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Traveller-digest            Tuesday, 2 July 1996        Volume 1996 : Number 203

(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Uncle Jesse
         2. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #201
         3. [T96#193] SDG-313F
         4. [T96#195] Ship name prefixes
         5. Re: Mathematics in Traveller
         6. RE: Fission reactors
         7. Re: Virus Flame War, et. al
         8. Re: Disposable PCs
         9. Re: Fission reactors
        10. Re: Marines vs Legion
        11. RE: Fission reactors
        12. Re: Disposable PCs
        13. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #190
        14. Traveller T-shirts
        15. Marines vs. Army
        16. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #202
        17. Re: Mathematics in Traveller

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

From: eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 15:46:32 -0600
Subject: Uncle Jesse

On 07/02/96 at 07:18 PM,  jlindsay@direct.ca (James Lindsay) said:

>BTW, who is "Jesse Helms"?  Any relation to Uncle Jesse from Dukes of
>Hazzard?

Don't insult Uncle Jesse like that!  <g> He wus jest a good ol' boy!

More like Boss Hogg, is Jesse Helms.  A former radio/tv commentator,
current US Senator, luddite, prig, and royal pain!  

Ok seriously, Senator Helms was one of the guys behind the CDA that
has everybody so angry down here.  He's well liked by certain groups,
like book-burners...and for some strange reason the voters of North
Carolina.

Of course, this is all my opinion...<g>,


Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------




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

From: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 16:01:25 -0500
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #201

>From: Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
>Subject: Re: Virus Flame War, et. al
>Paul Walker wrote:
>>See my post of Quotes from Survival Margin!  Virus can only inflitrate
>>through sensors with GREAT (read great, big, huge, stupendous) 
>>difficulties, and it was NEVER done!  Also, I'm at work now, so I don't 
>I've never had a problem with Virus infecting ships through passive 
>sensors.  Let's face it all Passive EMS is is a giant ear picking up 
SNIP
>laser turret A to the captian can access that information and see what's 
>out there.

Sorry to cut out on you like this Derek, but I think I have to side with the
ANIT-VIRUS crew on this one.  I don't see it as being possible that Virus
can be transported as anything other than code.  The code that virus
transmits would be a program that modifies the Deyo Chip that actually
"creates" the Virus in the receiving ship.  I don't think sensors can "pick
up" Virus and infect a ship

>Active sensor's I have much more of a problem with them becoming 
>infected, but lets face it it is possible.  Active sensors send out a 
SNIP
>fairly easy you could in theory piggyback the Virus on the return echo 
>which has to be recieved and processed by the ship.

See above.  This information (Ping) is just data.  It can't make the
computer do anything.

>Now I realize active sensors are not designed to interpret data, but that 
>doesn't matter, the virus, already in the active processing buffer merely 
>digs it's little hidey hole in the circutry and develops.  Now I'm not 
>saying that this is going to happen regularly.  Hell lets face it it's 
>probably going to be the most rare of all virus transfers.

According to SM, this never happened.  See Below

>  However in 
>the case where none of the easy access ports are available, Transponder, 
>Radio or Passive Sensors in that order.  Active Sensors could be used as 
>a method of infection.

Virus used three main porst of entry: Physical contact, Transponder, and
Routine Computer controlled communications.  Virus wasn't patient enough to
wait around for the time it would take to infect through sensors, so it just
executed plan number two: "If I can't have it no one else will either!"
(Plan number one being: "I want this starship/starport/computer/whatever!")


>Given that you assume the basic the nature of Virus as presented 
>in Survival Margin to be true, "silicon lifeform able to parasitize chips 
>at a distance, blah blah blah yakity shmakity..." is this not a 
>possibility?

I would have a hard time buying this possibility because of the whole
data/code issue.  BTW, Virus was only able to parasitize chips at a very
short distance IIRC.  The primary means of infection was to "convince the
Deyo chip to alter its own circuitry."  This is how Virus evolved.  If all
it did was chew up old silicon and "poop" out a chip just like itself, would
it have evolved like it did? No, I think not.  Instead, Virus convinced the
Deyo chip to alter its own circuitry thus creating a new being, not just a
clone or copy of the original.


