			    TRAVELLER Digest 408

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) The Regency and the Zhodani
	by Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  2) Automatic fire...
	by Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  3) RICE Paper #AWP-00205: Antra
	by Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
  4) Re: Heplar Missiles
	by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  5) HEPlaR Missile, and Q&D idea...
	by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  6) Locking a missile (FYI)
	by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)

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

Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 10:24:06 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: The Regency and the Zhodani
Message-ID: <0507c3e0@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

     Responding to Alvin Plummer's suggestions:
     
     >>Alternate development routes: Well, the Regency could try to 
     crash-develop it's area: instead of rebuilding the Wilds, they can 
     instead up the general tech level of it's current area.  Even better 
     if you up the population to equal the Zho population, in a volume of 
     space maybe 1/4 of the Zho's.  The reconquest of the Imperium would 
     fit quite nicely in this plan.<<
     
     So are you suggesting that the Regency might want to develop a reverse 
     colonization program?  Encouraging the inhabited planets in the wilds 
     to emigrate _to_ the Regency?  Or encourage fertility among their 
     indigenous populations?
     
     I doubt it.  While the wilds have floundered and billions of people 
     have perished in what once was Imperial space, the Regency has 
     continued to go about their day-to-day business.  This includes having 
     babies and continually increasing the population.  While a large 
     number of scientists (including Carl Sagan, for one) have hypothesized 
     that we cannot develop interstellar travel until we have achieved 
     zero-population growth as a race, there's nothing to say that once we 
     _do_ have interstellar travel, we won't proceed to overpopulate the 
     planets we colonize.
     
     That said, I don't think that most worlds are going to want to beef up 
     their populations to combat the Zhodani threat.  What's the point?  
     The technical edge the Regency has over the Zhodani makes the Regency 
     undigestible by the Zhodani.  Surely the stable homogeneous Zhodani 
     wouldn't want to upset the balance of their society by undertaking a 
     war so massive that it takes all their resources and upsets the very 
     foundation upon which their society is built.  Even a long-term, more 
     covert war would gobble up huge resources, especially once the 
     trigger-happy Regency gets wind of the scale of such an operation.
     
     Other than importing colonists _from_ the wilds, I don't see how the 
     Regency could quickly hyperpopulate their 800 worlds.  And that just 
     doesn't seem feasible.  Furthermore, any program to increase fertility 
     or encourage child-rearing won't meet favorably with the public.  
     Highly industrialized, modern societies just don't increase their 
     populations as quickly as poor underdeveloped ones do.  Most Regency 
     systems, I would guess, fall into the former category.  
     
     I once heard about a public program in Israel that encouraged married 
     couples to have numerous children, in response to reports that the 
     Palestinian population was growing exponentially faster.  I don't know 
     how this is going, but I doubt that Israelis are trying to have any 
     more children than they already would have planned on.
     
     >>Question: why should the Regency even strive for it's independence 
     from Zho economic & cultural domination?  It could instead forsake 
     rebuilding the Imperium, and just be a comfortable, peaseful client 
     state of the Consulate.  Done right, I bet this could be very 
     comfortable for everyone involved. Just ask the Welsh, the Canadians, 
     the Mongolians, the Darians (the Roman ones, not the Marches version), 
     the Quebecois, or any other client state you care to name.<<
     
     But even more important, why would the Zhodani even strive to 
     _incorporate_ the Regency as a client state or otherwise?
     
     There are several reasons why the Zhodani would not want to.  Among 
     them:
     
     1)  The Zhodani are an extremely orderly and homogeneous society.  
     While Zhodani governments vary as much as Regency or former Imperial 
     governments do, there are several elements that are the same across 
     the board for the Zhodani.  All governments are psionic dominated.  
     And all are ruled by pureblood Zhodani.
     
     2)  The Zhodani are an extremely conservative society.  Expansion 
     throughout history has been orderly and at a uniform rate.  The 
     Zhodani Consulate extends at almost equal distances in all directions 
     from Zhdant because of carefully managed, meticulously governed 
     colonization.  Except for the coreward expeditions that is, but that's 
     an anomaly, since those were inspired by a unique Ancient artifact 
     that showed them the way to go.
     
     [Hmm.  What the heck _have_ those Zhos found out there, anyway?!]
     
