Using the Cepheus Engine Vehicle Builder - Example: Grav Van

 

Lost the Original File

Here is a New Van

Crash Courses Geography was one of my key inspiration to World Generation Mechanics

 

The Crash Course Geography Series has been a recent inspiration for Traveller. Especially for the Economics and Nuance Side. 

For me when it talks about the History of colonization, definition of development, and social issues and conflicts - it provides inspiration for worlds the PCs arrive in and how their goods, influence shapes these worlds. 

As independent freighters and traders, the more risky underdeveloped, developing and near Developed worlds and the markets these worlds are part of can be pretty interesting. Especially given the opportunity Travel, Do business and with Empathy the inhabitants can be their own universe of culture and narratives.

Travell + Empathy + History/Context + Languages makes the world even more special and strange. 

I hope it emerges from our writing and prioritization of how we designed the world generator that we are want to also see our world - we also want to see all the people and all the cultures - health, finances, and time allowing.  

I want people to find the book and go "Ok so these definitions would help talking a bit of jargon about space.", "this complex idea will be boiled down to this mechanic, but this interpretation of the concept is open to more nuance and subverting expectations."  "Oh wow I just made a world and system in a couple of clicks that can have so much detail that can be put on." "That the material is available for editing if I believe or want to tweak it. The spreadsheet also and its javascript." "Oh they gave me a way to render Planets and 2D terrain maps (Icosahedron maps). 

Hopefully the price is value since the tools save so much time and effort so we can produce more. 

 

 

Update: Suit and ship mostly finished.

 

1. The ship is 50% Finished
1. Needs to be Rigged and Shader optimized 
2. The suit as well, 50% the remaining is the rigging for animation and posing. 
1. Still needs to be shader optimized. 
3. I finished a Planet Generator that allows for Cthonian and Gas Giants or Dwarfs etc... using the Planetary Types and Size in Wikipedia. My material is going to be designed to compliment Near Space. 
1. Planet generator is one component of the WORLD GENERATOR. which needs me to randomly determine also the Habitability (Atmosphere and Hydrographics), Population, Resources, Tech Level: and other derived stats like Final Population, Law etc... Dont worry you will get a Spreadsheet that outputs to a table you can easily cut and paste to a Document for your players. I don't consider it PLAYABLE if I cant play GOD! (by building worlds in less than 2 minutes with the spreadsheets. 
2. Near Space would be a Perfect Procedural game where Solese discover another civilization they cannot detect as they discover FTL and arrive. The gm can run scenarios like Interstellar Wars of early Traveller, Horror, Mystery, Intrigue, etc... Players can ask the GM to roll up a plot. 
4. Remaining is the rest of the World Builder 
5. I have to Invest in various Shaders to TRY THEM OUT. Shaders are the paid add ons that indies make. Genishin Impact shader is https://www.artstation.com/marketplace/p/9nrrR/genshin-impact-character-shader-for-eevee Until i make my own shader from scratch I cannot share the genshin impact shader. Its possible though that I can commission a shader to be made in Fiverr if I sell enough and that shader will be open-sourced. I have to try Lightning Boy Shader https://lightningboystudio.gumroad.com/#aYbiH but that's 30usd which is 3 days minimum wage here in the Philippines. the Genshin Impact one is a Fastfood meal to Try. And I got intimidated with the Lightning boy Shader - what more non 3d background people who will get these as part of the book. 
6. After the World Builder (spreadsheet and written rules) which may take 2-3 more weeks I can proceed to the fucking ship builder because I've pretty much figured it mostly out but no play to Play the Ship. 
1. Wow the end users have a TL6-TL8 Ship generator where can they take it? they can slap it on to their game and pirates or primitives. They need a place to use the ships. A way to adventure in INTRAstellar space. Thus world builder. 

left is newer version, right is first draft

playing with Evee and Freestyle

Funny thing - what did i expect?

bought a CE skill list. on the file it had 24 MB and I was like, wow  a different skill list for pay what you want. Ok I might as well give this person 1usd (a meal here in the Philippines) and it really is a Skill list... as in just like the one in the CESRD...

looking at the positive I charged almost 1/50th at copper level (50 sales) how much it took me to make my stuff. I'm just learning so I hope I'm 20% of even if I can make a product I believe will get Gold 500 sales and Profit at Adamantine. I think what we produce will save GM/Referees 20% of their prep time relative to their play time for the details they want to take on. 

its funny that I'm an IT head with an Arts background with a passion for Hard Scifi - who wants to run Case Studies - PCs trying to make money - and applying my 3rd World biz Experience in all the special insight practices someone whose family biz deals with the Gov't. I hope the tools make it that people will go "Hey why not - some guys all the way in the Philippines made it cheap". 

I believe the more Open Source tools - anyone can commission any artist or technical to make material for their games - maybe a Solar System Builder in GODOT or character generator or ship builder.  Taking the tools others made and building it up to greater and greater heights. The BASE of more assets will create a virtuous cycle. 

I can imagine people using Freelance Services to Animate and produce their Games into Shows! or just preserving an awesome Game Scene - and that one of these scenes will become its own show - but 99% of everyone else will have something they can share when they played their game. 

Problem and Opportunity: Why less Efficient and Cheaper Boosters First?

Question:  Should Referees require players to calculate how many and how big the Boosters do they need to Escape a 1G world? 
Answer: No. The Referee only needs to know the Price of the Services to get them out to orbit, if their Ship is not Full-Escape Velocity Capable. its basically the Mass Tons of the Ship and the factor of the Gravity. 

Questions: Ships Cannot just land and Escape 1G Worlds? 
Answer: Yes. Some TL9 and everything below cannot simply escape 1G. In fact the Types of Starports and Economics will change a bit. Mathematically its just adding a couple of Zeros in the Population and the Size of the Economy of Worlds with Down Ports that Expect Interstellar/Intrastellar Trade. 

TL9 is special, the way metal is special in DarkSun, or Gunpowder is special, or Magic is Special. 

Questions: What are the Implications. 

