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From: owner-traveller-digest@mpgn.com (Traveller-digest)
To: traveller-digest@Phaser.ShowCase.MPGN.COM
Subject: Traveller-digest V1996 #724
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Traveller-digest      Friday, December 6 1996      Volume 1996 : Number 724



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

The Grand Adventure 4:  Glynn's Neural Pistol
The Grand Adventure 3:  Glynn Connal
Re: Starships--Got IT! (fwd)
Re: Starships--Got IT! (fwd)
Planetary Society
Strephon
Signed hardcover hits Germany!
Toronto Traveller Game
Review of Starships
Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #723
A suggestion concerning long/complicated messages.
Starship Flight Plans

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 21:47:12 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: The Grand Adventure 4:  Glynn's Neural Pistol

This is Glynn's prized neural pistol.  He obtained it during an 
operation in his black market days.  The weapon is very high tech and 
almost unheard of.  Glynn will not disclose how he obtained the 
weapon, but he's been offered up to a million credits for the weapon 
and turned the offer down.

This weapon includes a multitude of stats for different Traveller 
game systems.  If you are using T4 rules, ignore everything except 
the damage the weapon does and the to hit difficulties (given in a 
table below).  The weapon was originally designed for TNE rules, but 
has since been converted to T4.  The TNE information, like pen 
rating, is included for those still using TNE or house rules based on 
TNE.



TL 16  DARRIAN NEURAL PISTOL v.1

Mj	ROF	Dam (S-M-L-E) 	(W-X-Y-Z)
0.125	SA3	5-4-3-2		1-0-0-0		


Pen Rtg	Bulk	Mag	Short Range		
1-Nil	2	40	40


Atmospheric Adjustments
Vac 	Trace 	VThin 	Thin 	Dense 	Exotic
S-S-S-S	S-S-S-S	S-S-S-M	S-S-M-M	M-L-E-W	W-0-0-0
SR:(40)  	(40)	(40)	(40) 	(25)	(5)


Performance & Statistics		.	
TL: 16	Power Pack Specifications
PP1:	(wt)  0.5kg		
(capacity)	5 Mj

Pulse Discharge Energy	
(shots)	40x0.125Mj	
0.125 Mj single shot	
(cost)	Cr--

Weapon Wt:  2kg		 					Weapon Price:	Cr--		
Weapon Length:  47cm
Weapon Vol:  	0.6 liters

Features				.
Optic sight
Laser sight



DESCRIPTION

An advancement of remote neural activity sensing and psionic helmet
technology, the neural pistol is designed to remotely disrupt brain
activity.  Being hit with a neural gun usually causes unconsciousness,
but can sometimes also produce disorientation, mind assault, or even
death.  Neural weapon fire can be detected at a distance by
individuals with psionic life sense ability.  Psionic shielding
protects the wearer from any of the neural gun's effects.

The weapon produces no sound or recoil but does emit an opaque field
of energy.  Depending on the weather conditions (the moisture in the
air especially), the energy beam it emits will crackle like
electricity.  In a dry, controlled environment, the energy beam will
be nearly invisible (like the shifting wave lengths of light on a
cloaking device) and have no sound.  In a wet environment, like a
planet's atmosphere, the beam is much more noticeable and emits a loud
electric crack and pop.  The beam is a cone starting from the emitter
of the gun spreading to a width of about 10 meters.

The weapon discharges energy from a bulbous emitter at the end of the
gun.  This gets very hot during use and will glow red after successive
uses of the weapon.  The emitter is detachable and will have to be
replaced from time to time.

The power pack is 24cm long and has a belt clip.  It attaches to the
weapon via a power cord, and the pack can be recharged like a laser
pistol.  The heart of the pack is a high efficiency liquid metallic
suspension battery and fast discharge homopolar generator.  The
generator stores electricity in a rapidly spinning flywheel that spins
at a rate of 50,000 rpm.  All of this is contained in small pack that
can be worn on the belt and weighs only .5kg.

Some armor will defeat the effects of a neural gun.  Only the head
protection is pertinent, but helmets with metal or metallic composite
shielding may negate the effects of the gun.  Soft cloth or plastic
(without ablative paint or shielding) composites are considered no
armor with regard to the gun.



