 August 1, 2016 - 9:18am | The population codes for planets given in the Star Frontiers game – both the Advanced and Zebulon’s Guide – are fairly simple. They give a referee a lot of leeway in describing the different worlds and really isn’t broken. On the pro side, that is desirable because you can have a Frontier that fits your image of the game. Though, when compared to some other game systems, notably Traveler, SF’s population codes are a bit vague. The four classic SF population codes are: Outpost: A planet that contains only a small outpost or colony. At most, it has only one small city and possibly some small settlements located nearby. Light: The planet has only a few small cities. Moderate: The planet has several large and numerous small cities. Heavy: The planet has numerous large and hundreds of smaller cities. Individual cities may be considered “maxi-cities” that cover thousands of square kilometers. The Traveller system, though, offers population codes with specific ranges such as:
I think there is a way to merge these two systems together, but keep it more in line with the SF way of doing things. New Population Codes Outpost: A planet that contains only a small outpost or colony, or possibly a main settlement and some other small communities (often close to each other). The population size ranges from less than 10 to about 5,000. Note: keep in mind that 5,000 colonists spread over a planet or even part of a continent isn’t very much. Sparse: A planet that has a small colony or even a small city, possibly with a few other small settlements scattered nearby. The population size ranges from over 5,000 to 50,000. Light: The planet has only a few small cities with a population ranging from over 50,000 to 100,000. Moderate: The planet has several large and numerous small cities. The population ranges from more than 100,000 to 100 million residents. Heavy: The planet has numerous large and hundreds of smaller cities. Some individual cities are “great cities” that cover hundreds of square kilometers with populations of more than 2 million people. The planet’s population ranges from more than 100,000 million residents to 4 billion. Dense: The planet has numerous large and hundreds of smaller cities. Individual cities may be considered “maxi-cities” or “mega-cities” that cover thousands of square kilometers. Often these are homeworlds of races with at least 20th century technology. The planet’s total population is more than 4 billion beings, some even as high as 100 billion or even more. Joe Cabadas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 August 1, 2016 - 12:25pm | I converted to the Traveller codes a long time ago. SF has always been a simple game but simple means lack of detail. Not a bad thing just what it is. I like a little more detail. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 August 2, 2016 - 6:22am | One thing is for certain: if there were any A or B words in SF there would have to be a LOT more star ships plying the space lanes. |
 August 2, 2016 - 9:02am | I like the new codes. Wanna take a second look at the economy codes? How about star ship construction centers? Should not a heavy to dense population world with industry or tech economy not be able to build ships on the ground? Up his 5 as per the rules and either chem or atomic drive as per you're interpretation of the rules on atomic drive ships. New population codes, economy codes and some suggested optional star ship construction rules based off the economy and population codes would make a cohesive article IMO. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 2, 2016 - 11:22am | One thing is for certain: if there were any A or B words in SF there would have to be a LOT more star ships plying the space lanes. Maybe in the far future there might be A or B worlds in the Frontier... Maybe Morgaine's World since it's supposed to be huge. I was more interested in trying to provide a better idea of the population ranges. Joe Cabadas |
August 2, 2016 - 11:22am | I like the new codes. Wanna take a second look at the economy codes? How about star ship construction centers? Should not a heavy to dense population world with industry or tech economy not be able to build ships on the ground? Up his 5 as per the rules and either chem or atomic drive as per you're interpretation of the rules on atomic drive ships. New population codes, economy codes and some suggested optional star ship construction rules based off the economy and population codes would make a cohesive article IMO. Hmm, I could look at those too. Joe Cabadas |
August 2, 2016 - 6:56pm | Maybe in the far future there might be A or B worlds in the Frontier... Maybe Morgaine's World since it's supposed to be huge. It depends on what you're sourcing...AD lists Morgaine's World as an outpost and Zeb's population explosion has it at Moderate, meanwhile neighboring Gran Quivera is Heavy in both. I was more interested in trying to provide a better idea of the population ranges.
