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Traveller-digest          Wednesday, 10 July 1996      Volume 1996 : Number 232

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #226
         2. Re: The Iridium Standard
         3. Campaign Cartographer
         4. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #228
         5. RE: Traveller-digest V1996 #226
         6. Terra in 5700, Ooops
         7. Corn Dogs (urp)
         8. Re: a little rant
         9. Terra in 5700
        10. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #226
        11. SSDS Ship (Am I the first?)
        12. Re: surgical strike force
        13. re: surgical strike force

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

From: Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 08:16:37 -0700
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #226

Wes Payne wrote:

>>Quickly ducking behind a desk hoping for the best after theorizing his
>>brains out.
> 
> "Theorizing your brains out?"  Interesting image...
> It's really a horrible sight.  And kids should definitely not try this at 
home without the express supervision of an adult and definitely not 
before filling out all of the appropriate concent forms and liability 
wavers.

8)

Derek Stanley



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

From: Joseph "Chepe" Lockett <jlockett@io.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 11:29:09 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

Quoth "Cynthia/Steve", Dragoness Eclectic:
> 'Steven Bonneville <bonnevil@itlabs.umn.edu>' wrote: 
> >Well, I could get out my economics book and give you the technical reasons
> >why most countries are off the gold standard, but.... 
>  
> Once you wade through the technical hand-waving, the REAL reason 
> most countries are off the gold standard is so that they can rob 
> the populace through inflation and deficit spending. 

Aha!  A Libertarian in our midst!  :-)

- ----------------------------*------------------------*------------------------
 Joseph L. "Chepe" Lockett  |"Nullum magnum ingenium | GURPS fan, Amiga user,
http://www.io.com/~jlockett | sine mixtura dementiae | Shakespearean scholar,
  Email: jlockett@io.com    | fuit." -- Seneca       | actor and director.

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

From: Hugh Foster <100326.446@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 96 13:03:02 EDT
Subject: Campaign Cartographer

I also have CC, but haven't had time to try deckplans in it. I mainly use it for
world maps, and for my Fantasy gaming maps. However, if any o'you do make up
deckplans in CC, please post their whereabouts so's I can get hold of them! Ta!

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

From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 96 18:03 BST-1
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #228

In-Reply-To: <199607091803.OAA02314@NS.MPGN.COM>

>From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
>Subject: Corn Dogs, Comin' Up Hot!
> 
>>     Er, sorry for being so thick, but what's a corn dog?  And why are
> 
>A corn dog is just a hot dog on a stick, covered with corn batter and fried.
>Really nasty things, but every now and then an uncontrollable urge comes along
>and I am forced to buy and eat some quantity of the things.  I've seen them in
>Mexico also, but not in Europe anywhere.  What other countries have these
>things?
 
TV adverts for these things have started to appear over here, so it looks
like you've decided to share them with us. Thanks a lot...

                      --------=====OOO=====--------
Andrew Boulton                         http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste..."

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

From: gsw@aloft.att.com
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 13:01:36 -0400
Subject: RE: Traveller-digest V1996 #226

Boy, it's hard to follow a thread when you're only getting every 4th
digest due to flaky email. Good thing the FTP archive is current!

On Wednesday, July 10, Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu> wrote:
> Thus spake Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>:
> > The problem that the Third Imperium had was it trusted it's computer's
> > to be there for them, and one day they weren't [ ... ]
> 
> It didn't help that just about every system was wired into computers 
> somehow [ ... ] and almost everything was built according to widely-
> disseminated design standards [ ... ]

Precisely. This explains how Virus could exist and could quickly
destroy advanced societies. However, there would be some systems
that Virus could only infect by physically altering them, no
matter how well it understood them. For example, military hand
computers would be designed to resist electronic intrusion.
Although most may still be vulnerable (Virus is very smart), one
or two manufacturers may have "gotten it right". If I'm using
one of these computers (and I know it hasn't been altered :-),
it should be Virus-free. Of course, it is *possible* that nobody
"got it right" and it will be vulnerable to the next strain to
come along, but that's another story. :-)

I'm not claiming that Virus-safe equipment would be common,
especially not at high tech levels, only that some should exist.
Some of the pro-Virus remarks imply that Virus can literally
infect *anything* (I'm not talking about rewiring it, which would
require physical contact). This is the type of thing that really
bothers the anti-Virus crowd (as well it should).

