			    TRAVELLER Digest 218

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Jeffery Long? Solomani TL. CPR gun's...	by Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
  2) Re: Battledress	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  3) Hiver Courage	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  4) Comments	by "Post, D L (Dan)" <PostD%HOST2@WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM>
  5) Alternate reality	by Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
  6) Transponders	by Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
  7) Re: Happy Endings	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  8) Confederation Occupation of Terra	by Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
  9) Re: Solomani	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
 10) Fusion and Plasma space weapons & Mass Driver Guns	by "Upton, Django" <DUpton@VTRNNTOV.TELECOM.com.au>
 11) 	by roger.myhre@niva.no
 12) Re: your mail	by Goeran Damberg <goeran@enter.hb.se>

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

Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 10:03:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Jeffery Long? Solomani TL. CPR gun's...
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950309095426.15294C-100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>

From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
> 
>   > From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com> To:
>   >  
>   > 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).  
> 
> I'm sure there's more to JL's assassination than meets the eye.
>   

Hum, who was Jeffery Long?  And was he based on his long-lost ancestor, 
Huey Long?

================================

From: pd82495@wapol.gov.au (Michael Bailey)

> I've been browsing through the old Solomani Rim supplement
> (CT Supplement 9), and I've noticed another reason why the 
> Solomani got their collective backsides kicked...I can't find
> any Solomani-held world with a Tech Level higher than 14.

True... but bu the Rebellion, Terra had a TL of 15.
Also, TL F was the offical ceiling of the Solomani.
> Of course, by 1140 the victorious Solomani start
> turning on each other...so it's the Rebellion all over again...

Whay you'd end up with is genuine feudalism, with a weak Solomani emperor 
and strong Archdukes.  At least until they decide to be up on the Zho's...

> 
> OK, I admit it...I hate racism in all it's forms, but I just
> can't help _identifying_ with the bloody Solomani!  I might
> start up a campaign set in the Interstellar Wars, just so 
> I can satisfy my primitive tribalism!

Well, yes.  Also, they have much more spirit than the Vilani or the Zhodani.
A much more interesting people, on the whole.

============================

From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

> I've put together a few designs myself
> and believe I might have found a significant error in one of the formulas
> that renders them inferior to CPR guns.  

Quite true...I don't have the correct formulae with me, however.


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

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

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


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

Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 11:51:18 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Battledress
Message-ID: <sf5eeb60.066@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Hugh Foster says:

>No, sorry, this doen't wash. Battledress _is_ a weapon, a  device
>intended for nothing but offence. I mean, what do  _you_ think happens
>if you punch a civvy with a cerametal  glove at 3x Strength ? And the
>potential for accident! And  this isn't even considering the (usually
>standard) add-on  of an arm laser.
>
>Defence means combat armour at the most. And not in your  local bar!

   In answer to your question: you pull your glove back out of the
civvy's head and look for a papertowel to wipe off all the goo.

   Many is the time I wanted to go out on the town in full battledress.
I can see the ads now...#you can drive in it, swim in it, even play tennis!
Now let#s see your tennis buddy return *that* backhand....#. Many worlds
would indeed ban certain types of battledress or place restrictions on
the extra strength, etc. suits can provide. You may even have instances
where you have both military and civilian models of the stuff (much like
you have selective fire weapons for the military and semi-auto versions
of the same weapon for civilians...or at least you used to....).


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

Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 12:12:31 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Hiver Courage
Message-ID: <sf5ef074.067@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

John Kovalic says:

>All things being relative, there have to be Hiver scales of courage. Any 
>guesses as to what they might consider a "courageous" act  (as
>opposed to a merely "insane" act, which might be "courageous" to a
>human and "milquetoast" to a male Aslan :-) )?

   Of course even the Aslan recognize the difference between a
courageous act needless sacrifice....

   As to the Hivers, they had to have had courageous individuals,
otherwise how did they obtain space travel?  Especially in the early days
of space flight, it takes large #hands# to sit on top of something that is
about to propel you at many thousands of miles an hour, knowing that if
something were to go wrong they#d be picking pieces of you up all over
Glea.  Perhaps it#s not that they don#t have them--it#s just that they
are an exceptionally rare breed--even rarer than on Terra.  Such
individuals may at the time be looked on as being a bit "touched", but
in the final analysis they become heroes, because the Hivers realize
that without such individuals, their society wouldn't have gotten where
it is today.

