Traveller-digest     Thursday, December 19 1996     Volume 1996 : Number 775



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re:Roderick's Ships
RE: Starship Design Philosophy
Re: 3-siders (well actually d6 with 1-3 twice...)
Re: Year-by year char gen
Re: But It Doesn't Look The Way _I_ Want It...
Re: GA7 (long): The Rock
Old Question
Re: But It Doesn't Look The Way _I_ Want It...
Campaign Diary
Re: CORE: ADVANCED CHARACTER GENERATION - Tell Us All!
Re: Response to Ken Whitman...
Re: An opinion and a question...
Re: Starships - questions and more comments from a newbie
High-tech Interrogation
Re: Barnyard fowl in the far future
Re: IISS Anthem? (long)
Announcement of interest to the group
Re: High-tech Interrogation
Re: High-tech Interrogation
Re: SSDS FSY Moonshine-class RI/ESS
Ship stuff
Re: But It Doesn't Look The Way _I_ Want It...
Niven's First Law class SDB
Re: Traveller on IRC

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 12:52:38 -0500
From: rellio@po-box.mcgill.ca (Roderick Darroch Elliott)
Subject: Re:Roderick's Ships

Allen Shock wrote:

>
>I just wanted to express my appreciation to Roderick Elliott for the SSDS
>ships designs he's been posting here. I have enjoyed (and saved) every one
>of them, and that bit about the Moonshine ships cracked me up. Please
>continue to post these wonderful designs! Makes the list worth reading :)
>                                                Allen
>


        <blush> :).  Thanks.  I don't what the next ship I'll do will be
(probably when I get another idea for a flaky niche-market ship), but for
those who are interested I do have deckplans for the Moufette-Rapide (and
Ross Coburn is currently Photoshopping up a Gif of it).  I also have
partially completed deckplans for the Caligula, but it is *damn big*; I put
everything on one deck and it'd take a lot of pages taped together if
someone printed it out...

        I'm going to throw together some plans for the Moonshine next.  If
anyone is interested, I can send them off when done.

*-------------------------------------------------------------*
| Roderick D. Elliott... rellio@po-box.mcgill.ca              |
|                        elliot_r@lsa.lan.mcgill.ca           |
*-------------------------------------------------------------*
| "...an imperfect plan implemented immediately and violently |
| will always succeed better than a perfect plan."            |
|                        -Gen. George S. Patton.              |
*-------------------------------------------------------------*

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 11:34:26 -0600
From: "K.C. Komosky" <kc@mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: RE: Starship Design Philosophy

>>>...Brrrrr. 28 degrees
>>>(F) as I rode in to work. Yes, I know, I'm just another whining desert
>>>rat, so shut up already ;-) 
>>
>>        Try -5 degrees F, plus a few knots or so of wind chill... <G>
>
>Pah! Today I *biked* to work. It was -26 deg C (-15 deg. F for you Yanks) 
>Wait till January. That's when it gets *really* cold. :-)

	Don't get into a contest about who's the coldest when someone lives in Flin Flon.

	I *walk* to work, and every morning for the past few days its been -31C. With a healthy wind chill.

K.C. Komosky
happy to be leaving Flin Flon for good tomorrow
kc@mb.sympatico.ca

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:08 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: 3-siders (well actually d6 with 1-3 twice...)

In-Reply-To: <199612180632.BAA07610@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

<< > I bought three in Lansing MI, and plan on buying 3 more....Babylon
> Project uses 6d3 for it's task system (or will if it ever comes out!

Well, I could wait for B5 and buy that...maybe it'll come with the 6d3's 
in it. <g>  Of course, that could be months! <bg> >>

Actually, they've tried to get it into the shops four times already - the 
first three times the printers burned down, and the fourth time the crates 
holding the books disappeared from the warehouse the day before it was due 
to go on sale...

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:08 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: Year-by year char gen

In-Reply-To: <199612170959.EAA23231@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

> Keep the normal char gen as is, but add tables that allow you to roll for
> each year of the term for "life events" (similar to CP 2020's Lifepath but
> oriented toward Traveller), with things like decorations, special duty
> assignments...and maybe bad things like injuries (but not death), enemies,
> killed family members, etc. A different set of tables for each career path
> in T4, plus additions as other careers become available.
>         Sound good?

