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Traveller-digest           Thursday, 11 July 1996       Volume 1996 : Number 238

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Traveller E-Mag
         2. Re: The Iridium Standard
         3. Re: The Iridium Standard
         4. Re: Virus and 'secure systems'
         5. Solomani Sociology
         6. RE: Corn Dogs 
         7. Big Sticks, and those who make them
         8. Re: Deckplans
         9. RE: Corn Dogs 
        10. Virus and countermeasures
        11. Re: Corn Dogs
        12. RE: Corn Dogs 
        13. Re: Fighters and Missiles
        14. RE: Corn Dogs 

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

From: cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com (Dragoness Eclectic)
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 17:33:21 GMT
Subject: Re: Traveller E-Mag

On Jul 11, 1996 09:27:58, 'Ethan Henry <ehenry@mag1.magmacom.com>' wrote: 
 
> 
>>   * What other comments do you have? 
> 
>Get someone with artistic ability to help out. A few good graphics 
>can make a web page really shine. Like at Goeran's (sp?) page. It's  
>very smooth (I think he stole most of those graphics even, no?) 
>You don't need 200Kb jpegs, just a few little things. 
 
I know somebody who is very good at that sort of thing, but 
he's up to his ears in art/html projects, some paying. But, 
on the off chance that he might be interested, write up something 
for me to mail him as a proposal.  That, and if you are interested, 
I'll dig out some URL's to point you at some of his existing work. 
 
 
                         --Cynthia 
 
p.s. Django, if you're reading this, you should know who I'm 
talking about... TSM. 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
Alt.gothic.CR Master-at-Arms ---------- cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com

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

From: cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com (Dragoness Eclectic)
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 17:46:59 GMT
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

On Jul 11, 1996 16:33:37, 'Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>' wrote: 
 
[snip] 
>Stuart L. Dollar wrote: 
>[What an appropiate name ;-)] 
> 
>>Regardless of what a currency is based on, whether it be faith, gold,  
>>salt, or ivory (all of which have been used at 1 time or another by  
>>somebody on Earth), the people still have to believe its worth  
>>something...   
> 
>I've always been impressed by the currencies used in Jack Vance's books, 
>where the unit is the amount of money paid for one hour of unskilled 
>labour. No doubt there would be practical problems with this, but it's 
 
Sounds like Vance has been reading Adam Smith.  In "Wealth Of Nations", 
he theorizes that "value" of something comes from the labour required 
to produce the something.  I believe Karl Marx agrees with this same 
economic basis in "Capital".  I find both writers too dry to have gotten 
beyond the first chapter or so of their respective books... ;-) 
(Reading anything by Karl Marx has got to be one of the best cures 
for insomnia ever found.  Adam Smith is a lot better writer, but his 
book is HUGE!). 
 
>a wonderful way to make equipment lists for one society useful for a 
>different one. In my campaign one credit (lower-case c) is a sociological 
>term for this amount of money. It varies from low-tech, low-population 
>society to high-tech, high-population society, of course, but that's what 

[snip] 
Sounds good to me. 
 
>>Stu 
>>"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" -Isaac Asimov, from  
>"Foundation" 
> 
>"Absolutely true. Only an incompetent waits to use violence until it is
the  
>last resort." 
>				- Someone whose name I've forgotten 
                                - Jerry Pournelle, IIRC 
 
 
                      --Cynthia 
               
- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
Alt.gothic.CR Master-at-Arms ---------- cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com

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

From: cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com (Dragoness Eclectic)
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 17:48:33 GMT
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

On Jul 11, 1996 16:33:37, 'Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>' wrote: 
 
[snip] 
>Stuart L. Dollar wrote: 
>[What an appropiate name ;-)] 
> 
>>Regardless of what a currency is based on, whether it be faith, gold,  
>>salt, or ivory (all of which have been used at 1 time or another by  
>>somebody on Earth), the people still have to believe its worth  
>>something...   
> 
>I've always been impressed by the currencies used in Jack Vance's books, 
>where the unit is the amount of money paid for one hour of unskilled 
>labour. No doubt there would be practical problems with this, but it's 
 
