			    TRAVELLER Digest 433

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: 3D Space by Joseph Heck <ccjoe@showme.missouri.edu>
  2) Mass drivers by Thanasis Kinias <tkinias@asu.edu>
  3) Re: TRAVELLER digest 431 by Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
  4) Re: [T430] Terra UWP by jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
  5) RE: '....Somewhere Delicate' by "Bruce Johnson" <JOHNSON@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
  6) Nuclear Damage Tables? by Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
  7) RE'...Somewhere Delicate' ...again by "Bruce Johnson" <JOHNSON@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
  8) Radiation effects by "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>
  9) Re: Perseus expedition & Law levels by "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>
 10) Aslans in Regency by Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>

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

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 15:23:58 -0500 (CDT)
From: Joseph Heck <ccjoe@showme.missouri.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM (TML Submissions)
Subject: Re: 3D Space
Message-ID: <199509292023.PAA50786@gold.missouri.edu>

> > From: Pratt <sandypra@halcyon.com>
...
> > Space is three dimensional, yet in TNE they only really mention two 
> > dimensions...How deep is the portion of the milky way that is represented 
> > in the main books overview map?  By my calculations, if the map is as 
> 
> _Space_ is three dimensional, but _paper_ is (effectively) two-dimensional.
> The 2-D starmaps are a vestige of Traveller's early simple-system days, 
> but have remained popular because judging distances between star systems
> in 3-D, especially during a game session, is complicated unless you happen to
> have a handy laptop with you.  Most people don't.

...
 
> 2) Find a copy of GDW's old game 2300 AD (original title Traveller: 2300),
> which uses real star positions within 50 light-years of Earth; or
> 
> 3) Generate 3-D space yourself.  Been there, done this. I figured a scheme
> where subsectors were 8 x 8 x10 parsecs volume, and sectors 4 x 4 x 4
> subsectors. I generated one and a half of these 3-D subsectors (with
> expanded system generation, ROLLING BY HAND!) before it sank in how 
> much work it would be to generate even half a sector. You want to do
> this, be my guest, but keep the coffee and asprin handy.

I did something in between - I took the near-star-list and generated some
starmaps from it by offsetting the "home planet". I put some of this into
HTML and use it as my background game. If you're interested, the page is
at http://www.missouri.edu/~ccjoe/traveller/3d/

John's absolutely right - this radically changes the way you look at
travel and the traveller game itself. If you want 3D, pitch the starmaps
you have for the Imperium out the window. And it takes just a second or
three more than forever to develop. 

The biggest problem I had was developing some way to show the relationships 
between locations. I finally resorted to making 3D maps in SAS (yes, if you
know what SAS is, shudder) and then taking the image and "drawing" over
it in another program. I kept the nearby star data in my FTP site as
well if anyone wants that for a looksie.

ftp://ghost.cc.missouri.edu/PUB/Traveller/StarList(tabed_format)

-- 
 joe                          (314) 882-5000
 ccjoe@showme.missouri.edu    University of Missouri - Columbia  
 "with a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and
 impenetrable fog!" -- Calvin
 <A HREF="http://www.missouri.edu/~ccjoe">ccjoe</A>

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

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 13:35:38 -0700 (MST)
From: Thanasis Kinias <tkinias@asu.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Mass drivers
Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.91.950929132118.46950A-100000@research1.asu.edu>

There's a way we can get unified range formulae for CPRs, ETCs, and 
MLAs.  That's physics ;-).  I think we can disregard everything but MV 
for DFSR; I've worked up a quick-and-dirty formula for this:

	DFSR=0.64*MV/SQRT(g)

where DFSR is direct fire short range, MV is muzzle velocity, and g is 
local gravitational acceleration (the unit being the standard g = 
9.8m/s/s).  This gives us 1.9 km DFSR for your 3000 m/s mass driver in a 
standard g-field.  BTW, this is based on point-blank range assuming a 
firing height of 2m and no air resistance.  I intend to check it against 
Real World data, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

IFR, unfortunately, requires some hairy diff eq to calculate; not the 
kind of stuff I can do on the fly or feed to a spreadsheet.  When I 
get around to it, I'll run a regression on some Real World data I have 
and see if I can get a linear approximation to work.  This will give us a 
foundation to build on, I hope.