     3)  The threat of virus still exists.  Why not keep the Regency in its 
     present state as a buffer zone?  Any mass attack into the Regency 
     would tangentially effect the Zhodani as well if they affiliate 
     themselves with the Regency.  You've heard the proverb, "The enemy of 
     my friend is my enemy"?  It applies here.  And I think the Zhos know 
     it.  Better to maintain friendly relations without becoming too 
     involved or committed, lest the Zhodani themselves become embroiled in 
     the mess that was the Imperium.
     
     In short, I believe the status quo is the likely future.  The Zhodani 
     are going to keep to themselves and pursue their coreward expeditions. 
     No wars to fight.  No espionage to become involved with.  Just new 
     worlds to conquer.
     
     If anything, the Zhodani are going to be more congenial with the 
     Regency than they ever have with the region throughout history.
     
     The roleplaying opportunities are enhanced by this since we don't just 
     have to view the Zhodani as sneaky guys in the spinward subsectors.  
     They are now both friend and enemy:  goodwill diplomat and espionage 
     agent.
     
     --Chris

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

Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 10:34:01 -0700
From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Automatic fire...
Message-ID: <0507e8f0@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

     >>>I have a question about Fire Combat in TNE...
     
     > Bob, slug pistol asset of 16, opens up with his custom gauss pistol
     >on his opponent at short range. Now firing single shots (recoil 1) he
     >could fire 5 shots (his str is 7) with a Difficult task, hitting on a
     >d20 roll of 16 or less with each bullet. OR he could fire a 5 round
     >burst (recoil 3) and those same 5 bullets would only hit on a roll of
     >4 or less on d20 roll. Is this correct? and if so, why?!?! It makes 
     no
     >sense to me... 
     
     Well, he can actually fire 2 5-round bursts without recoil problems...
     At, as you say, to hit on a roll of 4 for each of 10 shots...
     
     Yes, this makes sense... it's what Col. Cooper and others derisively 
     call the "Spray and Pray" technique of shooting.  I.E., spray lots of 
     lead in the general direction of your enemy and pray that you hit... 
     It is known for being the technique of choice for people who don't 
     know how to shoot.<<
     
     And furthermore, automatic fire is particularly useful when firing 
     into a crowd of targets.  Don't forget that while you may miss your 
     front line of targets, the rules dictate that for all the shots that 
     missed secondary rolls are made to determine who among the people or 
     objects _behind_ the primary target are hit by stray automatic fire.  
     So while all the shots are at Impossible level, at least you get 
     several shots at hitting multiple targets.
     
     A player's best bet is to fire single shots if he wants to hit a small 
     group of targets or bursts if he's fighting a squad or more.
     
     --Chris

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

Date: Fri, 08 Sep 1995 16:22:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RICE Paper #AWP-00205: Antra
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950908111448.22995A-100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>


Antre (Antra: Deneb/1808)
A53789C-E S Cp  701  RE M0V M3V
g=0.623 Day=19:26:42.00 Year (Imperial) 46d 17:13:23.10 (Local) 57d 15:52:12.34
atmos=0.2312, controlled weather (special)           TNE weather +1
Temp= +29 (5/lat +44 to -6)  (Season +27 to -45, 8 deg lat)
daily temp range = (+8 noon, -78 midnight)
Ores, Radioactives; Nonmetals; Recordings, Artforms, Software, Documents
Conservative/Indifferent, Unaggressive/Concilatory, Harmonious/Xenoplobic
Legal: C-9CHIB                                  Tech: EE-EEGEE-EEEE-FG-G

NOTE: due to the Worldroof - built as a major scientific experiment, and an 
implicit example of Imperial power to the Vargr, by order of Emperess 
Porfiria in 271, and finally completed in 883 - and extensive weather 
control (possibly the best in the Galaxy)

      - atmos should be changed to 1.000: thus, the air is breathable
      - TNE Weather changed to +8 (almost always crystal-clear weather, 
        sometimes overcast)
      - daily temperature range = -10 noon, -20 midnight
        (Lowering the base temp to 19 degrees, but decreasing the 
        severity of the nighttime from -78 to -20) 

Antra, it's worldroof one of the Seven Wonders of the Imperium, is a must 
for any tourist of Deneb Sector.  Despite the long, tedious and invading 
antiViral procedures, Antra still is a busy port of call, for it's 
artworks and tourism sites, it's vast radioactive mines - the 
largest in 25 parsecs - and it's political connections.  Still, caution 
is called for when among the xenophobic Antrans, and the beautiful towers 
that support the famed Worldroof is supported by some nasty foundations... 

