       TRAVELLER Digest 17

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) RAFM Miniatures and More by Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc
  2) Re: Beanstalks by bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
  3) Mail Address, and FTP archives by White Dwarf <edq@unix.brighton.ac.uk>
  4) Illegal G-stress by alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
  5) Laser penetration         by Roger Myhre <myhre@oslonett.no>
  6) Known Star Locations In the Solomani Rim by "Harold D. Hale" <HDHALE@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

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Date: 22 Aug 94 17:13:44 MS
From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc
To: traveller <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: RAFM Miniatures and More
Message-ID: <9408222318.AA03257@khan.avalon.COM>

In reference to the recent posts about RAFM Traveller 
miniatures; there are now several sets of 25mm figures.  
These are:

Battledress Troops - 3 humans in battledress/combat armor. The weapons look a
little large, but overall these look good.

Aslan Mercenaries - 3 Aslan in various bits of armor, with 
firearms and blade weapons.  These look okay, but the tails 
are absolutely terrible.  I definitely like the Grenadier Aslan 
much better.

Warbots - 3 identical 'bots, with some assembly required.  I 
like these; they look like robots, not men in tin suits.

Techies (?) - A Hiver and an older human.  The human is a 
bald older gentleman loaded with all sort of gear; it is a
very neat figure with lots of character.  The Hiver is an 
embarrasment.  His head and neck are separate, and are 
about half of the size implied in the old Hivers book by 
GDW.  He kinda looks like a pile of spam with 4 equidistant 
legs.

Interestingly enough, the new Star Vikings sourcebook has a 
full page ad from RAFM, which consists of a brief statement 
that all of the ships in that book will be produced as 
miniatures, and that they want to adhere to a 1:1200 scale.  
This means we will be seeing Subsidized Liner and Clipper 
figures, but I suspect there won't be any Azhanti High 
Lightning figures.  Sigh...

I think RAFM should get some end-user input as to what 
sort of starship miniatures and figures we would like to see 
for Traveller.  If anybody out there has a wish list, post it to 
TML.  I will be happy to mail a compiled list to RAFM.

Other figure notes:  There is currently a large selection of 
starship minitures for a game called Full Thrust.  The game 
is by Ground Zero, but I don't know who made the figures.  
These minis are a bit crude, with lots of flash and casting 
lines, but clean up easily enough and make excellent larger 
combatants (transports and carriers and cruisers oh my).  
Also, the RAFM figures for Interceptor and Silent Death 
make wonderful fighters and smaller combatants.

Finally, I have heard from two separate people that Superior 
Miniatures will be re-releasing their Starships line.  Has 
anyone else heard this?

scharlto@avalon.com
That which does not kill me
generally tries again later.

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Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 22:22:55 -0500
From: bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Steven M Bonneville)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Beanstalks
Message-ID: <199408230322.WAA17634@barnacle.micro.umn.edu>



daves@regulus.demon.co.uk (David M. Swain) writes:

>I don't think the weight of the beanstalk is going to be a problem, more 
>how to find a substance that  can stand up to the tremendous _tensile_ 
>string (for want of a better substance) with a thumping great weight at 
>the far end to keep it stright.

Diagram:
               Geostat.
)-----------------*-------()
Planet                     Big Rock

You bulid it on the equator, because the center-of-mass needs to be at the
geostationary point.  (Not just geosynchronous!)   The idea is, you extend
the cable beyond the geostationary point, and anchor a large mass to the
top of the cable.  This mass is moving faster than orbital velocity, so it
pulls the whole darn thing taut.  The cable has to be strong enough to 
withstand this tension, which is quite substantial.  This has the side-
effect that if the cable is cut *at the ground*, the rest of it, now 
unanchored, will fly off into interplanetary space.  If you cut it higher
up, everything below the geostationary point will want to fall to earth,
and the cable is tens of thousands of kilometers long, the planet will
rotate under it....  Smaller planets are more feasible for construction 
of a beanstalk, since the problems of gravity/tension needed are lesser.
Some other neat tricks are possible also.

The big advantage of a beanstalk is that you don't have to haul up your
reaction fuel and other power needs every time you launch -- this is
provided by the beanstalk.  Even with CG, using a beanstalk may have its'
advantages (equip the elevator cars with CG, powered from solar power
collected on the rock?) but it's more marginal.  In Traveller, delta-vee
is cheap, so there wouldn't be much incentive for the things.  And they
are a little hazardous if misused.

For more info, see:

  _Fountains of Paradise_, Arthur C. Clarke.  The construction of one
     for Earth.  (alternate Earth where Sri Lanka is on the equator).
  _Red Mars_, Kim Stanley Robinson.  At one point, one is built on Mars, 
     and there's some drama involving it.
  Larry Niven may have mentioned them in one of his recent anthologies.
  Traveller: 2300 had some as well, including an adventure, as I recall.

  Steve Bonneville
  <bonnevil@mermaid.micro.umn.edu>

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Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 13:41:50 +0100 (BST)
From: White Dwarf <edq@unix.brighton.ac.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Mail Address, and FTP archives
Message-ID: <4189.9408231241@unix.bton.ac.uk>

G'day y'all ....

I was wondering if anyone has the Email address for Planet III software
house (house ?), if they have one ....

I was also looking for any ftp sights which archive Traveller material, any
type of Traveller material. If there are loads I'll post a compilation to
TML if anyone is interested.

