Current rules + FAQ + changes will be stored here:
https://drive.google.com/file/...-d_/view?usp=sharing
this link is also added to the first post in this thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:33, Sun 21 Feb 2021.

Can one pìck contract, buy fuel, refuel and take off in the same turn?

Does take off of a planet bring you to adjacent (orbital) hex?

Let's see if I understand the game mechanics. Imagine one ship is trying to move from Earth to Luna. It starts at base Terra 9.

• 1st turn: take of. that moves it to the adjacent hex (direction 9) at 0 speed
• 2dn turn: thrust direction 1. That puts him orbiting Terra (clockwise),at the hex adjacent to Terra direction 11
• 3rd turn: orbiting moves to the hex adjacent to Terra in direction 1. Thrust direction 3, mocing it to the hex adjacent to Luna direction 9 ,at speed 1 direction 3. Not using Gravity.
• 4th turn: spends 1 thrust to land on Luna

Is this sequence right?

If not, where does it fail?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:05, Sun 22 Nov 2020.

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 2):

> 2dn turn: thrust direction 1. That puts him orbiting Terra (clockwise),at the hex adjacent to Terra direction 11

No, the thrust should be in the direction 11 o'clock in this case.

> 3rd turn: orbiting moves to the hex adjacent to Terra i ndirection 1. Thrust direction 3, mocing it to the hex Orbiting Luna direction 9 ,at speed 1 direction 3. Not using Gravity.

There is a tricky part here about the half gravity.
Okay, watch this explanation:
https://drive.google.com/file/...P7Z/view?usp=sharing

> 4th turn: spends 1 thrust to land on Luna

No. You can only land on a planet with gravity if you are orbiting it. In this sequence you are not orbiting Luna (even if you had approached Luna in the way you thought, it wasn't an orbiting trajectory).

Ok, then seeing the example, turn 4 ends 2 hexes away from Luna, unless you trust in direction 9 or 11. Let's imagine it trusts on direction 11, he will end up in the Luna gravity hex direction 3, at speed 1 towards direction 3 (as it hs to use gravity, being the second such hex again)

Turn 5, inertia would move it to Luna, so it must trust towards 7 or 11 to begin orbiting Luna, and on turn 6, as it's orbiting it, spend trust to land.

Right now?

As the goal is reaching Luna in 4 days (as the contracts require), let's try again:

• 1st turn: take-off. That moves it to the adjacent hex (direction 9) at 0 speed
• 2nd day:  trust towards 3. Added with gravity acceleration, it ends up close to Terra, in direction 3 with speed 1 towards 3 (as the gravity in its ending hex reduces speed to 1.
• 3rd day: thrust to 3 again, with counteracts Terra gravity and so the ship moves 1 towards 3, entering in Luna gravity well, that accelerates it towards 1, so projected movement for turn 4 would be  3/1, and projected ending position in Luna Gravity well, direction 3.
• 4th turn. Now comes the tricky part. If it trusts towards 7, it would move to the adjacent hex. Will it enter in Luna’s orbit, or Luna’s gravity will move it to Luna’s hex?
• 5th turn: assuming it entered Luna’s orbit in turn 4, it spends 1 thrust to land.

See that again It takes more than the 4 days the contracts stipulate..

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 4):

> Ok, then seeing the example, turn 4 ends 2 hexes away from Luna, unless you trust in direction 9 or 11. Let's imagine it trusts on direction 11, he will end up in the Luna gravity hex direction 3, at speed 1 towards direction 3 (as it hs to use gravity, being the second such hex again)

If in the given example (PPT file) on turn 4 the ship will thrust 11 o'clock, it will ram into Luna.

BTW in your last program the ship will ram into the Earth.

> See that again It takes more than the 4 days the contracts stipulate..

Although I am dangerously close to giving OOC hints, but I confirm that it is possible for a Transport to reach Luna from the Earth in 4 turns. However, if I say exactly how, it will be a hint that I, as a GM, should not give. (However again, it is not at all necessary that contract requirements should be achievable without penalty).
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:14, Sun 22 Nov 2020.