Index: 
   THE ANTIVIRAL RUNDAROUND
   THE WORLDROOF
   ARRIVING ON ANTRA
   FESTIVAL
   ATTITUDE TO VISITORS
   IMMIGRANTS
   RELIGION
   "WE OURSELVES"
 
THE ANTIVIRUS RUNAROUND

Situated on the very edge of the Regency/Virus border, the incoming 
traveller can expect Trin-level paranoia. And just as well: if for any 
reason Virus enters the system, the 700 million people of Antra are as 
dead as Dulinor.

Any ship filing a direct flight plan to Antra is immediately pointed to 
the nearest Regency Quarrentine Office.  In cooperation with the  Antran 
government, the RQS keeps a set of specific travel routes and jump 
routines controlling movement within the Antran system, which vary from 
time to time.  The computer module of flight routine for the specific time 
that the traders intend to be in the system is directly plugged into the 
various computer systems of the ship by RQS personnnel, and an RQS  
officer is posted to the ship for the week's trip.

Before leaving for Antra, the ship is carefully checked out by an RQS 
team, taking a day per 100 tons displacement.  Everyone is given a 
complete physical examination: noone with artifical inorganic 
enhansements is permitted to continue on the voyage, on pain of death.

When they first arrive from jump the ship follows it's pre-computated flight 
plan to a preselected position and vector in space.  The RQS officer on 
board must radio for a RQS cutter to meet them, using a special one-time 
code that only the RQS officer on board knows.
  
NOTE: Antra is within 100 diameters of it's primary star: the ship leaves 
jump space between 155 and 355 light-seconds from Antra, depending on 
orbitl mechanics, the skill of the pilot, etc.  With the pre-computed 
jump co-ordinates, the ship always leaves jump exactly opposite of Antra's 
position, 355 light-seconds away on the other side of the star.

Ships that do not conform to the specific flight plan must immediately 
kill their velosity, and come to a dead halt.  The people on board must 
put on their space suits and cross over to the RQS cutter.  The ship is 
impounded, and usually considered forfeited to the Antran government if 
free of Virus.  If the ship is found to be infected, the crew have their 
personalities reconstructed.

Ships that don't come to a stop, for whatever reason, are destroyed. 

The cutter boards the ship and an RQS team carefully looks it over for Virus.
Since this is a lighter team that the previous base-check, it only takes 
a few hours before the ship is underway again, to a nearby (usually under 
20 light-seconds) RQS space station.

The RQS station - basically an underarmed naval base, designed to take 
on a flotilla of 100 ships of up to 1000 disp tons each - AGAIN 
checks out the ship for Virus.  After about half a day - regardless of 
the size of the ship, the local crew is large, good, well equipped, and fast 
enough to process it in under 12 hours - the ship, without it's escort 
but still with it's babysitting RQS officer onboard, finally heads for Antra.

Your ship will be halted and inspected 10 light seconds from Antra, not 
by a RQS cutter by a 1000-6000 ton SDB.   

THE WORLDROOF

As you finally approach Antra (at 1G, as per regulations), bathed under the 
dull red light of it's star, you start to notice that it seems to be 
largely encased by glass. And when you arrive at the Highport - attached to 
Antra by a 50 km elevator - the vast Worldroof of Antra is revealed in 
all it's glory.  It covering over 80% of Antra, composed by a mosaic of 
hexagonal "glass" cells suspended in the air by 1,774  2km high 'tower 
groups'.  Each 'tower group' is composed of seven towers: six towers  
supports the roof, generates power (via both capturing a small percent of 
the star's radiated energy and the 200-300 km winds), and provides the 
best weather control in the Regency (or for that matter, in the 
preCollapse Imperium).

The seventh tower is either an industrial or residential centre.  
Industrial centres were built with 5,000 inhabitants, residental centres 
- basically tower cities, in a style familiar on high-tech worlds - holds 
up to 500,000 people.

