Jump Transitions

I have started marking some of the trade links I generated, using GURPs: Far Trader, onto my sector map. So far, I’ve worked through all the Main and Feeder Routes for Lymethius, Gamelea, Cabria and Miazan Subsectors. I have a feeling that I’m not quite doing it right as I’m working off the BTN numbers, rather than the WTN numbers, as these seemed more logical to use.

The thick red lines, such as between Yuakteisye/Lymethius and Gamelea/Gamelea, are 10.5 BTN Main routes. This represents GCr50 – GCr100 (GigaCredits), or 5 – 10 million tons of trade per year, or 100 thousand – 500 thousand tons of trade per week.

The thinner red lines represent the 10 BTN Main routes, which see 50 thousand – 100 thousand tons of cargo per week and are worth ‘only’ GCr10 - GCr50 per annum.

The thick blue lines represent the 9.5 BTN Feeder routes while the thinner blue lines represent the 9 BTN Feeder routes. 5000 – 10 thousand tons of cargo needs shipping along the 9 BTN Feeder Routes each week, while 10 thousand - 50 thousand tons are shipped weekly along the 9.5 BTN Feeder Routes.

These numbers make interesting reading when trying to work out how many ships, and of what size, might be plying the trade routes of the sector. When the numbers are plotted on a map, we begin to see places where ships of a considerable size might be required just to move the available freight economically.

For example, if 100 thousand – 500 thousand tons of trade per week needs to be moved between Yuakteisye/Lymethius, in the Huiha Esoyatre, and Gamelea/Gamelea, in Imperial Space – or Bryak/Gamelea, as this system is part of the 10.5 BTN route – then how many ships ply this route? And looking more closely at the route, I see a problem. In this case, trade is supposed to stage through Nearo – Jump-3 from Yuakteisye – except there is a small problem. Nearo is a dead system; all higher life forms on its primary world were destroyed in a nuclear and biological attack during the 1st Outrim War, 200 years ago. Oh, and there are no gas giants for refuelling in the system, either.

Bother.

It looks like I will have to swing the Yuakteisye – Bryak route rimward through Kidan, Kalar-Wi and Varch. This has the advantage of reducing the stages to Jump-2 as well as ensuring refuelling is available, but exposes Huiha Esoyatre/Imperial trade to the vagurities of Kalar-Wi factional politics.

More thought required, as well as a map redraw.

Widening the View

My cunning plans for finishing off a bunch of figures crashed and burned today as I was called upon to be dutiful son-in-law. I did manage to finish off a project I started last night - an updated sector map of the RimWorlds with all statted systems named. I also added Outrim Void Sector, as some systems in the Hunt of Rronurl lie rimward of Cabria Subsector, and some of the spinward trade routes from the rimward end of Gazul Subsector pass to rimward of Miazan Subsector.

With this map in place, I can begin adding some of the trade routes I have been working out, using GURPS: Far Trader.

Once again, I generated the Outrim Void Sector map using Heaven and Earth. I set the initial system distribution to "Rift", which represents a 4% coverage. For the "B" and "C" subsectors, I regenerated these with a "Sparse" system distribution (16% coverage) which allowed me to link from spinward to trailing. I then added the extra systems I needed, rimward of Breknor/Cabria, to complete the Vargr polity of the Hunt of Rronurl, and another one further rimward to allow J-2 access out as far as "J" Subsector, some 30 parsecs rimward of Breknor.

I probably need to add a strip of at least two subsectors to spinward of Entorth Subsector to fully flesh out some of the Outrim polities I have mentioned in my notes, and give them sufficient depth to resist Imperial encroachments, while also allowing some Rift space around the edges.

Harook! Again!

After the epic fail of yesterday's photos, I took another batch today in natural light. They came out a lot better but I really need to make a proper lightbox.



Again, you can see the difference in height between a Harook and a Basic/Human/Solomani. If the GZG UNSC Marine is about 5'10" (1.78m), then the Harook must be around 8'6" to 9' tall (2.7m).



Getting the flash to work did not help with picture clarity.



Pallet used: GW Liche Purple for the body armour; Tamiya Olive Green for crest/facial "feathers" and tail; GW Scab Red and Tamiya Red for tips of crest and tail feathers; GW Blazing Orange for beaks; Tamiya Medium Blue for weapons; GW Scab Red for fingers and toes; Tamiya Metallic Grey over Black undercoat base (street/tarmac mix); GW Yellow eye orbs. GW Badab black wash over armour and faces. Squad flashes on left shoulder.

Not a terribly sophisticated pallet when I see some of the works of art that Sonny of Imitation of Life or Spacejacker of Tiny Solitary Soldiers create, and my style is more "colour inside the lines", but I'm happy with how the Harook came out, and I'm looking forward to gaming with them.

I've been thinking further about the Matchbox Smart Car I used in the previous post, and am wondering how it would look if I ripped off the wheels and replaced them with GZG grav plates and whacked a load of filler around to make it a bit more aerodynamic. I could end up with the grav equivalent of the bumblebee (insect, not Transformer) which could be rather cool.

Harook!

First pictures of some of my completed Harook from Mad Robot Miniatures.


Of course, my camera then decided to play up and by the time I took these shots with my wife's camera, I discovered that the two angle-poise lamps I was using had a distinctively yellowy-orange cast. I'll try and take some more shots in daylight tomorrow.

The Harook are very nice models, standing around 20mm in height and towering over my UNSC marine.


They do, however, make this slightly oversized Matchbox Smartcar look almost in scale.

Website Update #14

Finally finished of my Khurasan Chewks today and spent the rest of the day (in and around running the father-in-law about) updating my modelling log and then getting everything uploaded.

The Chewk pictures are a little soft but the light was bad due to scattered showers. Harook to come in a day or so, I hope.

I have been pondering how the Chewks might fit into my Traveller campaign and there is a desert world in the Cabria Subsector with an indigenous, invertebrate-like intelligent species which could be a match. I will have to reread my notes and see if the Chewks are a fit.