COMBAT PROCEDURES

When the neural gun hits, check to see if the weapon penetrates.  Then
take the number of damage dice that penetrates (normal procedure) and
roll on the table below.

Damage Dice Throw Total	Effect on Target	.
 1-2	No damage.  Nausea felt by target.
 3-6	Disorientation of target for 1 combat rd.  (Make this 2 rds if a
 	natural 12 is rolled)
 7-10	Disorientation of target for 1d6 combat rds.  (x2 if natural 12
 	rolled) 
11-14	Target unconscious for several combat rds.  Roll the
 	same number of dice to determine the number of rds.  
	(x2 if natural 12 rolled)
 15-18	Target unconscious for several minutes.  Roll the same number
 	of dice to determine the number of minutes.  
	(x2 if natural 12 rolled)
 19+	Target unconscious for several minutes and receives damage to 
	the head.  Typically, this will cause the target to bleed from the
	eyes, ears, and nose.  Roll the same number of dice to determine
	the number of minutes the target is unconscious.  		
	Roll the same number of dice again to determine damage to 
	the head.  (if a natural 12 was rolled, double both of these rolls) 

Danger Zone--Additional Targets.
Since this weapon fires a cone shaped beam of energy and charged
particles, there is the chance that others close to the target will be
hit as well.  The danger zone begins at medium range and extends to
all targets within 5 meters of the target.  Roll normal to hit against
these targets, but add 1 to the AV when calculating penetration.  Even
if a target was missed, he may feel nausea.  

At long range, the danger zone is increased to 10 meters around the
primary target, but the additional targets' AV are increased by 2.


The following is the weapon's combat charts.  This is my own 
conversion system from TNE to T4.  If a character wants to hit with 
the weapon, all you have to know is the range to the target and the 
atmosphere type.  Simply cross reference these two on the chart 
below, and you will have the difficulty to hit.



TL 16  DARRIAN NEURAL PISTOL v.1 COMBAT CHARTS

Atmos	Range	Distance	Difficulty	Aim	Damage
Std.	Contact	0-10 m	Easy	+2	5		
Std.	Very Short	11-20 m	Average		5
Std.	Short	21-40 m	Difficult		5
Std.	Medium	41-80 m	Formidable		4
Std.	Long	81-160 m	Staggering		3
Std.	Very Long	161-320 m	Impossible		2	

Vac, Trace	Contact	0-10 m	Easy	+2	5
Vac, Trace	Very Short	11-20 m	Average		5	
Vac, Trace	Short	21-40 m	Difficult		5
Vac, Trace	Medium	41-80 m	Difficult		5
Vac, Trace	Long	81-160 m	Difficult		5
Vac, Trace	Very Long	161-320 m	Difficult		5	

VThin	Contact	0-10 m	Easy	+2	5
VThin	Very Short	11-20 m	Average		5
VThin	Short	21-40 m	Difficult		5
VThin	Medium	41-80 m	Difficult		5
VThin	Long	81-160 m	Difficult		5
VThin	Very Long	161-320 m	Formidable		4	

Thin	Contact	0-10 m	Easy	+2	5
Thin	Very Short	11-20 m	Average		5
Thin	Short	21-40 m	Difficult		5
Thin	Medium	41-80 m	Difficult		5
Thin	Long	81-160 m	Formidable		4
Thin	Very Long	161-320 m	Formidable		4	

Dense	Contact	0-6 m	Easy	+2	4
Dense	Very Short	7-13 m	Average		4
Dense	Short	14-25 m	Formidable		4
Dense	Medium	26-50 m	Staggering		3
Dense	Long	51-100 m	Impossible		2
Dense	Very Long	101-200 m	Impossible		1	

Exotic	Contact	0-1 m	Easy	+1	1
Exotic	Very Short	2-3 m	Average		1
Exotic	Short	4-5 m	Impossible		1



Features											

Optic Sight:	This is a rugged, military version of the telescopic
sight.  It provides a +1 DM at long and very long range when used
for aim, bead, and snipe actions.  The damage roll for alignment is
11+.  

