Subj:	TRAVELLER digest 307
Date:	95-06-04 21:40:49 EDT
From:	traveller@mpgn.com
To:	traveller@mpgn.com

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			    TRAVELLER Digest 307

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) 
	by Oliver Albrecht <ollichid@sp.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE>
  2) hand fusion gun
	by jmg141@email.psu.edu (john gardner)

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

Date: Sun, 4 Jun 95 09:04:03 +0200
From: Oliver Albrecht <ollichid@sp.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Message-ID: <9506040704.AA19611@sp.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE>


                J U M P S P A C E       T H O U G H T S
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Ever noticed that there are no distinct descriptions of hyperspace travel?
The Starship Operators Manual Vol.1 (was there ever a Vol.2 ? - I'd sure like
to have it :-) does some work on i, but is not all to precise...
   Well anyway, I recently spent some thoughts on that topic, and thats what

I've come up with:


1. Transition:

   The _SOM_ tells us, that the entire surface of the ship is laced with a
net
of Lanthanum, or some alloy of it. In one of the oldtimer sidebars an example
is given, where one of the grid elements is ruptured and jumpspace extended
*into* the ship. I really ask myself how badly mangled combat vesseles manage
to get safely through jumpspace, without loosing major parts of their hull.
At least I imagine, that a lot of grid joints get destroyed under fire...
   Of course the optical effect is pretty cool, but then the entire thing
doesn't seem all too plausible to me. Has someone of you guys out there a
better idea?
   I, for my part, tend to use a totally differrent approach to jump drives:
Like the Contra-Grav modules the jump drive creates a field of sub-atomic
particles out to a certain radius. These particles are very heavy, but do
not interact with matter, and the decay after only some microseconds into
a dozen other sub-atomic particles. Thus under normal circumstances the JD
would just produce a vast amount of particles floating away from the ship
like a solar wind. However these particles have a critical density. Once a
certain number of them occupy the same volume in space, the tend to
interfere with each other, forming a uncountable number of small gravitic
lenses for other particles to pass. Once this pattern is established, the
second stage of transition is to come. Now another part of the JD produces
one enourmous second flare of another kind of particles, which gets focussed 
by the sub-atomic grav-lenses, into a chain reaction producing small areas of

immense energetic density. This oversaturation is the cause for the space-
time-continuum to rupture momentarily, and throw the ship into jumpspace.
   While the lanthanum net helps to control the flow of the particles it
is not necessary to operate the jump drive. However a severly damaged hull
will result in very unsure jump conditions, increasing the chance of misjump.


2. In Jumpspace:

   Again the _SOM_ tells us about jumpspace that it is a grey "nothingness"
. This seems to be not to physically correct either. While I really don't
have the slightest idea what jumpspace physics might be like, I guess, that
it is not too wrong to assume that some elementary laws of physics may still
not be violated. The one law I mean in particular is the law of the
conversation of energy. Assuming that the normal-space bubble that travels
with the ship through J-Space is still somehow part of the N-universe, (and
it definetly will be again after reentry),  I find that no energy can leave
or enter this bubble. If it could, the total energy of the universe would
be altered, when the n-space bubble rejoins it. Therefore the bubble may
definetly *not* look grey, as that would mean, that either part of the energy
emitted by the ship gets absorbed, or that the wall emits small amounts of
radiation into the bubble. If energy was to be conserved however, all energy 
produced by the ship *must* return to it. In other words the barrier must
either be a *perfect* black radiator (or whatever you english speaking guys 
may call it...) or a totally reflective wall.
   I prefer the last option, as I find the image of a slowly wobbeling
giant aluminum foil around a starship pretty cool.
   This of course means as well, that the starship can turn its heating
down. As all energy gets transformed into heat by the time, the starship
will be slowly getting warmer, as it resides inside the jump-bubble, and
the air-conditioning will have to work a lot to keep it cool inside.
   Therfore a ship emerging from J-space will be definetly hot. Quite
something to think about, if you want to sneak into some system, and you're
some hundred kelvin above zero.