Harold


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

Date: Thu, 09 Mar 95 09:12:00 PST
From: "Post, D L (Dan)" <PostD%HOST2@WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM>
To: Traveller <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Comments
Message-ID: <2F5F3713@MX.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM>



>1. Ammunition. The rules are unclear whether 1 round is used per turn of
>fire or per dice rolled. I will assume 1 round per turn of fire unless
>official clarification is forthcoming.
Striker has a conversion table in the back of the book. It is not 1 for 1 
for
ammo expenditures.  I believe autocanon ammo divided by 10 to get
shots. However striker also allows most inf. weapons to have unlimited
ammo for purposes of the basic game.


>2. ROF dice per TNE ROF. How many dice does a weapon with TNE ROF 4 ( eg. a
>10 cm autocannon ) get?
Again there is an appendix in the back to convert TNE to striker. |There is 
a chart
(that is hard to understand) about ROF on the first page of the appendix. 
You
can use the chart to convert TNE ROF to Striker ROF

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

Date: 09 Mar 95 12:21:18 EST
From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@compuserve.com>
To: <traveller@MPGN.COM>, <xboat@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Alternate reality
Message-ID: <950309172118_100326.446_BHG51-1@CompuServe.COM>

>>  and Norris is offered the throne, which he of course 
accepts.  <<

Encore! Encore! BTW, does any Marvel comics freak agree 
that Norris looks a dead spit for J. Jonah Jameson ? <chuckle>



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

Date: Thu, 9 Mar 1995 23:37:25 +0100 (MET)
From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Transponders
Message-ID: <199503092237.XAA00384@embla.diku.dk>

Harold D. Hale writes:
>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.  

So who's talking about visual? I mentioned aldis as yet another way of
transmitting data like flags and radio. In the case of starships you'd 
use radio, obviously. But the basic problem hasen't changed since the
days of flag communication.

>The problem with straight radio communication is that radio transmissions 
>can be intercepted

Eh? More easily than transponder radio signals?

>-- or worse faked by the bad guys.  All it takes is the right code 

Exactly. Just like in the days of Nelson's navy. All it takes to make sure
you can't bluff your way in is to protect your codes and change them
regularily.

>or a friendly, pleasant speaking person who can bluff his way through a 
>conversation.  

No, it takes someone with the right codes.

>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).

Yes. Of course, the article didn't explain how you prevented people from
programming their telemetry to feed false information to the transponder.
Face it, if it's electronic, it can be faked. (In this case: Put a small
trader in your warship's hold, kill your own transponder, and broadcast
the trader's signal. Instant deception (No doubt a few improvements on
the basic idea is needed to make it foolproof, but any ship that relies
on such transponder signals alone for positive identification is potential 
toast)).

>>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:

Did you know that "threat" means different things to a civilian and to a
military man? The civilian think of threat as what your neighbour is
_likely_ to to. A friendly, smiling ex-boxer is no threat, he's a good guy. 
The military thinks of threat as what your neighbour _could_ do to you if 
he got mad. An ex-boxer is a threat. He _could_ punch your lights out if 
he wanted to. To the military ALL other governments are _potentially_ 
hostile. Some just have more potential than others ;-)
 
>    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.

Exactly. You don't NEED those silly transponders at all. If your Virus is
magic, then it's magic. Why bother with those transponders when you still
have to make the Virus capable of taking over through any other kind of 
computer link too? There's way too many ships that would not have such a
transponder installed no matter what the Imperium decreed. I may be 
mistaken, but I think it is stated somewhere that the neighbours' warships 
were also equipped with these transponders. :-P If I'm mistaken then I 
certainly  -  well, I won't say I retract anything, but I'll certainly 
simmer down a lot. I'll see if I can't dig out the reference.

>>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.

The thing about a black box is that _anything_ can be concealed inside it.
Worse, this is a black box that is constantly spouting coded radio signals.
You think about it a little and you'll see why a merchant wouldn't like to
have something like that mounted. Mind you, it would make a terrific 
secret (secret?) spy network for the Imperial Navy if the Solomani were 
stupid enough to allow it (And I bet the Megacorporations wouldn't mind all 
the juicy data they'd get about their foreign business rivals either). So at 
most you would have some interface line ships mounting them. But the ships 
trading a few parsecs over the border? No way. And as for any military ship? 
Don't make me laugh.

>>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!

Who said anything about agreeing with the other states? I think each of
would do it on their own. Flatly forbid any ship mounting such a secret
spy dingus from jumping into any of their systems.



