			    TRAVELLER Digest 465

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) RE: TRAVELLER digest 462  by That Computer Guy <darkstar@UDel.Edu>
  2) Re: What came after the Rebellion? by Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
  3) Sensor Stuff (re: to Merrick) by Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
  4) Vampires & "Dark" Traveller (Tales #3) by cmdrx@magicnet.net (Commander X)
  5) Re: Sensor Stuff (re: to Merrick) by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  6) Re: Fortuity class light fighter by Bri <bri@teleport.com>
  7) Sandcasters by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  8) Hard Times by "Francis, Edgar (G) Islamic Std" <francise@others.sscnet.ucla.edu>
  9)  by Drake Gearhart <gearhart@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu>
 10) Zhdits error in BL by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
 11) Re: THe Secret J-6 Route by PPUGLIESE@pimacc.pima.edu

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 13:58:52 -0400
From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@UDel.Edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RE: TRAVELLER digest 462 
Message-ID: <199510271758.NAA20357@chopin.udel.edu>

In Reply to Your Message of Fri, 27 Oct 1995 01: 57:48 EDT
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 13:58:51 -0400
From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@chopin.udel.edu>

: That Computer Guy <darkstar@UDel.Edu> writes:
: 
:  > Am I misreading this or what.  Now the rules state that arms mass in
:  > kilograms, 20 times their weight in liters.  This is 100 times as
:  > heavy as any form of suspension and their transmission.  Should this
:  > rule be 20 times their weight in kiloliters?  This would bring it
:  > back in line with the other peripherals.
: 
: Well, someone else already pointed out your math error. But I have to
: comment that GDW has obviously screwed up again. The above basicly
: states that arm have a density of 20 kg/l. It just so happens that this
: reduces to 20 g/cm^3. 
: 
: This makes the arms slightly denser than gold (19.3) and slightly less
: dense than platinum (21?). There are only a couple of elements denser
: than platinum, and they aren't much denser.
: 
: So GDW's figures are insane. Again, nobody did any sanity checking.


Yes, alas, I made a horrible math error.  I should really not scratch
numbers onto a piece of paper and then try rattling them off (one of
these days, I'll do a design NEATLY).  That coupled with my poor math
skills since I am after all, a product of the American educational
system (bad joke, but I couldn't help it).

So anyway, I revised my numbers.  Yet, My design was out of hand.  I
figured out that the thing's combat move would be a 4 or 5.  If I got
rid of one or two features and then added more battery space, then I
could get up to a 7.

It just cheesed me off.  I figured out that I wouldn't be able to
create AB-101.  Part of me believes that there should be some way to be
mostly backwards compatible with older designs.

I don't know, maybe .1 for a human-sized robot is too little (but the
math says it's just right).

Then again, why am I complaining, I can't even recreate the .5kl Trasea
grav bike under FFS.  8(

       --Jerry

ps--While we're on the topic of FFS designs, did anyone ever figure out
    why GDW took out the Beowulf's air raft and replaced it with more
    staterooms?

8) Jerry Alexandratos                %  "Nothing inhabits my    (8 
8) darkstar@strauss.udel.edu         %   thoughts, and oblivion (8
8) darkstar@canary.pearson.udel.edu  %   drives my desires."    (8

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 14:54:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
To: Trav Mailing List <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Re: What came after the Rebellion?
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951027144406.29259A-100000@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>

In Trav Dig. 464, Drake Gearhart asked what had happened after the 
rebellion and what was new in the the Traveller universe since MT.  
Well, Drake, you've missed a lot.  GDW has come out with a whole new line 
of products set in the Traveller universe but with a different set of 
rules.  It's called "Traveller: The New Era".  If you hunt around the 
Traveller web pages, you should be able to find some descriptions of it.  
If you are interested in MT, though, I suggest you subscribe to 
the sister of this mailing list, called "Xboat" (it's my favorite).  To 
subscribe:
______________
To Subscribe to the Xboat Traveller Mailing List (XTML), send a mail message
to listproc@mpgn.com and in the body, place the line:

   subscribe xboat Your Name Here

To leave this list, send a message to listproc@mpgn.com and in the body:

   signoff traveller
_________________

The xboat mailing list covers Megatraveller (MT) and Classic Traveller 
(CT), whereas this one is primarily for Traveller: The New Era (T:TNE or 
just TNE). 

