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Traveller-digest            Sunday, 14 July 1996        Volume 1996 : Number 249

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. ID4  ****SPOILER WARNING****
         2. Re: Starship Construction
         3. a talk with Lester Smith[kinda long]
         4. Re: Starship Construction
         5. Re: ID4 ****SPOILER WARNING****
         6. Re: Licenced Empires
         7. Re: The Iridium Standard
         8. Re: How the Imperium Really Fell (long)
         9. Re: The Iridium Standard
        10. Alternate literary sources for Traveller
        11. Re: Jump space theory
        12. Re: Jump space theory
        13. Re: How the Imperium REALLY fell...Long and Cranky
        14. Re: a talk with Lester Smith[kinda long]
        15. Re: The Iridium Standard
        16. Re: The Iridium Standard
        17. re: USPS Monopoly

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

From: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 08:48:21 -0500
Subject: ID4  ****SPOILER WARNING****

OK, I finally went to see ID4, so you can talk about it and it wont upset me!

**SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING**

I have a question for the physics types in our midst.  Would that plane
really have done that to the ship like in the end of the movie?  Is the
laser focal array that good of a target?


Paul  {tiger}


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

From: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 08:48:16 -0500
Subject: Re: Starship Construction

>From: "Jonas Karlsson" <Jonas.Karlsson@Mail.Bostaden.Umea.SE>
>Subject: Re: Starship Construction
>
>> From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
>> On Fri, 12 Jul 1996, Paul Walker wrote:
>> 
>> [Informative list of real-world ship-building costs snipped]
>> > I came up with a figure of 8.83 years for 100
>> > workers.  This is an incredible amount of time.  I think the Starship costs
>> > are broken!
>
>Hmm. Now, I don't know enough to do this myself, but what happens if 
>one factors in things like exchange rates due to TL differences? Or 
>automation (presumably one could use the factors from SSDS?)

The driving force for the time is a combination of the Book Price and
Displacement Tons.  I assumed (for simplicity) that all the ships prices
were listed at TL15 StarportA prices.  I would guess (although I don't know
for sure) that using the exchange tables this number would rise at any lower
combination.  As to automation, You could use it, and it would affect the
price, but not affect the number of bodies (warm blooded or mechanical) that
can actually _fit_ on the ship at one time.  BTW, I did fix the problem, and
posted another list for the std ships.

As a request, would the person or persons who developed the Yugo line of
starships please send a copy of the unadjusted price and displacement tons
of the vessels in this group.  I would think that these ships would be quick
builds, and want to check my "construction rules" against these ships.

Thanks!

>
>> I don't know how 
>> popular it would be with the gaming public in general, but I'd like to 
>> see a supplement for Traveller that dealt with all of the economic issues 
>> raised on the lists - and more.  "Economics of the Imperium" or something 
>> like that.
>
>For a trading campaign something like you suggest would be a godsend.
>
>/Jonas
>


Paul  {tiger}


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

From: "Shadowcat" <kwalsh@cube.ice.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 09:24:04 +0000
Subject: a talk with Lester Smith[kinda long]

here is some information that came out of a discussion with Lester 
Smith. He was at the Game Room in Washington Illinois yesterday
July 13th.

Character Generation stuff:
1). during character generation, players will have the option of 
picking a a target age, and generating to that point.
2). Characters can automatically enlist if both relevant stats are at 
least 2 higher than the minimum required.
3). aging is done in 5 year blocks starting at 30
4). the INT+EDU limit on skills is gone
5). Career changes during Character generation are possible
6).  the Target # for skills will be STAT based, and the number of 
dice rolled will depend on the difficulty of the task
example: formidable task= 3D6 roll
7). new option for stat generation
A). roll 12 D6, place the dice as wanted

Combat stuff:
8). Leadership now has an effect on Initiative
9). there are no longer interrupts
10). Multiple actions are now possible depending on Dex, extra 
actions will affect the target numbers.
11). Combat goes back to the range band system
12). Ambushes last 1 round, then it goes to normal initiative

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I will post more later
The Cat of Knights and Shadows
Keeper of the Alt.Callahans WWW archives
Wargamer, Weird Herald, ADHD Advocate
http://www.ice.net/~kwalsh/callahan.html

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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 09:23:29 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Starship Construction

On Sat, 13 Jul 1996, Charles Pratt wrote:

> 
> And a self-help book entitled _How to Suspend Your Disbelief_.

