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Traveller-digest            Friday, 26 July 1996        Volume 1996 : Number 292

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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. Re: Traveller: Terra 1965 (Td V96 #288)
         2. Re: Deckplans, et alia.
         3. PSI, Ship Design Rules, Trav: 1965, Spacestations
         4. Re: FF&S2 Hulls
         5. Re: The G Thing
         6. Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #288
         7. Re: Nuclear Airplane
         8. Re: FF&S 2: Hulls (aka the G thing) LONG!
         9. Re: Adventure Creation 
        10. Re: Nuclear Airplane
        11. Re: Adventure Creation
        12. ID4 SPOILER WARNING!!

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

From: Derek Wildstar <wildstar@qrc.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 96 10:07:48 -0400
Subject: Re: Traveller: Terra 1965 (Td V96 #288)

Leonard wrote:
>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!

Sounds great!  As a longtime fan of early Clarke and Heinlien, this is the
perfect setting for a lot of their stuff (and I heartily recommend reading
up on it when creating the setting).  Check out: Heinlien's _The Man Who
Sold The Moon_ (and other stories from his "Future Histories" in _The Past
Through Tomorrow_), _Have Spacesuit, Will Travel_, _Space Cadet_, _Rocket
Ship Galileo_ (the very first SF I read), and take a look at Clarke's _A
Fall of Moondust_ (there are a few others Clarke has written that are
applicable, but the titles escape me).

Mark Urbin <eclipse@ultranet.com> wrote:
> >Don't forget the NUCLEAR airplane!
> 
> Having talked to family members on both sides of that project (Aircraft
> design & production/military nuclear design & production), it was painfully
> obvious that dog just wasn't gonna hunt.  Too big, too heavy & no place you
> want to land the bloody thing come refueling time.

Back in the 50's, not as much was known about the hazards of radiation.  To
make the "Terra: 1965" setting workable, you'd have to assume that the
radiation hazard from fission power was a lot lower in that "universe".

To make the whole setting workable, you might want to do the following (as
changes from "standard" FF&S): double the power output of fission power
plants, and halve the minimum sizes.  This have the overall effect of making
fission plants smaller, lighter, and cheaper (to reflect the lower shielding
and radiation safety-requrements in the 'low-radiation' universe).

If you want "atomic rockets" to exist, allow some type of drive to exist at
that TL.  Maybe a modified HEPlaR, changed so that it can be used with
fission plants, use water instead of hydrogen as reaction mass (but keep the
same volume, or even increase it).

wildstar@qrc.com
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                "Oh, you fools!  Dance to your heart's content
                                 in that small world of yours.  Our world is
                                 the whole of space!"   --- Phantom F. Harlock

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

From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 05:19:54 PST
Subject: Re: Deckplans, et alia.

In mail you write:

> On Jul 23, 1996 00:34:30, 'Les Howie <lhowie@novalis.ca>' wrote:
> ? Are there any RPG's out there that didn't evolve out of some
>> form of geek literature :)?
>
> Not that I know of, but it _is_ possible, I suppose.

Well, all the SF & Fantasy games pretty much prove the point.
The "spy" type games may or may not be "geeky". Toon is *beyond* geeky.

Does "Killer" count as an RPG? :-)

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

From: David Jaques-Watson <davidjw@pcug.org.au>
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 01:55:55 +1000 (EST)
Subject: PSI, Ship Design Rules, Trav: 1965, Spacestations

Dear Folks -

1.	PSI STUFF

Derek Wildstar <wildstar@qrc.com> said:
>A long time ago, I made a large list of "special" talents...

Can you post these to the list? Pretty please?!!


Peter  H. Brenton asked:
>Anyone have any other thoughts that I could read on the subject?

In my campaign, Ervmisbe the Droyne read the mind of another PC who
happened to be a socipath (and crazy to boot - ever wondered why
Xhosa/Querion/Spinward Marches 0115 had a population of 90? The dreaded
*Scorpio* had performed a "rescue" mission there in 1105! :-o ). I ruled
that "Irving" acquired an insanity, and rolled on the old DMG tables. A
kleptomaniac, teleporting Droyne is a sad sight to behold...  (P.S. he did
get better...)

2.	ZINE NAME

Douglas Berry said:
>Wait.. I think...  I have it: FLARE, The Traveller e-zine.

