Subj:	TRAVELLER digest 303
Date:	95-05-31 22:24:25 EDT
From:	traveller@mpgn.com
To:	traveller@mpgn.com

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			    TRAVELLER Digest 303

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: FOREVEN
	by "DSS Library" <library@babylon5.dss.gov.au>
  2) Robots
by Bri <bri@teleport.com>
  3) Traveller Sale
	by Profwelks@aol.com
  4) Tech level increases
	by Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
  5) Help
	by "David A. Nelson" <34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>

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

Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 16:43:43 -0700
From: "DSS Library" <library@babylon5.dss.gov.au>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: FOREVEN
Message-ID: <9505311644.ZM2503@library>

Rodge wrote:
> >>  Does anyone have world data for the FOREVEN Sector, 
> using  the world locations from Imperial Lines #1?    If 
> so, please drop me a note, as I'd like to talk to you.  <<

Hugh Foster replied:
> Hi Rodge! No, not using those positions - but I have the 
> complete sector designed up as a non-canonical playground...

Ditto. My version includes the worlds from Chamanx Plague/Horde and has links
to 
Die Weltbund of Paranoia Press' original Beyond sector.

Admittedly, I had Die Weltbund split up and begin a civil war because of a 
fanatical dictator with a trim black moustache... oh come on, the whole thing

was crying out for this sort of treatment - I mean, I had him living at
Shloss 
Adler in the Beyond !! %-)

(I do eventually want to move my worlds to GDW's positions...eventually, 
sometime...)

In fact, the whole thing was a bit creepy; AFTER creating my sector, I read
the 
Beyond and found out that I had placed Robert Asprin's "Thieves World" just 4

parsecs from where PP had! (insert "Twilight Zone" music here).

- Hyphen
  (David Jaques-Watson)


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

Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 11:50:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bri <bri@teleport.com>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Robots
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950531114753.18777G-100000@kelly.teleport.com>


  Yes, someone mentioned building robots. Now(i'm assuming man sized, 
humanoid. not big battledroids) how do you go about desinging them?
 Also, is/when a FF&S II coming out? and if so, what will it cover?
(genetics would be nice, more cybernetics would be nice, water vessels 
would be nice, tractor/repulser weapons[i.e. anti personell, not 
anti-ship] and many other things that are not coming to mind now)

bri


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

Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 15:14:29 -0400
From: Profwelks@aol.com
To: xboat@MPGN.COM, traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Traveller Sale
Message-ID: <950531151358_82532907@aol.com>

These are old editions of varied Traveller booklets. Most are in excellent
shape, some are a little worn. I played Traveller fanatically in the late 70s
and early 80s. Alas, I now have small kids, a career, and so many games.
Please read on and e-mail me at Profwelks@aol.com, if you have questions or
want to purchase.

The whole inventory of 38 booklets may be purchased for $100.
Rules ($5 each)
  1-Characters and Combat 
  2-Starships
  3-Worlds and Adventures
  4-Mercenary
  5-High Guard (1 1979 ed., 1 1980 ed.)
Supplements: ($5 each) 
  1-1001 Characters
  2-Animal Encounters
  3-The Spinward Marches
  4-Citizens of the Imperium
  5-Lightning Class Cruisers
  6-76 Patrons
  7-Traders & Gunboats
  8-Library Data (A-M)
Adventures: ($5 each)
  1-The Kinunir
  2-Research Station Gamma
  3-Twilight's Peak
  4-Leviathan
  5-Trillion Credit Squadron
  Double Adventure 4-Marooned/Marooned Alone
Other:
  Azhanti High Lighting (rules) ($5)
Striker Basic Rules, Advanced Rules, & Equipment ($20)
  Snapshot Rules ($5)
  Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society ($3 each)
     (Numbers 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Paranoia Press: ($5 each) 
  SORAG
  Scouts & Assassins
  Merchants & Merchandise
FASA: ($5 each)
  Action Aboard (2 copies)
  Uragyad'n of the Seven Pillars


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

Date: Wed, 31 May 1995 22:31:18 +0100 (METDST)
From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Tech level increases
Message-ID: <199505312031.WAA12732@embla.diku.dk>

E.Watters writes:

>I decided to follow up the recent thread about TL increases by doing a 
>study of the Regina subsector, using new era data from the TNE rulebook,
>and comparing this with the megatraveller data in the MT rulebooks.