I'm sure you have tested it, but, as I understand the rules, you need one turn to take-off, another to enter orbit (as there's no other way to overcome gravity without it without overload, and merchant ships have not this capacity), another to move to Luna's gravity well, a fourth one to begin orbiting Luna, and another one to land, and that makes me 5 turns mínimum...

See that when moving from Terra gravity well to Luna's, the ship will not be in Luna orbit, regarless its vector, as rules say (page 4, Orbit):

(bold is mine)

So, until it has so moved from one Luna's Gravity hex to another, it's not in Orbit, and cannot land, as rules specify (two paragraphs above last quote):


So, as  Iunderstand it, you must first enter orbit (so going from one hex in its gravity well to another one also in its gravity well while at speed 1), and then land the next turn.

So, what did I undertand wrong?

-----------------------

BTW, as an aside, I see a problem in the given example (PPT file), at the section turn 3 (with thrust):

It says that the ship cannot ignore the half gravity of Luna because it's the second gravity hex it enters, but rules don't say this:

(Italics are original, bold is mine)

In the example, the ship does not move from one weak gravity hex to another, but from one full gravity hex to a weak gravity one, so it being the first weak gravity hex crossed, gravity could be ignored (or used, as player chooses)...

Is this example oficial (by the game authors) or yours?

Ah, that's a good question! but not where you emphasized.
The engine is programmed this way:
"As soon as a ship gained velocity vector which allows it to move at one hex per turn from one gravity hex to an adjacent gravity hex of the same body without further thrust application, the ship gets status "in orbit" and is eligible for command "Land"".

Also I realized now that the players should be informed of some peculiar behavior of some commands, and added entry When exactly the commands are executed in the FAQ.



Hm... I went looking in the code and found a note there which I wrote for myself "don't forget to add this exclusion in the list "Differences from the original Triplanetary rules"" which of course I forgot to do. So, you are right in your reading of the original rules, but this very minor rule is changed in my code (because it is much simpler this way), and it does not influence timing of a ship reaching Luna anyway.

OK, then I see those are changes you made to original rules (probably to ease the engine)...

Another question:

according the rules, when landing you can land on any planetary base, regardless of the original direction you were from the planet when so doing. Does this apply also to take-off? (e.g. can one ship on base Terra 3 take-off to the Terra gravity hex in directoin 9?)

Let me also bunp this question, as  Iguess you skipped it and didn't answer:


Can one pìck contract, buy fuel, refuel and take off in the same turn?</quote>

1.
Is the base number corresponds starting position of the ship inside the gravity wheel?

2. Take off took the whole turn? Only second turn command TRUST is possible?



Just leave it here.
Takooff took about 10-20 minutes. Earth orbit is 90 minutes. LEO. 93 for ISS. Its about positioning in gravity wheel hexes.

> according the rules, when landing you can land on any planetary base, regardless of the original direction you were from the planet when so doing. Does this apply also to take-off?

You land anywhere (any sublocation) but when you take off you move in the orbital hex corresponding to the sublocation where the ship was landed (in other words, you take off vertically up).

> Can one pìck contract, buy fuel, refuel and take off in the same turn?

Yes.

> Is the base number corresponds starting position of the ship inside the gravity wheel?

If you mean "sublocation" number then yes.

> 2. Take off took the whole turn? Only second turn command TRUST is possible?
> Just leave it here.
> Takooff took about 10-20 minutes. Earth orbit is 90 minutes. LEO. 93 for ISS. Its about
> positioning in gravity wheel hexes.

Well, imagine that pre-starting procedures take the whole day.
This is a convention for a board game. Don't forget that a ship in the game can be unloaded, repaired, refueled, reloaded and moved in orbit also in one day. Also the Asteroid field and Jupiter in reality are much farer, but the Moon is much closer. All the gravity wells are much smaller. And if a ship has specific impulse so big that it can reach Mars within a week or so, then it can reach the Moon within an hour and basically on passing-by it can totally ignore gravity well of all bodies in the Solar system. Etc, etc.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:17, Mon 23 Nov 2020.

Also remember that this game was designed in 1973, so it's quite old in tech and view...

