TRAVELLER Digest 568

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Re: TNE vs. CT/MT by "David J. Golden" <goldendj@csn.net>
  2) RE: Cultural warfare, Revolutionary war, etc. by "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
  3) Re: Starship Production Times, Liberty Ships et al. by merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
  4) Re: TNE vs. CT/MT by "David J. Golden" <goldendj@csn.net>
  5) Re: TNE vs. CT/MT by Rob Miracle <rwm@MPGN.COM>
  6) Vampire NPC: The LS Michael Crichton part 1: The Rebellion years by "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
  7) Vampire NPC: The LS Michael Crichton part 2: The New Era by "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
  8) Keeping Track... by Christopher_Griffen_at_DMC-SJ3@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
  9) Vampire NPC: The LS Michael Crichton part 3: Biowar tables by "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>

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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 10:52:51 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@csn.net>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TNE vs. CT/MT
Message-ID: <1.5.4b11.32.19960126165251.006ee690@lynx.csn.net>

At 02:20 pm 1/25/96 -0500, Charles Collin wrote:
>In the last Traveller Digest, Dave Golden said:
>
>>>>>>>>>
>        I also wanted to make the (possibly biased) observation that people
>seem to be somewhat evenly distributed between the "Return to MT/CT" and the
>"Tweak TNE" rules camps. I think the TNE folks have a slight edge,
>especially since the return camp seems to also have a division among itself
>of "Update" and "Force the heretics to return to the One True Faith" ...
>Anybody been keeping closer track?
><<<<<<<<
>
>I haven't been keeping closer track, but are you forgetting the
>people on the xboat list?

        No, my "gut feeling" was based on both. Since I was receiving
everything as individual messages until a few days ago, I didn't even notice
which list a message came from. Unfortunately, work's been sapping my time
and energy, so I had to drop off the XBOAT to cut down on the size of my
mailbox.

>I think a wide majority of them are in the
>"return" camp.  Also, consider that the "Tweak TNE" people have more of an
>axe to grind as Marc Miller seems to be leaning towards a return to CT/MT.
>This is likely to make the anti-YARS forces more vocal.

        Could be ... I've been pretty vocal about it!


>Also, I haven't noticed the "One true faith" faction (though I've
>only been skimming the debate lately, so I may have missed them).  If they
>exist, I think they are a fringe element which should be suppressed lest
>they screw things up for everyone...

        The only one I specifically recall was a message that said
(basically) "reprint CT/MT and force everybody to buy it" which really
ticked me off

>
>__________________________________________________________________
>TRAVELLER NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN:
>Radicals Disrupt Yorbundi Parliament.
>
>Yorbund/Spinward Marches.
>
>A small group of radicals calling themselves the "Converts of
>Tradition" succeeded in disrupting talks between the "Moderate
>Traditionalists" and proponents of "The Next Evolution" party today.
>Yorbund's conservative and liberal parties were meeting to try to come to
>an agreement regarding president Marok Mylar's "Yorbundi Advanced Reform
>Strategem", a bill he proposed to parliament in an attempt to revive the
>flagging economy of the planet.
>
>The devout CT supporters flooded the parliament building,
>waving placards and shouting "Return to the one true faith!".  Diplomats
>from the MT and TNE parties were unable to quiet them long enough to get
>discussions under way.  Said one spokesperson for MT "I want to make it
>clear that these are simply a radical fringe element, they do not
>represent the position of my party."
>
>The debate over Mylar's YARS paper has been raging ever since he
>proposed it a month ago.  While the parties bicker, Yorbund's economy
>remains in a state of depression...
>_________________________

        Laughed out loud! Great article ...

>
>There you go Dave, just thought I'd add my biased view to your own :-)
>

        Guilty as charged ... we'll just have to wait and see what "Marok
Mylar" decides to do with all the input he's been getting.
 ___________________________________________________________________
  Dave Golden                              PGP Public Key available
  goldendj@whip.com
  http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/index.html -- Last updated 24 Jan 96

 "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


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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 11:09:56 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: RE: Cultural warfare, Revolutionary war, etc.
Message-ID: <1E0E9B169AB@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

Christopher Beattie <chrisb@MPGN.COM> sez,

>But I think this is different from the Vilani Terran problem.
>I think a better example that can be used is the American
>Revolution.  The Brittish, using traditional European rules of combat
>could not easily handle the American Colonial style of warfare which
>eventually evolved into gurella warfare.  They departed from the
>expected norms and the enemy was confused.