				Thanasis Kinias
				Student of Quantitative History
				  and Info. Tech. Computing Asst. Trainee
				Arizona State University
				Tempe, Ariz., U.S.A.



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

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 17:03:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TRAVELLER digest 431
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950929162449.26121A@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>

From: Christopher_Griffen@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
Subject: Regency Sourcebook efforts...

<snip>

>      I hope that I get the book next week, read it, and breathe a sigh of 
>      relief, but this spectre of pessimism has crept into my mind 
>      [about the Regency sourcebook - Alvin].      

>      Any thoughts?

Only that, if they DIDN't get it right, I'm going to dump the Regency - 
and the New Era universe - like a hot potato.  Things are bad enough now: 
another ----- like Virus and I'm gone.

Of course, about 75% of TML never left the United Imperium in their 
campagins, last time I heard...

*********************

From: "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>

> Bruce's post about a misjump to the centre of the Solomani Rim got me 
> thinking - is there any precedent in Traveller for a misjump taking a 
> ship back in time?

Yes (sort of): there was an article in Challange (during the MegaT era) 
where a ancient Solomani hero from the Nth Interstellar Wars showed up in the 
middle of the Rebllion.  Can't remember the exact issue, sorry.
 
*******************

> From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>

> So much for the rational arguments. As a charter member of the _Society for
> the Suppression of Grandfather and all that Guff_ I further appeal to all of
> you to avoid references to him like the plague. 

What's the membership fee to join the Society?

*******************

> From: broussa@ConnectI.com (David C. Broussard)

> 2.  Mass Drivers.  This has rather ticked me off, and made me very close to
> dropping my interest in GDW products all together.  

<snip about trials and aggrivations with GDW, and FF&S>

One day, I'd like to transfer my universe to a situation where only 
missiles, lasers and kenetic weapons are used from starships. (A bit like 
_Renegade Legion_)  Due to my pathetic knowledge of physics, I can't just 
brew my own rock-throwing weapon platform, or create the damage tables: if 
anyone here does, please post!

************************

From: john.bogan@asb.com

<snip>

> _Space_ is three dimensional, but _paper_ is (effectively) two-dimensional.
> The 2-D starmaps are a vestige of Traveller's early simple-system days, 
> but have remained popular because judging distances between star systems
> in 3-D, especially during a game session, is complicated unless you happen to
> have a handy laptop with you.  Most people don't.

One day, all Traveller games will be run from laptops...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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, 28 Sep 95 18:44:00 -0500
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
To: TRAVELLER@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: [T430] Terra UWP
Message-ID: <8B1F464.010005A3EF.uuout@execnet.com>


T::>Second:
 ::>In the copyright material on the title page of the main book they
 ::>conveniently list the printing place of the book as the
 ::>USA...Terra/Solomani Rim (1827 G867975-8).  Does that sound like a
 ::>correct interpretation of our Earth into Imperial Universal World Profile
 ::>statistics?   If so, it puts it into a lot better perspective for me (a
 ::>relative novice to TNE).

 Yes, that's actually pretty good - I don't remember starport
 ratings that well, so that G might be an H, if you asked me, but
 here's the breakdown of the rest.  Note that the figures in
 parentheses are the _actual_ figures, where appropriate

 Size           8 - about 12500km diameter, or 8000 mi (7,927 mi)
 Atmosphere     6 - standard.  In a pessimistic moment, I might say
                        7, standard-tainted
 Hydrosphere    7 - 70% of surface covered with water (~75%)
 Population     9 - 10^9 (billions) of people.  (4 billion plus)
 Government     7 - Balkanized.  Definitely.
 Law Level      5 - Hard to say; it varies a lot.
 Tech level     8 - This is sort of how tech level was defined.  If
                        you were to look at a detailed tech
                        profile, as per the World Builder's
                        Handbook, you might see some 9's in there,
                        and it's distinctly possible that the
                        novelty tech level might even be A.  But at
                        the same time, there are areas that would
                        have trouble sustaining TL4 or 5.

