FASTER

Federacy Assessment System for Technology, Environment and Resources. A useful tool for a summary overview of star system general development in these three key categories. Each Settlement in Federacy space also has a Settlement Status which tells of its comparative role in the Federacy.

Technology

Technology rating reflects the level of readily available technology at most significant settlements. Rural or other distant settlements might function at a Tech rating lower than the primary settlement whereas there may be a few areas that function at a slightly higher than prevailing Tech rating in one more technological fields.
The Federacy government systems as a whole act at T3 (PrimeTek) with some T4 (BleedTek) resources available. All Major Houses have at least one T3 resource while Minor Houses or Free Houses have access to at least T2.
For a picture of what types of items and breakthroughs are present in and near Federacy Space, see Technology Overview.

T5 XTek

This has only become a thing because we just don't know how this stuff works, how it might work, and it's Arthur C. Clarke stuff going on - sufficiently advanced to look like magic - and that's to cultures using portable fusion, mind tek, and other really trippy stuff. The seeming link with XTek is the theory that it casually(?) taps other dimensions in ways that are nearly impossible to understand. We only mention it here because it completes our list. The Federacy won't be getting here for a minute and a half.

T4 BleedTek

Bleeding Edge Technology is technology that’s extraordinarily advanced. All of the T3 (HighTek) is available, but with even greater functionality (and typically slightly lower cost). There are only a couple of systems in Federacy space that have technology this advanced and it’s extraordinarily expensive. Most T4 worlds encountered are just breaking into this level and only have bonafide T4 ratings in one or two fields.

T3 HighTek

At this technology, Interstellar drives are producible by the system inhabitants. The process behind gravitic field manipulation has been back-engineered and is fully reproducible. Power supplies can be very small with extensive lifespans, but the personal fusion power plant seems improbable, at least until T4. Ships are very efficient. Computer systems are now very advanced and communication systems are powerful and pervasive. MindTek - casual neural devices - are on the scene: think of being able to control your personal bluetooth enabled devices with your mind instead.

T2 PrimeTek

This culture has commercialized Interstellar technology, though not without the assistance of a nearby T3 world; they may maintain interstellar drives, but they cannot build them. Other important advances include portable (vehicle size) fusion plants and the installment of gravitic resonance devices - small ancient leftover devices without which interstellar drives are not feasible. They control gravity within a connected field, usually on a vessel. This gravitic technology makes reactionless thrusters and vessel shielding a reality. T2 implies relatively cheap and light power and regular familiarity with space travel. At this technology it is feasible not only to travel between stars, but also to trade between them. Within the system itself, commerce will be vigorous thanks to the readily available effective civilian spacecraft, and it can be expected that all habitable and many partially inhabitable worlds will have permanent colonies and industrial, military, or scientific outposts. Early MindTek makes its debut publically but the devices are stationary requiring them to be installation based. They are also prohibitive in terms of computing and power requirements and require significant individual training. Still, they show incredible promise.
One significant advantage of Federacy membership is that no colony will function below T2 for long, as every Federacy colony has at least minimal resources to repair and produce (on a small scale) T2 devices. Federacy mandate also attempts to help all Delta class settlements get to T2 as quickly as is sustainable. If the college doesn't start effectively at T2, it will function at that level probably within the first 20 years, though it may take longer to establish that level in fringe regions of the Federacy.

T1 FusionTek

This culture is able to commercialize the exploitation of his system. Any habitable systems will likely be inhabited to some degree and any resources can be exploited for trade or use. Interstellar technology is not available but this culture can still trade with Interstellar cultures rather than be exploited by them, and likely buys or rents Interstellar ships or at least space on regular routes.

T0 SpaceTek

This culture has sufficiently efficient spacecraft to explore their system thoroughly. They cannot yet move huge amounts of cargo, so commercialization is still a ways away, but colonies can be established now on multiple worlds if they are sufficiently viable. This is a cusp technology, ripe to be exploited by others yet ready to emerge as a power later on if given the chance. Much volatility potentially exists here.

T-1 AtomTek

This culture can barely reach Space -- it may have sent some cumbersome probes out and might have a few manned vessels capable of long journeys on scientific voyages, but in general all of the action is planet found. Power is readily available and information technology is taking off, but reliance is on local resources. If the rest of the system is being exploited by Outsiders, the locals can detect them and complain, but cannot mount any reasonable resistance. If it is profitable for others, this culture may well be carefully suppressed from advancing further. Information might be digitized. This is where Earth has been since the 1940s; while great advances in computer technology have changed things, we have not moved off-planet.

T-2 SteamTek

The industrialized culture is capable of mass production and local exploitation, but power is still expensive and not widely available. The primary world occupied is extensively explored but the rest of the system is known only by records dating from before technology fell to this level. If other systems are exploiting the other worlds of this system, the locals may not even know about it. This corresponds to Earth European technology in the 18th and 19th centuries.

