Traveller-digest            Sunday, 21 July 1996        Volume 1996 : Number 274

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Realism
         2. Re: Canada infiltrates Hollywood...
         3. alt.imperial.history
         4. Re: HELP!!!!
         5. Re: Canada infiltrates Hollywood...
         6. Re: Good explanation of jump process
         7. Re: Canada infiltrates Hollywood...
         8. Ducted Fans
         9. Re: [T96#271] E-Zine Name
        10. Re: [T96#268] E-Zine Name
        11. Re: [T96#268] E-Zine Name
        12. Stuff
        13. Re: Building Failures and stuff
        14. Re: Stuff
        15. Re: Fighters in space

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

From: jbogan@nyc.pipeline.com (John H Bogan Jr)
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 16:18:33 GMT
Subject: Re: Realism

On Jul 19, 1996 10:38:13, '"Peter  H. Brenton"
<pete@cummings.uchicago.edu>' wrote: 
 
>Actually, in the Eighties (I think) the John KHancock building (in Boston)

>kept shedding windows in "high" winds (we're talking relatively normal 
>conditions, not hurricaines or storms).  They closed the entire square 
>underneath it and had to conduct a major redesign of the fittings for the 
>windows.  I'd call this a 'suprise'. 
> 
>The same building is/was responsible for causing the landmark Trinity 
>Church next door (a 150 year old structure) to begin "sinking" because the

>enormous pilings for the Hancock bldg had undermined the strata in the 
>area.  
> 
>Another building in Boston (Ruggles Center) had to be evacuated within a 
>year of the time it was built due to unexpected enviromental conditions as

>the insulation installed became airborne.  Definitely a building 
>"failure". 
 
Isn't the MIT library creeping downhill because the architect 
forgot to factor in the weight of the books? 
Another Big Oops!  
 
 
- -- 
 
John H Bogan Jr       jbogan@pipeline.com 
 
No building is so tall that even a small dog  
can't lift it's leg on it. 
                                  --- Jim Hightower

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

From: jbogan@nyc.pipeline.com (John H Bogan Jr)
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 16:18:27 GMT
Subject: Re: Canada infiltrates Hollywood...

On Jul 18, 1996 09:51:58, '"Stuart L. Dollar" <sdollar@goodnet.com>' wrote:

 
 
>Michael J. Fox, and Harry Dean Anderson are Canadians as well...  The  
>late John Candy, and most of the cast of what used to be the cast of
SCTV...   
>Kids in the Hall 
> 
>You're right...  It don't have a lot to do with Traveller... 
 
 
...but William Shatner does. 
 
- -- 
 
John H Bogan Jr       jbogan@pipeline.com 
 
No building is so tall that even a small dog  
can't lift it's leg on it. 
                                  --- Jim Hightower

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

From: "Kenji Houston" <hokido@primenet.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 96 12:11:33 
Subject: alt.imperial.history

If my memory of Solomani history serves me right. Solomani originly meant all men from Sol. Terrans, Villani and Zhodoni were all 
considered to be solomani. 

IMHO the Rule of Man maintained its Glory, as terran nobles (decended from terran naval officers) concerned themsaelves with 
leadership, and Villani nobles were concerned with administration. It declined when this unspoken partnership was ignored.

If revolution were to happen, it would start in the Sol Navy. It wouldn't take too much bad advice and command interfernce before 
someone spaces the ship's Glorified Morale Officer.

My varient of Hard Times and New Era:
During the Hard Times Era the grand admirals of the major factions realized; that if the rebellion were to continue, the known 
galaxy would collaspe. A massive coup was planned for the year 1128. That would return intersteller government to the respestive 
navies. The only two hold outs were Solomani Security and Lucan. The Solomani revolt lasted 2 years. Resulting in the eradication of 
the hated SolSec. Lucan was forced into exile. Some speculate that he released the virus as a doomsday weapon.

Unknown to the factions, a new faction had been developing, The Virus. 

The period between 1130-1200 is known as the consolidation wars. "Two" powers emerged, the Virus and the Imperium. Although the 
largest independent state either has is only 100 worlds. The perception is that the other is a harmonious enity that spans the 
galaxy. And should treated with the upmost supension.

