I have been playing a campaign with the new 'real' star systems and the progressive jump point surveys so I thought I would post details of the first few explorations to give some idea of how it is working out and the likely distribution of habitable worlds. I haven't been keeping a detailed diary so most of the following is more of a collection of notes. I should also note here that when using the stored real stars method the existing distribution of local and distant stars doesn't work so I am using a different method. When you explore a jump point the program creates a list of systems in order of distance from the starting star system in 3D space. 90% of the time it will use only systems that have not yet been generated. 10% of the time the list will be created solely from already generated systems.
22nd May 2029Newton completed readings at one of the outermost survey locations, the same distance as Pluto from Earth, and detected a sixth jump point eight hundred and fifty million kilometers away. This one however had a jump gate! Construction of such gates was already being researched so the technology itself was not the most startling revelation, However, the immediate question was that as humans didn't build the gate, who did and were they still around? Newton was ordered to investigate and the European gravitational survey ship Planck, 2.8 billion kilometers away around and at a similar distance from Sol, was also diverted to the new jump point. Both Japanese survey ships were on the far side of the system so they were unable to investigate for the moment. On Earth, discussions began regarding defensive preparations in case the gate builders returned.
25th May 2029Newton arrived at the gate's location. The primary concern at this point was that Newton was not jump-capable and therefore if there was no matching gate on the far side, she would be unable to return. The Coalition and the European Union had both recently completed designs for jump engines suitable for ships of up to 3750 tons and the Japanese were close to completing their own design. It would take many months though to design a jump ship, retool the shipyards and build the first jump-capable ship so Newton could be stuck light years from home for a year or more. Nevertheless, CMDR Kian Fraser and crew were keen to try and the majority view among Coalition scientists was that it would be strange indeed if an alien race only built a jump gate on one side of a jump point.
Newton emerged in a binary star system comprising two red dwarfs approximately 157 AU apart - about four times the distance from Earth to Pluto. Based on spectral analysis of the stars, the system was quickly identified as Groombridge 34, located eleven point six light years from Earth in Einsteinian space. Both stars had planetary systems, with a mixture of gas giants, several of which had extensive moon systems, and smaller, rocky worlds. The primary also had a scattered asteroid belt ranging between two and four billion kilometers. The jump point, which fortunately had a matching jump gate to the one in Sol, was located within the belt, at 2.86 billion kilometers. While the innermost planets of both stars had dense Venus-like atmospheres of carbon dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide, the only system body of real note was Groombridge 34-B II, the second planet of the companion star. Located just twenty-one million kilometers from the star, it had an atmosphere of Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon, although the oxygen content was just three percent and the atmosphere itself only seventy percent the density of Earth's so it wasn't breathable. The average temperature was -27C and liquid water was present on the surface. While not exactly a new Earth, it was an encouraging sign that Earth-like planets might be found in other nearby systems. Newton returned to Sol with her news.
20th October 2030Redoutable - the first jump-capable ship - was launched by the EU. She begain a tour of the known jump points.
Jump Point One led to Alpha Centauri. A binary system with a G2V primary, very similar to Sol, and a K1V companion at almost three point five billion kilometers. Alpha-Centauri-A had only one planet, a Venusian world located within thirty million kilometers. Alpha Centauri-B was far more exciting: Six planets, the second of which orbited at 70 million kilometers and was immediately habitable. Alpha Centauri-B II was slightly larger than Earth with a higher density, giving it a gravity of 1.35G. While any colonists would feel a third heavier than normal, they would acclimatize over time. The atmosphere was also denser by about nine percent and the oxygen content was higher at around 0.25 atm. Average temperatures were lower but well within human tolerances. The jump point in Alpha Centauri was four point two billion kilometers from the primary and almost six billion from Alpha Centauri-B. However, within twenty-five years the orbit of the companion star would pass within seven hundred million kilometers of the jump point, making colonization very fast indeed.
JP2: Barnard's Star. M4V primary. 5 Planets. Second planet has thin O-N atmosphere. Temp -66C.
JP3: Jump Point Three led to Lalande 21185. A red dwarf system (M2V primary) with ten planets and fifty-five moons, none of which were particularly appealing. Two planets and five moons had atmospheres - sparse in all but one case - but they were Nitrogen-methane, Helium - hydrogen and CO2 - Nitrogen Dioxide. The planets were all freezing and nothing was even close to habitable.
JP4: Proxima Centauri. M6-V. 6 planets. 300 asteroids. Second planet -63C. Thin but almost breathable ON atmosphere
JP5: Epsilon Eridani. K2-V. 9 planets, 75 moons. Planet II thin ON atmosphere +69C. Planet III thin ON -65C
JP6: Wolf 359. M6-V. 12 planets. 74 moons, 83 Ast. Planet I Thin ON Atmos. -73C
JP8: Ross 128. M4-V. 7 planets, 67 moons, 59 asteroids. Nothing close to habitable
Alpha Centauri has been surveyed and has five jump points
JP1: Ross 154. M3-V Primary. 7 planets,78 moons, 51 asteroids. Nothing close to habitable
JP2: Sirius: A1-V primary and white dwarf companion at 20 AU. Total of 10 planets (one of which orbited the companion) and 162 moons. Nothing habitable
JP3: YZ Ceti: M6-V. 7 planets, 43 moons, larger asteroid belt. Sparse ON atmos on YZ Ceti I but not close to breathable
JP4: Sol
JP5: WD 1142-645. A planetless white dwarf system.
Groombridge 34 has been surveyed and has four jump points. One leads to Sol and the other to YZ Ceti (which also connects to Alpha Centauri). The other two connect to:
Van Maanen's Star - a planetless white dwarf system
Stein 2051 - a binary with a white dwarf primary and an M4V red dwarf companion at 39 AU. Total of 11 planets, 126 moons, small asteroid belt. Nothing habitable.
***********
The most obvious difference from the normal system generation is the number of red dwarfs as in reality they are by far the most common star type. As you get further from Earth the proportion of red dwarfs will begin to fall a little, partly because they haven't been detected yet by Earth-bound astronomers and partly because I began skipping a few of the non-named ones (those that just have catalogue numbers). I think this will likely result in fewer ideal worlds but more worlds that could be terraformed but only extensive playtesting will really show what is going to happen. There are now 1000 stored systems in the DB, 60% of which are within 50 LY of Earth and 75% are within 100 LY. Most of the well known stars are actually further away so you probably won't encounter them until later in a campaign. Even so you might really meet the Ophiuchi at 70 Ophiuchi which is only 16.6 LY away. There are several stars within the constellation of Orion within the game such as the three brilliant stars that make up Orion's belt (Mintaka - presumably home of the Mintakans from the TNG episode 'Who Watches the Watcher, Alnilam and Alnitak) at 916 LY, 1341 LY and 817 LY respectively. The Rigellians can perhaps be found in the Rigel system at 773 LY
. The Vulcans are apparently from 40 Eridani which is at 16.5 LY, the battle with the Borg was at Wolf 359, which is a mere 7.8 LY, Beware of Khan on Alpha Ceti VI (for some reason called Ceti Alpha VI in the series) at 220 LY. Anyway, you get the idea. If a real star system has been mentioned in any well-known fiction, it is probably now in the Aurora DB. If you find one that isn't, let me know and I will add it
Steve
