			    TRAVELLER Digest 215

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: TRAVELLER Digest 212	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  2) Re: Solomani, etc.	by CyHiggin@aol.com
  3) RCES questions.	by Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
  4) Aslan Careers	by "David A. Nelson" <34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
  5) Re: TRAVELLER Digest 213	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  6) Re: Aslan Character Generation	by mtr@globalx.net
  7) Re: Low Tech Spaceships designs?	by eclipse@avalon.ultranet.com (Mark Urbin)

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Date: Mon, 06 Mar 1995 13:53:17 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER Digest 212
Message-ID: <sf5b1376.056@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Hugh Foster says:

>>>Six," and a courageous Hiver technical advisor, "Scissor." <<
>
>Er, what ? A courageous Hiver ? As far as I remember, there  ain't no
>such beastie... 

   Perhaps he is the equivalent of an insane Puppeteer.  Not that I would
want to draw parallels between Hivers and Puppeteers, mind you.  : )

Erich Schneider says:

[Re: the Solomani]

>This calls to mind a phrase I have heard attributed to Goethe, about the
>Germans:
>
>"As individuals, how grand; as a people, how wretched."
>
>Perhaps this applies to the Solomani as well ... and can be reversed to
>describe the Vilani.

   It also brings to mind the phrase "the veneer of Democracy" the
source of which escapes me at the moment.  Certainly not all worlds
in the Solomani Confederation had an Orwellian quality to them, but
all most all of them were practicing hypocrites when it came to matters
of personal freedom and expression.  Very reminiscent of several
groups which existed in late 20th century Earth that were known
collectively as the "Politically Correct" and the "Moral Majority".

Andrew Boulton says:

>   One feature of Solomani weapons in my universe is that they use the
>same ammo as Imperial ones, but the magazines are designed so that
>Imperial mags fit into Solomani guns but not vice versa.

   Very convenient--except that wouldn't the Imperial types figure out
what the Solomani were up to make an "improvement" to their designs
so that Solomani mags wouldn't fit in Imperial weapons?

Michael Bailey says:

><snip>
>> I'll add a couple thoughts of my own...feel free to turn
>> the flamethrower on to them if you disagree:
><snip>
>
>> 3/  The GDW material I've read hints at a growing  r'approachment
>between the Confederation and the  Imperium from the last half of the
>11th Century.
>
>If you mean CT's _Solomani Rim_, you're right on the ball.  For those of 
>you who don't have a copy (like me two weeks ago), the two
>government's  had rather peaseful and non-provocative relations with
>each other,  although they still weren't exactly the best of friends.  The
>Solomani  had turned their attention to colonizing the rimward border,
>and would  give only verbal support (and maybe weak verbal support,
>too!) to  Solomani movement's in ex-Solomani, Imperial space.  Probably
>the only  real sore point was Terra itself.

   In fact, the right wing of the Solomani Party (which held posts all the
way up the hierarchy to the High Council), wanted no less than the
return of all territory seized by Imperial government prior to the First
Rim War.  The "lunatic fringe" of the right wing wanted the
re-establishment of the Second Imperium, and perhaps even an empire
encompassing all of Known Space with themselves as its leaders.

   Moderates (which made up the majority) were willing to settle for a
return of Terra and several other systems (Prometheus for one).
Right-leaning moderates were unwilling to rule out a military option to
accomplish this, while left-leaning moderates believed that diplomacy
was the key.

   Liberals (which were decidedly in the minority, but controlled several
key worlds) believed that the Imperium would never willingly give up
Terra, and that it was a waste of time and resources to attempt to
regain control of it.  They wanted to engage in a dialog with the Imperium
on gaining access to Terra for cultural and trade purposes.  They
wanted the border between the Imperium and the Confederation to
be open to all travel (just as the border between the U.S. and Canada
is now).  Liberals ranged from the pragmatic (who wanted to use the
resources spent on a massive military build-up on colony ships for
rimward expansion), to the idealistic (who believed that all sentient
creatures should chose to live together in harmony).  The "lunatic fringe"
of the left wanted re-integration into the Imperium--these people were
closely monitored by SolSec and were subject to local persecution.

Additional note:  If the Solomani were so against "big government" why
did they insist on trying to keep biological and security files on
everyone in the Confederation?


Steve Bonneville says:

<snip>

Re: Armor Value of what?

