THE FRONTIER
System Briefs on the UPF systems are available here. This map shows the Frontier, including both the United Planetary Federation and the Rim Coalition, plus all of the known stellar features of Frontier space. The map shows the location of all settled systems, unexplored systems, known neutron and binary stars, and dust and gas clouds.
The solid lines connecting the planetary systems are established travel routes. These are well-established routes, safe from both natural hazards (space debris, etc.) and unnatural hazards (pirates). The distance in light-years along each route is printed along each solid line. Starships can travel one light-year per day, so this number is also the number of days it takes to cross the route. Stars without star routes connecting them to rest of the Frontier have secret routes that are known only to Star Law or a mega-corp.
Most civilized planets and systems still have not been completely explored and settled. Many new planets, moons, and star systems have been discovered and await further development. In addition, because of a devastating plague in years past, there are some forbidden planets that have not been contacted in the last few centuries.
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Prevalent Race (PR) gives the most common race on the planet (usually the race that controls the government). Some of these races were the original colonizing race, others have gained control through years of immigration.
Abbreviations are used to indicate which race colonized planet: D = Dralasites, H = Humans, V = Vrusk, Y = Yazirians, If = Ifshnits, Hu = Humma, O = Osakar, Me = Mechanons, * = a mixture of races, and Co = a mega-corp that is colonizing and developing the planet, usually with a mixture of races. If two races share dominance and control of a planet, they are both listed, as H/V (Human & Vrusk), for example.
Population (Pop.) inidicates how many intelligent beings live on the planet and how many cities there are. This information is given in a two- to three-letter code that describes the population size.
Hvy -- Heavy population: The planet has numerous large cities and hundreds of smaller cities. Individual cities may be considered "maxi-cities" that cover thousands of square kilometers.
Mod -- Moderate population: The planet has several large cities and numerous small cities.
Lt -- Light population: The planet has only a few small cities.
Out - Outpost: The planet contains only a small outpost or colony. At most, it has only one small city and possibly some small settlements located nearby.
Trade (Tr.) indicates the planet's major trade(s). Each major trade is listed with a one letter code. Some planets have more than one major trade item. The trade item(s) listed are the most important. The abbreviations follow.
I -- Industry: Most of the planet's economy is based on manufacturing. Cities are built around factories, processing planets, or roboplants, and most of the inhabitants work there. Raw materials may either be mined on the planet or shipped in from another planet.
R -- Resource Mining: The plnet is rich in natural resources like metals, fossil fuels, gems, crystals, or radioactive materials. Most of these raw materials are shiped to industrial planets for processing.
A -- Agriculture: The planet's economy is based on farming, whether natural or synthetic. This includes grain farming, fruit or vegetable farming, livestock, fish, lumber, textiles, and other such businesses.
M -- Military: The planet is an ideal location for a huge military complex. This requires some industry and resource mining to be conducted on the planet and the planet is under the tightest security. Military planets are usually developed by a mega-corp that needs room for development, growth, and testing (like WarTech's Solar Major) or by a large planetary system that needs to heavily fortify a sector in space (like the Frontier's development of Moonworld in the Lynchpin system.
E -- Education: The planet's chief industry is educational or scientific study. The only planet that is entirely educational is Anker in the Zebulon system where the University of Zebulon is located.
B -- Business: The planet's chief product is mercantile operations. Such a planet usually has offices on it for middle-sized companies and mega-corps along with massive showrooms and demonstration areas. Also in abundance are thousands of bazaars where one can find almost everything imaginable. Some planets, such as Minotaur, are tourist centers that make a large amount of their planetary income on vacation sites and amusement parks.
T -- High-Tech Industry: The planet excels in either research and development of, manufacturing of, or advanced use of highly advanced technology. Tachton Industries and Interplanetary Industries are both good examples of these types of high-tech centers.
Gravity (Grav.) is the strength of gravity on the planet. It is measured in relation to 1 g, Earth-normal gravity. The full effects of gravity are explained in the original Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn game rules.
Length of Day (Day) is the number of Earth hours the planet takes to complete one rotation on its axis (24 hours for the Earth).
Artificial Satellites (Sat.) lists the various types of large manned stations that may orbit the planet. The first three are explained in the Star Frontiers Knight Hawks game: SF = UPF Space Fortress, FSS = Fortified Space Station, and ASS = Armed Space Station. There are several new types of satellites.
TS -- Trading Stations: These "malls in space" are usually found in very secure space sectors. They are restricted by UPF law to sell only those items not produced on the planet they orbit. Trading stations also have facilities for restocking spaceships.
RRS -- Rest and Relaxation Station: These space stations specialize in entertainment facilities such as holo-shows, live theatre, casinos, loounges, and sporting events. They also cover recreation facilities such as zoos, adventure theme parks, and, on some of the planets with more hostile environments, "outdoor" parks that offer hiking, biking, climbing, boating, etc. Usually there is a wide range of packages for the onboard hotel facilities so it is possible for people to vacation there over extended periods of time.
DS -- Docking Station: These spaCe stations provide facilities for the repair, refurbishment, and complete overhaul of spaceships. Some are also shipyards where new spaceships are built. Every type of space station can handle light repairs on space ships, but only a docking station can handle seriously damaged ships.
On the Frontier each non-military space station has a Star Law Officer on board with a contingent of deputies. While the station's General Manager is responsible for all the normal funcitojns on board the space station, Star Law is the law. Non-military space stations are considered part of the planet they orbit and not under Spacefleet's jurisdiction, though the ships that shuttle between the space stations and the planets fall within Spacefleet's jurisdiction.
Moons and their Uses (Moons) lists the major natural satellites orbiting the planet in ascending order, i.e., the first moon listed is the closest to the planet, the second moon listed is farther away, etc. Uses indicate the primary operations, if any, occurring on that moon. These operations can range from four-man scientific expeditions to full-scale mining operations. The actual nature and extend of the operations are left to the referee. The abbreviations for moon uses are identical to those used for planet trade listings: A = Agriculture, I = Industry, etc. A new listing of C (Colonization) is added for moons.
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