Subj: Traveller-digest V1999 #1407
Date: 11/27/99 10:26:33 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: owner-traveller-digest@lists.imagiconline.com (Traveller-digest)
Sender: owner-traveller-digest@lists.imagiconline.com
Reply-to: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
To: traveller-digest@lists.imagiconline.com
Traveller-digest Sunday, November 28 1999 Volume 1999 : Number 1407
(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.
The following topics are covered in this digest:
FF&S2 400-dton Q-Ship Design (longish)
Re: Flagships
SEC : UNCLASSIFIED - Re: Volcanoes and Cities
RE: Traveller-digest V1999 #1400
Re: Cold War
Heroes and Villians pt Nth
Latest TNEC PBEM Narrative Up
Re:Rule of Man Coin
Re: Contacting Roger Sanger
Police career (was Re: Expanded Rogue Generation for CT, and YKYBPTMTW)
Re: Re Nukes
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 22:15:10 -0600
From: Black ICE
Subject: FF&S2 400-dton Q-Ship Design (longish)
One of the threads of discussion in the GT: Imperial Navy playtest
involves Q-ships. In that spirit, I present the latest AuricTech
Shipyards design for your listening and dancing pleasure:
AuricTech Shipyards TEMPTRESS-Class "Q-Ship"
Design System: FF&S2 (Akins spreadsheet ver 3.2, with correction of
G-comp power consumption)
Tons: 400 std (SL Medium Rounded Cylinder Hypersonic)
Dimensions: 45.2 m x 13 m x 13 m
Volume: 5600 m3
Cargo: 12 std (1 Small hatch, 1 x 5-ton cargo handling equipment)
Mass (L/C): 4657 t / 4397 t
Maintenance Points: 153
Passengers High/Med/Low: None
Crew: 10 / 27
Frozen Watch: 0
Cost: 733.95 MCr
Tech Level: 15
Size: 8
Electronics
Controls: Holographic, Standard automation. 3 x FibComp (CM: 0.2 CP:
5.0). Terrain following sensors (TF:570, NOE:190). Bridge.
Communications: 1 x Radio (1,000 AU, 0.2 MW). 2 x Laser (1,000 AU, 0
MW).
Sensors: 1xPEMS (14 [50 mkm], 0.05 MW). 1xAEMS (11.5 [.5 mkm] LP, .5
MW). 4x LIDAR (14.5 [500 kkm], .5 MW
Survey/Science: None
ECM: 1 x Radio Jammer (1,000 AU, 0.4 MW). 1 x Passive Jammer (13, 0.01
MW)
Signatures: Vis:-0.5, IR: -0.5 (-1 at 379 MW, -1 at 195 MW), Act:0.5,
Neu:-1, Grav:1
Performance
2 Jump (40std/pc fuel)
3 / 3.1 Maneuver (Thruster: 344 MW)
No Contra-grav
3879 kph/3973 kph Atmosphere Maximum
2909 kph/2980 kph Atmosphere Cruise
10 Power (Fusion: 1950 MW,1yr)
No Battery
93.9 Fuel (Scoop: 6/Purif: 40, 1 MW)
26/2/7 Accommodations (Small Stateroom/Large Stateroom/Emgy Low Berth)
728 Life Sup. (Type: Extended, Good Food/Storage)
3 G-Comp
2 x Sandcaster (AV: 97/Cans: 30)
30 [115] Armor, 16 Structure
Weapons:
2 x Laser Turret (+6) 1 /2-2-2-2 [1, 200/20-20-20-20] (Point Defense
ROF: 800)
2 x NPAW Bay (toroidal) (+6) 2/7-7-5-3 [1, 100/220-220-158-79]
Features:
4 x Airlock
1 x Sickbay (8 std)
1 x Armory (1 std)
1 x Gym (2.5 std)
1 x Lounge (7 std)
1 x Ordinary Galley (Cap: 28)
1 x Ship's locker (.2 std.)