The other thing that certainly bothered many old-timers was the
throwing away of the stable campaign background. Of course, that
was a done deal even before Virus (and when I stopped buying new
Traveller stuff, BTW).

- -O Gerald Williams / Bell Laboratories - PAI830 55E-224 O-
- -O gsw@lucent.com /   1247 South Cedar Crest Boulevard  O-
- -O (610)712-3370 /          Allentown, PA  18103        O-
- -O -------------/ "Innovations for Lucent Technologies" O-



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

From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 96 10:13:46 MS
Subject: Terra in 5700, Ooops

That was supposed to go to Xboat, not TML.  Sorry about the crosspost.

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

From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 96  9:41:51 MS
Subject: Corn Dogs (urp)

All this talk about Corn Dogs made me go to Weinerschnitzel (a fast food chain 
specializing in hot dogs) and buy myself a pile of Corn Dogs for dinner 
yesterday.  I can still taste the things this morning, even after three doses 
of Alka Seltzer.

Who started this thread!  I've got a lovely asteroid orbiting along and waiting 
for you.

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

From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 96  9:34:42 MS
Subject: Re: a little rant

Andrew Boulton said
>>> David Jaques-Watson said:
>>> 5. Imperial Marines When I and my group read about "The Big Stick" (Imp
>>> Marine Grav APC) and the accompanying attitude ("just level the damn
>>> block"), >we all said, "Oh! we see, they're *Americans*!"  - did we miss
>>> something? 
>>
>>Steve Charlton  
>> Aaahh, not to start up a flame war or something, but could you please
>> expound  upon or clarify what you meant by this?  I have noticed that
>
>Presumably he was referring to the reputation the US armed forces have.
>They tend to be seen as over-zealous, with a fondness for excessive
>violence.

My concern here was the fact that the incidents mentioned, especially the Gulf 
War friendly fire problems, were accidents.  The statement about the regency 
marines was a statement of government and military intent to do as much damage 
as possible to the target *and everything around it.*  Even when we targeted 
civilian infrastructure targets, great efforts were taken to avoid collateral 
damage to the surrounding non-targeted area.  Accidents are terrible things, 
but unfortunately they happen.  However, if the government were to make a 
policy of wanton destruction like that suggested in the Regency guide, that is 
a wholly different story.

As for excessive violence, that is usually in the eye of the beholder.  What 
seems excessive today was pretty limited in light of what could have been done 
at the time.  The US used the effort it felt was needed to accomplish the goal, 
and the goal was accomplished.   Anything beyond that is merely a matter of 
interpretation and Monday-morning quarterbacking.

In any event, I'm still not trying to flame, only clarify and defend.  To say 
there have never been excesses would be a pthetic lie.  To say the excesses are 
part of everyday US military policy and methodology is equally untrue.

That being said, we return your TML to the regularly-scheduled Rocks and Virus 
Show.

Steve Charlton
scharlto@avalon.com
This in no way reflects the views of my employers

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

From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 96 10:10:51 MS
Subject: Terra in 5700

Jamie Young said:
>I'm curious to learn more about how the Earth of 5700AD is presented in the
>published material, which I never got a chance to see.  What are the major
>cities, the population, the political setup and the tech-level?  Where is
>the starport(s) located?  
>
>I was struck by the fact (mentioned on the list recently) that the people of
>5700AD are as far removed from us as we are from those of 1700BC, the bronze
>age of ancient mesopotamia and Middle Kingdom Egypt.  Thus to the Solomani
>on the eve of the Virus spaceflight is as old as iron is to us and London,
>New York and Moscow are as remote as Nineveh and Ur. 