Sounds like Vance has been reading Adam Smith.  In "Wealth Of Nations", 
he theorizes that "value" of something comes from the labour required 
to produce the something.  I believe Karl Marx agrees with this same 
economic basis in "Capital".  I find both writers too dry to have gotten 
beyond the first chapter or so of their respective books... ;-) 
(Reading anything by Karl Marx has got to be one of the best cures 
for insomnia ever found.  Adam Smith is a lot better writer, but his 
book is HUGE!). 
 
>a wonderful way to make equipment lists for one society useful for a 
>different one. In my campaign one credit (lower-case c) is a sociological 
>term for this amount of money. It varies from low-tech, low-population 
>society to high-tech, high-population society, of course, but that's what 

[snip] 
Sounds good to me. 
 
>>Stu 
>>"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" -Isaac Asimov, from  
>"Foundation" 
> 
>"Absolutely true. Only an incompetent waits to use violence until it is
the  
>last resort." 
>				- Someone whose name I've forgotten 
                                - Jerry Pournelle, IIRC 
 
 
                      --Cynthia 
               
- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
Alt.gothic.CR Master-at-Arms ---------- cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com

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

From: Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 10:52:46 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Virus and 'secure systems'

Thus spake Gerald Williams <gsw@aloft.att.com>:

> 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!

My e-mail works fine, but the newsserver died.  I'd like to think it was 
accidental.
 
[previous discussion snipped]
 
> 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. :-)

Despite the IDP standards, there'd always be non-standard, and even 
'one-off' designs for such equipment.  It's not unreasonable to expect 
that items designed for military applications will be somewhat different 
from the civilian models, besides just being sturdier.
 
> 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).

Applicable canon indicates that Virus can indeed 'rewire' systems by 
burning new patterns into their circuitry, but this typically doesn't 
occur until it's been successfully 'infected.'  If Virus was just a 
program or an errant chunk of malicious data, then such behaviour should 
not be ascribed to it.  Regarding Virus as a program or as data is one 
common mistake made in efforts to 'debunk' it.

Also, there have been examples of Virus-infected systems giving rise to 
small carriers that would actually, physically move to other uninfected 
systems in close proximity using electrostatic fields, just like their 
great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers back on Cymbeline.  Commando 
chips, anyone?
 
Naturally, there were always systems that Virus couldn't reach due to 
isolation.  There were likely instances where the infecting Virus system 
might have been confronted with a stubborn potential host and, due to 
some reason, didn't have enough time to figure out how to invade it.  In 
most of these cases, the infecting system, if it had the proper 
resources, would render the uninfectable equipment useless to its owners, 
or to competing infected systems.  That would explain any smashed 
military hand computers that might have been found after the Collapse.

> 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).

There are a lot of people in the New Era, many of them ideological 
wingnuts of one stripe or another, who assert that the people who caused, 
and fought in, the Final War richly deserved the Collapse.  Of course, 
there were many things NOT to like about the stable pre-Rebellion 
background, but that's a whole 'nother thread.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes Payne, known to you as:  n9548326@cc.wwu.edu
Western Washington University -- Bellingham, WA -- The Great Northwet!  
"What is FUN?  Why is it usually colored BRIGHT PINK, and where does
 it go when JESSE HELMS comes around?" 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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

From: mike & patty <musashi@norfolk.infi.net>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 13:55:41 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Solomani Sociology

I am going to have to sign off for awhile. I don't have time to read all the
traveller e-mail, especially the long threads and neo-flames.

If there's anyone who's interested in the Solomani and their history e-mail
me at Musashi@norfolk.infi.net, and we'll chat.

T4 looks like its going to be outstanding. I'm looking forward in
participating in the Milieu books set in the pre-Long Night era.