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

From: cyhiggin@usa.pipeline.com (Dragoness Eclectic)
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 19:17:05 GMT
Subject: Re: HELP!!!!

On Jul 19, 1996 23:03:29, 'Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>' wrote: 
 
>Help!!!  This has nothing to do with Traveller, but I didn't know anywhere

>else to ask this question and expect to get a correct answer. 
> 
>I have an IBM clone and it has a Texas Instruments 486DLC chip in it.  I 
>noticed not too long ago that it seemed to be operating slower than it had

>in the past.  I checked it with a benchmarking program and found that my 
>processor that is rated at 38MHz is running at 7.4MHz (This is with Turbo 
 
(1) CHECK FOR VIRUSES!  (Download McAffee SCAN and use it, if you  
don't have a virus scanner already). 
 
(2) Check the BIOS settings.  They may have gotten hosed when you 
were swapping batteries and jumpers and cards... 
 
(3) Did I say check for virii? 
 
                      --Cynthia

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

From: "Stuart L. Dollar" <sdollar@goodnet.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 13:23:43 -0800
Subject: Re: Canada infiltrates Hollywood...

On 20 Jul 96 at 16:18, John H Bogan Jr spewed:

> On Jul 18, 1996 09:51:58, '"Stuart L. Dollar" <sdollar@goodnet.com>' wrote:
> >You're right...  It don't have a lot to do with Traveller... 
>  
> ...but William Shatner does. 

Actually, strictly speaking...neither does William Shatner...

Star Trek does, peripherally, but not William Shatner... :-)

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: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 17:34:45 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Good explanation of jump process

On Fri, 19 Jul 1996, Glenn M. Goffin wrote:

> That's exactly what I was contemplating -- the jumping ship is being
> battered with surface hits (check those High Guard and MT hit tables), each
> of which is taking off some lanthanum grid along with what other damage it's
> causing.  Maybe the opponents are using a particle accelerator, or nuclear
> missiles are detonating nearby.  Staying to check the jump grid means
> certain annihilation; jumping means a chance at surviving a week of hellish
> anxiety.  What are you going to choose?

Oh, I always choose the option that seems to have the greatest chance of 
my skin surviving intact.   While hellish anxiety isn't exactly a trip 
to VacationLand, it's a good deal better than certain annihilation. :)

Hmmm....has anyone ever built a Traveller ship with a double-hull like 
present-day tankers (are supposed to) use?  Would it work?  

Could you have one jump grid on the interior hull, and another on the 
exterior hull, then activate the interior one if the exterior grid is 
damaged?  Would that allow you to sort of jump out of your exterior hull, 
leaving it behind?


- -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: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 17:36:59 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Canada infiltrates Hollywood...

On Sat, 20 Jul 1996, John H Bogan Jr wrote:

> On Jul 18, 1996 09:51:58, '"Stuart L. Dollar" <sdollar@goodnet.com>' wrote:
> 
> > 
> >You're right...  It don't have a lot to do with Traveller... 
>  
>  
> ...but William Shatner does. 

Right.  "William Shatner's Traveller" is coming to a game store near you!


- -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: John Macpherson <john35@wharton.upenn.edu>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 19:09:02 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Ducted Fans

John Snead said:
> I was trying to generate some non-gravitic vehicles using FFS and 
> discovered that it is basically impossible to create a viable ducted fan 
> air-vehicle at less than TL 14 (and even then it is *very* close to the 
> limit).  Are the lift and power values on page 75 of FFS correct?  Is 
> there some simple trick I'm missing to create such vehicles?

	Yeah, I tried this too.  They only really work in ground effect 
and even then just barely.  Other people who know better than me have 
said that the FF&S numbers are way too low. The people who wrote FF&S 
were guesstimating anyway, particularly for high-tech stuff, so you could 
probably double those thrust values and still be in the ballpark.
	I spent a long time building non-grav vehicles for a non-grav 
campaign that never went anywhere so drop me a line about it if you like.