      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     rancke@diku.dk
------------
        "The referee should determine the nature of subsequent
         events based on the individual situation."
                                _76 Patrons_, p. 8


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

Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 17:41:37 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Happy Endings
Message-ID: <sf5f3d8b.081@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Pedro asks:

>        Apart  from  a  period  of  mopping  up  there   exists   three
>        outstanding problems:
>
>        1) What to do about the Ziru Sirkaa.  (Try to entice it back as
>           an Autonomous Region?

   If it were pointed out to them that they were surrounded on all sides
by potentially hostile enemies (the Imperial spinward sectors, the
Imperial trailing and rimward sectors, and of course the Vargr), they
would doubtless capitulate.  If not, the war would be a very short one.

>        2) What steps to take to prevent a future recurrence:
>           a) Strengthen/legitimise the position of IRIS.
>           b) Weaken the powers of  the  throne  (introducing  many  of
>              Dulinor's proposed reforms) and  moving  part  way  to  a
>              republic.
>           c) As soon as a successor can be agreed  upon,  Strephon  to
>              abdicate.

   a) Seeing as how they were only suppose to be a MegaTraveller
variant, never part of the actual storyline, it may be best for IRIS to
disappear.  The Brotherhood of Varian (which I believe is what it was
called) could serve the same function you had in mind.   b) I'd have
to say that the powers of the throne were fatally weakened already,
unless Strephon is willing to hand power over immediately to a regent
until Norris arrives.  Even then Norris would have to agree to a laundry
list of limitations to his power.   c) Norris is the natural choice given the
circumstances.

>        3) Long-term economic recession caused in part by  the  actions
>           of the Megacorporations.  (Possible legislation  to  prevent
>           future reoccurance ... leading to corporate tension  in  the
>           post-Rebellion period.)

   The megacorporations have been turned into regional businesses
as a result of the Rebellion.  Economic recovery would take many years
in any event.

Harold


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

Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 00:24:50 +0100 (MET)
From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Confederation Occupation of Terra
Message-ID: <199503092324.AAA00799@embla.diku.dk>

Harold D. Hale:
>Hans Rancke writes:

That wasn't me but a kind soul who fleshed out some of my points.

>>By 1117 Terra had been "occupied" for over a century. Marriages
>>between Imperial Marines and Terran natives had been going on for
>>quite some time (see the TD issue with the article on the occupation
>>forces).
> 
>Just to play "Devil's advocate here, but it could be argued that while
>such marriages took place, they were frowned upon by most of Terran
>society (G.I.s returning home to America from the Allied occupation of
>Japan after WW II with a Japanese bride in tow encountered a great deal
>of prejudice...as did French women who took German soldiers as
>lovers during the German occupation).

Yes it could. It's not quite the impression one gets from reading about
it, but it could be. My point concerns something else: It's not that I
think the Terrans loved the Imperium so much (although, as I pointed out,
they love them enough for the Imperium to return civilian government) but
that they are going to HATE the newcomers much more. Someone else said
that Terra was special and rated special treatment. That's right! Terra
IS special, and rates special treatment. For one thing, Terra rates a
big say in running the Confederation. But do you think the Confederation
leaders on Home like that idea? Not unless they've managed to breed a
whole new kind of politicians! (Now _that's_ a  challenge for GenAssist:
Develop a politician who care more for his charge than for his own power).
So how do you prevent that? Declare the whole planet lousy with "traitors".
The treatment that will cause them to deal out will make some Terrans
react, the Confederation will react to the reaction, and before you know
it the Terrans will be looking back to "The Good Old Days" under the
Imperium.

I'm not saying that this is inevitable. A great statesman among the
Confederation leadership could easily handle things a lot better. But I
do say that my scenario is both possible and likely.



      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     rancke@diku.dk
------------
        "The referee should determine the nature of subsequent
         events based on the individual situation."
                                _76 Patrons_, p. 8

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

Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 19:44:08 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Solomani
Message-ID: <sf5f5a3d.082@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Andrew Boulton writes:

>Ah, but the Imperial military is huge, and covers a vast amount of space.
>Presumably they standardise everything. To start modifying every gun
>of every soldier from the Rim to the Marches would be a *nightmare*,
>and would take decades to fully implement. 

   To quietly make a very minor modification?  I think not--but let's say
for the sake of arguement it did take decades.  It's been quite a while
since the last Rim War (over a hundred as memory serves me correctly),
more than enough time for both sides to make mods to their magazines
and weapons several times over.

>By contrast, the Solomani military is smaller and more compact, and
>have a good reason for doing it in the first place, (ie when they get
>around to conquering the universe :-) it'll make life a bit easier).

