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From: owner-traveller-digest@mpgn.com (Traveller-digest)
To: traveller-digest@Phaser.ShowCase.MPGN.COM
Subject: Traveller-digest V1996 #725
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Sender: owner-traveller-digest@mpgn.com


Traveller-digest     Saturday, December 7 1996     Volume 1996 : Number 725



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

STARSHIPS TL 12 question
Msg to Goran
Imperial Democracy
Re: Death of Fools
Things that make you go 'Hmmmmm'.
Boarding devices
Re: I can hear You knocking.
Re: Strephon was a good Emporer
Re: Toronto Traveller Game
Re: Nuclear Dampers
Re: Review of Starships
Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #723
Re: A suggestion concerning long/complicated messages.
Re: Starship Flight Plans
Re: Norris to the rescue! Part 3
Re: Review of Starships
Re: I can hear You knocking.
Non nuke triggered H-bombs (Was: Re: Nuclear Dampers)
Re: Rebellion
Re: Starship Flight Plans

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 20:24:42 -0500
From: BrianMays@aol.com
Subject: STARSHIPS TL 12 question

The ships may be TL 12, but PLEASE tell me the design sequence doesn't stop
there!  I need to develop TL 15 stuff!

Brian (say it isn't so! ) Mays

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 17:36:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Jim Vassilakos <jimv@e2.empirenet.com>
Subject: Msg to Goran

This message is for Goran Damberg. My apologies for posting to the
list, but I have reason to think that Goran might not be forwarding
email from his account at Goran.Damberg@ida.utb.hb.se to wherever
his main account is, and I don't have any other addresses to try.

Goran, I recently saw an article on rec.games.frp.misc from Philip
Masters <Phil@philm.demon.co.uk> where he asserts that you've
miscredited one of the articles on your webpage to another person
when it was actually written by him. He's slightly peeved and said
he tried contacting you but never got a reply. I think maybe you
should write him to get this resolved as soon as possible.

To quote Phil:

> There is a 'Web site at http://www.dragonfire.net/~Traveller which holds
> assorted material. Appearing at this site are notes on an alien race
> called the Jgd-ll-Jagd. The specific URL is
> http://www.dragonfire.net/~Traveller/contact/jgd.html
>
> Now, I invented the Jgd-ll-Jagd - but there is absolutely no mention of my 
> name anywhere on that site; the notes are credited to one "Paul J. Drye". I 
> am, to say the least, a little displeased at this.
>
> If anyone knows the maintainer of this site, or Mr Drye, perhaps they could 
> have a word with them?

Good luck getting this resolved. Hopefully, with luck, we can get Phil on
the mailing list, especially if he has more goodies to share. :-)

jimv@empirenet.com

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 18:40:14 -0700 (MST)
From: scharlto@rtd.com (Steve Charlton)
Subject: Imperial Democracy

K.C. Komosky (kc@mb.sympatico.ca) asks:

>And presumably after his reforms successfully take hold, in future
 >generations the Reformed Imperium will be politically and 
> economically strong enough for Dulinor's heirs to re-integrate 
>the wayward pieces.
>
>p.s. is there anyone who believes that democratic reforms in the 
>Third Imperium are NOT a good idea?


Me, for one!  Well, not democratic reforms, but the idea of democracy as a form 
of government for the Imperium.


  If you look at the Imperium's sectors, you discover a very interesting thing; 
about 80-90% of the population is on 10% of the worlds.  If you have a direct 
proprotional democracy (even a proportional-representation republic) you 
effective disenfranchise 90% of your territory.  Taken from a purely person by 
person count; this is just fine, but when you realize that the large hi-pop 
worlds are going to have 100% divergent needs and beleifs from the lo-pop 
worlds, you quickly get into a situation where a sector is dominated by a 
couple of worlds, and those worlds can basically dictate whatever they like to 
the other worlds of the sector.