-What is the orientation of sub-locations? e.g. a sublocation of '9' for Luna is facing to the right, or up, or ?

-If sub-locations are only about facings, then why do the smaller planets have fewer sublocations? e.g. how do you land/takeoff from Io if approaching from the right?

-What is the meaning of the coloured lines on the map?

-On the Public Stats sheet:
   -Contracts tab: What is the meaning of 'Demand' or 'Traffic Index'?
   -ship-stats tab: Should not the entries for cells D15, F15 and F17 be 0?

-On the orders sheet, 'Buy units' order: What is expected in the 'Param #4 : Name' entry?

According my understanding (so take it with a grain of salt until the GM confirms/denies it):



The orientation is, IMHO, according the cloak numbers, with 12 being just up.



SUb-lcoations are the planetary bases (one per direction), and there are as many per planet as bases, not as faces. Some smaller planets have fewer bses.



Planetary detection lines.

In reply to Royal Dutch Shell Energy (msg # 12):

Above is correct, plus there is a list of locations available for landing on the "bases" sheet.

> -What is the orientation of sub-locations? e.g. a sublocation of '9' for Luna is facing to the right, or up, or ?

To the left.

>  -Contracts tab: What is the meaning of 'Demand' or 'Traffic Index'?

"Demand" = how many tones are queued and waiting for a freight. The "cost per mt" depends on that. The bigger demand, the bigger the freight cost.
"Traffic Index" = how fast "Demand" is growing per turn.

> -ship-stats tab: Should not the entries for cells D15, F15 and F17 be 0?

D15 - Robo-miners Gun Defense. This is due to the "turn-by-turn combat system is not suitable for a simultaneous combat" factor. D15 is not zero because system calculates "attack ratio" = [sum of Incoming Fire] / [Gun Defense]. Then the "attack ratio" is substituted as "Combat Odds" in the "Gun Combat Damage" table, with everything below 1/4:1 counted as 1/4:1, and everything above 4:1 counted as 4:1. However, if Gun Defense = 0, or close to that, then even the smallest Incoming Fire makes "attack ratio" infinitely large, which means that even 0.0001 portion of "Distributed volume" of an attacker from the range 6 and speed 10 brings "4:1" ratio against any number of Robo Miners within its gun range, which I don't want to happen, the Robo Miners should be a bit stronger.

F15 - Ore mined by a Robo Miner must be stored somewhere, the simplest thing to program is if the ore is stored "in the Robo Miner".

F17 - "Cargo" unit is a cargo container which stores cargo which was jettisoned. Actually one can create a stash this way, adding or removing items in/from the container.

> -On the orders sheet, 'Buy units' order: What is expected in the 'Param #4 : Name' entry?

Name of a ship, whatever you like.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:47, Tue 24 Nov 2020.

Symbol # is an integer part of Unit ID, so when writing orders to a unit, you should place the symbol # in front of a digit, i.e. #1.

Okay, but be careful, the word you are probably meant is 'integral', which is very different from 'integer'.

Where report file is located?

I guess you mean P4.xlsx. If so, it's in the same folder as the orders spreadsheet.

On it, there are several pages for units, balance, storage, orders and messages.

When is going to be run turn 2?

Now!

Just in case you have not realized it: in the Public Stats spreadsheet, on the Contracts page, all prices are marked as "ERROR!!"

Oops! Repaired.

BTW, I have a question to you all. There is a tweak in the game we can change freely: do you want the names of the ships to be shown in the report for all players? (I re-run the macros and changed parameters so now you can see the names).
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:38, Fri 04 Dec 2020.

OK for me

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 23):

If we allready see units ID, why not?

Aren't there any authorities (be them governments, space control, etc.) in this game?

After all, someone must keep the bases and so, and one thing most such authorities agree (even if only as lip service) is piracy is bad, as it reduces commerce and so their tax base.

Frankly, in any but the most lawless universes, such a pirate attack in full sensor range (That will lead to a ship crashing in the Moon, with at least risk for its population) will make the attacking ship a target for all the planetary defenses, and probably, if still survives, ban him from most ports...

