Survey Work

Sector Surveys

• Sector Survey Phase 0 (Remote Survey): initial sector maps indicate the presence of stars and any other major phenomena—such as black holes and nebulae—that are detectable remotely, from outside the sector.
  • Update or generate an article for every object created in this step.
  • Generate a location on the SST campaign for each object.
  • Features that are undiscovered and unidentified (i.e., GM level) will be denoted by a red unknown object symbol in SST; discovered features that are as-yet unidentified will be gray.
  • For nebulae or other objects of a multi-point nature that would "spill" over into other sectors previously charted should instead be crafted as much as possible in a way that redirects their mass, such as into neighboring sectors that have not been mapped, including along the vertical (i.e., Z) axis.
  • The GM will determine if the sector might host a (new) regional power that will need to be prepared for, in a cartographic context. This occurs only in sectors in which there is clearly no dominance by one of the preceding regional powers. Once the Remote Survey steps above are complete, the GM rolls 1d100 on the following table:

Phase 0: Regional Power

Roll 1d100	Regional Power Size	Description
01 – 80	single-planet civilizations only	comparable to the campaign's UFP, with no control of an entire sector (or equivalent)
81 - 95	regional power	comparable to the campaign's UFP, controls up to 4 sectors
96 – 00	regional superpower	comparable to the campaign's UFP, controls 5 or more sectors (see Superpower Size table)

Phase 0: Superpower Size

Roll 1d100	Sectors	Roll	Description
01 - 75	5 - 10 sectors	Roll 1d6 + 4	mid-sized superpower
76 - 86	10 - 15 sectors	Roll 1d6 + 9	intermediate superpower (if 10 sectors, it recently expanded)
87 - 94	16 - 25 sectors	Roll 1d10 + 15	major superpower
95 - 100	26+ sectors	GM	hegemonic superpower

• Phase 1 - Sector Charting: one or more ships are ordered to courses that should allow them to utilize sensors in a manner that will detect all notable system (and non-system) features, such as planetary bodies. If they do not, the features remain undetected. The intent of the sector charting is to compile an overview of the region's components: basic star system & interstellar phenomena information, general planetary bodies and their orbits, etc., by approaching all known and / or detected objects and gathering best-available data without stopping with the sensors that first provide the anticipated information.
  • Use the base Difficulties (enhanced by the Strength Package) indicated for the ship's long-range sensors. All star systems will have their orbital patterns determined by this survey.
  • star age (1d10 billion years)
  • Time: as necessary to complete route at cruise speeds.

• Phase 2 - Sector

Phase 2 Sector Surveys have ships sent to place boundary marker / subspace relay beacons at each corner and at the geographic center of the sector, as well as warning beacons near known navigational hazards.

• Phase 3 Sector Surveys establish moderate-confidence spacefaring corridors to high-interest locations within the target sector, initially based on the limited navigational data of the Phase 1 & 2 surveys and reinforced by ships assigned to transit those extrapolated routes.