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Subject:   Traveller-digest V1996 #204
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Traveller-digest           Wednesday, 3 July 1996       Volume 1996 : Number 204

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Deckplans
         2. Re: Survival Margin on Virus (NOT!)
         3. Virus
         4. Virus
         5. Re: Ship Name Prefixes
         6. Miscellaneous thoughts
         7. SDG-313F
         8. Re: Don Perrin Down Under
         9. Re: Sylean Exploration Corp.
        10. RE:Fission reactors
        11. Marines vs legion
        12. Re: Marines vs legion
        13. Re: Brilliant Lances vs. Battle Rider
        14. Marines and the FFF...

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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 19:20:46 -0600
Subject: Re: Deckplans

At 07:38 am 7/2/96 PDT, you wrote:
>Dave writes of Visio and Exporting:{snipped for bandwidth]
>
>*Does it save to *anything* other than .vsd? Most Windows programs
>will let you export to .wmf. And I'm *sure* it'll let you cut a drawing
>and paste it into another program that DOES export to wmf.*
>
>No Visio does not export to other formats. But, yes, I just exported a
>Visio picture to Corel  3. Corel 3 exports a lot of formats. Visio
>supports full OLE embedding. I use it in my work documents all the
>time. I do not even keep native Visio documents any more. My drawings
>are all embedded in Word or Ami Pro documents.

        Well, there you go. Cut & Paste to another program that DOES support
something like WMF, EPS or DXF as being (hopefully) the most "common"
formats. And a screen capture will work for GIFs!
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 'Eternal Vigilance Is The Price of Liberty' used to mean we watched 
 the government - not the other way around.


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 19:20:44 -0600
Subject: Re: Survival Margin on Virus (NOT!)

At 02:39 am 7/2/96 -0700, Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu> wrote:

>Oh, crud!  We're starting to agree on things!  Can it be that some 
>rationality is finally starting to creep into the discussion, or could it 
>be that there is actually some common ground (*gasp!*) between the Pro- 
>and Anti-Virus camps?  I shudder to think...
>
>So, how 'bout them rocks?

        Actually, I'm more interested in organizing a Feudal Technocracy ...
anybody got any ideas?  (bailout, bailout, bailout!)
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 'Eternal Vigilance Is The Price of Liberty' used to mean we watched 
 the government - not the other way around.


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

From: BBorich@gnn.com (bryan borich)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 17:23:20
Subject: Virus

     <Virus....software>  One thing some people seem to be 
forgotting in the Virus discussions is that Virus by itself is not 
a piece of software, but a piece of hardware...TO BE SPECIFIC A 
SILICON BASED LIFEFORM....given advanced tech Traveller computers, 
a potentialy intelligent lifeform (it had achieved intelligence 
before when a ship crashed landed on it's world, Cymbeline, and got 
connected with purer quality silicon used in the starships 
computer, unluckily it didn't have the capability to purify the 
silicon available on it's world to maintain it's intelligence 
level). One of it's capabilities is Telekinesis, it uses this to 
move around.
     In the case of the Virus, this Tking ability and some 
'programming' made it into the danger it was.

     Now personelly when I had the chance to read the Deyo script, 
the major part I found hard to believe was that the Imperium still 
apparently used silicon in it's computer technology (the only thing 
I could figure here is maybe lowest common denominator in the 
Imperium as part of a standardization effort). Of course there's 
still the problem of why the other races might use silicon.




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

From: BBorich@gnn.com (bryan borich)
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 17:26:01
Subject: Virus

     <Virus....software>  One thing some people seem to be 
forgotting in the Virus discussions is that Virus by itself is not 
a piece of software, but a piece of hardware...TO BE SPECIFIC A 
SILICON BASED LIFEFORM....given advanced tech Traveller computers, 
a potentialy intelligent lifeform (it had achieved intelligence 
before when a ship crashed landed on it's world, Cymbeline, and got 
connected with purer quality silicon used in the starships 
computer, unluckily it didn't have the capability to purify the 
silicon available on it's world to maintain it's intelligence 
level). One of it's capabilities is Telekinesis, it uses this to 
move around.
     In the case of the Virus, this Tking ability and some 
'programming' made it into the danger it was.