21st Century Conversation:

#1:"They're human. There are humans at Proxima!"

#2:"You mean the Chinese?"

#1:"NO! I mean Human Aliens!"

#2:"Impossible! Aliens don't look like us, they're slimy and breath methane."

#1:"If they're not humans, we live in a star trek universe."

#2:"The odds for that are infinite."

#1:"Don't spock on me! Of course, if they are aliens we couldn't crossbreed
with them any more than we can marry a geranium."

#2:"Blatant Saganite!"



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

From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@udel.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 14:03:57 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: RE: Corn Dogs 

In Reply to Your Message of Thu, 11 Jul 1996 10: 32:02 PDT
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 14:03:57 -0400
From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@chopin.udel.edu>

: BZZZZT!  I'm afraid that you've hit one of my Hot Buttons.  Sorry!
: 
: The TNE novels can hardly be considered an adequate source of Traveller 
: canon.  In fact, one of the things I found most offensive about them 
: besides the author's writing style (Addicted to the Subordinate Clause) 
: were the frequent "facts" presented that were contrary to established 
: canon.  Among them:
: 
: Firing 'warning shots across the bow' with a laser.  Stop giggling!

Any reason why this can't be done?  You figure that if you get within 10
feet, somebody has got to know that they missed on purpose.

: The continuous operation of a jump drive while in J-space.  No, I don't 
: think he ever read DGP's "Starship Operator's Manual," either.

Actually, I think that they were planning on changing the way jump
drives worked.  This is why you now need fuel as coolant and it's used
up during the jump instead of all at once.  Yes, this aspect of TNE was
suppossed to invalidate SOM.

I think Dave Nilsen said something to the effect of "It now gives the
engineer something to do instead of sitting around for a week twidling
his thumbs."

       --Jerry

8) Jerry Alexandratos                %  "Nothing inhabits my    (8 
8) darkstar@strauss.udel.edu         %   thoughts, and oblivion (8
8) darkstar@canary.pearson.udel.edu  %   drives my desires."    (8

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

From: Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 11:10:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Big Sticks, and those who make them

Thus spake Derek Stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>:

> 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!

[previous Virus discussion snipped]

> 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."

[snip]

Of course, the problem with the guys who developed the Virus weapon was 
that they were employed by Lucan who, in addition to being a harsh guy to 
work for, had a knack for getting rid of people who didn't see things his 
way.  If he wanted any opinions from his staff, he'd give them one.  And 
maybe a bullet, too.  There were some people who had second thoughts, but 
one of them was an informer, and his tip led to the assassination of the 
others.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes Payne, known to you as:  n9548326@cc.wwu.edu
Western Washington University -- Bellingham, WA -- The Great Northwet!  
"What is FUN?  Why is it usually colored BRIGHT PINK, and where does
 it go when JESSE HELMS comes around?" 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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

From: chriscox@ix.netcom.com (Chris Cox)
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 11:34:14 -0700
Subject: Re: Deckplans

>>normf@wegener.com said:
>>I would recommend Corel 3. It iis currently listing for about $100,
>>but I have seen it for $69.

>Eris Reddoch replied
>We've got Corel 4 at work, and I bought a copy of Corel 3 for home use
>sometime back.  It was for work purposes, but I never did much with
>it.

I do all of my deckplan using CorelDraw!.  The ones on my web page (The
Draconis Cluster http://users.aol.com/yanbeck/trav.htm) were all done using
Corel 5, but I've since upgraded to version 6.  I've used Visio 2 and never
liked it for any thing other than org charts.  Visio if fine for a drawing
that only uses pre-built objects, but when you need something that dosn't
already exist the Visio drawing tools pale in comparision to illustration
software (i.e., CorelDraw, Illustrator, or Freehand). Also with Visio
costing about $250 while version 4 of Corel can be had for $100, I would
recommend getting Corel.  As far as ease of use is concerned I think once
you learn to use a decent illustration software you will be glad you took
the time to do so. Should you have a questions regarding CorelDraw please
feel free to ask me (I have Corel 5 & 6 here at home and use Corel 4 at work)  

>I polled a number of folks that might be in my pbem and they *all*
>prefer raster formats:  BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX.