Two objections, here. First, the Brits had LOTS of experience with
that kind of warfare, and very recently, too; the French and Indian
wars, fought 1754-63. They won that one, despite the 'dirty' way the
French and their indian allies fought. Second, and far more
important, the Revolutionary war was, in the main, fought by European
rules...large set-piece battles.  There was a lot of guerilla style
fighting at the beginning, and on the frontiers (witness Etan Allen's
Green Mountain Boys), but believe me, the war was won on European
rules...that's why Lafayette, Pulaski, et. al. saved our butts...they brought
the experience, and money to afford a continental style army.  That's what
beat the Brits, not any patriots hiding behind trees with their
squirrel guns. Those patriots got us through some hard times, to be
sure, and were an important part of the war, but it was the
Continental Army that brought Cornwallis to bay.

Even in the classic guerilla style warfare of today, such as the
Vietnam war, the true guerilla forces didn't win the battle.  In that
case, the Viet Cong were largely destroyed during the Tet Offensive
of '69; the people who won the war were the NVA. They used some
low-tech guerilla style tactics, but were much more a regular army
with armor, artillery, etc.

But, I agree, the Vilani were beaten by their inability to adapt,
both culturally and technologically.

And, on an unrelated note, the Victory Ships of WWII should hardly
be held up as examples of how to build things...they did do some
amazinly innovative things, and changed the ship construction
business fundamentally, but a distressing number of them also simply
sank of their own accord.  I would look to things like aircraft
carrier or oil tanker construction as a better model of starship
construction than 747's, personally.


Bruce Johnson
Information Technology/College of Pharmacy
The University of Arizona
johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu


As if this place HAD any opinions...

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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 11:15:43 -0700 (MST)
From: merrick@Rt66.com (Merrick Burkhardt)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: Starship Production Times, Liberty Ships et al.
Message-ID: <9601261815.AA02983@Rt66.com>

Regarding ship construction times...

I see Phillips point, but I think that there is a bit of a difference
here.  Just how many ships of a given type are there?  I always assumed
that many ships are built from standard designs, but that doesn't mean
the shipyard is cranking them out at one a day... they might never have
built one of this type, but at least the plans are around and known to
work well.

On high pop, high tech worlds, I'd expect much higher rates of
production, though (I basically agree with you).  To follow the
production line idea; you need to have the next part to be put in
already made when the ship gets to that step.  What if you don't make
that part at your yard?  What if it comes from another system?  Any
production delays, plus jump time...

I would think that something like a Rampart, or a heavy fighter, I'd
expect some centralized manufacture.  Then I'd see many units a day
being made.  One concept would be to say that "standard" designs are
actually made in fewer yards.  Then they are dropped off like cars by a
bulk carrier.  Then production time would be nil :-)  "Sure, I'd rather
have the red, but if all you've got is silver... I'll just fly it off if
you'll knock 0.5MCr off the top."

But I guess the real issue is custom built ships.  I would say if the
yard has a warm production line on a given type, the time should be damn
short, otherwise having it take several months doesn't bother me at all.
Even with very high TL prodution techniques, custom designs might take a
while for a number of reasons...

1.  Jump drives (grids, coils, whatever) might need to be ordered from a
Jdrive manufacturer.  I mean if the drive isn't a straight plug in model
(a la Book 2) the drive, jump grid, etc. have to be custom made for the
ship.  I always treated Lanthinum of Jdrive purity kinda like dilithium
in ST, or spice in Dune.  It's *the* basic requirement for an
interstellar society, and it is rare enough that the
refinement/manufacture of Jdrives might not happen even at every A
starport.

2.  Testing.  Mentioned in another post.  Takes 2 weeks assuming no
problems.  Any problem requires another 2 weeks (jump out, jump back).

3.  Tool up.  This would be shorter and shorter at higher TLs, due to
factor Phillip mentioned.

I'm sure there's more.  Just a few credits worth.

-Merrick

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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 11:52:19 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@csn.net>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TNE vs. CT/MT
Message-ID: <1.5.4b11.32.19960126175219.006e567c@lynx.csn.net>

At 03:12 pm 1/25/96 -0500, Rob Miracle wrote:
>I have played Traveller from the days where there was just the three little
>books.  I have been through the peaks and valleys of this game.  The day

        Me too. Mine are in rather sad shape by now ...


>If I were going to take over, here is what I would do.  I would take the CT
>rules and republish them with the art, and Traveller TL advances of the MT era.

        Can't we get a reasonable medium between the '70s Traveller rules
and modern rules? I really like the newer stuff much better, but I agree
that simplifying it a bit could be a Good Thing ((TM) by Merrick Burkhardt,
I think).

>Combat has been a pain in the but since Snap Shot and Mayday to the point
>that I either avoid combat or generalize it.

        Different folks, different strokes ... I _liked_ the new rules the
one time I reffed ... and my players had no trouble learning them _while_
the firefight was going on.