Thanks

Ewan


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- E.D.Quibell ------------------------------------ Thought is just about----
-- Data Communications Technician ----------------- the hardest thing a----
-- University of Brighton ------------------------- human can do - which----
--------------------------------------------------- probably explains why----
-- Email   edq@unix.bton.ac.uk -------------------- so few seem to do it.----
--         edq@vms.bton.ac.uk-----------------------------------------------
--         quibez@essex.ac.uk  ------------------------------ Henry Ford-----
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Who me ? Na, I didn't say that. My Employers ? They don't say anything---
----- My spelling is entirely due to dyslexia, typos, and poetic licence-----
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 10:11:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: alvin plummera <plummera@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Illegal G-stress
Message-ID: <Pine.3.05.1.9408231030.A14685-b100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>


  During the last two days, I have been designing a TL A, 30-disp jump ship.
This 'mini scout' was designed to be as affordable as possible, carry as
much cargo as possible, and -- since available weapons either demand too
much energy (lasers) or cost too much per shot ( .88 MCr per missile: too
much for a poor space gypsy's budjet) -- have some evasive capasity.

  My scout currently uses a 40 MW _fission_ powerplant, carries 172 mt of
cargo, and has a three-man crew.  Although fuel storage is rather small
(5.8 G-hours), I have some fuel bladders for the cargo bay, and a drop
tank, so it isn't too bad.

  MY PROBLEM:  I have a HEPlaR engine, capable of giving me 2 G's.  BUT,
my ship is only designed to take 1 G (due to problems with hull weight).

The FF&S rules are very specific... a ship can only go as fast as it is
designed to withstand.  But what if my favourate band of stellar bandits
put's the petal to the metal?  
 
How would a 1 G ship take 2 G's ... at a typical, straight-line course?    
                                ... at a nice, easy turn? 
                                ... at evasive maneuvers?

Alvin Plummer
(From Star Trek VI.. 
     Helmsman:     But, Captain, she'll shake apart!
     Captain Sulu:      Shake her apart, then!       )


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Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 16:52:11 +0200
From: Roger Myhre <myhre@oslonett.no>
To: TRAVELLER@MPGN.COM
Subject: Laser penetration        
Message-ID: <199408231452.AA06951@oslonett.no>

In my attempt to make a laser to defeat a battledress (heavy), and being
carriable I have run into a problem.

I started off with a Discharge Enegry of 1Mj. This gives a penetration
of 1. The problem this also meand that the laser get a damage rating of
2.5 which is rounded to 3 against vehicles, and 50 against personel.
[see formulas in FF&S] Effective range is 576km.

How do I handle this one. Battledresses are built of the same material
as the vehicles, thus being unable to penetrate and do damage to the
person inside or...? If I go for the 50DP value it will penetrate a 30
armor point battledress and do a decent amount of damage. If I am going
to use the vehicle damage template I need a laser of at least 18Mj.
This gives a damage value of 11 against vehicles and a penetration of
1/3. The focal array here will weight 1.1304tons at TL-15.

I would like to get some advice on these matters, as I find it difficult
to design an effective portable weapon against heavy battledresses.

Roger "StarWolf" Myhre

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

Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 14:45:30 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <HDHALE@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Known Star Locations In the Solomani Rim
Message-ID: <se5a0aad.041@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

This is a list of known stars and the systems where they are located in the
Solomani Rim.  It was complied through research conducted by myself and
Mr. Leroy Guatney.  If you have additional stars that should be listed
(and their hex location), please post them to TML, so that I can add them
to the official list.  If you feel that stars on list have been positioned
incorrectly, please let me know (along with a note explaining why).

Thanks.

LOCATION OF KNOWN STARS WITHIN THE SOLOMANI RIM

Hex System Name Associated Known Star System(s) 
0606 Ishadar Epsilon Cygni
0618 Stralsund Alpha Cephei/Alderamin
0938 Cicero             Alpha Tauri/Aldebaran
1024 Fomalhaut Fomalhaut
1127 Gashidda Epsilon Ceti
1332 Mirabilis 82 Eridani
1427 Shuruppak BD + 50 1668
1429 Iilike             Tau Ceti
1440 Capella Alpha Aurigae/Capella
1522 Altair             Alpha Aquilae/Altair
1526 Meshan Epsilon Indi
1529 Markhashi Groombridge 34
1530 Shulimik Epsilon Eridani
1629 Sirius            Alpha Canis Major/Sirius
1720 Vega            Alpha Lyrae/Vega
1824 Agidda            Ross 154
1830 Fenris            Alpha Canis Minor/Procyon
1911 Depot            Alpha Ophiuchi/Ras Alhague
1926 Barnard Barnard's Star
1929 Junction Wolf 359
1931 Hephaistos 61 Cygni
2027 Prometheus Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri
2028 Peraspera Luyten 726-8
2029 Midway Lalande 21185
2030 Hades             Ross 248
2227 Ember             Sigma 2398
2228 Loki             Ross 128
2236 Pollux             Beta Geminorum/Pollux
2325 Kaguk             Lacaille 9352
2330 Dismal             Luyten 789-6
2339 Castor             Alpha Geminorum/Castor and YY Geminorum
2407 Cambria Epsilon Scorpii
2921 Arcturus Alpha Bootis/Arcturus

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 17
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