As far as what is a good file format for deckplans I recommend using .GIFs.
Nether .BMPs or .PCXs use compresion to make files smaller and while .JPGs
use compresion there is some information loss and for deckplans .GIFs tend
to compress better than .JPGs anyway.

>With a scanner I could draw the deckplans on paper and *scan* 
>the darn things in!

This is also a good way to do deckplans.  If you, or any one, has ship
designs with deckplan (either computer of paper formats) and would like them
on the Web the let me know and well see what we can work out.  

Chris Cox
Falcon watching on Wall Street in New York City
(chriscox@ix.netcom.com)
The Draconis Cluster Traveller Page
(http://users.aol.com/yanbeck/trav.htm)
If you don't have Web access but would like a list stuff from Draconis
Cluster page
please feel free to E-Mail me.


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

From: Daniel Taylor <dante@polaris.solon.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 13:37:38 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: RE: Corn Dogs 

On Thu, 11 Jul 1996, That Computer Guy wrote:

> In Reply to Your Message of Thu, 11 Jul 1996 10: 32:02 PDT
> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 14:03:57 -0400
> From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@chopin.udel.edu>
> 
> : BZZZZT!  I'm afraid that you've hit one of my Hot Buttons.  Sorry!
> : 
> : The TNE novels can hardly be considered an adequate source of Traveller 
> : canon.  In fact, one of the things I found most offensive about them 
> : besides the author's writing style (Addicted to the Subordinate Clause) 
> : were the frequent "facts" presented that were contrary to established 
> : canon.  Among them:
> : 
> : Firing 'warning shots across the bow' with a laser.  Stop giggling!
> 
> Any reason why this can't be done?  You figure that if you get within 10
> feet, somebody has got to know that they missed on purpose.
>
And how are they going to notice a Laser in a vaccuum? 

> : The continuous operation of a jump drive while in J-space.  No, I don't 
> : think he ever read DGP's "Starship Operator's Manual," either.
> 
> Actually, I think that they were planning on changing the way jump
> drives worked.  This is why you now need fuel as coolant and it's used
> up during the jump instead of all at once.  Yes, this aspect of TNE was
> suppossed to invalidate SOM.
>
A whole new problem there, J-space pollution! Leftover Hydrogen molecules
from ship coolant could eventually make frequently used traderoutes
unusable (say maybe over a couple of decades-centuries).

Daniel Taylor

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

From: Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 11:50:44 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Virus and countermeasures

Thus spake Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>:

> On Wed, 10 Jul 1996, Wes Payne wrote:

[my discussion on Virus' intimate knowlege (via IDP) of most major 
 Imperial systems snipped] 

> Well, I just read _Ringworld_ by Larry Niven (liked it so much I added it

[parallels between the Ringworld Bacteria and the Collapse drawn]

> It is POSSIBLE (don't throw any objects at your computer, I'm just
> theorizing) that this is what happened to the Third Imperium because they
> did not have the guts (for lack of a better word) to regress to a stable
> TL of (what 7?) that could have weathered the Virus by reverse-obsoleting
> it (i.e. making their systems, and even daily life, incapable of
> supporting Virus by means of stupidifying it).

They might have if they'd have had time.  Many of those who survived, 
especially those who lived in artificial environments, probably patched 
up the systems that Virus had killed with equipment that was easier to 
build and install, given the death of their previously integrated, 
computer-controlled infrastructure.  If they survived much longer, it's 
probably because those quick-fixes also had the nice side-effect of not 
being Virus-infectable (or -controllable).

Of course, those who survived, knew what had happened, and were able to 
apply the lessons learned, wound up building new equipment that was 
'dumbed down' just so that Virus couldn't play hob with it.  That's where 
the high shipboard crew requirements for TNE vessels comes from, for 
instance-- who wants to rely on automation that can be compromised?

