Welp.  In the 21 years since I first picked up a Traveller book (GT 1e),
last night was new.

To recap, the Butcher's Paradise had signed on to pathfind an
exploration convoy sodding off rimwards/trailing from Teapot (Kushuggi
2530).  In addition to taking an extended shufti, said convoy also has a
goal to find possible colony/outpost sites for future Terran
Confederation expansion and mineral resources to fuel industrial efforts.

Along the way, Das Boot managed a truly Milford-esque misjump (despite
El Capitane picking a fight with what will become Cymbeline in the
golden age, and losing - fatally) - they went the _direction_ they
intended, but _distance_ was a lot shakier.

I'd even rolled up each body in the next four systems along the route
Nikki had chosen - stars, planets, even moons large and small.

It was all fun and games until an air/raft got wrapped around terrain at
a little over 200 km/h.  Young Rhett Shird (Herr Sweep's new PC, and
Milford's unknowing son - "which one of you bastards called this bastard
a bastard?"), the prospectors' "lucky charm", was aboard.

I needed ... dun dun DUN... an actual planetary map.

As Das Boot has the aforementioned prospectors aboard, the PCs are more
than somewhat interested in the _mineral resources_ that they are
risking lives (including their own) to investigate.

Thus, I not only need planetary maps, but some way of figuring out the
mineral resources latent on said planet.

Thankfully, I can limit it (mostly) to what GT:ISW and GURPS (4th ed)
Space call "Garden" worlds - nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere (Thin to Dense,
in Trav terms), nontrivial (water) oceans, and indigenous life.

Apart from tectonics and hydraulics, what else should I keep track of in
when figuring out said mineral resources?

Alex

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