   I will have to admit at this point to not attempting a design over 5,000
displacement tons.  That shocking confession out of the way, I will
also say that it sounds like the rules are attempting to recreate to some
extent the system that existed under High Guard--that large
ships are not really bothered by turret weapons (except that they can
have stuff scraped off)--for the really big ships you need a BAMG
(big *ss meson gun) to get inside them and wreak serious havoc.
A typical TL 15 large warship therefore must have two things: a BAMG
(already defined) and a BAMS (big *ss meson screen).  Everything
else you add just aids the performance of these two components.

Douglas E. Berry says:

>A recent Digest included the question:  "What is the structure of the
>Imperial Army?"  Since I have spent the majority of my Traveller
>"career" playing, running, and designing for the Army, I feel qualified to
>give my opinion on the subject.
>
>The Imperial Army is the Imperium's basic defense.  Each world is
>responsible for raising and equipping a self-defense force.  Each
>Subsector then organizes the best personnel from the individual SDFs
>into the local Imperial Army.  Since the needs of, say, Jewell Subsector
>are quite different than that of a Subsector in the Imperial Core, this
>system allows for flexibility in training and equipment (for example,
>forces in Jewell must be equipped with psionic shields due to the
>Zhodani threat).

   But hopefully not too much flexibility.  All small arms would be
standardized, as would infantry support weapons, artillery, ortillery,
and armored fighting vehicles.  True, the Imperial Army located in the
Old Expanses would have little need for psionic shields, but you can be
pretty sure that there is a warehouse somewhere on Vland that has
cartes of them in case the crap hits the fan and Vland Sector units get
deployed in Deneb Sector to help turn back a Zhodani incursion.

>An advantage of this is a boon to local industry, as the highest tech
>industrial world in the region will receive multiple contracts to equip the
>Subsector Army.

   They would have been awarded the contract *only* if they could
manufacture what the Army needs according to the Army's
specifications.  The Imperial Army would have little use for TL 14
battledress helmets from Core that weren't compatible with the TL 14
battledress suits in the Solomani Rim.  

   Another thing, given the ease of interstellar trade and travel in the
Imperium, parts were likely purchased from the "low bidder",
and shipped where they were needed.  A soldier in the Diaspora
Sector would likely have FGMP-15 from the Massilia Sector; an e-suit
from the Solomani Rim; oxygen tanks and other environmental gear
from his home sector; and communications and other electronic gear
from the Old Expanses.  All these components would be designed to
fit together as though they came out of the same building.

>At a more basic level, the Army probably uses a regimental system,
>similar to that of Victorian England.  The Regiment is your home away
>from home, and you serve in the same Regiment as your father did
>before you, and his father before him.

   A basis at regimental level for the Marines makes sense, especially
sense their are a lot fewer of them.  For the Army, I'd think you'd be
talking division level, IMHO.  In the U.S. Army, the exploits of various
divisions (especially the 82nd Airborne) have become the stuff of
legends.  Each division gets its own distinctive patch, and I'm sure that's
probably true of the Imperial Army.

   As to making membership in a division hereditary, the problem is that
such a system is not conducive to maintaining a professional army.
Yes, there are individuals in the 20th century who strive to be (and
frequently are) assigned to the same unit their father was when he was
in the army, but I don't know of any current "modern" army where this
is official policy.

Harold

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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 13:32:24 -0500
From: CyHiggin@aol.com
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Solomani, etc.
Message-ID: <950306133223_40861374@aol.com>

Harold Hale:

>   The Solomani Confederation had the potential to be one of the most
>repressive government in the history of mankind, and there were
>certainly individuals within SolSec, the Party, and the military who
>wanted to bring about authoritarian rule.  The central governmental
>structure, however, was sufficiently weak that bastions of "liberalism"
>could exist on various worlds.  This enabled dissidents to speak
>against the central government freely without fear of waking up dead
>or imprisoned.  The "liberal haven" worlds paid lip service to the
>Solomani Cause, while at the same time granting local citizenship to
>non-Solomani humans, genetically manipulated sentients of Terran
>origins (dolphins, Vargrs, etc.), even sentients of non-Terran origin
>(Aslan, etc.).