The Solomani aliens book by GDW had very little about Terra at the time of the 
Third Imperium.  The Solomani & Aslan book by DGP had some more, but one of the 
best sources of Terra info wound up being the Invasion:Earth board game by 
GDW.  This game was a simulation of the invasion of Terra at the end of the 
Solomani Rim War in 990.  In addition, I believe there was a DGP adventure 
(from the Megatraveller Journal?) set on Terra.

One of these books specifically mentioned the New York was still around, 
preserved under a dome.  Apparently, Washington DC also survived, as the 
Smithsonian was mentioned in one of the two Solomani courcebooks in passing.  
The ruins of ancient Egypt were also still around; the adventure was actually 
set in that area, IIRC.  The GDW Solomani sourcebook had an adventure which 
gave some info about Terran history, regarding the restoration of an Indonesian 
(?) royal family that was exiled after some sort of global vote around the time 
of the 1st Interstellar war.

>From Invasion Earth we get some overall details.  There were three major 
starports;one each in Australia, North America and North Africa.  The one in 
North Amreica, Starport Phoenix (located near present-day Phoenix, Arizona) was 
renamed Paolo by the Imperium during the occupation, as it had too many 
connotations with the Solomani Phoenix Project (an intended anti-Imperial 
guerilla campaign).  The starport in Africa was called AECO Downport.  I recall 
reading somewhere that AECO stood for Africa-European Cooperative Organization, 
which would imply some sort of political or mercantile union between Europe and 
Africa.   

This game also gave us some indication about the big cities; really these were 
big megacities.  Not surprisingly, western Europe, the East and West coast of 
North America and Japan were all shown as vast city complexes extending for 
several hundred miles.  In addition, there were large blobs of megacity 
scattered in central China, Australia and Central America (Mexico City, I 
imagine).  I seem to recall that Africa was relatively clear of city blobs in 
the middle, but there were some in North Africa and in southern Africa.

In addition, there were some global changes.  The Mediterranen was larger, and 
the coasts of Northern Europe and the Americas were slightly changed; it looked 
as though the average sea level had increased.  This might imply some global 
warming and melting of icecaps, but I don't recall any specific statement.

I think the Terran of the 57th century would know far more about us today than 
we know about ancient Mesopotamia.  Unless there is some total breakdown of all 
Terran civilization (not just a drop back to TL9 in the Long Night) many 
records of nearly all facets of life will still be around centuries from now.  
Even if such a collapse were to happen, the sheer bulk of these records makes 
it much more likely to have a significant portion to survive.  Of course, this 
will still be the purview of scholars rather than the "average joe," but even 
the average guy will learn something in school.

Steve Charlton
scharlto@avalon.com

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

From: Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 10:48:02 -0700
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #226

gsw@aloft.att.com wrote:
> 
> Boy, it's hard to follow a thread when you're only getting every 4th
> digest due to flaky email. Good thing the FTP archive is current!
> 
> On Wednesday, July 10, Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu> wrote:
>> Thus spake Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>:
>>>The problem that the Third Imperium had was it trusted it's computer's
>>>to be there for them, and one day they weren't [ ... ]
>>
>> It didn't help that just about every system was wired into computers
>> somehow [ ... ] and almost everything was built according to widely-
>> disseminated design standards [ ... ]
> 
> Precisely. This explains how Virus could exist and could quickly
> destroy advanced societies. However, there would be some systems
> that Virus could only infect by physically altering them, no
> matter how well it understood them. For example, military hand
> computers would be designed to resist electronic intrusion.
> Although most may still be vulnerable (Virus is very smart), one
> or two manufacturers may have "gotten it right". If I'm using
> one of these computers (and I know it hasn't been altered :-),
> it should be Virus-free. Of course, it is *possible* that nobody
> "got it right" and it will be vulnerable to the next strain to
> come along, but that's another story. :-)

Are you sure it's Virus safe?  Maybe Virus is just letting you think 
it's Virus free.  There would be reletively safe systems, perhaps Virus 
couldn't control the system properly but it could probably lay an "egg" 
in there.  This would mean that the system though uncontrolled by Virus 
is still infected.  For example fiberoptic computers would be darn hard 
for a Virus to control, not impossible because there has to be chips 
somewhere in the system, even if its not actually in the computer itself. 
 In theory due to the high degree of automation on Imperial Starships, a 
Virus could hide in the communications gear and run the show from there. 
 Living in the main computers main CPU is just asking for trouble, it's 
too obvious.
 