Laser Sight:	This is a TL 10 laser sight that Glynn picked up on
Aramis.  It has a max. range of 240 m.  The 	laser attachment will
allow three consecutive fire actions of aimed shots to be made at the
same target instead of the usual one.



Long Live Traveller!

Kenneth.

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 21:47:12 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: The Grand Adventure 3:  Glynn Connal

(Backstory for the Grand Adventure;  PC/NPC detailed bio)



The Grand Adventure Backstory Part II:  Rogue's Story

by Kenneth D. Bearden 



In 1083, Glynnyth Connal became an orphan.  He was 8 years old.  The Fourth
Frontier War with the Zhodani was raging at its height across the
sector.  The news came that his father, a sergeant in the Imperial
Army, had fallen in battle against the Zho's.  His father had come
home in a closed coffin, the victim of a Zhodani mind assault.  He
watched his mother cry for the first and last time.  She was on leave,
a support officer in the Army as well, and the sight of his mother
crying in that stoic earth colored uniform seemed a contradiction.  

The funeral turned out to be the last time he would see either of his
parents.  10 months later, he was told that his mother was aboard a
Chrysanthemum class destroyer escort when it dove into a gas giant
with all hands.  

Glynn was alone and on his own.  It was something that he would learn
to turn into his greatest attribute.

He was shuffled around to several foster homes.  He was a bad kid and
more than most could handle.  At 14, the local police was already
keeping tabs on him.  Finally one night, he left his last foster home
forever.  He had enough of that crap.  It was time to move on, to be
free.  But he didn't run away like a lot of other losers.  No.  He was
better than that.  He was going to do it in style.  Some of the
runaways would hit another town or travel clear across the planet. 
Not Glynn.  He got transport off planet.  They would never find him
again.  

He traveled from place to place for a few years and learned the ways
of the street.  Then, at age 17, he found a home with some kids that
he had started running with.  They were developing into quite the
experts in larceny.  The group was growing into an accomplished
organization that could obtain just about anything in the Imperium.  

Competition from other organizations and heat from the law was
responsible for the metamorphosis that they experienced.  At first a
small time band of lucky kids, they started one of the most profitable
black market operations in the sector.  One of the older group members
had found an uninhabited planet, Feneteman, in the Aramis subsector. 
It was a vacuum world with virtually no population.  There was an old
mining facility on planet that was still functional.  The plan was to
relocate to Feneteman and use it as a base and continue operations on
other worlds.  They would keep the sight a secret which would be their
best defense against competition and the law. 

Within a year, profits were doubled.  Glynn, at age 18, was making
more money than all of his foster parents combined.  Competition with
other organizations was fierce as Connal's group ate up their revenue. 
The word was out among the competition to take care of these kids, but
nobody could find them.  The only risk was when the group members were
away from Feneteman.  

For 10 years the group prospered.  They would gauge their success and
be careful not to become too greedy.  They knew that if they got on
the wrong side of the crime cartels then they would be found no matter
where they hid.  For protection, they would pay tribute to great
Houses of Tureded.  Still, they were always very careful about having
the route traced back to their moon like sanctuary.  

Then in 1102, a survey vessel from Ling Standard Products came to
survey Feneteman.  The survey lasted almost two years, and the group
was forced to lay low.  They all took extended vacations while they
kept an eye on the progress of the survey.  Their ex-mining base
turned home was reoccupied by the LSP workers, and Glynn knew that the
future looked bleak.

Lanthanum deposits were discovered, but LSP decided that the find was
too small for large scale mining.  LSP moved to recoup some of the
cost of the survey by selling individual rights to interested parties.
 The population on Feneteman swelled from almost no body to close to
1000 people.  That number of people is inconsequential when you are
talking about a whole planet, but Glynn knew that there would be
no going back.   For one thing, the secrecy of their compound had been
compromised.  For another, Glynn was feeling the urge to go his
separate way.

