			    TRAVELLER Digest 220

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: TRAVELLER digest 218	by aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
  2) Re: TRAVELLER Digest 218	by "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
  3) Darrian Confederation	by doc@eznet.com

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Date: Sat, 11 Mar 95 15:32 GMT
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Cc: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 218
Message-ID: <memo.980334@cix.compulink.co.uk>

In-Reply-To: <199503101437.JAA25169@Ambassador.MPGN.COM>


  > From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com> To:
  > Subject: Re: Battledress 
  >  
  > 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....). 

But why would a civilian *need* BD?

  > From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk> 
  > Subject: Confederation Occupation of Terra 
  >  
  > 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! 
  
It is a bit of a dilemma - not recapturing Terra would have been political
suicide, as would nuking it, butchering millions of pure Solomani (as pure
as you can get!), etc. OTOH, once you've *got* Terra, what're you going
to *do* with it?

  > I doubt that any of the Imperial Marines were repatriated.  
  
I said it was *offered*, not that it actually happened, although I think
it probably did. POWs - particularly injured ones - take a lot of resources
to look after. In addition, ISTR reading something about this somewhere,
(although it may have been referring to mercs).

  >  the Imperial Marines probably fought until they too exhausted  to
  > continue were killed, or managed to escape encirclement and retreat
  > into the wilderness. 
  
Wilderness? On Terra?

  > 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. 
  
I always assumed that the Confederation military - and the Navy in
particular - were more standardised than the Imperium. The Imperial Navy
was about TL12-15, whereas I see the SCN as being 13-14.

  > > 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. 

One big advantage was that the Imperial forces were pretty confused and
demoralised - Strephon was dead, the Imperium was ripping itself apart,
and nobody really knew what the hell was going on. In addition, in the
past, the Imperium could always rely on reinforcements - this time, there
weren't any.

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

Better luck next week :-)


---
Andrew Boulton

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

Date: Sat, 11 Mar 1995 21:07:52 -0500
From: "Harold D. Hale" <hdhale@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER Digest 218
Message-ID: <sf6210dc.044@smtpwpo.dayt.tasc.com>

Alvin Plummer asks:

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

   Not exactly.  For one, he wasn#t from Louisiana. :-)  Jeffery Long 
was the subject of a series of three TNS news bulletins, and if I#m
remembering correctly was mentioned as a NPC in an adventure.  His 
cover was that he was a reporter, but Imperial authorities found out 
better and put him in prison for spying.  He was released when the
Solomani captured Terra, but was killed soon after by Imperial agents.
The official reason he was jailed had to do with his poking around
Naval research facilities related to breaking the jump-6 barrier,
but I think there was a lot more to it than that.

   Anyone know the full Jeffery Long story, or is it one of those
#adventure hooks# you were suppose to make up your own answer to?


Hugh Foster comments:

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

   Perhaps, but where is Spiderman?  Maybe he is the new Regent....


Hans Rancke writes about transponders:

>>The problem with straight radio communication is that radio
>>transmissions can be intercepted
>
>Eh? More easily than transponder radio signals?

   Actually, yes.  The frequency at which transponders broadcast
would be a closely guarded naval secret.  Communications bands much
less so.

>No, it takes someone with the right codes.

   Normally, yes.  But as has been proven in the past, if you can
pretend to be someone else well enough, people will believe you.
Having coded transponders takes the human fallibility (or gullibility)
out of the process.  Fake someone out by having a merchant vessel
in your hold?  Perhaps in wartime.  It would probably work too, the
first few times.  Eventually the bad guys would figure out what you
were up to and blow you out of space.

>Face it, if it's electronic, it can be faked. 

   And if its human it can be faked out.  All depends on how much
faith you put in your people and in your equipment.  Apparently the
Imperium put some faith in the former, and a bit too much in the 
latter.  Ideally you would use a combination of human and transponder.
In wartime, this would be critical.

>You don't NEED those silly transponders at all. If your Virus is 
>magic, then it's magic. 

   The transponders are what literary types call a #plot device#.
They help explain why it is that the Virus gets to be interstellar
in scope (its rapid, prolific spread is explained through other
plot devices).  Either you buy off on the concept or you don#t.
Some people think that matter transport is #magic# (among other
things) and don#t buy off on the whole Star Trek concept because
of it.  Some people feel the same way about the Force in Star Wars.
I can explain to you why I think it works, but that#s all I can do.
If you don#t buy my explanation, you don#t, and I can#t make you
believe in it.

>I may be  mistaken, but I think it is stated somewhere that the
>neighbours' warships  were also equipped with these transponders.
:-P

   Use of the transponders was extensive in Known Space.  I don#t
recall whether or not non-Imperial, non-Solomani warships used it,
but if they did, they probably used their own #homegrown# version
of it.

>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.