   The Solomani Army may be "smaller and more compact" in relation
to that of the  Imperium, but it isn't "small"  by any stretch of the
imagination.  Modifications would cost the Confederation government (or
in this case the government of the individual member-states) a nice
hunk of pocket change as well.  Money that, btw, would probably be
better spent on coming up with more effective munitions.  I agree,
making weapons that can fire both Imperial and Solomani bullets makes
a lot of sense, but getting into a game of mod-countermod just wastes
time and resources.

>> 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? 

>Purely in the interests of the security, safety, and happiness of the
>citizens. If you have any further questions or complaints, I'm sure
>SolSec will be more than happy to explain in detail. With force, if
>necessary.

   Like I said....   :-)

Other comments:
  
>> 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. 
>
>I'm not so sure. I would think that Terra would get *very* special
>treatment from the occupying forces, (I mean, this is *Terra* for God's
>sake!). Round-ups of collaborators etc would be handled *very*
>carefully, so as not to offend the loyal citizens, and as much as
>possible it would be a case of 'business as usual' for most Terrans.
>Therefore there wouldn't be much motivation for resistance, and if the
>remaining Marines were offered decent treatment and quick
>repatriation, then they'd have little motivation to carry on fighting a war
>they'd already lost. In addition, Terra is a very high tech, high pop
>planet -it'd be pretty hard to hide.

   As the frustration with Imperial raids and guerilla activity increased
(these are mentioned in TNS items), the methods of the occupying
forces would have become increasingly harsh.  That would have led
many Terrans to question whether having the Solomani on their planet
was such a good idea to begin with.  As has been stated previously,
it is very likely that the Terrans see themselves as different from other
Solomani--the occupation of their world makes the Terrans realize how
little they have in common with their supposed brethren.

   I doubt that any of the Imperial Marines were repatriated.  After the
Solomani suffered so many casualties in taking Terra, the first inclination
of their troops would be to cut down surrendering Imperial Marines
where they stood.  Being surrounded with no possibility of rescue and
facing an enemy not inclined to take prisoners, many of  the Imperial
Marines probably fought until they too exhausted  to continue were killed,
or managed to escape encirclement and retreat into the wilderness.
Remember as well the mission of the Imperial troops on Terra: delay
the Solomani as long as possible until Imperial resistance can get
organized (ironically a similar order was probably issued to Solomani
troops on Terra during the final days of the First Rim War.

   As for hiding on Terra, that would be easier than you think.  Remember
that initially, SolSec wouldn't have I.D. records for everyone on Terra.
They would have to rely on those created by the Imperial government.
It would have been easy to leave agents behind who have "legitimate"
Imperial identification identifying them as someone else.  What are the
Solomani going to do?  Run in-depth background investigation on 40+
billion people to make sure they are who they say they are?  Not even at
TL 15 would this be possible.  An Imperial Marine could ditch his
battledress, move to Phoenix, and claim to be Cleon Milbert, insurance
salesman from Cairo, Egypt, and have all the documentation he needs
to prove it.  Unless he looks and tests *very* Vilani or is a member of
a human minor race, the Solomani bureaucrat issuing out new I.D.s
wouldn't even give him a second thought, much less have SolSec follow
him around for a while.

Michael Bailey writes:

>I've been browsing through the old Solomani Rim supplement
>(CT Supplement 9), and I've noticed another reason why the  Solomani
>got their collective backsides kicked...I can't find any Solomani-held
>world with a Tech Level higher than 14.

   Assuming that the Booteans were a typical member-state of the
Solomani Confederation technologically speaking, then one could
presume (as I have) that the standard tech level of the Solomani 
Confederation Navy was TL 14.  This does not mean that there weren't
worlds within the Confederation that were higher-- just that for
standardization purposes the Navy settled on that figure (as the
Imperium settled on the TL 14 Trepida Grav Tank for its standard).
Where the Solomani had a definite advantage over the Imperium was in
medical technology, where they had a tech of around 16.  God help
the poor humans if vampire ships get their circuits on a TL 16
Solomani "instant baby" machine--post-production product
improvements would almost certainly result....

>If this holds true to the rebellion, then the Solomani are going to have a
>hard time against their TL-15 opponents.

   In my analysis of the war, early on the primary Solomani advantage
wasn't that they had better quality, it was just that there were *so*
many of them, and they were better organized than their Imperial
counterparts.

>Mind you, I have a hard time convincing myself that the Solomani lagged
>behind the Imperium, especially in military tech.

   This was yet another reason that you never saw any serious attempt
by the Solomani to retake Terra prior to 1117.

>If there is one thing us Solomani have proven to be good  at over the
>centuries, it's in devising new and ingenious ways of killing each
>other....I'd be tempted to put Solomani military tech. at TL16, just on
>general principles...