That's actually not as silly as it sounds... who knows, it may get a 
guernsey!

3.	SHIP DESIGN RULES

Christopher Griffen asked:
>So do you get the impression that all Dave Golden's work was for naught?

Um, Chris, I think you missed my earlier posts. Here, I was merely 
speculating as to why the *original* suggestion from Don was to use Book 
2 and High Guard. Certainly that changed, as players made their views 
known to IG. When I spoke to Don at Phenomenon, he enthused about QSDS 
and SSDS! He and David Golden are planning a re-release of FF&S (oh yes, 
YES, YES! <thwack> sorry, saw _Harry Met Sally_ once too often...[and 
this was BEFORE I read Liam's post]), with a much greater lead time than 
they allowed for SSDS (1 _week_, for goodness sake!).

4.	TRAVELLER: 1965

Roderick Darroch Elliott wrote:
>Leonard, you just gave me an idea for a seriously kickbutt campaign...

This sounds like a great basis for a freeform!

5.	SPACESTATIONS

Derek said:
>Before even addressing that, we should make sure to include the 
appropriate formulae for building hulls significantly larger than 
1,000,000 tons standard displacement.

Solution: modularise the thing. See the orbital dock _Adventurer Class 
Ships Vol2_.

BTW, there are _many_ resources you can use to flesh out starports (I 
posted all I knew of last year). I think Andy Lilly or someone is working 
on full starport rules.

6.	HUMOUR DEPT. 2

Steve Bonneville wrote:
>    I'm Eneri the Eighth, I am, [etc]

Absolutely brilliant! (although I think you should cut down your intake 
of Jolt cola. ;-)

Regarding:
>"Don't be stupid, be a smarty, join the Solomani Party!"

There's also the classic:
	"Born... in the M.A.R.I.N.E.S.! [last bit sung very quickly]
	I was born... in the M.A.R.I.N.E.S.!" [sounds of machine-gun fire 
in background]

etc. This one-hit wonder shot to number 1 on Efate in mid-1109, but 
sadly, only made it to number 18 on Regina before disappearing into 
obscurity. This is despite having been written by the hero of Elevator 
451, who rescued Regina's beanstalk from a bunch of nasty terrorists.

...well, at least he did in _my_ universe.

- - Hyphen
(David Jaques-Watson)
"I file things in historical order, with a hashing algorithm of gravity".


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

From: Steve Charlton/Avalon Software Inc <Steve_Charlton@khan.Avalon.COM>
Date: 26 Jul 96  8:58:58 MS
Subject: Re: FF&S2 Hulls

Adding to Dave and Guy's FF&S2 Wishlist:

>>         - "Comfort" factor: luxury ships have more waste space than
>> exploration ships
>
>Yes.  Luxury options should be provided.  Also, consider a "paranoid" option
>that provides internal monitoring and access control.
>
>>         - More options: bars, shops, pools, gardens, lounges, nurseries,
>> schools, etc., etc.

Some other options:  Armory/Weapons Locker, Munitions Storage for missiles, 
Cells for prisoners, Audio-visual rooms for briefings or surveys (a place to 
put that big MT holo-tank), a Stellar Cartography room (one of the better sets 
from the last Star Trek film)

And more explanation of the options; what benefit does a Sickaby give, and what 
is its capacity.  Does a Machine Shop reduce Maintenance Crew requirements?  If 
I have a science/exploration vessel, how many prima-donna Scientists can a 
Laboratory hold?  Can a Lab function as a lesser Sickbay, or vice-versa.  How 
about Containment Chambers for live sceince subjects (I used Low Berths for 
this in the Safari Ship design)

>>         - Babylon-5 style jump gates
>>                 -- small ships have to use existing gates to enter
>>                 -- large enough ships can generate their own: min power
>> required to create breach?
>
>Probably as options to the existing stargate rules.  Alternatively, you can
>consider the Babylon-5 universe as one where both Stargates and Jump Drive
>exists, but the minimum size for a Jump Drive is very large.
>
>I think we should relegate all of the alternative technology to special
>sections, instead of having it scattered throughout the rest of the book.
>Then we can develop the alternative tech to the same level of detail as the
>"main" technology.