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
---
  OLXWin 1.00a  A lottery is just a tax on people who are bad at math.

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

Date:          Fri, 29 Sep 1995 14:37:19 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <JOHNSON@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RE: '....Somewhere Delicate'
Message-ID: <5C26392B9D@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

ROTFLMHO!

Gawd..I have nothing so good to offer, just my maid-killer story.
 
I had recently retired from the scouts, and had hooked up with this 
bunch trying to appear legit...honest, we're just a bunch of free 
traders, honest.  We had to be real careful at customs searches...the 
unregistered nuke in the hidden compartment of the ships locker would 
have gotten us in a world of hurt. But, what they hey...the original 
owners didn't need it anymore!

We had found a contact, a relatively well-to-do winery owner had 
offered us a lucrative contract to deliver wine to a certain planet.  
Unfortunately, he had competitors in the Corleone mold...they tried 
to wreck our ship

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

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 17:37:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alvin Plummer <alvin.plummer@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Nuclear Damage Tables?
Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.950929173512.29202A-100000@hubble.sheridanc.on.ca>


Sometime recently [within Sepetember?], someone here posted a very useful 
set of tables showing the damage that various nuclear weapons can 
wreck.   Please email me thise tables: my sysops recently stampeded me 
to delete my old files, and this file I lost...

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

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


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

Date:          Fri, 29 Sep 1995 15:11:14 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <JOHNSON@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RE'...Somewhere Delicate' ...again
Message-ID: <5CB71D45FA@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

Oooooh! I hate this mail program sometimes!!!!

Here's the whole thing:

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

ROTFLMHO!

Gawd..I have nothing so good to offer, just my maid-killer story.
 
	I had recently retired from the scouts, and had hooked up with this 
bunch trying to appear legit...honest, we're just a bunch of free 
traders, honest.  We had to be real careful at customs searches...the 
unregistered nuke in the hidden compartment of the ships locker would 
have gotten us in a world of hurt. But, what they hey...the original 
owners didn't need it anymore!

	We had found a contact, a relatively well-to-do winery owner had 
offered us a lucrative contract to deliver wine to a certain planet.  
Unfortunately, he had competitors in the Corleone mold...they tried 
to wreck our ship (most of this happened before I joined the group).

	They failed, and the shipment got through, and the payment got the 
winery owner through a cash-flow problem that his competition had 
helped contrive.  So they tried more direct methods...they kidnapped 
his daughter.

	He begged us to rescue her (this is where I came in), and promised 
some exclusive distribution of his stuff elsewhere in the subsector.  
This was really nice, as his wine was actually very good...we would 
make a bundle, which was nice...we were three payments behind on the 
free trader.

	We drifted in to the roof of the mansion where the daughter was 
being held in our stealthed air-raft. The guards were overcome 
without much struggle, since they were not expecting an air attack 
(we'd spread some reliable sounding disinformation) and we dropped in 
through a skylight to the top floor. We had to get down to the first 
floor of the mansion to where the girl was being held. We're dressed 
in black, skulking along with our weapons, when someone came 
out of a door ahead of us.  Maybe I was wired a little too tight, 
because I opened fire with my smg (unsilenced, of course)

'Congratulations, Jethro (my name), you blew away the maid! Thanks, 
she was so heavily armed with that vaccuum cleaner!'

Then, of course the rest of the guards, who were NOT heavily armed 
with vaccum cleaners, but things like pistols and smg's and grenades, 
came boiling up the stairs gunning for us.

