[Space] A World design question regarding "Hadean" and "Ice" planets - Page 2

Ieldra · 09-19-2008, 02:28 AM

Hi all,

While selecting a star system from a generated list for my next campaign chapter, I noticed a gas giant moon came up as a Garden world. Not exactly surprising since the star was in its giant phase, although perhaps it shouldn't have happened because life hasn't had enough time to develop, but that's another question. In this case, it was easily justified by terraforming.

My problem: as I thought about a possible history of this star system, I noticed that there isn't a world type in the world design sequence this world would have been before the star left the main sequence: It must have been either a "Standard Hadean" or a "Standard Ice" world, but both types have icy cores, "Standard Garden" worlds have large iron cores.

My question: is there anything in our current understanding of planets that prevents a "Standard Hadean" or "Standard Ice" world from having a large iron core, or is this just one of the simplifications in the world design sequence?

I'm going to use this one in my campaign, but I want to make it as plausible as possible. I already moved it to one of the outer orbits to remove tidal locking and minimize magnetic interference, which would make it unlikely to exist. Now I need to know if I must use an extraordinary explanation to justify its having an iron core. A reality check came up with the fact that Ganymed has an iron core, but Ganymed's overall density is so low that it would probably still count as "icy core" within the constraints of the World Design Sequence. Any other insights?

09-19-2008, 02:28 AM	#1
Ieldra Join Date: Jul 2005	[Space] A World design question regarding "Hadean" and "Ice" planets Hi all, While selecting a star system from a generated list for my next campaign chapter, I noticed a gas giant moon came up as a Garden world. Not exactly surprising since the star was in its giant phase, although perhaps it shouldn't have happened because life hasn't had enough time to develop, but that's another question. In this case, it was easily justified by terraforming. My problem: as I thought about a possible history of this star system, I noticed that there isn't a world type in the world design sequence this world would have been before the star left the main sequence: It must have been either a "Standard Hadean" or a "Standard Ice" world, but both types have icy cores, "Standard Garden" worlds have large iron cores. My question: is there anything in our current understanding of planets that prevents a "Standard Hadean" or "Standard Ice" world from having a large iron core, or is this just one of the simplifications in the world design sequence? I'm going to use this one in my campaign, but I want to make it as plausible as possible. I already moved it to one of the outer orbits to remove tidal locking and minimize magnetic interference, which would make it unlikely to exist. Now I need to know if I must use an extraordinary explanation to justify its having an iron core. A reality check came up with the fact that Ganymed has an iron core, but Ganymed's overall density is so low that it would probably still count as "icy core" within the constraints of the World Design Sequence. Any other insights?