     Now personelly when I had the chance to read the Deyo script, 
the major part I found hard to believe was that the Imperium still 
apparently used silicon in it's computer technology (the only thing 
I could figure here is maybe lowest common denominator in the 
Imperium as part of a standardization effort). Of course there's 
still the problem of why the other races might use silicon.




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

From: Les Howie <lhowie@novalis.ca>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 22:40:27 -0300
Subject: Re: Ship Name Prefixes

Although I suspect (in the absense of my references) that the "canon" form
is something like "INS" I have always considered it a bit of a republicanist
cop-out -- whats the point of having all this royalty kicking around if you
don't use it?

My preference has always been the British model:

HMS: His(Her) Majesty's Ship; I know the British and German forms did not
stick in any "Imperial" adjective (I think the Imperial German abbreviation
was SMS, anyone know the Imperial Russian offhand?)

Ships from subject nations not under direct control (sector forces, perhaps)
would add the owner: HMRS - His Majesty's Reginan Ship

Recognized foreign kingdoms would be abbreviated with the nationality: HNMS
- - His Norwegan Majesty's Ship.

Again, I think I deviate from canon here, but I see this as a "flavour to
taste" sort of thing: and I and most of my players have been Her Majesty's
subjects anyway.

Les Howie
Senior Software Developer
NovaLIS Technologies
Halifax NS
lhowie@novalis.ca


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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 21:26:34 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Miscellaneous thoughts

I've had several thoughts while reading more of the TNE manual.  Since 
they can each be stated in a relatively few lines, I thought it best to 
make an omnibus post rather than many small ones.

Here they are:

1)  If I'd bought TNE when it came out, I probably would have ended up 
sticking with the Spinward Marches (AKA The Regency) as my campaign 
location.  I don't think I would have used the mass destruction/starting 
to rebuild scenario that is so much more emphasized in the rest of the 
former Imperium.  

2)  That said, I thought of an adventure that seems like it'd be fun for 
the RC/Wilds location.  A planet is contacted which has fallen back to 
about TL 7-8 in the most populous areas (lower elsewhere, of course).  
There is a large and growing democratic nation on the planet, and it is 
about to hold elections.  The faction currently in power is in favor of 
isolationism and technological stagnation (and is trying to wield its 
power in such a way as to make itself into  a TED - perhaps by use of some 
artifacts they've found and cached, unbeknownst to the populace at 
large).  A much smaller faction, generally in disfavor with the 
population at large (mostly thanks to disinformation and smear campaigns 
by the majority faction), has a philosophy of working toward higher 
technology and eventual re-contact with neighboring worlds (ie, an 
attitude not unlike the RC in its Dawn League period).  Agents from the 
RC (the player characters) are dispatched to covertly assist the minority 
faction in winning the election and consolidating power.  
	I see this playing out in a relatively non-violent manner.  At 
least, that's how I'd slant it if I were running that adventure.

3)   As some have noted, the sidelight quotes /are/ well-written.  It's a 
good way to present the flavor of the setting.

4)  Is it just me, or does it seem that a lot of skills were lost in only 
70 years?  The book talks about societies that are comprised of people 
unable to read and write.  Literacy is that easy to loose?  Hmmm.


That's it for now.


- -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! :)



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

From: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 1996 22:49:35 -0500
Subject: SDG-313F

>From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
>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.

Yeah, it is stated.  Read the side bar in Survival Margin pg. 71.  All of
the above information comes straight from the "horses mouth."  The side bar
is a transcript of an interview with Imperial Research Station Omicron's Dr.
Jamys Jarrah.  (Gosh, I wish I new this many facts about important stuff)


>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_.

