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Subject: TML Bundle #179: Msgs 2241-2251
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TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
maintained by James Perkins, traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com.

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

Date: Sun Apr  7 21:00:09 PDT 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #179: Table of Contents

-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2243  28-Mar-91 METLAY@vms.cis.pi The Big, BIG picture: Introduction, first dra
2244  28-Mar-91 wew@naucse.cse.na New ver of mtbchar shareware prog. << Since m
2245  28-Mar-91 bart@cs.uoregon.e Re: A Stooopid idea (really: what temperature
2246  28-Mar-91 bart@cs.uoregon.e PBEM Hydrogen Explosion In Space? << I'm sure
2247  30-Mar-91 George William He Last Rites for COACC << I've been part of the
2248  30-Mar-91 Richard Johnson   Re: Vacuous H2 Explosions... << Day before ye
2249  01-Apr-91 richard@oresoft.C The 80K++ Blues << Been working on the PBEM t
2250  02-Apr-91 richard@oresoft.C How a Pilot Sees a Landing Strip << A critica
2251  02-Apr-91 richard@oresoft.C PBEM - Please shut up for a couple of days! <
2252  02-Apr-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Re: (2247) Last Rites for COACC << > From: Ge
2253  02-Apr-91 "Robert S. Dean"  Adjutant Vehicle Books << I stopped in at my 

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2243
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 12:36 EDT
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: The Big, BIG picture: Introduction, first draft. Comments, please?



THE BIG BIG PICTURE

A Do-It-Yourself Map of the Known Universe for Traveller
by metlay, from data published by, and copyrighted by, GDW and DGP.

- - ---

Version 1.0

Contains information from: 
a. all published Game Designers Workshop books, modules and adventures to date
b. all materials published to date by Digest Group Publications
c. all issues of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society and Challenge
d. all issues of the Traveller's Digest EXCEPT 5, 6, and 7
e. all sector data uploaded to GEnie

Does NOT include information from:
a. the now-excommunicated data that appeared in star charts by Paranoia Press
(Beyond, Vanguard Reaches) and Judges' Guild (Ley Sector, Glimmerdrift 
Reaches, Crucis Margin, and Maranantha-Alkahest (now renamed    ))
b. sectors of Reavers' Deep and the Old Expanses that appeared in High Passage
and Far Traveller whose officialdom is uncertain
c. The HIWG or other "official but not widely published" sources, INCLUDING
the complete Atlas of the Imperium data that I have from Bart Simpson but
have not determined if I can distribute freely
d. Efforts to crosscheck or verify any of these sources, some of which are 
known to be incomplete or inconsistent in places. This should not discourage 
the referee or the players; these errors are usually small.

New official data (MegaTraveller Journal issues, HIWG, etc) will be added to 
future versions.

- - ---

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Make a grid of squares on a big piece of paper, 18 wide by 11 high.

2. Number the grid as given in the Handy Chart (see Handy Chart, below).

3. Once you've laid out the chart in your own preferred fashion, just write
   in the relevant data from the Handy Database (see Handy Database, below).
   You have the option of putting in as much or as little data as you wish.

4. Voila! You now know as much about this Swiss-cheese universe our 
   characters live in as I do. Isn't that exciting?

- - ---

			*** HANDY CHART ***

  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18

 19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36

 37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54

 55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72

 73  74  75  76  77  78  79  80  81  82  83  84  85  86  87  88  89  90

 91  92  93  94  95  96  97  98  99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108

109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126

127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 

145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162

163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180

181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198

- - ---

			*** HANDY DATABASE ***

Use as much or as little data for each sector as you wish. I have tried
to be as thorough as possible in listing references, and I expect all you
little munchkins to doublecheck my every word and number, okay?

Here's a key to the listings, with a sample listing to give you a feel for how
to read them: 

KEY

The first number is the sector's location on the Handy Chart. Note that the 
entirety of known space is represented on the grid, with the exception of a 
corridor approximately one sector wide and many, many sectors long stretching 
from the coreward border of the Zhodani Consulate halfway to the center of the 
Galaxy. Nothing is known of the territory of this corridor yet, other than a 
few names of administrative districts and one fully-colonized sector, called
            (We anticipate more information on this and other boundaries, in a 
promised but not yet scheduled book on frontier explorations from DGP.)