Paul  {tiger}


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

From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 17:05:00 -0500
Subject: [T96#193] SDG-313F

T::>Nice try, but not remotely true.  SDG comes from (originally) the tests run
 ::>on the Cymbeline chips and their offspring - Strain D Group (in this case
 ::>313F).  Later, one of the researchers hooked up one of the chips of this
 ::>Group to a big data library, and it told the researcher (through a voder)
 ::>that it thought that SDG stood for Soli Deo Gloria ("To God alone goes the
 ::>glory").  Apparently the chip had found a Bach entry in the data library!

 Well, yes, but that was never explicitly stated.

T::>Deyo came from someone writing Deo down improperly and it stuck.

T::>Incidentally, the researcher asked another chip what Deo meant to it, and it
 ::>replied, "Daylight come and me wan' go home."

 An obscure reference which nobody had a clue about.  This is, as
 near as I can tell, the first symptom of the disease that proved
 to be rampant in the creation of _Hivers_and_Ithklur_.

 It also shows just how complete Imperial libraries (including the
 Vilani Repository of All Knowledge [AAB]) were. Why else would
 they have had obscure references to Harry Bellafonte and Banana
 Boats?

T::>And now you know the rest of the story.


T::>Paul  {tiger}

 But... But... your last name isn't "Harvey", is it?

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
  OLXWin 1.00b  Stationary mice have bigger balls.

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

From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 17:05:00 -0500
Subject: [T96#195] Ship name prefixes

Thus saith "Douglas E. Berry" <dberry@hooked.net>:

T::>A quick idea to throw out.. What is the proper "header" for an Imperial Navy
 ::>ship?  USS is used for the US Navy, etc..

T::>I'm leaning towards HMS (His Majesty's Ship), but then I've been reading a
 ::>lot of David Weber this week..

T::>Comments?  How about civilain vessels?

 Here's what I've used (Note- multiple prefixes are chosen from
 depending on various random factors):

        Imperial Navy: INS, INCC, INV (Imperial Navy Ship/Construction
                       Contract/Vessel)

        Imperial Navy Reserve: IRMV(xxx)  (Imperial Registered
                               Military Vessel (replace xxx by planet
                               of registry))

        Free Company (Mercenary): IAMV (Imperial Authorized
        Military Vessel)

        Scouts: ISS and ISSV (Imperial Scout Ship/ Imperial Scout
                Service Vessel)

        Merchant:  Free and Far traders are not _required_ to be
        registered Imperially.  If they are so registered, they are
        assigned a prefix of IRM (Imperial Registered Merchant).
        If they are not, they use whatever local convention exists
        on the planet of registry.  Subsidized Merchants use IRM
        (as above).

        Yacht:  Yachts are not registered Imperially.  They use
        local conventions.

        Lab Ships:  May or may not be registered Imperially.  Those
        that are, use IRV (Imperial Research Vessel).  Others use
        local conventions.

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
  OLXWin 1.00b  Good morning! Is an opinion, not a greeting.



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

From: eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 16:13:15 -0600
Subject: Re: Mathematics in Traveller

On 07/02/96 at 07:18 PM,  jlindsay@direct.ca (James Lindsay) said:

>I got one for you.  It's based on the old AD&D statistic generation
>methods.  If memory serves me correctly (and it's been many years), I
>believe they had two additional ways to generate the 3-18 result for
>each stat besides the normal 3d6 roll (there was a third method that
>involved rolling a certain number of dice and adding a fixed amount,
>and then distributing them as the player saw fit, but that method
>might be too difficult to calculate).  They were:

>...2d6+6

>...4d6 (ignore the lowest die result)

>Now... which one of these methods will mathmatically produce the
>better (ie: higher) result?  The gauntlet has been dropped  8-)

The expected value of 1d6 is 3.5, so...

...2d6+6 has an ev of 2(3.5)+6 = 13, and a range of 8 to 18

...4d6 has an ex of 4(3.5) = 14, and a range of 4 to 24 (I know that
wasn't what you asked, but I included it anyway. <g>)

Now for your second method.

...4d6 (drop lowest roll) 

I don't know the statistical function, off the top of my head, but
*logically* it would go like this.  You have a 2d6 + [the better of 2
1d6's].  The 2d6 gives you an ev of 7.  The *best* the better of 2
1d6's could give you is 6, and that would only be (1/6 + (5/6)(1/6))
of the time..I think.  So the ev would have to be 13 OR LESS.  You'll
get the ev of 13 only ~30% of the time, and less than that the rest of
the time.