Small Craft: None
Backups
Drives: None
Screens: None
Communications: None
Sensors: 1 x PEMS (13.5 [16 mkm]). 1 x AEMS (11 [.16 mkm]).
ECM: None
Power & Fuel: None
Crew Details 2 x Maneuver. 5 x Engr. 4 x Gunner. 2 x Screen. 3 x
Command. 10 x Troops. 1 x Medical.
Designer's Notes:
Res ipsa loquitur.
- --
AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
"Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 17:13:30 +1300
From: "Frank Pitt"
Subject: Re: Flagships
> This is from the Dec99/Jan00 issue of Air & Space magazine. It may seem
OT,
> but there are a few adventure nuggets here...
Yeah, damn good story William.
Good example of making use of the availble facilities too.
Frankie
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 15:33:20 +1100
From: "David Healey"
Subject: SEC : UNCLASSIFIED - Re: Volcanoes and Cities
From: "Frank Pitt"
This is far more material than even a large number of nuclear explosions
could throw up. And it is the material in the stratosphere that will cause
any "nuclear winter" as the ash from firestorms and lower level injections
will fall to earth relatively quickly except in very unusual circumctances.
Thanks. That about sums up what I was getting at.
Anther item I can't find a web reference to is the pyroclastic cloud (of
super-heated steam) from the 181AD explosion (that went out in front of the
above pumice/ash flow.) . There is evidence that this reached reached the
Bombay hills some hundred miles or more from Taupo, killing (by scalding)
everything in that radius.
There is evidence of this flow (or p'raps anothery from same hill, I forget) reaching as far as the Eastern Australian coast. That's what, 500km or so ? Considering they travel at something around supersonic speeds, makes a hash of "Don't look back - it's a pyroclastic cloud !"
Dave
!
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 12:52:53 -0800
From: "Antony Farrell"
Subject: RE: Traveller-digest V1999 #1400
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of Frank Pitt
> Sent: Saturday, 27 November 1999 5:22 PM
> To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #1400
>
>
>
> > [Steve Lieb] Sorry, I had to de-lurk for a moment to engage this
> > "debunking".
> > Not sure how such a statement could be made, but here's the numbers.
> >
> > At the height of the cold war, there were approximately 50,000
> > warheads in various stockpiles, averaging (WAG) probably less than 10
> > megatons.
>
> Well, based on my knowledge of the fiigures, and the references I've been
> able to come up with, 50,000 warheads is way too high.
>
> My current estimate is that there was unlikley to have been more
> than 20,000
> warheads at any one time, and it's more likley to have been much
> less. It is
> quite possible they may have _produced_ 50, 000 warheads by then, but as
> previously mentioned, early warheads were unstable and had to be regularly
> scrapped.
>
> ( BTW, what do you consider the "height of the cold war" ? There were
> definitely more warheads around in the late 70's than in the
> 60's, and I've
> always considered the Cold War was effectively over by the 70's )
>
> > Now the damned statistics. 50,000 warheads x 10 megatons means, if
> > they were scattered perfectly in perfect conditions, they would
> effectively
> > destroy 25 mi^2 x 50,000 or 1.25 mio square miles. Would this
> wipe out a
> > country the size of France? I don't know the size of France, but
> California
> > is only about 150,000 sq miles.
>
> I'll admit my choice of France was random with no real thought to
> the actual
> figures, it was a bad guess
> However you're right, even with my warhead numbers, France ( 211,000 squae
> miles ) could be destroyed twice over.
>
> But not the whole planet.
>
> Even your 1.25M square miles represents only about 1% of the earth's
> surface.
>
> So I have to admit I was wrong about it being only a country the size of
> France, maybe you could take out India (1.26 M sqm). But the
> basic point of
> my statement is proved, at no time did we have the capability to "destroy
> all life on earth ten times over", and we also have never had the
> capability
> to destroy all life on earth even once over.