No ship ever lands on Antra: the high-atmosphere winds are both fast and 
fickle, continually shifting to equalize the tempertature between the 
dark and light sides of Antra.  Also, it's a security measure by the 
Antrans to again insure that Virus doesn't get in. Thus, all transport 
is via the Highport elevator.

(REFEREE: Why doesn't the atmosphere flow out of the 20% of the world not 
covered by the Worldroof?  Ask the British Interplanetary Society: 
they're the ones who came up with this crazy idea!  The 'high-winds' 
part is a natural consequence of equalizing the temperatures, and 
moderating the nighttime low to the extent that the Antran want to: it 
should be doable given TL E tech.)

ARRIVING ON ANTRA

All people, articles and cargo is completely checked out by local antiVirus 
teams on the Highport, taking another day. (This includes medical 
examinations: no people with ANY artifical inorganic enhansements is 
permitted insystem.  If caught in this stage of the game, they will be 
killed.)  Another quickie 'make sure' check is made before leaving the 
elevator, and a final antiViral team awaits to greet the players just as 
they step off the 30 minute journey on the massive elevator, for another 
full check of everyone and everything.

(An entire RICE paper can be written on security procedures within the 
Regency, from the ultra-lax standards in the Seven Sisters to the 
short-and-vicious procedures of Trin, from the short and effective 
procedures of Vincennes to long, bureaucratic and paranoaic restrictions 
for Antra.)

FESTIVAL

The first thing everyone does after arrival is look up at the immense 
hexagonal grid over them. Throughout most of the year, you'll only see a 
crystal clear, cloudless sky, faintly outlined with hundreds of hexagons.
In the nighttime, the outlines glow faintly red: but that is all.

But, if you arrived during the two-week Blazing Lights 
Festival, you'd see some fantastic pattern of lights and graphics in the 
sky, surpassing anything you may have seen in a VR tube.  These Festivals 
have become more and more ornate since the Collapse, now including 
sound's and wind patterns specifically created for the artist, generated 
by the weather control system (imagine immense, organ-like sounds 
emminating from the roof and the winds: absolutely overwhelming).

Of course, tickets for Antra tends to skyrocket as the Festival nears: 
not offically, of course, but the cost in bribes and favours can get 
very severe.  Regardless of the offically fixed passenger prices (rumour 
has it that, even in the Wilds, they haven't changed a bit!), you only 
see the best and the wealthiest arrive on Antra in time for the Festival.

Festival serves not only as the premiere social event of the subsector, 
but as one of five or six events of sector-wide reputation, and thus a 
location where Things Happen and media attention is guarenteed.  Archduke 
Norris, for example, formally announced the engagement of his daughter 
on Antra.

ATTITUDE TO VISITORS

Despite the waves of visitors to Antra, despite their standing as a 
subsector capital, and despite their A-class port, Antrans are intensely 
xenophobic.  They detest foreginers who don't fit into their ways, or 
don't understand their arts.  Usually, this loathing is displayed by 
rudeness or by mocking the ignorance of visitors.  The more upper-class 
folk will tend to prefer to use a biting wit, or cruel puns.  The lower 
class Antrans prefer a more direct approach: never giving a visitor the 
benefit of the doubt, shouting down any attempt to offer an opinion, or 
a light beating if a visitor gets too uppity.  Visitors being raped and 
killed in certain neighbourhoods after dark is not unknown.

But vying head to head with this xenophobia is a great fear and respect 
for large organizations.  The Antrans are very aware of how close they 
are to joining a thousand dead worlds, and how badly they need the 
protection of the Regency government.  Thus, often they deny their 
unwarrented actions, or say that it's just a joke, or otherwise try to 
soothe the waters.  Their comedies often revolve on how to make a fool of 
visitors, how to hurt them savagely, and yet have the visitors still love you.

Traders should be cautious here: some friction is inevitable, and many 
routine liasion tasks need to be increased one difficulty level.  Always 
be aware that much of the hostility that Antrans feel towards you is 
simply cultural, and can be handled with finesse - or even turned into an 
advantage - if you know what you are doing.  

Also be aware that they do not so much want to kill you has to humiliate 
you, to wound your pride without being hurt in return.  Some traders are 
good enough, and have enough leverage, that they can fight head-to-head 
with the Antrans.  Most - including almost all free traders, who are 
always a cargo-load away from disaster - simply have to take it, in order 
to get that cargo you need.