I had two big "new science" leaps at TL16.  One was allowing any size Jump 
Drive for ships below 100 td (this is pre-TNE), and the second was to allow 
externally-powered Jump Drives.  What this meant was the ship needed to carry a 
Jump Drive and capacitors, but did not need the extra fuel and power plant 
equipment normally associated with a Jump Drive (a HUGE space savings).  The 
power came from a fixed device in deep space that the ship had to pass through 
- - A Jump Gate.  As it turned out, this was only useful for merchant/civilian 
vessels; the military would not want to be required to jump into a fixed point 
and would not want to be limited to a set of fixed points, so they stuck with 
the normal Jump Drives or carried both types (the new Jump Drive was different 
enough that the two technologies were not compatible).

>>         - DROP TUBE LAUNCHERS!!! Basically a massdriver.
>
>Oh, you mean for drop capsules.  A lot depends on how much air the world
>has.  From low orbit, a small delta-vee will get you into the atmosphere,
>which will do the rest.

And design rules for Drop Capsules.  Some would be decoys, some would deploy 
ordnance, and some would have more maneivering options than others.

And a completely different thing; disassemblable starships.  Something like the 
Covenant class in TNE (Scout with Close Escort), but allowing part of the ship 
to detach and function as an independant vessel.  This can be done in the 
current rules, but some specific guidlines would be good.

All the stuff you two brought up would be wonderful.  Is it done yet?

Steve Charlton
scharlto@avalon.com

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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 12:24:49 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: The G Thing

On Wed, 24 Jul 1996, William White wrote:

[Summary of book snipped]

> Actually, I think may be a sort of mini-genre that's recently emerged:  the
> "What if the space program was done differently?" story.  I've noticed one or
> two other stories with this theme.  Last best hope, indeed.

Another one in this mini-genre is "Firestar," which I just finished 
reading last night.  It is in hard back currently..and I don't remember 
the author's last name (first name: Michael).  If you're curious, ask me 
and I can post the name later...I just don't have the book with me here 
at work. :)

Anyway, this book doesn't re-write history.  Instead, it proposes a 
near-future (REALLY near; the setting is 1999 through 2006) wherein a 
powerful captain of industry manages to get a private space program 
going.  It's an interesting story, but it focuses mainly on the people, 
not the events or technology (although, the descriptions of technology 
are rather well-researched).  Not a bad book, overall (I /like/ it when 
stories focus on the people more than the setting), but I was a bit 
dissatisfied with the way the ending was written.  On a scale of 1 to 10, 
I give it a 7.


- -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: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 96 18:28 BST-1
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #288

In-Reply-To: <199607251845.OAA09477@NS.MPGN.COM>

> From: Jeffery.M.Miller@Dartmouth.EDU (Jeffery M. Miller)
> Subject: Re: FF&S2:Station Design
> 
> - --- Liam"I'm from the UK and have a cool name to prove it" McCauley 
wrote:
>    There was a very interesting adventure in an old White Dwarf where 
the 
>      players were hired to break into the "elevator" that rode from 
the 
>      ground, up a huge, long cable to a space station which was 
anchored by 
>      an asteroid at the end of the cable.
>      
> - --- end of quoted material ---
> A'la the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. 

Err...Clarke actually beat him by several decades...Beanstalks are not a 
new idea.

Andrew Boulton


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

From: eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 96 14:00:07 -0600
Subject: Re: Nuclear Airplane

On 07/25/96 at 11:32 PM,  Bri <bri@teleport.com> said:

>On Thu, 25 Jul 1996, Eris Reddoch wrote:

>> You know if you have a big power source in GEO (solar power satellite for
>> instance), you can get ships into orbit *much* cheaper.  The SPS beams ener
>> as microwaves (most likely) to the orbital insersion vehicle where it is us
>> to heat the reaction gas...which could be air for part of the launch.

> Yes, just don't miss and hit one of those trillion credit arcos....

> "Whoops"

Hee! Hee!

So, use an energy form that's attenuated by the atmosphere.  <g>

Just lob the insersion vehicle up several kilometers with
conventional rockets and use the on-orbit power source for the rest of the
trip.  Better yet, use ground based lasers (power from SPS) to give the ship
the boost up through the atmosphere and then switch over to an orbital
source.

The ground based recievers could be spread out over hundreds of
kilometers of desert or other wasteland, keeping energy densities low enough
so as not to be much of a problem.