1. I have to use the UWP of the world to determine the Administration Cost to Orbit. Notes in the World Codes to help the GM price the Admin fees. 
2. Orbit Capable Downports in 0.6G+ worlds will have a huge Economy around it. Worldbuilding wise this is as important as a Space Elevator. (Space Elevators are TL8). Just adding 000 or 00,000 zeroes to the Populations and the economics of the worlds. 
3. Remaking all the "Common Ships" using the Spreadsheet in the new Shipbuilding Rules for TL6 to TL8 ships. The spreadsheet has gone through 4 Versions already, niccos MGT2, my MGT2, my CE, and my Current mass-based Shipbuilding which will be called Mneme Ship Design Variant for Cepheus Engine.  
4. Adding the Space Infra of Heka KTon and Mega Ton Habitats, Networks of Tethers, etc... 
1. How to use the Ship Building Rules for this. 
5. Changing Combat Doctrine with Auto-Cannons, Gyroc EM Cannons, TL7 and TL8 Lasers, ECM, Mass Launchers and Receivers, Point defense Missiles and Cannons, Grapeshot Missiles and Missile clusters (100mm missiles bundled in a 400mm case). I did something like this before basically I took Ultra Tech and Examine all the Optimal Strategies and their costs and Mapped out every increase of potency and effectiveness one can squeeze out of a TL. Probably 4 pages of equipment and 6 pages of Doctrine Notes - a table of all the options so the GM and the players are not Blind Sided by Best Industry Practices (this takes out of immersion if the Doctrine or the Best practices and where they breakdown is not known by the designer; its hard to prepare a Military campaign when the unknowns and knowns are not clearly laid out).   
6. The hardest parts the Change in Operations 
1. Launching into Orbit are the Nailbiter rolls.
2. Pushing the Limits of the Ship are the Nailbiter rolls. 
1. Gravity Slingshots and Skidding on the atmosphere
2. This would be maxing out the KM/s of the ship and using AIR BRAKES to slow down! 
3. Entering Rad belts to Cut corners. 
3.  Making the Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Ship a spreadsheet that takes less than a Minute to Fill up or a Written process that takes 5 minutes to do the quick math (back of the envelope math)
4. I'm making sure Trade and Operations Notes are in one place and all the Tables are there. 
7. All the 3d Assets are available for GM and instructions how to render it into scenes for your game. 
1. Includes a Crew Suit I made (TL8) free and Creative Commons for people to use for their games - it comes fully rigged for posing. 
2. The ship is Rigged for Posing also, from opening bay doors, and landing gear. (Nicco will do commissions for custom ships and animations for games). 

Kickstarter Milestone. Number of sales is for bonus material. I'll see if I can do this model where I use the number of sales to fund future improvements. All old and future versions will be sold to people who already bought it - i will just keep adding more files to download - (the price might increase though so those who got in early get the best deal  - like mount and blade when it came out in Beta and i was able to participate). I can do this because I have a day job as an IT head and Plant head so (Not much i earn less than working class in the US, but comfy enough to afford services to make this better, my project management skills are what makes this RPG project different). 

Current Challenges

1. Why is the Less Efficient Thruster used to Boost? I don't understand the logic? I don't know how to model it in a Cost Efficiency method - controlling for the factors of Fuel Costs why is it better to use a less Efficient Booster and save the more efficient boosters for 50-100km up? I know the players don't need to be bothered by that but its distracting not to know. 
2. recovering from a flu, I tested negative in an RNA-TPCR test. Still feeling unuaully sleepy earlier in the night. 
3. the Anxiety on my Art investment - It seems Im doing the art first because I need to see a "200dton" or a 1400m3 ship really does fit 10 cabins and enough fuel, engine, and cargo to reach orbit and transit. 
1.  a 1400m3 Ship Docks to its 200mT spinhab powerplant, radiator, and ion drives, and Nuclear Thermal Rockets it all has to make sense on paper and on the 3d. One of the mistakes made was not fully visualizing the process and the assets would be awesome to animate using Lightning Boy's Cell Shader if I can get it to work. I need the Books Ready to play not just Ready to build worlds. 
2. Fortunately, Nicco can help me write once he's done with the art. But I'm tempted to start counting my chickens before it hatches by funding his Lightnin Boy Cell Shader studies so we can do it for all the assets. 

Learned the rocket equation. Been sick.

Yesterday I learned the Rocket Equation, instead of simply calculating burn Time and adjusting the mass for every second in s spreadsheet because the Rocket gets lighter as it burns through fuel.  Scott Manely had an old Video about it. 

1. I hit a problem as I cannot reach 15,000m/s with just Raptors without making the Entire ship 90% Fuel. 
2. I tried simply adding boosters and I hit the Tyranny of the Rockets Equation: "there is a limit to the amount of payload that the rocket can carry, as higher amounts of propellant increment the overall weight, and thus also increase the fuel consumption.^[7] ". 
3. I started googling which lead me back to Delta-V budget, which references the Rocket Equation... which I didn't understand until I tried to design a rocket on paper that would reach 15,000m/s. This lead to discovering the Awesome Delta-V Map https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Solar_system_delta_v_map.svg  which lead me to review how much I really needed. I didn't need 15,000m/s - that's if I'm straight from the surface to leaving the planet - which we take for granted in Traveller - I just needed 9.6 or 10.6 km/s 
1. Just Enough to get a Ride from a Space Tether... one of my favorite Scifi Concepts. 
4. Travellers with a 1000 Mass Ton ship with Antiquated TL7 Boosters will need to pay the cost of  Booster Rental (which is about 500,000usd x 4 for 2M) to get about 5km/s and then blast the rest of the way with their high Impulse (Specific) aka Efficient Rockets to Low Orbit (Not saying earth because this is not only about earth). 
1. The boosters will fall away and begin their Automated descent 
   as the Travellers climb they see other such services being conducted, scattered in the horizon 2-3 other ships being launched to Low orbit the way Planes in the sky are common occurrence. 
5. As the Traveller reaches Low orbit exhausting much of the 1000 MT ship's fuel, they pay for the Services of a Tether to travel either to Geosyncronous Orbit or Lunar Transit for Refueling. the Ship will be paying for fuel twice because of the gravity well. They feel the skyhook catch the ships anchor and begin to hurl them forward accelerating. the Sound they hear is conducted through their suit into their vacc suits. the Ship master having booked some passengers and cargo on the moon a week earlier is hurled that direction. 
   
   
6.  The Tether hurls the ship another 2Km/s (used to change orbit) and the ship begins another 1Kms burn to reach Lunar orbit and be caught by another Inertia Tether to slow down when they arrive. The Travellers take 4 days to arrive on the moon along the way shedding KMs as they encounter tethers that will slow them down where they will refuel and link up with their Habitat Ring, Radiators, and Fission Power. 

So my tests came back and its not Covid. still the wife and I are quarantined to protect the kids. Hope to be able to focus more by next week, the 25th. 

Missiles and Scale. Checking the numbers.

 Imagine a 400mm diameter missile made up of a ring 8 60mm solid x 3000mm rockets. Inside its core is a barrel for a 60mm x 500mm APDS round, HE, or smaller shotgun/grapeshot rounds of tungsten and depleted uranium.

It is launched with a burn time of 10 minutes. Being able to reach 36Kms at 6Gs and firing the 60mm round at 3kms

Fired and with its tiny computer, it will fire based on the predictive algorithm the gunner encoded. It will fire where it will predict the target would be within 1 second (as everything is traveling kms per second) factoring all the factors and vectors affecting it.

A magnetically assisted launcher hurling 8, one of these every second as the ship burns and flips, the missiles sending a spiraling tail at a pursuing Raider. a hundred Kilos ejecting pushes the ship the opposite direction. 