>Frankly I liked the days where
>I made a chart of weapons vs armor and if a player had an ACR shooting DS
>rounds vs Cloth, I just looked it up on the card, found the to-hit roll, let
>them roll the dice, if they hit they did damage.  There was none of this
>number of dice of penetration trash to use.  Roll to Hit, Roll to Damage,
>Dead or Alive.  Simple.

        But this is _exactly_ one of the things I always had problems with
in D&D, and in CT when I dropped D&D in favor of Traveller. My chances of
hitting a man-sized object have absolutely nothing to do with what covers
that object. Once I have hit it, however, the damage will depend on that
covering. As a player, I always want to know whether I hit or not SEPARATE
from whether I did damage. In fact, I shouldn't really know how much damage,
if any, I did, other than by how my target reacts. And as a ref I've played
it that way: the player rolled to see if he hit the target, but I took care
of penetration and damage -- " ... He staggers a bit backwards, then drops
down behind a dumpster" is about all the player was told. Maybe I told him
if he saw blood or not, depending on how severe the damage actually was, and
where.

         And I like the idea of doing impact trauma even if I don't
penetrate. I understand a bullet will leave quite an impressive bruise
through a kevlar vest, for example. To me, the penetration is PART of the
Roll to Damage.

>Computers have to come back the way they were in CT.  Many adventures were
>built around getting the "Jump Tape" to get from here to there.  It also
>kept ship combat and construction simple as well.

        Disagree, and many other people seem to disagree as well. The
biggest complaint about computers I've seen is how "non-advanced" they are.
The very idea of a jump tape is anathema.

        As for keeping construction simple ... don't forget the gear-heads.
Check out the suggestions everybody's made for a NonGearHead (NGH)
plug-n-chug design system along the lines of Book 2/High Guard which is a
compatible subset of Fire, Fusion and Steel II. I've consolidated _my_
perception into two pages:

        http://www2.csn.net/~goldenj/traveller/T4Letter.html
                A letter to MM about how I'd like to see Traveller 4 ...
about halfway down the page is a discussion of FF&S2 and FF&S2 Lite (NGH)

        http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/traveller/DesignNotes.html
                Possible organization for NGH

        I see the NGH system being the one in the basic set (book 2, of
course), while the full-up FF&S2 would be a supplement.

>Side bars and
>stories are a waste in a rule book.  Put them in your magazine, or in your
>adventures, but don't include them in the rules.  Character Generation,
>World or Ship Generation should start on page n, and go step by step to page
>n+x.  None of this do a couple of steps, jump ahead a section to look up
>details, now come back stuff.

        Conservative use of side bars can really flesh out the rules, but I
agree. MT, and to a greater degree TNE, showed way too much "flash." And I
would like a better layout for accomplishing things, putting everything you
need for a particular task in one place.

        Another thing ... Brilliant Lances did a great job with those
reference cards for combat, putting a step-by-step chart and all the needed
procedures on a single sheet. Do that for combat.


>Rob (yearning for a real Traveller campaign that I'm not refing)

        Depends on how you define "real Traveller," but I'm kinda' yearning too!
 ___________________________________________________________________
  Dave Golden                              PGP Public Key available
  goldendj@whip.com
  http://www2.csn.net/~goldendj/index.html -- Last updated 24 Jan 96

 "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


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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 14:36:17 -0500
From: Rob Miracle <rwm@MPGN.COM>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Re: TNE vs. CT/MT
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960126193617.0071f870@TanSoft.com>

At 01:49 PM 1/26/96 -0500, you wrote:
>At 03:12 pm 1/25/96 -0500, Rob Miracle wrote:
>>Combat has been a pain in the but since Snap Shot and Mayday to the point
>>that I either avoid combat or generalize it.

[Discussion Pro-Details deleted]

>         And I like the idea of doing impact trauma even if I don't
>penetrate. I understand a bullet will leave quite an impressive bruise
>through a kevlar vest, for example. To me, the penetration is PART of the
>Roll to Damage.

There are a lot of people who like realistic systems, and that is fine.  A
lot of people like Rol(l)eMaster.  However, I don't like games where it
takes more real time to resolve a combat round than it actually consumes in
game time.  A 1 minute AD&D combat round can be resolved in a few seconds
per person.  A 1 second combat round in GURPS can take 30-60 seconds to
resolve.  In CT the 6 second combat rounds could be resolved individually in
about that amount of time.  The 5 second TNE combat rounds take about 20-30
seconds to resolve.  Its kinda like driving down the road and wanting to
drive at least 60 MPH (1 mile per minute) any less and I feel inefficient.