I believe that the Imperium actually had more potential for being "the most 
repressive government in history", and that the orginal Ziru Sirka was it.  
I also think that a closer examination of the political structure of the
Solomani
Confederation would show that the central government was more than 
"sufficiently weak".  Remember that the Solomani member states, unlike
Imperial worlds, could join as interstellar states, and many did.  Many of 
those interstellar states are at least as large as, as populated as, and as 
technologically advanced as the Vegan Autonomous Region; they would give
the Confederation just as much trouble if they got riled up enough to secede.
Many of these states' citizens no doubt feel a certain nationalism, and 
remember that the Confederation Armed forces are made up of these citizens.
Not only that, member states have their own militaries and citizen militias (the
Home Guard) -- another strike against strong central government, or organized
repression by the Confederation as a whole.  OTOH, without much central
government oversight, the individual member nations can rule their citizens
pretty much as they please, and some pretty horrible governments can result
--
the Wuan Technocracy comes to mind.  On the gripping hand, this can 
happen on Imperial worlds, too, since they are allowed home rule, and anything
short of slavery and mass genocide is allowed.

In short, SolSec and the Solomani Party had only as much authority as the
local government was willing to allow them, and the more powerful "local" 
governments are not likely to be easily intimidated by them.  If it is in the
interests of, say, the Kostov Confederate Republik to give SolSec free reign,
they will; otherwise, SolSec has to operate covertly, and possibly against the
laws of the host nation.  I will concede, based on material in "Cats & Rats" that
SolSec has been trying to strengthen their central government by installing their
own puppets in charge of strong member nations.  It also looks like their tactics
are backfiring on them.  As the situation stood in 1120 or so, either SolSec is
going to be purged of the covert-op cowboys because of its abuses of power,
or there's going to be revolution in the central government, or there's going to
be a Civil War between the States' Rights and Centrist factions.  No one's going
to war over a bunch of aliens; any Solomani Civil War will be over fundamental
issues like the central government trying to strip members of their traditional 
rights and perogatives.


                                                   -- Cynthia

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people."  -- 10th Amendment, U.S.Contitution

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

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 1995 14:41:15 -0500 (EST)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RCES questions.
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950306143725.8886C-100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>

From: "David A. Nelson" <34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>

>   1.) What is the rank structure used by RCES personell? Is it that of the
> Navy or the Scouts?

They use the Imperial Rank system, but don't stand on protocol.
(See _Path of Tears_ sourcebook)

>   2.) How do you determine what a character's rank in the RCES is after
> character creation? For instance. lets say a character gets rank o6
(Captain)
> in the Navy, then goes to Hiver Tech, then joins the RCES (i.e. the
campaign
> begins). Is the character rank 06 in the RCES? Or is there a starting rank
for
> officers (do they go all the way down to o1?)

It's really up to you, but I'd think that he would keep his old rank, 
esp. if he's reenlisting into RCES (They lack qualified personnel)

You _may_ give a promotion for training, but this is a personal decision, 
and isn't standard policy.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvin Plummer
"Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for."
                               - Strephon, 179-1126

Reply to: alvin.plummer@SHERIDANC.ON.CA

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


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

Date:         Mon, 06 Mar 95 15:22:59 EST
From: "David A. Nelson" <34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Aslan Careers
Message-ID:   <950306.152517.EST.34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>

I would like to see the other aslan careers, as I found that article quite
useful. Also, has anyone tried doing Vargr, Droyne, Zhodani, or the other races
in the Alien Modules series? I've been thinking of doing this, but haven't set
down and done yet. (Except for Vargr, which I could post here if there's enough
interest.)

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

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 1995 17:45:59 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER Digest 213
Message-ID: <sf5b4a11.091@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Hans Rancke-Madsen says:

>Ironically, the planet that gave them most trouble was probably Terra.

   It took the Solomani two tries to land on Terra and ultimately take
control of it in 1117.  In a history I am putting together based on the
old Traveller News Service bulletins from Challenge, the first assault
tried to establish a foothold on Terra somewhere in Asia and was
repulsed with high casualties on both sides.  The second attempt
tried and succeeded in establishing a foothold on Australia.  It took
the Solomani until the end of the year to mop up the last pockets of
Imperial resistance.  Even then, hundreds of  Imperial Marines escaped
capture by the Solomani and began a resistance campaign that
managed to destroy several key installations and assassinate a number
of Solomani political figures (among them Jeffrey Long).  The siege of
Terra is important in the Second Rim War, because the Imperial
ground troops left behind managed to tie up large numbers of Solomani
forces which could have made a significant difference had they been
available for use elsewhere.

