Subj:	TRAVELLER digest 401
Date:	95-09-04 13:45:46 EDT
From:	traveller@mpgn.com
Sender:	traveller@mpgn.com
Reply-to:	traveller@mpgn.com
To:	traveller@mpgn.com (Multiple recipients of list)

			    TRAVELLER Digest 401

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) NPC Encounter: D.M. "Flatfoot" Donohue	by jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
  2) Software!!!! (long)	by nrunner@ix.netcom.com (Archie T. )
  3) Re: TRAVELLER digest 400	by library@dss.gov.au (DSS Library)
  4) FF&S Weapon Design question...	by Johan Herber <johe@einlu.ericsson.se>
  5) RE: Vargr stats	by David Elrick <Dave.Elrick@ps.co.uk>
  6) Re: Plasma Trails, Missiles	by myhre@oslonett.no
  7) Re: TRAVELLER digest 399	by aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)

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

Date: Sun, 03 Sep 95 17:42:00 -0500
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: NPC Encounter: D.M. "Flatfoot" Donohue
Message-ID: <8B06426.0100056570.uuout@execnet.com>


Demosthenes Maximilian Donohue          97A7A7-0-7

Police Captain (ret.), Trantown (Aubaine) Police Department.

Ht      1.7m                            Initiative-4
Wt      92kg                            35,000Cr
Hair    Br
Eyes    Br

Skills: Ground Vehicle (wheeled)-3      Swimming-2
        Language (Schalli)-3            Small Watercraft-2
        Computer-2                      Pilot (Interface/Grav)-2
        Willpower-1                     Chemistry-1
        Admin/Legal-3                   Interview-2
        Disguise-1                      Leadership-1
        Slug Weapon (Slug Pistol)-3     Armed Martial Arts (Club)-2
        Unarmed Martial Arts-2          Persuasion-2
        Carousing-1                     Streetwise-1
        Muscle-Powered Transport (wheeled)-1
        Construction-3                  Interrogation-1
        Liaison-1

Contacts:       Academic (1, Generic)
                Government (1, Generic; 2, Firm)
                Law Enforcement (2, Generic; 2, Firm)
                Criminal (1, Generic)

The firm contacts are as follows:
        Government:
                Chief of Starport Security Forces.  As a
                Lieutenant, Donohue was appointed the Detail
                Commander of the Starport Security Supplement.  As
                such, he was required to coordinate SSS activities
                with those of the regular starport security forces.
                Donohue's detail was responsible for the
                apprehension of an important link in a major
                smuggling ring.

                Chief of Staff to the Coalition General Secretary.
                Captain Donohue was in charge of arranging security
                for the General Secretary for a public appearance
                on Reformation Day.  Their relationship is one of
                "personal friends" because of an affinity of
                personality, rather than because of any specific
                police-related activity.

        Law Enforcement:
                Chief of Patrol, Trantown PD.  Donohue's mentor
                during his career on the force.  Used his pull to
                get Donohue assigned to certain choice details,
                such as the Starport Security Supplement.  Donohue
                has done favors for him in the past, and will do so
                in the future.

                Commanding Officer, Trantown PD Public Morals Unit
                ("Vice Squad").  Donohue is owed favors by this
                individual, due to several good tips provided to
                Donohue by certain underworld figures in Trantown.

Motivations:
        Diamond Queen: Lustful.  Donohue sees himself as G-d's gift
        to women, or, perhaps more accurately, as a sex god
        himself.  He does not believe that any woman can resist his
        charm, since "I practically ooze sex appeal".  Obviously,
        any woman that doesn't immediately want to go to bed with
        him is a "frigid b*tch".  People who know him suggest that
        by his standards, easily half the population of Trantown
        (the female half) qualifies as "frigid".