>>Computers have to come back the way they were in CT.  Many adventures were
>>built around getting the "Jump Tape" to get from here to there.  It also
>>kept ship combat and construction simple as well.
>
>        Disagree, and many other people seem to disagree as well. The
>biggest complaint about computers I've seen is how "non-advanced" they are.
>The very idea of a jump tape is anathema.

This one I am a bit flexable with.  I personally didn't care much for the
software system of old, but many of my players have really said they liked
that aspect of the game.  I suspect that it is mostly due to the fact that
they are AD&D players mostly and they need the "treasure" rewards for the
game to be fulfilling.  They saw these jump-tapes as something that could be
bartered and were kinda rare.  It that part I like.  The parallels to real
computing are horrid, and admittedly, I kinda like saying your ship has a
computer with the software to get it going.  Having a computer that is more
Star Trek'ish like is also a bit appealing.

>        As for keeping construction simple ... don't forget the gear-heads.
>Check out the suggestions everybody's made for a NonGearHead (NGH)
>plug-n-chug design system along the lines of Book 2/High Guard which is a
>compatible subset of Fire, Fusion and Steel II. I've consolidated _my_
>perception into two pages:

GH's or NGH's doesnt matter, but if the publisher publishes standard
materials, such as supplements and adventures that uses GearHead statictics,
then the NGH's are hosed.  Having the ability to set and play for hours
alone with FFS is cool (assuming of course that it was organized well and
usable).  I consider myself a reasonably bright person, and I have never
gotten a successful vehical built with FFS.  I built several vehical with
MT.  The system was at least understandable, but it took too long.  Time is
a precious comodity.  If I need a special starship for an adventure, I would
rather spend the time on the deck plans and stocking it with "monsters and
treasure" than figuring out if the theoretical reaction mass of the
thrusters would be sufficient to permit navigation while leaving excess
power to assure that the anti-grav plates would remain functional while
having a hard enought hull to reject space debris.

Sorry, give me a 200 ton hull, the engines that go J2 2G and let me get busy
drawing....

Finding the proper mix between reality and playability is a rough thing for
a game developer to find.  I don't consider TNE playable.  MT was pushing
the threshold a bit more than I liked.  With TNE I purposly avoided space
combat and the few times I couldn't avoid it, I abstracted it out of the
players control.  I was not about to waste a good 30 minutes or more of the
session getting out Brilliant Lances, setting up the game board, filling out
forms and stuff for something that frankly should take no more than 5
minutes to deal with.

The players that I ref and game under are Role players.  We are concerned
with the story and playing the game.  We arn't concerned with real-world
physics.  We have to deal with enough of that during our Real lives.  Even
in our Real Lives we don't want to think of a lot of these problems as well.
I don't care what the hull strength of my mini-van is, or the excess power
produced from the alternator.  Does it get me from here to there and haul
what I need hauled.  What are my expenses in operating it, lets go.  I don't
care what the foot-pound power of the shell, and the arc factor's of a
handgun that I am buying.  Will it defend me, and when I shoot that terrible
four footed drool dog, will it no longer bother me.

I want a game where the publisher is going to spend their creative energies
providing a way cool place to adventure and not get caught in the
micro-management of everyday items.  Lets see more background supplements on
NPCs and planets.  Things like the RICE papers done here are increadble
examples of what I would like to see in Traveller.  My group is going to
Efate, what can I as a DM describe to them is there.

I don't want to say "You are in Efate.  Its a world.  You cross the path of
someone who doesn't like you.  A fight breaks out, you pull out your TL15
Advanced Combat Rifle with APFSDSDU rounds and fire a burst of three rounds.
Lets see, the first hits his kevlar vest and 890 foot/pounds of force are
lost, leaving 280 foot/pounds.  This causes a grade three nural damage to an
area 13 cm around the impact area.  This causes a small trickle of blood to
emminate from his mouth as he collapses to the ground.

Its better (IMO) to say "You have travelled to Efate.  Its a world under
policial seige by the Jhymkara Rebals.  They spot you leaving the starport,
and mistake your starburst symbol for a faction of the Church of the One
True Way, and begin a fight.  You pull out your ACR with APFSDSDU rounds and
fire.  You dropped a rebal and now can escape.

Any way, enough rambling, and I will quietly go back to monitor mode.

Rob
--
Rob Miracle (rwm@TanSoft.com)| GCS d-->--- !H s:++ !g !p au+ a34 w+ !v C++>++++
Tantalus Inc.  Key West, FL  | UU++++$ P--- L+ 3 E--- N+++ K-  W+ M-- V-- -po+
"You have a problem?  I have | Y-- t++ 5>++ jx R+++ G'''' tv+++ b D B- e++ u**
a plan!" -- Anton Devious    | h---- f r+++ n---- y++++


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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 13:23:46 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Vampire NPC: The LS Michael Crichton part 1: The Rebellion years
Message-ID: <1E324B24262@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

This ones been percolating on my disk since last December, when I
posted some BioWarfare rules.