Sounds excellent. Actually, I'd thought of writing something along those 
lines myself.

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:08 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: But It Doesn't Look The Way _I_ Want It...

In-Reply-To: <199612171803.NAA28077@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

<< P.P.S. Yes John (Kovalic) - some of us remember the Trigan Empire! I 
got "Look & Learn" for years. Only read the Trigan Empire bit, in 
fact... >>

Ooh, that brings back memories! I've got a big book full of the TE 
somewhere...

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:08 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: GA7 (long): The Rock

In-Reply-To: <199612161827.MAA11745@weck.brokersys.com>

<< > I could be mistaken, but knight is almost never a hereditary title. 
 It must
> be earned in every case of which I am aware. 

This is not true.  Usually, the title must be earned, but I ready 
every source that I had on Traveller nobles when I put this backstory 
together (because you are about to see some more of them in future 
posts).  What I got from it, reading between the lines, is that the 
Imperium is so big that anything goes. >>

But the nobility *is* the Imperium. I'd think the rules covering this 
would be carved in stone. Knight is not a hereditary title.

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:08 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Old Question

After about 15 years of searching, I've never seen a definitive answer 
to this question:

What does AECO (the Terran North African starport) stand for?

Possibilities include Afro-European COnfederation, African Economic 
COmmunity, etc, but what's the *real* answer?

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:09 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: But It Doesn't Look The Way _I_ Want It...

In-Reply-To: <v01530500aedd06089bd9@[206.190.30.208]>

> I understand your point.  However, few of our fans either choose not to or
> do not know how to use... Tact.  It is alright to say you are "disapointed"
> in certain aspects, however, T4 is bringing in new customers to this list
> everyday, and when they get on this mailing list all they here is everyones
> crap.

I think that's a common problem with email - people tend to be a lot more... 
passionate...online. When they disagree, they say so. If they met you face- 
to-face, they'd probably stay quiet.

> It is this kind of negative talk that will distroy the thing we all love,
> Traveller.  So when you deside to not like something, do Traveller a favor
> and use some Tact.  Point out the good qualities as well as the bad.  And
> if there we no good qualities then take the advice that was given to
> Thumper....
> 
> ...If you can's say anything nice, dont say anything at all.

I don't think it *is* negative. Most of the criticism is constructive (and, 
IMHO, mostly justified) - Foss is a great artist, but we'd  prefer pictures 
that looked more like Traveller; we like having deckplans for every ship, but 
they're badly drawn; try harder to meet the stated publication dates; improve 
the proof-reading. These are the main criticisms, and they don't seem 
unreasonable to me. If we don't tell IG when they make a mistake, how are they 
going to know?

> How you react may deternine the future of this game, and if you dont care
> about this game, then maybe you should find a game that means alot to you
> and find that maining list.

The whole point is we *do* care! Very much, in some cases. Do you honestly 
think we'd spend all this time, effort and money if we didn't?

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:09 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Campaign Diary

Campaign write-ups seem popular at the moment, so would anyone be 
interested in seeing the diary I kept of my last campaign (Solomani Rim 
c.1117-1119)? The TML's pretty busy, so if there's any interest I'll put 
it on my web page. 

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:09 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: CORE: ADVANCED CHARACTER GENERATION - Tell Us All!

In-Reply-To: <199612181332.IAA11255@Mithril.MPGN.COM>

> >I'd like to see a whole book with nothing but character classes, both 
> >new ones and those from the main book, using the one year method from 
> 
> CORE is currently planning out a series of such books. 

Is there anything CORE *isn't* planning?!

> The obvious question
> is, what would you like to have in such a book other than the 1-year system?
> More detail on the character _class_, or splitting major classes into
> subclasses, or just adding lots of new careers? 

All the old detail for a start (service branches, assignments, decorations).

> How about little things
> specific to classes, i.e. special contacts or equipment - perhaps even
> ships.

Yep, that'd be nice.

> Would you want to see career-oriented adventures (several A4 pages),
> say 1 per career, or just plots that the ref' can flesh out? 

Just plot ideas.

