Ogame? This — is — SPATRAS!

Spatras has been approved as our senior project so we don’t have to do bioinformatics like the rest of the sheep.

What is Spatras you ask? I’ll tell you! Here is the email I sent to Marc Miller, creator of Classic Traveller in asking for his permission to use the CT ruleset:

Dear Mr. Miller:

Hi! Thanks for writing me back.

Our initial focus will be on space trading, ship-to-ship combat, and exploration. Also character generation will keep things like pistol skills and (maybe not initially) we would like to use that for boarding. At some point in the future we would like to implement some sort of planetary adventure as well.

Our concept is a web-based game similar to (but far better than) ogame.org. This game has huge flaws. There is no exploration to speak of, combat is static (you can determine the exact results of any battle before you engage using a player-made tool), there is no trading, no visual representation of other players, etc. As a long-time fan of Classic Traveller I felt that the flexibility and adaptability of these rules would enable us to create a more satisfying game. Our vision is a game that allows a playing model similar to the following:
* Create characters (using Book 1)
* Enter Space Trade/Combat/Exploration (using Book 2 and Book 3)
- via Scout mustering out with Scout Ship.
- via teaming up and pooling resources to buy a ship.
- via working for other players,
existing player-run companies,
or for the Imperium (which would be us, the developers).
* Allow for Ship Purchase, Building, and Combat (using Book 2)

This overall gameplay would (hopefully) have something like the following mechanics:
* Exploration. Worlds and other errata are randomly generated when explorers venture into unknown map regions. Then they are maintained as part of the persistent universe, meaning other players can visit there. We would use the rules in Book 3 to handle this. As of now we don’t intend on using the existing canon maps, everything will be generated.
* Trade. Book 2 rules.
* Imperium. Either ourselves or possibly ai to be a governing force in the spirit of Classic Traveller and the era of wooden ships. This also means of course that players can become pirates and prey on other players or tangle with the Imperium.
* Visual recognition of other players and communication keeping in the spirit of CT. This means that long range messages are handled via courier (or possibly drone) and short-range is real-time (via radio). Initially this may mean that you see their ship on some sort of map. We hope to have this feature be so basic as to allow players to form companies of mercenaries, traders, or pirate bands in a way that is integral to the game.

In the future, if and when we continue to work on this project, we would like to implement more books from Classic Traveller; especially High Guard, Merchant Prince, and Robots.

To summarize, we would like to implement Books 1-3 as much as possible. The game itself will have as many players as want to play, similar to an internet forum. Therefore, while my colleague and I may be something like a referee, there won’t be any specific story-telling unless it is performed by the players themselves using the game. I have not played this game, but the old Trade Wars BBS game might be a similar concept; EVE Online is also a loose sort of example, but ours probably would not have quests and certainly won’t be as graphics oriented (we’re limited to webpage-type interface and graphics). We want a system where players can run around on their own trading and fighting and interacting and what-have-you and we feel that Classic Traveller rules are a great match for implementing this. The only things that we would want to implement that are canon are the Imperium and some of the basic ships and items. If you only allow us to use the rule set we can, of course, use our own items and governing body. Additionally, and this is a much later if ever goal, we would like to use ads or some similar model to support the server. This might mean royalties of course, or some sort of licensing agreement. I’m only speculating, I have never done this before so I don’t know what it would involve. I just do not want to do anything illegal, much less infringe on something that I respect and enjoy so much.

Allow me to restate that we do not now or ever intend to infringe on your works.

I feel it’s also worth mentioning that some parts of CT probably will not work in our implementation. The fair-use faq I read at travellerrpg.com mentions that rule rewriting is forbidden, and I understand why. However, especially since we do not wish to do game time compression if possible (i.e., one minute in real life is one hour in game time) and since all players have to be doing things in the same time-frame; there are many elements that would have to be changed. Jumping for example shouldn’t take a week. If we gain your permission I hope you can give us some advice on this.

Thank you very very much for your reply, interest, and time.

Note some formatting and context issues. Woot!