			    TRAVELLER Digest 130

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Kinetic Energy and Spaceflight	by "CUBI/D. GOLDEN" <GOLDEND@smc-det10.afaa-net.af.mil>
  2) Foreven	by Graham Spearing <Graham.Spearing@p11.f405.n250.embassy.co.uk>
  3) Striker II ?	by tek@FICUS.CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude))
  4) Re: Kinetic Energy and Spaceflight	by merrick@RT66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  5) Comp Game	by marcob@Finnegan.EE.McGill.CA (Marco Baratta)
  6) External Fuel tanks	by HANS-CHRISTIAN PRYTZ <92HANSC@kihelektro.kih.no>
  7) WARP DRIVE IS FOR REAL.	by Mark Fletcher <mf1@st-andrews.ac.uk>

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Date: 12 Dec 94 13:56:00 PST
From: "CUBI/D. GOLDEN" <GOLDEND@smc-det10.afaa-net.af.mil>
To: "traveller" <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Kinetic Energy and Spaceflight
Message-ID: <199412122210.RAA02679@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

--- BMO MAIL BRIDGE: HIGGINS > VAX (1212135053) ---
From:    GOLDEND@951_2@EXCH900
Subject: Kinetic Energy and Spaceflight
To:      traveller@mpgn.com
---------------------------------------------------

                               - - Mail - - 
         December 12, 1994     1:47pm    
   FROM: CAPT D GOLDEN/CUBI              
     TO: TML                             
SUBJECT: Kinetic Energy and Spaceflight  
   COPY: CAPT D GOLDEN/CUBI


>  Basically, the minimum armor values for ships are way too low.  If you 
>assume a ship might use 25% of its g-turns to accelerate at maximum, then 
>small ships might cruise in-system at speeds of around 20 hexes/turn (or >1.
2E06 km/hr).  A small pebble would destroy a scout ship at this speed...

Three responses

1) I doubt anybody would "cruise" at 20 hexes/turn -- that leaves you with 
minimal maneuverability. Under BL, changing direction by 1/12 of a circle 
(30degrees) requires G-turns equal to half your current velocity - your 
average scout with 2G thrusters would travel 100 hexes and be clear off the 
board before he could change his heading by 30 degrees.

2) Getting to twenty hexes per turn would cost 20 G-hours -- I don't have BL 
or TNE here at work with me, but if that's 25% I don't recall many ships 
having 80 G-turns of fuel.

3) Rather than changing the rules, simply do what we do when reality's rules 
prevent us from doing something -- accept the fact that ships don't cruise 
around at 20 G-Turns. It's perfectly ok to say "based on the rules, it would 
be hazardous for vessels in the TNE universe to travel at extremely high 
velocities, therefore, THEY DON'T." You don't have to change the rules all the
time. It's more interesting to see where the basic set of assumptions leads 
you.

        +-------------------------------------------------+
        | David J. Golden                                 |
        |    Home: D.GOLDEN@genie.geis.com                |
        |    Work: GOLDEND@smc-det10.afaa-net.af.mil      |
        |                                                 |
        | "My employer is unaware I even have these       |
        | opinions, and does not condone or support them" |
        +-------------------------------------------------+ 



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

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 16:43:59 +0000 GMT
From: Graham Spearing <Graham.Spearing@p11.f405.n250.embassy.co.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Foreven
Message-ID: <C642EF2E@p11.f405.n250.embassy.co.uk>


I am starting to write up a Rebellion / Hard Times series of scenarios using TNE
rules called "Purple Light" - a story revolving around the players accidental
discovery of revolutionary military Jump Space tumbling software. (I blame an
over exposure to Tangerine Dream albums...)

Hunting round for a suitable location for the adventures I stumbled upon
Imperial Lines #1 (c.1992?) giving information on the Foreven Sector (to the
left of the Spinward Marches). To quote the Introduction:

"Marc Miller has officially set Foreven Setor aside for MegaTraveller players
and referees. [cut text] The individual worlds and systems of the sector have a
official location within the MegaTraveller universe but they will not be named
or have a UWP. [cut lots of text] From here, it's up to the individual referee
to decide the future of an entire sector."

Thus, GDW set up a Chaosium style 'Blank Land' on the borders of the
Imperium/Regency.

Does anyone know if this pledge is still in force for TNE?

Regards

Graham
Internet:   graham.spearing@cascades.embassy.co.uk


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

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 15:09:31 -0800
From: tek@FICUS.CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude))
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Striker II ?
Message-ID: <9412122309.AA04367@penzance.cs.ucla.edu>

gdw.support@genie.geis.com (Loren W.) writes:
> And, for those of you wanting info on the rest of 1995, here goes:

['95 schedule deleted]

Excuse me, if I missed the announcement ... but, did Striker II get
dropped?  or is it out already?

-ted

Ted Kim                           Internet: tek@ficus.cs.ucla.edu
UCLA Computer Science Department  UUCP:
...!{uunet|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!tek
4760C Boelter Hall                Phone:    (310) 825-8524
Los Angeles, CA 90024             FAX:      (310) 825-2273

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

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 16:49:11 -0700 (MST)
From: merrick@RT66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Kinetic Energy and Spaceflight
Message-ID: <9412122349.AA19300@RT66.com>

>    FROM: CAPT D GOLDEN/CUBI              
> Three responses
> 
> 1) I doubt anybody would "cruise" at 20 hexes/turn -- that leaves you with 
> minimal maneuverability. Under BL, changing direction by 1/12 of a circle 
> (30degrees) requires G-turns equal to half your current velocity - your 
> average scout with 2G thrusters would travel 100 hexes and be clear off the

> board before he could change his heading by 30 degrees.

