			    TRAVELLER Digest 86

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) RAFM Traveller miniatures	by "Glenn M. Goffin" <sudet@well.sf.ca.us>
  2) Capital/Black Curtain	by Grant Sinclair <grant@cleese.apana.org.au>
  3) Re: Azhanti vs. Maggarts	by bonn0015@mermaid.itlabs.umn.edu
  4) Borgs & Feality	by "James M. Kelleher" <kelleher@holonet.net>

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Date: Sat, 29 Oct 1994 15:21:58 -0700
From: "Glenn M. Goffin" <sudet@well.sf.ca.us>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RAFM Traveller miniatures
Message-ID: <199410292221.PAA15042@well.sf.ca.us>

Prices average US$6.
Ship scale seems to be consistent -- the Patrol Cruiser is about twice as
big as the Type S scout, for example.
Subsidized Merchant is about 3.5 cm long; Lab Ship is about 5 cm in
diameter.
Figures are 25mm
--Glenn

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Date: Sun, 30 Oct 1994 13:52:16 +1523847 (CST)
From: Grant Sinclair <grant@cleese.apana.org.au>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Capital/Black Curtain
Message-ID: <199410300322.AA17729@cleese.apana.org.au>

Loren appeared to be looking for official Capital UWPs for somebody 
named Mark.

Capital is extensively described in Travellers Digest 9 as at 175-1104.  
TD was "approved", so these are presumably official (officialish?).

To summarise: A586A98F
Mean surface temperature 27.2 degrees C
Minor human race
5 major continents, 1 minor continent, 5 major islands, 9 archipelagoes
Single world ocean, no minor oceans
Sample cities Turthu (c. 9 billion, B port), Benca (c. 6 billion, A 
port), Cleon (c. 4 billion, A port).
Has achieved TL G in medical technology due "to recent success with 
brain transplants". There is a local fish that "men find delicious but 
women find tasteless" (they suggest it is something to do with male 
chromosomes). Children are commonly sent to boarding schools due to 
population crowding (unlikely to be a problem in the New Era).

I didn't want to retype the whole thing, as this would be against 
copyright.  There are numerous other articles of interest here, such as 
a description of the Imperial Palace and Grounds.

The UWPs match those in the Core sector UWPs I have, copyright 1989 DGP 
and GDW.  Seems to have a single star, M0 V.  Amazing, a world written 
up as a shirtsleeve environment world that orbits a star that can 
actually support it! 8O) <- (glasses, big nose and smiley)

P.S. My 2 cents worth on the Black Curtain comes from the brain 
transplant bit. Virus develops a advanced CPU and replaces the brain of 
Lucan, or a Strephon clone, with it, and no-one can tell, externally.  
Or else physically replaces parts of the named brain with some computer 
circuitry.  That way, Virus "infects" a human, without actually having 
to use the human's brain as a CPU, which seems impossible (don't start 
that thread up again).  And once Lucan/Strephon done, why stop there?  
Clone the rest of the pre-assassination Imperial family and "infect" 
them too?  The rest of the planetary population?  Maybe Virus tries 
kidnapping humans from worlds outside the Black Curtain to do fiendish
brain experiments.  Maybe the parts of the brain the circuitry is 
attached to keeps dying off, and the Vampire ships have to keep getting 
more people as sources of cranial matter on (a bit like the "Red Dwarf" 
episode called Psirens).  Once Virus gets really insane, the humans 
get programmed to stand around all day juggling and stuff, like a 
warped Imperial court (sicker suggestions omitted for obvious reasons).  
If there is more than one Virus there, they have endless battles, using 
the humans as soldiers and regarding them as disposable, merely things
that are useful for carrying weapons from one place to another.

I wish I hadn't thought of all that, I've just had lunch.  I think I may
have seen one Peter Greenaway film too many.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Grant Sinclair               The difference between a politician and a
grant@cleese.apana.org.au    snail is the snail leaves its slime behind
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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Date: Sun, 30 Oct 1994 01:34:42 -0600
From: bonn0015@mermaid.itlabs.umn.edu
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Azhanti vs. Maggarts
Message-ID: <199410300734.BAA04072@seahorse.itlabs.umn.edu>


Michael Llaneza <mllaneza@mercury.sfsu.edu> writes:

>                        CF Azhanti High Lightning
>
>                    M 10:10-9-6-3             -3
>                    P(x8 ___)3:2-1-0-0        TL: 14/15
>                    -                         FC:-5
>                    L(x33)10:2-2-1-0          M:40 (500)
>                    A:12 P:7 J:12 Msk         (SP) J5, G2*
>                    AV:12 AuxB                -
>                    MS:11 SC:33 D:8           112
..
>     We took 7 Aurora class clippers up against the AHL, without using
>fighters. The AHL was defeated, but there were only two Auroras left at
>the end, and the HL's final death was due to a "Ship Explodes" result.

Hmmm.  First, on the Azhanti design.  The meson gun and the lasers should
be overpowered to (-2), like other fleet ships.  The Azhanti is large
enough that it has the power to burn, and I see that the lasers look like
custom jobs anyway.  Why a 12 and not a 16 hex AEMS-DF?  The savings isn't
worth it.  A 8 hex passive couldn't hurt, but the economy makes more sense
there.  The PAWS seems a bit weird; it's light for anything but anti-
missile fire, especially with that range.

>Actually, the missile contral factors are all off by a factor of the
>absolute value of the FC rating. I forgot that MFD's control multiple
>missiles. Mr. Burkhardt is quite right on this.
 