Part 1 concerns the LS Crichton before infection.
Part 2 is a description of the Virus(es) that control the Crichton
now ca. 1200
Part 3 is a repost of the Biowarfare agent tables I made up.

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

 LS Michael Crichton   A contract biowarfare research facility.

The LS Crichton was a specialized ship, heavily modified from a
Kashuggin class modular freighter (large, streamlined,with modules
attatched, Jump 4 ca 50-60,000 tons, someone else can try doing the
complete design ).  The Crichton was designed to
be a self-contained biowarfare lab ship, one that covered all aspects,
from design and construction of the agents, to culturing to field-test
levels, to field testing and evaluation of the agents.  There a many
confirmed reports of biological weapons being used during the
Rebellion, and the Crichton was actually deployed several years prior
to the rebellion, and was originally used as an epidemic response
facility, not biowarfare; that use came after the start of the
Rebellion.

 The ship consisted of four, self contained 10 kton modules in
 addition to the freighter's functional backbone. Each module has it's
 own TL 15 computer system, life support, power, laboratory and crew
 quarters. Actual crew requirements were minimal, since, as a safety
 feature, each lab system was heavily roboticized.  All manipulations
 of any agents took place in physically isolated sections of the lab
 modules, under either robotic or remote contol by the human crew.
 Three of the four modules were synthesis, diagnosis and production
 (SDP) facilities, the fourth was a survey and field testing (FT)
 unit.

Each of the three SP units was specialized to one of three main
targets of the agents: Sophont, plant and animal agents. in this
fashion the peculiar environmental and test subjects required for all
three fields of research did not share any facilities, reducing
cross-contamination risks.

Field testing ready agents were sealed into uniform delivery
canisters, and transported through decontamination airlocks to the
FT unit.  The agents were then to be delivered to the target site,
and monitored via remote control sensor platforms and orbital
reconnaisance.

The sensor suites, however, are very good, and cover a wide range of
data types.  The remote sensor platforms were equipped with sampling
devices and modified security robots that could recover just about
anything from a bacterium to a large domestic animal.  If necessary
the FT unit also had light battledress with full CBW protection for
the use of researchers if necessary. Vaccsuits with full CBW
capabilities were avaliable in the SDP modules in case of an
emergency.

The Crichton itself was rather heavily armed, with 4x4X4 systems (4
laser batteries, 4 missile batteries, and 4 sandcaster batteries,
each battery consisting of 4 weapons each) a common Solomani
merchant heavy defense package. The Crichton was also modified to perform
orbital bombing of planetary sites...this was to be done with nuclear
weapons, and was intended to sterilize the site of infection if
desired. When this story started it had 25 such weapons on board.

The Solomani corporation that owned the Crichton was ElsenGen
Biologicals, ostensibly a pharmeceutical R&D corporation based on
Fornorb, an industrial center in the Magyar sector . ElseGen had
gotten covert Solomani Defense contracts to do research into
biowarfare weapons and defenses; they were given the SS Greenhope,
which was a Kashuggin class modular freighter converted to a
epidemic response hopsital ship.  ElseGen refit the Greenhope
extensively, and renamed it the LS Michael Crichton, after a late XXth
Century Terran writer who wrote a novel about an extraterrestrial
plague.

Somehow, publicity got out that the true purpose of the Crichton and
the programs funding it were to develop offensive weapons.
Solomani High Command got cold feet regarding the use of biowarfare
weapons and shut down the ElseGen projects. The ElseGen Corporation
itself was discredited badly; the stock plummeted to nothing, and
the corporation was dissolved.  The executive officers of ElseGen
were arrested by Fornorb authorities, and convicted and executed on
charges of terrorism. A core group of ElseGen technicians and
scientists, enraged at the Solomani Confederation's desertion of
them, stole the Crichton, and vanished into the Dark Nebula sector.

A year later a ship jumped into the Fornorb system, with a very high
speed entry vector for Fornorb, and after a brief battle, destroyed
the SDB that attempted to intercept it.  The mystery ship made no
attempt to stop at Fornorb, but dropped a number of what appeared to
be small self-guided re-entry submunitions. They all apparently
burned or broke up in the upper atmosphere.