Yup.  :)  I'm running into the same problem many others have...something 
you know and care about not being treated with the utmost realism, so you 
want to see it fixed.  It's the disease du jour of the Traveller mailing 
lists. :)

If we made Traveller as realistic as possible - meaning that there were 
no obvious holes in the setting, technology, etc. - would it still be fun?


- -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: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 09:35:51 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: ID4 ****SPOILER WARNING****

On Sun, 14 Jul 1996, Paul Walker wrote:

> OK, I finally went to see ID4, so you can talk about it and it wont upset me!
> 
> **SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING**

Yay!  :)


**SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING*****SPOILER WARNING**

Can we talk about the use of a computer virus to whack out the aliens'
shields 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: "Stuart L. Dollar" <sdollar@goodnet.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 08:32:03 -0800
Subject: Re: Licenced Empires

On 13 Jul 96 at 17:24, Les Howie spewed:

> Stuart L. Dollar wrote:
> 
> 
> >1588 was a red letter date in European history...it was the last time 
> >anybody in Europe had a colonial empire without at least the tacit 
> >acceptance of Britain, until the late 19th century. 
> 
> Gaak.. How to find some traveller related to discuss this.. Unk.
> 
> Look, the defeat of the Spanish Armada was important in terms of its impact
> on English history, and it was a big help for the Dutch Revolt, but I don't
> think you can hang the whole collapse of the Spanish empire on it: If it was
> that important, why did the process take 400 years?
> 

OK, point taken, but it definitely was the high water mark for Spain. 
 After that time, they didn't add a whole heck of a lot to the 
empire, and their navy was never the same.  

I stand by my original statement.  Before the defeat of the Armada, 
Spain was THE preeminent naval power.  Afterwards, they were just 1 
amongst many.

> As for British naval domination, that was really a product of the Napoleonic
> Wars.  

Actually, Britain dominated the seas from about the 18th century on.  
Occasionally combinations of powers could interrupt this domination 
(Chesapeake Bay during the American Revolution for instance...), but 
British naval domination was a factor in other powers' thinking long 
before the American Revolution...

> There is a hell of a lot of political agenda in any British history touching
> on Parliament or the Navy; both British agenda and American agenda; and I
> think that that has warped a lot of our view of events like the Armada.

I don't see anything I could disagree with here.  History is 
inevitably written by the victors, after all... :-)

Stu 
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" -Isaac Asimov, from "Foundation"
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This tagline brought to you by Big Ed's Taco Emporium, conveniently located next to
Bob's Pet Shop.
Stuart L. Dollar           sdollar@goodnet.com    

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

From: "Stuart L. Dollar" <sdollar@goodnet.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 08:42:54 -0800
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

On 13 Jul 96 at 13:57, Joe Walsh spewed:

> On Fri, 12 Jul 1996, Charles Pratt wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, 12 Jul 1996, Stuart L. Dollar wrote:
> > 
> > > Very, very true...
> > >
> > > In an environment where communications are limited to the speed of
> > > the fastest ship...information is THE most valuable cargo...
> > 
> > Exactly...Has anyone given any thought to the myriad of private x-boat
> > knock offs that would almost certainly be prevalent in the Imperium?  Like
> > the Fed-Ex's and UPS's of the Traveller universe...
> 
> Unless, of course, the Imperium guards the Xboat network like the US 
> Government guards the US Postal Service.  Did you know it is illegal to send 
> 1st class mail through any other carrier?  You can send Priority-mail or 
> Express-mail type stuff through another carrier...you can send parcels 
> through another carrier...but something considered 1st Class-type mail 
> MUST go through the post office.  Businesses have actually been 
> fined, according to the _Mail: The Magazine of Communications 
> Distribution_.  Amazing, is it not?

I would anticipate a day when this may cease to be true about the 
USPS...  But I suspect that this will be true in the 3rd Imperium.  
Especially since an Imperial FedEx might offer Jump 6 service, and 
canon says that the Imperium has a vested interest in making sure 
that communications to the public stay at Jump 4...

Stu
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" -Isaac Asimov, from "Foundation"
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This tagline brought to you by Big Ed's Taco Emporium, conveniently located next to
Bob's Pet Shop.
Stuart L. Dollar           sdollar@goodnet.com    

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

From: Mark Clark <markc@udel.edu>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 13:37:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: How the Imperium Really Fell (long)

> (Lots of rather odd stuff deleted)

  Ah, at long last, a version of the Imperial Collapse that makes the 
Virus look logical and straightforward.  Aside from the rather 
out-of-character actions by the Zho, as well as a version of how psionics 
works that would be out of place even in a Space Opera universe, this 
scenario makes the Imperium out to be a sad copy of the late-stage Soviet 
Union (economy in shambles, military spending out of control) and the 
Imperium's leaders out to be utter dolts (perhaps the one somewhat 
reasonable part of the narrative).  