>Consider: By 1117 conditions on Terra had been normalized. Civil
>government had been returned a few years before. Relations between
>Terra and the Imperium were probably more cordial than ever before.

<snip>

   You are correct in most of your analysis.  Without question, all the
"collaborators" (or at least their leaders) in the Terran Imperial
government "resigned", or took early retirements (never to be heard
from again).  A few dozen were probably picked out for show trials
where they were given a death sentence or ordered to serve  long
prison terms (if they cooperated in rounding up Imperial sympathizers).

>By the time the Virus topples the Confederation Terra is probably
>fighting a guerilla war FOR the Imperium! 

   Not the whole planet, but to be sure the surviving Imperial Marines
on Terra had become very effective guerrillas.  With the help of
local collaborators, they were a constant thorn in the Solomani's side
right up until the end.

He also says with regard to transponders:

>They have what every navy back to pre-spaceflight Terra have had: A
>way of transmitting information (be it flags, aldis, or radio) and secret
>verification codes. You don't NEED anything as elaborate as the chip
>transponders. A courier with a scrap of paper sent ahead will allow a
>ship commander to recognize a friendly ship. It's simple, really.

   If you have to wait until you are within visual range in ship combat
to identify whether a bogey is friendly or enemy, chances are you're
going to be dead before you find out the bad news that he wasn't who
you thought he was.  The problem with straight radio communication
is that radio transmissions can be intercepted--or worse faked by the
bad guys.  All it takes is the right code or a friendly, pleasant speaking
person who can bluff his way through a conversation.  While that
adds all kinds of role-playing opportunities for PCs, it doesn't do much
for a peace time navy worried about espionage.  The chip transponders
came into vogue because they couldn't be faked (see Challenge article,
among other sources).

>No, the presumption is that noone would be silly enough to incorporate
>a 'black box' in their ship's electronics that was manufactured by a
>rival, potentially hostile, government.

   Only three governments of any major consequence were "potentially
hostile" to the Imperium:

   The Zhodani Consulate - Which of course is on the "correct" side of
the Great Rift, and bears no further discussion.

   The Solomani Confederation - Who was theoretically still at war with
the Imperium in 1117, but who's merchants were by that time engaging
in trade with the Imperium.  If I'm in charge of the Solomani/Imperial
border for the Imperium, you're darn straight I'm going to tag and track
the travels of every Solomani merchant that comes across the frontier.
If I'm a Solomani merchant, I have no trouble fitting my ship with a
transponder, if that means I have access to all the lucrative markets
on the Imperial side of the border.  It is quite possible that the Solomani
were growing their own version of the Cymbeline chip in 1117--
remember that the Solomani *owned* that world at one time.  The
difference between the chips being that the Solomani didn't consider
their version to be sentient (which it wasn't).

   The Julian Protectorate - Here you might have something, except that:

   the Virus could be transmitted by any kind of data exchange...I say
again, any kind of data exchange.  The x-boat routes were probably
just as effective at spreading the Virus as those cursed chips you are
complaining about.  They were certainly the primary means by which  the
major worlds of the Imperium and the Solomani Confederation received
infection.  The Julian Protectorate would not have been immune to
infection by data exchange, and since every single interstellar society
interacted with every other interstellar society in Known Space (either
directly or indirectly), no one this side of the Great Rift would be
immune.

>GDW says that they did it because it was the only way to get to trade
>with the Imperium. BS!

   Here in the U.S., we are not in the habit of letting potentially hostile
aircraft violate our airspace.  The Imperium probably had a similar
policy.  And as I pointed out, what's the harm of mounting a transponder?
A merchant wouldn't see the harm, given the markets it opens up.

>Let me tell you what (IMO) would happen if the Imperium tried anything
>like that: All the surrounding states would impose a trade embargo on
>the Imperium (perhaps totally, perhaps limited to ships carrying such a
>transponder ;-). 

   If all the surrounding states could actually agree on anything.  I'm
sure that the K'kree and Hivers would disagree on the color of snow
(though I'm sure the Hivers would manipulate the K'kree into agreeing
with them :-)  ), let alone an embargo policy.  And you believe that you
could get even a significant percentage of the Vargr to agree?!  Ha!
You'd have better luck with the Solomani, and unless it involved them
recovering Terra somehow, forget it!