> Would you want
> the career detail to be Milieu-specific? 

No.

> How detailed do you want the career
> description - i.e. a technical discussion of how the Imperial army's
> organised, or just a brief bit of fiction describing a typical trooper in a
> warzone.

Depends. AISI, there are two ways to do this: you can have everything in a 
single book (or two), expanding the careers and giving a couple of pages of 
background to each, (a bit like Supp4), or you can devote an entire book to 
each career, including lots of info (more like Book4-7). The second would be 
best, but it involves much more work.

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:09 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: Response to Ken Whitman...

In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19961218083348.007f7b60@central.TanSoft.COM>

<< For the record, this list operates under a modified first amendment 
right
basis.  That is, you are free to say what you want to say as long as:

    a) It relates to Traveller
    b) It is not intentional flame bait
    c) It is not insultory to an individual
    d) Language is kept somewhat PG-13 or kinder >>
                                 ~~~~~
Ah, maybe they thought you said PGMP-13...
    
    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:09 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: An opinion and a question...

In-Reply-To: <199612181654.KAA11809@thumper.visi.com>

<< I'm going to be working on some deckplans of my own.  I've settled on 
a 1.5m grid.  I'm trying to decide how "deep" these squares should be 
and I've pretty much decided on 4m, which gives me 2.5m height for 
hallways and rooms while leaving 1.5m for decking, conduits, and the 
like.  This means each square will be 9m^3.  Does this seem reasonable, 
or is there a different/better convention I can use? >>

3m. That way 2sq=1 dton.

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 96 18:09 GMT0
From: aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk (Andrew Boulton)
Subject: Re: Starships - questions and more comments from a newbie

In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.961217231210.111A-100000@localhost>

<< Then I started to look at the travel formulae for starships in the basic
rules (page 115) since I wanted to get some idea of how fast this little
ship really would be.  The section on interstellar travel mentions that
the transit time for a ship with 1G acceleration from a size 8 world to
100 diameters is about 5 hours.  This value obviously was not calculated
with the travel formulae on that page (size 8 world: 12800km, jump
position at 12800 * 100 = 1,280,000km; T = 2 * square root(D [in meters] /
A) = 2 * sqrt(1,280,000,000 / 8) =~ 25298 seconds =~ 7 hours).  Thus my'd
TL12 8G acceleration ship would need longer than a 1G acceleration ship.
Do these formulae only apply to travel between worlds?  Even then I can't
see the reasoning?  What's my mistake? >>

Acceleration is wrong - you've just used the g rating. 1g =~ 10m/s^2, so

T = 2 * sqrt(1,280,000,000/[8*10]) = 8000s = 2h13m20s

    ---------=========oooooooooOOOOOOOOooooooooo=========---------
Andrew M J Boulton                  http://www.compulink.co.uk/~fubar/
 "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 13:29:08 -0500
From: TPeterAZ@aol.com
Subject: High-tech Interrogation

In a message dated 96-12-18 18:59:16 EST, "Chepe" wrote:

>  How does high-tech questioning
>  and interrogation go about?

Read "Cardinal of the Kremlin," by Tom Clancy.  Spooky, spooky, interrogation
scene.  For those of you who haven't read it, it involves a combination of
drugs and sensory depravation until the interrogated party begins to, ahem,
come unhinged.  By the time the interrogated party is removed from the tank,
they'll tell you anything, and are probably fairly ready for "reprogramming"
to boot.  On a not-so-tech note, what about psionics.  Two Psionic Institutes
(copyright A. Friend c. 1955 :-)) still have charters in 1100, and may
provide "services" to the Imperium, when needed.


Tim Peter
<TPeterAZ@aol.com>
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, Ignorance."--- Socrates

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 13:29:21 -0500
From: TPeterAZ@aol.com
Subject: Re: Barnyard fowl in the far future

In a message dated 96-12-19 00:50:45 EST, someone wrote:

> This clearly relates to the M:0 Scout having not a bridge, but rather a
>  cockpit.  Or perhaps it's an M:1200 inclusion...starship crews were forced
>  to jettison their Virus-infested alarm clocks, and...well, you get the
>  picture.
>  
>  Now, off to design the CV Foghorn Leghorn.
>  

I just want to say that there are some funny SOB's on this list.  