To answer some of your other questions, FF&S is "Fire, Fusion and Steel", 
a supplement for TNE (boy the acronyms fly fast and furious around here, 
eh?) which allows design of ships, vehicles, weapons, etc., etc... 
A RICE paper is a detailed description of a world which breathes some 
life into the UPP.



	<0>    "Beware he who sees everything but perceives nothing."   <0>
	<0> Charles Collin (charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca), 		<0>
	<0> Psychology Department, McGill University.  			<0> 
	<0> 1205 Dr. Penfield, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1B1.  	<0>




------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 15:17:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
To: Trav Mailing List <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Sensor Stuff (re: to Merrick)
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951027150716.29487C-100000@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>

Hi There:

> > 1.  Jump exit sigs are the same regardless of jump number. (yes? no?)
> > 2.  Jump exit sigs change with displacement of ship (bigger ship, bigger flash).

Since there can be no really scientific answer, I think we should make 
assumptions based on what is best for game balance and so on.  What I 
generally assume is that the flash varies based on ship size, but not on 
jump number.  What that means is you can tell whether a battleship group 
has jumped into your system or just a courier, but you can't tell where 
they came from.
The jump flash isn't particularly intense, but it contains very exotic 
particles, so one can pick it up by its unusualness, but can't get too 
much info from it (otherwise the defenders have too much advantage).

> > If we take these to be true, then in addition to an automatic B-D, maybe a 
> > sensor operator might be able to glean other useful information.  This dovetails

I think you can get ship size, but that's about it.  Of course, this is 
all entirely up to one's own intuition.

> > Sensor Rule Additions v0.9

Are these for BL?  I have a copy, but I have not looked at it in a while.

BFN, Charles.

	<0>    "Beware he who sees everything but perceives nothing."   <0>
	<0> Charles Collin (charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca), 		<0>
	<0> Psychology Department, McGill University.  			<0> 
	<0> 1205 Dr. Penfield, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1B1.  	<0>



------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 15:51:01 -0400
From: cmdrx@magicnet.net (Commander X)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Vampires & "Dark" Traveller (Tales #3)
Message-ID: <199510271951.PAA13187@magicnet.magicnet.net>

And now for something completely different....
Just in time for Halloween...

Commander X's Tales from the line vol 3
"DARK TRAVELLER"
or
"Galaxy of Darkness"

Part one: Vampires.

This is an example of game fusion.  White Wolf's "World of Darkness" Seting
applied and reconfiged(hacked is a better word) to fit with GDW's Traveller
Universe.

(Hey Kids, Don't try game fusion at home. The ol' Commander remembers one
incedent with Rifts and C'thulu that ended with disastrous results!)

Ok, here we go.  First on the List. Wampyres! ..er I mean Vampires.

Ah, vampires!  Not the kind that are Virus driven ships, but the Vampires of
Ancient Terran, Vilani, Zhodani, Darrien...hmm, seems that most Alien
cultures have Vampire legends in there somewhere.  Anyway, Vampires.

Here's the curent theory.  Vamprism is caused by a symbiotic lifeform(oh
those little life-forms!) This lifeform is also known as Vampiric Blood, or
Dead Blood.  The symbiot is hemovorous, meaning it subsists off of what boys
and girls? (there willbe a test later!)  Yes little Johny! thats right!
Blood!  It don't care if your human, vargr, aslan or whatever. All blood is
good blood!

Now in return for feeding this little lifeform, it gives you pretty darn
near eternal life.  These little lifeforms need a host, and as the symbiots
live longer than humans(Yes even longer than Vilani on anagathics!) it keeps
the host alive, how it does this is not rightly known.