>
> > Now, is this likely (perfect distribution, perfect condition)? No,
> > in fact, impossible.
>
> Exacltly.
>
> > But I'm pretty certain that if even a decent fraction of these
> > warheads landed, France would be functionally obliterated.
>
> Yep.
>
> > Of course, it depends also on how you define "wipe out"? If you
> > mean "disintegrate to atoms" - you're right. But a single 50mt
> > lithium-cobalt doped warhead could, over the span of a half-dozen years,
> > wipe out human and animal (and a sizeable fraction of vegetable) life on
> > this planet. Leo Szilard pointed that out in what - 1957?
> Basic physics
> > hasn't changed since then, and our understanding of the catastrophic
> > consequences of even small amounts of radiation in the natural
> environments
> > has only gotten better.
>
> 1950 I think.
>
> 1957 was when the Windscale accident in England proved the "Szilard
> complication"
>
> However, talking about what might be possible is a completely different
> thing from actual capabilities.
>
> Only one cobalt-salted bomb was ever produced, and was exploded by the
> British at Maralinga, Australia. It was considered a failure, and the
> cobalt-60 "doomsday" device, while theoretically possible may
> still not be
> prove to be workable.
>
> Frankie
>
Of course the death and destruction from nucelar weapons in only the primary
kill, what follows, the secondary kill is likely to be muchworse. Disease,
famine, destruction of social order etc. So even if the nuclear exchange
killed only a few percent of the total population the pandemics that would
follow would kill many more. It is unlikely though that the total human
population would be wiped out, but it could be centuries before portions of
the planet would be safe to enter.
Antony
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 20:18:23 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Cold War
In mail you write:
>>>Since we've found the crater, the big question is was it a commet or an
>>>asteroid.
>>
>>So what is the difference between a comet and an asteroid ?
>
> Comet = Mostly ice and frozen gas. Some have used the fanciful term
> "dirty snowball".
>
> Asteroid = Very Large Rock.
It's a bit more complex than that. There are three types of asteroid
(and likely some combinations).
Nickel-iron. Mostly nickel and iron with various amounts of other
elements in the mix. Think of them as giant, natural chunks of armor
steel. Average density around that of iron (7.8).
Stony. These are basicly big chunks of igneous rock. They can't be
sedimenitary or metamorphic, because those processes require a planet.
But simply *melting rock and letting it seperate into different
minerals as it cools can happen in a quite small body (tens of km,
maybe as low as a km or less). They've got a density like rock. (2-4?)
Carbonaceous chondrites. These are basicly what you get ice you let a
ball of methane/ammonia/water "ice" bake in the sun long enough. The UV
hitting the surface forms more complex compounds, and volatiles get
driven off. These are low in hydrogen, but rich in carbon and nitrogen.
What hydrogen they have is tied up in complex organics. These are
rather porous, and somewhere between tar and charcoal in structure.
They are very low density.
Comets that hang around the inner system long enough will become
chondrites.
The way you get these types is that planetary systems form from clouds
of gas and dust. The gas tends to form ice particles as the cloud gets
thick enough to shield the inner regions from starlight. And the gases
and other elements react with each other.
Soon you have clumps of ice with embbeded dust particles. And they
collide and clump farther.
Since these clouds tend to be formed at least partly from the aftermath
of supernovas, they are rich in shortlived radioisotopes. So even
fairly small "dirty snowballs" will generate enough heat to melt the ice
in the inner layers. Remember, when an object doubles in size, the
volume goes up 8 times but the surface area only goes up 4 times. So
you have 8 times the heat from decay trying to get out thru only 4
times the are. Which means the thermal flux at the surface goes up
linearly as the size increases. Expect there's a limit to how much can
be radiated, and it take time.
So the ice melts and the "dust" settles to the center. There it
consolidates into rock. Especially since ity tends to contain more of
the heat generating elements than the ice does!