- --Muir


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

From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 96 19:06:00 -0500
Subject: Re: [T96#271] E-Zine Name

T::>On Jul 18, 1996 18:02:00, 'jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)' wrote:

T::>E-zine name:
 ::>  Free Trader <something> ?

 See my previous response to a suggestion along these lines.

T::>>While you're at it, throw in a few titles for some of the
 ::>>things you'd like to see as regularly appearing themes - kind
 ::>>of like "Ship's Locker" and "Contact" were in the original
 ::>>JTAS.

T::>ship/vehicle/equipment designs: "From the Drawing Board"

 Yes, I like this.

 ::>interesting places: "Scout Service Reports"

 Possible, if the focus is on the _where_, rather than the _who_
 that is found there...

 ::>(maybe do this as a series of "Scout Service Reports from <> Sector"?)

 Better.

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
  OLXWin 1.00b  A cat's purr is the sound of it generating cute.


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

From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 96 19:06:00 -0500
Subject: Re: [T96#268] E-Zine Name

T::>>   So, it's time to come back to the lists, and ask for ideas.
 ::>>   So that's what I'm doing.  Let me know what you think, both of
 ::>>   my names, and of what you think a good name might be.

T::>You might follow the trail blazed by other magazines and take your name
 ::>from some game element (ie, HPG/FASA's "High Passage"): "Free Trader News".
 ::>Or you could go with a name that is reminiscent of some present-day
 ::>publication: "Traveller Times," "Travellers' Quarterly," "Imperium
 ::>Today."  Or, you could do something simple and straight-forward, like
 ::>"Traveller E-Zine." :)

 I'd thought of the game-element theme, but nothing I came up
 with seemed to fit.  Moreover, I didn't want to present an
 impression of a focus on a particular aspect of Traveller.
 Thus, the names I _did_ come up with.  "Freelance Traveller" is
 my best so far, but I think _we_ can do better.

T::>>   While you're at it, throw in a few titles for some of the
 ::>>   things you'd like to see as regularly appearing themes - kind
 ::>>   of like "Ship's Locker" and "Contact" were in the original
 ::>>   JTAS.

T::>Suggestions:

T::>Fiction section:  "Travellers' Diary," "Tales from the Front."

 Good!  And either of these could also be for campaign writeups/
 "novelizations", which are also possible grist for this mill.

 ::>Rules variants: "Another Look At...[rule name here]"

 Sounds rather conventional, but it will work...

 ::>Weapons: "Lock 'n Load"

 YES!

 MORE!  MORE!

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
  OLXWin 1.00b  Crazy Monkey Love...

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

From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 96 19:06:00 -0500
Subject: Re: [T96#268] E-Zine Name

T::>Ummm...I don't know.  I'd prefer something more to do with Traveller.

 Which is where I got "FT" from.  "Freelance" suggests, in my
 mind, the mustered-out adventuring mode, as well as the
 non-canon/non-official/non-IG publication of the Ezine;
 "Traveller" comes _directly_ from the name of the game, as well
 as designating the broadest rle of the Player Character.

T::>Ummm...I don't know.  I'd prefer something more to do with Traveller.  Ie.

T::>X-Boat Online

 The problem I have with this is that MPGN hosts a certain
 mailing list...

 ::>The Traveller Gazette\Star\Times\Tribune, etc.

 This set of names I wanted to avoid entirely, because I felt
 that they came too close to sounding like an official
 publication from the publisher of Traveller.  Unless IG
 explicitly gives this publication some sort of imprimatur, I
 don't want to set myself up to even look like I might be
 stepping on their toes.

T::>>  While you're at it, throw in a few titles for some of the
 ::>>  things you'd like to see as regularly appearing themes - kind
 ::>>  of like "Ship's Locker" and "Contact" were in the original
 ::>>  JTAS.

T::>Editorial -- "Captain's Log"

 Great!

 ::>In-Game News Reports -- "Across the Imperium"

 Two minor problems with this: (1) It suggests a "canon" Ezine
 universe; something I'm not sure I want to do; (2) If instead
 this column follows the TNS, it suggests permission from IG to
 do this, as well as suggesting that the IG universe is the
 target of primary support - neither of which will be
 necessarily true.