If on the other hand you have a non-proportional democracy, you avoid some of 
these issues, but wind up with a whole set of new ones.  You could have each 
world with one vote; suddenly Gant's Landing, the corporoate mining world with 
a population of 6, is as important as Planet X, the world with 100 billion 
inhabitants.  

Alternatively, you could base representation on some formula involving 
population, economic strength, tech level or even military power.  Or some 
combination of these.  In each case, however, you have the basis for a 
long-term source of strife and disagreement.  "I don't like the formula now 
that my world has less representatives than the neighboring world Ocelot V!  
Tey are no better than us - they just managed to get TL12 before we did!" for 
example.  You could put together a somewhat stable short-term re
lationship/government that way, but I think the government would eventually 
collapse into chaos, or drift toward a situation where a very few worlds 
dominated the entire Imperium.

I strongly beleive that one of the main factors for the success of a democracy 
is cultural homogeneity.  Not that everyone thinks the same, but that everyone 
has the same basic overall set of values, assumptions and cultural trends.  In 
a small nation, you can get that easily.  In a larger nation like the US, it 
may be harder to get but can still be reached (though not completely; democracy 
certainly has its problems here).  When you look at a multi-sector Imperium 
with thousands of worlds, at least six major cultural groups, dozens of minor 
races and literally hundreds of splinter societies, a democracy just won't 
succeed.  

Think of the problems Russia is having now and multiply them by a few orders of 
magnitude.  Ick...

Besides, if the Imperium was a democracy, we'd have to call it the Democrium.


Steve Charlton



Steven T. Charlton
scharlto@rtd.com 
I don't recall installing this 
"General Protection Fault" Screen Saver

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

Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 16:58:40 -0800
From: "Glenn M. Goffin, Esq." <sudet@well.com>
Subject: Re: Death of Fools

>From: HDHale@aol.com

>   Of course the sight of Strephon riding back into the Imperium at the head
>of a large Solomani fleet might cause people like Dulinor, Margaret, et. al.
>to temporarily forget their differences and unite to defeat him.  If so, he
>still wins, because now the Imperium is united in common cause once
>again--even if it is for the purpose of beheading him and sending the
>Solomani back where they came from.

Isn't your conclusion -- that Strephon still wins -- a little simplistic?  Why 
wouldn't common cause among the factions break out into open war as soon as the 
Strephon/Solomani coalition was defeated?

- --Glenn

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

Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 17:32:06 -0800
From: "Glenn M. Goffin, Esq." <sudet@well.com>
Subject: Things that make you go 'Hmmmmm'.

>From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@pill.pharm.Arizona.EDU>
>
>        Also, since clairvoyance is a psionic power that is available, how
>do we know that the Zhodani don't have some clue about what is going to
>happen in the future?

Clairvoyance in Traveller is not defined as the ability to perceive the future, but 
rather distant events.  (I'm at the office, without my books, so I can't quote.  I 
really need a second set.)  I suppose "distant" could be temporal as well as spatial; 
what's the real difference, anyway.  Hmmmm

- --Glenn

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

Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 17:42:19 -0800
From: "Glenn M. Goffin, Esq." <sudet@well.com>
Subject: Boarding devices

>From: TPeterAZ@aol.com

>Challenge 45 presented a Ship's Locker which contained the Intership Transfer
>Device consisting of 3 parts: the line, the launcher, and the crawler.  To

I invented a boarding device, but I haven't drawn up the patents.  I'm never going to 
get around to, it either, so I'm just going to disclose it here and hope that someone 
runs with it.  I don't want any percentage of profits under the first $1 million or MCr 
1, whichever first occurs, but I do want 5% thereafter.  And I want it called something 
like the Goffin Iris Valve Harpoon.

The device is basically a spear gun that shoots a very strong harpoon into an open iris 
valve.  The harpoon has four perpendicular stakes that extend upon launch and keep the 
harpoon from going all the way through the valve.  The stakes have electromagnets and 
adhesives to keep them in place.  The harpoon is made of strong enough material that the 
iris valve can't break it by closing on it.  The magnets and adhesives are strong enough 
that it's difficult to remove the harpoon.  The person who launched it has a code to 
turn off the electromagnets and a solvent for the adhesives.  

