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Old 02-19-2016, 10:13 AM   #1
Daigoro
 
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Default [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

So this Setting Generating Game thread was almexactly a year ago, and I thought it was time for another.

We can use the answer a question -> ask a question format as before.
Try to keep the questions open-ended and avoid "leading" questions, which sneak in too much detail in a question that should be in an answer.

The goal this time is to make a space opera setting which supports a free trader campaign. Apart from that, it's open slather!

Therewith, the first question:

Q1- What kind or kinds of FTL transport are there?


ETA:
Here's a summary of what's been contributed as far as post #62.

Addendum: A partial mirror of this thread is available at this wiki, organised by topic.

Summary
The Interstellar Drift
It's the year 3116...

Groups & Polities:
Spoiler:  

Other Details
Spoiler:  


Locations
Spoiler:  

Races:
7 of the 12 known sapient races have been named or described.
Spoiler:  

Artefacts:
Spoiler:  

Ships
Spoiler:  


Ship Weapons & Systems
Spoiler:  

Name Characters
Spoiler:  

Equipment
Spoiler:  

History
Spoiler:  
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Last edited by Daigoro; 02-17-2017 at 09:43 AM.
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Old 02-19-2016, 10:24 AM   #2
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Answer: FTL is capable of huge jumps at a time, but the more you take in distance, the more you loose in accuracy -- you can cross the galaxy in five jumps, but once you're there it takes five MORE jumps to actually get close to your target. Each jump takes quite a bit of time

Which, if any transhuman aspects are prominent? (true AI, Neural interfaces, human genegineering...)



EDIT: I love this game! And I've had this FTL method eating at me for a long time!
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Old 02-19-2016, 11:49 AM   #3
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

No transhuman aspects are present aside from ancient and highly stigmatized sapient robots, all of whom have long since stopped functioning. All that remains is the stigma and a faded memory of how mankind was semi-enslaved by their own creations and atrophy of their own ingenuity and initiative.

Is there a galactic empire?
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Old 02-19-2016, 11:57 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

There is no galactic empire as such, since the FTL drive makes a mockery of political boundaries and subdivisions. There are, however, a number of widely accepted conventions with the force of customary law, which allow traders to function throughout civilization with some sense of security. Some groups of worlds also from trade compacts or postal unions to further protect and promote their agendas.

Q: What kind of goods are most frequently traded?
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Old 02-19-2016, 12:03 PM   #5
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Heavy elements remain rare throughout the univers as compared to most volitiles, and are widely traded. Livestock and seedstocks are common goods, as well, since populating new worlds with sources of human-eatible foods is rather important.

How common are easily inhabited (habitability rating 7 or 8) worlds?
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Old 02-19-2016, 01:41 PM   #6
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Finding a shirtsleeve world is easy -- you've got an entire galaxy to choose from. Finding a world that is pleasant is hard: alien vegetation generally isn't edible, and atmospheres are really fond of being too dense, too thin, or having 'off' mixtures of gasses.

How 'full' is the galaxy? Are new worlds being settled all the time? is it pretty much mapped out? are worlds as full as earth common?
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Old 02-19-2016, 03:06 PM   #7
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Fairly? Sort of like the areas in "flyover country" in the US, there are definitely settled areas; tons of them in fact. And as long as you stay on the established spaceways (well mapped jump points) you're guaranteed to be able to find civilization or at least have someone come across you. It is possible however to go off and find thinly inhabited worlds and systems, or even go a long time without meeting a soul if you go off the beaten track so to speak.

Are there sapient species beyond humans in the galaxy?
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Old 02-19-2016, 06:51 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

A: There are about a dozen sapient non-human races out there of extrastellar origin. Of these, only three are of the humanoid frame.

Q: What phenotypes make up the other nine alien races?
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Old 02-19-2016, 07:09 PM   #9
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrash View Post
There is no galactic empire as such, since the FTL drive makes a mockery of political boundaries and subdivisions. There are, however, a number of widely accepted conventions with the force of customary law, which allow traders to function throughout civilization with some sense of security. Some groups of worlds also from trade compacts or postal unions to further protect and promote their agendas.

Q: What kind of goods are most frequently traded?
Not if you think of it less like a continental empire and more like a maritime empire. Venice, Imperial Japan, and parts of the British and American hegemonies all depended on a series of sea stops with ocean in between rather then a definite border. Borders in any case were surprisingly ambiguous through most of history and had to wait until someone got it into their heads to do a proper survey. Even so they still can be kind of weird because settlement patterns never really are as neat as rulers want them to be.
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Old 02-19-2016, 08:06 PM   #10
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbrock1031 View Post
A: There are about a dozen sapient non-human races out there of extrastellar origin. Of these, only three are of the humanoid frame.

Q: What phenotypes make up the other nine alien races?
Nine's a lot to cover, so I'll do one now.

Communication hasn't been established with the "vacuum whales", so we can't be sure if they're sapient, but other indications point that way.

These are gigantic creatures only seen in the depths of the interstellar medium. They're sometimes glimpsed when a ship stops for navigational corrections, and there are stories of stranded jumpships being surrounded by the whales who then ferry the ship through jumpspace to the nearest inhabited system.

Other stories tell of what look like great battles occurring between armies of whales, but such tales are rare.

Of course, how these biologicals travel through jumpspace, how they know which systems are inhabited, and what they feed on in the interstellar medium are still mysteries.

If only we could communicate with them, we'd know what to try to sell them.

I'll leave the other 8 alien types up for grabs.

Question- Which company or planet makes the best jumpdrives and jumpships (from a free trader's point of view)?
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