> I'm not claiming that Virus-safe equipment would be common,
> especially not at high tech levels, only that some should exist.
> Some of the pro-Virus remarks imply that Virus can literally
> infect *anything* (I'm not talking about rewiring it, which would
> require physical contact). This is the type of thing that really
> bothers the anti-Virus crowd (as well it should).

I agree, I've always had a problem with the chips being able to rewrite 
themselves.  But hey that's what imagination is for.  I like to think of 
Virus as something of a chess game against Kasperov, everytime you make a 
move to get rid of it, it's making a move to block you, while it may not 
know what you're thinking it can sure as hell figure out your stragie 
pretty quick.  As for Virus safe systems, I beleive that the Regency is 
working on these, and as yet they haven't built one.

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum from Jurasic Park.

"You were so busy trying to figure out how to do it that no one bother to 
stop and think whether they should be doing it at all."

It's the classic big stick theory.  I was watching a program on the 
atomic bomb a while ago and they were intervewing one of the guys 
involved in the Manhattan Project and the research that followed.  He 
said to him and his partners no one bothered to stop and think what they 
were doing, it was just a bunch of "boy's with toys" building a bigger 
and better stick not even thinking that the big stick they were working 
on could vaporize 2 million lives in a heart beat.

I see Virus as the same thing, they were so busy building a bigger stick 
that no one (okay there were a few in Survival Margin) bothered to sit 
down and say, "Whoah just a minute Frank!  Do you have any idea as to 
what this thing is capable of?  Maybe we should just think about what 
we're doing."

Its too bad the Terminator didn't show up at these guy's door steps and 
tell them what their project was going to do to the universe.  


What I don't understand is those guys who had second thoughts, why didn't 
some of them stay behind and try to destroy the project?
 
> The other thing that certainly bothered many old-timers was the
> throwing away of the stable campaign background. Of course, that
> was a done deal even before Virus (and when I stopped buying new
> Traveller stuff, BTW).

I think that this is many long time Traveller player's biggest problem 
with Virus.  Subconcious all of them had invested many hours building a 
stable campaign with interesting sub-plots etc.  Imagine their shock when 
they picked up, whatever, and found out that it was all destroyed.  
Suddenly all that work ment nothing.  They'd have to start all over 
again.  It must have been horrible, I was just a player at the time.

Derek Stanley


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

From: William A Humphrey <wh2a+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 15:44:45 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: SSDS Ship (Am I the first?)

<great fanfare> Without further ado, I present THE BAD GUYS - a TL 10
armored cruiser built by one of the speedbumps on the road from Sylean
Federation to Third Imperium.  Several assumptions about its homeworld
will become apparent in the notes.

        *            *        *    *    *    *        *            *

STEADFAST ARMORED CRUISER

Tons-   3000    Volume-          42000          Cost, MCr-     4297 
Crew-   117     Passengers H/M-  2              Passengers L-  0
Cargo-  0       Controls-        Fib/Bridge     Tech Level-    10

 9 Size Rating                         1 Jump Rating (2 jumps)
 3 Fire Control Rating               1.5 G-Rating / Fusion Rockets
 3 Battery Primary Laser 3-2-0-0       1 Power Plant Rating (500 MW x3)
12 Battery Secondary Laser 2-0-0-0   939 Fuel Rating (.9 yr Pwr, 216 hr Mnvr)
 8 Battery Missiles 39 (3)             0 Meson Screen Rating
                                       6 Sandcaster Rating (120)
                                       0 Damper Rating
                                      10 A  04 P  10 J Sensor Ratings
                                      50 Armor    23 Structure

Crew: 16 Command, 2 Maneuver, 29 Gunner, 5 Electronic, 36 Engineer,
12 Troops, 3 Flight, 10 Maintenance, 3 Steward, 1 Medic