You must contine to feed the lifeforms, if you go without blood,  the
symbiot takes over and trys to find the nearest blood it can find, this is
also known as the Frenzie!

That's the basics, now here come the game mechanics

Vampires have what are known as "Blood Points".  The initial maximum number
of Blood points is equal to the vampires CON. This blood pool maximum can be
increased through experience points used in the normal fashion.  (7 points
to raise to 7, 8 points to raise to 8, etc...).

How are Blood points used, they are used for psionic effects.  All Vampires
get the ability of Self(Regeneration).  Now heres the scary part.  Use of
Bloodpoints allow the automatic success of any Psionic talent at the same
level the Bloodpoints are used.  For Example, If a Vamp was delt a serious
wound, he could use his Blood points to reduce that down to a scratch wound.
(3 Blood points= Level 3 effect)

To Get Bloodpoints back: Drink Blood!
The Vampire has the option of drinking a lifeform "dry" and therefore
getting bloodpoints equal to the lifeforms CON, or to only drink a little,
geting a portion of the total BP.  For animals, it's GM's Judgement. Small
1bp, medium 4bp, etc...

Powers:
The Self Psionics cluster is the only cluster in which Blood points can be
used, other Psionics must be learned in the normal fashion. You might want
to record on character sheets as Self-Vampiric.
This allows the Vampire to use bloodpoints in the following:
Regeneration
Suspended Animation
Orientation
Psi-Enhaced STR
Psi-Enhanced CON

Also, as long as you have the bloodpoints, you might as well ignore the
ageing effects chart. You stay as young (or old) as you were when you were
"Changed". This main effect of the symbiots eats 1bp per day.


Limitations:
As stated before, UV light affects the Symbiots adversely, damage is doubled
to the Host if hit with a UV laser, direct UV like from a star, WILL KILL THEM!

Energy attacks or fire will do Agrivated Dammage, dammage which cannot be
healed using the Self-Vampiric ability.  This is because some of the
symbiots have died off in the wounded area.

The vampiric symbiots will reject any type of food that is not blood, that
is you can't digest or even tolerate real food.  With experience points
Vamps can learn "Tolerate Food" skill which has CON as the controlling
atribute. Use of the skill is Difficult.

A stake through the heart will IMMOBILIZE a Vampire, due to the nature of
the symbiots, they must be in continous flow throughout the body, stop the
heart, and you stop the flow.

Vampires can exist in a vacuum for a time, up to CON x Miniutes, after that
they go into a state of Suspended animation called Torpor. This also happens
when the Vamp runns out of Bloodpoints and cannot find a fresh source of
Blood in 24 hours. Basicaly the symbiots shut down, but don't die!

Also, When 0 Bloodpoints are reached a vampire must make a Difficult
Willpower check or go into a bezerk frenzie untill he can feed.

Well, that's about that for playing Vamps in Traveller.
I caution GM's out there to only use this for NPC Villians, unless you are
ready to handel PC vampires.  They can be powerful. Especialy if they are
allowed to live a while.  Even so, Vampires in Traveller should be RARE!
They are just something for the GM to use once in a blue moon, for a horror
adventure.  But if you like the idea of a "TRULY Dark Traveller", hey It's
your campain.

As I have said many times before on my "Tales":
Feel free to spindle, maime, mutilate, chop, hack, or whatever you wanna do
to these rules SUGGESTIONS.  I won't mind, realy.
Also...
These Tales are fictious. Any similarities to persons both living and/or
Undead are purly coincidental.

Enjoy!

Commander X

Keep the Flame, now and forever...
(Norris Aella Alledon  First Regent 1068-1157)

**>END TRANSMISSION<**


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 14:55:06 -0600 (MDT)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Sensor Stuff (re: to Merrick)
Message-ID: <9510272055.AA20112@Rt66.com>

Howdy,
 
> 
>>>If we take these to be true, then in addition to an automatic B-D, maybe a 
>>>sensor operator might be able to glean other useful information. This 
>>>dovetails
> 
> I think you can get ship size, but that's about it.  Of course, this is 
> all entirely up to one's own intuition.