Soon, however, the sickness started. A new, multi-drug resistant
disease appeared, apparently simultaneously, in all areas of the
planet. The disease had a rapid course, producing death in 7 to 10
days in over 95% of the cases, and was rapidly spread via airborne
contact.  Millions died in the first month, and the Confederation
had to quarantine the planet, and watch helplessly as the formerly
high poulation planet dwindled to a few thousand survivors. SolSec
analysis of  remaining sensor and 'black-box' data from the wreckage of
the SDB showed that the mystery ship seemed to be of Aslan design,
with no identifiable clan or other markings.

One of the submunitions failed to re-enter the atmosphere, and
months after the outbreak of the plague, a recovery team captured it
before the orbit decayed. The provenance of the submunition was
unmistakable; it was Solomani in design, and in fact, bore a lot
number corresponding to one issued to ElseGen for testing purposes.
It contained a previously unknown virus in aerosol dispersal
containers. Analysis of the virus showed that it was the one causing
the plague.  This enabled a vaccine to be rapidly developed, which
brought the disease under control on Fornorb.

Solomani reaction to this was muted, for they couldn't very well
castigate the Aslan publically for using biowarfare without Solomani
involvement in ElseGen coming out.  Privately, the Hierate
Intelligence service also examined the evidence and were also unable
to positively identify the ship involved.  The Hierate, however,
reassured the Confederation on the honor of the Hierate that they
were not actively engaged in biowarfare against the Confederation.

In any case, the Critchton was never seen in Confederation space again.

Fragmentary reports out of Aslan Hierate space indicate that the
ship travelled through the Dark Nebula sector hiring out services to
ihatei leaders invading Imperial space in the Trojan Reach and
Spinward Marches sectors.  There is sketchy evidence that the
Critchton was behind 'designer' plagues in several sectors during the
end stages of the Rebellion 1120-1130, possibly including whatever
caused the disease on Hexos (Spinward Marches 2828) .  The last
confirmed appearance of the Crichton was in Zarushagar in 1126. The
ship was presumed lost in the chaos following the release of Virus.

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

End of Part 1.


Bruce Johnson
Information Technology/College of Pharmacy
The University of Arizona
johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu


As if this place HAD any opinions...

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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 13:30:23 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Vampire NPC: The LS Michael Crichton part 2: The New Era
Message-ID: <1E340D22E6C@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

This is part 2 of the LS. Crichton posting, describing the Virus
strains that have taken over the ship.

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

The Critchton was an unusual ship, in that it had 5 separate TL-15
computer systems.  When it was infected with Virus, 5 separate
personalites emerged: rojan, Lander, Gateway, GreenMom, and Doc.

Trojan eventually became a Empire Builder-Doomslayer hybrid,
controls the ships main systems, including jump drive, weapons, and
fuel collection and purification.

Lander is the computer that controlled the field testing units, and
was damaged during an encounter with a puppeteer strain in 1175.
Control over it's robotic landers is not perfect anymore, and it trusts no
one but Trojan now.

Gateway is a Hobbyist/Empire Builder, it runs the animal agent
module with rather murderous efficiency in support of Trojan's hatred
of living things.

Doc is a Hobbyist/God strain, with a rather twisted sense of humor.
Doc controls the sophont module.  It will make agents for Trojan to
inflict on mostly human populations, but they won't always mesh with
Trojan's plans, since Doc will often decide to experiment with
different effects. Doc, however, has the largest number of self
mobile robots, and it therefore has a stranglehold on Trojan, who is
dependent on Doc's robots for maintenance. There are three human
populations in Zarugashar sector with heritable color changes wrought
by Doc plagues. One is bright orange (from the accumulation of
carotenes from the diet), another has zebra stripes running over
their bodies, and yet another has blue, irridescent spots instead of
body hair.

GreenMom is a withdrawn pure Hobbyist. It is entirely self absorbed
in it's own module, growing different plant things. Trojan once, in
order to coerce GreenMom into supplying a plant plague, shut off
GreenMom's fuel supply. Before the fusion reactor in GreenMom's
sector went entirely dead, large sections of GreenMom's hull were
replaced from within by extremely tough material, transparent to the
wavelengths optimal for photosynthesis.

GreenMom's systems slowly came back to full power, all contacts
with Trojan or the rest of the ship except for a single low speed
communication line were cut off, and the fusion reactor went cold.
Trojan has no recourse but to physically destroy GreenMom, and that
would potentially cause great damage to itself and the other modules.
Since that time, GreenMom has bartered mutated plants and plant
agents with Trojan in return for carbonaceous and metallic asteroid
material. A planet in the Gushemege sector has one of those mutated
plants, a rapidly growing strain of kudzu vine that has wiped out all
other life on three of the four continents of the planet.

Trojan uses agents developed, primarily by Doc and Gateway, to
barter for parts and supplies it needs with other vampires and
fleets. It has also subjugated some human planets with the threat of
plague for needed maintenence. It is quite successful at this;
coupled with the large number of adaptable robots on board, and the
minimal combat damage the Crichton has taken over the intervening
years, means that the ship is in quite good shape.