        Spade Eight: Ambitious.  Donohue wants to become the
        greatest private investigator ever seen on Aubaine.
        Unfortunately, his skills are clearly weak in the areas
        where a detective needs strength.  Such is the fortune of
        staff and administrative assignments.  He has made an
        effort to acquire some of the skills he needs, but seems to
        lack the willpower needed to stay the course.

Donohue does _not_ like his given names, and usually uses
"D. M. Donohue" on most of his identification documents.  If
pressed for the meaning of "D. M.", he will reply with a standard
line: "I don't like what it means, and I don't use what it means.
I'd rather be called 'Flatfoot' than by my right name."  He first
used the line when he decided to go into law enforcement;
unfortunately (or maybe not), the rest of his class in police
training picked up on it.  It has become comfortable as a nickname,
and if he is brought into an adventure where a taccode or similar
call is needed, he will voluntarily use "Flatfoot".

Referees should equip him (remembering to deduct from his funds,
above) as befits an ex-cop.  Be sure to include a slug pistol of
some sort, preferably one similar to what the Trantown PD uses as
its standard firearm (probably 9mm semi-auto).  Trantown PD rules
allow him to wear a Trantown PD uniform on ceremonial occasions,
without the police shield or unit identifiers, but with his earned
(Continued to next message)

---
 þ OLXWin 1.00a þ Maybe we weren't meant for Paradise...

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

Date: Sun, 3 Sep 1995 19:43:02 -0700
From: nrunner@ix.netcom.com (Archie T. )
To: traveller@mpgn.com.These.are.two.qbasic.programs.i.grabbed.off (for
useability)
Subject: Software!!!! (long)
Message-ID: <199509040243.TAA24234@ix7.ix.netcom.com>

modified them slightly, again for better useability. The first one is 
pulsar.bas, and shows how orbits 'pivot' around thier central body, 
because of speed/relativity effects. The second program shows 
comets/planets as their orbits in the process of stabilizing.

CLS
10 '          RELATIVISTIC PRECESSION
20 DEFDBL A-Z
30 pi = 4# * (ATN(1#)): XC = 320: YC = 165: SCREEN 9: KEY OFF
40 LOCATE 15, 1: PRINT "Eccentricity (0 to 0.95) ";
50 INPUT EC: IF EC < 0 OR EC > .95 THEN CLS : GOTO 40
60 LOCATE 17, 1: PRINT "Relativity strength (0 to 0.999)";
70 PRINT SPC(40); : LOCATE 17, 34

' P = 89 / 365
' P is year lenth in days, the planet Mercury, in this case
 M1 = 1
 M2 = 0
'     M1 and M2 are the masses of the first (sun) and 
'  second [planet=m1=0,
'  or 2nd sun=(.8 < m2 < 80)] member, in solar masses. Remember, a moon
'  may orbit a failed core, orbiting the central star, thus increasing
'  its effective mass.

