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Subject:   Traveller-digest V1996 #290
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Traveller-digest           Thursday, 25 July 1996       Volume 1996 : Number 290

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Surface Area and FF&S
         2. Re: Surface Area and FF&S
         3. Re: French "Trav" & Mag
         4. Re: Traveller: Terra 1965
         5. Piloting the DynaSoar (Re: Terra 1965)
         6. Re: E-Magazine titles
         7. Re: E-zine name ideas
         8. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #273
         9. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #273
        10. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #276
        11. Re: Deckplans?
        12. Re: Traveller: Terra 1965
        13. Re: comments and a scenario (was Re: Urban legends)
        14. Re: Surface Area and FF&S
        15. Re: Surface Area and FF&S
        16. SOLUTION
        17. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #284
        18. Re: Traveller: Terra 1965

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

From: Merrick Burkhardt <merrick@rt66.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 15:12:36 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: Surface Area and FF&S

> > Printing: Configuration DOES affect surface area -- "Surface area in square
> > meters is the hull material volume ***(after hull form and airframe
> > modifications but without adjustment for hull thickness)*** multiplied by
> > 100." So you were right the first time.
> 
> ARRRGGGGHHHHH!
> 
> Someone, *please* tell me me the above isn't what the rules *really* say?
> 
> You *cannot* get a reasonable figure for surface area by *multiplying*
> volume by a *fixed* number!

Multiplied by the hull _Material Volume_, not by hull volume.  The
MV is based on a sphere of the given displacement, and the MVM
modifies this for hull config.  Again, this is Material Volume, not
Hull Volume. (The MV is a shell).

> Get the picture? It works out similarly for other shapes.
> 
> Surface area of a sphere is 4pi r^2. volume is 4/3 pi r^3. So surface
> to volume is 3/r.

For a 100T hull (sphere) the volume is 1400kl, and the surface area
is 600m^2 (from FFS).  The hull radius is 7, so 3/7 * 1400 is 600.

> So it looks like the surface area rules are *badly* broken. The
> *proper* way to determine surface area is to have a "shape constant"
> for the different hull shapes, and multiply it times the length
> *squared*. Volume would use a *different* shape constant multiplied by
> the length cubed.

Again, look at FFS.  And the post you quote.  MV is not volume.

- -Merrick

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

From: Tommy Grav <tommyg@ifi.uio.no>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 23:12:15 +0200
Subject: Re: Surface Area and FF&S

Leonard Erickson wrote:
> [much snipped]
> So it looks like the surface area rules are *badly* broken. The
> *proper* way to determine surface area is to have a "shape constant"
> for the different hull shapes, and multiply it times the length
> *squared*. Volume would use a *different* shape constant multiplied by
> the length cubed.
>
Look at the passage agian. You don't multiply the volume by a fixed 
value, you multiply the material volume (MV) modified by the 
material voule modifiere (MVM). The MVM is dependent on hull
shape and airframe/no-airframe. So the 100 is just a scaling 
factor to make the right order of magnitude for square meter.

- -- 
Tommy Grav 
Email: tommyg@ifi.uio.no
WWW-Page: http://www.ifi.uio.no/~tommyg/Traveller.html
"Sooner or later the worst set of circumstances are bound to occur."

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

From: pierre-louis constantin <Pierre-Louis.Constantin@DMI.USherb.CA>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 18:01:32 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: French "Trav" & Mag

Roderick Darroch Elliott writes:
[quotes of quotes and stuff... Sorry, I can't quote here :)]

Ok, first off... My name is Pierre-Louis, not Louis-Pierre. :) 
Most anglophones just call me Piel (from P-L) because otherwise
they get confused. <ducks!!!!>

	I don't know wether you can actually copyrigth a system like
rpg rules; I suppose it's more a manner of copyrighting
look-and-feel, and that isn't a trivial problem.  Also you can't
copyright things like 'Empire' and 'rockets' and otehr sci-fi
concepts. :)

