Traveller-digest       Thursday, June 5 1997       Volume 1997 : Number 1408



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Vegans
Re: [T97#1403] Planet Surface Area
Re: Windows on Starhsip?
Look at Mark Seeman's world page if doing data fiddling
Are we becoming Vilani?
The Dark Ages
Re: Trading Systems
Re: Vegans
Re: What type B starports can build!
Re: Windows on Starhsip?
Re:Tech Level differences between M0 and M1100
Re: Swamp World
Re: X and E ports
Windows in starships
TNE Form People--look at this
High tech or hiogh pop worlds in core (also long)
Assumptions for a list of PEs in core at Y0 (LONG)
Re: New old Library Data on the Web!
Re: Kinetic Kill BB's For T4

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 13:11:24 -0700
From: Chris Griffen <cgriffen@cisco.com>
Subject: Re: Vegans

Commander X wrote:

>>- -> What if the Old Earth Union is at TL13 at Year 0? Would that explain
>why
>>- -> the Imperium stopped expansion towards Terra, and didn't integrate
>until
>>- -> the 500s (IIRC)? They waited until they reached a similar TL? And it
>fits
>>- -> with the ongoing progress discussion.
>>No, it sais somewher in TD 18, that there was a sizeable Empire in
>>Solomani Rim Sector, above Terra, that pervented Cleon from getting
>>there sooner!
>
>Would this perchance be the Vegans?

Not likely. The Vilani _brought_ jump drive to the Vegans, so it is
unlikely they had an interstellar empire. There has never been mention of
sublight interstellar journeys by the Vegans either.

Best,

Chris Griffen

===================================================
Keeper of the Flame. Traveller player since 1980.

http://www.cris.com/~Cgriffen/traveller/deneb.shtml



- --------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Griffen                      Phone: (408) 527-7189
Cisco Systems, Inc.                      Fax:   (408) 527-0452
NMBU Technical Publications              cgriffen@cisco.com

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

Date: Thu, 05 Jun 97 17:20:00 -0500
From: jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com (JEFF ZEITLIN)
Subject: Re: [T97#1403] Planet Surface Area

Bruce E J Lewis <bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk> writes...

T::> Can some kind soul please tell me how to calculate the surface area of a
 ::>planet based on its size. For example, if a planet has a Traveller size
 ::>rating of 7, i.e. 7,000 miles / 11,200 kms across, what's the formula to
 ::>work out the surface area of my size 7 planet, so I can tell how many
 ::>square miles / kms covers it?

 THe formula for the surface area of a sphere (a close enough
 approximation to the shape of a planet) is 4 * pi * radius^2.

 pi is the famous constant, 3.1415926535+.

 radius (in miles) is (size-code * 1000)/2.

 4 is 2^2.

 So, given the size code, the surface area in square miles is
 1,000,000 * size-code * size-code * pi.

 Using Earth as an example (size 8), the surface area is roughly
 64,000,000 (8 * 8 * 1,000,000) * pi, or 201,061,930 square
 miles.

 Now, some of that is covered by water; you may want to adjust
 for that, so _land_area_ = surface area * (10 - hydro code) / 10.

 Again, using Earth as an example (hydro 7), the land area is
 200,000,000 * (10 - 7) / 10, or 200,000,000 * 0.3, or
 60,000,000 square miles.

 This could theoretically be refined by using more accurate
 figures for size and hydro (i.e., not just one digit), and also
 by adjusting for the area of the continental shelves, which
 should be easily if not trivially exploitable by the time a
 society has reached TL9 or A.  I don't know if there are any
 formulae or rules of thumb for figuring how much of the
 hydrosphere is really shelf space.  Eyeballing a couple of maps
 I have suggests that the shelf area is about half the land
 area, but my eyeball is notorious for screwing up those kinds
 of estimates.

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      jeff.zeitlin@execnet.com
- ---
  OLXWin 1.00b  Bigamy: too many wives. Monogamy: see Bigamy.

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 17:41:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: pierre-louis constantin <Pierre-Louis.Constantin@DMI.USherb.CA>
Subject: Re: Windows on Starhsip?