So, I'll guess, take 2d6+6.

Ok math majors, how badly did I screw it up? <G>

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------




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

From: eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 16:21:55 -0600
Subject: RE: Fission reactors

On 07/02/96 at 11:17 AM,  shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
said:

>SS Savannah. Passenger liner. Nuclear powered.

Are you sure?  I thought Savannah was listed as a cargo/supply ship,
not a passenger liner.  Was Savannah *ever* in truly private hands, or
wasn't it always under the control of the AEC?  IAC, it proved to be
non-viable economicly, didn't it?

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------




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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:35:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Virus Flame War, et. al

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:

> > Maybe a giant Virus Infectected Starship just dropped out of the sky onto
> the radar dish?  8)  Problem solved.  8)
>
> Derek Stanley

"Only one man would dare give me the rasberry.  Lone Star!"

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:36:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Disposable PCs

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:

> Tom Ellis wrote:
> >
> > On 1 Jul 1996, Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc wrote:
> >
> > > Dave Golden said:
> > > >Since I lost my group before they ever got
> > > >anywhere near needing a decent explanation...
> > >
> > > No, no, no, no... you are allowed to kill off the
> > > characters, but it is frowned upon to kill off the players.
> >
> > What??  WHAT???!!  I have been refing for 18 years and NOW you tell me
> > that when a character dies I am NOT supposed to kill the PLAYER TOO???
> >
> > Jeeze...
>
>  Perhaps this is why you had so much trouble convincing new players to
> join.  8)
>
> Derek Stanley

Why?  He's got it down.  Kill all the witnesses.

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:48:28 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Fission reactors

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Mark Urbin wrote:

> >In Traveller they are in the control of a motley assortment
> >of weirdos and criminals, not to mention all the NPC's.
>   HEY!  MY PLAYERS RESEMBLE THAT REMARK!
> I like it!

Nyuk.

> Fission reactors are over engineered to a serious degree.  As several
> people have pointed out, the human factor is the greatest safety
> threat.  Ways to offset it include:
> 1.  Keeping an *certified* engineer on board, even if the rules say you
>         don't need one to operate the ship.  Local regs require it.

This is already SOP on (US flag) commercial vessels.  They need a USCG
certified chief engineer aboard (last time I checked it was a 10+ year
ordeal to gain than rank---most of that being a requisite number of
working hours in an engineering capacity).

Which gets me wondering why the Imperium doesn't have something like the
Coast Guard which (with its force of 37,000 currently) does ALL the
boarding of vessels for anything other than military take overs.  I'm in a
class with a guy who was a CPO on a sub in the Gulf Conflict, and they
needed a Coast Guard Liason officer to board ship, because the Coast Guard
official had the authority to do so.

There is no way the Imperial Navy would let itself get tied up in the
patrolling of commercial vessels, so where is the Imperial "Coast Guard".
This would solve all the fission reactor, HEPLaR, etc. regulation
problems...AND they would also cover most of the anti-piracy role, as well
as rescue ops...

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:51:38 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Marines vs Legion

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996 t01bpa@abdn.ac.uk wrote:

> There was an interesting program on the French Foreign Legion
> one quote i liked was
>
> "The assault course in the rainforest is tough and grueling.  The
> quickest time recorded was 45 minutes by som legionnaires.  The longest
> time recorded to complete the course was by a bunch of visiting
> American Marines, who took 7 hours to complete it."
>
> My point is that the biggest force and best 'advanced' may not
> be the best for the job.
>
> Program ran on Channel 4, last week Mon+Tuesday 9.00-10.00.

Have you seen the pictures of the Legionaires in Bosnia, etc?!  They make
all the Marines I've ever seen look like puppy dogs...And that's nothing
against the Marines, its just that the Legionaires are some tough nuts.

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:57:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: RE: Fission reactors

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> Loss of power is much the same danger with any ship. It's just that the
> pieces will be radioactive. (Actually, given what we know about fusion,
> they'll only be *more* radioactive, fusion reactions give off neutrons,
> and the inside of the reactor does get radioactive).

Has there ever been any thought given to using heavier elements to power
fusion reactors?  Using Carbon, for instance, would require a hell of a
lot more containment, but would the increased power gains make it worth
it?