	I just know that what happened was this:  I found 1 of the
black books, I think it was Book 2.  From there on we tried to 
write our own sf game (being somewhat game-store deprived in
Sherbrooke at the time).  We ran into the Empire Galactique book, and
we saw that it was good, and very playable, and fun too.  Eventually
I managed to find the rest of the black book set so we switched over
to Traveller... Which didn't improve the game at all.  Just made it
more technical, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

	I think the biggest advantage of Traveller over Empire
Galactique was the design system.  Everything has its place and
capacity and everything, while in EG you can easily have things like
Ewoks fighting off a squadron of Trepida grav tanks... Because it's
more fantastique and, well, less down to earth. :)

	No, EG was never sold through the Valet D'Coeur, as far as I
know.  It was sold through french-language libraries. (Demarc?
Whatever - those with the green signs :)  They also sell a lot of 
those HeroQuest books so basically they also carry RPG's in a way. :)

	I think that yes, the fact that there was less attention to 
'mechanics' made the game more playable.  On the other hand it had
simple and effective rules for the 'mechanical quality' of equipment.
Everything was very well balanced-out.   Characters were never
completely helpless.  Technology is omnipresent, but not
in-your-face.  The game was more character/interaction oriented.

One proof of that is in the weaponry offered to the players; the two
more flagrant example were the karatapoigne and the 'needler' (which 
we called the stitcher :).  The karatapoigne is a portable force
field around your wrist - when you hit someone, it acts like a cement
brick.  The needler is basically a snub pistol with tranqs.  You
just couldn't go thru an adventure without those, because you NEEDED
your ennemies alive so they could tell you what was going on and
stuff.

	Robots were also a staple of the game, because almost all
charcters got some sort of robot-interface skills.  Soldiers would
get battle-bot interfaces as well as cybernetic weapon-arms, 
archi-techs would get computer interfaces, etc etc.  

	It all gave the impression of being in an 'alien' universe.

	In any case.  The book might still be in store, who knows. :)
	Oh... and the rules fit on the 3-4 last pages of the book. :)

Traveller Mag name: 
Here's a name I like, ripped off from an idea by someone on X-boat,
I think it was an HIWG person...

"The Space Breathers Society"


- -- 
Pierre-Louis Constantin, ift. a. 	"He whose name was writ in E-mail."
	Independentist: My Canada excludes the federal bureaucracy :)
(: "I hate fanatics with a passion; all extremists should be shot." :)

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

From: muskrat@msn.fullfeed.com (John Kovalic)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 17:08:16 -0500
Subject: Re: Traveller: Terra 1965

>------------------------------
>
>From: stedee@auto-trol.com (Steven Deemer)
>
>>On 07/25/96 at 10:42 AM,  Roderick Darroch Elliott <gpvll@hk.super.net> said:
>>
>>>It'd involve recycling Traveller's rule system into a homebrew setting; as
>>>you put it, a TL-7 society reaching out into space... namely, that of earth
>>>circa 1955-1975 or so!
>>
>>LOVE the ideas. Here's another: Elvis doesn't join the Army - he joins the
>>Planetary Exploration Force. Beach movies are now set on the sands of Mars.
>>Beat Poetry is performed on lunar cappuccino cafes... <g>
>
>Get a copy of GURPS Atomic Horror. It's great at describing the '50s
>atmosphere, it has lots of background information that would be nice
>to have on hand. As far as directly applicable information for space
>adventures, it's on the B-movie level of V-2 style rockets and flying
>saucers.

Actually, I've GOT Atomic Horror. I think the Traveller: 1965 idea
would make an even better Worldbook! I personally would run it circa
1958 (I'm an Art Deco nut), but what great fun!