The NAME is given in capital letters, followed by alternate names where known.
The first name listed is in capitals, and is the prevailing name in use in the 
Imperium, NOT necessarily that used by the natives of the sector, although for 
sectors far removed from the Imperium that is often the default. The codes for
the various languages are:

A - Aslan (Trokh)
B - Bilandin (old high Vilani)
I - Imperial (Galanglic: used for Solomani and Hiver sectors as well)
K - K'Kree
V - Vargr (usually Gvegh)
Z - Zhodani

The next line lists the pertinent data available, followed by the reference 
where it may be found and the amount of the sector covered by the reference
listed. If there is no second line, that means nothing at all is known about
the sector except its name(s), a fairly common occurrence due to the inclusion 
of wide-ranging sector maps in many of the Classic Traveller Alien Modules.
Names for core-spinward sectors are from the Zhodani Module (4), coreward 
sectors are named in the Vargr Module (3) and in the Vilani and Vargr book,
core-trailing sectors are named in the K'kree Module (2), rim-spinward sectors
are named in the Aslan Module (1), and trailing and rim-trailing sectors are 
named in the Hiver Module (7). The Solomani Module (6) contains no new data of 
this type, largely overlapping with the Hiver and Aslan maps, and the same is 
true for the map in the Droyne Module (5). 

The data codes are:

SC Star Chart-- usually includes presence of water or asteroid belts, starport
   type, allegiance code (may be wrong if map is from Trav Classic), gas giant
   and bases if any. Names are only available for High-Population worlds.

UWP Full Universal World Profile listings-- includes, except in very old 
    references, eight-digit UWP and three-digit addendum, hex locale, star
    type, and trade and Zone classifications. Does NOT always have all names.

NM All names are given for all worlds, not just High Population ones.

BR Borders of interstellar states, and Xboat and other main news routes, are 
   shown graphically.

ALL Comprises all of the above data in a comprehensive listing.

- - --> NOTE: Not all of these classifications are nested. For example, GEnie 
listings as raw ASCII are UWP only, and NM only on occasion, but the program
written by Mark Cook can create SC on a subsector basis. The Atlas of the
Imperium is SC only. Several sector listings in Traveller's Digest are BR 
only, and so on. Generally subsectors reproduced on their own have ALL data.

Codes for references include:

Sup - Supplement 
Adv - Adventure 
Dbl - Double Adventure 
AM  - Alien Module
TTB - The Traveller Book       \  These four sources contain a great deal
TTA - The Traveller Adventure   | of data about the Spinward Marches: maps
SMC - The Spinward Marches      | of trade routes, histories, battles, etc.
MT  - MegaTraveller Rules      /  Such extra detail is unique to the Marches.
AI  - Atlas of the Imperium
TAS - Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society (includes Challenge)
TD  - Traveller's Digest
MTJ - MegaTraveller Journal
GE  - GEnie Sector Listings
MTA - MegTraveller Alien Book (e.g. Vilani and Vargr = MTA1)

The codes for data extent are:

:all - Entire sector represented
:A,B - Subsectors A and B represented, per the usual array:

		SUBSECTORS IN A SECTOR

			A  B  C  D

			E  F  G  H

			I  J  K  L

			M  N  O  P

- - --> NOTE that information on single worlds, no matter how detailed, is
excluded from this listing. We deal in sectors and subsectors ONLY.

SAMPLE

200	ARGENT (G)/Zhdatlqats(Z)/Grrnokhvrrgaeng(V)/Mulikaa(B)
	SC UWP (GE:all), SC UWP NM BR (Dbl9:J,K) (Adv14:A,B,E,F)

Sector number 200 on the Handy Chart is called Argent by the Imperium and 
other Galanglic-speaking peoples, and its other names are listed. The Star
Chart and UWP listing is obtainable from GEnie's archives, but full data
(note that we could have written "SC UWP NM BR" as simply "ALL") is available
from Double Adventure 9 for subsectors J and K, and from Adventure 14 for
subsectors A, B, E and F.