That was all the information I listed as giving--actually just the size
class.

> > > Sensor Rule Additions v0.9
> 
> Are these for BL?  I have a copy, but I have not looked at it in a while.

Sorry, yes they are.  And they go with my previously posted sensor
rules.

BTW, the automatic bogey on a jump flash implies that the sensor is
looking in the right direction.  I'll have to figure out what the
chances are of that.  (what the scan area must be)

That leads to an interesting sensor rule addition---scan vs. lock-on
mode.  These would be physics limited.  Wide vs. narrow field.  If you
are using a given sensor to lock on a target, you can't scan very well
with it.  A good reason for ladars, etc to hand off to.  A scanning
sensor should be penalized if doing a lock-on, etc..

-Merrick

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 14:10:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bri <bri@teleport.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Fortuity class light fighter
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.951027140944.24064A-100000@linda.teleport.com>


 In a question about the efect of a PAW on non-fb electronics.
 (This is the effects, exact syntax is off)
 "Any hit by a PAW on a ship with non-fb computers causes the computers 
to reset for the entire(30min) turn, rendering the ship helpless"

bri


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 16:22:24 -0600 (MDT)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (traveller)
Subject: Sandcasters
Message-ID: <9510272222.AA26977@Rt66.com>


Hi,

One thing that has bugged me for a while is the way TNE sandcasters
work.  I thought about it for a while and decided they're not so bad...
but I have a few suggestions on how to make the rules feel better.

I think that a given sandcaster should work against all shots from a
given shooter in a turn (in the case of missiles, all missiles that come
through a given hexside are the "shooter" in this case).\

The rationale is that the enemy is a point source basically, and if you
have a blob of sand in the way of his laser, it's still in the way for a
laser a couple meters over and to the left.

A quick and dirty way to simulate this is to do the following:

1.  All lasers and PAWs fired from one ship during a turn may be reduced
by a given sandcaster.

2.  Missiles in a swarm are considered as one attacker (as are all
missiles coming through the same hexside.

3.  Each hit is treated the way they treat outstanding hits---spend a
cannister.  This way they can still be overloaded.

4.  One cannister is expended the first turn the sandcaster is ready to
operate, regardless of if it is actually attacked that turn.

5.  Multiple sandcasters may be used in the same way they can in BL, but
they must be assigned one of two missions:
	a. additive reduction---the reduction only happens after the
beam has passed through previous sandcaster attacks.
	b. gap filling---the sandcaster attacks beams after the previous
sandcasters run out of cannisters during this attack.

eg.:  A ship has 3 sandcasters, and is attacked by lasers.  The primary
sandcaster is backed up in this attack by the secondary in a gap filling
mode, and the third is used for additive reduction (forming an inner
shell of protection).  10 700MJ lasers hit.  The primary sandcaster hits
3, absorbing all but one totally, but in doing so uses its last
cannister.  The remaining energy is successfully hit by the third sandcaster 
and blocked.  Of the untouched beams, 4 more are reduced by the third 
sandcaster, 3 hitting the ship at full force.  The second sandcaster
used a cannister to restore the outer layer, but since it was the last
laser hit rolled for that was blocked, there was no opportunity for it to
block any attacks this turn.  A total of 9 cannisters have been used.

Better ideas?  Any ideas for damper screens (not turrets, but works
against all attacks type screens (as promised (for FFS??) in BL).

-Merrick

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 95 16:03:00 PDT
From: "Francis, Edgar (G) Islamic Std" <francise@others.sscnet.ucla.edu>
To: Traveller Mailing List <Traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Hard Times
Message-ID: <30916ACB@courier.sscnet.ucla.edu>

     IMHO, if GDW had any idea they were going to do New Era, there would 
have been no point in putting out the HARD TIMES supplement.  It's a pity 
they abandoned MT and HT.  I had never cared for the rebellion, but HT made 
it all worthwhile:  it provided a rationale for a lot of the things we saw in 
CT (lower-tech hardware--esp. lots of slug throwers--, scouts actually 
EXPLORING, etc.).  What's more, it re-introduced a lot of unknown factors 
into the universe.  Sure, you could have your trusty star chart, but it not 
might be at all accurate anymore.
     There was an April CHALLENGE in the mid-70s (numbers, not years) that 
indicated they knew the Virus was coming.  In the April Fool's section, there 
was a classified ad from Lucan for mad scientists, preferably with computer 
experience.