I regret that my ascii skills are inadequate to the task of drawing a schematic here.

- --Glenn

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

Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 00:24:22 -0800
From: "Douglas" <douglas@teleport.com>
Subject: Re: I can hear You knocking.

Well...way back when I ran in a 400 ton corsair, it just happened to have a
large, triangular (approx. 100 ton) cargo hold that could eat a Type S...

It carried papers for a tranporter ship (moves hulls), but also mounted 4
turrets.

- ----------
From: Charlie <Brreclus@spectra.net>
To: traveller@MPGN.COM
Subject: I can hear You knocking.
Date: Sunday, November 03, 1996 3:53 PM

I am working on a Corsair, It all works out but I just cant pin down
boarding. Is it lock to lock, through hull breaches or what. I worked up
a 30 Ton specialty boat for boarding but it is just seems to make
Corsairs too large for many occasions. What You think Folks.
                                                                Charlie

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

Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 18:15:12 -0900
From: Peter Newman <pnewman@alaska.net>
Subject: Re: Strephon was a good Emporer

> From: HDHale@aol.com
> Subject: Re: Death of Fools
> 
> Steven Bonneville writes:
> 
> >>    Actually Strephon's best bet would have been to surrender himself to the Solomani.
> >
> ><BLINK>  Harold, the *Solomani*?  Even if they were within fifty parsecs of
> >him, and Daibei and Ilelish weren't in the way, his own nobles would march
> >him out and lynch him!
> 
>    I'm thinking in terms of "what would Machiavelli do?", not in terms of a
> man who may have had principles, but was not emperor material.
> 
>    Let's face it, emperors don't go off secretly many light years away to
> inspect what amounts to a glorified spy satellite--they have people (trusted
> aides) who do that sort of thing for them.  Also, a true Emperor would have
> rushed back to the Capital at the first sign of trouble, and told any advisor
> who said different to get bent.  His place is own the throne or laying dead
> beside it.
> Harold

	I believe that Strephon acted properly in leaving Capital/Core to go to 
Depot/Lishun to reveiew the Project Longbow Data.
 In Survival Margin (pg 7) it says "His Imperial Majesty...Eyes Only 324-1115 PROJECT 
LONGBOW Per project Report 097-112, Incoming Data from Station Gabriel, corresponds to 
priority Zephyr [Personal Attention Required]. Stations Herod, Raphael reported 
silent,presumed destroyed. Data currency indicates constant +1C (lightspeed) closure 
rate, arrival at Meridian 78, Prime Radial (the edge of the Imperium), in 90 years. - 
Pentecost"
	In other words the data concerning the Empress Wave had prority Zephyr and the 
Emporer HAD to go to Lishun & make a decision himself about what to do on the spot where 
he could see all the data.  This was not some spur of the moment decision based on 
Strephons curiosity but rather it met the Priority Zephyr criteria (personal attention 
of the Emporer)  When you look at what the Regency Sourcebook says the Empress Wave was 
doing to the Zhodani (who are probably 100 times more internally stable than the 
Imperium) we can see that he was right.  While it may seem to we 20th century thinkers 
who are used to rapid progress that 90 years is plenty of time to solve this problem & 
Strephon had no need to rush to Lishun to see this data we are wrong.  The 3rd Imperium 
faced what was its most dire challenge EVER in the form of the Empress Wave & Strephon 
was right to leave Capital.  Lets pretend that it is 1205 Imperial, that Dulinor never 
tried to assasinate Strephon, and that Strephon did not go to Lishun to examine the 
Project Longbow data, that as a result he did not understand how dire the situation was, 
did not to enough to stop it, and that as a result the still thriving 3rd Imperium is 
about to collapse like a house of cards before the Empress Wave. Then Strephon would 
have been a bad Emporer.
	The primary duty of an Emporer is to preserve that Empire.  I agree that very 
few things are so dire as to require the Emporer to leave Capital secretly, cross 
several sectors, and personally examine data - but the Empress Wave was.  Strephon was a 
good Emporer who acted entirely properly.  The fault if any was in not having a mole in 
Dulinors entourage who could & would blow him away when he formulated his assasination 
plan.

