       TRAVELLER Digest 62

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: Hit Capacity by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  2) Sublight travel times? by Stefan Matthias Aust <sma@informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de>
  3) mixed by Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
  4) Stars by Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca (Edward Swatschek)
  5) Re: Mass Drivers by Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca (Edward Swatschek)
  6) Re:  StuttterWarp in FFS by Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca (Edward Swatschek)

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

Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 17:44:34 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Hit Capacity
Message-ID: <se92e541.065@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Stefan Matthias writes:

>I don't like the damage values and hit capacity of the TNE rule.
>People (characters and NPCs -- I make no difference between them) are
>nearly imune to damage. I would suggest the following rule change I'm
>currently playtesting....

   I'd be very curious to know if you are using *all* the combat rules or
just some of them.  For example, are you using the Quick Kill rule?  One
shot to the head or chest can theoretically instantly kill a character
instantly--not exactly what I would call immunity if you ask me.

i.e. Tom fires his gauss rifle at the enemy PC, Ivan.  He hits Ivan in the
head.  Ivan is not wearing a helmet, so all 4D6 of the gauss rifle's damage
is applied.  Because it is a head shot, we check for a quick kill.  Tom first
rolls a 14 for damage, then proceeds to roll a D20.  If Tom rolls a 14 or
less, Ivan is dead. 

   Lesson: I hope Ivan had good life insurance.

   BTW, just what are you doing that is causing your PCs to expend so much
ammunition?

 
Derek Smith writes:

>Less work than changing *either* the damage values or the hit capacity:
>
>JUST CHANGE THE KIND OF DICE YOU ROLL FOR DAMAGE.

   The easy way out, but I prefer to design weapons that give better damage
results.  Designing "instant-kill" weapons is not that hard, and you can bend
the rules a bit and let your characters run around with shotguns that spit
HEAP buckshot rounds.  Using a 18 x 90 HEAP round gives you something
like 16 or so D6 of damage at close range (close range being the entire
length of some ships).  Even if you use "orthodox" buckshot rounds, they
still do 12D6 damage.

That enough for you?

-hdh






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

Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 15:30:23 +0100
From: Stefan Matthias Aust <sma@informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Sublight travel times?
Message-ID: <9410051430.AA23297@donald.informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de>

I've some difficulties in understanding the rules and charts for 
travel times with sublight (maneuver) drives.

Let's say we want to fly from the mainworld to a near gas giant.
The distance shall be 600.000.000 km (2000 Light seconds)
The TNE rules include a table to caculate the time per Ls for G-hours
spend.  Let's say, we've a far trader and what to spend 24 G-hours.

So we thrust for 12 G-hours*. I don't remember the correct values, but
for 5 G-h it was 0.6 h/Ls, so let's assume 0.2h/Ls. You need 400 h for 
this journey (about 17 days).  The old rules contain a table for the
same 600.000.000 km journey that says something like 3 days, but with
faster ships, the duration is even lower.

Another interesting point is, that the TNE examples stats that the
mainworld -> gas giant journey lasts 10.000 Ls!

*= Do I need the other 12 G-h to decrease velosity or can I spend
all 24 G-h to calculate a journey time of 200 h (still too long).

Could somebody please explain this rules or confirm that this times
are correct (and I've to change the rules). Thanks.

bye.
-- 
Stefan Matthias Aust // keep the soldiers gunning, keep the cameras running,
                    //  cause the rulers always laugh at the video bloodbath

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

Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 11:20:52 +0200 (EET)
From: Joni M Virolainen <jonimv@evitech.fi>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: mixed
Message-ID: <199410060918.FAA15611@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

To L Bryant:
------------
I'd be interested in about TNE stats for 2300 AD weapons.

BTW I have only basic 2300 AD set (without map) and I'd like to get more
info about 2300 AD universe.

To someone in the past:
-----------------------
In unarmed combat damage number means total damage (i.e. 1 = 1 point of
damage)
In melee weapons, I think number is number of d6s and + STR means you add
the strenght stat to damage for example 1 + STR = 1d6 + 6 if the character
has
strenght value of 6.

If I recall right, you wanted more lethal damage system. You can convert
cyberpunk damage system to TNE (if you have one) or you can use d10s or even
d12s instead of d6. If you make up something more original, let me know.


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

Date: Thu, 06 Oct 94 04:30:46 -0800
From: Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca (Edward Swatschek)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Stars
Message-ID: <m0qsr3M-0003YQC@rsoft.rsoft.bc.ca>

   Someone asked a while back about the frequency of stars (or something
along those lines).  Here's a percentage break-down for main sequence
stars:

        %
   ------
   M   70
   K   15
   G   10
   F    4
   A    1


Some other useful stats:

Steller density: 80 systems per 1000 cubic parsecs (average separation of
1.4 parsecs).

