Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Finishing off Amon Assemon (Traveller Tuesday #28)

Land transport starts at the energy tech level, which is 8.  Having no water doesn’t change it, but having no land would.  The 2d6 for x-factors gives us an 8, so it stays there, with triphibian vehicles being the state of the art on this moon.  That gives us a base and a maximum for water transport technology.  Now, the dryness of the moon changes things, subtracting one from its tech level, and a 2d6 roll of 4 lowers it by another level, meaning that the moon can produce water transports about equivalent to what the United States did in the mid-20th century (G3TL 6), making submersibles, scuba, and amphibian vehicles the most advanced such tech they can produce.  I’m not sure said production happens much, though, considering that Amon Assemon lacks large factories and things for exporting products.

Air transport takes its base from the energy tech level, and is modified only by the x-factors, which don’t have any effect, thanks to an 8 on 2d6.  At TL 8, that means hypersonic jets and (again) triphibian vehicles.  That sounds rad, but jets still require atmosphere to work, so they are likely not produced here much, either.  Space transport, likewise, tracks with energy, and a starport-in-name-only has no effect on its advancement.  However, the xenophobia demonstrated by the Assemonite qweens does, to the tune of dropping the space transport tech level by 1.  2d6 come up 10, though, which gives that level back to space transport, resulting in an 8.  These qweens can build space shuttles, space stations, and non-grav ships of Maneuver 3-5.  No native noetic drives yet, however.

Without cities to receive subsidiary starports and spaceports, I imagine that Amon Assemon actually does only have the one Class E Starport.  Though the moon could build orbital cities, that starport indicates that they don’t really have the will to do things like fill up the LaGrange points, so there aren’t any subsidiary Assemonite settlements.

Personal weaponry and armor and things starts with energy tech (like almost everything).  Their desire to accept compromise rather than actually end up fighting doesn’t change that level, but their bullying tactics of showing off their military might in bluster does, adding one, putting it at the maximum level of the tech.  Do the x-factors change that?  6 on 2d6 says no.  These qweens fight ~ well, bluff and intimidate ~ with laser guns and ablative armor.  Heavy military tech gets the same modifiers, but tracks with land transport.  Which doesn’t change anything, but the x-factors might.  A 10 on 2d6 would, but 9 is the upper limit for the tech, so once again it is stuck where it is.  Assemonite war vehicles ~ which probably display a similarly over-the-top drag aesthetic as their fashion, for extra size and intimidation ~ show off their particle accelerators, target-designated missiles, and lightweight composite laminate armor.

Two out of ten technology levels have been running into their ceilings.  With the Rose Brothers just a few thousand feet below and a rising movement agitating for putting more (read: all) the power into the hands of the people by utilizing advanced computing/communications technology, that clicks right into place.  A large contingent of the agitators are scientists, engineers, and inventors who see it as a way to push the boundaries of Assemonite technology and knowledge further than it can while Parliament keeps such a tight grip on everything but free trade.

Novelty tech levels still need to wait until the subsector is mapped before I can establish them, since novelty imports can take the slot.  Local prototypes are TL 9, straining to achieve TL 10.

The world gains a Green travel code, indicating free travel to and fro.  As for trade codes, the Drag Moon is LG (low-gravity), of course, and is As (asteroid) as well, despite technically being a moon.  Hey, classificatory systems always include weirdness like that.  It’s also obviously Lo (low population) and gets Va (vacuum) for having no air.

Let’s see, the last few details could use working out . . . .  Hydrographics 0 might not actually mean that there’s no surface water (it only probably means that), so we roll 2d6-7 and add the result to 0.  So if we roll 8-12 (before the subtraction), there will be a tiny bit of water on the surface.  However, we roll a 6, which is -1 after the subtraction, which means the surface of the Drag Moon is dry, dry, dry.  Which also means there’s no hydrography to have a composition, so we skip that.  Nor are there any oceans and lakes, obviously.

By definition, a Size 0 Hydrosphere 0 planet has little geological activity, with the entire surface being but a single tectonic plate.  That just leaves the number of volcanoes (which is based on the seismic stress factor) and specific temperature details to work out, but as I’ve stated, I don’t know how to do all of those computations for a satellite.  I’d love help from any Traveller nerds who might be reading this

bUWP:  α-3D-0704-α0-A (α Greve-Eau Pleine-α Bishop Scheumack-Ishee-Amon Assemon)/E000346-8/X/As-LG-Lo/Em

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