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

Date: Fri, 06 Dec 1996 23:22:29 +0000
From: Mused <marz@hotstar.net>
Subject: Re: Toronto Traveller Game

I'm in (tentatively, I am going to the Soo for a couple of days)

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

Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 23:56:52 -0500 (EST)
From: pawn@CAM.ORG (Glenn Grant)
Subject: Re: Nuclear Dampers

>From: Jon Goff <jongoff@et.byu.edu>
[snip] 
>Star Colonel Travis CSV   []_[]  "No plan survives first contact 
>"All you people who you   /(_)\   the enemy.  Heck, most plans  
>know everything are      0 0 0 0  don't even survive first contact      
>annoying us who do."       O O    with reality"--Hammer Lathrop

Jon: Has nobody pointed out to you that there are two painfully obvious
typos in your .sig?

Glenn

- -----------------------Glenn Grant-----------------------  
                      <pawn@cam.org>
Web: <http://helios.physics.utoronto.ca:8080/ggrant.html>
    "That which does not kill us makes us stranger."
                  -- Trevor Goodchild

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 04:47:42 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Review of Starships

On  6 Dec 96 at 23:25, Rob Prior wrote:


> 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.  

I've been bugging my local store for this about once every two weeks, 
and I gotta tell ya, I'm starting to get disappointed.

I'm still going to buy it, but it sounds like it has the same 
problems as the main book did.

I'll withhold judgement until I see it.

Kenneth. 

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 04:47:42 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1996 #723

On  6 Dec 96 at 19:25, Susan M. Shock wrote:

>         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

No, I do not intend to do a prose of the entire adventure.  If I did 
that, our grand children would have to carry it on.  What you have 
been seeing is the backstory for my particular campaign.  Some of the 
Grand Adventure will be stories, but certainly not all of it.  I plan 
to put in game ideas, NPCs, equipment, and all sorts of Traveller 
things.

This is meant as a good thing--a shareing of ideas and game info 
between GMs.  

If you want, I'll start marking the posts as long.

Kenneth. 

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 04:47:43 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: A suggestion concerning long/complicated messages.

On  6 Dec 96 at 16:08, Craig Berry wrote:

> 
> 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.

Sorry Craig, but I do not agree with you.  I've received too many 
e-mails complementing the things that I have been putting on the TML, 
which tells me that there are others out there who like seeing stuff 
like this.

I, for one, like to see a wide variety of things on the TML.  I've 
always envisioned this list to be "all things Traveller".  I don't 
just want to see short discussions, back and forth, about how a piece 
of equipment works.  Although I enjoy this, I also like it when 
people post house rules, like Glenn Grant's hit location chart, or 
long disertations, like the recent post (I've forgotten who) on the 
uplifted Jabberwock or Glenn Hoppe's jump space theories.  

I want to turn to the TML for a multitude of things.  I like to be 
able to hash out how technology in Traveller works, but I also like 
system descriptions, detailed NPC's, adventure ideas, short stories, 
game reflections, and all of the other cool things that have been 
thought up by creative GMs for their games.  Heck, we pay IG for 
things like this, and it's free on the TML!

In short, I think the TML has more to offer than just short/quick 
witty retorts to questions.  The TML is also a gaming resource.  At 
least, that's how I view it.

And, if I didn't think that this stuff was appreciated, then I 
wouldn't put the time in to post it.

What is facinating about the TML is the diverse, opinionated, 
creative, and passonate people out there supporting it.  Your vision 
of the TML sounds boring to me.  I've already greatly enhanced my 
game by the things that I've pulled off the TML.  We all have 
excellent game aids that we have developed for our games.  The TML 
should be a place to share those things.

In closing, I want to cite a post that I received, in private, right 
after your post.