Sorry: the law level of this world does not allow you to carry any weapons 
off the ship - although at least they don't impound them off-ship.

IMMIGRANTS

Of course, not all starship traffic is related to the Festival.  After 
Virus was halted at Catacomb and Deneb, (and several small, sharp battles 
were fought right here) Antra found itself not only having to rebuid from 
Vargr pillaging and stupid stunts (more than one Vargr corsair met it's 
end on the Worldroof, weakening it's integrity), but also having to 
rewire everything to meet anti-Viral spec's.  Also, Antra made very heavy 
use of robots: without them, Antra simply couldn't meet the demands that 
rebuilding made.

In the end, Antra - which prides itself on tight population control - had 
to allow massive immigration to provide a workforce.  The population rose 
from 500 million to 700 million, almost all from immigration from nearby 
Uakari (Antra: Deneb/1710 C5349AA-7).  These immigrants are loathed by 
native Antrans, and considered low-brow, low-tech thugs.   They are not 
permitted to bring any family, and workers who get pregnant are given the 
choice of leaving or having an abortion: if they stay, a one-time 
contraceptive is administered to insure sterility, with an antedote given 
when the working women leave.

Despite the fact that they are paid ten times the amount they would earn 
back home, unrest festers in the shantytowns of Antra, kept near the 
industrial towers and far from the tower cities where Antrans live.  
The immigrants hate the veiled (or, often, completly open) contempt and 
hatred that are held in by the xenophobic Antrans, who believe that 
they are doing the Uakari an unmerited, and unthanked, favour.

The immigrants - refered to as "visiting workers" by upper-class Antrans, 
"thugees" by lower-class Antrans, and "toilers" by themselves - are hired 
on one, five, or ten-year workterms, with a continous flow of about 2 
million people either entering or leaving Antra (keeping over 40,000 
subsidized liners employed).  The immigrant workforce has been in decline 
for the last 20 years, and now make up 170 million people: native born 
Antrans and non-computerized machinery have been slowly spqeezing them 
out, and the immigrant workforce is predicted to be all gone in 20 years.

RELIGION

When the first survey ship's arrived from Corridor, there were a series 
of egnamic, artifical lines and curves on the earth.  Etched out in black 
stone, and often half a mile wide, they can be seen from low orbit.
They do definitely make out patterns, but no one has ever managed to 
successfuly translate them.

No one knows who made these lines, or can even guess how old they are, 
but the Black Lines are a major factor in the many local beliefs.  The 
largest local religions insists that the lines were made from an ancient 
civilization, trying to tell Antran - who, of all the people of the 
universe, have alone been blessed with the Lines - the secrets of the 
universe.  

Equally dominant in Antran philosophy is evolution, but as a doctrine 
rather than a scientific theory.  This doctrine - never formally 
organized, it has no offical name, but commonly called the Promethians - 
most believe that humaniti, even postCollapse humaniti, is marching on to a 
higher goal, continually evolving themselves to spread their genes and 
power throughout the Universe.  

The Black Liners believe that other human civilizations have 
transended this universe millions of years ago, and that current 
humaniti (including the Zhos, Vilani, and Solomani) are simply walking 
on a well-trod path.  While they certainly don't believe in the God of 
the Solomani monotheists, they do believe that there is a guiding Spirit 
of Humaniti over all, and that a glorious unity of souls await's us 
after death.

The Promethians, in contrast, does not care for such a soft-headed 
concept as a sweet afterlife, ruled over by kindly spirits, and would 
laugh out loud in contempt at the concept of a stern and conquering Judge, 
weighting the lives of men in the balance.  They do, however, believe 
that we can gain a kind of immortality, not by some impossible 
resurrection, but by doing great and astounding deeds, by 
inspired leadership, by securing a great insight into the nature of 
things that will leave the universe a better place than before.

Both religions are often in contention with each other ("Supersitious 
fables!" vs. "Connect, man! Connect!").  

Both gag at the sight of other religions, esp. Christians ("I 
can't believe that ignorant people like you exist in this day and age!", 
"Onward walks the spiritually blind, refusing in their narrowmindedness 
to open their Third Eye, and see the significance of the Lines!")

