Subject: TRAVELLER digest 243
Date: 95-04-03 16:17:59 EDT
From: traveller@mpgn.com
Sender: traveller@mpgn.com
Reply-to: traveller@mpgn.com
To: traveller@mpgn.com (Multiple recipients of list)

			    TRAVELLER Digest 243

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) 	by gdw.support@genie.geis.com
  2) Me not getting the TML	by James Kundert <james@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>
  3) Re: TRAVELLER digest 242	by A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk (Andy Lilly)
  4) The Neworld Sector	by Tommy Grav <tommyg@ifi.uio.no>
  5) Old Timers 8-P	by "Robert S. Dean"  <rsdean@cbda7.apgea.army.mil>
  6) Re:  FFS: Laser Weapons	by bonn0015@flipper.itlabs.umn.edu (STEVEN M BONNEVILLE)

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

Date: Mon,  3 Apr 95 00:52:00 UTC
From: gdw.support@genie.geis.com
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Message-ID: <199504030120.AA246902010@relay1.geis.com>

 traveller@mpgn.com
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 224
 
 Andrew Boulton
 
 > > Project Longbow...Anyone else have a theory on this?
 
 > I think *everybody* has a theory on this! Hopefully, GDW
 > will let us know what *theirs* is one day...:-)
 
 We certainly will, but not just yet.
 
 ------------------------------
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 229
 
 Steve "Nothing but questions" Deemer
 
 > Okay, I'm hooked. What is the title/author/publisher of the
 > Dark Conspiracy trilogy?
 
 _A Gathering Evil_, _Evil Ascending_, and _Evil Triumphant_,
 all by Michael Stackpole, published by GDW, Inc.
 
 > Would it be available through a
 > friendly neighborhood bookstore?
 
 If your friendly neighborhood bookstore does special
 orders...some don't. They're $4.95 each, plus P&H, and we still
 have them in stock.
 
 > Is "Death of Wisdom" available only through GDW?
 
 For the moment, but distribution to bookstores is planned.
 
 ------------------------------
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 230
 
 Michael Bailey
 
 > From an anonymous witness after J.F. Kennedy's assassination:
 
 "Man, I thought I was seeing things. I looked up towards the
 grassy knoll and there was this _starfish_ thing aiming a weird
 looking gun at the president's car..."
 
 LOL
 
 Clearly an example of early experiments with recreational
 hallucinigenic drugs (and not to be taken as implying Hiver
 development of time travel, nope, uh-uh, not at all)
 
 ------------------------------
 
 David A. Nelson:
 
 > I would like to see a DETAILED, step-by-step example of
 > how to do the Damage Tables for ships designed with FFS.
 
 It's an art, not a science.
 
 ------------------------------
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 232
 
 Dave Nilsen responds to some questions from Tim Salisbury:
 
 > In Brilliant Lances, ship design of the Maneuver Drive
 > give performance in G-hours, but in the designs shown
 > they list it as G-Turns, whith each turn equal to 1/2 hour,
 > and they appear to use the same amount of fuel.
 > Which is correct:
 
 They are simply converted over. 1 G-hour = 2 G-turns, and 1 G-
 turn consumes half the fuel of a G-hour. If this is not the case
 with a given ship, it is an error.
 
 > Second, in FF&S, they say to figure the true acceleration of
 > a vessle, figure 20 tons thrust per MW in HEPLR. In
 > Brilliant Lances, they give that odd equation of multiplying
 > MW by ten and deviding by actual hull tonnage, but in the
 > designed vessles they ignore both and just do a straight
 > MWs per G. First, if the 20TT/MW is used, you will NEVER
 > get a ten ton or smaller fighter up to 6 G-rating (Hull
 > weight is to high for the area enlosed), so I have been
 > using just the straight MWs per G to designed ships, and
 > G-Hours for fuel use (otherwise, even a flying fuel tank
 > won't be able to accelerate more then about 2 days)
 
 You have the first printing BL (email me your snail-mail
 address and I'll send you the errata). The reason we use G-hours
 _and_ G-turns is because G-hours are used for calculating in-
 system travel time in TNE and G-turns are used in starship
 combat.
 
 The equation to which you refer should be to multiply MW by
 _2_, not 10. You will note that when using the corrected
 equation, this gives the same result as 20 tons per MW. You are
 absolutely correct that this makes it very hard for small craft
 to get high G-ratings. We are aware of this, and are satisfied
 with this effect.
 
 ------------------------------
 
 ThorC@UH.EDU (thor christensen)
 
 > Ever since the beginning of time ( or at least Origins 1977)
 > when I first got my copy of Treveller I was dis-enchanted
 > with their personal combat system. The New Era stuff
 > looks exciting, but the combat sytem again looks nothing
 > if not cumbersome. Is there anyone out there that disagrees?
 
 Me (Loren Wiseman) for one.
 
 > Agrees?
 
 Many people on this list (who will no doubt be happy to tell
 you why, in great detail).
 
 > Is willing to help educate me and train me?
 
 What seems to be the problem?
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 235
 
 Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
 
 > I have no idea what GDW is planning for in the future:
 > after all, if they were so silly as to create virus...
 
 If you keep saying things like this, I'll get the impression
 you don't like us...
 
 > the only reason why a Regency book is even coming
 > out is because of the endless screaming and wailing
 > of pro-Imperials like me.
 
 That's not the only reason.
 
 ------------------------------
 
 TRAVELLER Digest 236
 
 wildstar@quark.qrc.com
 
 > To many people (the authors of T:TNE included, perhaps?)
 > technology - from computers to copiers - is a kind of magic
 > item; if one performs the ritual incantations, the gods will
 > smile upon you and it will print your document.
 
