Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerBW
I picture another faction saying "OK, we'll set up our own starport". Sorry kid, regs say one imperial port per world.
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The concept of extraterritoriality implies some kind of negotiation between governments -- even if it's mostly an assertion of rights via orbital death lasers. The "one world -- one port" part, however, seems to imply that the default assumption is only one world government. For small populations and moderate to high TLs, that might make sense, but it's hard to see how high pop, low TL worlds make it work -- and then there are balkanized worlds (Gov 7).
The downside of the "one world -- one port" standard from a gaming perspective is that it reinforces the
Planetville trope. It's as if, in a 1930s pulp rpg campaign, the player-characters have multiple adventures in "Africa" but the only place they ever visit is Lagos, Nigeria.
In my own Traveller universe, I allow for two or three competing starports on particularly lucrative worlds. It's easy enough to have "Starport 2" be understood as "two ports, at least one of them Type A."