the expanse between the Orion and Perseus arms, at least 3,000 light years away from Sol's position not so far from the inner edge. It is human dominated to the point hat "human" is actually in the name of two of the major parties. Aliens are a tiny minority on Federation worlds. The Phoenix Domain. Neighbour to the Federation is the Phoenix Domain. Treat as an Empire. The Great Spiral Confederacy. Occupying a remote extra galactic cluster with a great night sky view, the Confederacy is treated as an Alliance. The...?Alliance A more heterogenous and probably larger mutual defense and trade association that includes many different species from the Aliens book. Treat as an Alliance. Possibly includes the Old Frontiers sector from Space Atlas 1. The Kaa Empire. Probably the largest non-human ruled interstellar society in known space and the biggest threat to the ?Alliance. Treat as an Empire. The Ilshani Domination. An aggressive alien society that threatens both the Federation and the Phoenix Domain Questions: Are there products I've overlooked that fit into the setting? What the heck is the proper name of the ?Alliance? Or rarther what should it be? Last edited by David Johnston2; 12-07-2020 at 11:37 AM. |
12-04-2020, 09:35 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
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In the change to 4e TL8 was mostly turned into TL9 and much of what was TL9 was squished into TL10.
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Fred Brackin |
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12-04-2020, 10:48 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
You are right. OK, so make it TL 11...but early TL 11 that isn't making much use of anti-matter.
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12-04-2020, 01:14 PM | #4 |
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
You might want to use the tech framework for the Martians (and other aliens) from GURPS Mars Attacks, which is basically "TL10^, plus higher TL stuff if the GM thinks it would be cool."
In 4e, TL10 is basically the highest TL where it doesn't require a great deal of thought on the GM's part to stop the PCs from breaking the setting. |
12-07-2020, 12:12 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
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12-07-2020, 08:12 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
Now, here's a challenging question for someone who forgot his high school geometry. What's the curvature of the Orion arm? It has a diameter of 1100 parsecs, give or take. GURPS Space sectors are 40 by 32 by 32 parsecs. At the center of the Orion Arm that works out to 34 sectors tall. But the Phoenix and Saga sectors are at the rimward edge of the Arm. Beyond them is a 2,000 parsec expanse filled with nothing but tiny red suns Above the Phoenix Sector is an unexplored area of space occupied by the Malakithi, including the Ilshani Domination although they don't seem to be the only Malakith nation. Below is terra incognita but it's likely that the Federation and the Domain extend downwards to some extent as well as coreward, but probably control.
The question is, how do they stack? 17 sectors up, from Phoenix's position you are going to be outside the Orion Arm because it curved away from you. So does that mean 8 sectors up only roughly half of the sector is inside the Arm? |
12-08-2020, 07:19 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
Recent measurements have revealed that the Orion Arm is 1000 ly tall, 3000 ly wide, and 20,000 ly long, so it is roughly 300 pc by 900 pc by 6,000 pc (the galactic arms are quite flat). That would give it ~42,000 sectors of volume. At 40 pc by 32 pc by 32 pc, each sector possess a volume of ~1.42 million cubic ly and contains roughly 5400 stars grouped into roughly 3800 systems.
In essence, major interstellar civilizations can be contained in a single sector. If Sol is an average system, and there is no reason really to think otherwise right now, a sector will average ~30,400 planets and ~7600 debris belts, giving unbelievable material wealth to an interstellar civilization that controlled a single sector. If the Sol System ends up being the benchmark, it will also likely end up with more major moons and dwarf planets than planets (at least according to the definitions of Space). |
12-08-2020, 09:28 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
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From earlier attempts at assessing such things you'd be lucky to get the 2 dozen worlds of the Gurps Space sector format even if you included terraformable worlds. You might only have circa 100-200 candidate stars for age and melalicity. There's not much resaon to go to another system to get gas gisnts and iceballs.
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Fred Brackin |
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12-08-2020, 10:43 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
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Still thanks for giving me the accurate dimensions. I suppose it would be simpler just to assume that the edge of the arm is more or less flat. |
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12-08-2020, 12:02 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: The Return of Defaultspace
In the case of Sol, the number of planets and debris fields in the system may be average, and we have to presume that they are until we have the capability to detect our system from a distance. In the case of other systems, TRAPPIST-1 shows that you can have 7 planets within 0.4 AU of a M-class star, so there is no particular reason to think that the systems of M-class stars are worthless (it even has a potentially habitable planet in its third orbit). We have been unable to use Space to represent real life systems for a while, as planets with orbital seperations of less than 0.01 AU seem quite common.
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