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
eris@pen.net (Eris Reddoch)    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------




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

From: "Matthew K. McLaughlin" <mkm@umr.edu>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 15:23:10 -0500
Subject: Re: FF&S 2: Hulls (aka the G thing) LONG!

David J. Golden wrote:
> 
> At 10:56 am 7/25/96 -0700, bmac@qrc.com (Bruce Alan Macintosh) wrote:
> 
> >One other thing we could consider for hulls is rules for determining a ship's
> >maximum slew rate, based on size, hull configuration, and (possibly)
> >amount of extra engines devoted to attitude thrusters...
> 
>         YES! I was afraid I'd get slammed as TOO detailed for suggesting a
> merchant probably couldn't maneuver as quickly as a military vessel. But
> this has been on my mind for some time. Say, several different levels of
> "ACS packages" -- wallowing pig up to hummingbird.
> --________________________________________________________________

This definitely needs to be looked at to some extent - it's the key to
the whole fighter vs dreadnaught maneuverability thing.

I've been peeking at my old physics texts a little on this, and here are
a few numbers.  Looking at 20 Td, 200 Td, and 20k Td hulls with a
spherical config for ease of calculations (can anyone say "cylindrical
horse"?  I knew you could!) and assuming constant density (OK, I'm a
little lazy today <G>) we get radii of 4.06, 8.74, and 40.6 meters
respectively.  

Now to move at 6G in a given direction, the engines need to be aimed the
other way, assuming that the design rules are for a single set of
thrusters aligned with the main axis of the ship.  This is where the
attitude thrusters above come in.  There are two considerations here:
the greatest amount of acceleration felt (which will be at the outer
radius of the sphere) and the amount of energy necessary to spin the
hull.

ACCELERATION
The maximum acceleration limits the speed with which the vessel can spin
around.  I'm assuming a constant angular acceleration to spin the ship. 
It could be optimized by starting with a maximum ang accel which
decreases to zero at the turn around point then increases in the other
direction.  This would put a constant linear acceleration load on the
grav compensators while minimizing spin time.  i.e. at TL 15 the 6G will
be due to the spinning thrust at the beginning and end of the turn and
centripetal acceleration only at the turn around point with a mixture of
the two in between.  I don't feel like playing with the calculus though,
so punt that! <G>

So we've got a constant angular acceleration which reverses direction at
the halfway point.  Since the maximum angular velocity is at the halfway
point, this is also the point of maximum linear acceleration. A bit of
algebra shows that the spin time is prop. to the sqrt of the radius of
the sphere and inversely prop. to the sqrt of the G limit.  This is the
absolute TL imposed limit, assuming that crew members are using no accel
couches, tanks, etc.  Of course, a craft with all crew in couches or
such (more likely for a fighter than a dreadnaught) would have an
advantage, since they could add G's.  Additionally, placing the crew
near the center of rotation would effectively increase the G-limit, as
long as the outer structure was braced for the additional G's.  This
could be particularly handy for a fighter with the crew placed at the
COG.

Of course, the sqrt of r is a smaller advantage than might be expected
for a fighter over a warship.  Example calculations for turn around time
with a limit of 6G gave:

Disp(Td)	Rad(m)	Time(s)

20		4.06	1.69
200 		8.74	2.48
20k		40.6	5.34
spec*		1.0	0.84	

*This is with a single pilot in the center of a fighter

ENERGY
The other limitation, which is actually more critical for large vessels,
is the the amount of work which must be done to get the thing turned
around.  This is the energy added to the (presumably) stationary sphere
to get it rotating to the halfway point, plus the energy needed to stop
it.  The energy added for a given rotational speed is prop to the moment
of inertia which is equal to the square of the radius times the mass. 
Assuming mass prop to disp <g>, and since radius is prop to the cube
root of the displacement, the energy is prop to the 5/3 power of the
disp.  

This means that a 10k Td vessel will require 100k times as much energy
to spin around in the same time as a 10Td fighter, even though it masses
only 1k times as much.  For the turn-around times given above, the
following amounts of energy are
consumed:

Disp(Td)	Time(sec)	Energy(MJ)
20		1.69		18.2
200		2.48		392
20k		5.34		182k

Note that the energy figrues for the bigger ships would be much higher
if they were able to turn as fast as the fighter.