3. Optical effects:

3.1 Transition

   I imagine transition as follows: first the lanthanum net gets warmed up.
This can only by seen in the infrared spectrum. Then the JD begins to
produce the particle stream number one. In the vicinity of the lanthanum
grid particle decay is accelerated, which in turn produces a blue light as
described in the _SOM_. The steady decay may also be noticed as a slight
bluish haze around the ship. Other wavelengths also show signatures.
   When JD produces the ignition flare, particles will decay in wild
patterns around the ship for about a second or so. Then the ship will
simply be gone with one last shed of particles and radiation.
    Note that the bluish haze will only be found outside the ship, beyond
the lanthanum grid.

3.2 Inside the Bubble

   As described the bubbles wall will either appear as a totally black
wall, emitting IR (you wouldn't want it to glow grey!) or a totally plain
(or even cooler a wobbeling) super-reflective surface.

3.3 Reentry

   This on is just a small shed of particles and radiation, followed by the
appearance of a warm ship.

4. Side effects

   Hm... ever wondered what happened to the matter, where the ship appears.
Well I guess, it will somehow get displaced, as the n-space bubble gets
inserted into the universe again, producing a small shockwave. I could be
turned into pure radiation as well, but this will happen to small molecules
only, as the seem to be the only matter that does not count in the 100
diameter rule, so there will not be much of an effect in both cases.
   Another question is, what happens if something outside the ship just
protudes into the jump field, when transtion occurs. I could imagine that
it somehow gets torn apart, i.e. one part ramains in n-space, while the 
other one, neatly seperated, travels into j-space.
   Another interesting thought is, what happens if you *touch* the bubble.
I guess it feels like touching a super-hard surface, that has the same
temparature as you, when you touch it. However *nothing* will be able to
penetrate it, and matter will just bounce back, as it comes into contact. 
   I guess you could basically fill the bubble with air!


Well that's enough for it... This was my first contribution to this Network,
so I would be very glad to recieve comments from You.

***By the way: I've written an AnimalEncounterTable Generator for T:TNE.
Sourcecode is in ANSI-C, and should run on *any* machine...
Anyone interested??? Mail me!!! (Address may be found below!) 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|         ____
|
|        / / /  Oliver Albrecht                       No cool Quotations
|
|       / / /   ollichid@sp.zrz.tu-berlin.de              found yet...
|
| ____ / / /
|
| \ \ / / /     A4000/040   6MB RAM  540MB HD &
|
|  \_X_/_/      A1000     2.5MB RAM   40MB HD      AMIGA makes it possible!
|
|
|

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

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

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 1995 18:53:02 -0400
From: jmg141@email.psu.edu (john gardner)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: hand fusion gun
Message-ID: <199506042312.TAA17601@genesis.ait.psu.edu>

I have designed just the critter you requested, and made the mistake of
allowing it into my game.  The player who has it is very fond of turning off
the pilot laser at close ranges and effectively showering his opponents with
a fusion shotgun blast.  

the range is quite limited, and its weight had to be signifigantly increased
to account for a low enough recoil to be usable by characters with more arm
strength than average.  Here's the stats:

TL-15 Palm fusion gun
cartridge:                                               21.74x65.24mm PFC,
.121MJ discharge @.193kg
mass of gun:                                         .242kg
mass of sup/coolant system:             .242kg
mass of gyro/recoil system:              .242kg
10 rnd box magazine:                         2.042kg
SA stock                                                .1kg
optic sights                                            .2kg
counter recoil weights:                       .5kg
        total mass:                                     2.768kg
        total bulk:                                      1 (15cm long)
        cost of unit:                                   Cr6385
            
rounds:
price:  .97     dmg:    4       pen:    1/2-1-4         range:  15m
recoil: 8       rof:    2?

the fusion gun design sequence in the book is very simple: fusion guns don't
have barrels.  everything is based on discharge energy.  depending on how
deadly your campaign is, you might consider changing the rof figures back to
1, which is what the book actualy suggests (due too LN purge cycles and
avoiding thermal fatigue cracking of the firing unit, etc) i left it higher
to offset the small size of the unit being likely to require less time to
cool.

have fun.

"Any society which is willing to surrender liberty for security . . . shall
have neither."
                                                           - Benjamin
Franklin.
"A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his
steps."
                                                           - Proverbs 14:15
"No matter where you go, there you are . . ."
                                                           - Albert Eienstien
"A chicken is nothing but an egg's way of producing more eggs"
                                                           - unknown



  


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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 307
***************************


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