Easy, right? OK, then, here are the listings:

- - ---

[end of part 1. Actual listing data follows in part 2, still being written]


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

Archive-Message-Number: 2244
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 10:43:49 -0700
From: wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu (Bill Wilson)
Subject: New ver of mtbchar shareware prog.

Since my programs are still in test and development, you may want to 
check the FIXES and GM directory for new versions of the software.
My machine is wew.ucc.nau.edu and is up mon-fri between 0900 & 1600 mst.
The machine can go down at any time though.  It is a 386 PC running
under Windows 3.0.

Let sleeping dragons lie........                    | The RoleMancer 
- - --------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Wilson (wew@naucse.cse.nau.edu | ucc2wew@nauvm | wilson@nauvax)
Northern AZ Univ  Flagstaff, AZ 86011

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2245
Subject: Re: A Stooopid idea (really: what temperature is liquid hydrogen)
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 14:42:08 -0800
From: bart@cs.uoregon.edu

In TML V15#3 msg 2241 Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie> writes:
...
> 	They all have ship's suits (tailored vacc suits). It says they can
> withstand temperatures up to -110C. So given the large storage tanks of
> liquid hydrogen he was thinking of encouraging her to take a dip.
> 	So the question is what temperature is hydrogen fuel [or methane or
> whatever] stored at? How long could Annie swim before it became more than
> invigorating [she has lots of her own insulation]?

Hmm.  LH2 has a density of about 70Kg/m^3, LH2O about 1g/cm^3 = 1000Kg/m^3 ,
thus LH2O is about 14 times denser than LH2 -- it's also much more viscous
than LH2, although I don't have those numbers handy.

I suspect than Annie would dive into the LH2 tank, fall like a rock to the
bottom, and rupture her suit.  At the very least, she'd be trapped at the
bottom of the tank, in a -110C vac suit, in a -240C liquid.  BRR!

BTW, why are the low-temp numbers for vac suits so very low?  After all, the
big problem in space is getting *rid* of body heat, not conserving it -- the
vacuum outside the suit is at a very low temperature, but it's also a darn
good insulator! :-)  I suspect that the -110C rating corresponds to a much
lower rate of *heat loss* than one would experience immersed in LH2.

Thus Annie would probably be Anniesicle before she even hit bottom...

It's hard to say what temperature the LH2 would actually be stored
at, but I can't think of any good reason why it would be deliberately kept
much cooler than its boiling point, cited above.  With a pressurized system,
the system might well reach equilibrium with the cabin temperature and still
contain some liquid, in which case Annie could sit down there for quite a while,
unless the pressure was enough to squish her the moment when she somehow got
into the tank without depressurizing it -- I haven't calculated this.

See the recent PBEM summary for what might happen if she does somehow
accidentally release a tremendous quantity of gaseous LH2 into the oxygenated
atmosphere in the process of getting into the tank :-).

All in all, I don't like Annie's chances on this one :-) :-).

					Bart Massey
					bart@cs.uoregon.edu

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2246
Subject: PBEM Hydrogen Explosion In Space?
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 91 14:47:18 -0800
From: bart@cs.uoregon.edu

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I've a question vaguely related to
my previous message.

As I understood it, recently in the PBEM campaign being reported on this
list, a fuel ship leaked a big cloud of hydrogen into space, and then one
of the ships ignited or exploded it as a diversion.  Why did it ignite or
explode?  It seems like it wouldn't, unless there was also some other chemical
about for it to combine with.  Was it a nuclear explosion?  Seems like the
conditions for this would be pretty unlikely in a small cloud of hydrogen
in deep space...

Probably just being stupid, or misunderstood the description.

					Bart Massey
					bart@cs.uoregon.edu

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2247
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 91 12:11:31 -0800
From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: Last Rites for COACC


	I've been part of the TDR vehicles group, and a rules rewriter for my
own good for a lot longer.  I've recently come to the conclusion that COACC
is _bad_ and should be ignored in entirety.  (well, not recently, but my 
attempts to fix it in a reasonable manner are failing miserably).

	Is there anyone out there who thinks that there is anything salvagable
from COACC?  If so, what and why?

- - -george william herbert
gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2248
Subject: Re: Vacuous H2 Explosions...
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 91 10:01:39 PST
From: Richard Johnson <richard%agora.rain.com@RELAY.CS.NET>

Day before yesterday, Bart Massey said:

:Thus Annie would probably be Anniesicle before she even hit bottom...