The raiders turrets activating near the speed of light seeing the signatures - firing 35 of a similar ringed missile - a missile ringed with smaller missiles that explode with directional fragments as point defense. And the smaller missiles ringing it ignites as it exists the turret - separating in the spreading out to explode close to the missile it seeks to intercept.

Crew feel themselves against their seat belts as the ship spins to point more turrets at the incoming missiles. Their trajectory altering from the Reaction mass.

9000m3 (ton) ship being chased flips to burn several time to confuse the predict models of its future position.

The pursuing raider unleashes Emp head 7 600mm x 7000mm missiles as the preprogrammed engagement range kicks in. Missiles with 80Kms burns are launched throwing the ship back.

This all happens in 2-3 seconds as both systems are preprogrammed based on each of their crews estimates.

In 6-8 minutes everything will happen, and they will know if they're dead or alive only after making the system checks if they are able to be conscious. 

A second before they black out from the centrifugal force of a spin - they can feel the heavy vibrations of point defense cannons hurling 3 hundred kgs of 20mm rounds. Human brains blacking out, and distorting the sense of time.

Hard Scifi - Why would you want to Play with Rockets in a TRPG?

 Do you remember the number of rolls you make as you leave the Star-port and Roll for Jump. The Risk of a Misjump? A game designer who wants to make ROCKETS and hard Scifi fun needs to be able to tell an engaging story and challenges of a Crew and Ship - escaping from a Gravity Well. 

Escaping a Gravity Well. This is one of the scariest things in a Cepheus Engine TL6-8 Setting. Second to that is the Radiation Belts and the Flyby and Slingshot. The Players need to roll for supplies and maintenance, making sure the ship is ready - and then the Players roll if they have Problems when the Launch, or Boost towards their destination. 

I guess this is why I'm taking so long - my strengths is not in storytelling but in Logistics and Planning. I'm the guy who gives the Plan for Executive approval - the executive in this case being the Players and Referee. Do you like my work and research and think you can use it for your game - Do you think these challenges are exciting for the Players? 

As we move towards TL8 TL7 Commercial Space Flight will mean wearing more HATS. your logistics expert, your crew, may have to do more work with regards to the Preparation of a Ship to Launch not just to Operate the Ship as it travels 14kms escaping earth gravity. 

I have to give you, the referee and players, problems in a way you can solve and feel good solving or juggling. It has to feel like a real space project and program but not too complicated that you throw the book I wrote.  

Remember that the FAILED launch, the hardware problems IS the adventure. A rocket launch that doesn't involve a TPK means this is one of the monsters the players have to beat. 

The RULES we study and create for the GAME signify what matters. I will write the following: 

1. A way for you to roll a rocket launch or begin your month long trip.  
2. Listing the Problems and Challenges and giving CONTEXT to these - they can be thorny troubles or serious crises. 
3. CONTROLS - options for the Referee and Players in how to solve problems. 
4. World Building and Doctrine - impact of the technology and practice, and economy. World building helps build stakes - because it gives PCs their Place in the world and what can be reasonably expected. Expectations set up stakes - from the payoff, benchmarks, risks and opportunities the players will encounter. 

Sizing Ships - Part 1

 

My process is so cumbersome and slow. 

Here I am comparing visually the scale of a 8:1 cuboid and cylinder. 

They tend to the 8-7:1 ratio used for Maritime ships because of the Thrust potential. 

1. It cant be too long because it does "Flips" where it will burn to re-orient. 
2. It can't be too thick, because of the way engines are pushing on it. You can't have an Engine Push on a smaller point of the square or thick cylinder - you would need side structural strength to be higher. You want it always spread out because of the Thrust. Thrust makes them cuboid or cylinders. 

Below is a 1000 volume Ton or vT and a 3000 vT shape. It looks like 3000 dtons is the sweet spot and I may be making the ships around 7.2m cross section or 3.9m radius at a Long endurance Scale. 

Ships are designed to travel for Weeks up to a Year. Anything unable to hold enough supplies for such are "vehicles" or "small craft". 

I cannot Use the regular Encounter 2D roll because its tapers off at the ends. I need a Randomizer that gives me the Common FIRST then the rarer occurrences later. I typically use 1d6!/2 round down. Which gives a distribution making the higher numbers rarer and the lower numbers more common. Since its a Roll20 formula  is easy to automate this. Its going to be a simple table where there is a Base probability and the higher the Traffic the Rarer events become more possible. Took a while to research this probability curve for both its simplicity and doing whats its supposed to do. 

What you see is 1000m3 (60DT), 3000m3 (200DT) and 10,000m3 (600DT). 

What am I doing?
1) Doing the math is one thing, TOO OFTEN, I check in 3d and REALIZE that I got the math wrong because the proportions are out of whack! So I always Check the 3d to make sure these numbers make sense - One thing to know 2.8m radius and 50m length, another is seeing it and having a person there for scale. 

2) I am going to Throw out the 100dton per Turret Rule. Sensors, Comms, Drones, etc... so many things depend on Turrets. And Airframes require Pop-up turrets

3) SKETCH model is modeling something to be close enough like a 747-100 and a AIrbus a380, the Apolo and Dragon Command Capsul within a margin of Error. Like how much more Surface area does a X-33 or a Boeing have. Double checking in this way is Tedious but it helps prevent embarrassing mistakes and this is my Unique Value proposition given my skillset.  

New Spreadsheet - that would add another month. Probably Dec

This Ship Design System is going to be Complicated, holding more Detail than the current CE ship system BUT because you will have access to the Spreadsheet and ALL the sample Ships it would be easier. 

1. MINING. the first Ship in Common Vessels is mining BUT the Mining Rules lack the Following: 
1. How do I go about Mining? Checklist for Mining? 
2. How does actual Mining Work vs mining in this Game? 
3. How does the World and Opportunities look like if my Party are Miners? 
2. It breaks down in TL8 and below. I will address this since I've been using Simple Rockets, Kerbal, Children of the Dead Earth and Universe Sandbox to study - testing out theories and troubleshooting "Why didn't that do what I thought it would do?" 
1. Curious Droids Buran-Energia is quite interesting imagining TL6 to TL7 setting. 
3.  Simplifying a lot
1. Life Support Cost/day (I'm going to make it simply TL based but simple like)
2. Quality of LIFE Expenses - wealthier having more exercise, recovery time and access to recovery services (like more medical access, less inconveniences, and more time free to waste or invest). The more QOL expenses the more stability and time. The character who has to cook, clean, maintain, pay their taxes, take care of their stuff, etc... has less time and the higher the QOL the more TIME the character has. 
1. QOL are the services, technology, medicine, and access that lets players have more time. 
3. EXPENSES and INCOMES. Since Pre jump ships really are charge TIME or DURATION of the stay's expenses (including overhead) + margin. 
1. FTL ships really charge a PREMIUM for the TIME they SAVE. 