If the dirt/rock ball in the center is big enough, *it* melts. And the
nickel iron (and various elements that disolve better in iron than in
rock) settles to the center. After a while, the radioactivity has
dropped off enough that things solidify.
So now you have small balls of dirty ice, bigger balls of "clean" ice
with dirt/rock centers, and still larger balls of ice with a thick
layer of rock over a nickel iron core.
Meanwhile, these balls have continued to sweep up dust and gas and
collide with each other, getting even bigger. But once they get to the
stage where the smaller ones have solidifying, the collisions are just
as likely to knock chunks off. And it's easier to break a chunk of ice
free from the rock than to break off a piece that includes the ice
*and* more than a trace of ice. So you get most bare rockbals, and
various sized chunks of ice.
Likewise if rockballs collide, they are more likely to fracture at the
stone/iron boundary. So you wind up with chuunks of ice, some of which
have small amounts of stone still attached. Chunks of rock, which are
somewhat more likely to include chunks of nickel-iron from the
boundary, and chunks of nickel-iron, a few of which may still have some
stone adhering.
Meanwhile, the gas cloud has flattened into a disk, and some of the
larger chunks have been vacuuming up the smaller ones. You start to get
infant planets, small gas giants, brown dwarves, and finally a star or
stars.
Once a star lights up, the gas and dust are driven out of the inner
system by the solar wind. And the heat from the star starts evaporating
and melting ices in the inner system. So the smaller bodies lose their
volatiles, which get swept up by planets farther out. Eventually, the
icy bodies get baked down to chondrites.
And the infant planets have gotten big enough that ice flows under
gravity, rocks accumulate under it at the center, and even at the lower
levels of radioactive decay there's enough heat to melt rock (and the
pressure helps.
And any chunks left close enough to the star that haven't consolidated
into a planet wind up as asteroids, which the types I listed.
> The largest asteroids are several hundred miles across; if I recall
> correctly, comets top out at several miles, not several hundred...
Actually, there's no reason there can't* be comets that big. But they'd
be *very* rare.
- --
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 21:27:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Glenn Goffin
Subject: Heroes and Villians pt Nth
>From: Dan Roseberry
>Subject: Heroes and Villians pt Nth (was Ming,
>Barbarela, Remulak)
>This is all way to cool folks! Also, alot more fun
>
>Back to the subject: We've got two famous Sci-fi
>characters; lets go for 8 more and have something
>available for T5 (if the powers that be want it).
>Any suggestions?
Remember that this thread really started with
Supplement 4, Citizens of the Imperium (I think),
which included at the end several famous science
fiction characters expressed as Traveller characters.
- --Glenn
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place.
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 01:53:50 -0400
From: Michel Vaillancourt
Subject: Latest TNEC PBEM Narrative Up
Hello! The latest bit in my TNEC millieu PBEM is now posted on my
website (see URL below). Pick the [TNEC Info] button and go to the bottom
of the page.
--Michel
-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
Michel R. Vaillancourt misha@atlantic-online.ns.ca
ICQ # 31172292
"Reality Error in Progress....
....Do Not Adjust Your Penguin"
-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
Into Cyberpunk? Check Out:
"http://www.atlantic-online.ns.ca/cp2020"
Into Traveller? Check Out:
"http://www.atlantic-online.ns.ca/traveller"
-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
***REMEMBER - Always virus-check your emails ***
-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 22:06:24 -0800 (PST)
From: Glenn Goffin
Subject: Re:Rule of Man Coin
>From: "Josh W. Spencer"
>I was going through my MT stuff and on one page I
find
>the good old Rule of Man quarter-credit coin. I guess
>the reverse side says something like this:
>"DOMINATUS HOMINIS SPLENDET SPLENDIDE AMPLOIS OUAM
>GLORIAM ASTRIBUS"
>I am guessing that the U characters in Latin are
>represented on the coin by V. So if there are any
>Latin scholars who can take a crack at what
>this actually says, I'd like to hear from you!