That's a very small sample. My statistics are a bit rusty, but with the
number of widely different types of planets you have, 30 or so is much
too low a sample to give any meaningful data. If just one of those
planets are atypical it throws off the results.

You base this on one out of one capital planet and one out of one industrial
planet. That is not... ah, how can I put it delicately... not sound
statistics. The same goes for the rest of your conclusions.

>There are 2 E and 2 F Tl worlds in the Spinward marches that possibly 
>survive into the New Era, as they are industrial, there's a good chance
>they are now Tl F and G respectively. 

Efate, Glisten, Mora, and Rhylanor; which two are not even possibly
survivors into the New Era?


Andrew Boulton comments:
>>So, in conclusion, it seems that most worlds can increase a Tl, except
>>Average Stellar worlds that are not Capitals or Industrial. Worlds
>>with Research Bases are liable to multiple increases, as are worlds
>>with significant population increases, starport improvement(Whanga),
>>or those on a main. 
> 
>One point you should bear in mind is that the extremes of the TL scale
>correspond to longer periods of time than in the middle. ie it took Terra
>thousands of years to go from TL 0 to 1, whereas it only took a decade to
>go from 7 to 8.

Ah, Andrew, you've just pushed one of my pet Traveller buttons. You and
Mr. Watters both make the same huge mistake: You ignore the difference
between discovering new technology and applying it. Take the Spinward
Marches anno 1105-1115, the time where Mr. Watters gets the first half
of his data (or even 1065 if you maintain that the data we get in the
CT books are un-updated Second Survey). With the exception of the score
of interdicted worlds EVERY SINGLE WORLD HAS ACCESS TO TL 15 _KNOWLEDGE_.
The Imperium has been solidly TL 15 for centuries. Even the poorest world
would have had the money to pay for a set of basic textbooks (As a matter
of fact I believe that the Imperium actually gave away technological info
for free  -  or am I thinking of a variant article somewhere?). So why
aren't they all TL 15? One reason is that they voluntarily restricted
themselves to a lower tech. That's fine for explaining the odd pre-
industrial world, but I don't think it will work for more than a few.
The other possible reason is economic. They can't afford it. It follows
from this that any change in TL (with the possible exception of the
change from TL 15 to 16) depends on how the planet has done financially
over the past 80 years.

As we saw in one offshoot of the "What is a Feudal Technocracy" debate, we
don't have enough data to say very much about the overall economy of the
Spinward Marches. Once the New Era Spinward Marches sourcebook is out we
may be able to say more. But unless the overall economy of the Spinward
Marches has improved, any TL increase of one world (representing an improved 
economy) could well be linked to a TL drop somewhere else (representing a 
worsening economy as the other world takes away its trade).

>However, I agree that most worlds unaffected by Virus should have gone up
>a bit by now - don't forget that the old data dates from the Second Survey
>(1065, IIRC), so this was over 50 years old even by the time of the
>Rebellion!

I'd put it differently. There has certainly been quite enough time for any
world to increase in TL. But wether they actually have, or wether they've
most of them stayed the same or even fallen, depends on what GDW decides 
(Or, in the case of our private campaigns, what we decide). TL increases 
and decreases are equally easy to justify. 

I did once calculate the return on investment you would get from buying and
operating a Subsidized Liner. Unless I've made a mistake somewhere (which
is all too likely) it works out at roughly 3% per year. For that sort of
return to be a good one the inflation rate must be very low, which I
believe indicates a stable economy. That seems reasonable for the pre-
Rebellion Imperium. After the Rebellion all bets are off.


      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:         Wed, 31 May 95 20:32:23 EDT
From: "David A. Nelson" <34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Help
Message-ID:   <950531.203444.EDT.34TYHPE@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>

I ran the adventure "The Once and Future Emperor" and in the course of the
game one of my players got ahold of a hand fusion gun used by one of the
characters. One problem: I can't find any stats for this weapon! Has anyone
built this weapon with FF&S? If so, could you post the stats? Thanks!

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 303
***************************


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