Yep, it is a nice breakdown. I just don't see the need for the A & B listings for the Frontier setting. It works good in Traveller and even Star Wars, but the Frontier setting really doesn't accomodate them. Even my Coruscant inspired rendering of Minotaur with its endless east to west spanning mega city allows for a large population, I still kept it as a smaller sized planet (along with polar wilderness regions so as not to be a direct full planet/city like Coruscant) so it wouldn't be a Coruscant grade population. |
 August 2, 2016 - 9:08pm | Clarion has been inhabited for over4 centuries (one of the oldest inhabited planets in the Frontier). If anyone should be an A or B it's them. It also conforms to the AD description of it's population. |
August 2, 2016 - 11:15pm | Maybe in the far future there might be A or B worlds in the Frontier... Maybe Morgaine's World since it's supposed to be huge. It depends on what you're sourcing...AD lists Morgaine's World as an outpost and Zeb's population explosion has it at Moderate, meanwhile neighboring Gran Quivera is Heavy in both. I was more interested in trying to provide a better idea of the population ranges.
Yep, it is a nice breakdown. I just don't see the need for the A & B listings for the Frontier setting. It works good in Traveller and even Star Wars, but the Frontier setting really doesn't accomodate them. Even my Coruscant inspired rendering of Minotaur with its endless east to west spanning mega city allows for a large population, I still kept it as a smaller sized planet (along with polar wilderness regions so as not to be a direct full planet/city like Coruscant) so it wouldn't be a Coruscant grade population. Please note that I don't recommend using the Traveller system, especially the A and B ratings. That chart was included for comparison reasons. My suggestion is to have population ranges including Outpost, Sparse, Light, Moderate, Heavy and Dense. I suppose I could add an "Extreme" level -- unless someone has a better word for it -- but I think if the UPF ran into a civilization with a humoungous population, they'd get overwhelmed... Hey, Humongous level! Joe Cabadas |
August 3, 2016 - 12:32am | I think the suggested expansion that includes sparse and dense is sufficient. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 3, 2016 - 6:35am | I suppose I could add an "Extreme" level -- unless someone has a better word for it -- but I think if the UPF ran into a civilization with a humoungous population, they'd get overwhelmed... Hey, Humongous level!
No, no, no...humongous is too small. Ludicrous, now! "What the hell was that?!?" "It's Outpost One, they've gone to plaid!"  |
August 3, 2016 - 8:43am | Yes, 100 trillion + is ludicrous... maybe that would be good for Ring World or a Dyson Sphere. Joe Cabadas |
August 3, 2016 - 12:50pm | Or maybe an ecumenopolis (city-planet [think Corouscant]). |
August 3, 2016 - 1:11pm | Or maybe an ecumenopolis (city-planet [think Corouscant]). That's another good example, though it certainly wouldn't fit into the Frontier. Joe Cabadas |
August 3, 2016 - 2:22pm | If the Gamemaster chooses to use the Frontier that includes the homeworlds of some of the races then very large populations are not that outrageous. I also think you are forgetting that if you have a planet larger than Earth with less water and more land to populate or underwater cities than much larger populations are still not that outrageous. Add in any populations which live on space stations, asteroid belts claimed by planet, and those who are on starships but call the planet home you can get pretty big (side note: when I worked in Kuwait I met Americans who had not set foot in America for 20 years) Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 3, 2016 - 7:11pm | Or maybe an ecumenopolis (city-planet [think Corouscant]). That's another good example, though it certainly wouldn't fit into the Frontier. It could if you wanted it to. Remember Rule 1. Or you could get much the same feel by going the Dredd way with the Megacities. People crowded in like rats in the one (or two or three) habitable parts of an otherwise uninhabitable planet. |
August 4, 2016 - 6:04am | If the Gamemaster chooses to use the Frontier that includes the homeworlds of some of the races then very large populations are not that outrageous. I also think you are forgetting that if you have a planet larger than Earth with less water and more land to populate or underwater cities than much larger populations are still not that outrageous. Add in any populations which live on space stations, asteroid belts claimed by planet, and those who are on starships but call the planet home you can get pretty big (side note: when I worked in Kuwait I met Americans who had not set foot in America for 20 years) I concede the point. How about I don't envision such a world in the Frontier? At least the way the game appears to have been originally conceived. Joe Cabadas |
August 4, 2016 - 7:43am | As originally coneived there were no Homeworlds. But you could argue that since the Yazirians were forced to leave their planet of birth and seek a new one that their Homeworld is in the Frontier. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 4, 2016 - 10:08am | As originally coneived there were no Homeworlds. But you could argue that since the Yazirians were forced to leave their planet of birth and seek a new one that their Homeworld is in the Frontier.
