Steve Jackson Games Forums - [Space] More Detailed Random Resource Generation

I was looking at GURPS Space today when I randomly flipped to page 87 and beheld Step 7: Resources and Habitability. I thought about it, and while it is a fine rule, it is rather broad and all encompassing. It obviously has to be generic, and cover almost all possible campaigns, since what is valuable varies from game to game.

I'm looking for inspiration for more specific random resource generation tables. I think the only non-RTS game with resources that I played was Escape Velocity, which were only for trading, which is fine, that's what resources are for (plus fueling those enjoyable space battles). I've had space games from Spelljammer to Star Trek, so I know what is valuable changes from setting to setting. Plus, I think random world generation tables are fun.

So, throw out your ideas! I'll be working on my own, probably using the EV commodities as a jumping-off point. Indicate what your assumptions are, the setting, for inhabited or uninhabited worlds.

Edit: Adding more thoughts. As usual, I got excited and got ahead of myself.

On further thought, I realized what I was proposing was already done by the current system, but much more abstractly. Taking the Trade Volume calculation ( T=(K*V1*V2)/D ) and making a more detailed K.

Making a simple example, I decided every major commodity could be considered a Major Import, Minor Import, Negligible, Minor Export, or Major Export. So I made the following little table:

Code:

3-4   Major Import, K=1

5-7   Minor Import, K=0.5

8-13  Negligible, no significant import or export.

14-16 Minor Export, K=0.5

17-18 Major Export, K=1

and minor change to the trade equation: T=(K1*V1)(K2*V2)/D where one world is importing and the other is exporting. D is whatever you use to calculate distance (I use Brett's D^3), I find this produces fairly tiny trade volumes, even between prosperous worlds close to each other, BUT you can have multiple commodities per planet. Still, the numbers might need some bumping up.