On  6 Dec 96 at 16:44, Douglas McCorison wrote:

> I have been enjoying your posts very much.  If you decide that
> you are not going to continue these posts, I would still be 
> interested in seeing this info.  The NPCs & other info is GREAT.
> Maybe you could solicit on traveller-l for people who ARE interested
> and e-mail directly?  Anyway... keep it up!
> 
> Douglas

Craig, I respect the fact that you seem to not be getting anything more out
of the TML than stimulating conversation.  If that is what you like,
then I think that is great.  But don't hinder other's opportunities to
get something different from the TML.  My suggestion would be:  if you
don't want to read it, then delete it.

Kenneth.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 04:47:43 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: Starship Flight Plans

On  6 Dec 96 at 18:59, Ernest N Rowland wrote:

> Starship Traffic Control

Excellent thoughts, Ernest.

I thought that you'd like to know that Stewart Eyres has some 
wonderful stuff he did on the functions of the starport on his web 
site.  I'm starting to use Stewart's stuff in my own campaign.

http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~spe/Rules/Starports/node3.html

Kenneth.

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 02:13:14 -0500
From: HDHale@aol.com
Subject: Re: Norris to the rescue! Part 3

Hans Rancke-Madsen writes:

>The Zhodani have the strength to defeat the Domain; the bit players do not.

   I'll have to review the Imperial fleet deployments in 1117, but I'm pretty
confident that the combined Vargr, Aslan, and Sword World could defeat the
the remaining Dominion forces.  Remember, not all of Norris' strength could
be brought to bear against the invaders--many of his best remaining ships
would have to remain deployed against the Zhodani flank, and could not be
commited to the fight until it was too late.

   As it was, the Aslan acting with some Vargr assistance were able to
outflank Tobia and drive well into the Spinward Marches, at one point
capturing the Glisten system.  One can imagine that they would have performed
even better if a good chunk of Norris' fleets are off trying to liberate
Strephon and bring peace and justice to the Imperial core.

>The defensive forces of each world amounts to 70% of the naval budget.

   And most of those would be non-jump capable ships.  Fine for keeping the
Aslan out of the high population systems (which the Aslan would by-pass
anyway), but useless for defending lower pop worlds.

>Even with all the regular forces gone away, the reserve fleets are almost
>as powerful on their own.

   Not exactly.  While they may be equipped at a similar tech level to the
Aslan and Vargr, their quality would likely be inferior to the Aslan, though
probably much better on average than your typical Vargr.  Sword World naval
forces would be at a distinct technological disadvantage, but their morale
and training would likely be superior as well.

>The high-population worlds, which accounts for 99% of the strength of the 
>Domain, are invulnerable to anything the Aslans and the Vargr can muster.

   But they can be, especially in the case of high pop, inhospitable worlds,
starved into submission.  Even the more habitable worlds would face the
prospect of eventual economic collapse if cut off from interstellar contact
long enough.  

>Until Norris gets the idea to offer the _Ihatei_ land for fighting the
Vargr, of course...

   There's where a Vargr-Aslan alliance would be required (with the Sword
Worlds entering into it for the sake of revenge).  In that case, the Aslan
listen to Norris' offer and reply something to the effect of, "why do you
promise us things that we can take from you anyway?"

>The Outworld Coalition included the Zhodani. In fact, the Zhodani must have
>been 90+% of the Outworld Coalition. That made all the difference.

   So the Zhodani are replaced by the Aslan in the Coalition.  Under normal
circumstances, the Imperial navy defeats them easily.  But these aren't
normal circumstances.  Norris is being forced to fight with two hands tied
behind his back.

>The Aslan _ihatei_ are handicapped by the fact that they are divided, using 
>inferior ships, use a big slice of their budget for transport ships, wants
>to settle down with their family in peace, and is at the end of a multi-
>parsec supply line.

   The Aslan seem to have no trouble fighting against a common enemy, have
superior morale and training, and have a warrior ethic which says that you
win the war, then settle down with your family in peace.  Also, I would
expect that they would "live off the land", living on half rations when they
have to and using captured human starports for repairs, and even ships and
weapons if it comes to that.