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 25):

There are planetary defenses but they can only attack ships which are in orbital hexes.
I am currently thinking how governments should react on the recent events (in the original game Space Patrol should resolve such situations).

When does gravity affect the vector? At the beginning of the turn, at the end of it or in between?

To keep the orbital mechanics, it seems it must be at the beginning, as if a ship begins the turn at position 1 of a planet with speed 3, the gravity converts it (at the beginning of the turn) to direction 5, so keeping orbit. If it was applied at the end, the ship would be out of the gravity field, and so would not affect it.

OTOH, if only applied at the beginning, a ship passing through the orbit hexes without stopping there would not be affected…

And see that if it is applied at the end, entering orbit is impossible (at least in normal  gravity planets); as to move you need at least speed 1, but entering it will immediately give you a thrust towards the planet, so increasing your speed to 2.

Again contradictory is that if not applied at the end, when you take off you’ll do it a t speed 1, as the gravity will not affect you until next turn…

--------

Side question about gravity: the hex between Jupiter an Io has contradictory gravities. How do they affect a ship? If both apply, see that keeping orbit on Io is impossible without thrusting at least each time you pass this hex…

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 27):

> When does gravity affect the vector? At the beginning of the turn, at the end of it or in between?

See the core rules page 3.
The gravity is applied in the beginning of the next turn (the macro pre-calculates some effects of gravity in the end of the current turn, which is essentially the same as the beginning of the next turn).

> To keep the orbital mechanics, it seems it must be at the beginning

Nope.

> Side question about gravity: the hex between Jupiter an Io has contradictory gravities. How do they affect a ship?

Both apply if player chooses to use weak gravity.

> If both apply, see that keeping orbit on Io is impossible without thrusting at least each time you pass this hex…

In this particular hex - may be. But the macro does not demand that the ship circled a planet indefinitely, as I said in the FAQ: "As soon as a ship gained velocity vector which allows it to move at one hex per turn from one gravity hex to an adjacent gravity hex of the same body without further thrust application, the ship gets status "in orbit""
I can add only that this status is checked every turn.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:22, Fri 08 Jan 2021.

Deliver contract
When issuing the "Deliver contract" command, the contract ID should be stated in the same manner as a unit ID, e.g. if you want your Unit #11 to deliver Contract #33, you should type "#11" as the first parameter and "#33" as the second parameter.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 18:19, Tue 02 Feb 2021.

The Map

In the original rules if a unit crosses a border of the map, it is destroyed. In this game, it is allowed to cross the borders and to remain out of the borders for a reasonable amount of time.

I tried to look at the updated map and I receive a message telling me the folder is empty...

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 31):

That's strange.
Does this link work?
https://drive.google.com/drive...7E7jZju5?usp=sharing

It does, though I cannot see the whole map, I can see enough as to make my turn...


Unrelated question:

I guess the crashing if you enter a hex wit ha planet (and crossing it with your vector) does not apply to Ceres and clandestine, as you need to stop at the hex to land on it. Right?

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 33):

Right.

Added few tweaks:

Now failed contract (more than 5 days overdue) still can be delivered at any time but at -75% penalty.
If the contract was delivered prematurely, a premium will be assigned 10% per every day before deadline.

All the rules + FAQ + changes will be stored here:
https://drive.google.com/file/...-d_/view?usp=sharing
this link is also added to the first post in this thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:32, Sun 21 Feb 2021.

Sorry to say but, this not being a lap year, I guess you mean 01.03.2021...

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 36):

Right, thanx!

Q: If I take-off from Io with "use gravity - off", will the gravity affect the ship on the first turn?

A: If a unit takes off a planet with low gravity (i.e. Luna, Io), on the first turn the gravity effects will be applied to the ship as if it was full gravity hex no matter what "use gravity" flag was set. That also means a ship cannot take off Io or Luna and stay forever in the first orbital hex without spending fuel.

Is the game stopped for some reason?

In reply to European Space Enterprises (msg # 39):

Yep, sorry for the delay, we got one player minus and one player plus. I should resolve issues soon.

thanks for your prompt answer