Well, I'm hardly a Latin scholar, but I did take it in
high school. I don't have my dictionary or grammar
book with me here, so you're getting my very rough
shot at it:
DOMINATUS: noun, nominative case, rule or dominion
HOMINIS: noun, genetive case, of man or of mankind
SPLENDET: verb, third person singular, present
indicative or possibly subjunctive; splendere
SPLENDIDE: adverb, splendidly
AMPLOIS: no idea
OUAM: probably "quam", which
GLORIAM: noun, accusative case, glory
ASTRIBUS: noun, genetive plural, of the stars
the rule of man splendidly did something of which the
glory of the stars
That's so rough that it's not quite coherent. Maybe
it should be run through that language translation
software on the web. There are probably better Latin
scholars than I on the list, anyway.
- --Glenn
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place.
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 00:06:06 -0600
From: "Eris Reddoch"
Subject: Re: Contacting Roger Sanger
On 11/27/99 at 10:15 PM, "Josh W. Spencer" said:
>OK, I'm not trying to open up a can of worms, but nevertheless, I'd
>like to contact this person and hear it from the horse's own mouth
>about the dispute between Marc Miller and the current owner of the
>DGP properties.
>Does anyone on the TML know how I can contact him?
I don't know, but here are three addresses that were valid at one
time.
rodge@digestgroup.com
rodge@cyberspace.com
dgpinfo@cyberspace.com
They might still be valid, but then again they might not.
BTW, if you do find out anything how about letting us know about it.
Eris
- --
- -----------------------------------------------------------
"Eris Reddoch" using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 01:23:20 -0500
From: Jeff Zeitlin
Subject: Police career (was Re: Expanded Rogue Generation for CT, and YKYBPTMTW)
On Sat, 27 Nov 1999 22:40:51 -0500 (EST), Russell Bornschlegel
wrote:
>Classic Traveller goobers: A new system for Book 4-7 style generation
>of Rogues (with Private Eyes and Cops thrown in as a bonus) is
>available, along with 77 Starship Quirks and Youth In CT, on my web
>site, which has moved:
>http://www.estarcion.com/kaleja/sohl.html
>Comments and constructive criticism always welcome.
I can't comment on the Rogue or PI careers, but I _can_ comment
on the Police career, since my job puts me in daily contact with
police on the job in all aspects (I'm not a cop myself, but I
work for the NYC PD).
I'll take it section by section:
(1) Enlistment: OK as written, although you may want to consider
reducing the reenlistment roll to 4+.
(2) Automatic skills: Police should get Gun Cbt (Pistol) at level
1, and Vehicle (appropriate to local conditions) at level 1. This
represents the effect of initial training, and regular retraining
(in NYC, firearms retraining is once per six months; vehicle
retraining is annually while deemed necessary due to accident
statistics).
Also, automatic skill levels should be granted as follows (See
revised Rank table at #7):
- Leader 1, upon achieving the rank of Sergeant, if the
character doesn't already have it.
- Liaison 1, upon achieving the rank of Lieutenant, if the
character doesn't already have it.
(3) Assignment: Change _one_ of the 'Desk Job' entries to 'Beat
Cop'. By and large, the primary duty of the police is to patrol
with the intent of acting as a deterrent to crime, rather than to
actively interfere with attempts at crime - although that is part
of their duties as well. You want low incidence reported, with
most of those being caught, rather than just a high arrest/
conviction rate.
Change 'Homicide' to 'Detective'. Detectives are actually a
separate track from the rest of the department up to a point, but
investigation of 'major' crimes is left in that bureau's hands -
Major crimes being, generally speaking, Homicide (causing the
death of another), Rape (use of 'sexual' activity as the method
of a crime), assault (a.k.a. assault and battery) (causing severe
harm to a person), Grand Theft (high value - jewels, lots of
money, expensive property, etc.), Robbery (theft with force
directly from a person), Burglary (removal of property from a
premises), and Auto Theft (theft of a Vehicle).