ROTFLMAO.

Tim Peter
<TPeterAZ@aol.com>
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, Ignorance."--- Socrates

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 13:29:31 -0500
From: TPeterAZ@aol.com
Subject: Re: IISS Anthem? (long)

In a message dated 96-12-18 20:50:31 EST, "Chepe" wrote:

Before I begin, let me say that this is intended as a purely constructive
criticism.  I may be the only person on this list who holds a BM (which is a
Bachelor of Music degree, rather than something scatalogical), minored in
Vocal Performance (Bass/Baritone, thank you) and makes at least a
discretionary portion of his income as a musician, songwriter, singer, and
recording engineer (despite laboring by day in technical support).

That out of the way, let's dive in, shall we?

> THE IMPERIAL INTERSTELLAR SCOUT SERVICE
>  
>  (Music by Gustav Holst, Terran, -2648 to -2588)
>  (Lyric by Aram Synof, Sylean, -37 to present)

Very common throughout musical literature for melodies to be borrowed from
older works.  Holst's music is both memorable (just ask John Williams, who
"borrows" freely from the Planets throughout the Star Wars score) and
singable.  A good choice, overall. (Unfortunately, I am remembering "Jupiter"
a tad unclearly, and I no longer possess a copy of "The Planets" to which I
can refer.  Oh well, that's never stopped me in the past).
>  
>  
>  CHORUS:  Though the stars be dim and winsome wan
>           And ever off so far,
>           We shall bear Sylea's flame e'er on
>           Rekindle every star.
>

So far, so good.  Each cadence (wan, on, far, star) has a good vowel sound on
which to sustain.  You should try to avoid ending lines on hard consonants,
or, even worse, schwa sounds.  A pox upon all lyricists who do not sing.

>  Fro-om Delphi unto Windhorn,
>  Terra's outskirts unto Vland,
>  We will bear Civ'lization
>  To every being's hand.

Minor troubles here.  Horn, Vland/hand require very flat vowel sounds, which
are generally OK, though not preferred.  The 'shun of civilization uses the
abominable schwa, and places an unstressed syllable on the cadence.  A couple
of minor changes make it more singable.  You might try this instead,

Fro-om Windhorn on to Delphi,
To Terra and to Vland,
We will carry hope through the Night,
To every far off land.

This ends on more open vowel sounds, and is somewhat more singable.  I like
the reference to the Long Night, myself.  It also does away with unto
(another of those friggin' schwas) but maintains the feel of your lyrics.

>  
>  [CHORUS]
>  
>  To each human, to each other,
>  To each planet, to each race,
>  Shall Sylea be mother,
>  And show her shining face.

Race and face are fine; mother and other are unaccented syllables on cadences
and end on schwas again, and we all know how Timmy feels about them.  However
the lyrical motive is stirring, and rather effectively constructed.  Since
they are on weak cadences, and aren't high notes, which I believe is the
case, they can probably be left alone.  

Actually, not a bad first attempt.  There are many famous (i.e., dead)
"great" composers whose sense of prosody (the art and craft of marrying
lyrics to music) isn't as strong. (See "banner" in The Star-Spangled Banner,
where the second highest, and most heavily accented note of the song, is on a
goddamned schwa!)  BTW, there isn't a book written on this subject of which I
know, and these comments are purely my opinion, degrees and experience
notwithstanding.  Besides, nobody listens to the singers opinions, anyway.

Hope this helps.  I offer my input purely as a sounding board (hideous pun
intended).  You may use, or ignore, it as you see fit.

Tim Peter
<TPeterAZ@aol.com>
"How many singers does it take to screw in a light bulb?  One; they hold the
bulb and wait for the entire world to revolve around them."