A few months later, Glynn moved to Aramis.  The planet has a thriving
black market and some of the larger weapon manufacturers in the sector
are located there.  Glynn had been on the planet several times for
business, and he knew that, with the Naval and Scout bases available
for pilfering, he would make a profitable living.  

Two years later, Glynn had worn out his welcome.  The place was just
too small.  He needed room to lose himself, and one underground
city just wasn't big enough.  The police had started shadowing him on
most days, and business was not what it used to be because of it.  

He kept his ear in the starport bars and on the street for an
opportunity.  That's how he found most of his clients.  In the two and
a half years that Ling was surveying his home on Feneteman, and in the
two years he had been on Aramis, Glynn had spent a fortune.  He needed
a new line of work.  The police shadowing proved that he was getting
too well known to the authorities.  He knew it was time to quit.  He
wanted to go legit before he ended up spending 20 years on an Imperial
prison world.   

He heard about this ex-army commando who had the word out that he was
hiring personnel to crew his ship.  It was said that this was not
going to be just any regular merchant ship, but one with a mercenary
taste for extra credits.  Hmm.  This was interesting.  It was
something new with potential profit margins like he was used to. 
Glynn knew that it couldn't be any more dangerous than what he was
already used to.  Most of all, it was legitimate.  Or, at least, it
was the most legitimate Glynn had been since before he was in his
teens.

Glynn met with this Shawn Grey guy and was impressed with him.  He
could tell that Shawn was a little hot headed, but he seemed to know
his stuff when it came to mercenary units.  What he needed was someone
with starship experience.  Of course, Glynn couldn't provide that know
how.  But, what Rogue could provide was more valuable and harder to
find than that.  He had the expertise and contacts to provide Shawn
with the type of patrons that he was looking for.  You didn't just
find mercenary employment on the monitor in a starport with the cargo
and freight listings.

Glynn's argument was convincing.  Shawn recognized what a resource he
was, and Glynn fit his needs perfectly.  Before he knew it, Shawn had
put him in charge of locating other potential crew members.  That left
Shawn free to concentrate on outfitting the Harrier.

Since Glynn couldn't fill many of the necessary positions on the ship,
he was made the ship's steward and supply officer.  He was also in 
charge of cargo.  A little turned
off at the thought of shining people's shoes and bringing their meals,
Glynn objected, but Shawn explained how the position was
perfect for him.  Glynn was the ship's liaison to the public at large.
 He was in charge of finding work for the crew the same way a broker
finds cargo for the ship.  What is better than having this person have
the closest interaction with the foreigners aboard ship?  

Glynn could see what he meant.  It was logical.  He would give this
gig a try, and if it was successful, then great.  If not, well, he
would move on to another opportunity.  Men like Glynn capitalized on
opportunity, and this ship seemed to fit the description.  Glynn could
smell a good thing, and he trusted the instincts that had served him
so well over the years.   

One thing bothered him though.  Glynn had worked with a lot of men
like Shawn in his day.  They were competent men.  You could trust your
back to them.  They got the job done, and they were killers.  One of
the prerequisites for a job like that was that you had to be a little
bit psychotic.

And Glynn knew that Shawn Grey was no different.


Game Information:  Aramis is in hex 3110, located in the Spinward 
Marches.  Feneteman is in the same subsector in hex 3104.  The 
Feneteman information ties into the planet's info given in the Traveller 
Adventure.

As with everything in the Grand Adventure, you are encouraged to take 
and modify any information or ideas.  Use Glynn as an NPC or copy the 
set up as you run your own version of the Traveller Adventure.

Glynnyth Connal
STR  4
DEX  7
END  6
INT  6
EDU  7
SOC  9

Original Player:  Thomas McLaughlin
Race:  Human (solomani)
Gender:  Male
TAS?  No
Age:  30
HT:  5'7"
WT:  150 lbs.
DOB:  075-1075

Homeworld:  Feneteman		UPP:  C222200-C
Location:  Aramis/Spinward Marches
Native Language:  Riftian Anglic

Current Career:  Free Trader
Former Career:  Rogue
Terms:  3 (12 years)		Retired?  No
Monthly upkeep:  Cr2250
Name of discharge world:  Aramis
Location of discharge world:  Aramis/Spinward Marches

Primary Position	Pay  
Ship's Steward	Cr3000 per mo.