Change 'Vice Squad' to 'Elite Force'. Vice focusses on things
like gambling, prostitution, unlicensed bars/clubs, and so on.
There are other special units, such as SWAT (anti-terrorist,
hostage situations, etc.), Street Crime (gang activity, drug
activity, fencing, etc.), Task Forces (any crime, if it's showing
up as a 'hot spot'), and so on. Of course, it includes Vice Squad
(now often called 'Public Morals Division').
Change 'High-Tech Investigation' to 'Elite Unit'. These are the
people that don't really go into harm's way - in addition to
investigating white-collar and high-tech crimes, it includes
things like ceremonial units, publicity units, details assigned
to public events, and so on.
Change 'Down or Out' to 'Disciplinary' (explanation below).
(4) Resolution: Homicide/Detective and Vice Squad/Elite Force
should have it slightly easier to get a skill - it's not unusual
for a cop transferred in to those units to get special training
in whatever they're concentrating on at the time of the transfer.
Promotion should also be slightly easier for these units.
Optional change for Beat Cop should be slightly harder; a
character in Desk Job should be forced back to Beat Cop on a roll
of 12. Limit promotion to once per 4-year term.
(5) Skills: Forgery and Bribery should not be 'Desk Job' skills.
Substitute Liaison and Legal. 'Desk Jobs' are generally not
directly involved in day-to-day crime fighting; rather, they
represent the administrative and logistical support for the
day-to-day crime fighting represented largely by Homicide/
Detective and Beat Cop.
Drop 'Brawling' from Detective/Homicide. Substitute Legal. This
is mostly an investigative position, rather than an active
go-get-them position. Once the detectives gather the evidence for
an arrest, they generally make it on a warrant and a quiet visit
- - 'Mr. Smith, I have a warrant for your arrest, please come with
me.' Since detectives often work in plain clothes, it's not
unusual for a 'Beat Cop' to accompany them; his purpose is to do
the brawling if necessary - and it usually isn't, surprisingly.
Drop Liaison from 'Beat Cop' - they don't get the chance to
'liaise'. A better one to substitute would be Carousing.
Drop Carousing from Elite Force/Vice Squad. This makes room for
Gun Cbt (long firearm).
Change 'Instruction' in 'Beat Cop' to 'Jack-of-all-Trades'. The
street cop isn't going to get much chance to teach while on the
job; rather, he'll find where the teachers failed to deal with or
appreciate the _reality_ of the street - training is often
simplified over reality to drive home a point.
Change 'Jack-of-all-Trades' in 'Desk Job' to 'Instruction'. The
trainer typically hasn't gone on the street in years, because
they discovered he had a talent for explaining things pretty
clearly - which is what you need when you're dealing with the
average street cop.
Change 'Bribery' in Elite Force/Vice Squad to 'Vice', which
cascades to Bribery, Forgery, or Intrusion (which covers things
like lockpicking, safecracking, and fingerprinting). Note that
the police cover these skills less from the point of view of 'how
to do it' than from the point of view of 'how to detect when it's
being done'. Intrusion also covers things like computer
cracking(hacking), wiretapping, and other high-tech
information-gathering techniques, but these would not be the
preferred skills in Elite Force/Vice Squad. See the next
comment.
You really need a seventh slot in Elite Unit/High-Tech. Since we
can't get that, drop the Jack-of-all-Trades and substitute
Intrusion, noting that the high-tech versions should be preferred
over the low-tech.
(6) Specials: One of the Corruption entries should be On Trial.
Regrettably, cops aren't immune to committing crimes other than
those things that are normally thought of as 'corruption'.
Consider, for example, the Rodney King case (Los Angeles), the
Amadou Diallo case (New York), the Anthony Baez/Frank Livoti case
(New York; Livoti was the cop accused of killing Baez), the Abner
Louima case (New York) - none of these were 'corruption'; they
were outright criminal assault (called 'brutality').