 Those issues don't necessarily rule this out though; thanks for
 the suggestions.

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
  OLXWin 1.00b  These are the voyages ... No, they're not * DS9 opening


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

From: GDWGAMES@aol.com
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 20:32:20 -0400
Subject: Stuff

derek stanley

> I've been reading all this stuff on the origin's of GDW's
> thought process etc. and I've been wondering about some
> more practical stuff.

> I know Dave Neilson is in periodic contact with Marc Miller
> about writing up a wrap up for TNE

Dave spells his last name "Nilsen" BTW. He's too polite to mention
it, most of the time, but it bothers him to see people misspell it.

> and I was wondering if you people had statistics on a  number
> of Starships that are mentioned but never discribed in TNE.
> Particularly the RC Lancer, Fusilier, Manticora, Belladonna
> and Leviathan classes of ships. I know that I and quiet a
> number of the other members of this list would be particularly
> interested in getting our hands on New Era statistics for these
> ships.

Can't help ya, Sundance. Marc has all of the computer files relating
to TNE, including any of the ships that were worked up (Frank did the
Manticore for Battle Rider, and was supposed to convert it over to BL/FF&S
format, but I don't know if he ever managed to get to it. Marc picked up the
files shortly after we closed down, when the copyrights/trademarks reverted
to him. They are his now, and 
I don't have copies of anything I wasn't working on.

> Is there much hope of Dave writing that wrap up so we can
> plot our own futures with the knowledge of what you had in 
> mind?

That depends on what Ken Whitman and Marc decide. They've been a 
_little_ busy lately, so I don't blame them for not coming to a 
decision yet.

> I know in Battle Rider and Striker II there are a number of
> statistics for the military forces of the Empire of Solee. 
> If you've got these books would you mind mailing me personally
> with this information.  I'm trying to compile as much info on
> Solee as I can.

Can't do that without violating Marc's copyrights. Check with him,
he might be willing to send the material to you. Have you checked 
the local stores for copies of the books in question. We shipped
quite a few to the hobby distribution network, and they should be 
available through normal channels. See if the shop can't special 
order them for you. Chessex and Berkeley, among others, should have supplies.

> PS I've heard that in Challange 71 there was info on an Antares
> Pocket Empire,  I'd like to get a copy of the Pre and Post
> Collapse data for the sector it's in as well as a brief
> synopsis of the info contained within. Oh yeah, the sub-sector
> letter would also be helpful.

Sorry, not mine to send. 

 LKW

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

From: Ethan Henry <ehenry@mag1.magmacom.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 21:22:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Building Failures and stuff

Derek Stanley wrote:
> Isn't that the one where Alan Alda, the President says, "If you don't 
> surrender pronto, we'll bomb Toronto."
> 
> I have to see that movie...  Looks pretty funny.

I saw it in the theater and my girfriend-now-wife was embarassed
at how loud I laughed. :) It's funny. Also: "The Canadian Conspiracy"
Very funny, same kinda subject. 

Someone else wrote:
> >>When was the last time you heard of a bridge or building failing due to
> >>improper design? When they do it makes nationwide news. Failing for
> >>lack of maintenance, yes. Due to sabotage or natural conditions
> >>exceeding design parameters (earthquake, flood, etc), yes.
> > 
> >Actually, in the Eighties (I think) the John KHancock building (in 
> >Boston) kept shedding windows in "high" winds (we're talking relatively 
> >normal conditions, not hurricaines or storms).  They closed the entire 
> >square underneath it and had to conduct a major redesign of the fittings 
> >for the windows.  I'd call this a 'suprise'.

Well, having graduated from Engineering school last year, I seem to recall
getting this ring... ah yes, there it is (on my finger). Canadian
engineering school graduates go through this (odd, pagan) ritual and
are all given an iron (stainless steel these days) ring, as a symbol
of our responsibility to the saftey of society at large. Rumor has it
the first rings were made from steel from a collapsed bridge in Quebec
as a reminder of the people who died... Presumably the great emphasis
engineering schools place on responsibility and getting things right
by testing your assumptions leads one to believe that screwing up
happens and that if you don't try to avoid it, it'll probably happen.
(Note: I graduated in Computer Engineering, which, although not perhaps
as obviously dangerous as Civil Engineering, is still fraught with problems.)