"WE OURSELVES"

The Antrans area highly extroverted, social, and fanciful people.  Of the 
"Imperial" race (standard Solomani/Vilani parentage), they are only 
ho-hum physically, without the supernatural elegance and perfect 
physique that bioengineering grants most citizens of high-tech worlds.  

They take no particular pride in their status as subsector capital, but 
do take pride in their artistic endeavors.  Their buildings, while not 
particularly 'artistic', do radiate a certain grace, a certain 
lightness.  Their most famed artist's are sometimes quiet, sometimes 
loud, but approach their work with a disiplined hand.  Even third-rate 
artists from Antra are highly valued elsewhere: their command of the 
repitore of Imperial culture is unmatched elsewhere, their intense 
understanding and respect of their audience (even as they recoil at their 
alieness) is known to all.

There are several rituals and notable variations on Antra that should be 
noted by the casual traveller.  
  * Greeting: when two friends meet, they give the standard greeting 
      "Howdo?", then they both circle a point halfway between them in 
      silence. After two revolutions, they clap hands and hug affectionately.
  * Children: Antrans love their children immensely, and enjoy showing 
      them the world they live in.  They happily haul their children to 
      work, to play, to shop, to visit lovers, even to see (and laugh at) 
      visitors.  
    What they *won't* allow is for some filthy stranger to touch their 
      children.  Expect serious verbal abuse if you dare do so. 
  * Life: Antra has no native lifeforms, and the locals have chosen to 
      introduce nothing but plants and insects: but (after a chechup) the 
      Antrans will allow animals on the world, as long as they are T-linked.
      (T-links come in two parts: one part goes on the owner's body, and 
      the other around the animal's neck.  If the animal leaves a certain 
      distance from the owner, it soffers pain: if it crosses another 
      threshhold, it dies.) 
  * Clothing: Antrans have a sharp sense of what look's good: often 
      their taste runs to simple and elegant, but many like large and loud.  
      Either way, their clothing is comfortable, loose-fitting and of good 
      quality.  They don't go for effect-clothing, but there is a current 
      fad for biolumenescent contact lenses (bright yellow, or Denebian red 
      eyes, is the most desired.) 
  * Food: While the Antrans have good taste everywhere else, they don't 
      cut it when it comes to the belley.  Then, they simply want it hot, 
      spicy, and in He-man servings.  Everything else is just a frill.
  * Literacy: Antrans, like most TL C+ societies, are functionally 
      post-literate.  However, old-fashioned bookreading is a growing fad 
      among the elite, and the fad is starting to show up in popular culture.

Regular life is much the same as on other high-tech worlds, with the 
cycle of conception (by whatever means), genetic therapy, birth, infant 
training, carrer selection, child-specific VR education, work, sex, 
ageing, and death.  Marriages are rare (even for a high-tech world), but 
more people choose to raise children than on the typical High Stellar world.
Antrans also place a higher value on "high-brow" culture and sophistication 
rather than focus on simple 'stupid-foreginer' entertainment like some 
mindless talk show or sitcoms.

The Immigrants, isolated in their shantytowns, live a different life.  
Imagine a vast, dirty-grey tent city, connected by a 
chain of fabric tunnels.  Gangs of shadowy figures, huddled together, 
march from the asture factory towers to their ragged tents, to hide from 
the bitter -20 C cold.  Inside, in a city without children, live the 
hard-bitten men who do the work meant for machines.  Someone will die 
on the job tomorrow when their safety lines finally snap (Antrans don't 
waste grav belts on 'trash': men are far cheaper than grav belts to 
replace), or when their poorly maintained equipment is tested once too 
often. 

However, more deaths occur outside of the factories than inside.  With 
only the most superficial medical care,  a large portion of the workers 
are slowly dying (or going mad, or losing their vision) due to the 
noxious fumes of their work. (Remember, the robots that did the jobs 
before them didn't have to worry about breathing, or heat stroke, or the 
pounding noise destroying their eardrums).  Moreover, the largely male 
workers get into endless fights, with handmade guns or knives.  Women 
workers are sometimes left alone, but often are forced to take on a lover 
for protection, or simply for some companionship in their hard life.   