Oops, wrong message, butit sure was good :-)


:As I understood it, recently in the PBEM campaign being reported on this
:list, a fuel ship leaked a big cloud of hydrogen into space, and then one
:of the ships ignited or exploded it as a diversion.  Why did it ignite or
:explode?  It seems like it wouldn't, unless there was also some other chemical
:about for it to combine with.  Was it a nuclear explosion?  Seems like the
:conditions for this would be pretty unlikely in a small cloud of hydrogen
:in deep space...
:
:Probably just being stupid, or misunderstood the description.
:
:					Bart Massey
:					bart@cs.uoregon.edu
:

Uhmm, er, uh,.... stammer..
Well, the *REAL* reason is because it was spectacular, fit well in the game,
and seemed almost plausible.

For the purposes of the game, I'm gonna let the characters decide if they
want to worry about this little detail.  I can't think of any reason in
our common reality why it should have expolded, sans other chemicals in
the mix.  There might have been, there  might not, I haven't had to rule
on that yet :-).

Oh yes, it was NOT NOT NOT thermonuclear.  Niether was it some kind of
fission.  (Beats the he** out of me how someone could split H2 anyway.)

I will also go out on a limb and say that the crew of the Alcyon had the
materials, and enough on the stick intellectually to make it happen.

Your not being stupid, just observant.  How come you're not on board?
:-)

Richard
PBEM ref - home of the pharosian bitching cactus   richard@agora.rain.com


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

Archive-Message-Number: 2249
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: The 80K++ Blues
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 91 7:41:52 PST

Been working on the PBEM turn all weekend.  So far I have it down to ~84K
bytes, and mor or less in order.  It covers the first three days of jump.
Unfortunately, I have only about six hours of stuff from the R-alpha and
Aslan folks.    C'mon you guys.  If you're quick (next day +/-) I can land
you.  I also want to hear a little bit from the physical and social
sciences teams (Werner, Morser, etc.)  You guys have been cloistered up
against your terminals too long.  It's time to come out and say a few
words to your comrades.
- - -- 
Average number of hours worked per year:          //      Richard Johnson
Japan - 2,052;  U.S. - 1,962; Germany - 1,642    //   richard@oresoft.com
Goal of Japanese Trade Union: 1,800/yr         \X/ richard@agora.rain.com
(Oregon Business, March 1991)

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2250
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: How a Pilot Sees a Landing Strip
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 8:08:49 PST



A critical eye would rate all of these one level less than I did.
Anyway, here's some non-copyright material to feed your imaginations
for describing "that" landing pad in your next adventure.

Last night, I went out and knocked some winter-accumulated rust (this is
Oregon) off my flying skills.  Here is a brief list of a few places I
"visited" (that is, I landed, stopped, and (maybe) took off).

Stop one:  Flying M Ranch
   This is a small, "dude ranch" resort on the Yamhill River, in the Coast
   Range.  The airstrip is gravel, 6 m X 650 m, and nestled between the 
   river and the tree line at the bottom of a box canyon.  No fuel or
   repairs are available.  No navigation aids exist.

   I rate this one  CLASS D in the TM scheme of things.

   I made my skill rolls (with some serious sweat) on the crosswind
   landing, and easily on the cross wind, short-field takeoff.


Stop two:  Hillsboro  (Offically Portland International/Hillsboro)
   This is Oregon's second busiest airport.  There are two paved runways, 
   one 50 m X 1900 m, one 50 m X 1400 m.  It has a full-time control 
   tower, visual and radio navigation aids, runway and approach lighting.
   Several different vendors offer fuel, services, and hauling.

   I rate this one CLASS B in the TM scheme of things.

   Skill rolls for this were trivial (just don't snake-eye the dice).


Stop three: Twin Oaks
	This is a paved 15m X 875m strip near Hillsboro.  The navaids for
	Hillsboro can be used.  Runway lights are available.  There is no
	tower or even full-time radio watch.  It is a one way strip -- that is
	you have to take off to the south, and land to the north.  (My "home"
	airport).  Some service and fuel are available.