 G = 6.67 * 10 ^ -11: C = 2.99 * 10 ^ 8
 S = 2 * (3 + e) / (1 - e ^ 2): T = (2*pi*G * (M1 + M2)) / (P * C ^3)
 T = T ^ .666: S = S * T
REM SG = .95: GOTO 90
PRINT S
80  INPUT sg: IF sg = 0 THEN sg = .98
REM INPUT sg: IF sg = 0 THEN sg = S   
REM IF SG < 0 OR SG > .999 THEN GOTO 60
90 LOCATE 19, 1: PRINT "Simulation speed (1 to 10)";
100 PRINT SPC(40); : LOCATE 19, 28: INPUT Ss
110 IF Ss < 1 OR Ss > 20 THEN GOTO 90
120 Ss = .0009# * (Ss - .9#) * (1# - .9# * EXP(10# * EC - 9#))
130 CLS : LOCATE 19, 1: PRINT "Eccentricity"
140 PRINT USING "  .######"; EC;
150 LOCATE 22, 1: PRINT "Relativity": PRINT "strength"
160 PRINT USING "  .######"; sg; : LOCATE 25, 52
170 COLOR 14: PRINT "(Press any key to interrupt)";
180 SY = YC / (1 + EC): SX = SY * 1.33
190 C0 = (1# - sg * (3# + EC * EC) / (6# + 2# * EC)) / (1# - EC * EC)
200 RH = sg * (1# - EC * EC) / (3# + EC): C2 = 1.5# * RH
210 CIRCLE (XC, YC), SX * RH, 8: PAINT (XC, YC), 8
220 LINE (0, YC)-(640, YC), 7: LINE (XC, 0)-(XC, 350), 7
230 SN = 0: QN = 1# / (1# + EC): DN = 0
240 S = SN: Q = QN: D = DN: DP = DN: SP = SN: HN = Ss * Q * Q
250 F = C0 - Q + C2 * Q * Q: K1 = HN * F: L1 = HN * D
260 S = SN + HN / 2#: Q = QN + L1 / 2#: D = DN + K1 / 2#
270 F = C0 - Q + C2 * Q * Q: K2 = HN * F: L2 = HN * D
280 S = SN + HN / 2#: Q = QN + L2 / 2#: D = DN + K2 / 2#
290 F = C0 - Q + C2 * Q * Q: K3 = HN * F: L3 = HN * D
300 S = SN + HN: Q = QN + L3: D = DN + K3
310 F = C0 - Q + C2 * Q * Q: K4 = HN * F: L4 = HN * D
320 QN = QN + (L1 + 2# * L2 + 2# * L3 + L4) / 6#
330 DN = DN + (K1 + 2# * K2 + 2# * K3 + K4) / 6#
340 SN = SN + HN
350 PX = XC + SX * COS(SN) / QN: PY = YC - SY * SIN(SN) / QN
360 COLOR 9: PSET (PX, PY)
370 IF EC * DN > 0 AND DP < 0 THEN GOSUB 410
380 IF INKEY$ <> "" THEN END
390 GOTO 240
400 '
410 '    DRAW LINE TO APASTRON & COUNT ORBITS
420 COLOR 4: LINE (XC, YC)-(PX, PY)
430 N = N + 1: LOCATE 1, 56: COLOR 15
440 PRINT "Number of orbits "; N;
450 IF N > 1 THEN GOTO 500
460 SA = (SP + (SN - SP) * DP / (DP - DN)) * 180 / pi - 360
470 LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "Precession per orbit"
480 IF SA < 360 THEN PRINT USING "######.####### deg"; SA
490 IF SA >= 360 THEN PRINT USING "######.####### deg"; SA
500 RETURN