Someone writes about the floating bridge in WA state:
> I remember watching that on TV, weren't they doing some service work when 
> that happened?

Yeah, the joke is that the last snowplow in Seattle sunk on the bridge.
That's why Seattle drivers' brains all turn off when it snows. Those
guys crack me up! 

Someone else, still off topic wrote:
> >Labatt's Blue is a fairly decent beer.  She musta been something akin to
> >Budweiser's Swedish Bikini Team.
> 
>         Blue a decent beer?  As far as Canadian beer goes, Blue is not one
> of my favorites.  My faves are Maudite (quite literally "accursed") and
> Illegale.  Maudite is this really cool refermented-on-lees beer with 8%
> alcohol content, this cool red colour, and labels that would make Oral
> Roberts' head explode.  The same brewery also makes one called "La Fin du
> Monde", or "the End of the World" with 9% alc. 

Urgh. Blue. Has the same reputation Fosters has in Oz. Popular, but 
no one admits to drinking it. Everyone drinks micro-beer these
days. Red Baron, mmmm. Maudite and Fin du Monde are both fairly raunchy
beers, but somedays, hey, you need a raunchy beer.

>         I wonder how you could work a micro-brewery into a Traveller campaign.

Hm. I think 'The Traveller Adventure' had a winery... maybe you could
just sub in a brewery...


OK - enough off-topic drivel. On to my Traveller related question:

The Suerrat (sp?) and the Geonee (sp?) are described where? I just
got my hot little hands on V&V and S&A and both races get passing mention.
They're minor human races but get no real description. They must be
profiles in the JTAS or Challenge. Where/when/will someone send me
a copy of the article(s)???

Anyways, I had to get all that off-topic stuff off my chest all at once.
Blue, yuck. *shudder*

Ethan

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

From: derek stanley <dstanley@direct.ca>
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 18:05:12 -0700
Subject: Re: Stuff

GDWGAMES@aol.com wrote:
> 
> derek stanley
> 
> > I know Dave Neilson is in periodic contact with Marc Miller
> > about writing up a wrap up for TNE
> 
> Dave spells his last name "Nilsen" BTW. He's too polite to mention
> it, most of the time, but it bothers him to see people misspell it.

As a person with numerous awards and such spelt Derrick or some such fool 
thing I'll remeber that for the future.  It drives me nuts too, I've been 
getting pay stubbs from a company for four years every month I tell them 
they've got my name spelt wrong and they still haven't changed it.
 
> > and I was wondering if you people had statistics on a  number
> > of Starships that are mentioned but never discribed in TNE.
> > Particularly the RC Lancer, Fusilier, Manticora, Belladonna
> > and Leviathan classes of ships. I know that I and quiet a
> > number of the other members of this list would be particularly
> > interested in getting our hands on New Era statistics for these
> > ships.
> 
>Can't help ya, Sundance. Marc has all of the computer files relating
>to TNE, including any of the ships that were worked up (Frank did the
>Manticore for Battle Rider, and was supposed to convert it over to 
>BL/FF&S format, but I don't know if he ever managed to get to it. Marc 
>picked up the files shortly after we closed down, when the copyrights 
>trademarks reverted to him. They are his now, and I don't have copies of 
>anything I wasn't working on.

So you're saying I should write Marc and see if he has this information.
 
>>Is there much hope of Dave writing that wrap up so we can
>>plot our own futures with the knowledge of what you had in
>>mind?
> 
>That depends on what Ken Whitman and Marc decide. They've been a
>_little_ busy lately, so I don't blame them for not coming to a
>decision yet.

Again you're saying I should hassle Marc about this one too.  8)  I just 
love buggin' people.
 
