On Sat, Aug 27, 2016 at 12:06:15PM -0400, Christopher Sean Hilton wrote:
> In this case what rules should the Scout service use when designating
> a primary and far companion?
>
> One could rank by luminosity or magnitude because from a
> distance the Scouts would discover the brighter star earlier?
>
> One could rank by Stellar Mass because the heavier star would
> effectively "wobble" as a result of it's lighter companion.
>
> One could rank by social / population factors because most people are
> going to want to jump into the system as close to the mainworld as
> possible.

The real world mainly uses luminosity, with a few caveats.  It is very
strongly correlated with mass though there are numerous exceptions.
Population seems to be rather too variable to be a basis for such a
designation.

I expect every star in the galaxy to have been catalogued thousands of
years before even the First Imperium.  Even most of the planets and
their orbits would have been identified.  Certainly that would hold
for every system within a thousand parsecs of Traveller's charted
space.

- Tim