The Technical Debt of the current CE ship building are the following: 

1. Table Based instead of a Formula which GURPS, MGT2E, CEDelux, and others have migrated to. Instead of Calculating Grades of Engine with A being the worse (Counter-Intuitive after playing Twlight 2000) Tons of Engine. 
2. The way Components should work is pretty much the same as a way I can put SUB Components. One of my problems was the BAY occupying Space and the Thing in the Bay counting Double. 
1. A Escape Pod BAY (so that an Escape Pod can Eject and be accessed) cannot have the ROW item beneath it: the escape pod line up its DT because it doesnt really ADD DT, the DT is already there in the BAY. 
2. Engine and FUEL is important to be Linked because they affect each other. Delta V calculations need to know the Total Fuel available. 
3. One of the HARDEST problems is: How do I present it in a Spreadsheet while...
1. Easy to Cut and Paste to a DOC. easy to clean and make pretty. 
2. All the other Metrics like HP, Hit Location, and Revenue vs Expenses. 
3. How do I Build into the Document all the RULES so that a Ship Table is self contained  with all the relevant Rules for running it without Jumping back and forth between Ship Ops being there. The book sold is really the text to do this manually or a way to contribute to the cost of the spreadsheet. 
1. Players knowing their RISK and Taking ACTIONS to manage those risks and hoping their strategy pays off. Thats one of the weirdest things about the game for Entrepreneurs go its weird when they don't look before they leap as my family history which has both Elements of Luck, Entrepreneurship, Skill, and Careful calculation reflects how Financial Illiteracy is one of the main causes of Suffering and business failure. I want the PCs to be better than the rest in approaching a business - I guess its an Middle class Developing World thing where basic financial literacy makes us behave strangely (It should provoke the empathy to understand systemic poverty).
4. 
   

New Spreadsheet

So this spreadsheet took like 4 weeks and the previous version which Nicco made took about 4 weeks also. But I wasn't satisfied and I know what I want is beyond my current ability - because I don't know how I'm going to achieving it some of it. How do I bring it to  4 Columns and allow for Sub-Items listed in another Row? For example: having A Shuttle under the Shuttle bay. 

I learned query allowing me to recompile the Table,  and learned how to better use index and match for the more Complex Engine performance.  

Isn't that Sad and part of reality - we set out to do something and we realize it is beyond our current ability and we do the research to figure it all out and try again. We make drafts and drafts because we;re not geniuses and since its part time we have to juggle our passions with reality. 

The Great thing about a Spreadsheet that is well made is that I plan to look for a Javascript Tutor in Fiverr and ask to be tutored (at a budget of 5-10usd/hr for about 200usd all in) to be taught to make this into a Javascript app that References a Sheet. 
The purpose of Javascript is so that I'm not LIMITED to the layout of the table. Generate a PDF of the ship and other details that make anything to do with the ship on that pdf. too bad Roll20 cant host pdfs 

Other Challenges

1. My Blender skills got Rusty as I focused more on the Writing. There is SOOO much i want to do. 
1. Imphenzia, Daniel Grove Photo, Josh Gramble have to be rewatched because I forgot so many. 
2. the ship Nicco is making is great there are serious challenges - nicco knows rigging better than me, I on the other hand had the formal training as an apprentice to Hernan Javines and have a strong workflow development. 

Major Changes - Scope Creep

Scope Creep - why did I add more Scope? 
because my Assumptions were violated - that I thought I can play a TL8 game with CESRD and nope I cant. This added about 40+ hours to my predicted work even if I've about had 40+ hours in it already (writing after work and family time).  

Major Changes 

1. I wanted to just make a TL8 Ship Book with the layout and 3d (Blender files) and of course well-rendered Pictures (which can always follow even after the Book is out) I can always upload more and more FREE renders. BUT THEN too many problems with existing CE ship building - particularly - Running a TL8 game - (or TL9 in GURPS )is not playable in CE. There are ESSENTIAL TL9+ assumptions I cannot avoid or workaround. 
1. So I'm going to add a Ship Building system FOCUSED on TL6-TL8. Enough Rules to make the Saturn V, Soyuz, the Buran, the Shuttle, Sea Dragon, Falcon 9, SpaceX Starship, etc... Enough Tech for you to Run "For All Mankind" or Alternate History or Near Future (like Daniel Suareze's Delta-V, Andy Weir's The Martian, Artemis, i haven't listen to Proj hail mary yet, etc..., or Neal Stephensons Seveneves) 
2. 
   
   
   
3. 
   
   
   
2. I'm still going to provide Blender Files of the Ship, 2d Floor plans in Illustrator and Inkscape sgv files. 
3. I'm still going to provide a Cost and Expense Analysis and their Ops because I realize that maybe someone may approach it and find it less intimidating when I explain it. I'm not an Engineer - I graduated an Arts degree but I work in IT , Construction, and Manufacturing. I'm not that guy in class who had A's I'm your consistent C-level student who enjoys something people think Grade-A people enjoy.  
4. A Change you will notice is that I've Consolidated CE, MGT2 and GURPS rules as note as to their Pros and Cons. I came from GURPS, I've studied the other systems and as an OLD GUY who wants to easily juggle this - I keep notes of how I can reconstruct a skills I've forgotten, to where I left off in my javascript studies, how to remember to do quadratic equations, etc... - I will create a map and guide for the reader to help them remember to perform "maths" concepts I learned to do in a way a High Schooler (in the Philippines and probably in the US) can follow this and build worlds. 
1. Building Worlds - to Know the Infra, Costs, Risks, and Opportunities of Rockets, and all the Infra that goes into this - this hopefully will help. Basically the Role of Rockets in everyday life - for those capable to leave a powerful gravity well and travel a system. 
5. This Took A while. a CE and MGT2 Sheet to compare the two systems. I WILL MAKE SHIPBUILDING EASIER in both a spreadsheet level and conceptual level. and Allow people to choose the level of complexity. 

Notes: 
This is the Sample Sheets. I noticed that ships need to be analyzed SIDE-BY-SIDE in order to understand the system mechanics the game Designer sets out. 

So you can see here that the Olders ship takes more work to keep Running, but the Newer ship only needs half the crew. But the older Ship, took a SMALLER loan and has a lower Mortgage. heck PCs can start out easily FULLY OWNING the ship quite easily. 

I've simplified the maintenance and penalties of a problematic ship. 

What to look Forward To.