Secondary Postions	Pay
Supply Officer	Cr300 per mo.
Cargo Officer		Cr100 per mo.

Total Salary		Cr3,400 per mo.
Ship Shares		7

Skills
Ship's Boat-1			Pistol-1
Grav Vehicle-1		Psionicology-1
Vac Suit-1			Computer-1
Gambling-2			Streetwise-1
Carousing-2			Jack of all Trades-1
Liason-1			Neural Pistol-1

Special Equipment:
Glynn obtained his prized TL-16 Darrian neural pistol during a black 
market operation.  He treasures it and takes care of it like it was a 
newborn baby.  He's always careful about where the gun is kept, and 
he makes sure he cleans it once a week.  This weapon will be featured 
in the next installment of the Grand Adventure.

Long Live Traveller!

Kenneth.

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 16:47:00 -0600 (CST)
From: "Joseph E. Walsh" <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Subject: Re: Starships--Got IT! (fwd)

On Fri, 6 Dec 1996, Fred Kiesche wrote:

> The book is broken into a few parts. Before I get to that, IG has nicely 
> credited all the folks who worked their buttskis off on this supplement. For 
> example, Joe Walsh's Corsair is credited as Naval Architect--Joe Walsh. The 
> frontpiece lists all the folks directly involved and thanks TML, XBOAT and 
> GDW-Beta.

Cool!  My ship made it in there.  Whaddaya know. :)


> Bad points: The same old tired ships. Some plans don't look like they match 

Er, not quite.  The "Secure Trader" is a new one - one I designed.  But, 
yeah, it's still just another variant of the Trader line.  I believe I 
saw a few other ships in your list that I hadn't heard of before (at 
least, they weren't in CT).


> the illo. No gridlines on the plans, only a "2 meter square" to the side, 
> showing relative size of the plan. Larger ships have sideviews only, no 
> complete plans for them. 

Arrghh!  No gridlines!  :(  That's a definite downer for me. Drat, drat, 
drat.


> Rating: A good second try, downers are lateness, relative high price and 
> lack of really good plans (I'm not looking for FASA, but some of the DGP 
> plans and JTAS plans had better quality than these...).

I still don't have my copy.  I look forward to seeing it though.


- -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! :)
       .....Official Reporter of Imperium Games Product Info.....

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 21:58:45 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Starships--Got IT! (fwd)

On  6 Dec 96 at 16:00, Joseph E. Walsh wrote:


> The book is broken into a few parts. Before I get to that, IG has nicely 
> credited all the folks who worked their buttskis off on this supplement. For 
> example, Joe Walsh's Corsair is credited as Naval Architect--Joe Walsh. The 
> frontpiece lists all the folks directly involved and thanks TML, XBOAT and 
> GDW-Beta.

Cool.


> Good points: Lots of ships, design sequence, a few "freebies" in terms of 
> calendar and personalities.

Cool.

> Bad points: The same old tired ships. 

This is not a bad thing.  I like the old Traveller ships, and I was 
disappointed that the designs were changed in the Main Book.  This 
actually makes me excited about Starships--I was afraid that they 
were going to use the same ships from the Main Book.

Now, mind you, I agree that Traveller needs new ships added to the 
line up.  It looks, from your description, that they added a few.  
Maybe they'll come out with another supplement--an expansion to this 
one--that has new ship designs.  

It's a big universe.  There's plenty of ship designs to go around, 
but don't mess with the basic designs that we've all come to know and 
love.

. No gridlines on the plans, only a "2 meter square" to the side, 
> showing relative size of the plan. Larger ships have sideviews only, no 
> complete plans for them. 

Sorry to hear that.

> Highest TL appears to be 12, I think that was one direct question from the 
> list.

Sorry to hear that, too.  Some of us aren't playing in the year 0.

 
> Rating: A good second try, downers are lateness, relative high price and 
> lack of really good plans (I'm not looking for FASA, but some of the DGP 
> plans and JTAS plans had better quality than these...).

Damn.

Kenneth.