(Note: In many areas, the tent cities are pressurized, connected by a 
maze of fabric tunnels.  Well, they are supposed to be presurized: the 
poor-quality tents they were given is not built to take the damage the 
workers often inflict on it.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvin Plummer
"Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for."
                               - Strephon, 179-1126

Reply to: alvin.plummer@SHERIDANC.ON.CA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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

Date: Fri, 8 Sep 1995 16:45:27 -0600 (MDT)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Heplar Missiles
Message-ID: <9509082245.AA29143@Rt66.com>

Hi,I
 
> Funny you should mention that....  I've been working on Heplar and Fusion 
> drive missiles and have been quite impressed:
> 
> The Agincourt class Cruise Missile
> TL 15		Vol. 	Mass	MCr
> Warhead	500 Kt	0.4	0.4	1.2	
> Fusion 	6 MW	1	2	0.2	
> HEPLaR 		0.6	0.6	0.006	
> Fuel		4.79	0.3353		
> 1 hex PEMS	0.21	0.41	0.41	
> Total		7	3.75	1.816
> 	
> FC		1.5	0.105		
> G's	33.54				
> G-Turns	214				

Wow.  I was playing with fusion rocket missiles, but they have to be
14kl instead of the standard 7, and they're not nearly as good.  And man
those are cheap.  The TL15 missile given doesn't exist, this one is
cheaper, and *much* better---it has commo, and a sensor, so this is a
SIM/FIM, too.

> 	With this design, a missile cruiser can launch from the max range
> of its sensors and have missiles engaging the target in the next few turns.  
> This particular missile must be designated by another ships AEMS or 
> ladar.  But since the firing ship can stay out beyond 35 hexes where
> absolute range diff mods make it almost impossible to hit, it has little to
> fear from a conventional gunship.

It can get its own lock, as well.  Especially if the target is active...
This is the ARM from hell.  It could be programmed to set up its shot,
and continue on an intercept course.  KKM, or detlaser.

> 	I modified a standard Missile Corvette with 16 hex AEMS and gave 
> it autoloaders for its missile barbettes.  Then I put it up against a 
> Midu Agashaam class Destroyer.  Make the range 48 hexes (long range bogey 

It's long to Lock, but the task is easy for BD.

> detection for the Corvette by Merrickrules) and give both ships bogey 
> detection.  First turn, the Corvette lights up the AEMS and locks the 
> Destroyer.  The Corvette is beyond max range of the Destroyers weapons and 
> it has +9 diff mods (or more) for range beyond 27 hexes,  -6 for the MFD 
> and -1 for the size of the Corvette, gives a net of  Impossibile +1.  The 
> Destroyer misses.  When range hits 27 the Corvette empties its missile 
> barbettes of Agincourt(tm) missiles and runs away.  Four barbettes, five 
> missiles each, thats  20 missiles.  The missiles burn max Gs toward the 
> Destroyer and reach it in _1_ turn.  Lets be nice to the Destroyer and say 
> it hits a missile with every one of its weapons, including the spinal 
> mount, and kills 9 missiles.  Lets say 6 of these missiles lose lock and 
> fly off into space.  The remaining 5 fire on the Destroyer.  Three hit.  A 
> total of 10 det-laser beams hit the Destroyer and trash it.  The Corvette 
> still has another salvo left.

Neat.  And your missile makes missiles a _long range_ weapon again...
just like the universe is supposed to be :-)

> 	The 400-ton Corvette just did severe damage to the 
> 3000ton Destroyer without ever exposing itself to effective return fire.  
> This is with det-lasers.  Imagine what a KKM with a closing velocity of 
> 30+ Gs could achieve.  It gets worse.  Agincourt missiles have 214 
> G-turns.  With another ship designating for it, the corvette could launch 
> from 150+ hexes away, leaving the missiles 64 G-turns to correct, and 
> still get a closing velocity which would punch those KKMs through one 
> side of the Destroyer and out the other without even noticing.  Lets  
> line up a bunch of em and see how many we can punch through with one 
> missile.  Okay, so the Midu Agashaam is a wimpy ship, but its still 
> almost an order of magniture larger than the Corvette which just trashed it.

Nasty.  If a KKM could hit, it'd be nasty.  As I recall with no special
submunition other than a 10g (or was it 1 gram?) ball, a given pellet
would do 25 damage points per hex of closing veleocity, and the
penetration increases as well.  It was something like 497-1/222 at
20hexes/turn.
 