Even if the maneuver drive necessary to impart this energy and the
structural reinforcement necessary to take the acceleration in varying
directions is ignored, the energy output will obviously limit the
maneuverability (agility) of large ships.  Particularly since the
fighter can afford to burn all its fuel in a couple of hours and refuel,
while the ships of the line need to be able to hold out for a while.

There is a drastic need to put an agility fix in the rules.

Sorry about the length of this, but this topic has been bothering me for
a while now.

Matt McL

	"Submariners do it deeper!" ;-)

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

From: Bob Simpson <simpson@netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 16:17:56 -0700
Subject: Re: Adventure Creation 

"How do you get the ideas for plot developments in your game?"

I was asked this once by a player and absolutely horrified him with my
response.  I told him that, every week, a book full of plot ideas was
dropped on my doorstep.

Going to the television, I picked up the program listing and proceeded
to read the "one line" synopsis of movies playing that week.  After
finding one that "felt right" I proceeded to warp the description by
substituting characters and events in the game for the stars and
elements of the movie.

For example, for the Superhero game I was running at the time:
    STAR WARS: Old wise man tells young farmer he is heir of fallen
    hero.  The boy joins the rebellion and helps beautiful rebel
    princess attack overwhelming Imperial battle-station.

    Hmmm... Let's start with the "new weapon" for the bad guys.
    Maybe someone discovers Soulweaver's old base on the moon.
    Someone that knows enough to use what they find, but not
    enought to be to subtle.  Sounds like a job for Ravenwing. Now
    we need a "fallen hero," preferably one connected to the
    Liberty (the PC hero group) that has "gone bad," since *we*
    know what happened to the fallen hero in STAR WARS.  How about
    this "Lion" guy from the Rhodesian Super-SWAT team?.  Oops, no,
    he's dead.  Hmmm...  Double Hmmm... even better.  We can turn
    the "father of farm boy" into "mentor of young super" and make
    Thunderbird (PC and member of Liberty, ex-member of the
    Rhodesian Super-SWAT team) central to this plot.  We need
    someone to find out about Ravenwing and bring the information
    to Liberty.  Perhaps a daughter or grand-daughter of one of the
    Rhodesians.  Ur... Teufulhund (Note: Need to look up "Devil
    Dog" in German or whatever it is they speak in South Africa) a
    beautiful young girl that knows of Thunderbird.

    OK, how's this.  Ravenwing and Co. find Soulweaver's lair on
    the Moon.  They discover something that makes them Too Powerful
    and they start trouncing their enemies, possibly including
    Liberty.  (Scenario #1:  Ravenwing attacks) Teufulhund brings
    information about the source of Ravenwing's new abilities to
    our heroes, perhaps Ravenwing is "mopping up" her mother's
    super-team and she comes to Thunderbird for help.  I wonder
    what TBird's wife will say, not only about the beautiful young
    girl that has attached herself to TBird, but about his
    ..unseemly..  past?  (Scenario #2: Ugly past and Untimely
    Angst)  Eventually, our heroes will contact enough folks and
    dig up enough Power or Subtlety to confront Ravenwing.
    (Scenario #3 & #4: Figuring out what is going on and beating up
    the bad guys.) Sometime during these last two, Liberty
    discovers that Ravenwing is being helped by Daedalus, the
    Master Planner, who is actually TBird's old leader, Lion. (The
    rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.) Oh! The
    Horror! :-)

There is at least six sessions (six to eight weeks) of gaming in this,
and all the gross plotting was just done off the top of my head, and
took about fifteen minutes.  Do one more, weave the plots around each
other, and you have almost six months of general plot line ready.

While this is a superhero scenario, I could have just as easily started
with any other movie in the book and warped the story elements into a
science fiction game.  I've done it before, and you can too.  And it
Really, Really works... :-)

Hope this helps...
- --
Bob Simpson <simpson@netcom.com>
       ------------------------------------------------------------------
       | [Modern Education] has produced a vast population able to read |
       | but unable to distinguish what is worth reading, an easy prey  |
       | to sensations and cheap appeals. -- G. M. Trevelyan (1942)     |
        -----------------------------------------------------------------

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

From: Larry Hadley <lhadley@knet.flemingc.on.ca>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 20:03:36 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Nuclear Airplane

On Thu, 25 Jul 1996, Eris Reddoch wrote:

> On 07/25/96 at 07:08 PM,  "David J. Golden" <goldendj@usa.net> said:
> 
> >>Don't forget the NUCLEAR airplane!
> 
> >        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 ... 
> 
> Not the same kind of thing, David.  The airplane prototype was to be a prop,
> I think.  The reactor would have produced electricity to turn the props.  I
> don't think there was any radioactive exhaust involved in the airplane
> project.