1. TL8 is the time and technology before we have Gravitics, Impossible Drives, and Statis Pods. Everything before Faster the Light tech is huge. Thas 100 or 500 years depending on how much I learned from how consistently misplaced the optimistic is about the Tech and the challenges, but failing to appreciate the near term horizon tech. 
1. TL6-TL8 Rockets and Space Ships
2. Fleets of these much Older Ships that can be used to Populate the Setting, much scrappier Tech from 6-8 vs 9+  
3. The Commerce and the Operations that may make it easier and more interesting. Like reaching orbit and Benchmarks, Knowing basic contents of what Keeps something in Orbit and Benchmarks, and sample operations and benchmarks for comparisons. 
2. Complexity like this really just happens in the FIRST part of the game as the Players and GM immerse, after these are set the GM pretty much runs the game based on the Players preferences and boundaries. The Hardish Scifi is a parameter the GM can relax depending on the gaming group but the GM knows which way is harder or what would be more believable. 

Ship Compensation and Roles.

Determine Skills required and SHIFTS > Determine Personnel > then Determine Expenses and Compensation. 

PAY

• Cr 1000/mo per level of Skill (Cr 500/mo for Skill-0)
• Cr +1000/mo per Different Section (Bridge, Eng, Staff Sections)

CHANGES target outcomes

• Salary Grades = Competence. Also, its ideal to have an Official Assessment and Ceremony for such Increases in Grade and Competence. 
• More SHIFTS Overtime pay. the engineer who has to cover more shifts will get paid for their hours. 
• Everyone has Multiple Roles : the captain who is the Admin and other roles will work more and be burned out, but compensated for his extra effort. 

ROLES 

Shift, Role, Function, Duties etc... it boils down is Time to Do the Actions that are required. The Roles and the Actions is where the Referee can get a lot of ideas on how to make things Interesting. Like real life there is too many to do and never enough time to eliminate risks.

All Spaces need:

• Vacc-0
• 0G-0 

Main Roles

• Bridge: Command and Control - Monitoring and controlling the Ship. 
• Engineering: Ship Condition and Requirements to perform. Anything considered "Provisions" or need for the Ship to Operate. The engineer Facilitates Fuel and Maintenance. 
• Staff: Anything servicing the Administration, Clients, Passengers, Cargo and Biz Functions of the Ship. Dont think of them as the Lowest in the Chain of Command - Businesses dictate the powers of the Bridge and Engineering. Staff ensures the Ship is PROFITABLE and a Going Concern. 

Ship Master/Captian	Someone Licensed/Certified to Command a Ship.	Pilot: Spacecraft-2, Astrogation-1, Electronics: Sensors-1	1 per Ship
Bridge Officer	Other Bridge Officers. A ship needs someone "On deck" 24/7, and guarding the ship even in Berth. In very small operations Engineering and Staff serve also these dual roles.	Pilot-0, Astrogation-0, Electronics-0	4 per Bridge (minus Ship master)
Chief Engineer	Someone Certified/Licenses to handle the Drives, Power, or Lifesupport. Typically they need to have level 1 or 2 depending on the Organization issuing the License. You get what you pay for in their salary grade (which reflects their skills).	Eng: R-Drive-2, Eng: Power-2	1 per Ship
Engineering Crewman	Engineering and Maintenance are pretty much the same things as Damage and Wear&Tear is pretty much accelerated wear and tear. Preventive and Corrective Actions regarding the ships complex system needs someone checking and replacing - Note that these decisions are escalated to the Top - but someone discovering and communicating this is part of Engineering.	Engineering/Mechanic-0	1 per 200dtons (minimum 1 which can be the chief engineer) minus the Chief Engineer.
Chief of Staff	If the Ship has to have biz autonomy, needing to adapt Biz operations to meet goals then it will need a Chief of Staff. They handle also Financing, Legal, and other difficult Biz challenges that may cause Trauma to the other Ship Crew.	Admin-1, Steward-1	1 per Ship (if the Ship has Biz operations)
Ship Staff	They are part of the Staff Section.	Engineering/Mechanic-0, Steward-0, Admin-0	1 shift per 20 persons and per 100dtons of cargo.

Designers Notes

One of the Similarities of Ship operations and IT is the 24/7 Shift Calculation. I stopped looking at the WEEK and Just focus on the Shifts. 

this is 48+ Hours per "week" 

This can be disrupted by staff Getting Sick where someone who had a Shift of rest can be called in to cover. 

In the Philippines we just simplify it by having 12/12 for security guards or 10/10 because there is a Weekend and really don't have enough people to do 24/7 gapless (and ideally overlapping shifts for Responsibility Transfer) 

As long as one 1 person is always there 24/7 and everyone gets 2 shifts of sleep its all good. 

Multi-Tasking - especially in High Conext jobs that cannot be automated. This leads to a response time equal to No. of Tasks x time for those tasks.  

Disrupting the circadian rhythm with cybernetics and drugs - so that we can "shut down" is quite interesting because One of the things I realize about OUR hobby is this is how we recover. 

Recovery 

The fun we have is effective if we can REMOVE the stress by rewiring the brain temporarily - forgetting the impulses and ambient stress. And Everyone has Different FUN because the FUN has to Take them out of the Stressful Situation and PLACE THEM in a FUN/RELAXING Place. 

the mental model of viewing OUR FUN/RELAXATION has to take us out of our Stressful Place is important for troubleshooting if its is effective in resetting our brain. If our subconscious stress points, alertness levels, fight-flight response is turned off so as to heal/recover. 

At the same time, Hobbies/Relaxation where we DESTIGMATIZE work - or Hobbies that make Stressful situations less stressful help Quickly Shift from Stress to Relax. 

Too often I have the excuse "This is not fun anymore" the analysis is that the emotions I felt with this activity ingrained unpleasant memories. Balancing out these memories with Pleasant ones - where I/We win more often than fail - helps me remove the Background processes of Fight-flight readiness and dedicated more CPUs for flow.  

Sacred Rights of Compensation 

One of the best ways to determine Skill in Real-world vs Games is in writing a Realistic Job Placement/Requirement in the Real World. One of my Game pet peeves is the UNCOMPENSATED or unfairly compensated Skillset and Duties. If you've ever seen "Needs 10 years of experience Entry level position" job placement sometimes and other glaring inconsistencies in Jobs I'm one of those guys who don't like in my TRPGs. 

I guess its weird by Labor Rights are kinda sacred for me. I guess coming from a Developing World where our default is actually 6 days a week not the 5 days a week. That 5 day workweek is a privilege. That the Work Conflicts with Safety and Operations requirement and addressing both says so much about myself and my character - as well as the character for others. If Alignments and Ethics matter in game. 

Also I notice when a lot of people do the short-sighted thing and Abuse the Safety Limits to make some cash. I mean 99% of the time they get away with it, on the 1% they get caught and tragedy strikes - hmmm.. that's why there is a speed limit, there are seat belts, - statistically its unlikely but Business Plans are ideally BUILT on certainties and addressing uncertainties. 

Slowly learning - Simple Rockets and how it relates to Traveller

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_velocity

Q: If the earth requires 11KMs Escape velocity, when I achieve it at 11.1KMs 𝚫V does that mean I have the remaining 0.1KMs to travel?