	I rate this one CLASS C in the TM scheme.

	Great landing, but minor panic, 'cause I carefully scheduled this to
	happen after darkness fell.

Explanation:
    I would rate Flying M Class E if it were grass, mud, or snow, or a
	little shorter, or if there weren't a really neat restaurant there.
	($100 hamburger anyone?)

	I don't rate Hillsboro class A 'cause there is no RADAR coverage, no
	mandatory altitude or radio coverage.   I'd like to save the "A"
	rating for the BIG 'ports like Heathrow, JFK, LAX, Tokyo, etc.

- - -- 
Mycologists Are Fun Guys                          //      Richard Johnson
(Seen on a bumper sticker)                       //   richard@oresoft.com
                                               \X/ richard@agora.rain.com

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2251
From: richard@oresoft.COM (Richard Johnson)
Subject: PBEM - Please shut up for a couple of days!
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 7:37:08 PST


Woe is me.

Here am I, diligently trying to get a turn out almost on time, and you
guys keep on adding stuff even as I compile.  Ordinarily, I'd just ignore
it, but it's too good.  All of you on the Alcyon SHUT UP until you get
the next turn.  A couple of you are starting to get yourselves out of sync
again...

Of course, my invitation to the R-alpha natives and the Aslan to yap away
is still open.


====
I probably have 5 to 10 hours more work to do on this turn, so I should be
able to get it out this week.  Right now I'm shooting for posting it
during the work week (difficult, int, writing, luck, fateful).  So
whatever you say after Wednesday will not get heard.  I usually get two
day or less turnaround to everywhere, so I can be reasonbly sure of
getting what you say on Wednesday by Friday.	
====

Thank you for your support.

Killer trivia question:  Why is it that all of the very best game material
						 is delivered in private, between two or three
						 characters, rather than publicly?

- - -- 
Mycologists Are Fun Guys                          //      Richard Johnson
(Seen on a bumper sticker)                       //   richard@oresoft.com
                                               \X/ richard@agora.rain.com

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2252
Date:     Tue, 2 Apr 91 15:38:42 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Re:  (2247) Last Rites for COACC

> From: George William Herbert <gwh@ocf.Berkeley.EDU>
> Subject: (2247) Last Rites for COACC
> 
> 	I've been part of the TDR vehicles group, and a rules rewriter for my
> own good for a lot longer.  I've recently come to the conclusion that COACC
> is _bad_ and should be ignored in entirety.  (well, not recently, but my 
> attempts to fix it in a reasonable manner are failing miserably).
> 
> 	Is there anyone out there who thinks that there is anything salvagable
> from COACC?  If so, what and why?

There is probably very little that is salvagable from COACC...bombs, rockets,
and external ordnance racks being about the extent of it.  As far as I can
tell, too many inconsistencies exist between COACC and the Referee's Manual
design system to allow craft from one to compete on an equal footing with
craft from the other.  Scott Kellogg's _Indianapolis_ series space fighters,
with their single computers, lack of armor, and batteries worth of externally
slung missiles provide an excellent example of this problem.  (Not to mention
the fusion rockets that Dow Rieder assures us have a greater than light speed
exhaust. I should also mention that the external missiles portion of Scott's
designs is reasonable, and I'd support its incoporporation into TDR Air.)

Aircraft damage capacity is hugely inflated, and controls are not consistent
with the ref's manual.  I feel strongly that any rewrite should specifically
take into account dogfights between grav vehicles and aircraft, because there
is no real way to determine the "equivalent agility" of grav vehicles as things
stand now.  

I did like some of the general ideas introduced in COACC--like helicopter and
airship design, but I can't say that they are well implemented.

Rob Dean


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

Archive-Message-Number: 2253
Date:     Tue, 2 Apr 91 16:04:57 EST
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  Adjutant Vehicle Books

I stopped in at my local game store last night, and looked through their
distributor catalogs.  A group of vehicle books, grouped by types like "Tanks",
"Hovercraft" and so forth is supposedly available from someone(?) called
Adjutant(?).  Before I request the shop to order these for me, has anyone seen
them?

(All you need is more vehicles, I hear you saying...)

Rob Dean


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

End of TML Bundle
*****************