   Remember who's running and designing much of the Imperial
military hardware of this era--people of pure, or more likely mixed
Solomani extract.  We do just fine in the future, IMHO.

>Alternatative history #133:  

   Interesting, but if the Solomani are so advanced, why did they wait
until a civil war in the Imperium before going on the offensive?  Surely
they had the power to do it long before then.

>OK, I admit it...I hate racism in all it's forms, but I just can't help
>_identifying_ with the bloody Solomani!  

   Earth is your homeworld, it's only natural.   :-)

>I might start up a campaign set in the Interstellar Wars, just so  I can
>satisfy my primitive tribalism!

   Traveller was originally designed so that you could set up in whatever
era suited you best.  Eventually there got to be a running storyline
advancing the Third Imperium up through history, but it was never meant
that *everyone* had to do all of  their gaming, all the time in the Imperial
year 1109 or 1111 or 1117 or whatever.

Harold

(Who is trying to be a bit less wordy than he has in the past week,
honest.  :-)   )


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

Date: Fri, 10 Mar 95 15:37:00 EST
From: "Upton, Django" <DUpton@VTRNNTOV.TELECOM.com.au>
To: tml <traveller@MPGN.COM>
Subject: Fusion and Plasma space weapons & Mass Driver Guns
Message-ID: <2F61032F@msmailv0.telecom.com.au>


"Post, D L (Dan)" <PostD%HOST2@WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM> Writes:

Subject: Fusion and Plasma space weapons

 In the Megatraveller days Fusion and plasma guns were good penetration
short range weapons for space craft. Any ideas on why they changed this
in TNE?.  Any estimates on what the space modifier would be on Fusion
guns in FF& S for range?  I believe Megatraveller was *1000  in Kilometers.

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

Yes, just read the section in FF&S where it explains why Charged Particle 
Accelerators don't work in space. The same applies to Plasma and Fusion guns 
only more so. Also the velocity of the plasma is so low that a hit at space 
combat ranges is unlikely to say the least!

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

"Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com> writes:

Subject: Mass Driver Guns

   I would like to know if any one else out there has attempted to design
mass driver guns using FF&S.  I've put together a few designs myself
and believe I might have found a significant error in one of the formulas
that renders them inferior to CPR guns.  The potential error has to do
with the way the weight of mass driver projectiles is calculated.
If I'm correct, MD guns do have much superior penetration to CPR guns,
but require huge amounts of energy to power them.

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

What is the potential problem you have discovered?
IMO MD's generally do have superior range and penetration compared with CPR 
guns but use phenomenal amounts of power to make them go. The total weapon 
system (gun+power supply+ammo) may however be more massive and expensive 
than a comparable CPR/ETC gun.

Django.

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

Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 10:04:22 +0200
From: roger.myhre@niva.no
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Message-ID: <e6ad0d40@smtplink.niva.no>

Alvin Plummer says:

>Mr. Myhre neglect's to mention that, with the Vargr stuff, is an 
>impressive amount of material on Gurvorin (spell-check!) sector (the 
>one just above the Spinward Marches).  Go and get it.  Now.

Lets see now can you all say Gvurrdon? Fine!

A full sett of Gvurrdon documents are also available from Sunbane. 
Most of them also from the web page to Goeran. I'll post the web 
address when I can find it, or maybe Goeran will do it himself.

I'll be updating some of the documents soon, but it will take some 
time.

For those of you who has been waiting for my updated HIWG document 
142.13 on starship weaponry must wait a bit more as I have little time 
on my hands, but I hope to finish it sometime during the next two 
weeks. 


StarWolf


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

Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 10:11:58 +0100 (MET)
From: Goeran Damberg <goeran@enter.hb.se>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: your mail
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950310095352.18681A-100000@enterprise>



On Fri, 10 Mar 1995 roger.myhre@niva.no wrote:

[stuff deleted]

> A full sett of Gvurrdon documents are also available from Sunbane. 
> Most of them also from the web page to Goeran. I'll post the web 
> address when I can find it, or maybe Goeran will do it himself.
> 

Yes here's the adress for those of you that have missed it:

http://enterprise.shv.hb.se/~goeran/Traveller/

And there you can find among other things:

Roger Myhre's Gvurrdon documents
Michael Bailey's Near Bootean Commomwealth
Alvin Plummer's RICE papers and a lot of NPCs

I havn't had time to put much work into the pages lately, but hopefully I 
will be able to ad more things next week.

goeran


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End of TRAVELLER Digest 218
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