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 12:13:48 -0700 (MST)
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@pill.pharm.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Announcement of interest to the group

this is from rec.games.frp.announce:

- -------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 
             [industry][BTRC] Guns! Guns! Guns! has shipped!
        Date: 
             Wed, 18 Dec 96 04:09:24 GMT
       From: 
             btrc@aol.com (BTRC)
Organization: 
             rec.games.frp.announce is a moderated newsgroup on usenet
news
 Newsgroups: 
             rec.games.frp.announce
 Followup-To: 
             rec.games.frp.misc


The first batch of the updated 3G^3 went out to distrtibutors on Friday,
so it should be in some stores around the end of the week. Printer delays
(argh) kept it from being out sooner. I think it looks good, hope you do
as well. It includes full updated information to create weapons for (tm
or(r) as appropriate): TimeLords, CORPS, GURPS, Hero System,
MasterBook/Torg, Cyberpunk 2020, Feng Shui/Nexus, Heavy Gear, Traveller
4th edition, Traveller:New Era and Battlelords of the 23rd Century. On a
related note, the limited hardcover print run was a few days behind the
softcover on the binding schedule. We'll do everything possible to get the
goodies in your hands by the 24th, and they should be shipping later this
week. Get one for yourself. Get one for your friends. Hell, get some for
about a hundred complete strangers...;) 

Thanks for your patience,

Greg Porter
http://members.aol.com/btrc

- -----------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 14:17:39 -0500
From: TPeterAZ@aol.com
Subject: Re: High-tech Interrogation

In a message dated 96-12-19 13:37:52 EST, I wrote:

> a combination of
>  drugs and sensory depravation 

That would be "deprivation."  Sensory "depravation" is something that I don't
believe is allowed to be discussed on a PG-13 list. :-)

Tim Peter
<TPeterAZ@aol.com>
"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, Ignorance."--- Socrates

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 12:24:25 -0700 (MST)
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@pill.pharm.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Re: High-tech Interrogation

On Thu, 19 Dec 1996 TPeterAZ@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 96-12-19 13:37:52 EST, I wrote:
> 
> > a combination of
> >  drugs and sensory depravation 
> 
> That would be "deprivation."  Sensory "depravation" is something that I don't
> believe is allowed to be discussed on a PG-13 list. :-)
> 

	actually, a continued supply of drugs and sensory depravation
might just do the trick...they'll gladly tell you all they know for more
;->

"No this week it's MY turn in the tank!"

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 14:39:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Flammang <FLAMMANG@vms.cis.pitt.edu>
Subject: Re: SSDS FSY Moonshine-class RI/ESS

Hi.

> From: rellio@po-box.mcgill.ca (Roderick Darroch Elliott)

>       Here's another one, but first, a comment: RE SSDS & its yea &
> nay-sayers: I *LIKE* the SSDS.  While it's the only design system I've ever
> used, as a newbie I gotta say that I have no problems with it... it works
> for me.

As an oldbie, I gotta say that if T4 attracts talent like yours, its
gonna go far!

>         While the Moonshine class RI/ESS is not going to be the most
> commonly encountered vessel on the space lanes, we here at FSY feel proud
> of the impact that it will make in its market, and would like to reiterate
> that while the Moonshine's special capabilities might lend themselves to
> wrongdoing, we are committed to ensuring that Monnshine-class vessels will
> be sold to only the most aboveboard of customers.

ROFL! Most excellent!

- -Rob

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 10:35:22 -0900
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@lunatic.asylumbbs.com>
Subject: Ship stuff

>        Likewise, I don't have any large military ship designs except MT
>Fighting Ships. What other sources are there? (TNE Battle Rider, for one,
>maybe?)

Heres a list of what I remember.

CT Bk 5 (High Guard)
CT Adv _ (Trillion Credit Squadron)
CT Adv _ (Expedition to Zhodane) has a couple of references to ship
construction (trival, yes, but there)
CT's Supplement 7 (Traders and Gunboats) has a few small military designs
CT's Supplement 9 (Fighting SHips) has QUITE a few
Azhanti High Lightning details out one class.
MT's Fighting Ships. (Poor, IMHO, use Sup 9)
Battle Rider
and (IIRC) Vampire Fleets has a few

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

Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 20:16:35 +0100 (MET)
From: Thomas Biskup <tb@saranxis.ruhr.de>
Subject: Re: But It Doesn't Look The Way _I_ Want It...

On Tue, 17 Dec 1996, Ken Whitman wrote:
> ...If you can's say anything nice, dont say anything at all.