Alvin Plummer asks:

>How do you think that infected Vargr robot's should be played?
>(Vargr robots are built to truly shoddy specifications... anytime that 
>good `Vargr' robots are sold, they are invariably ex-Imperial property 
>(often stolen). 

   As the comic relief of your campaign.  They are the most intelligent,
friendliest, most caring and compassionate sentient species in Known
Space--unfortunately they have this bad habit of falling apart (literally)
at a crucial moment....

   "Pardon me sir, if it's not too much trouble, could you help me find my
arm?  I've seemed to misplaced it."
  
>More interesting "Alternate questions"! <snip>

   An ending to make TNE storyline haters happy...

   Since there would be no Solomani invasion, Daibei doesn't succeed
from the Imperium.  Those forces, plus those in the Sol Rim are committed
to fighting Dulinor (we'll presume...you are correct in stating that the
sector might have declared for Margaret, in which case the Collapse
still occurs).  With an additional six full fleets (the Daibei Fleet, the
Diaspora Fleet,, the Magyar Fleet, the Solomani Rim Fleet,  the Alpha
Leonis [Crucis] Fleet, and the Aldebaran Fleet  now baring down on
Dulinor, he puts up a valiant but losing struggle against Lucan.  In
secession, the territory of Strephon, Margaret, Vland, and Antares are
re-absorbed into the Imperium.  The Vargr are driven off, as are the
Aslan, and peace and tranquility are restored to the Third Imperium for
a decade or so.  Lucan turns out to be nuttier than a fruitcake (surprise!)
but is *not* assassinated, because everyone fears a repeat of the
Rebellion.  He dies in his sleep of "natural causes" a few years later,
and Norris is offered the throne, which he of course accepts.

   ...and they all lived happily ever after....

>Where is the 1117 Battle of Dingir covered?

   It is mentioned in a couple of Traveller News Service bulletins.  The
implications the battle had on the rest of the Second Rim War have been
extrapolated by me and included in a history of the Solomani Rim I'm
working on.

Re: The Aslan

   I have not been privy to what ever plans GDW has for the Aslan in
the proposed Regency sourcebook, but perhaps Loren could give us
a preview. <hint>

Harold




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

Date: Mon, 06 Mar 95 18:09:09 -0500
From: mtr@globalx.net
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Aslan Character Generation
Message-ID: <9503070210.AA0041@Sd.globalx.net>

> Was my submission on this subject of any use to anyone (other than the
> couple of people who contacted me?). Anyone got any comments? Anyone want
> the other Aslan careers posted to the list or shall I just send them to the
> independent requesters?

It wasn't of immediate use (since I don't run an Imperial campaign), but the information
is one of the few pieces from this list which I've stored for future reference.

By all means continue to post here.  Or count me as one of your independent
requesters.

---
Michael T. Richter
mtr@globalx.net
(613)592-7994


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

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 20:56:46 -0500
From: eclipse@avalon.ultranet.com (Mark Urbin)
To: TNE Mailing List <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Cc: GDW-Beta List <gdw-beta@quark.qrc.com>
Subject: Re: Low Tech Spaceships designs?
Message-ID: <9503070156.AA02387@remus.ultranet.com>

At 01:34 AM 3/6/95 -0500, Shalom Zaidfeld wrote:
>Did anyone on the list tried to design a low tech (TL 4-5 range) spaceship?
>Is it possible to design one using FF&S rules?

  A quick glance at page 70 of my copy of FF&S shows the first self
contained thrusters coming at TL 5 (Turbojet, Ramjet, LF Rocket, SF Rocket).

  So starting at TL 5, you have a chance.  With the Space:1889 add on rules
to FF&S (hmm..perhaps I should CC Loren on this :->), you should be able to
build etherflyers at TL 3.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
eclipse@ultranet.com -- These opinions are mine, no one else wants `em.
"[Clinton's] Administration is easily the most reckless in interfering with 
the integrity of Federal investigative agencies since that of Richard Nixon."
   -- NY Times editorial, "White House Ethics Meltdown", 3/4/94
              http://www.ultranet.com/~eclipse/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


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End of TRAVELLER Digest 215
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