OK, I know I'm gonna get the royal flame treatment for this, but I got a
good laugh out of Sneaks and Geeks.  I, for one (and from what I've seen
only one), was glad to have a bit of humor thrown into all the facts!


> 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?

Agreed, the Impies really had their data information and collection down pat!


>T::>And now you know the rest of the story.
>
>
>T::>Paul  {tiger}
>
> But... But... your last name isn't "Harvey", is it?

If it were, I wouldn't be begging the mortgage company to give me a loan to
build a house.

Page two...


Paul  {tiger}


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

From: Darryl Adams <dtadams@ar.ar.com.au>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 18:14:14 +1000
Subject: Re: Don Perrin Down Under

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Stuart L. Dollar wrote:

> I think you've got me crossed up with Dave Golden though.  Dave's the 
> guy who did the tireless work.  I just do the occasional tireless 
> ranting ;-)
> 
> Nice job Dave & Guy btw.

My god! Sorry Stuart, I may have offended the net.traveller.gods!!!
What do you recomend to placate them :-)


>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
Darryl Adams                                       

dtadams@ar.com.au
 
"But as a Mistral employee once told me,
Your only as good as your fans"	        	TISM : Play Mistral for Me 


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

From: Darryl Adams <dtadams@ar.ar.com.au>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 18:28:26 +1000
Subject: Re: Sylean Exploration Corp.

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:

> Leonard Erickson wrote:
> >> I'm assuming that you're writing from the States and Canada is 
> >>generally considered up from the US of A. Where did you think I was 
> >>writing from?
> > 
> > Sorry, I thought you were one of the Aussies.
> 
> Well at least you didn't think I was a Columbian.  "Vancouver Blend?"  
> Hey it's a Columbian Coffee."  "That's BRITISH COLUMBIA!!"
> 
> Derek Stanley

He he. You are all wrong. WE ARE THE TOP OF THE WORLD!! TIS US WHO LAY TO 
THE NORTH OF YOU!!
BWAAA-HAA-HAA-HAAAA!!

>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
Darryl Adams                                       

dtadams@ar.com.au
 
"But as a Mistral employee once told me,
Your only as good as your fans"	        	TISM : Play Mistral for Me 


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

From: ROWAN Iain <wm0iro@acresearch.sunderland.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 96 09:50:00 PDT
Subject: RE:Fission reactors

shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) wrote

>>ROWAN Iain <wm0iro@acresearch.sunderland.ac.uk> writes:

>> The great difference between fission powered transport in the
>> world today, and fission powered transport in Traveller, is that
>> as far as I know today all such craft are in the control of the
>> military.

>Ahem.

>SS Savannah. Passenger liner. Nuclear powered.

I'm glad I wrote 'as far as I know'...I may look more ignorant, but
at least I don't look dogmatically ignorant!

>> In Traveller they are in the control of a motley assortment
>> of weirdos and criminals, not to mention all the NPC's.  Do you
>> really think that military standards of maintenance and safety
>>will be adhered to?

>It's possible to make them a lot more idiot proof. Plus, people are a
>lot less likely to take shortcuts if it's their pink bod at stake.
>Pilots tend to take a lot better care of their plane than Joe average
>does of his car.

You have a touching faith in humaniti.  People can be surprisingly
dumb even when their pink bods are at stake.  Short-cuts get taken
in maintenance (even with aircraft owned by large airlines), pilots
make mistakes, do things they shouldn't.  I should imagine that most
airlines drug test their pilots.  Why would they do that?  Surely the
pilots would be so conscious of their own safety that they wouldn't
dream of taking anything that might affect their performance?  It
seems not.  One would hope in an ideal world that the captains of
supertankers filled with oil would not be alcoholics who would
attempt to command the ship when drunk as a lord.  The Exxon
Valdez disaster proves that this is not an ideal world.  The
weakest point of most technology is the people using it, and this
is one thing that I cannot see changing even 3000 years on.