Having written extensively on Fo1 would say the Fo1 insists that Hentz is now the home world of Yazirians. Anyone saying otherwise would be guilty of heresy or blasphemy. Naturally, there are plenty of Yazirians who are guilty of these sins. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 4, 2016 - 2:42pm | Speaking of the yazirians, what if some clans refused to migrate in the same direction to the frontier? -iggy |
August 4, 2016 - 5:04pm | As originally coneived there were no Homeworlds. But you could argue that since the Yazirians were forced to leave their planet of birth and seek a new one that their Homeworld is in the Frontier.
Having written extensively on Fo1 would say the Fo1 insists that Hentz is now the home world of Yazirians. Anyone saying otherwise would be guilty of heresy or blasphemy. Naturally, there are plenty of Yazirians who are guilty of these sins. How doctrinaire are they? Do they acknowledge that there was another Homeworld or do they claim this was always "the Homeworld"? |
August 4, 2016 - 5:24pm | Speaking of the yazirians, what if some clans refused to migrate in the same direction to the frontier?
That would require those clans to have the means to build and launch not just a space ship but a colony ship. Alternately, there would have to be a mutiny on the colony ship to wrest it away from the designated Frontier destination. When I envisioned how a Star Exodus might be accomplished I felt that you had to have two things: 1) a threat that imperilled the very existence of their civilization and or species. 2). A central authority strong enough to exert the will to rescue a whole planet/ civilization from destruction. A powerful central authority would neutralize solo adventures by individual clans. However, a not too large clan of isolationist might if a referee desired it have commandeered a ship, certainly not a colony ship could have gone off on a tangent. They would make an interesting encounter for the PCs. Now back to the central authority, I reasoned it could not actually be Fo1 as it only ends up with tight control of one planet. So I went with an imperial authority called the Warhon which seemed a fit to the yazirian warlike character. An imperial authority like a shogun is a logical outcome of a period of clan wars and it would have the power to organize a star Exodus. An interesting possibility since we originally went with the wandering brown dwarf passing close enough to kick the planet Yazira to an outer orbit is that those clans who refuse to leave not believing the disaster really is upon then could eventually realize that yes they must evac or die. By this time the colony ships are gone and what they do is evac to a world tidally locked to the brown dwarf and just close enough to be habitable (plot of sci Fi mystery). I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 4, 2016 - 6:57pm | Speaking of the yazirians, what if some clans refused to migrate in the same direction to the frontier?
That would require those clans to have the means to build and launch not just a space ship but a colony ship. Alternately, there would have to be a mutiny on the colony ship to wrest it away from the designated Frontier destination. When I envisioned how a Star Exodus might be accomplished I felt that you had to have two things: 1) a threat that imperilled the very existence of their civilization and or species. 2). A central authority strong enough to exert the will to rescue a whole planet/ civilization from destruction. A powerful central authority would neutralize solo adventures by individual clans. However, a not too large clan of isolationist might if a referee desired it have commandeered a ship, certainly not a colony ship could have gone off on a tangent. They would make an interesting encounter for the PCs. Now back to the central authority, I reasoned it could not actually be Fo1 as it only ends up with tight control of one planet. So I went with an imperial authority called the Warhon which seemed a fit to the yazirian warlike character. An imperial authority like a shogun is a logical outcome of a period of clan wars and it would have the power to organize a star Exodus. An interesting possibility since we originally went with the wandering brown dwarf passing close enough to kick the planet Yazira to an outer orbit is that those clans who refuse to leave not believing the disaster really is upon then could eventually realize that yes they must evac or die. By this time the colony ships are gone and what they do is evac to a world tidally locked to the brown dwarf and just close enough to be habitable (plot of sci Fi mystery). An interesting idea. Joe Cabadas |
August 4, 2016 - 8:21pm | I like the brown dwarf star exodus and do not desire to change it. But extras that players would not expect from the common history would be fun too. -iggy |
August 5, 2016 - 12:29am | I like the brown dwarf star exodus and do not desire to change it. But extras that players would not expect from the common history would be fun too. I've thought it would be interesting to have a Return to Yazira campaign . Naturally, Fo1 will have declared the home system sacred ground and forbid travel there. Mystery should abound as to what happened to those who stayed behind. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 5, 2016 - 5:52am | I like the brown dwarf star exodus and do not desire to change it. But extras that players would not expect from the common history would be fun too. I've thought it would be interesting to have a Return to Yazira campaign . Naturally, Fo1 will have declared the home system sacred ground and forbid travel there. Mystery should abound as to what happened to those who stayed behind. Which naturally means that Fo1 operatives would try to thwart/sabotage any such mission. You could certainly make use of your Very Yazarian Civil War project info. Joe Cabadas |