Everyone was hit, but we finally did manage to fight our way down 
to the floor with the girl, get her out (she wasn't 
hit...fortunately) and made it back to the top floor and our escape)

I never lived that one down...the rest of the party forbade me from 
carrying weapons at all, ever, and nearly left me on the planet.  The 
only reason the let me leave was that I was the best air raft pilot, 
and, thanks to me, they knew we were there and almost got us with 
their small arms fire as we split.


Bruce


 

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

Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 11:36:47 GMT
From: "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Radiation effects
Message-ID: <95@odonovan.demon.co.uk>

As well as the Twilight rules:
There was a medical digest on nuclear radiation written by Mark Gelinas in 
Travellers' Digest 15. The rules are really detailed (shielding, exposure from 
different sources, treatment) and run to about six and a half pages. I don't 
have tim eto translate the rules, but the treatments suggested might be useful 
for anyone who wants to develop any detailed rules for TNE.

-- 
Brendan 

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

Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 11:16:27 GMT
From: "Brendan O'Donovan" <Brendan@odonovan.demon.co.uk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Perseus expedition & Law levels
Message-ID: <94@odonovan.demon.co.uk>

Benjamin wrote :

> I find it annoying that what defines law-level is the kind of weapons 
> you can carry around. this is too obviously a concession to the 
> hack-and-slash gaming style typical of D&D. what about the civil liberties,
> or legal rights of the citizen, or even the harshness/leniency of the
> legal system?

This was one of the good points about DGP's World Builder's Handbook. Even if 
you didn't like the rules for determining the physical characteristics of a 
planet, the section for generating the cultural details of a world was really 
good. The legal profile split the law level into five sub categories, weapons, 
trade, criminal law, civil law and personal freedom, each generated 
individually in the same way as the overall law level.
Whatever happened to DGP? GDW is producing much more material for Traveller:NE 
than it ever did for MT, but it was still better when several different 
publishers contributed.

> > 
> Again, why go 1000+ parsecs if you haven't settled the next sector over?
> sure, long-range expaditions are great, but are not logical without follow
> -on colonization.
> > 

That seems to assume that the only valuable resources you find are habitable 
worlds with hard to extract natural resources. A long range expedition would 
look for other benefits, like:
- Data on uncontacted sentient races
- Technology exchange with advanced races
- Samples of valuable lifeforms, eg. A small shrub which emits natural 
antibodies which immunise humans against a disease.
The value of information alone would make the expedition worthwhile. 

Shouldn't that expedition be coming home soon? Could make for an interesting 
starting adventure (as if we haven't had enough all ready).

There might even be other reasons why the Solomani and others have no desire to 
expand - mysterious ship disappearances on the frontier, outposts on frontier 
worlds found mysteriously deserted...

-- 
Brendan 

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

Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 17:24:11 +0100 (MET)
From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Aslans in Regency
Message-ID: <199509301624.RAA02138@embla.diku.dk>

Alvin Plummer writes:
> Ted7@world.std.com (Mitchell K Schwartz)
> 
>>There was also this MAJOR incursion by the aslan that ate up the Trailing 
>>regions of the Regency (oh, forgot that did you? GDW hopes so).
> 
>Apparently, there was an agreement between the Aslan and the Regency:The 
>Aslan pull back from their occupied territories, but keep the Trojan 
>Reach "Buffer Zone" between the Regency and the Hierate.

Assuming for purposes of argument that the Aslans got settled in the first
place (a very iffy proposition as you noted), the most likely agreement
between the Regency and the Aslan clans are that the clan heads released
their _ihatei_ from their oaths of fealthy and the _ihatei_ swore allegiance
to Norris.

>We'll soon see what GDW thinks...

Aye.



      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     rancke@diku.dk
------------
        "A  subsector  official  pompously states that the
        subsector  armed  forces  have  four Kinunir class
        ships in service,  each with enough troop strength
        to put down any military operations that threathen
        the peace of the Imperium."

                        ---Adventure 1, The Kinunir

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 433
***************************