T-3 MetalTek

This culture has fallen so far that it is only capable of basic metallurgy. If there is power, it is supplied by machines that the locals can no longer maintain and probably do not understand. Something catastrophic must have pushed this culture so far back and the world likely bears the scars of it. This technology band includes most of Earth's technology from 3000 BC to the 18th century -- the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and into the modern period.

T-4 PrimTek

This culture may not exist. If there are people at all here, they have no useful technology to draw upon. Anything beyond simple tools constructed from raw material must have been important or is an artifact from an earlier age. Note however, that this might equally describe an outpost (scientific, commercial, military, or otherwise) that has no intrinsic capacity for manufacture.

Environment

Birds sang in the Garden as he sipped his coffee and enjoyed the warmth of the sun. A cloud, carefully generated by the weather control speller, shaded him as it traversed overhead on its plotted course. Outside the dome the hurricane winds blew methane ice against mountains, withering the very stone. Soon it would be time to go back to work, but until then, the Garden was everything.

Generally a high-environment system is going to see vast immigration. How the local system inhabitants feel about that will drive regional politics and adventure.

E4 Many Garden Worlds

This system is implausibly rich in habitable worlds. This could be a random effect—perhaps several worlds occupy a broad biozone and their moons are big enough to hold water and atmosphere. Or perhaps there are multiple stars far enough apart to each support comfortable worlds. Whenever we have a system with 4 in any stat it is worth exploring extremes as they will generate play motivations reliably. Perhaps, for example, the system is a ringworld—this would certainly satisfy the “many garden worlds” criterion as it represents thousands or even millions of times the surface area of a typical planet. Or maybe dozens of worlds have been terraformed, some supplying their own heat from advanced technologies no longer in evidence. Perhaps the star is surrounded by a cultured rosette of five or more worlds, all in the same orbit.

E3 Some Garden Worlds

This system has at least two worlds that are inhabitable by humans at ground level. These systems do not need an unnatural explanation, but they might have one. Immigration will be substantial and, as with E4, will be something that drives politics in the area (and beyond—the places that people are coming from care about this effect as well).

E2 One Garden and Several Survivable Worlds

An E2 system has one world perfectly suited to human habitation and several that can be inhabited with some hardship. It’s not necessary that any particular technology be available to survive on the difficult worlds, but there could be. The survivable worlds may represent terraforming efforts from the past or those underway by current governments. If Venus and Mars had turned out just a little differently in our own system, it might qualify as E2. Survivable worlds are intended to be extremes of human habitation: ice worlds, desert worlds, or even water worlds fit this category.

E1 One Garden and Several Hostile Worlds

This is a comfortable system to occupy, simply because it’s common enough, it has a single world that easily sustains humans at any level of technology, and some of the other worlds may be amenable to terraforming or relatively inexpensive occupation through technological adaptation. The hostile worlds in this system cannot be occupied without some technology to counteract whatever makes them uninhabitable. They are not, however, actively destructive to human life. A vacuum world that has minable water might be hostile. A world with very high pressures, or one with a normal pressure but no oxygen would also qualify. Extremes of cold or heat are fine. Europa in our own system, if it contains liquid water beneath its icy and airless surface, would qualify. If there are no other high environment systems in the cluster then these hostile worlds may well be filling up with claim-stakers and squatters.

E0 One Garden World (And Perhaps Some Barren Worlds)

The most common system environment classification, this represents a system with a single world capable of comfortably supporting human habitation without special tools. Any other worlds in this system are uninhabitable without significant technological support. These other worlds are likely low gravity, no pressure, and probably have either no water or water locked up in underground ice. While hard to use for civilians, they might support a military or trading base.

E-1 Survivable World

This system contains a single habitable but unpleasant world. The world may be defined by extremes of temperature, water availability, weather, pressure, or some other factor, but it has breathable air at the surface and water in sufficient quantities to support life. No other world in the system is anything but an airless rock. Aside from the story of emigration that is likely a constant problem, another question that might have adventures as an answer is, “Why was this system colonized in the first place?” Did it look better than this from survey? Did it used to be more inhabitable and its current state was caused by some human effect (war, pollution, botched terraforming…)? Or were the original colonists desperate and willing to take the bottom of the barrel from the survey lists? Why?

E-2 Hostile Environment

This system has a single world that can reasonably support a population and that world is hostile to it. If this world does not sustain a technology of T0 or higher, then the technology the population needs to survive is not indigenous, and that’s a story in itself. These worlds are not vacuum worlds and there is gravity, but the atmosphere does not support human life, or the temperatures are too extreme to be mitigated by simple clothing, or there is no water to be had short of chemical extraction from more complex molecules. People are almost certainly leaving this system unless it has some wealth in resources or technology or both.