John Kovalic



******************************************************************
"This must be Thursday. I never COULD get the hang of Thursdays"
                                                     - Arthur Dent
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*                 "Wild Life": a Web comic --                    *
*       MUSKRAT CENTRAL: http://www.msn.fullfeed.com/muskrat/    *
******************************************************************




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

From: Mark Clark <markc@udel.edu>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 18:35:52 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Piloting the DynaSoar (Re: Terra 1965)

  One of the little tidbits I picked up in my years at the NASA History 
Office was the re-entry mode for DynaSoar.  Pilots were expected to pilot 
their ships back into the atmosphere _manually_, with no computer 
guidance beyond position information calculated from ground radar data.  
Now that's a landing that'll put hair on your chest!

Mark "Yes, I'm sure, you can fly it first" Clark 

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

From: lynchblo@waikato.ac.nz (B Lynch-Blosse)
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 10:55:20 +1300
Subject: Re: E-Magazine titles

Hi all,

Just adding my 2c worth to this discussion. How about "The Traveller's
Guide to the Galaxy" ;-)

or "Traveller's Log"


Thanks in advance,


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Blair Lynch-Blosse, BSc (MSc student)         lynchblo@waikato.ac.nz
  Earth Sciences Department
  University of Waikato
  Private Bag 3105
  Hamilton                                            175.19'E 37.47'S
  NEW ZEALAND                "Trust No One. Deny Everything" - X-Files
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------



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

From: stedee@auto-trol.com (Steven Deemer)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 15:31:52 -0600
Subject: Re: E-zine name ideas

Chris Cox writes:
>Here are a few ideas for a Traveller E-zine's name:

>Star Rovers Almanac
 ^^^^^^^^^^^
This one has some history. "The Star Rovers" was a story series from 
DC comics. I've seen them in reprint collections published in the
early '70s, the "Stories from the Beyond" and similar titles. The originals
were first published in the '50s, I believe.

The Star Rovers were three chums united by their love of space adventure.
There was the wealthy and handsome playboy, the beautiful and daring
fashion model, and the obligatory scientist. The stories were kind of
goofy, but fun.

Steve Deemer
stedee@auto-trol.com

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

From: Paragon369@aol.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 21:00:44 -0400
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #273

In a message dated 96-07-20 09:22:55 EDT, you write:

<< Someone was asking about the Tri-coder build by a Canadian Company.
 
 The Companies name is Vital Technologies, out of Bolton Ontario.
 
 There you go.  I don't know if they have a website.  It's called a 
 Tricoder Mark I.
 >>

This was demonstrated on television.... it's not as cool at the show's
device, but it's a start.... and the got permission from Paramount to use the
name!

Russ



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

From: Paragon369@aol.com
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 21:02:29 -0400
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #273

In a message dated 96-07-20 09:22:55 EDT, you write:

<< 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
 on).  The only things I have done in the past is add a disk drive (I know
 have C: and D:, my CDROM is E:) and change a bad IO card out.  A while back
 I thought I was having trouble with my battery as well.  CMOS would not be
 there when I loaded the computer.  I got a battery, but when I changed out
 the I/O card, the problem went away (or I haven't had my computer off for a
 long enough time to notice).
 
 My question is, can anyone tell me what I might have done to make the
 computer operate so slow?  I've tried disconnecting the extra (D:) disk
 drive, and tried using my old I/O card, and nothing seems to speed it up.  I
 played with the Jumpers tonight, and got it up to 8.5MHz, but I put them all
 back to where they were when I got the computer.
 
 Any help that wnyone can provide would be appreciated.  Sorry to waste the
 Bandwidth.
 
 
 Paul  {tiger}
  >>

I suggest you check your CMOS ... the settings in there are most likely
messed up.... you might have too many pauses between clock cycles.... that'd
sure slow you down!

Russ


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:08:07 -0600
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #276

At 12:48 am 7/25/96 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Fighter are flyable with "ship's boat" skill.
>I think the limit in TCS was a scenario balancing limitation.