Notes: The Steadfast-class armored cruiser is built in an unstreamlined
cylindrical configuration.  The ship's total mass is 38,150 tons.  The
main cylindrical hull houses the essential systems and a wheel-like
extension houses the crew quarters and other areas where simulated
gravity is required.  The ship has no artificial gravity, which is seen
by the designers as a waste of power.  Simulated gravity is obtained in
the outer wheel by rotating the ship; rotation is stopped in combat
situations.  
    Crew accomodations consist of 4 large staterooms for the senior
officers, 26 small staterooms for the junior officiers, and 87 bunks for
the crew.  Two large staterooms and 5 bunks are provided for flag
officers and their staff.  All crew members and passengers have
appropriate G-Tanks.  A sickbay is provided for the medic.
    The drive systems consist of three 500 MW fusion power plants with
sufficient output to operate all onboard systems.  In addition, the
60,000 ton thrust fusion drive provides 1200 MW of power.  If the ship
is maneuvering, one or two of the power plants can be put into warm idle
to reduce fuel consumption.  The fuel tanks provide for two consecutive
Jump-1's, 1 local year (0.9 std. years) of power, and 8 local days (27
std. hours each) of maneuvering at maximum acceleration of 3 local G's
(1.5 standard G's).  Contragravity lifters provide 20,000 tons of thrust
for near-orbit maneuvering where the fusion exhasut would be considered
dangerous.
    The electronics suite contains the Military communications/sensor
suite from the Standard Ship Design System.  Standard automation
(semi-automated systems with limited system interconnection) is built in
for combat robustness without overly large crew requirements.  
    The weapons array consists of three 500 MJ, ROF 100 laser bays
supplemented by twelve 67 MJ, ROF 100 laser turrets.  The missile
batteries are composed of three 8-tube missile bays, arranged in eight
batteries of three tubes (each tube has 12 reloads) to properly match
the capabilites of the Master Fire Directors.  The missile batteries are
provided with a magazine which can replenish all of the lauchers once
(312 missiles).  Six sandcaster turrets are also installed for defense.
    Three 30-ton displacement ship's boats are carried in minimal
hangers.  The engineering section also contains a workshop.  
    The price listed above includes the 10% discount for
semi-standarized constuction using the SSDS.

        *            *        *    *    *    *        *            *

The effect of tech level on warship performance under the new rules has
just been hammered home like never before.  I'm confident that a
five-boat squadron of my TL 12 Hunter-class gunboats (posted several
days ago) could handle this beast (with less than 1/3 the displacement
and cost).

I don't remember who made the argument that one-man fighters had been
done to death by Star Wars and huge ships by Star Trek, so he wanted to
see something new for Traveller.  I think the relative performance of
the Steadfast and the Hunter supports the "PT-Boat" theory of naval
warfare, at least when the agressor has a TL edge.  I'll have to design
a jump-capable frigate along the lines of the Hunter to see how this
argument holds up.

If anyone is interested, I'll gladly mail or post the design worksheet
for any or all of my ships (so far: TL 12 Hunter 200Td Gunboat <QSDS>,
TL 10 Steadfast 3000Td Armored Cruiser <SSDS> ).
- --
                                            Bill H
"Only one...has survived battle with [us].  He is behind me; you are in 
front of me.  If you value your lives, be somewhere else!"
                                                    - Ambassador Delenn 

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

From: Vanya <dmoody@bridge.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 15:54:32 -0500
Subject: Re: surgical strike force

> From: Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
> David Jaques-Watson wrote:
> >I still have an interesting q that arose from this: in your opinions,
> >what does a high-tech surgical strike team consist of? Is it:
> >-a bunch of guys in battledress (a la _Starship Troopers_);
>  Honestly I've never considered the Marines (bunch of guy's in 
> battledress) a surgical strike team.  No offence to any Marine's out 
> there.  The Marines are an elite beachhead assault force who's primary 
> focus in traveller is ship board duties including boarding actions and 
> primary DZ securing.  
> 
> Derek Stanley
> 