E-3 Barren World

An E-3 system is desolate. The only planet remotely viable for colonization contains no air and any water to be had must be mined or chemically extracted. If the local technology is below T1, then the technology that supports the local population must not be indigenous. It may be an asteroid belt.

E-4 No Habitable Gravity Or Atmosphere

This system may as well be filled with gravel. There are no worlds worthy of the name. It is entirely likely that this system has no regular habitants at all and that any technology rating suggests the capabilities of the occasional scientific or military outpost. Anyone living here is living in a man-made structure in space.
The above reflects the Environmental Rating of star systems. See World Habitability Classifications for information on individual worlds.

Resources

Rael was a pilot and a darn good one, but the ship wasn’t really hers. She leased it from the Tenbreans for a huge sum, but not an unreasonable sum—her world couldn’t make a ship that could tow this sixty-thousand ton diamond from the belt to the moonbase. She didn’t see herself renting for more than a couple of runs. Soon enough she’d own a fleet of ships. Oh yeah, it was worth it. The resource value of a system is what drives the economy. It tells you if the system is economically dependent on other systems, or if it is supporting them. In order to cultivate a story for a system, invent the flow of trade in this way: every system with a R-2 or less is getting something from somewhere, and every system with an R2 or more may very well be the source. Knowing what these economic factors are should create plenty of room for competing interests and establish some conflicts between systems.

R4 All You Could Want

R4 systems are packed with valuable metals, minerals, and other precious things. They are studded with ice-laden asteroids, heavy-metal rich rings around relatively quiescent planets or other gravity wells, are showered with convertible radiation, and megatons of cheap r-mass are everywhere. The question you want to answer about any given R4 system is, “How did this happen?” Because this is atypical in the extreme. Such a system might be home to one or more very-high-density objects—perhaps a neutron star or even a black hole. These things may well be very dangerous indeed, even though there are riches to be had here by side effect. This site may be the remnant of a vast and recent supernova. Whatever makes this place so rich, it is extreme and improbable.
The one thing that is certain about an R4 system is that someone is getting rich. If the locals are equipped to mine it, then they are either rich or at war. If they are not equipped to mine it then someone else is or they are leasing the technology to do it themselves. The fate of this system may rely heavily on its most powerful neighbors—a T3 system might own this place or it might protect it as part of its concord, keeping all members rich. There is enough here to make the entire cluster wealthy, provided everyone is happy with their share. Consequently no such system is entirely wealthy.

R3 Multiple Exports

A system this rich has far more than it needs. If it has the technology to do so, then it is exporting either raw material (at the low end of the technology scale) or manufactured goods (if it is lucky enough to have a high technology compared to the rest of the culture). If its technology is not space-faring then it may be leasing slipships and trying to get there on its own. There’s enough here for plenty of systems to stay wealthy.

R2 One Significant Export

An R2 system has more than it needs—either a little more of everything or a lot more of one thing. This system is possibly the only place in the cluster with more of a particular valuable commodity than anywhere else. There’s not enough here to start a war over, unless the rest of the cluster is especially resource-poor. If the locals don’t have the technology to exploit it then someone else does.

R1 Rich

This system may be an active trader in cluster-wide commodity markets if its technology level is sufficient. Even if the technology is low there will be an active trade in rights to spacefaring neighbors to exploit the outer system, simply because taking things by force is not all that profitable for the minor gains in an R1 system.

R0 Sustainable

A sustainable system like this is generating no particular surplus but no particular needs, either. It gains nothing by exporting, importing, or licensing operation inside its boundaries and regardless of its technology rating, it has enough of everything it needs. An R0 system may become quite insular—having no extremes of need or surplus, it may not interact with the rest of the cluster at all.

R-1 Almost Viable

R-1 systems are lacking something. This may explain their technological lag or be a focus of their technological excess. It might explain their poor environment or technology. If other stats are high, then they will be the source of trade for the missing resource. R-1 systems are low-pressure sources of trade conflict.

R-2 Needs Imports

At R-2, however, the pressure for conflict becomes high: this system cannot sustain itself without some imports. If it has nothing to trade then it is failing. If it has something to trade then it is doing so and probably not on favorable terms. Consequently R-2 systems are likely embroiled in conflict (though not necessarily military) both internally and externally.

R-3 Multiple Dependencies

The R-3 system is completely at the mercy of its neighbors. It absolutely requires imports to avoid rapid degeneration and must be prepared to either fight for those imports, pay far too much for them, or fail. At R-3 a system is desperate.

R-4 No Resources

R-4 systems have nothing. It is so very unlikely that a system will have absolutely no resources that it demands an extraordinary explanation. Who swept this system clean? Using what technology? Or is it devoid of minerals for natural reasons—perhaps this region of space is somehow brand new, and this is a first generation star presenting no opportunity for heavier metal production. If it was swept clean, why? Why does a culture exist here at all? If it has positive values for technology and/or environment, what does that mean? How is the technology sustained—or is it?