        What, exactly, is the difference between flying a 100Td non-starship
("ship's boat" skill), and a 100Td starship ("pilot") skill in normal space?
One of the good things about TNE is it did away with the artificial distinction.

>And, you can always make them remote control vessels, but then they would
>have to stay within the comm range to the mothership.

        And cope with MIJI (Meaconing, Jamming, Interference and Intrusion).
Meaconing (sending false navigational signals) isn't a problem, but a hostie
will certainly be interested in jamming; solar flares, etc. could cause
interference, and if an enemy can actually "steal" control of the fighter
from you (intrusion) ... hoo boy!

        Not that I'm saying it wouldn't work ... just that it would be an
expensive proposition. And I just had a great idea ... imagine an Imperial
fleet carrier with several hundred RCV "fighters" of various sizes, with a
bizarre Virus...
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:08:14 -0600
Subject: Re: Deckplans?

At 12:48 am 7/25/96 -0600, you wrote:
>There was a discussion recently about drawing deckplans using Visio and Corel
>Draw.  Some kind people said they had developed various widgets (hatches,
>iris valves, workstations, etc) that they would share.  Then everything just
>sort of quieted down....  Is there anyone out there willing to share?

        If either of them can import DXF files, I have several I created
posted on my Web page. I still need to post WMF format and put more up. I'm
also looking for other people's work...
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:08:18 -0600
Subject: Re: Traveller: Terra 1965

>Don't forget the NUCLEAR airplane!  <g> Very buildable and it could have
>remained aloft for months on end, with small craft shuttling passengers,
>cargo and crew up and down as the ship continues to fly its route.

        Not so sure about that. The Air Force once actually had a project to
build a nuclear powered cruise missile! Big problem was the radioactive
exhaust it spewed out over your own country ... and what if it accidentally
crashed? Even though the warhead wouldn't go, very not nice. I think it was
called "Pluto" (for the Roman or Greek god of the underworld, not Donald's dog).
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:09:11 -0600
Subject: Re: comments and a scenario (was Re: Urban legends)

At 03:48 am 7/25/96 PST, you wrote:

>For those of you who understand the notation, here's a clue....
>
>
>                             /\
>                            /  \
>                           /    \
>                          /   4  \
>                         /\      /\
>                        /  \    /  \
>                       /    \  /    \
>                      /   4  \/   4  \
>                      \      /\      /
>                       \    /  \    /
>                        \  /    \  /
>                         \/      \/
>                          \      /
>                           \    /
>                            \  /
>                             \/
>

        I've seen them, obviously, but I'm not able to interpret it. Perhaps
a quickie overview? I like the idea ...
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:09:14 -0600
Subject: Re: Surface Area and FF&S

At 03:15 am 7/25/96 PST, you wrote:
>In mail you write:
>
>> At 09:42 pm 7/22/96 -0700, you wrote:
>>>Why a sphere?  It has the lowest surface area/volume ratio.  According to 
>>>FF&S, our usable surface area is 274,000 square meters.  Actually, on 
>>>checking back, I find that configuration does not affect usable surface 
>>>area, so what I've just done is select the most surface area-efficient 
>>>design.  Silly me.
>>
>>         1ST PRINTING ERRATA: Published by GDW in Challenge, corrected in 2nd
>> Printing: Configuration DOES affect surface area -- "Surface area in square
>> meters is the hull material volume ***(after hull form and airframe
>> modifications but without adjustment for hull thickness)*** multiplied by
>> 100." So you were right the first time.
>
>ARRRGGGGHHHHH!
>
>Someone, *please* tell me me the above isn't what the rules *really* say?