Of the closest 26 star systems,
    65% solitary (17)
    17% binary (8)
     4% trinary (1)

Of those 36 stars,
    92% main sequence (33)
     8% white dwarf (3)

   Two of the three white dwarfs (DA) were part of binary systems, and
circled the two most luminous stars (Sirius and Procyon).  The final one is
a solitary DG.


Star Luminosity/Radius/Mass table.

        L          R        M
--------------------------------
   main sequence
--------------------------------
O8  110 000        9.12    18
B0   46 000       11       14
B1   11 000        7.1     11
B2    5 300        5.8      8.9
B5      910        4.2      6.0
A0       54        2.0      2.8
A5       16        1.7      1.8
F0        7.1      1.5      1.4
F5        3.1      1.3      1.2
G0        1.6      1.1      1.1
G5        0.65     0.87     0.68
K0        0.28     0.66     0.60
K5        0.14     0.66     0.56
M0        0.059    0.60     0.50
M2        0.033    0.58     0.40
M4        0.012    0.38     0.28  Uncertain, because of
M6        0.0019   0.17     0.13   the steepness of the main sequence
--------------------------------
   giants
--------------------------------
G0       45        7.9       -    Masses up to 4
K0      110       20         -    Masses up to 4
M0      520       69         -    Masses up to 4
--------------------------------
   supergiants
--------------------------------
B0  460 000       35         -    All data have wide range
A0   59 000       79         -    All data have wide range
K0  180 000     1100         -    All data have wide range
M0  460 000     2500         -    All data have wide range



L = Luminosty, relative to Sol; Sol = 3.9 x 10^26 W
R = Radius, relative to Sol;    Sol = 7.0 x 10^8  m
M = Mass, relative to Sol;      Sol = 2.0 x 10^30 kg


(source: McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology)


--
               Edjs                    _
              ------                _ //  CIS  : 76427,662
   Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca  \X/   GEnie: E.SWATSCHEK
        a3162@mindlink.bc.ca              Other: a03162@giant.rsoft.bc.ca


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

Date: Thu, 06 Oct 94 04:46:26 -0800
From: Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca (Edward Swatschek)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Mass Drivers
Message-ID: <m0qsrMh-0003ZvC@rsoft.rsoft.bc.ca>

Derek Smith writes:

> Kevin Mc Carthy writes:
>
>+ PS: The FFS Mass Driver formula has been modified but I don't recall the
>+ correct fix.
>
> Does anyone remember the fix.  I ignored it at first (because I hadn't
> bought the game yet), but now I'm making heavy use of FF&S.  Please post
> the fixed formula if you know it.


For direct fire range,
Use: 5(B+(V/20)+20)
where B is the bore diameter in cm, and V the muzzle velocity in m/s
This gives ranges that are consistent with what CPR guns get.


--
               Edjs                    _
              ------                _ //  CIS  : 76427,662
   Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca  \X/   GEnie: E.SWATSCHEK
        a3162@mindlink.bc.ca              Other: a03162@giant.rsoft.bc.ca


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

Date: Thu, 06 Oct 94 05:23:18 -0800
From: Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca (Edward Swatschek)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re:  StuttterWarp in FFS
Message-ID: <m0qsrua-0003b8C@rsoft.rsoft.bc.ca>

Jeff Zeitlin wrote:

> When I went to work with the Stutterwarp setup, I couldn't get sensible
> figures: The fuel usage was too low, and the performance was too high
> (the minimum TL12 fusion plant I could put in gave a stutterwarp
> performance of 9+ parsec/day [can you say J66 equivalent?]).  Worse, the
> size of the SW/powerplant combo was, by the figures and description,
> independent of the hull rate.  I don't see this as sensible, and feel
> that there must be a bug in this.  Also, there were no figures on how far
> a SW system could tunnel before discharge was necessary.
>
> Can someone _please_ rationalize this info for me?


Kevin Mc Carthy replied:

> I recall that an American Kennedy class Frigate, which was THE fastest
> stutterwarp warship, had an stutterwarp engine efficiency of 17.05
> (2300AD New Military Tech, which might translate to Traveler TL 13), a
> 300MW Fusion plant (I think) and a performance of about 4.1 LY/day.
> While I own both 2300AD (a complete set of all the material) and FFS I
> haven't tried to reproduce any of the stutterwarp ships using FFS.  The
> 2300AD rules based performance on mass and FFS uses displacement tonnes
> (I think).


   It's hard to compare the two, since the power plant outputs were quite
different.  I tried stutterwarp out, and it seems to have gotten a speed
boost.

   With a power plant putting out 0.5 MW per displacement ton (what you'd
install for a 1 g HEPlaR drive), you get a stutterwarp speed of 6.26
parsecs, or 20.4 ly, per day.  You'd want to play with the figures a bit to
use it in a 2300AD campaign.


--
               Edjs                    _
              ------                _ //  CIS  : 76427,662
   Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca  \X/   GEnie: E.SWATSCHEK
        a3162@mindlink.bc.ca              Other: a03162@giant.rsoft.bc.ca

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 62
**************************