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 18:03:24 -0500
From: TPeterAZ@aol.com
Subject: Planetary Society

This is completely off the topic of anything, but I figured you all would
know.  Please feel free to e-mail me privately instead of chewing up
excessive TML bandwidth on this.  I received in the mail yesterday an offer
to join the Planetary Society.  I checked out their Web page, and it seemed
interesting, but what I'm curious about is are any of you members, and do you
find it useful?  I try to live up to Mr. Twain's quote as much as possible,
and I'm wondering what I can expect to get from this.  Thanks in advance.


Tim Peter
<TPeterAZ@aol.com>
"Never let your schooling get in the way of your education."--- Mark Twain

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 18:03:29 -0500
From: TPeterAZ@aol.com
Subject: Strephon

Just a quick question that arose while reading Donald McKinney's outstanding
timeline:  Was Strephon really only 9 years old when he married Iolanthe?
 Just wonderin'.


Tim Peter
<TPeterAZ@aol.com>
"Never let your schooling get in the way of your education."--- Mark Twain

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 18:57:21 +0100 (MET)
From: Thomas Biskup <tb@saranxis.ruhr.de>
Subject: Signed hardcover hits Germany!

Hi everyone!

It really happened... good timing, since I was going to credit card
company today to cancel the whole mess and try to charge them for fraud.
Obviously it was not sent by air mail as promied but I guess that really
would have been a wonder.  It's also the ugliest "limited edition signed
hardcover" in my collection since I expected it to be numbered, etc. (all
the other I own [Masterbook, Rifts, German Gurps, Earthdawn, ...] were
like that).

On the good side it was not singing, it was not burned and even the damage
from bad packaging was limited to some minor creasing (nothing that even
*me* would complain about ;-).

Now I'm curious whether it will take until next Christmas to get the first
JTAS issue (any updates on that thing) ;-)

Greetings from Germany,

	Thomas "Unexpectedly hit by his signed hardcover" Biskup

- --
Thomas Biskup                               email to: tb@saranxis.ruhr.de
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Would you choose one life over one thousand?
 I refuse to let arithmetic decide questions like that."
                          -- Data and Picard, "Justice", stardate 41255.6

 

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

Date: 06 Dec 1996 23:31:54 GMT
From: Rob_Prior@nynet.nybe.north-york.on.ca (Rob Prior)
Subject: Toronto Traveller Game

Over the Christmas Break I'll be hosting a Traveller game. 

Setting: Reformation Coalition
Rules: TNE (with house varients)
Style: role-playing over rules
Genre: political/espionage rather than combat

I haven't finished working out the details yet, but in general this will be a
fairly high-level game in which the players are aides to various political
figures within the Coalition.  There will be a _lot_ of politics, a fair
chunk of ethics, some religion (mainly linked to the ethics), and a lot of
wheeling-and-dealing.  It will incorporate what I see as the greatest
strength of the RC setting: not the smash-and-grabs, but the chance to do
some serious politicking in a democracy that is fundamentally divided as to
its goals and the means justified in reaching them.

If you live in the Greater Toronto Area, send me a private email and we'll
discuss schedules and the like.

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

Date: 06 Dec 1996 23:25:26 GMT
From: Rob_Prior@nynet.nybe.north-york.on.ca (Rob Prior)
Subject: Review of Starships

Like Shalom, I confess to being underwhelmed by this book.

The colour cover is nice, but not spectactular.  

The ships are generally well-chosen, although I wonder about the rather large
number of small ships (shuttles, cutters, fighters and so on) given that
small craft never seemed to play a large role in any previous incarnation of
Traveller.  (Oh, they were there, all right, but never seemed to be used
either in my games or in the published adventures.)  Ship write-ups were
well-done.  I can't comment on the designs, for reasons I'll explain below.

The B&W ship illustrations are OK, although I still don't like the look of
the 'new' ships.  But then, I've never liked 50s-retro as a style, anyway. 
(Although I'm told by an artist-designer friend that it is commercially
popular in some circles.)