>No, of course not. That's the way the storyline was written. But aren't
>we talking about "what-ifs"?

   Part of the fun of constructing a "what-if" scenario is to build one that
is believable.  There are just too many problems impeding Norris for him to
have even give serious consideration to sending a large expedition into a
fight across the Corridor and on to the main portion of Imperial space.

>Brzk and Margaret are some of the people that Strephon could convince in a
>face to face confrontation simply because there would be things Strephon
>would know that even a duplicate wouldn't. 

   Brzk in a face-to-face meeting perhaps, but Margaret may have denied him
in hopes of co-opting his supporters.  My general impression is that when it
comes to politics, she was as capable as anybody of playing rough.

>(It's rather strange that Dulinor wasn't informed ahead of time that
Strephon 
>wasn't available; as an Arch-duke who must have been close to Strephon on 
>numerous occasions he'd surely know the score and rate the truth

   Emperor Strephon was AWOL on the day of the killings.  The fact that he
would allow a double to stand in for him in a meeting with one of the half
dozen most powerful nobles in the Imperium, and one with which he apparently
was having some difficulty with, tells you something of how corrupt the
Imperial family had become, or just how incompetant Strephon really was in
the end.

Regards,

Harold

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 02:28:46 -0500
From: BrianMays@aol.com
Subject: Re: Review of Starships

In a message dated 96-12-07 00:43:30 EST, you write:

<< I've been bugging my local store for this about once every two weeks, 
 and I gotta tell ya, I'm starting to get disappointed.
  >>

I have to agree.  I think the good people at GameScape are programmed to say
"NO BRIAN WE DO NOT HAVE ANY NEW TRAVELLER STUFF YET!" as soon as I walk
through the door.  : )

(Of course, I've been bugging them about once every two days . . .)

However, there has been a flood of CT and MT stuff in their used games
section.  Either people are really fed up, or they are making room on their
shelves for the T4 stuff.

Brian

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 04:03:09 -0500 (EST)
From: pawn@CAM.ORG (Glenn Grant)
Subject: Re: I can hear You knocking.

Tim Peter <TPeterAZ@aol.com> said,

>Challenge 45 presented a Ship's Locker which contained the Intership Transfer
>Device consisting of 3 parts: the line, the launcher, and the crawler.  To
>avoid copyright problems, I'll just give an overview.  The launcher propels a
>100 meter plasteel cable across the void to the target ship, where a flanged
>magnet assembly affixes itself to the hull.  There are c-clips at either end.
[etc]

There are a lot of problems with this romantic notion of boarding a ship by
grappling it with a cable. If I understand correctly, the problem under
consideration is: "how do you board a ship when you can't match vectors
with it?" But this situation rules out the use of grapples. Grappling with
a ship that is on a different vector - and *trying to ride the cable over
to the ship* would an insane thing to attempt. The relative velocity of the
two ships had better be very small. Otherwise it's like trying to lassoo a
747 as it passes overhead. If the vectors are close enough to allow
grappling, then you've nearly matched vectors already and you might as well
finish the job, and thus make your life easier and not as short.

Further, the ship you've grappled better not have any remaining operational
maneuvering thrusters. Any acceleration, deceleration, or attitude change
is going to have *interesting* effects on anybody dangling from a cable
attached to the ship.

And since we're presumably talking about a ship that has been half-trashed
in battle, it's logical to assume that they have lost attitude control
entirely. Rappeling over to a grappled semi-derelict that is spinning and
nutating and slowly precessing would be a great way to commit suicide. (For
reference: I assume you've all read or seen _2010_?)

Maybe it would help if we anchor the cable to the pirate ship? Better be a
bloody strong cable. I can see it now: the grapple is secured to the
rotating half-dead 1000-ton cargo ship, the pirates are playing out all the
cable they've got, several hardy lads are zooming along the slack line (in
bandanas and eye patches, gripping knives in their teeth) as the stricken
vessel slowly wraps the cable around itself, when suddenly... TWANG! The
cable goes taught, and.... uh... oooh... um... It's been nice knowing you,
lads. :)

Glenn G.