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 14:58:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Disposable PCs

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, James Lindsay wrote:

> On Tue, 2 Jul 1996 12:56:50 -0500, Paul Walker wrote:
>
> > You guys kept trying to argue that it was the CCG market that was stealing
> > RPGers!!  And here you were really killing them all the time!  Souns like a
> > case for the Wonder Twins!  ("Wonder Twin powers, activate"  "Form of, an
> > Ice Rock." "Shape of, a Computer Virus")
>
> And they say we only use 20% of our grey-matter.  What possessed you to
> remember that little bit of the eighties?  The mind boggles....  8-)

Hey, man, its the League of Forgotten Superheroes.  Everyone remembers
that...Don't they??

(BTW, this is coming from a guy who has the complete first series of
StarBlazers)

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 15:02:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #190

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Bill Garmer wrote:

> True - they train to do it because you can never be certain to get a chance
> at the center of mass.  Military snipers will aim for the center of the body
> when possible but take a head shot if necessary (like taking out an OP).
> Police snipers operate at much closer ranges and need the head shot to
> prevent the target from doing anything after being hit (like shoot the hostages)

For someone in the know..I recall reading that a shot above the eyebrows
will result in immediate muscle tension (i.e. shot the target, he shoots
the hostage/presses that little button--BANG,etc.), and anything along the
plane of the eyes will cause the muscles to relax immediately...?

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
   "And on the eighth day, the Army Corps of Engineers changed everything."


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

From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 18:40:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Traveller T-shirts

Hi all.  Has anyone noticed that IG is now offering Traveller shirts?  
The page for them is: http://www.ImperiumGames.com/TShirt.htm
Of course you can get to that through their home page.  I wanted to order 
one, but I'm confused by the size listings.  All they have there is 
Large, XLarge, XXLarge and XXXLarge.  Now, I know that gamers tend to be 
an out-of-shape lot, but that's ridiculous!  I'm a little under 90 kg 
(about 195 lbs) and I usually take a medium, so what do I take here?

Awaiting your sartorial specifications,
Charles.

<0>    "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." -Helen Keller 	 <0>
<0>     Charles Collin (charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca), 		 	 <0>
<0>     Psychology Department, McGill University.  		 	 <0> 
<0>     1205 Dr. Penfield, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1B1.  	 	 <0>
<0>  WEB: http://www.psych.mcgill.ca/labs/chaudhuri/homepage.clab.html 	 <0>


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

From: Larry Hadley <lhadley@knet.knet.flemingc.on.ca>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 19:25:10 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Marines vs. Army

Harold comments:

:Larry Hadley writes:
:>This doesn't mean Marines are more "elite", just that they have a
:>different mission and train/organise appropriately.

:   Don't tell a Marine that (especially one from the U.S.).  As far as they
:are concerned, they are by definition ``an elite fighting force``, the equal
:in the U.S. of an Army Ranger (my standing in the Army Reserve
:disqualifies me from commenting on this remark--other than to cough
:politely....and sarcastically).

   Being a former Navy guy myself, I don't have a terribly high opinion
   of jarheads either. :)

   I guess I should clarify. I meant it doesn't *necessarily* mean that
   marines are elite. I decine to get into the debate of exactly how
   elite any given service is. <g>

:   In point of fact, services around the world do consider the U.S.
:Marine infantry to be a cut above your standard Army infantry, on a par
:with the elite 82nd or 101st Airborne divisions of the U.S. Army.  Their

   Don't disagree at all, but note that the 101st is an _Army_ unit. You
   see my point?

   Note that quite a bit of the difference in defining how Marines are
   elite is based on the type of *mission* they get, so different mission,
   different training and organization. Really the biggest difference
   between Marines and Army *is* their mission - it just so happens the
   Marines have a long-standing and proud tradition of training and "win
   or die" attitude, which goes a LONG way towards a great fighting force.

:armor units are lacking however (most of them still have M-60A3 tanks,
:and what M-A1s they have were stolen/requisitioned from the Army),
:and their artillery support relies heavily on supplementation from the Navy
:in the form of off-shore bombardment, and their own aircraft (the Harrier,
:F/A-18, SuperCobra, etc.).

   I thought 1st division was all M1A1's?

:  In TRAVELLER terms (because I know sombody is going to complain
:if I don't), Marines could have a variety of roles, depending upon the
:basic philosophy of the armed forces using them.