> 	I thought ESA (Electro-Static Armor) worked against HEAP 
> and plasma weapons but not KEAPs.  Am I missing something?  I suppose at 
> the impact energy we're taking about the KKM might _become_ a plasma....  
> Of course anything that can be invoked to reign in 150 hex Hail Mary KKM 
> Battleship killers would be welcome. :)

I belive (FFS not in front of me) that it is half the additional armor
for KEAP rounds.  It is quite possible to have a few ton ESA setup
that'll give effective armor values in the multiple 10,000s many times
per turn.  Hell, run the thing off the wasted ROF on your meson gun
(where you pay for a huge HPG, and only use 100 out of 800 pulses).  I
think that they can be defeated pretty well, in fact, ESA might have to
be reduced again for space KEAPs since they'd be going so much faster
than any anti-armor gun.  Since this would be somewhat arbitrary, I'd go
for trying to make them such that really big ships could get hurt, but
not killed by most KKMs.
 
> 	--Muir

-Merrick

PS-on the subject of missile intercepts, I just saw my friend Jason's
animation for the new series "Space; Above and Beyond."  Wow.  Wow
again.  He did a great job on a missile hit for the third show... look
at the wreakage of a cargo pod, one side has what looks like a bullet
hole in a tin can.  Looks like it'll be fun to watch.

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

Date: Sat, 9 Sep 1995 01:42:20 -0600 (MDT)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: HEPlaR Missile, and Q&D idea...
Message-ID: <9509090742.AA02876@Rt66.com>

I was looking at the Agincourt missile again, and the gturns seemed way
too high.  Then I thought about it again.  I imagine (John, is this
true?) that it was designed using the actual mass, not the mass <15*Vol.
that is in the ship rules.  Under the standard ship rules a gturn is
0.4464% of a ships volume.

I don't have any problem with John's design using the actual mass...
instead, it got me thinking.

FFS says to correct a design if the mass goes over 15*dtons, right?
Well what about using the actual mass to calculate the gturns after you
get a design done?  Some ships might loose out, but if you made an
effort to make a ship mass less, you'd get more burns... might be a nice
trade off for a lot of armor.

Doing this the Chrysanthemum DE would go from 54 to almost 64 gturns
(and just shy of 130 with jump fuel).  The actual drive volume, and
power requirements would go down, as well, but I'd not bother with that
whole reoptimization can-o-worms.  All in all, a quick way to add a
little delta-v to a craft (if it isn't too massive).

Lasers and PAWs seem heavy for the volume they take up (around
20tonnes/ton), and MGs are "normal" at ~10 (just off the ones in BL).  I
like the idea of trying to design for mass in spacecraft, and doing it
this way is within the rules (the letter of them instead of the quick
and dirty rule given--they _do_ give the real thrust, why not use it :)

All the HEPlaR stuff is linear math wise, so if the loaded mass is
8472tonnes (the DE above) and the ship is 1000 tons (10,000tonnes std),
just take the % of actual to std. mass tonnage, and get the new gturns
from there (drive, and thrust MWs will stay as they are for simplicity).

					     1
"new" gturns = ("old" gturns) *	-----------------------------
				(loaded tonnes)/(hullrate*10)

hullrate is the dtons of the ship.

-Merrick

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

Date: Sat, 9 Sep 1995 02:02:13 -0600 (MDT)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (traveller)
Subject: Locking a missile (FYI)
Message-ID: <9509090802.AA03261@Rt66.com>


Hey (can you all tell my girlfriend has been out of town for a few
weeks---there'll be fewer posts in a week, I promise),

Just as a sideline to the anti-missile thread:

Locking on a missile at sensor short range, regardless of sensor is an
_Impossible_ task if the missile has EMM, it's Formidible if it was a
sensor hand off.  One level easier in both cases above without the EMM.

In most cases missiles will go from medium to detonation in a turn.
You'll get 1 chance to lock up the missile, more or less, and it'll fail
85% of the time with a crack crew.

So your you're still toast if your defence kills 100% of the 15% it
actually sees. 

Put a small (only need in the same hex) jammer on a HEPlaR missile at
the expense of a measly few dozen gturns, and it'll go past Impossible
to lock it.  Fun, huh?

And all of it in the unmodified rules.  

-Merrick

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 408
***************************