The colour illustrations were a waste of space.  I don't like the style, and
the artist apparently ignores physics most of the time.  An artist friend
told me that as paintings they were good - nice balance between colours,
visual tensions, and all that stuff.  However, the technically-trained in our
group ended up laughing (or at least snickering).  (Can anyone explain why
many milieu zero spaceships have giant claws?)  

Including personalities was a nice idea.  I might wish that the writing
standard had been a bit higher, though.  I found the character sketches to be
written to about a grade ten level.  (And I know whereof I speak, being in
the middle of correcting grade ten papers this weekend.)  

Including deck plans was a good idea.  Better deck plans would have been
really nice, though.  The ones presented are missing some features (such as
staterooms in the scoutship).  

You've already seen the SSDS, so I don't need to comment on that.


Overall verdict: check this out in a local shop before buying it.  I'm
sticking with FF&S and Brilliant Lances.  Some of my students, who play Star
Wars, were impressed with the 'realism' and detail of both T4 and Starships. 
Some of those were even more impressed with TNE/FF&S/BL, some weren't.  

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 19:25:47 -0500
From: 34zbtxq@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu (Susan M. Shock)
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #723

        if you intend to do a prose recounting of all of those Traveller
adventures, I must caution you that this would defintley ruin those
adventures for anyone who has not played them, as well as potentially
infringe on the rights of Marc Miller and Far Future Enterprises, which owns
the right to those scenarios and may wish to re-release them at some point.
Not to mention which these posts are EXTREMELY long, and so far have not
been labelled as such, which is inconveinent for me, at least, and possibly
for others, especially those who have to pay to read their e-mail.
                                        Allen

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 16:08:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Craig Berry <cberry@cinenet.net>
Subject: A suggestion concerning long/complicated messages.

I'd like to suggest that certain messages which have appeared on the TML
lately are too long or complicated for the list.  The "house rules" and
"March Harrier" posts are recent examples.  Both of these included
excellent ideas and good writing -- but they also break the flow of the
mailing list, particularly when read as part of a digest.  Saving them
also presents logistical difficulties when in digest form.

I propose that in almost every instance, such long complicated posts would
be better delivered via the World Wide Web.  This has several advantages:

- - Space on-list is reduced to a brief description and URL
- - Makes work more readily available to others
- - Makes corrections and expansions of work easier
- - Allows inclusion of graphical material where appropriate

I realize that not everyone has the means or ability to put pages on the
Web -- but for those who do, please consider doing so rather than posting
your next dissertation to the TML.  It's also probably the case that one
or more of the people currently operating Traveller-related pages would be
willing to provide a home for good material, if asked.

Anyway, end of soapbox mode, back to whatever it is I do for a living...

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   |   Craig Berry - cberry@cinenet.net
 --*--    Home Page: http://www.cinenet.net/users/cberry/home.html
   |      Member of The HTML Writers Guild: http://www.hwg.org/   
       "Every man and every woman is a star."

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

Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 18:59:58 -0600
From: Ernest N Rowland <erowland@ionet.net>
Subject: Starship Flight Plans

Starship Traffic Control

I've assumed that there would be some standards and customs
concerning starship and spaceship flight plans, such as:

   Systems with Class A (and probably B) starports would have
   published commercial and civilian incoming and outgoing jump
   coordinates (ie, this volume of space is available for jumping
   into the system, this other volume for jumping out-system).

   Restricted space for military purposes would always be a concern -
   don't want that slight miscalculation to get you fried by
   automated defences or over-eager system defence boats.

   Starship navigation databases would have most of this information
   for each system (assuming prior visits, or a visit to the local
   Scout or Naval base - Merchant houses would maintain this sort of
   information also).  Once a ship jumps into a system, it would have
   the current information downloaded, showing additional
   information, such as refueling flight plans to the local GG, etc.

   It would be customary (at least within a single culture) to jump
   into a system 'above' the ecliptic plane and jump out 'below' (if
   the physical data were available).  (I would define 'above' as the
   POV where the main world is orbiting clockwise around the
   primary).

"The flag is solid red, except where a thin ring-shaped hole has been cut
out of it, through which one can see the sky."-DRH

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #724
**********************************

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