        Sorry, they do. BTW, we're now working on "FF&S 2  (spacecraft)" in
the Beta List for anybody who's interested.
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 19:09:19 -0600
Subject: Re: Surface Area and FF&S

At 09:11 pm 7/25/96 GMT, you wrote:
>On Jul 25, 1996 03:15:57, 'shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)'
>wrote: 
> 
>>In mail you write: 
>> 
>>> At 09:42 pm 7/22/96 -0700, you wrote: 
>>>>Why a sphere?  It has the lowest surface area/volume ratio.  According
>to  
>>>>FF&S, our usable surface area is 274,000 square meters.  Actually, on  
>>>>checking back, I find that configuration does not affect usable surface 
>
>>>>area, so what I've just done is select the most surface area-efficient  
>>>>design.  Silly me. 
> 
>>>         1ST PRINTING ERRATA: Published by GDW in Challenge, corrected in
>2nd 
>>> Printing: Configuration DOES affect surface area -- "Surface area in
>square 
>>> meters is the hull material volume ***(after hull form and airframe 
>>> modifications but without adjustment for hull thickness)*** multiplied
>by 
>>> 100." So you were right the first time. 
>> 
>>ARRRGGGGHHHHH! 
>> 
>>Someone, *please* tell me me the above isn't what the rules *really* say? 
>> 
>>You *cannot* get a reasonable figure for surface area by *multiplying* 
>>volume by a *fixed* number! 

>And, when you take a close look at it, HMV is just SURFACE AREA. 

        Or, more correctly, surface area of the sphere times a thickness of 1cm.

>So, since HMV is surface area, saying Surface Area is HMV * 100 
>isn't broken, it's just scaling to units used.  And misnaming of 
>the relevant factor. 
- --________________________________________________________________
   Dave Golden                           PGP Public Key available 
   goldendj@usa.net     http://www.usa.net/~goldendj/default.html

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine


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

From: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 20:14:19 -0500
Subject: SOLUTION

>From: Derek Wildstar <wildstar@qrc.com>
>To: tiger@datasync.com
>Subject: Re: Help!
>
>Paul,
>
>Have you checked the CMOS settings for Internal and External cache?  If
>the caches are disabled, the processor will REALLY slow down!  It makes a
>huge performance difference (some game CDs include a cache disable utility
>to slow Pentiums down so that old 386/486 games won't play too fast).
>
>If the CMOS set-up doesn't have cache settings, check on the motherboard,
>for a jumper, and see if there is a little program that changes them (but
>the CMOS set-up is really where the settings should be - if there isn't
>something in there about it, you should ask your PC-maker about a BIOS
>upgrade).
>

MANY MANY Humongiod thanks to Derek Wildstar for his solution to my problem.
As you can see above it was the cache settings in CMOS.  I guess when the
battery goes dead, my computer reset these to "DISABLE" for some unknown
reason.  I am rather extremely computer illiterate and just barely know what
a cache is, much less what the setting should be, so I didn't change them.

Sorry for more waste of bandwidth, but I wanted to thank everyone that sent
me suggestions and I wanted everyone to know how smart Derek really is (or
how stupid I really am).  Anyway, thanks Derek, my computer was running at
45.6MHz the last time I checked the sysinfo program.


Paul  {tiger}


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

From: Charles Pratt <tminus@u.washington.edu>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 18:29:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #284

On Wed, 24 Jul 1996, Les Howie wrote:

> 2. Its "plumbed" for all essential functions -- possibly including sip tubes
> for water, nutritional supplements (you could be DAYS at high G).

But can you _swallow_ at high-G?

- -----

        "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: Norm Fenlason <normf@cyberatl.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 22:11:35 -0700
Subject: Re: Traveller: Terra 1965

Oh, I like it. I've been itching to bring some 50s and 60s technology 
stuff into a campaign.

The beauty is that you can port most conventional weapons over from T2k 
or Dark Conspiracy (they are mostly compatible). Not that I'm a war 
monger or anything...but there was this Cold War and all. The inner solar 
system and RF delays the local commander's initiative.

Now I wish I hadn't thrown away all my Dad's Popular Mechanics magazines.

- --Norm Fenlason

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #290
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