"Once escape velocity is achieved, no further impulse need be applied for it to continue in its escape. In other words, if given escape velocity, the object will move away from the other body, continually slowing, and will asymptotically approach zero speed as the object's distance approaches infinity, never to come back.[2] "

A: Yes and No.

Yes - If I dont achieve EV, my speed will diminish.
No - If I achieve EV I continue at that speed or greater if I choose to accelerate.

Mah brain -

I keep thinking 𝚫V as a COST a of energy since If I move one direction with 100m/s I need to stop with 100m/s the opposite way.

EV is a Threshold that when passed, the gravity gonna stop it anymore.

Especially since I learned that Thrust (N) - Wt (kg*9.8) is the NET thrust used to calculate escaping from gravity. Its like I already paid the cost of Gravity because of my Diminished Accel. 

trying to figure out why my rocket won't launch. 

Discovering i need to use "Relaunch" to change to a Runway instead of a Launch pad. 

The difference of a 4MN rocket engine and a 0.26MN Rocket engine. I wish I can put rockets side by side so I can understand the scale. 

I got the simple beast to low earth orbit, but i didn't know how to steer. There is enough delta v to escape earth? This is hard. 

Rockets and pushing my limits

 All the tools that go to delta-v to be easier goes to designer notes.  Sure write the simple parts down in the mechanics but then in practice, the players being clever will start asking questions about -  

1. exact numbers - delta-V as mass changes - especially in CHASES. 
2. adding boosters and extra tanks. Because these are common factors in Operational Tailoring/fine-tuning - some ships just carry more fuel. 
3. missiles (and projectiles) and their delta-v as they are launched with an initial velocity. 
4. more details about rockets - and different engines and benchmarks.   

And I have to layout my assumptions - and the limits of the system. As well as the opportunity to go into more fun and detail.  For me to get to where I am now - not only did I have to learn math I don't use day to day,  but find a way to fit it in - an example would be the Acceleration formula can be used for Infection or Vaccination rates   So I use the country's performance in vaccination to determine if we will spend on HVAC, acrylic barriers, air filters, KN95 for workers, etc...   in the absence of any clear plan to ramp up vaccination and testing of the gov't - what do I do as one of the company's safety officers. What data do I use to make an informed decision? Interestingly Project Management and Physics formulas are good friends and they helped me try to inform how this all works. 

Fun Tidbit. All the HVAC from my mentor and the Life Support I had to research for harder scifi applies in the Pandemic as it informs me how should we design our ventilation system? SHould the vents be at Standing Head level (which is the default ) or should it be lower like floor level - as carbon dioxide with aspirated water descends from us as we breathe? The science why Astronauts in the ISS have fans as there is no more gravity to pull carbon dioxide down from our heads and it forms a bubble around the head of the Astronaut. (We are a furniture and fit-out construction company - prior to the pandemic my mentor was the Mechanical Design manager who is also a fellow military and gun enthusiast - so we would talk a lot of science and engineering where they intersect). 

Rockets, Mass, and Acceleration are alien to me. I'm not an expert which is why I'm investing in Science Consultation (talking to my friends about any Physics background consultants who can check if I understood it properly...  and I've been unlucky. I may have to go to Upwork or Fiverr to find a consultant). But fortunately, Simple Rockets 2 allows me to test my understanding as I can look at the stats of the rockets and check if my math matches the performance there. 

The advantage of Simple Rockets is that it's more straightforward than Kerbal and the planet Droo is the same gravity as Earth. So I'm going through that tedious learning phase where I'm trying to learn a New Game and new mechanics. I'm trying to break it down into a set of instructions a Newbie, or ME when i first began, would be able to understand. 

So the Booklet which is supposed to be just a few ships (4) will have a lot of designers notes on practicalities - there is the system which is simple - Life support is X credits - but then there is the complicated one - that does Life Support factor in the Salary? If it doesnt then the total cost of ownership of the salary is actually Higher, doesnt that make a ship job with 100-500 CR with free Life support better than a ground job at 1000-2000? 

In Project Management the Assumption Log is one of the Foundational Documents moving forward. Designers Notes acting as an Assumptions Log helps the Undertaking navigate through uncertainty "No, we don't know if that area is safe to cross" instantly triggers an assessment.  Dont worry its all in the Design Notes - you dont have to read it unless there is something that needs additional clarificaiton. 

The Role of Hard Science in a GAME. 

Harder science is never taken all at once, in fact the very nature of science is best taken at its spirit "doing science when there is a PROBLEM". Quality Systems in Engineering and in Science is best done when we have a problem and a clear problem statement. We dont want to jump into something with ambiguous and unclear goals. We want a PROBLEM before we proceed to a solution. A clear problem and a clear emotional signal that "Damn this problem sucks, X would be better." And ideally the problem is in agreement with most parties if not all. BTW this is called Pull-based systems (vs Push based system if you google it) - its a great system for groceries, warehouses, inventories, kanban, and avoiding accumulating junk. 

If you start going into Delta-V in your game - it should be that the Players would rather get to know Delta-V than the Constant Acceleration of M-Drives. Or there is some aspect of the game that Delta-V would fix: like the realization that constant acceleration is counterintuitive and differences in Acceleration are large numbers when factoring 10-16 minute turns and 1-50k Km. That easily we would exceed a difference of 50k km. That Delta-V is not so bad, there are fewer exponents in Delta-V and less multiplication. 

that players who are too clever realizing that they can accelerate near light speed with a payload of missiles - can defeat most point defense and destroy planets and systems that can hold systems hostage. The GM realizing this - would find themselves taking on more work as they have to Adjudicate arbitrarily many things because a set of principles can lead to a Kessler syndrome of abuses. Stable pillars of Realistic Constants help the GM and Players build a WORLD and Stakes. It really sucks to have to throw out so much World Building every time we break some fundamental law of physics without knowing what we are taking on. 

I remember when I was world-building knowing that any ship with infinite acceleration can destroy anything - holy crap the amount of redundancy needed - deeper and deeper underground building, so much security investment for wealthy areas and backwater areas can be held hostage with rock-throwing.  that Jumps or Warp can "handwave" the biggest problem - Time Scales. of course if the Referee having to Swat down with "No cause I said so" gets really old. Leaving that "Let's agree for a Universal Amnesia that Kinetic Energy calculations would never reveal how dangerous an M-drive or Anti-gravity is. 

The thing is Traveller and Scifi are played by some people who are extra curious - but it doesn't mean curiosity is Impatient. We can add new SKILLS (delta-V-based games are a skill, approach like a skill - we are allowed to SUCK terribly at it and learn as we go) and that's great - man it feels like we are growing even in our old age. It feels like we are still that kid that wanted to know what we know now - it makes the WALLS we slam against - not so impenetrable and instead of a sign of how many Walls we've broken down and how many we plan to break down as we grow. 