 If you keep saying things like this, I'll get the impression
 you don't like us...(I see you are a reader of Henricus Barbus).
 
 ------------------------------
 
 Mark Urbin:
 
 Wish list forwarded to the proper individuals.
 
 ------------------------------
 
 From TRAVELLER Digest 237
 
 Alvin Plummer:
 
 > From: Derek Wildstar <wildstar@qrc.com>
 >> wildstar@qrc.com
 >> Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me neccabit!
 >Wildstar (and Sister Hildegard, of _Vision_ fame) makes me
 > regret dropping university Latin
 
 I would translate this phrase as "Wow! Lookit the time!
 My wife'll kill me!" but my high school Latin teacher would
 undoubtedly criticize it as too idiomatic.
 
 > Don't worry too much about Robots, it's coming round with
 > Vampire Ships, coming out... sorry, I don't have a clue.
 
 April. Vampire ships is in typesetting now, and should be at
 the printer soon (if not already).
 
 > Imperial uniform designs... noble dress & court uniforms!
 
 Don't hold your breath waiting for this one. : )
 
    Loren K. Wiseman
         GDW,Inc.
 

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

Date: Sun, 2 Apr 95 22:22:34 PDT
From: James Kundert <james@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Me not getting the TML
Message-ID: <9504030522.AA17348@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>

Hmm,
 According to listproc I wasn't subscribed to the TML. I don't recall
sending any unsub mail, and have sent a new sub request.  We'll see...


James Kundert <j.kundert@genie.geis.com>
              <james@dumbcat.sf.ca.us>

There was a young lady named Bright,
Whose speed was much faster, much faster than Light.
She departed one day in a relative way,
And returned on the previous Night.
   --Albert & the Heart of Gold

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

Date: Mon, 03 Apr 1995 09:23:38 +0100
From: A.S.Lilly@bnr.co.uk (Andy Lilly)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 242
Message-ID: <199504030936.FAA04760@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

"Eric B. Smith" <doc@eznet.com> mentions in TML242:
>"spatial rift" does not exists.   I would suggest that, because of 
>the sensitivity of jump field expansion to gravity wells (space-time 
>bending), <hmm, can you jump from a lagrange point?> there may be 

Interesting point, eh? Okay, so it's not a zero-gravity point, just a
matched gravities leading to zero directional force, sort of argument, but
perhaps that's an interesting new place to jump to and from - coming in well
within the 100 diameter limit (I think, not having any knowledge of
astronomy apart from my "Solar System" wall chart from 1970s.)...

Andy


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

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 18:37:21 +0200
From: Tommy Grav <tommyg@ifi.uio.no>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: The Neworld Sector
Message-ID: <199504031637.19448.gjalp.ifi.uio.no@ifi.uio.no>


Hi there,

	I'm currently working on a Traveller campaign
in the Neworld sector, Rimward from the former Solomani
Confederation, but I cant't seem to come up with anything
conseerning that Sector. I have just the T:TNE and FF&S,
but hav looked through some of the Travellersites available
with WWW and lurked around here for some time. Nothing 
can be found about Neworld. What is the offisial status
of this sector, what are its aliens and most of all what
can be found rimward of this sector? 
Any help is appreciated!

Tommy Grav

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

Date:     Mon, 3 Apr 95 14:20:54 EDT
From: "Robert S. Dean"  <rsdean@cbda7.apgea.army.mil>
To: muskrat@msn.fullfeed.com
Subject: Old Timers 8-P
Message-ID:  <9504031420.aa21361@cbda8.cbdcom.apgea.army.mil>

muskrat@msn.fullfeed.com (John Kovalic) writes:

> >The OldTimers (ie. people who apparently have been playing the game
> >  since Reagan's first term)
> 
> Egads! I could have SWORN I'd started late in the Carter administration!
:-[

Late in the Carter Administration?  Traveller was released in the summer of
'77, and Carter was inaugurated in January of that year.  I'd say that _I've_
been playing since _early_ in the Carter Administration. (-:

Rob Dean
robdean@access.digex.net


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

Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 14:29:39 -0500
From: bonn0015@flipper.itlabs.umn.edu (STEVEN M BONNEVILLE)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re:  FFS: Laser Weapons
Message-ID: <199504031929.OAA14466@starfish.itlabs.umn.edu>


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

>I'm trying to wrap my brain around the calculations for designing
>laser weapons in FF&S.  Does anyone have a 'ballpark' figure
>for energy output for say, a laser rifle?

If you're totally stumped, one approach can be to reverse-engineer a
design from the rules.  Of course, this assumes that the design that
is in the rules is reasonable to begin with, which is usually but not
always true, alas.

Another thing to try is to work backwards from the performance that
you want to the numbers you need.  The FF&S design sequences are not
always the best way to set up a design -- you may find it easier to
jump around in the sequence a bit, doing different steps first than
the ones the rules suggest.

For instance, say you want to do 10 damage dice to a character at short 
range.  According to FF&S page 129, damage dice equals fifty times the
square root of intensity (I) in megajoules (MJ), or
  DD == 50 * (square root of I in megajoules).   [Rule 7D.]
  
You can use simple algebra to find out intensity if you have damage dice!
I == (( damage dice / 50 ) squared).  So for 10 damage dice, you need 
  I == (10/50)^2 == 0.04 MJ.
  
Of course, to get 0.04 MJ intensity, you need to go backward and figure
out the details of frequency, how much input energy you'll need, and the
size of your focusing lens.  This backward approach can work well.  The
sample 10 damage dice figure was borrowed from an official laser rifle
design.

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



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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 243
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