   This fact doesn#t stop black boxes from being mounted in
practically every airliner used on Earth.  Do you honestly believe
that Lufthaunsa (or any other major airline) could get away with 
deciding not to cooperate?

>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.

   The transponders were shared technology.  The Imperium went to
other governments said, #OK, here it is, this is what it does.#
Of course they would want the black box ripped open and thoroughly
analyzed.  They would probably insist that they make their own.
The Imperium would agree, provided that their version broadcast
on the proper frequency while in the Imperium. That would be that.

Re: #Happy Endings#

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.


Hans Rancke also writes about Terra and the Solomani:

>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. 

   Given a choice, after 13 years of Solomani occupation, the Terrans 
may have begun to wish that everyone would just leave them alone--
but at the same time, most of them would have also realized that was 
impossible.  Terra was just too significant to both sides just to
let it go an independent course.

>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? 

   This is true, except that remember where many of those leaders
on Home came from Terra (of course).  The situation would be very
analogous to that faced by Taiwan.  Ruled by leaders that were
kicked off the mainland by the Communists, These same leaders and
their successors refuse to even consider the possibility of declaring
their island independent--because that would mean giving up their claim
to be the legitimate government of all of China.

   The leaders on Home made a beeline to Terra as soon as it fell.
When they realized that Terra was too close to the front for comfort
(reinforced by an Imperial raid or two, no doubt), they decided not
to transfer the capital back there until hostilities had ceased.
Unfortunately for the Solomani, the Collapse occurred before that
happened.


Django Upton says regarding mass drivers:

>What is the potential problem you have discovered?

   See below.

>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.

   My point exactly.  OK, here#s what#s wrong (Loren, please send
this information along to Dave and Frank):

   The formula for determining the weight of a gauss weapon round
(any mass driver with a bore diameter below 20 mm) is as follows:

   (3.1416 times radius cubed) times .02

   The formula for determining the weight of a mass driver round
(any mass driver with a bore diameter 20 mm and above) is:

   (3.1416 times radius cubed) times .1

   Why should you care if mass driver rounds are so much heavier
than their gauss weapon (and CPR gun) counterparts?  Because the
weight of the round is used in calculating the energy requirements
of the gun.

   I pinned down the weight of the round as a culprit by designing
two weapons, one using the mass driver design sequence, the other
using the gauss weapon design sequence.  Both guns were designed
to be 20 mm.  Without question the gauss weapon consumed less
energy--power requirement for the mass driver was a hefty 4 Mw.

   The official explanation from GDW on the subject has been that
mass driver rounds have a different aspect ratio than a typical
gauss weapon (this makes mass driver rounds heavier, since they
are longer).  While this may be the case, the difference in
aspect ratios is too severe.  I purpose the following formula
to calculate the mass of mass driver rounds:

   (3.1416 times radius cubed) times .06

This will correct the problem and make mass drivers a weapon
that people want to use for anti-tank applications, instead
of an ignored design sequence that is rarely used.

Harold

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

Date: Sat, 11 Mar 1995 20:32:46 -0800
From: doc@eznet.com
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Darrian Confederation
Message-ID: <9503120432.AA24814@foothills>

The last I saw on the Darrians was from MegaTraveller or before.  As I recall, 
they were (before the Chaos) in possession of the highest tech level in known
space (other than the Ancients -- and we know what happened to them).  They 
were also well known for the Star Trigger (once a bluff, but later very
real). 
 That kept their stronger enemies at bay.  (Keep your enemies close -- If I 
remember right, there were both Imperial and Zhdant bases within the 
Confederation.)  Their weaker enemies, a much greater threat, were the Sword 
Worlds and the Belgardians.

I got the impression that these inquisitive folk were more interested going 
their own way than getting directly involved with interstellar politics.  
Though they were doubtlessly very involved behind the scenes.  (Case in point
-- As long as the Frontier Wars kept everyone busy, nobody's going to notice 
us.)

The problems come in when you notice that the Special Branch was very well 
hidden.  The main installation with its high TL ships was, as I understand
the documentation, never discovered.  This leads to some interesting possibilities 
when you remember that Grandfather had a lot of involvement in the Darrian's 
development.  (Pocket universes and jump gates come to mind, but I was careful 
to only hint at those in my campaigns.)  (One of twentieth-century American 
Ranger tenants was that "it's okay to lie to anyone about what we do -- except 
your superiors" -- Gray's Commandoes.)

What happened to them during and after the rebellion?

I could see the Confederation fall, but that would lead to the question: What
happened to the Spacial Branch Fleet?

If they survived, (They recovered after the first Star Trigger event), have 
they recovered their earlier tech level?

<And about a bijillion other scenarios.>

Has anyone else worked on the Darrians since 1120?  I'd like some input.

Eric Smith
doc@eznet.com


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End of TRAVELLER Digest 220
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