10 '     Orbit of Jack
11 '
12 DEFDBL A-Z
20 SR = 5 / 7
30 X0 = 320
40 Y0 = 175
50 CLS
60 PI = 3.14159
70 INPUT "Days in A's year "; YA
80 INPUT "Mass of A "; K
90 INPUT "Jack's initial velocity "; VY
100 CLS
110 M = 70
120 W = 2 * PI / YA
130 X = 100
140 RA = 2 * X
150 Y = 0
160 T = 0
170 VX = 0
180 SCREEN 9
190 LINE (1, Y0)-(630, Y0)
200 LINE (X0 - 1, Y0 + 1)-(X0 + 1, Y0 + 1)
201 LINE (X0 - 1, Y0 - 1)-(X0 + 1, Y0 - 1)
210 AX = RA * COS(W * T)
220 AY = RA * SIN(W * T)
230 T = T + 1
240 R3 = (X ^ 2 + Y ^ 2) ^ 1.5
250 Z3 = ((X - AX) ^ 2 + (Y - AY) ^ 2) ^ 1.5
260 VX = VX - M * X / R3 + K * (AX - X) / Z3
270 VY = VY - M * Y / R3 + K * (AY - Y) / Z3
280 X = X + VX
290 Y = Y + VY
300 PSET (X0 + PX, Y0 - PY * SR), 0
310 PSET (X0 + QX, Y0 - QY * SR), 6
320 PSET (X0 + X, Y0 - Y * SR)
330 PSET (X0 + AX, Y0 - AY * SR)
340 PX = AX
350 PY = AY
360 QX = X
370 QY = Y
380 IF Y < 0 THEN SB = 0
390 IF Y > 0 AND SB = 0 THEN 410
400 GOTO 210
410 SB = 1
420 R$ = INKEY$
430 IF R$ <> "" THEN 500
450 PB = T - TA
460 TA = T
470 LOCATE 24, 30
480 PRINT "Jack's period is "; PB; " days";
490 GOTO 210
500 END
510 '
520 '   Written by Caxton Foster, this program displays the motion of
530 '   two planets around a central star in a hypothetical solar 
system.
540 '   The inner planet is called Jack; it is considered to have 
negligible
550 '   mass, but you can specify its starting velocity (a number from 
0 to
560 '   1.6 works best -- if the velocity is greater than 1.6, Jack 
escapes
570 '   the solar system).  The outer planet moves in a circular orbit, 
and
580 '   you can specify its period (typically 300 to 2,000 "days") and 
mass
590 '   (10 or less).  No matter what period you select, its orbit is a
600 '   circular one with a radius twice (see line 140!!) that of 
Jack's
605 '   starting orbit.
610 '   (Thus, Kepler's laws apply to Jack, but not to this arbitrary 
outer
620 '   planet.)  The program runs on IBM PCs or clones with VGA color
630 '   graphics.  By playing around with input values it is possible 
to
640 '   make Jack's orbit have resonance, show apsidal motion, or put 
it on a
650 '   near-collision course with planet A that ejects Jack from the 
solar
660 '   system.  The program is discussed on page 660 of the September 
1994
670 '   issue of Sky & Telescope.
 
700 '    This program is great for visulaizing the orbits of young 
planets,
710 '   comets, or launched sattilittes as their orbits stabilize.


-- 
_____________________________________________________________________
Copywight - 1994 Elmer Fudd ink.  All wights wesewved.





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

Date: Mon, 04 Sep 1995 14:37:19 -0500
From: library@dss.gov.au (DSS Library)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 400
Message-ID: <199509042137.OAA03214@babylon5.dss.gov.au>

Dear Folks -

1.      Mertactor

Wow, putting all of the list notes together, Mertactor now comes to over
100K!
(as a Word 6 document, anyway). Chris has done well to raise such debate.
Here's
my Cr 0.02.

I have to agree with Hans, Mertactor was settled well before Glisten, if you
look at the Supp 9: Library Data doco. This appears to be because it is on
the
Spinward Main, and the historical maps show that settlement spread along the
main before it crossed the "gaps". The District 268 arm was settled much more
slowly than the Regina end because of the blocking effect of the proto-Sword
Worlds. Mertactor is part of the settled region on the year-300 map.

There have been many reasons given for the colonisation trip, and many
justifications as to cost. I would recommend that something should be
included
in the RICE Paper to address these issues.

BTW, when you say "9 jumps to Mora", I assume you mean via the xboat link?
By jump-1 it is heaps. Maybe you could say something like this: "The Moran
ships were briefed to get the "colonists" as far away as possible, but still
on a habitable world. They pushed thru the SW barrier along the Main, but
found
that most worlds were already claimed by someone. Mertactor was the first
place
they came to which was habitable and unclaimed, so they dumped the people
here
without bothering to search any further. This original indifference to the
colonists is yet another reason why Mertactorans hate Morans".

2.     Publishing rights

GDW buys the first-time publishing rights for articles. Does publishing a
RICE
Paper mean that GDW will no longer buy your article (ie. because they can't
get
first-time rights?) Or does publication on a listserv not count as
"first-time"?
I hope that you can publish a RICE Paper in order to refine what you've got,
before submitting it to GDW.

Can anyone help with this question?