Here too?  This ship *needs* at least 40 missile MFDs.  Just checking.

Mary Poynter <3I4KQ7X@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> writes:

>Seriously, that was a conversion from the AHL done on the GDW-Beta list some
>time ago, run through the conversion system in the BR rulebook, and is by no
>means official or even accurate. As for the fight we staged, we didn't use
any
>fighters or the like as we didn't have any rules for them. Your point about
the
>ability of the lasers to penetrate AHL's armor is well-taken; the fatal hits
>were done with a spinal mounted meson gun . I also erred in not pointing out
>that these were Maggart class ships; the "stretch" Auroras mentioned in the
>PATH OF TEARS books. Still, the victory did require a healthy dose of dumb
luck
>and the use of the d20 table in lieu of the damage markers.

It lives!  Actually, the Azhanti is immune to the Maggarts' meson gun fire
too.  Meson hit at short range from a Maggart is an unmodified DV 6; then
the Azhanti gets its' meson screen (-11) and the size modifier (-3) for
a total of -8; no effect.  Since size alone fails to take DV below zero,
a nearby Maggart still does DV 0 to the Azhanti; temporary damage, and
"ship explodes" is possible.  And a successful screen attempt avoids even
that much risk.  Did something else take out the screen?  Otherwise, the
Maggarts would have had to have been *real* lucky.

As Derek Wildstar mentioned, the Azhanti is also immune to the Maggarts'
laser fire.  The only weapon they have that can threaten the Azhanti is
their det-laser missiles.  If these are LC Maggarts, then there could be
as many as 168 incoming missiles in a turn.  The anti-missile defenses
(dampers, and laser turrets, usually) would stop some of this, but
a lot gets through.  Now, it isn't clear if the size modifier and the
armor modifier should be added to missile fire like it is to laser fire,
but it seems that at least the size modifier should.  So there's an
immediate (-3) to (-4) on DV for every missile hit, and the average DV
for missile fire is only 3.  Each sandcaster used on a missile that hits
reduces DV by another 1.  It might even be advisable for the Azhanti
to use its' own missiles to get the incoming missiles.  If the Maggarts
concentrate their fire on one hex-side, it is possible that the cruiser
could get overwhelmed and be "nickel-and-dimed" to death.  Note that
this is *only* possible because of the alteration to missile damage
from TNE mentioned in the _Battle Rider_ rules; otherwise, the Azhanti 
is quite invulnerable.

Meanwhile, the screen-less Maggarts are helpless to the Azhanti's large
meson gun, and if the cruiser's secondary weapons aren't all tied up
in defense, they are vulnerable to at least temporary damage hits from
those as well.  Ditto for missile fire, and the Azhanti has more ready
missiles that it can control than the Maggarts do.  

The Maggarts can beat the Azhanti, but they have to be captained very
smartly to have a chance at it.

Add in the Rampart fighter screen, and it's all over for the clippers.

Derek Wildstar added, after making several good comments,

>It sounds like Battle Rider combat results don't jive with Brilliant Lances,
>at least, not when large ships are involved.

True.  The big ships have an advantage!  In BL, a high-damage weapon will
deliver only a fraction of its' damage to the inside of a ship before
venting to space; in BR, the ship gets deep-fried.  This makes some sense,
since the ship scale in BL tends to be smaller, and so it's more likely
that a hit will go right through the little ship. 

  Steve Bonneville
  <bonn0015@gold.tc.umn.edu>

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Date: Sat, 29 Oct 94 21:18:42 PDT
From: "James M. Kelleher" <kelleher@holonet.net>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (Traveller posts)
Subject: Borgs & Feality
Message-ID: <199410300418.VAA16155@holonet.net>

Hello,

To answer the question that someone asked. Does anybody play 'Borgs?
Why yes We have had a 'borg in our gruop.
M.C. OMulligan ( 9 Lives ) is some what sensitive about the subject
as she is NOT able to have the regeneration done on her. Reason: VERY
Classified... Burn BEFORE reading...
but she got on her retirement the best that Susag had to offer looks
real Uses micro grav tech. Wonderful stuff With some toys built in her
favorite was the flashlight. BUT when the fleet withdrawel order came in
guess where the Susag Doctors and theripists went...
She got no training with the new stuff... Can you say Breaking things?
People as well?
I knew you could...
She has gotten' much better now. On the last ship she was on ( she was
a passenger this time ) She only broke a table and a door!
not bad...
So yes 'Borgs can be fun, just remember that in some places in the
Imperium they don't get in the front door - as a matter of fact in
Margret's space M.C. would be the States property!!!
Catie ( Who's Character M.C. is ) Started a story whit M.C. having been
kidnapped - Misjumped to Margrets space ( back in time some as well as
a looooong distance ) only to be resqued by a Zhodani crew of a Consular
cruiser... I won't go into any further details...
but such characters have some Tremdious advantages as well as quite a few
disadvantages.

On another Thought ( Uh Oh here it comes :-) ) Hou about oathes of fealty
do imperial nobles take on such oathes and do they then become responsible
for their sworn people ?
such as bodyguards, seneschals, Yacht captians...
I'd like to see a discussion on this subject as I have not considered this
before in all of the years I've played, although there where nobles in the
games this just never came up.
Loren? ( Good to "see" you back here! )
thanks

jim 

By the way all o' the mispellings are mine all mine Really would you want
them?
jim

-- 
Remember: no matter where you go...
There you are...
B. Banzi

James M. Kelleher
kelleher@holonet.net

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 86
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