   The nuke aircraft (that DID in fact fly) was a simple heat-exchanger
that operated much the same as the heat cycle in a normal jet engine.

   It had problems with radioactive *parts* and some mishaps resulting in
radioactive debris being scattered across the American midwest.
Fortunately, most was over military reserves.

   The reactor and it's radioactive parts are still buried at a base
somehwere.

   I saw this on A&E.

- -- DLH "Warhammer"                           lhadley@knet.flemingc.on.ca
   Traveller stuff for sale/trade.
   http://www.knet.flemingc.on.ca/~lhadley/Profile.html

"...I do my job the best way I know. I'll keep on doing that. If somebody
gets killed, OK. Nobody lives forever, and I don't have any friends on the
other end of the muzzle"
  - Danny Pritchard



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

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 20:48:05 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: Adventure Creation

On Thu, 25 Jul 1996, William F. Hostman wrote:

> Methods I use include: Reworking Biblical Stories (Quite amusing, one of my
> players had his character change name to Job).

Hmmm.  I hadn't thought of that one.  


> The other method (for occasional use only) that I really like is to drop
> them on a world, and let them do shoppy-store for a good long while, while
> using the random encounter rules. Damn near killed three PC's during a
> robbery of a jewelery store they were in.
> 
> Let your random encounters occur in situ; don't have the characters
> encounter the npcs, have the NPC's come to the PC's. You wind up with some
> really bizzare stuff (like 3d6 thugs encountered during a banquet at a
> dukal palace...)
[further description of random encounter system deleted]

I have found random encounters to be good spurs to the imagination.  As 
you mentioned, coming up with the reason for such bizarre-seeming 
encounters as 6 thugs in a palace can be interesting and fun.

Still, I don't do the randomized encounters very often.  Just when I'm 
stuck for an idea.


- -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: Paul Walker <tiger@datasync.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 22:03:50 -0500
Subject: ID4 SPOILER WARNING!!

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ID4!!!!

*       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *  

I thought you might enjoy this.  A friend sent it to me and I thought it was
pretty good.