  Well. it least it was good for a laugh - there just isn't enough humor 
in Traveller these days.


Mark "Why yes, this is a corndog.  Why do you ask?" Clark

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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 11:45:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

On Sat, 13 Jul 1996, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> Given that the xboat service is run by a branch of the Imperial
> government, I'm willing to bet that they won't be any more open to
> competition.
>
> This leads to some interesting scenario possibilities.

My main point, in my earlier post, was: Who distributes
news/information/mail/etc. to those backwater worlds that are not on
x-boat communications routes?  Would the Imperium have a few dinky ships
running an arbitrary schedule, or would they open those routes up to
private competition...?

- -----

        "Life is a disease of matter." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
        Charles Pratt tminus@u.washington.edu -- when in doubt, sail.
"The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools"
                                          -- Larry Niven, _Ringworld_


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

From: "John R. Snead" <jsnead@netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 12:39:18 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Alternate literary sources for Traveller

Asimov, Niven & Pournelle and a few others have been mentioned as 
inspirations and sources for the Imperium.  The authors are helpful, but 
also quite limited.  You have vast stellar empires which are not terribly 
culturally different from the US 1950s/60s.  Also, the focus is primarily
political/military.

I've a few alternative recommendations for folks to look at, for a 
different view.

George R.R. Martin: 

Dying of the Light, Tuf Voyaging, Sandkings, and Nightflyers (the later
three being anthologies).  Dying of the Light, and Tuf Voyaging, as well
as most of the stories in the later two books are set in a mileau which is
*remarkably* similar to the Imperium (mostly human dominated space
recovering form a prior collapse...).  Martin's culture's and worlds are 
very rich and imaginative.  Each world, and each culture is strange and 
wonderful.

Elucki Bes Shahar: 

Hellflower, Darktraders, and Archangel Blues:  These books are in a
setting which is almost *identical* to the Imperium, however, the plots
involve theft, trade, and intrigue more than war and politics.  Also,
culturally, (and in the details, technologically) this setting is very
different form the modern day, wonderful stuff). 

Joan Vinge:

Snowqueen, World's End, Summerqueen:  Wonderful books in a setting which 
has some similarities to the Imperium, and would be great to borrow from. 
Once again, the level of rich detail is wonderful.

Enjoy!

(and add to the list if you wish)


- -John Snead jsnead@netcom.com

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

From: Daniel Taylor <dante@polaris.solon.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 14:49:22 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Jump space theory

On Fri, 12 Jul 1996, Derek Stanley wrote:

> Daniel Taylor wrote:
> > 
> >  I still prefer the original explanation, where the fuel is burned
> > all at once, and the regular power supplns the jump field integrity.
> 
> If it works this way, with all the fuel consumed at once, why not include 
> all your jump fuel in external collapsable bladders,  By the time the 
> field is formed the fuel is consumed and the ships volume is exactly what 
> it was before.  On a Midu Agasham this would give 10,500 cubic meters in 
> which to place weapons, power plants, etc.
>
There was a rule for drop tanks for jump fuel, I believe it
was a book5 rule. And the description wasn't that the consumption
rate was instantaneous, but that the jump capacitors had to
be charged in a certain period of time, which was beyond the
capacity of standard Fusion reactors.  Pretty hokey, but it
was the explanation used. Of course the J-drives were using most of
the fuel for cooling, I always wondered "Why not just carry
water tanks for all of this cooling? after all- it is MUCH
cheaper than pure H2 per Kg."  The same goes of course for maintaining
a Jump bubble with it. It is quite elementary to keep the water
in seperate tanks. And it can absorb a lot more heat than H2.
 
> I still have a problem with the instantanious consumption of 10,500 cubic 
> meters of hydrogen, well unless of course you simply explode it in place, 
> if you've got to feed it into an engine through constrictive valves this 
> is completely impossible.

Daniel Taylor

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

From: Daniel Taylor <dante@polaris.solon.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 14:56:44 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Jump space theory

The book 5 rule on Drop tanks does not specify whether or not
they can be used for jump fuel.