3.      Collapsing Foreven

I believe that Survival Margin includes all of the non-aligned territories
"behind" the Regency and "under" the Zhos, so they would not have collapsed
at
all. Maybe Grant Sinclair (Yiklerdanzh Project) could confirm this?

An argument can also be made to exclude the spinward part of Aslan space and
the
coreward area from Zhodani space. With the Aslan, there simply may not be the
planets for Virus to take over. I would think that Aslan settlement peters
out
at the edges, and there would not be the ships to make the crossing. However,
maybe you can argue that Viris is trying to overcome this, and in fact WILL
present a problem in the future. Yet more adventure(r) possibilities.

Corward of the main bloc of Zhodani territory lies a corridor aimed at the
core
of the galaxy. These areas would be protected as per the rest of Zhodani
territory - a no-go area for the Virus.

4.      Human Volume

I'm away for a week, so can someone else look up Book 8: Robots and give the
various torso volumes to Jerry Alexandratos?

- Hyphen
  (David Jaques-Watson)


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

Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 08:26:57 +0200
From: Johan Herber <johe@einlu.ericsson.se>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: FF&S Weapon Design question...
Message-ID: <199509040626.IAA05034@einlu.ein.ericsson.se>

Michael Bailey <pd82495@wapol.gov.au> wrote:
> Quick question, one to which I could not find an answer in the F&S
rulebook:

> I'm currently designing a TL-5 multi-barreled mortar (8 x 80mm, carriage
> mounted), similar to the 'Nebelwerfer' used by the Germans during WWII.
How
> would multiple barrels affect the weapon's damage values?  Gut feeling says
> that penetration wouldn't change, but damage and burst radius would be
> larger - by how much, I don't know.

> Any ideas?

The nebelwerfer (like the katyusha) was a multple rocket launcher, not
a mortar. Use the design rules from the end of FF&S. You will have to
design both the rockets and the launcher.

/Johan



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

Date: Mon, 04 Sep 95 12:41:00 PDT
From: David Elrick <Dave.Elrick@ps.co.uk>
To: "traveller%mpgn.com" <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: RE: Vargr stats
Message-ID: <304B5696@pc136>



myhre@oslonett.no (Roger Myhre) said:

> Sorry, but the Vargr generally weights less than a human. Use 60 as a base 

> for both sexes.

Well I wrote the article in March and I'm sure the source I used (the old CT 
Alien Module) stated that Vargr massed more than Humans, but I'll dig it out 
when I get home tonight and check for you.

Dave Elrick

 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, let's lay one common myth to a long-overdue rest. After three 
hundred thousand years of evolution Vargr no longer stick their heads out of 
the window when they're driving.

Dave.Elrick@ps.co.uk
 ---------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 18:08:39 +0200
From: myhre@oslonett.no
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Plasma Trails, Missiles
Message-ID: <199509041608.SAA15032@hasle.oslonett.no>

merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt) Wrote:

>I can buy about 5,000 impact missiles for the price of a Gazelle, you have
>4 lasers and 30 minutes to get all of them :)  
A single gazelle would be beaten. But using 5000 misslies are overkill. And 
the ship carrying these are mighty big to. I'ld use a MG.


>One of the previous posts said that any missile would be seen if it were
>bigger than a grape and metal...  that'd make the sensor active, what if
>the missile is a anti-radiation missile?  At the very least these would
>force your enemy not to use their active sensors.  Considering how
>crappy passives are, that's a good trade..
I'ld go silent, or change frequency drastically on the sensors when I saw 
the missiles, and then pop off some decoys.