A true survey of the wilds would show over a hundred diseases and
invasive plants and animals that have been released by the Crichton
and others over the years.  Trojan has convinced three other ships
to join it's fleet; all jump capable warships.

The Crichton is a dangerous and implacable foe; this should never
be a vampire that the PC's beat in battle, but a ghost, or a rumor of
a terrible destroyer of life.  The PC's should encounter it's effects
more often than they ever encounter the ship.

Anyone running such a munchkin campaign that the PC's DO take on the
Crichton and win should be aware that the three SDP modules Doc,
Gateway, and particularly GreenMom, are priceless troves of
biotechnology.

Daring PC's, (along with RCES Peacekeeper allies) could even co-opt
GreenMom, by giving it access to materials, and an environment more
conducive to its obsession. However, never expect anything very
quickly from GreenMom...it runs on plant timeframe. Slow, very slow.

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

Bruce Johnson
Information Technology/College of Pharmacy
The University of Arizona
johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu


As if this place HAD any opinions...

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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 12:50:48 -0800
From: Christopher_Griffen_at_DMC-SJ3@dmcwave.com (Christopher Griffen)
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Keeping Track...
Message-ID: <109403b0@MailXFER.DMCWAVE.COM>

Responding to Charles Collin:

>>      I haven't been keeping closer track, but are you forgetting the
people on the xboat list?  I think a wide majority of them are in the
"return" camp.  Also, consider that the "Tweak TNE" people have more of an
axe to grind as Marc Miller seems to be leaning towards a return to CT/MT.
This is likely to make the anti-YARS forces more vocal. <<

Yes, but don't forget that the xboat list comprises far fewer people.  At least
participation would indicate that.  My byte size alone, your average TML message
outsizes your average XTML message by a rate of about 5-7 to 1.

--Chris

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

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 13:56:42 MST7
From: "Bruce Johnson" <johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: Vampire NPC: The LS Michael Crichton part 3: Biowar tables
Message-ID: <1E3B154671D@tonic.pharm.Arizona.EDU>

I originally posted these waaay back in September, promising to have
the ship description in a couple of days...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's a stab at making biological weapons...these will be rare
events, folks, so don't throw one at your players every week!

Human Biowarfare Agent generation tables.

Agent TypeVector TypeLethality
Die Agent TypeDie VectorDie Death Rate*
1Virus1Aerosol1Total (100%)
2Virus2Aerosol2High (75%)
3Virus3Aerosol3High (50 %)
4Bacteria4Aerosol4Moderate (35%)
5Bacteria5Water Supply5Moderate (25%)
6Bacteria6Water Supply6Low (15%)
7Protozoa7Water Supply7Low (10%)
8Rickettsia8Soil8Very Low (5%)
9Prion9Insect9Very Low (1%)
10Fungus10Animal10Non (0%)

Transmission TypeContagiousness **Systems Affected
Die TypeDie Chance ***Die System
1Airborne1Very Low (1%)1CNS
2Airborne2Low (5%)2CNS
3Airborne3Low (10%)3GI Tract
4Airborne4Low (15%)4GI Tract
5Body Contact5Moderate (25%)5GI Tract
6Body Contact6Moderate (40%)6Syatemic
7Body Fluids7Moderate (50%)7Systemic
8Body Fluids8High (70%)8Lungs
9Insect9High (80%)9Skin
10Insect10Total (100%)10Immune

Incubation TimeAcute Phase timeRecovery Phase time
Die TimeDie TimeDie Time
11 day11 day11 day
21 day21 day21 day
34 days34 days34 days
44 days44 days44 days
54 days54 days54 days
61 week61 week61 week
71 week71 week71 week
81 month81 month81 month
91 month91 month91 month
106 months106 months106 months


Morbidity (1 D10 + Lethality)
Die RollTime
2Minor (still walking)7Major (Need Care)
3Minor (need rest)8Major (Need Care)
4Medium (bed rest)9Major (Need Care)
5Medium (Bedridden)10Extreme (Hospital)
6Medium (Bedridden)11+Extreme (ICU)
Explanations:
Agent Type: What kind of infectious agent this diseased is caused by.
This will affect how these agents are encountered, transmitted, etc.

Vector Type: How the agent is delivered to the target area

Lethality: How many UNTREATED people die from the agent, randomly
spaced through the Acute phase time period.  This can be very
important...a high lethality over a very long acute phase, you get
something like AIDS, over a short acute phase you get something like
Ebola.

Transmission type: Once the agent is introduced into the population
via the vector above, how is the disease transmitted from person to
person.  This will drastically affect the countermeasures taken.

