Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Making Star Maps via Esoteric Enterprises

Space Engine


Take as many dice as you want and toss them on your map paper. Write down each die type and its number. Draw lines between dice and their neighbors, denoting viable hyperspace lanes.

Add an extra junction - this is Sol (or whatever the central world of your main polity is. You can then spread human influence outwards along those systems that have settlements (and do the same for any spacefaring alien civilizations you rolled). Consider how the hyperspace routes work - civilizations are limited by the time it takes to communicate with its fringes, so systems isolated by dangerous or slow routes are likely to form independent polities, cut off from their parents.

A good guideline is that a civilization's maximum stable spread caps at a year of transit between the primary world and its furthest colony (this is equivalent to two standard routes). A tenuous hold can be kept on those multiple years away, but odds are good that those worlds will find themselves either independent or allied with closer polities soon enough.

What Lies Beyond the Gate?

  1. Unclaimed Filler System - One of the many billions of systems containing very little. A dim and nameless star, some ice, some rock, some gas.
  2. Claimed But Not Yet Colonized - An outside group has claimed the system as their own, but has not begun the process of settling it.
  3. Lonely Refueling Outpost - The system is a minor stopover, settled mostly to provide a way to stock up on volatiles before moving on
  4. Marginal World - A planet here is just barely habitable. It is home to either the unwanted or the desperate. Extremely low population density.
  5. Minor Colony - A low-population system, either from cosmographic remoteness, difficulty of access, newness, or economic factors.
  6. Major Colony - By position, age, luck, or favor, this system's worlds are well-established, populous, and generally stable
  7. Independent Colony - The settlement here is not connected to any existing polity.
  8. Travel Hub - This system lies at a convenient junction of routes
  9. Disputed Territory - Two or more factions are in open conflict over the
  10. Economic Boom - A good or service provided by this system is in high demand.
  11. Economic Downturn - A good or service once provided by this system is now available far cheaper elsewhere.
  12. Anomalous Star - There's something unusual here - a black hole, a Wolf-Rayet star, a neutron star, a pulsar, so on. Not really fit for normal habitation, but certainly worth scientific investigation.
  13. Rogue Planet - There's no sun here - the route opens up near a frozen world in interstellar space.
  14. Terraforming Candidate - Specifically it is a candidate for terraforming that is both cheap and fast. Immensely valuable to outside parties and sure to kick up some conflicts.
  15. Life-Bearing World (Minor) - Probably prokaryotic bacteria, maybe some eukaryotes or algae. Very rarely some multicellular organisms.
  16. Life-Bearing World (Garden) - Close-enough to Earthlike that the comparison isn't completely wrong.
  17. Life-Bearing World (Exotic) - The biosphere here is well outside the terragenic spectrum, but life is here all the same.
  18. Alien Homeworld (Extinct) - There were people here, once. They didn't make it.
  19. Alien Homeworld (Non-spacefaring) - There are sapient aliens here, but for any of a multitude of reasons, they remain sequestered on a single planet.
  20. Alien Homeworld (Spacefaring) - Sapient aliens have their own spacefaring civilization here. Give them colonies according to the aforementioned guidelines.

Hyperspace Lanes

  • d4-d4 - Newly Made - A fresh standard route, still hasn't had all the rough spots smoothed out yet. Travel rate is months per LY
  • d4-d6 - Standard - A standard, stabilized hyperspace route. Travel rate is months per LY.
  • d4-d8 - Sporadic Connection - Sometimes it just doesn't work. There are unpredictable delays in transit availability. Travel rate is months per LY, when it does work.
  • d4-d10 - Lightspeed Highway - This route moves ships at exactly lightspeed.
  • d4-d12 - Variable Speed - Travel time varies between decades and days per LY. There's no way to predict how long it will take. Not often used.
  • d4-d20 - Inaccurate - There is a 30% chance that this route might spit a ship out in a system linked to the target destination. Travel rate is months per LY
  • d6-d6 - Decaying Route - This standard route is in the process of collapse. it still works, but there's no telling for how long nor what might happen to those caught inside when it collapses.
  • d6-d8 - Swift Current - This route is significantly faster than normal. Travel rate is weeks per LY.
  • d6-d10 - Standard - A standard, stabilized hyperspace route. Travel rate is months per LY.
  • d6-d12 - Corrosive - This route, while fast, eats away at matter that passes through it. Only specialized ships can pass through it. Travel rate is weeks per LY.
  • d6-d20 - Collapsed - A previously-functioning route has collapsed upon itself. There's no FTL traversal between those two systems any more.
  • d8-d8  - Newly Made - A fresh standard route, still hasn't had all the rough spots smoothed out yet. Travel rate is months per LY
  • d8-d10 - Swift & Inaccurate - There is a 30% chance that this route might spit a ship out in a system linked to the target destination. Travel rate is weeks per LY.
  • d8-d12 The Slow Road - This route is slow-than-light, but still faster, safer, and easier than conventional travel. Travel rate is years per LY.
  • d8-d20 - Lightspeed Highway - This route moves ships at exactly lightspeed.
  • d10-d10 - Swift Current - This route is significantly faster than normal. Travel rate is weeks per LY.
  • d10-d12 - Lightspeed Highway - This route moves ships at exactly lightspeed.
  • d10-d20 - Instant Transmission - No travel time passes at all. Vessels go through one end and immediately emerge on the other side.
  • d12-d12 - The Slow Road - This route is slow-than-light, but still faster, safer, and easier than conventional travel. Travel rate is years per LY.
  • d12-d20 - Variable Speed - Travel time varies between decades and days per LY. There's no way to predict how long it will take. Not often used.
  • d20-d20 - Standard - A standard, stabilized hyperspace route. Travel rate is months per LY.

And there you have it. I'll try making something with it soon.

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