------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 18:45:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: Drake Gearhart <gearhart@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.91.951027184511.37219A-100000@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu>

Could someone please tell me the author of "Hard Times"?

						Tyre Jessix

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 22:46:38 -0600 (MDT)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (traveller)
Subject: Zhdits error in BL
Message-ID: <9510280446.AA22530@Rt66.com>


Howdy,

I'm told I have an old copy of BL (how do you tell?), so chech this.

The Zhdits claims to have 1400kl of jump fuel for jump 2.  It is a
5600kl ship (400 tons).  The jump fuel should be 840, and the gturns are
fewer then as well (the total value including gturns)---I think it it
should be 81.6 instead of 104.  They seem to have calculated* the fuel
based on a jump 4 drive.  The errata I got with my BL has nothing on the
Zhdits.  It is off by 40tons (560kl (some 22.4 gturns)).  I was planning
on redoing it with my standard 4ton Zho turrets, and ran the whole
design through the spreadsheet.  It will look like a real ship when I'm
done :-)

*I'm surprised that they didn't use a spreadsheet to do the design...
actually, the difference they came up with is hard to do, it is a major
change in the plug and chug even if you're doing it by hand (as I used
to do).

So, stay tuned for a decent Zhdits.  I'm using the same number of
staerooms because I assume that they used the number on the deck plans
from FASA (which I don't have).

This is no longer a tight design at all.  I may add an MFD (I already
added redundant sensors).

-Merrick

PS-I assume this *must* have been fixed in later versions---please let
me know I should eat crow! :-)

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1995 03:47:34 -0700
From: PPUGLIESE@pimacc.pima.edu
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: THe Secret J-6 Route
Message-ID: <01HWYJYRJ3VM8Y6YBE@pimacc.pima.edu>

From:	IN%"traveller@MPGN.COM" 24-OCT-1995 15:12:52.30
To:	IN%"traveller@MPGN.COM"  "Multiple recipients of list"
CC:	
Subj:	THe Secret J-6 Route


The idea was that the common civil network was J-4 (XBoats) and J-2 (Type S).
The Secret J-6 route was designed to look exactly like J-4 Imperiallines
Cargo ships, so that their travel would be unnoticed. Unless, of course,
you get a good neutrino sensor fix on it as it preps for jump... which is a
little late to stop it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I can see the J-6 'shortcut' across the void being secret but I still
wonder why they felt the need to disguise some of the couriers while
all those standard J-6 ImpNavy couriers were openly cruising around.
===================================================================

As for "Dark Traveller" -- The virus is very dangerous, and far more common
on the tables, than the text implies. In sending a group out from the RC,
they encountered Vampyre Ships 2 of 3 jumps. They died freeing a world from
the virus. Every player group I have GM'd or talked with about their TNE
experiences compares it to Vampire: the Masquerade. Vampire is about angst;
TNE just causes angst. And RSB includes Anagathic B, which is another
"dark" touch. By no means is the New Era the sweetness and light GDW wants
people to think it is.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yeah, no doubt that the TNE setting is 'Dark Trav'. I think GDW was playing
to the current fad for that sort of thing.
==========================================

What I've been waiting for for almost a decade now is a major consolidation
of what is out, for whatever the current rules system is. TNE is the best
Rules... but the CT background won the Literature Awards....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hear, hear!
===========

-Wil

William F. Hostman
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Phil

ppugliese@pimacc.pima.edu




------------------------------

End of TRAVELLER Digest 465
***************************