   That's one of the reasons I brought this up. After the planetary
   assault commentary that flew back and forth here for a while, and
   then seeing a newsgroup post clarifying the Marine vs. Army mission,
   something clicked and my brain started whirring about Imperial marines.

:   The Imperium used its Marines as ship's troops and as kind of a SWAT
:team/peace keeping force, called out when the locals started getting a
:little too violent with each other.   Imperial Marines are elite--in the same
:manner that U.S. Marines are.  They strike with overwhelming force,
:secure the objectives, and then move on when so ordered.  Their tactics
:emphasize mobility and shock over battles of attrition.  While Marine
:garrisons are set up on a long term basis (like the one on Terra), such
:garrisons serve merely as bases of operations or are for show--in
:general Marine units do not spend too much time in one place, long
:term occupation duties usually going to the Army.

   That's one thing I started thinking about. Does the Imperium even
   have any kind of standing army, other than planetary services?

   My guess would be no, given that the Imperium is very standoffish,
   and intervenes only in extreme cases. After a "police action", the
   impies would pull out leaving the cleanup to locals. There also
   doesn't seem to be an Imperial Army in char-gen, Planetary Armies
   are emphasized.

   OTOH, there's the question of wartime activities against "nations"
   like the Zhodani, _some_ kind of Army support would be necessary.
   Does the Imperium siphon off Army support from planetary garrisons
   in time of need?


- -- DLH "Warhammer"                           lhadley@knet.flemingc.on.ca
   Traveller stuff for sale/trade.
   http://www.knet.flemingc.on.ca/~lhadley/Profile.html

"The meanest bunch of mercs that ever wrecked a world for pay"



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

From: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 18:28:16 -0500
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #202

>From: jlindsay@direct.ca (James Lindsay)
>Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 20:08:29 GMT
>Subject: Re: Disposable PCs
>
>On Tue, 2 Jul 1996 12:56:50 -0500, Paul Walker wrote:
>
>> You guys kept trying to argue that it was the CCG market that was stealing
>> RPGers!!  And here you were really killing them all the time!  Souns like a
>> case for the Wonder Twins!  ("Wonder Twin powers, activate"  "Form of, an
>> Ice Rock." "Shape of, a Computer Virus")
>
>And they say we only use 20% of our grey-matter.  What possessed you to
>remember that little bit of the eighties?  The mind boggles....  8-)

I think it was a totally wasted youth based solely on the three essentials
of the highest level of Karma attainable!

        1.  Junk Food (Includes Junk Drink for those purists in the audience)
        2.  Too much TV (Including way to many reruns of F-Troop)
        3.  Mucho excessive time playing Computer games and RPG's.

I think I wa only weeks away from that highest level of Karma when my wife
met me and bullied me into the semi-responsible person I am today.  :)


Paul  {tiger}


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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 19:00:50 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Mathematics in Traveller

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, James Lindsay wrote:

> Damn you, Joe!  I can't add *anything* to this thread  8-)

Sorry.  :)  

> I got one for you.  It's based on the old AD&D statistic generation
[snip]
> ...2d6+6
> 
> ...4d6 (ignore the lowest die result)
> 
> Now... which one of these methods will mathmatically produce the better
> (ie: higher) result?  The gauntlet has been dropped  8-)

Geez, I didn't want to start a war.  Couldn't we avoid this if I just 
proclaim you Wizard of Mathematics All Supreme?  No?  [sigh] :)

Well, doing a quick and sloppy calculation, it looks to me like 2D6+6 
would be the preferred method.

Again, I used sloppy and quick calculations, but it looks like the 
average roll for 2D6+6 would be 13, while the other method would generate 
an average roll of something in the range of 11-12.

What's the correct answer?


- -Joe
______________________________________________________________________________
Joseph E. Walsh      |  Atari 8-Bit User and Programmer Since 1982
ransom@iconnect.net  |  Classic Traveller Referee Since 1983
Stuck in the '80s    |  Microsoft-Free and Loving It! :)



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

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To unsubscribe to Traveller-Digest, send the command:

unsubscribe traveller-digest

in the body of a message to "traveller-request@MPGN.COM".  If you want
to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from,
such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the
"subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-traveller":

subscribe traveller-digest local-traveller@your.domain.net

A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to
subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "traveller-digest"
in the commands above with "traveller".