It's ok to fuck up. I mean fucking up and getting frustrated at something we see as hindsight so basic makes us remember that it is OUR CHARACTER - our virtues and perseverance is what got us through it. How many times we've bashed our heads against this problem in a game? Feels so familiar because we've done this before and we overcame it and we are different and grew. Nothing feels like pushing limits than the Pain and the Frustration. Feeling like an idiot - welcome to the club - membership all those fellow nerds and geeks who also struggled - that's great company! 

When I feel like an Idiot - i remember all those other geeks and nerds struggling and who feel like an imposter. 

I may be relearning science I used to know and it doesn't make it less than a milestone. We will forget and as we grow older pieces of us will be gone and we cannot know what we lost. yet to quit or to stop trying is much more frightening - to surrender into the apathy and void - to lose that spark before our heart stops beating is far scarier. I think of all those who depend on us for that spark, to keep theirs going and the other sparks and struggles we see. 

I guess its a bit too heavy-handed of me. or too weird that my identity is tied to gaming and to science and proving to myself that I can learn enough about rockets to run a game and make it fun for others. The guys in Kerbal, Simple Rockets, and Space Flight Simulator have done so - they made rockets fun - people buy those games - I think we are those guys who will show how it will be fun in a NARRATIVE setting. In a Story how rockets work and how the Heroes of the story figure out how to MOVE their world. 

Being that Annoying Pedantic Guy - Role Playing Operations

I dont know how many people need things to be in a System - where relationships and key terms are established. I like tweaking game systems that I bring it in the context of the Real-world. 

 In PMBOK, IT, QA, Construction and Manufacturing the following are KEY Terms I find in how I run Traveller games  when talking about Ship Operations:

1. Defect Repair
2. Work Arounds
3. Rework 
4. Preventive Actions.  
5. Corrective Actions
6. Different types of Maintenance
7. Refurbishing 
8. Upgrades
9. Machining 
10. Designing
11. Cross Training. 

Cross Training. The more you are at a lower economic level of self-sufficiency the more Multi-Disciplinary one tends to be. IT and Tradesmen tend to learn A LOT of each others jobs. Because of Economic Necessity. Specialization is a Luxury and economic factors bear down on us like gravity - people being multi-disciplinary and self-sufficient. Specialization is the Exception but multi-dsiciplinary is the rule. 

I'm weirded out that Crews that are SO SMALL don't realize that their lack of Cross-Training increases their Fragility. 3 man crew needs to be freaking cross-trained. Everyone in a 3 shift day is doing everyone's job. 

Yes the Engineer will suck at piloting and navigation, but he wont get better until he gets practice and feedback. The Pilot is going to suck doing maintenance, but he doesn't understand the consequences of his resource decisions unless he understands its impact on the engine. The Navigator would suck doing the Administration and Expenses Tracking - but that is context what Celestial Systems they will go to. 

When I been told by people that they want to specialize there was a hidden context that they want to be in SILOS - they don't want the other departments to bother them. I get that but that's not how to world works. If you have ONE skillset one value is severely limited. I'm the son of the owner and I have to juggle IT, manufacturing, construction, Diplomacy, and Creative work. If I want people to have Work-Life-Balance they should work with each other to Make Time by having Cross-Training so someone can go on Leave, People can work together since they have the same skill to tackle the problem, and they can Get Feedback from each other if there is something they missed. 

Imagine if Everyone cannot do everyone else's - so the Pilot Cannot Check the Engineers Work, act as a second pair of eyes, the Engineer cannot Check the Navigator's calculations etc... Having no one to Check is a really terrible system. 

I don't know where people are expected to just do a Job and by themselves, they can tell if its Good or Works when So Much of the Disciplines Called Requirements Management is about FEEDBACK. Heck QA is all about Feedback as well. Where did these Strange unsustainable and unrealistic assumptions come from and Why did I get fed this Bull Crap or Why do I see it in Some System Assumptions. 

Redundancy is very important because of Concepts of Rework, Defect Repair, and Human Factors. 

"Repair" in battle is not REPAIR but Work Arounds. Temporary repairs that cannot be sustained for long periods. 

I check the Purchase Requests, the bill of Materials, the Designs and plans and I'm a Media Graduate lolz. I come from an Arts Degree. I pull up the log Files and check the log errors with Google. 

Its just weird watching Essential Craftsman and IT and Science shows and remember the SILO bullshit. 

Reminds me about the Bullshit about having an R&D department and the mistaken assumptions many people had about what is R&D. much longer story. 

Imagining I was 20s and the GM rewired how I saw the world when I was taught TRPGs. 

Its Great, not perfect, but that doesnt stop it from being Great

 When I tweak a system typically I do the following:  

1) lessen the steps - I map out the flow chart and try to clarify the goals of each step and see if I can achieve it with less steps.  If the process was written in paragraph form I break it down to bullet form steps to make it more discrete per step. If the steps are SPREAD OUT through the material I consolidate it ALL and give page references to all relevant mechanics. 

Example is the Variant Rules which reduced the number of Modifiers through Logical Groupings. Applying Bounded Accuracy and Process Based (Inputs, Controls, Outputs) approach to Rolls. 

2) reduce the number of options but make it more flexible - less text and option to study - use broader language or use technical categories OR increase the number of Options but consolidate them in a table or Break the Option down in to Logical Groups so that its easier to remember. 

Example. In my Variant Rules of CE I had to increase the Options because of Superiority in Firepower, Strategic Advantage or Position, Numbers required Options that Divided resources and the opposing force's resources until the smaller side has the advantage of Mobility or Decisiveness. 

3) illustrate or create diagrams and examples of how it works at both the player level (what they need to start the process, the inputs and results) and gm level (who will improvise or plan this).  

Typically I put this in Designers Notes - SO you have  a bunch of mechanics - what was the design intent, how simple or elaborate was it supposed to be. How can we scale it down to essentials how do we elaborate on it for variety. 

4) benchmark against expectations. 

Like I discovered the dimensions of the missile in Ce and MGT2E is similar to the patriot missile at 3m long x 0.4m diameter with an endurance of a 3mins at 2-3G but has an endurance of 1hour and accel of 10G.

Or the small Modular reactor (SMR) is 300dtons producing 50Mw against a nuclear sub which provides 300MW. That there is diminishing efficiency as the 300dton SMR gets smaller. Comparing it to a Radio-isotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG used in many probes and satelites) of 470W at about 1/30 a dton or 0.5 a m^3. 

Getting the Saturn V Apolo, Shuttle , Falcon Heavy, TianHe Programs Performance as a baseline for the TL8+ performance. This is because I want to help people run a 2050 Campaign where they are the growing number of Professional International Astronaughts that will be taking on the building of the first Permanent Commercial Space stations and Infrastructure - like in the Novel of Daniel Suarez Delta-V. Running games where PCs have to roll to succeed in using millions worth of Capital and high stakes projects. 