Daniel Taylor

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

From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@pill.pharm.Arizona.EDU>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 13:07:17 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Re: How the Imperium REALLY fell...Long and Cranky

	[Alternate Collapse history snipped]

	Uhhh...and people say they have  trouble suspending their disbelief 
regarding VIRUS! 60% of the Imperial GNP going to support the naval 
fleets, and no one catches on...Riiiight! Doomsday weapons everywhere, 
and no one has a clue, and NONE of them get used during the black war 
...Riiiight! 

	With their teleportation system, the Zhodani don't have to
negotiate with anyone.  Imperial ships just start blowing up whenever they
get close to the Zhodani sphere. Why waste a warbot, when a TacNuke will
do just as well? The isolationist policies of the Zho's, as laid out in
the Rebellion Sourcebook, would guarantee that the Zhodani would not
threaten the Imperium unless there was a buildup on the Zhodani border,
and since the Fifth Frontier war cooled off, there hasn't been. 

	If 60% of the Imperial GNP is going to maintaining and building 
the fleet, I'd think that the Solomani and Aslan MIGHT have noticed the 
build-up, just a little bit. To do this, no matter HOW the Imperium cooks 
it's books, it's gotta be taxing everyone at nearly 100% levels; we 
'Murricans whine and piss about a lousy 4% added gas tax. I can just 
imagine what the actual economy looks like at these kind of rates. 
Inflation will be running at double, perhaps even triple digits...since 
the only way for the Imperium to raise that kind of money, while hiding 
it, is the old-fashioned way...they gotta print it, by the ton.

	Strephon is so stupid, that he threatens the Darrians.  That's 
like walking up to someone in a tank, with the main gun pointed at you, 
aiming a .38 at it and saying 'You'ld better do what I want, or I'll 
shoot you!'

        Sorry to be so sarcastic, but after the ViralFlames, people are 
going to have to expect that non-Virus explanations of the collapse will 
be examined for rigorous adherence to reality, since, essentially, that 
is the main point of the Anti-Virus argument.

	If you don't like Virus that much, all you have to do is extend
the rebellion a few more years. Even in TNE, they very carefully say that
Virus did not cause the Collapse, merely hastened it along; the Rebellion
had started the inevitable slide into darkness all by itself. Once
sufficient civilian manufacturing and trade assets have been destroyed,
interstellar trade becomes absolutely economically infeasable.

	All those high-tech low-survivability worlds crumbled (you know,
those Atmoshere 0 through 4 worlds, the tainted atmospheres, the asteroid
belts with millions or billions of people living on them) when the spare
parts ran out, and Joe the airlock parts salesman no longer made calls to
your part of the universe, and everyone dies gasping for breath.

	All those high tech survivable worlds collapsed when they realized
that you need more than factories to support a 9 or A Pop, you need food,
and Joe the food distributor no longer makes calls to your part of the
universe, and 70-90% of your population starves to death or is killed in
the food wars before you learn how to farm again. 

	All those low tech survivable worlds collapsed when they were
overrun by the giant shiploads of refugees from the above worlds, and you
had the choice of letting them land, or shooting them out of the sky, so
that you and your children might live (and sleeping with your nightmares
at night).

	TNE is not a 'Dark Future' game...MT was. In TNE you actually 
have the chance of rebuilding. T4, I hope, is equally optomistic. A game 
of expanding horizons and and a glorious future, instaed of one of war 
and destruction. 

	What I'd really like to see in Mileu 0 is a big de-emphasis on 
weaponry and a bigger emphasis on exploration. The Long Night has been 
going on for a thousand years, and the Syleans haven't a clue of what 
they'll find...star-spanning empires, wierd cultures, new aliens...why 
fight when exploration can be so much fun?

My somewhat cranky 6.72 MCr (worth 0.02 Cr before inflation ;-)

Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs



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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 17:01:34 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: a talk with Lester Smith[kinda long]

On Sun, 14 Jul 1996, Shadowcat wrote:

> here is some information that came out of a discussion with Lester 
> Smith. He was at the Game Room in Washington Illinois yesterday
> July 13th.

Thanks for posting this! :)

And now, on to comments:

> Character Generation stuff:
> 1). during character generation, players will have the option of 
> picking a a target age, and generating to that point.

Hmmm.  I assume this means the target age is picked prior to character 
generation, then once that age is reached, whether the career is going 
great guns or not, the character musters out.  Hmm.  Not bad.

> 2). Characters can automatically enlist if both relevant stats are at 
> least 2 higher than the minimum required.

Oh boy, D&D-like pre-requisites.  

