Starport traffic

A thread of 4 messages, 9 January 1992 to 17 January 1992, in the order they were sent.

#3423 Starport traffic

Joe Block · 9 January 1992

The recent discussion of the *large* amount of takeoffs and landings on the
larger worlds (someone mentioned one every 1.4 seconds or so on Trin) has forced
me to give up on the idea of "one world, one starport."

I think a much more reasonable assumption is that the starport code only
represents the best available facilities on a world.  Most of the interstellar
traffic is going to be handled by existing airport facilities.  After all, you
have everything you need - proximity to large metropolitan areas, pre-existing
facilities for transferring cargo to/from rail or trucks, experience with
dealing with large amounts of air traffic, hangar space, etc etc.

I'm not familiar enough with air travel to be sure, but aren't there 75+
international airports here on Terra?  That would make for roughly one per
couple of minutes, less if you consider that your average scout or free trader
doesn't really need much more than a wide space for a landing facility.  One
PC in a campaign I ran about 10 years ago used to land his ship right outside
of the factory he was buying the weapons he was smuggling (He used to land
inside the fence until an unfortunate mishap involving a lousy pilot and a
tractor trailer).

Sorry I forgot who posted about Trin, but I deleted that message before I
realized had something to contribute on the subject.

Joe Block ([email removed])
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
 deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
                                        Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

#3440 Re: Starport traffic

Hans Rancke-Madsen · 11 January 1992 · reply to #3423

My solution is to put 99.9 % of all trade into bulk carriers.
Huge ships starting at 10.000 tons, averaging 100.000 tons,
some of them reaching 500.000 tons. These ships would have
sceduled jumps planned for the next couple of decades, carrying
raw materials one way and finished goods the other. They would
never touch ground and the shuttes that service them would land
at special dedicated spaceports so they wouldn't interfere with
the luxury trade.

      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     [email removed]
- ------------
        "Come all brother spacemen that travel along.
         Oh, pray come and tell me where the trade is all gone.
         Long time have I travelled, and I cannot find none."
         Ch: "And sing: All the hard times of the Empire.
              In the Empire are very hard times."
                                Traditional song.

#3478 Re: (3423) Starport traffic

Robert S. Dean · 15 January 1992 · reply to #3423

> From: [email removed] (Joe Block)
>
> The recent discussion of the *large* amount of takeoffs and landings on the
> larger worlds (someone mentioned one every 1.4 seconds or so on Trin)
> has forced
> me to give up on the idea of "one world, one starport."
>

Actually, World Builder's Handbook addressed this point.  If your planet's
best starport is an A and you live on a high population world, it is extremely
likely that there are a couple of other A class facilities on the planet, as
well as several B and maybe C class, and most airports will count as an F or
G class spaceport as well.

Rob Dean

#3502 Re: (3423) Starport traffic

Joe Block · 17 January 1992 · reply to #3423

I said
> >
> > The recent discussion of the *large* amount of takeoffs and landings on the
> > larger worlds (someone mentioned one every 1.4 seconds or so on Trin)
> > has forced
> > me to give up on the idea of "one world, one starport."
> >
>
and then Rob said
> Actually, World Builder's Handbook addressed this point.  If your planet's
> best starport is an A and you live on a high population world, it is extremely
> likely that there are a couple of other A class facilities on the planet, as
> well as several B and maybe C class, and most airports will count as an F or
> G class spaceport as well.

It sounds like the World Builder's Handbook began to address this problem.  On
a high traffic world though, it seems like there should be dozens, if not
scores, of auxiliary landing facilities.