Contagiousness: the chance that someone will contract the
disease...this needs to have some time value associated with it, which
will depend on a lot of external factors. This, as it applies to
player characters will have to be determined by the GM on an ad hoc
basis.

Systems Affected: This is the major organ system affected by the
agent.  This will affect what physical effects, gory details, and
recovery effects there will be.

Incubation Time: The time, after initial infection, the person is
asymptomatic.  However, for many, if not all diseases, the patient is
contagious, though usually to a lesser degree than during acute phase.

Acute Phase time: The time during which the patient has the acute
disease manifestation.  If the patient dies, it will most likely be
during this time, so this is when the patient must save vs lethality,
using the percent generated above.  For player characters, the GM will
probably want to introduce some modification, based on CON, or
medicval skill of other players or NPC's.

Recovery Phase time: This is the time which is required for full
recovery from the illness, barring any optional permanent effects
imposed by the GM.

Morbidity: How sick you actually get during the acute phase.  This is
obviously going to be affected by the lethality...a highly lethal
agent is not going to make you only minorly sick, so it goes from 2-11
by adding the lethality roll.  I truncated this at Extreme (ICU)
because there's not really much higher you can get.

 These tables are a rough draft. All are generated using one D10.  The
 GM is left much to his/her own devices for any lingering effects
 during recovery, and any and all gory details.  Permanent or
 temporary loss of STR, perhaps CON, maybe even INT (Remember those
 horrific 106 degree fevers burn lots of brain cells) are all possible
 effects.  Certainly the character is affected somewhat during the
 recovery process.

 Remember, while TL 15 medicine may be miraculous, most characters,
 and indeed most of the affected populations were not able to avail
 themselves of such care. It wouldn't take much of an pandemic to
 bring the US healthcare system to its knees, and what happens when
 your doctors are among the first to die (they are among the first to
 be exposed...)?

Biological Warfare, some practical points.

 Biological warfare, in general, like chemical warfare, does not seek
 to simply kill as many people as possible.  The ideal agent will not
 only kill, but take long enough to do so that many more people are
 involved in caring for the sick (and risk getting sick themselves).
 The object is to tie up as many enemy personell as possible for the
 longest possible time.  An ideal agent will make people very sick for
 a long time, BUT with a low lethality rate, but high incapacitation
 rate, so you end up with a growing pool of recovering but non combat
 worthy personnel.  This will further strain the resources of your
 enemy, since, if the disease is survivable with sufficient care,
 enemy morale will suffer greatly if the resources for that care
 aren't allocated.

 Tactical uses of BW are also numerous.  If you could cause 60-70% of
 the enemy to come down with a minor, but incapacitating stomach bug
 24 hrs before your assault, you'll be in good shape.

 BW also doesn't require nearly as high tech as nukes, even.  Once the
 basic principles of bacteriology and virology are known (TL 4-5???)
 BW becomes a possibility.  In our history it was used even before
 these principles were known, but I doubt some TED is going to want to
 release a plague without at least being able to protect himself from
 it.

 This system can also be used to generate natural plagues on lower
 tech level worlds.  The PC's could land on Boondock 1, a TL-3 planet,
 during the Black Death, for instance, or a cholera epidemic. They
 could also become big heroes by `miraculously' saving locals.
 However, the higher the TL, the less likely that large epidemics are
 going to occur, due to improved medical care, understanding of the
 disease process, and better sanitation, so if the PC's run into
 something like this on a higher TL world, it will most likely be due
 to a BW agent, either deliberately released, or, ever so much fun for
 those salvage people, accidentally released agents left over from
 rebellion era BW munitions: "Hey Joe! Ever hear of this Model
 6745BW45-5-23-9 105 mm shell? It looks funny, like this little cap
 here..." <snap> <hisssss> "...ooops!"

 Introducing BW into the Trav universe is a little like the endless
 discussion in some circles about throwing big rocks...if it's so
 effective and cheap, why doesn't everyone do it? The same reason it
 isn't done here on Earth...fear of retaliation, and the even greater
 fear of not being able to control it.  Biological weapons can easily
 turn and bite the wielder, even more so than nukes or chemical
 weapons.  After all, nukes and nerve gas doesn't mutate and become
 immune to your carefully hoarded stocks of antibiotics, serums and
 vaccines.

 It will only be used by someone desperate or fanatical enough to not
 care anymore...how often did this happen, in the chaotic waning days
 of the Third Imperium?
Bruce Johnson
Information Technology/College of Pharmacy
The University of Arizona
johnson@tonic.pharm.arizona.edu


As if this place HAD any opinions...

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

End of TRAVELLER Digest 568
***************************