>      40 Things I Learned From ID4 That I Never Knew Before.
>    
>
>      While viewing the film Independence Day, it became apparent that I 
>was remarkably uninformed about several things related to Area 51, 
>aliens, military operations, and America in general. Below is a  quick list
>of a few important things I learned from the film that I  never knew
>before, and a few lessons that were inferred from the  plot. I wish to
>thank the creators of ID4 for making these facts  much clearer to me.
>     
>   1.Aliens like to blow up significant land marks first. Apparently  the best
>way to destroy a city is to position your "Death Ray" over  the most
>recognizable building.
>      2.All pro-UFO people are morons who dance atop the building 
>directly under the Death Ray.
>      3.If alien "Destroyers" come to your city to blast it into  oblivion,
leave
>BEFORE they fire the Death Ray.
>      4.If alien "Destroyers" come to your city to blast it into oblivion  and
>you are caught in traffic at the last minute, make sure that  you are
>traveling with a dog and a small child. The Law of Averages  says you'll
>survive the Death Ray.
>      5.If alien "Destroyers" come to your city to blast it into oblivion  and
>you are caught in traffic at the last minute, make sure that  you are NOT a
>raspy-voiced homosexual cable TV executive. The Law  of Averages
>says you'll get waxed by the Death Ray.
>      6.Stripping is a lucrative profession that allows one to "Pay the
bills,"
>"take care of one's boy," and own a nice house in a middle  class
>subdivision.
>      7.Strippers got moxie. When the going gets tough, they can drive 
>California Highway Department utility vehicles, collect refugees and  use
>their extensive survival skills to provide food and comfort to  survivors.
>      8.NASA sends out rejection letters, just like Harvard.
>      9.Area 51 is an "Assault Base".
>      10.A fleet of RVs can travel across the Nevada Test Site in 
>line-abreast formation without the need of roads, thanks to the  immense
>expanses of Salt Flats and the lack of impeding mountains.
>      11.Area 51 has a big chain-link fence around it, and the guards at 
>the gate wear black combat fatigues with white metal helmets in 120 
>degree heat.
>      12.Any bonehead with an RV can get to Area 51 by driving across
>the  Salt Flat to the gate and flashing a captured alien to the guard.
>      13.Standard operating procedure for the Air Force is to cluster all
> vehicles, aircraft, and ground personnel on a 200 meter section of
>tarmac in the middle of an Alien Invasion.
>      14.The F-18 is the sole fighter in use by all branches of the  service,
>including Marines and Air Force.
>      15.From the assault scenes on the Alien "Destroyers', it appears  that
>the F-18 must have had a 10,000 unit production run.
>      16.Both F-18s and B-2s must close to within 10 km of a target 20 km 
>across before engaging with both air-to-air missiles and aerial  launched
>nuclear cruise missiles.
>      17.People too drunk to walk can still fly crop dusters and F-18s.
>      18.Any bonehead with rudimentary aviation experience can be
>taught  to pilot an F-18 in 5 hours.
>      19.Any bonehead with F-18 flight experience can learn to pilot an 
>Alien fighter in 5 minutes.
>      20.Aliens with anatomy that includes tentacles and clawed feet use 
>flight yokes just like ours.
>      21.Aliens are wimps, even the ones in "Bio-Mechanical" armor. They 
>have glass jaws and can be taken out with a punch by Will Smith.  (He
>has had a lot of practice on photographers, though.)
>      22.Aliens are stupid. When one of their fighters approaches the 
>carrier, they don't bother to communicate with the pilot.
>      23.Aliens are even more stupid. They pursue their targets into 
>canyons walls and closing blast doors.
>      24.Aliens are unbelievably stupid. While unarmed and unarmored, 
>they do things to piss off people with hand guns.
>      25.Aliens are just too stupid for words to express. An alien air 
>traffic controller can look at a fighter that has been  human-modified for
>20 minutes and is only 50 feet away and not  notice the welded-on
>missile rack until the missile is fired  through his work station.
>      26.Aliens are remarkably inarticulate. All they can say is,  "Release
>me," "No peace," and "Die!"
>      27.If you're President and your administration is faltering, an  Alien
>Invasion might be a good way to boost your ratings in the  polls.
>      28.If you're President and your administration is faltering, manage  to
>work into every other sentence the fact that you "flew in the  Persian
>Gulf." No need to specify what branch of service.
>      29.If you're President and your administration is faltering and an 
>Alien Invasion occurs, relocate the V.P., the Cabinet, and the  Joint
>Chiefs to one centralized location so that the Aliens can  take them all out
>with one shot. You can always blame the problems  of the past on them
>after victory is achieved.
>      30.The President's Press secretary keeps her cell phone listed in  the
>phone book "in case of emergencies."
>      31.If your father abandons his Jewish beliefs after the death of  your
>mother, always carry around a Torah and a Yarmulke. Aliens  might
>attack and offer him a chance to renew his faith.
>      32.If aliens abduct you and effectively destroy your life by making 
>you the laughing stock of the community, never fear. When their 
>"Destroyers" come, you will be vindicated to those who mocked your 
>tale.
>      33.If aliens abduct you and do unspeakable things to you, you can 
>have revenge upon them by flying an F-18 into their Death Ray.
>      34.If aliens abduct you and do unspeakable things to you and you 
>have revenge upon them by flying an F-18 into their Death Ray, you  will
>obtain redemption and your children will be proud of you.
>      35.The best way to win back a former wife is to be very annoying, 
>look perpetually vexed, and keep wearing your wedding ring for 4  years
>after the divorce.
>      36.In 10 hours, one man with a Macintosh Laptop can code a virus in 
>C++ that will take down a completely alien computer system.
>      37.Even though the Mac isn't compatible with most other Earthly 
>operating systems, it can interface with an alien computer.
>      38.Alien network security is nonexistent.
>      39.Rather than attacking a planet when they first encounter it (i.e., 
>1940s), aliens wait until the planet has developed just enough 
>technology to possibly defend itself.
>      40.Scientists at Area 51 are a bit touched in the head, and "Don't  get
>out much."
>
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Hope you enjoyed that!

YOU CAN NOW START READING AGAIN!!!!   THANK YOU!!!!


Paul  {tiger}


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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #292
**********************************

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