If a character gets a special of On Trial or Corruption, and does
_not_ end up discharged or jailed, or as a Hero, the next year's
assignment should automatically be Disciplinary. See
Disciplinary, below.
(7) Ranks: If a player has ever been assigned to
Detective/Homicide, Rank 1 should be Detective, otherwise Police
Officer.
Rank 1 - Detective/Police Officer
Rank 2 - Sergeant
Rank 3 - Lieutenant
Rank 4 - Captain
Rank 5 - Inspector
Rank 6 - Chief
(8) Assignment: Disciplinary. This is usually a 'Beat Cop' type
of assignment, but the character is on probation, and must keep
squeaky-clean. Resolve as normal for Beat Cop, but do not roll
for promotion, and apply the following changes:
When rolling for special, ignore results of 4+.
When resolving On Trial or Corruption, DM-2.
Do not roll for Change; next assignment will be Beat Cop
without these modifications.
If the bookkeeping can manage it, this character should
henceforth have a permanent DM-1 for promotion.
Overall, you've done a good job on this; were I not involved with
the police department, I'd think your original is just fine. If
you've no objection, I'd like to take your original, modify it as
I've suggested above, and incorporate it into Freelance
Traveller, with joint author credit (you as 'senior' author).
Please write me privately with your thoughts on this. (Use either
freelancetraveller@yahoo.com (preferred) or the posting address.)
Disclaimer: The New York City Police Department allows me to have
my own opinions. Since they do, and I do, I don't post theirs.
Besides, I pay for this account with my own money.
®Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture
Enterprises, 1977-1999. Use of the trademark in
this notice and in the referenced materials is not
intended to infringe or devalue the trademark.
- --
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller - The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource
http://come.to/FreelanceTraveller
http://www.downport.com/freelancetraveller/Default.htm
freelancetraveller@yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 21:24:33 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Re Nukes
In mail you write:
>> Several things:
>> Terrorist Attacks: High yield, small package, easy to smuggle that way.
>
> Ah yes, of course, should have thought of that one.
>> Infrastructure destruction
>
> Hmm, this is a posibility if you're not worried about the side-effects, the
> target is not hardened, and don't care if you take out everythng around the
> target as well. In recent wars it has been shown that precision-guided
> conventional munitions are much better for this purpose.
Depends. We've yet to have a "small conflict" where we needed to take
out something big and sturdy. Closest we've come were some of Saddam's
bunkers.
> Of course, if no-one uses nukes, maybe they didn't bother, but I suspect
> spaceships are going to be EMP-proof by nature, given all the radiation they
> have to put up with normally.
Well, there's a difference between radiation (gamma rays, x-rays, and
high velocity particles) and EMP. Shielding against radiation won't do
diddly against EMP and vice versa.
Unless a ship spends a lot of time *close* to a *very* active star,
their protection against EMP is going to be fairly minimal.
>> Sensor Blinding: H-Bombs are VERY effective at short term blinding of
>> sensors; Orbital Flashing should cover even a massive jump-in
>
> This could be considered a draw-back of nuclear weapons, as it does the same
> thing to your sensors, though yes, if you need to blind everybody's sensors
> for a short time for some reason, they are good.
There's also the question of "what do you mean by 'blind'?". Some
sensors suffer permanent damage from overloads above a certain level.
Other's just quit working until the signal gets reasonable. And some
have a period after the overload where they have to "recover" before
reaching full sensitivity.
Woe unto the attacker who thinks the enemy sensors are the first kind,
or even the third kind if they are actually the second kind. Sort of
like attacking at night and then finding out the enemy has IR and
nightvision gear. Oops.
> But again they'll only affect electro-magnetic sensors, mass detectors would
> be unaffected, for example.
Maybe. Sufficiently advanced mass detectors (mass detectors generally
detect *density* variations, rather than actual "mass") might have
trouble with the rapidly moving density changes due to the shockwave
and the like.
- --
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort
------------------------------
End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1407
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