Oh great... it's nice to have a medium over which we can communicate our
thoughts.  If the game is horribly bad, don't mention it or lie about it.
This reminds me of the way public relations for IG in this past year (we
shipped the hardcovers... yes, this time we shipped them... honestly,
*now* they were shipped).

I'm sorry to disappoint you but if someone demands a lot of money for a
game I'd like to have, I pay the money and I don't like the product I'll
voice my opinion so that *everyone* can hear it.  I really feel obliged to
warn newcomers if there are lousy products out there.  Maybe this will
make the people in charge think twice before releasing such a lousy 
product.  Simply keeping silence over problems doesn't help anyone (except
those who earn bucks on this) and I don't think, that would be the correct
way to handle it.

> How you react may deternine the future of this game, and if you dont care
> about this game, then maybe you should find a game that means alot to you
> and find that maining list.

If you can't stand criticism (and yes, it can become somewhat unfriendly
at times... that's sad but we all are just humans with our little
mistakes).  Personally I always try to remain polite (honestly :-) but at
times I get really angry about some things and then my natural sarcasm can
become somewhat... obvious... :-}  Afterwards I always feel sorry for that
BTW.

Still I believe that -- as long as we don't start insulting each other --
anyone should be able to voice his or her opinion.

Thomas 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: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 15:46:07 -0500
From: Doug Sinclair <diemos@io.org>
Subject: Niven's First Law class SDB

Niven's First Law class SDB

Tons  400 Streamlined Sphere  Volume 5600             MCr 956
Crew   11                     Passengers 0
Cargo   4.5                   Controls Military/fib    Tl  12

8 Size Rating                        0 Jump Rating
4 Fire Control Rating                6 G Rating (4G outside 10 dia.)
1 x Missile Battery: 5 (50)          2 Power Plant Rating
2 x Laser Battery: 3-2-0-0         100 Fuel Rating/Scoops
1 x Fusion Rocket: 5-0-0-0           3 Meson Screen Rating
                                     1 Damper Rating
                                     10A 4P 10J/EMM Sensor Rating

                             Armor 33    Structure 20

The Niven's First Law system defense boat mounts a 50 ton missile
bay and a pair of heavy laser turrets.  The fusion rocket can also
be used as a very short range weapon to make those Imperial fighters
think twice about a strafing run.  I have used the thrust divided
by 100, converted by the USP table to give its damage.  In combat
it would be used with a fire control rating of zero.

An extremely high degree of automation minimizes the crew required.
There is a single engineer, three electronics technicians,
five gunners, a pilot and a commander.  Five staterooms are shared
by all but the commander who has one to herself.  Eleven G-tanks
are also available for high acceleration maneuvers.

The SDB will lurk for months at a time in gas giants, asteroid
belts, or at the bottom of oceans.  Its 75 Mw fusion plant supplies
power for life support, passive sensors and a 2-g contragrav drive.
This is used for stationkeeping or boyancy compensation.  In the
event of drive failiure underwater the SDB's natural boyancy will
take it back to the surface for rescue -- it only weighs 4500 tons!

When the SDB is ready to strike it powers up its fusion rocket.
This provides 18000 tons thrust and 360 Mw for the ship's systems.
Active sensors, screens and lasers all require this power in order
to be used.  The rocket gives 4-g acceleration, or 6-g if the
contragrav drive is enabled as well.  Endurance at top
acceleration is only 15.5 hours, requiring the drive to be shut
off in the middle of most interplanetary transfers.  It is tuned
to run on unrefined fuel, and no purification plant is provided.

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

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 15:31:59 -0600
From: Eris Reddoch <eris@pen.net>
Subject: Re: Traveller on IRC

Suzette C. Dollar wrote:
> 
> Hi!
> 
> Its been pointed out to me that I neglected to include some basic
> information in my last post.....
> 
> When:  Thursday night
> Where:  IRC, Undernet
> Subject:   Gaming on the Net: Play by Email and IRC

PBEM!  Right up my alley!  I *really* wish I could be with ya'll
tonight, but alas, I can't be.  I'll be working until at least 11:30pm
CST tonight, so I won't be able to join you. 

Could you provide a summary like you did last week?  Please!!

Eris

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

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #775
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