> 3). aging is done in 5 year blocks starting at 30

Wonder what the reason for this change was.

> 4). the INT+EDU limit on skills is gone

Hmmm.  No limit to the number of skills a character can have, eh?  Well, 
no artificial limit.  There's still the usual limits (what can be gained 
during generation, and (presumably) what can be gained in the adventuring 
career).  I like this change....though it was never something that 
bothered me.

> 5). Career changes during Character generation are possible

Realistic.  Another AD&D staple, the multi-classed character.  
Nonetheless, it's a reasonable change.

> 6).  the Target # for skills will be STAT based, and the number of 
> dice rolled will depend on the difficulty of the task
> example: formidable task= 3D6 roll

YAY!  This is a GREAT change.  I like this a LOT.

> 7). new option for stat generation
> A). roll 12 D6, place the dice as wanted

What about 3D6, discard the lowest?  :)

> Combat stuff:
> 8). Leadership now has an effect on Initiative

Good, good...

> 9). there are no longer interrupts

Simpler, that's good...

> 10). Multiple actions are now possible depending on Dex, extra 
> actions will affect the target numbers.

This is something I liked about the Hero System...I'm glad they added it.

> 11). Combat goes back to the range band system

Doesn't bother me....might bother others, though. :)

> 12). Ambushes last 1 round, then it goes to normal initiative

Hmmm.  I assume there's some way to keep the initiative.  That is, to 
keep the enemy reacting instead of acting...or make it harder for them to 
act.  Something like that.

> I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I will post more later

Again, thanks for posting what you did!

> The Cat of Knights and Shadows
> Keeper of the Alt.Callahans WWW archives
> Wargamer, Weird Herald, ADHD Advocate
> http://www.ice.net/~kwalsh/callahan.html


- -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: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 17:04:54 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

On Sun, 14 Jul 1996, Stuart L. Dollar wrote:

> I would anticipate a day when this may cease to be true about the 
> USPS...  But I suspect that this will be true in the 3rd Imperium.  
> Especially since an Imperial FedEx might offer Jump 6 service, and 
> canon says that the Imperium has a vested interest in making sure 
> that communications to the public stay at Jump 4...

yeah, you wouldn't want the "little people" having access to all the 
advantages the government (and thus, the military) enjoys... :)


- -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: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 17:07:48 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: The Iridium Standard

On Sun, 14 Jul 1996, Charles Pratt wrote:

> 
> My main point, in my earlier post, was: Who distributes
> news/information/mail/etc. to those backwater worlds that are not on
> x-boat communications routes?  Would the Imperium have a few dinky ships
> running an arbitrary schedule, or would they open those routes up to
> private competition...?

I believe I remeber it being stated somewhere in the literature that 
communications service to worlds off the xboat routes is handled by the 
subsidized merchants....but I could be mis-remembering.


- -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: anwfh@orion.alaska.edu (William F. Hostman)
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 14:28:27 -0800
Subject: re: USPS Monopoly

At work (US National Archives, Alaska Regional Officer), we are constantly
loaning or recieving documents. Over half of our routine office support
(payroll, etc) is sent via UPS to St. Louis from anchorage AK. Almost all
loans go out via US Snail to other government agencies, but come back via
FedEx or UPS. Most loans are in the 1-3 Cubic Foot range; Large loans (10+
cu ft.) are picked up by the agency at our front door, and returned the
same way, using the other agencies personel. In three months there I have
seen daily loan returns from FedEx; I have seen two returns via USPS, and 4
returns  via UPS. Even with "free" government USPS service (we don't take
USPS out of our local or agency budgets, according to the boss), we still
send 3-10 pcs via FedEx per week, and recieve 1-3 pcs per day via FedEx.
Most from within state. (Most of our outgoing FedEx is to DC or St Louis
MO.)

Why? Guaranteed delivery, and time critical materials (paperwork); loans
are sent back via FedEx because of Guarnteed delivery, maximization of loan
useage time, and accountability.

This kind of situation will probably exist in the Imperium, as well, as
each planet has local mail services; Each subsector will have routes that
will accept mail and GUARANTEE delivery (for a charge), and most agencies
will either have internal mail handling ala the US Navy, or will use the
most effective means for critical materials.

Also, mail (as opposed to letters and data), is handled by contractors (cf:
CT, MT) who are mostly indepenant or subsidized merchantmen, at 5 times the
cargo rates.

William F. Hostman

Aramis@AsylumBBS.com



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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #249
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