True, but by "cruising" I refer to any point to point flight path.  A transfer
orbit insertion burn, then one to orbit your target.  An SBD has 112 gturns, 
and a Scout/Courier has 80 (w/o jump fuel).  The SDB would have to go fast, or
miss the battle since it can't jump...

Also (more importantly) what you'd do in a game of BL vs. how the ships act in
general is what matters here.  There is *no* in-system travel now (how many
months worth of air/food does a ships boat have?).  

> 2) Getting to twenty hexes per turn would cost 20 G-hours -- I don't have BL 
> or TNE here at work with me, but if that's 25% I don't recall many ships 
> having 80 G-turns of fuel.

Answered above.  You're right, though, most large ships won't have that kind
of fuel... on the other hand they will be better armored.

> 3) Rather than changing the rules, simply do what we do when reality's rules 
> prevent us from doing something -- accept the fact that ships don't cruise 

The BL rules don't reflect reality.  If this is so *don't exceed 3 hexes/turn.*
Ever. (and below that you'll have your surface features degraded at a decent
clip.

> around at 20 G-Turns. It's perfectly ok to say "based on the rules, it would 
> be hazardous for vessels in the TNE universe to travel at extremely high 
> velocities, therefore, THEY DON'T." You don't have to change the rules all the
> time. It's more interesting to see where the basic set of assumptions leads
> you.

The basic assumtions are flawed.  Why is min armor max g burn times 10?  It
shouldn't even be related to acceleration, but rather the max velocity of the
craft. The Scout has a lower Min Armor value, but it can go faster.  The
toatl g-turns divided by 2 is the crafts maximum velocity (assuming it wants
to stop atsome point :)
Calling Bonded Super Dense armor more than just 14 times stronger
than steel isn't out of whack with the rest of the rules.  FFS even talks
about 
non-harded round shattering on better armor... this is just extending that 
a bit :)

a speed of 20 hexes per turn isn't all that fast.  At that speed it'd take a 
month to reach Jupiter from here (assuming it's more or less as close as it's
gonna get... more if it isn't (more likely than not).

Also (final point), what about kinetic kill weapons?  I would like to just see
what the rules lead to, but the rules about missiles are nuts.  If the rules
worked you'd be able to shoot missiles down.  You can't even lock on to them
using the rules, how can you shoot them?  What if you don't have a laser?
What if there are more than you can shoot or evade?  Subtract the nuke part of
a missile, and it's cheap.  And a bb will kill you. (at speed 20, a 1 gram
shot (i didn't even improve it by making it a BSD round) will have a damage
value of 497 and a penetration rating of 1/222... goodbye Battleship, Boom.
:-)

-Merrick

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

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 18:46:18 EST
From: marcob@Finnegan.EE.McGill.CA (Marco Baratta)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Comp Game
Message-ID: <9412122346.AA19574@finnegan.ee.mcgill.ca>

Does anyone know if Traveller will be available as a computer game
on a PC.  I'm fed up with all the AD&D games.  I would like to se
a sci-fi role playing game for the PC (CD-ROM would be nice :-) ).

					Marco

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

Date: 13 Dec 94 12:26:49 MET-1
From: HANS-CHRISTIAN PRYTZ <92HANSC@kihelektro.kih.no>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: External Fuel tanks
Message-ID: <MAILQUEUE-101.941213122649.480@kihelektro.kih.no>

Greetings and salutations (or whatever)

I am designing a ship which requires an external fuel tank and I have
a problem on how to calculate the surface area for use in damage
allocation. The ship is a cylinder SL, with th SL tank fittet partly
around it.

So how does this affect the damage allocation? And how do I figure
out the surface area taken by the tank.

If anyone could help me I'd appreciate it.

PS. the ship is a 2000 tonner while the fuel tank is a monster at
1250 tons displacement.

BTW isn't the reaction mass needed rediculously large? I mean this
ship needs 6500 Kl of rm. per hour of thrust. It seems a bit much to
me.

---
____________________________________
|Hans-Christian Prytz              |
|e-mail <92hansc@kihelektro.kih.no>|
------------------------------------

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

Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 16:56:07 +0000 (GMT)
From: Mark Fletcher <mf1@st-andrews.ac.uk>
To: Traveller <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: WARP DRIVE IS FOR REAL.
Message-ID: <Pine.3.87.9412131607.A10753-0100000@pasta>

I was recently reading an article in a physics Journal on how a 
theoretical "Warp Drive" would work.

I didnt understand it much (very high brow) but for those who are 
interested, it can be found in the May 1994 Issue of the Journal 
"Classical and Quantum Gravity" published by the IOP (Institute of Physics).

The article was written by someone in the University of Cardiff if I can 
remember rightly; whether it was a joke or not im not quite sure!

If its true, looks like GDW's Jump Drive is slightly redundant!

Picture it : "--sccrrrhhaazzz ....So come on down to Honest Strephons 
Used Jump Drives! All sizes from J1 to J6, suitable for those who live in 
another dimension!! How can the whole of Charted Space be wrong?!? Prices 
start at only two cans of dog food..."
                                          
                                      o   )
                                       --- )  (Very big Smiley!)
                                      o   )  

Cheers!

Fletch.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|"Yesterday I shot an elephant in my pyjamas.     |Mr M Fletcher.    |
| How the elephant got in my pyjamas I dont know."|(mf1@st-and.ac.uk)|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

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End of TRAVELLER Digest 130
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