Keep in mind that most surviving societies (the Regency, and the 
resurgent RC) sought to increase their TL while avoiding the integrated, 
computer-controlled architectures that were typical of pre-Collapse 
systems.  Of course, other survived long enough to be recontacted because 
they 'dumbed down' their entire technological infrastructures, not just to 
avoid the possibility of Virus interference, but because they were easier 
to sustain.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes Payne, known to you as:  n9548326@cc.wwu.edu
Western Washington University -- Bellingham, WA -- The Great Northwet!  
"What is FUN?  Why is it usually colored BRIGHT PINK, and where does
 it go when JESSE HELMS comes around?" 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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

From: Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 12:02:01 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Corn Dogs

Thus spake muskrat@msn.fullfeed.com (John Kovalic):

> It was thus said:

[previous discussion snipped]

> My own beef with the Corn Dogs comes from the sheer number of 20th century
         ^^^^
Is that some sort of bad joke?

> referrences found in later Traveler material. Would a civilization
> X-hundred years from now *really* still be obsessed by late 20th-century
> junk (read "pop") culture? It struck me as being damn culturally
> self-centered. For me, the whole mystique of the Imperium broke down on
> such pieces of pop-centricism. Especially the Monty Python referrences. And
> I'm a Monty Python FAN!

Well, so what if it's culturally self-centered?  All we've really got to 
draw on is contemporary culture, or that which has occurred earlier.  I 
find, in running my campaigns, that I must often explain future cultural 
phenomena by citing contemporary (or historical) examples.  Most often these 
serve as touchstones which aid in understanding the environment I'm trying 
to describe, rather than irrelevancies which undermine the players' 
suspension of disbelief in that environment.

Besides, in three thousand years, who the heck is going to care?  I've 
got more serious things to worry about than whether or not the people of 
the future are going to dig up my bones and slap them around because I 
made some assertion about them eating corn dogs.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes Payne, known to you as:  n9548326@cc.wwu.edu
Western Washington University -- Bellingham, WA -- The Great Northwet!  
"What is FUN?  Why is it usually colored BRIGHT PINK, and where does
 it go when JESSE HELMS comes around?" 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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

From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@udel.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 15:02:57 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: RE: Corn Dogs 

In Reply to Your Message of Thu, 11 Jul 1996 13: 37:38 CDT
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 15:02:56 -0400
From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@chopin.udel.edu>

: > Any reason why this can't be done?  You figure that if you get within 10
: > feet, somebody has got to know that they missed on purpose.
: >
: And how are they going to notice a Laser in a vaccuum? 

Sensors.  Proximity alert.  You name it.

: > Actually, I think that they were planning on changing the way jump
: > drives worked.  This is why you now need fuel as coolant and it's used
: > up during the jump instead of all at once.  Yes, this aspect of TNE was
: > suppossed to invalidate SOM.
: >
: A whole new problem there, J-space pollution! Leftover Hydrogen molecules
: from ship coolant could eventually make frequently used traderoutes
: unusable (say maybe over a couple of decades-centuries).

And since when has the military or commercial intrests cared about the
envrionment?  8)

Seriously though, we don't know what effects it'll have on j-space.  For
all we know, it may have none.  I'm not saying that it was a perfect
solution, I'm just saying that it didn't break "canon."  Technically,
every version of Traveller says that the most recently published
material supercedes any prior version when there's a rules or
description discrepancy.

       --Jerry

8) Jerry Alexandratos                %  "Nothing inhabits my    (8 
8) darkstar@strauss.udel.edu         %   thoughts, and oblivion (8
8) darkstar@canary.pearson.udel.edu  %   drives my desires."    (8

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

From: Wes Payne <n9548326@cc.wwu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 12:18:52 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Fighters and Missiles

Thus spake shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson):

I wrote:

[a bunch of stuff which I just snipped regarding effective fighter ops]
 
[more snippage]

> One thing that occurs to me is that most folks seem to be designing
> ships to run all the weapons at once. Given that power *distribution*
> isn't terribly expensive, and that most weapons can be operated at
> lower power, the likely designs would be for ships that can fire the
> main weapons at full power only if they aren't using much of the
> secondary armament.