Safety measures will, I'm sure be much improved, but I'd be
reluctant to make everything foolproof - it'd make for less
exciting role playing.  The Traveller rules on starship
maintenance seem to indicate that even in the Far Future,
systems still need to be carefully looked after.


>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).

I didn't know this (mind you, that's not surprising.  I'm no physicist, this 

idea of the earth going round the sun  is too much for me), and it really
cuts into what I was thinking about, which was a scenario where a ship
crashes in the environs of a city and scatters radioactive debris over
everyone's vegetable gardens.  If this would be as much of a potential
danger with fusion powered ships, then there would be no cause for
authorities to single out fission powered ships form particular scrutiny.
Ho hum.

>The reactor is no more dangerous than a cargo of radioactives, or
>various toxic materials. Hell, if there's a railroad running thru your
>town, go down and look at a freight train sometime. Try and make note
>of what all those tank cars are carrying.

Ironically enough, every so often, nuclear waste :-)

Cheers

Iain
iain.rowan@sunderland.ac.uk

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

From: t01bpa@abdn.ac.uk
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 10:06:36 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Marines vs legion

Legionairres:  Totaly unfamiliar
Marines:       Totaly unfamiliar

Prehaps the incentive favoures the legionairre, ie when you life record
is wiped before you join, a chance to start over


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

From: Tom Ellis <tellis@telerama.lm.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 06:49:54 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Marines vs legion

On Wed, 3 Jul 1996 t01bpa@abdn.ac.uk wrote:

> Legionairres:  Totaly unfamiliar
> Marines:       Totaly unfamiliar

Thanks

> 
> Prehaps the incentive favoures the legionairre, ie when you life record
> is wiped before you join, a chance to start over
> 
> 

Yes, perhaps.  That and the fact that Legionaires are all essentially
special forces type troops.  I's *still* like to see Force Recon go up
against them on that course 8->

No doubt that the legionaires are among the best their is though.


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

From: "Kenji Houston" <hokido@primenet.com>
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 22:54:51 
Subject: Re: Brilliant Lances vs. Battle Rider

IMHO: While both Brilliant Lances and Battle Rider are alright. Primary Weapons in Brilliant Lances could incinarate even the 
largest ships, while secndary weapons barely had any affect againest large ships. Battle Rider secondary weapons had no effect.

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Products, Contact http://www.southsoft.com.



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

From: jeff_michelle nort <103010.212@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 03 Jul 96 07:32:49 EDT
Subject: Marines and the FFF...

	The Marines are a tough bunch, I give you, but their missions require
that. From guarding Navy ships' weapon supplies at sea, embassy duty, and
working with the *current* C-in-C, it's a task list to respect. That, and
assualt enemy shores by sea/ heliborne. I've jumped into LZ's by parachutes and
it damn well scares me to death going out a perfectly good plane at 3am in pitch
black darkness. You pucker REAL TIGHT when the only light you see is the engines
of the fleeing plane. Worse is waiting for the ground to reach up and grab
you... (gravity works...)
	I've met a few Legion guys and they are rather cool. Odd, both were from
NYC. (I guess you don't need basic training if you come from that area <g>).
They didn't seem *cocky*, but a bit confident. Cool beret too...

	Oh, a freind of mine said that to get in good with the Para element of
the Legion, cut away from your 'chute at 25m. Record is 75m and no broken
bones... My friend went to the French commando school and learned this first
hand. They asked him if he wanted to make a jump. He declined. Scares the hell
outa me. 8-o

	While I was in Paris (the first time) I stopped into the Legion recruit
office in the Gare du Est train station and checked out about joining (I was
still working for Uncle Sugar at that time...). There was the general enlistment
desk and one for Americans around the corner. It wasn't there in the summer of
'94 (when I took my wife to Parris  for our anniversary). Kind of hard explaning
to the wife about why I went there. Her comment? " Let's leave tonite."

	Jeff

	God made man, but Colt made them equal.


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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #204
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