- -----------------------Glenn Grant-----------------------  
                      <pawn@cam.org>
Web: <http://helios.physics.utoronto.ca:8080/ggrant.html>
    "That which does not kill us makes us stranger."
                  -- Trevor Goodchild

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 11:41:12 +0000
From: anders.backman@macademic.se (Anders Backman)
Subject: Non nuke triggered H-bombs (Was: Re: Nuclear Dampers)

>To put it another way, you *can't* set off high explosives with a
>match. They need a pretty fair explosion (M-80 equivalent or better) in
>the for on a blasting cap or other detonator to set them off. Fusion
>bombs require a *lot* of energy to set them off. Whether it comes from
>a fission bomb, or from a modified fusion reactor, the energy
>requirements are the same.

Aren't the energy requirements the same (in theory) as for non bomb fusion?
Why do bomb fusion require more energy? We're not using our fusion reactor
to generate electricity to power the fusion detonation startup, we're using
the fusion reactor to start a fusion reaction for bomb use and by
definition the min size fusion reactor can do that (well, not the Fusion+
ones).

Am I missing omethin here? (obviously)


/Backman

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 00:12:11 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Rebellion

In mail, aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:

>> In mail, aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
>> 
>> > 1. How do you get 11,000 worlds to agree on how to implement it? (Just 
>> > look at the problems the EU has, and there's only 15? of them!)
>> 
>> By telling them "This is how it's going to be..." with a fleet in
>> orbit. :-)
>
> Ah, this is obviously a meaning of the word 'democracy' that I wasn't 
> previously aware of...

Check out how many countries acquired a democratic government. It
*wasn't* through democratic processes!

>> > 2. Since most of the worlds are non-democratic, how are they going to 
>> > elect a representative?
>> 
>> Representative selection would have to be local option. Most
>> non-democracies would appoint someone. Heck, given that local autonomy
>> is pretty much guaranteed, I'd bet that most *democracies* would treat
>> it as an appointive position. 
>
> Again, hardly democratic.

"Democracy" is "everybody votes on everything". And it's impossible on
that scale. What folks are *calling* a democracy is actually a
republic. Representatives of "the people" make the decisions. The US is
a democratic republic. 

>> > 3. With a travel time from frontier to Capital of >1yr, just how 
>> > representative is it going to be?
>> 
>> How representative is the US Congress? Not terribly. As the number of
>> people represented goes up, the degree to which any *real*
>> representation can take place goes down.
>> 
>> Frankly, I expect that even the Moot, as described in existing
>> materials, is unworkable. 
>> 
>> What I'd expect to be workable would be a multi-level setup. Subsector
>> to sector sized groupings of planets to deal with matters affecting
>> their area. Such regions would be what had Imperial level
>> representation.
>
> Basically the same as we have already, only you call them Senators rather 
> than Dukes?

Nope. It's similar to what we *used* to have in the US. before 1912
Senators were not directly elected. Either the state governor or the
state legislature appointed them.

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

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

Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 00:32:17 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Starship Flight Plans

In mail you write:

> 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).

Space is *huge*. The odds of an accident caused by a ship jumping in
too close to another are *really* small. 

Also, if we go with the (common & reasonable) idea that ships keep
their vector when jumping (that is, they have the same velocity and
momentum before and after jump) then you'll have *multiple* areas. Each
chosen for a particular jump so as to minimize the amount of velocity
matching required at the other end. 

Remember, "keeping" the vector means that it's the same with respect to
any given point you use as a base. So you have a several hundred km/sec
difference between most stars. Plus orbital velocities. 

>    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.

They'd either be *inside* the 100 diameter limit, so a jump wouldn't
get you too close, or outside it, and well away from the normal entry
exit points.

>    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).

This causes problems if you conserve velocity. And it's not really
necessary.

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

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #725
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