>If you think they'd work at shorter ranges, give me some ideas.  We know
>they'll work at hundreds of km for sure.  If they work within a couple
>tenths of a light second then fighters have a reason to exist---they can
>carry fully ind. KKMs to within a hex or two, then let 'em loose.
What I feel is wrong with the rules are the scale. Missiles are not 
dangerous when you got all the time in the world to react with 
countermeasures. At smaller scales bot ranges and time, the ship commander 
are under much higher pressure. This will make the a wrong command near 
impossible to correct. When you got 30 minutes, you can revise the order and 
change tactic 10 minutes after the order is given, and still have fairly 
good time left. In space I think missiles will be more of a weapon than 
energy weapons. But that is in the real-world(tm).


--------------+-------------------+-----------------------------------
Roger Myhre   | myhre@oslonett.no | http://www.oslonett.no/home/myhre/
HIWGmember 142| Some people have one of those days, I got one of 
              | those lifes.
--------------+-------------------------------------------------------


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

Date: Mon, 4 Sep 95 18:15 BST-1
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 399
Message-ID: <memo.679832@cix.compulink.co.uk>

In-Reply-To: <199509021737.NAA09517@Ambassador.MPGN.COM>


  > From: "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk> To:
  > Subject: Re: Plasma trails, targeting 
  >  
  > In your message dated Friday 1, September 1995 you wrote : 
  > > We've established that you can see a plasma trail, and therefore
  > > bogies under thrust, from a long way off.  So why can't you
  > > target-lock them?  One idea that occurred to me was that while all
  > > that radiated energy in the plasma exhaust may make it easier for
  > > a bogie detection, it may actually make target locks _more_
  > > difficult.  Think of it as trying to target someone standing behind
  > > a spot light.  Next to the enormous 
  >  
  > Maybe, but while the missile is thrusting, it is better to think of
  > the exhaust as a big obvious pointer leading exactly to the end of
  > the missile. If it stopped thrusting, it might be comparitively
  > invisible until it left its exhaust far enough behind, though. 

How about a ship that's running away, or heading your way but
decellerating, (ie the exhaust is pointed right at you)?

  > Maybe we should stop trying to explain thruster technology from
  > millenia ahead in terms of current projected technology. Traveller
  > HEPlaR is best defined as RRGRMUTT (really really good
  > reaction-mass-using thruster technology). Its distinguishing features
  > (from TNE canon) are 
  > 1/Its really very fuel efficient 
  > 2/It generates massive thrust 
  > 3/Its okay to stand within a meter or two of one on a small vehicle,
  > or around ten to twenty meters of it on a starship. (I'm open to
  > suggestions on this one, but that seems about right) 

Anyone want to make a guess as to how hot the exhaust of, say, an air/raft
is? Are you gonna burn the house down when you leave for work in the
morning?

  > 4/It doesn't heat up the reaction mass enough to make the exhaust
  > visible 

  > From: "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk> To:
  > Subject: Re: TL9 Shipbuilding 
  >  
  > > According to a _really_ old source (Trillion Credit Squadron), a
  > > world with a class A or B port can handle roughly one-thousandth
  > > of its population in ship tonnage in its drydocks. This maximum
  > > applies to the total of all ships being built, all ships being
  > > repaired, and all ships in for yearly maintenance, added together.
  >  
  > This is good news for my own TL9 pocket empire. A world with a
  > population of 5 billion could support 5 million tonnes of ship, that's
  > about 350,000 displacement tonnes.
  
Shouldn't that be 5M displacement tonnes?

Watching _Top Gun_ on TV last night, I got to wondering how space (as
opposed to wet) carriers worked. Launch is fine, you just need a tube
slightly larger than the fighter, and squirt it out using some sort of
catapult, mag-lev, or even the fighter's own drives. Retreival, however,
is a lot harder - for a start, the landing deck is almost certainly going
to be *inside* the ship, enclosed on four, or even five, sides, rather than
just two (including the tower), so landing's going to be much harder. The
deck's going to have to be in vacuum most of the time, so the ground crew
and pilots will have to be in vac suits (clumsy). Also, you don't have the
option of bulldozing wrecks over the side to clear the deck. Thoughts,
anyone?

---===---
Andrew Boulton

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 401
***************************