>>I know in Battle Rider and Striker II there are a number of
>>statistics for the military forces of the Empire of Solee.
>>If you've got these books would you mind mailing me personally
>>with this information.  I'm trying to compile as much info on
>>Solee as I can.
> 
>Can't do that without violating Marc's copyrights. Check with him,
>he might be willing to send the material to you. Have you checked
>the local stores for copies of the books in question. We shipped
>quite a few to the hobby distribution network, and they should be
>available through normal channels. See if the shop can't special
>order them for you. Chessex and Berkeley, among others, should have 
>supplies.

Jez Marc's going to get a woppin great letter from me isn't he?  Oh 
Marc!!!
 
>>PS I've heard that in Challange 71 there was info on an Antares
>>Pocket Empire,  I'd like to get a copy of the Pre and Post
>>Collapse data for the sector it's in as well as a brief
>>synopsis of the info contained within. Oh yeah, the sub-sector
>>letter would also be helpful.
> 
> Sorry, not mine to send.

Actually that was more of a general plea, to anyone out there.  Even just 
the sub-sector letters would be helpful.  My map will have the 
"officially Collapsed" subsectors listed in one color and the 
unofficially collapsed subsectors in another.

Derek Stanley



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

From: Paul Kestner <pjwk@erols.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 02:34:06 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Fighters in space

>>
>Quote From: "Peter  H. Brenton" <pete@cummings.uchicago.edu>
>Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 11:03:44 -0500 (CDT)
>Subject: Re: Fighters in SPACE
>
><snip--snip--snip>
>
>>
>[lets snip some stuff here] 
>> > > That has not always been a requirement, but it has been the case for a
>> > > while.  Fighters and other aircraft are hard to hit because they usually
>> > > move so much faster.  Traveller's problem is just like Wes said, the
>> > > Capital Ships can often move just as fast as the fighters.  Oh well.
>> 
>> The point I made, <snip>, was that many of the capital ships in Traveller
could 
>> accelerate just as quickly as could fighters, negating their 
>> speed/maneuverability edge. With the attention required to reaction mass 
>> (which limited just how much acceleration could be done), an edge for 
>> fighters over capital ships might be afforded in TNE/BL, but in earlier 
>> starship combat systems, there were many ships which, although being 
>> thousands of times larger than fighters, were just as nimble.  This 
>> problem will return along with thruster plates.
>> 
>> A possible fighter advantage, which many people, including Mr. Broussard, 
>> touched upon, was the lower sensor cross section...[snip]

I would think that if 'fighter' type craft were desired, it would be easy
enough to skew the thruster plate design rules.  What I would do is make the
large thruster drives less efficient than smaller thruster drives.   If you
like fighters, but dislike missiles using thruster drives to accieve extreme
high speeds, invoke a minimum size rule.   Or, if you dislike fighters, go
the oppisite way and make small thruster drives less efficient than large
ones.   Hey... we can do this... it is a science FICTION game where we can
change the rules.

However, one does like to stay close to main stream 'canon'.  Change too
many rules from the published version of the game and everyone will see you
as lunitic fringe and not talk to you.


>The problem now is that this makes fighters and small craft too important.
>Fighters now make critical long-range sensor platforms ("The eyes and
>ears" of a fleet or ship).  Plus, no small vessel will ever be able to
>outrun a fighter equipped unit in a straight chase.
>
        But in a 'fleet' action, no one will worry about the fighters.
They cannot pack enough punch to get thru the capital ship's 10 to 15+
meters of armor.   They cannot mount a big enough meson weapon to get thru
any reasonable screen.   The rules do not allow ramming.
        Wait-a-minite....   Wait-a-minite....  Evil thought has just crossed
my mind....    A 'fighter' with 200 or so small laser's (1 to 3 points
damage range). <TNE / FF&S Designs>   A squadron of these open fire on a
capital ship and it's sensors might dissappear under the barrage of 'minor
damage' surface hits.   If the silly naval designer failed to include
multiple sensor package back-up's this would work.   If a ship is defended
by sandcasters, have 2 or 3 squadrons gang up on it, it can only fire so
many canisters per turn.
        Of course, any capital ship with less than 10+ sensor back-up's
deserves to get its 'lights' punched out, so to speak.
....
Paul Kestner  a.k.a.  pjwk@erols.com
parting remark: "The Devil hides in the details."
....


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End of Traveller-digest V1996 #274
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