	Remember, however, that the Imperial Marines will be the only 
Imperial ground forces available in a large majority of cases.  Due to the 
amount of spcae and length of travel time, to expect to be able to wait for a 
'specialized surgical strike team' to arrive is unrealistic.
	Because the Impy Marines are the only available forces, they *have* 
to be trained and used in a variety of military methods, including starship 
boarding, surgical strikes, facilities guarding, etc.
- -- 
 _____
|* * *|	-Vanya
|  ^  |	 "Conquering Russia is a
 \/ \/	steppe by steppe process."
  \ /

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

From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
Date: 10 Jul 96 13:19:31 MS
Subject: re: surgical strike force

David Jaques-Watson said
>I still have an interesting q that arose from this: in your opinions, 
>what does a high-tech surgical strike team consist of? Is it:
>- - a bunch of guys in battledress (a la _Starship Troopers_);
>- - an elite infantry commando (to take out Navarre, for eg.);
>- - an elite mech infantry force, that glides in using grav APC's, busts up 
>the target, and glides out again?

You were right about GDW's intent for the 4518th; they were supposed to be a 
mobile fire brigade for the sector duke.  As for what makes up an elite strike 
force, I'd say all of the above.  It really depends on your goal.  You want to 
sneak in a small team to destroy an Ine Givar - held Deep Meson Site without 
altering the locals to the danger and without altering the Ine Givar inside?  
Send in the commandos (Navarone in the Imperium!).  You have a situation where 
all the foreigh nationals have been seized on an independent world, and you 
want to secure those hostages before the fleet begins full-sclae combat 
opertaiosn against the bad guys?  Send in the Marine jump troops.  Or you've 
got a situation where a local warlord is preparing a major ground attack a
gainst a neighboring country on a balkanized planet, and while you want to stop 
the war you don't want to use your fleet and get called a bully?  Send in the 
4518th to smash the gathering forces and leave.

The Imperium (and the Regency thereafter) would have access to all of these 
options.  Each would be a separate unit, with its own traditions, organization 
and training.  In the organization scheme for the Imperial Marines in my 
campaign, each Marine Assault Force (reinforced battalion) would have a Drop 
Company.  The Marine Assault Force would serve as an elite MEch Infantry force 
as well, as the troops were equipped with Grav APCs and AFVs.  At the Brigade 
level, I had a commando company attached, serving as a combination of Force 
Recon/SEAL/Green Berets for the Marines.  These would be the guys who get the 
commando jobs.

>Also, I've noticed that the US government is concerned 
>that the smart weapons from the Gulf War may have been more expensive 
>than their targets (although are the factoring in the benefit of making 
>their ground forces safer??). Is the economic line a major factor when 
>weighing what forces to use against what targets?

This is an overall dilemma that would be even more marked in the Traveller 
universe.  Figure you have a company of 200 men.  To equip each with a 100,000 
CR battle dress and a 200,000 cr Fusion Rifle would cost 60 MCr, and that does 
not include any other equipment or spares.  When you go up against and opponent 
with battle dress and fusion weapons of its own, there is no question that this 
is 60MCr well spent.  However, what about sending the Marines in to pacify a 
Vargr pirate base or a low-tech warlord or a secret rebel position?  In those 
cases, many of the enemies would be armed with a variety of small arms (and few 
energy weapons) and maybe combat armor for some of the luckier soldiers.  A 
Marine force equipped with 20,000 Cr Combat Armor and 1,000 Cr Gauss Rifles 
with RAM GLs would be more than enough firepower.  Maybe each marine has both 
sets (battle dress and combat armor) assigned to him for maximum flexibility.

Again in my campaign, most of the marines (except for commando units and drop 
troops) were equipped at the combat armor/gauss rifle level.  Marines that were 
assigned to starships (not just carried by starships) were the ones who got the 
battle dress and fusion weapons issued to them.  The Marine Assault Force would 
be in Battle Dress, but the three divisions of marines carried in those brigade 
transports over there would be in combat armor.  

Gee, I'm actually glad I responded to David's first post, as it seems to have 
started up an interesting line of thought.  Thanks.

Steve Charlton
scharlto@avalon.com

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #232
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