Compared to the energy required for running the drives, the drain from 
energy weapons isn't all that much.  Of course, that's if you're not 
overpowering them all to get a really high rate of fire.
 
[stuff on cost effectiveness of ships that can power everything at once 
 snipped]
 
> If you design a ship that can do everything at once, and I design one
> that costs the same, but can put out more firepower by not manuevering,
> or by not using the secondary weapons at the same time, I can pound on
> you at ranges where you can't get close. If you *do* get close, then I
> can run like hell, or pound you with secondary weapons. But I'll have
> some words to say to the captains of the ships that were supposed to be
> making you keep your distance!
> 
> In a world where these sorts of choices get made, suddenly things like
> fighters *do* have a place. Fighters and missiles can firce me to waste
> power defending myself instead of attacking you.

Also, if you don't have secondary batteries to spare, which aren't busy 
engaging capital ships when the fighter/missile wave shows up, that's 
guns that you have to take out of the Big Fight in order to defend 
yourself from what was considered a minor nuisance.  That gives the 
opposing line some breathing space, and they continue firing on you.  
There's another choice that I'd not want to have to make.  Then people 
have to start working smaller, secondary weapons systems into their 
designs to aid in the defense against missiles and fighters (CIWS, 
anyone?) while the Big Guns continue to engage the Big Targets.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes Payne, known to you as:  n9548326@cc.wwu.edu
Western Washington University -- Bellingham, WA -- The Great Northwet!  
"What is FUN?  Why is it usually colored BRIGHT PINK, and where does
 it go when JESSE HELMS comes around?" 
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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

From: Daniel Taylor <dante@polaris.solon.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 15:08:28 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: RE: Corn Dogs 

On Thu, 11 Jul 1996, That Computer Guy wrote:

> In Reply to Your Message of Thu, 11 Jul 1996 13: 37:38 CDT
> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 15:02:56 -0400
> From: That Computer Guy <darkstar@chopin.udel.edu>
> 
> : > Any reason why this can't be done?  You figure that if you get within 10
> : > feet, somebody has got to know that they missed on purpose.
> : >
> : And how are they going to notice a Laser in a vaccuum? 
> 
> Sensors.  Proximity alert.  You name it.
>
A laser does not scatter in a vaccuum, if it doesn't hit you
you don't even know it was fired.
 
> : > Actually, I think that they were planning on changing the way jump
> : > drives worked.  This is why you now need fuel as coolant and it's used
> : > up during the jump instead of all at once.  Yes, this aspect of TNE was
> : > suppossed to invalidate SOM.
> : >
> : A whole new problem there, J-space pollution! Leftover Hydrogen molecules
> : from ship coolant could eventually make frequently used traderoutes
> : unusable (say maybe over a couple of decades-centuries).
> 
> And since when has the military or commercial intrests cared about the
> envrionment?  8)
> 
> Seriously though, we don't know what effects it'll have on j-space.  For
> all we know, it may have none.  I'm not saying that it was a perfect
> solution, I'm just saying that it didn't break "canon."  Technically,
> every version of Traveller says that the most recently published
> material supercedes any prior version when there's a rules or
> description discrepancy.

True. However this particular change is quite easily shot down
from a practical engineering aspect. Besides, the engineer has plenty
to keep himself occupied in J-space. The only systems that are shut down
that are running in N-space are the thrusters.  I would say that the
time immediately prior to a jump is exceptionally busy for the
engineering department, and the slightly lower workload in J-space is
just business as usual (maintenance for the thrusters, weapons and
other out of use systems).

Daniel Taylor

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #238
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