Play Testing with Nicco and the guys the material, comparing the System as Written and the problems that comes up. Designing material to make the GMs prep small and making every investment of time. I see something that can be done and take action. Reminds me of Seth Skarkowskys reviews - its like its a Great Material, it has these problems, but these problems doesnt stop the material from being GREAT! Traveller has Great material, it not perfect, but being imperfect doesnt stop it from being Great. 

We acknowledge the imperfection and act on it. It doesnt diminish the work and love that went into the work.  

Seeing Terrible things inspiring my Games

 i did this analysis before in my other Job when I worked with BPOs. I'm doing the profitability analysis of Ships side by side each other making very Unrealistic assumptions given the dice statistics and each ship is still NEGATIVE. 

I started using USED SHIPS, 100 year old ships, and they are STILL NEGATIVE!!!

also the resell value of the SHIPs are really bad because it assumes OUR economy not an Economy that has 1Trillion Time the resources and access to Material. 

I've seen a BAD biz plan and typically the BAD biz plan is assuming they will SELL 100%. I've seen Call Center Campaign estimates where they assume the client will buy a 300 seat Campaign in 2011 when the economy is when BPOs shrank considerably to only 10 seater campaigns. 

This one doesn't even pass the FIRST EXPENSE: mortgage. Already by Mortgage the ships don't make money. RAW means that every PC that walks out of a bank with a ship is a Sucker. 

One of the most KICK ASS things about Hard Scifi are Economic Assumptions. When your Gross Domestic Product per Capita is on the Scifi Level it looks like China with the HUGE investments on INFRA - increasing productivity (hopefully) and spurring the economy forward (like the US admin spending trillions in Infra for not just Jobs but spurring consumption) Consumption that TRICKY economic concept which is Both Circulatory System of the Economy While being Exploited for Materiality and making people Disposable. 

I can make economic Assumptions - like NO ships prices are MUCH Cheaper as they are subsidized as part of Economic Policy and Strategy. Ships that are older are much Cheaper, comparable to a Car with almost 50% value after 5 years and even 20% Value after 10. 

What does that mean - that's how an Empire Got a lot of Trade - through Subsidy - the way a lot of Economic strategies we enacted - by putting Carrots and Sticks in the right places. Did people exploit it - Hell YEAH! Did it work? No one Knows. What is the End Result: Working and Middle Class PCs can AFFORD ships. 

Given the Prices as of Now SHIPS would be RARE! any Character with an INT or EDU of 5 can figure out its not profitable. Then if its about DEBT TRAPS then the Setting Should be about DEBT TRAPS, but its not about DEBT Traps. Its about entrepreneurship and hard working blokes making money to retire or pass on their ship to a New Crew who will take care of Her. So a Setting Assumption should be SHIPS are Profitable... IF the crew is savvy , frugal, wiley, or cunning. 

Its an OPPORTUNITy. 

My favorite about Cepheus Engine is that the FREE MARKET of Ideas. There is no single source of inspiration and a growing amount of Gamers who are throwing their hat in the ring and giving it a try - Growing the hobby and how we think about it. 

3rd world biz deals, ship operations

 One of the things people don't really explain about Philippine construction is that gov't tends to expect that after time and materials margins are calculated based on 30%.

If your labor and materials, known factors in the industry, is at 100M (2M usd) then they expect a margin (overhead of the company plus their profit) to be 30M (0.67M usd)

IT is the common exploit to this as materials cannot be standardized. The price of concrete is a known factors, but the price of an Epyc Server with 128 Cores depends. IT sadly is the favorite corruption source for both Gov't and internal company corruption for large corporations who can spend like the govt, having many 20-100M (0.5-2M usd) projects per year. With IT budgets of 100M worth per year.

One of the things I'm going to help with my Cepheus writing is my understanding of 3rd world operations and Biz dealings.

I guess that's my niche. The GM and players who want to see if they can operate their own biz and take on the risks. Get their mortgage approved and be financed to run their logistics operation.

I will not just explain - I will illustrate step by step (bullet form and diagram) the operations process and the risks the way someone who works in QM does so that everyone understands the biz from any level of the company.

Nicco other job is graphic design for IBM, he's the guy who prepares the slides in most presentations. I on the other hand I'm both the IT head, Plant head, and QM head converting obtuse data into Action in a developing world company where the process literacy, MBA, and engineering understanding meets severe challenges. I have to explain how our anecdotes relate to Statistics - in the time when pandemic and epidemic statistics is misunderstood and so much misinformation prevail.

It's the weirdest thing when everyday I try to figure out how to tell a story to manage Anecdotal Bias vs Statistical Analysis - and I love applying it in games.

So we were playing Twilight 2000 last night, and I was playing a GsG9 operator - we discovered we were in a radiation zone and we roleplayed trying to get out of the zone. The new T2K had less gear than the previous versions and looking for indirect evidence of the radiation of the area is down reminded me of how I looked for evidence and proof when I didn't know the criteria - like an IT problem I know the fundamentals and use process of elimination to figure out the problem in tedious techniques.we basically found a town we guess that the rads have gone down a bit.

I enjoy that, in fact I Frame things that way at work and I noticed that my attitude where I'm optimistic helps. Honestly I, like anyone the data is saddening, but I accept it and gratitude and hope helps me understand how it is an opportunity in the long run.

It is the Theory or the Model, against disproving or making sense of the anecdote. If I Believe X out of the Anecdotal evidence then I should look for data contradicting my anecdote in a statistically significant way. The way that the rise in cases of Delta Variant in the Philippines has been leading to anecdotally higher covid incidents in our plant leading to a month of back to back incidents and a string of deaths in my social network.

If you Google covid cases in the Philippines currently we are hitting maximum capacity of our hospitals and if anything happens that leads to me needing a hospital I will be turned away.

Statistics in work, real life, in games, - in games making statistical sense of freight and passengers where when I factor the  the mortgage all the ships are running on losing as much money as their full capacity income. Ships losing 40-150k per month!!!! If in an ideal scenario!!!

Helping a GM or player adjust this and make sense of this given my and niccos background would be an interesting conversation with the reader.

Our feedback or options makes them not just learn how their ship operates to make money, but even the port and the shuttle service, or the trucking service.

As well as tools how to make sense or convert their current campaign In to some basic fiscal sense.

Imagine being able to see Good work, like watching all the episodes on essential craftsman and the various trades and how they sell you good services and work. Seeing that reliable and hard working contractor vs the Mega Corp franchise or mega Corp disposable  freelancer.

To see another layer, they see the NPC and the circumstance of the NPC - that NPC may not be around next year even if they do great work.

I like seeing good work rewarded, even if that's not the way the world works. I like seeing all the people they must have helped even if they only get appreciation in return.

Thankfully even if I over explain, I learned to put it in the designers notes  and not clutter the simple checklist and steps nicco and I would design.

 While I have severe limitations to my science and hard scifi, my strong suit is my way to communicating challenges.