 Hi again
 
	About tuning transparent metal windows to specific
frequencies... Well I'm not a materials scientist and I don't even
know how light can go thru glass. :)  I suppose you COULD polarise
the stuff, I don't know how it it would react at all.  I have to read
up on high school physics, darn it :)



- -- 
Pierre-Louis Constantin, ift. a. 	"He whose name was writ in E-mail."
(: "I hate fanatics with a passion; all extremists should be shot." :)
	    How's my surfing? http://www.dmi.usherb.ca/~constanp/

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

Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 15:16:21 -0700
From: Scott Ellsworth <Scott_Ellsworth@alumni.hmc.edu>
Subject: Look at Mark Seeman's world page if doing data fiddling

Hey, check THIS out:

http://www2.dk-online.dk/users/mark_seemann/worlds.htm

After his mention of the large library data page, I had to go visit, and
found this list of worlds, and the products that mentioned them, on the
same site.  This is quite useful information for those of us looking at
cleaning up the FS data.

Scott
Scott_Ellsworth@alumni.hmc.edu   http://users.deltanet.com/~fuz
"When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment 
results" - Calvin Coolidge, (Stanley Walker, City Editor, p. 131 (1934))
"The barbarian is thwarted at the moat." - Scott Adams

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 22:24:38 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Are we becoming Vilani?

I was talking to my father-in-law today, who mentioned that the vocational
qualifications here in the UK were changing in a way he didn't like -
shorter apprenticeships, less teaching on the 'why' something works, and
more abstract testing.

(One of the examples he gave was in car maintenance - previously, to
qualify you had to reach a standard set by the course instructors, now it's
a central set test. (ForEx spray painting damage to a car. Now, spray a 1m
SQ flat panel perfectly. Then, spray and repair real damage and curves.)
Often with funding cutbacks the tests are all that is taught, so the
standards are slipping. I see it at work with the newly qualified
apprentices having to be retaught by the senior craftsmen.

At the same time, numbers of applicants to science and engineering are
falling, as students realise that they can get better pay doing an arts
course that is possibly easier (as an engineer I'm biased) and certainly
less intensive (6-7 hours contact to 30-40 hours week). Many of the
remaining places are taken by overseas students (which I am not knocking at
all).

Technology becomes more of a black box, and people capable of handling it
are fewer and fewer in number.

Is this a slippery slope to stagnation, a dropping in understanding and
standards? Are we now becoming a culture not unlike the Vilani? I can
remember getting reactions not unlike those mentioned in reference to the
researcher class when I told some people I was doing engineering (proof
that I'm strange to them!).

Just a black thought.

- ------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com-------
"Feel the guilt / like shackles round your feet / like a halo in reverse"
                     Depeche Mode "Violator"

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

Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 08:54:23 +1000 (EST)
From: Michael Barry <mbarry@pcug.org.au>
Subject: The Dark Ages

I hate to be a stickler, but the Dark Ages are generally considered to
have begun with the sack of Rome (?6th century?) and ended with the
coronation of Charlemagne, ie around 800AD. Most of the inventions that
people are chitchatting about belong to the Middle Ages. 
And most of them were invented in China and India at least a thousand
years earlier. So there. 

**************************************************************************
Michael Barry
mbarry@pcug.org.au               <--- checked daily
**************************************************************************

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 19:08:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Matrixs@aol.com
Subject: Re: Trading Systems

unsubscribe matrix@aol.com

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 16:08:23 -0700 (MST)
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Re: Vegans

On Thu, 5 Jun 1997, Chris Griffen wrote:

> >Would this perchance be the Vegans?
> 
> Not likely. The Vilani _brought_ jump drive to the Vegans, so it is
> unlikely they had an interstellar empire. There has never been mention of
> sublight interstellar journeys by the Vegans either.

Why would this prevent the Vegans from having an interstellar empire in
M0?? This is, after all, over 2000 years after the Vegans had been freed
from the stifling hand of their Vilani overlords...(There, did I sound
enough like a Solomani Party member? ;-)

The Vegans, with their long lifespans, would even have an advantage when
it came to waiting out long declines like the Long Night. 

Though saying it like this really drives home how long it really
was...Cleon claiming to be the heir of the First Imperium is along the
lines of someone taking over Earth and claiming to be the new Caesar.

Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 23:28:04 PDT
From: Eamon Watters <E.Watters@Queens-Belfast.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: What type B starports can build!

There was a TAS article in 'Survival Margin' about the Hivers upgrading a Starport 
in the Hinterworlds to 'B' class. This port would then manufacture large Freighters 
for the Hivers, the Hivers supplying the Jump Drive.

This would suggest that a 'B' class port can do everything except build the Jump 
Drive itself. Makes sense when you consider that only 'A' and 'B' ports can 
generally perfom the annual maintanance the Starships need.

Eamon.

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

Date: Fri, 06 Jun 1997 00:28:15 +0100
From: Bruce E J Lewis <bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Windows on Starhsip?

At 17:41 05/06/97 -0400, pierre-louis constantin wrote:
> Hi again
> 
>	About tuning transparent metal windows to specific
>frequencies... Well I'm not a materials scientist and I don't even
>know how light can go thru glass. :)  I suppose you COULD polarise
>the stuff, I don't know how it it would react at all.  I have to read
>up on high school physics, darn it :)
>
	Surely it follows that thousands of years in the future they will come up
with some compound that will allow windows on ships.

	Put it this way...I don't know when glass and then windows were invented,
but as of today we can produce bullet proof glass that can stop a lot of
stuff, I don't know to what degree. But if today's glass can stop almost
anything that was around when glass was first invented, then couldn't glass
in the future concievably stand up to all that is required of it too? And
who knows if transparent metal can't be invented by then too? Or maybe I'm
just rambling!

	See ya...


Bruce E J Lewis - mailto:bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk
Telephone - 0956-506527

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 23:38:00 PDT
From: Eamon Watters <E.Watters@Queens-Belfast.AC.UK>
Subject: Re:Tech Level differences between M0 and M1100

Bruce Johnson sent:

> Here are the distributions at each era:
> 
> TL	M1100	M0	
<snip>
> 17	1	0

This is another error to be corrected in FS. The only TL-H world in the Third 
Imperium was Sambiquys, a world controlled by Xenophobic TL-H robots. The 
Original inhabitants of the world had died out at the beginning of the expansion of 
the First Imperium, and the Robots were left to maintain the planet. Though they 
wern't innovative enough to keep developing their technological base, the nature of 
TL-H equipment meant that they were able to maintain themselves and their 
civilization up until (at least) the fall of the Third Imperium.

This system should be TL-H in year 0, but with a note explaining it's background.

Eamon.

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

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 19:37:43 -0400
From: "Eric Freitas" <edf@atlantic.net>
Subject: Re: Swamp World

- ----------
> From: Brett Fishburne <bfish@atlantech.net>
> To: traveller@MPGN.COM; traveller@MPGN.COM
> Subject: Re: Swamp World
> Date: Monday, June 02, 1997 12:56 PM
> 
> they had.  They created pseudo-continents from a fibrous mat which
floated
> on the water surface.  Over time, this mat has exausted the supply of a
> critical component in the water world (say an obscure chemical component
> like Iridium) and the size of the mats reduced and started to break up.
> This lead to the "floating raft people" suggested by Mr. Henry.
> 

Sounds like someone's been watching "The Pinky and The Brain".  Remember
the 
episode where they created "Chia Earth"? (as in Chia pets...)

:)

Eric

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

Date: Tue, 3 Jun 1997 19:31:06 -0400
From: "Eric Freitas" <edf@atlantic.net>
Subject: Re: X and E ports

> From: David J. Golden <goldendj@pcisys.net>
> To: traveller@MPGN.COM
> Subject: Re: X and E ports
> Date: Monday, June 02, 1997 3:20 AM
> 
> 	Also, what if it's a swamp, or soft ground, or just plain uneven, etc...
> -- Dave Golden                  http://www.pcisys.net/~goldendj --

Hmm, during design you could ensure that at least half your contra-grav 
units can be shut down for repairs while the other half allow the ship to 
stay at hover.  It could be set up so that the ship could be emptied of 
cargo or sub-craft in order for it to work.  A set of low power tractor 
beams could be used to hold the ship in place, or even good old fashioned 
cables tied off to a natural feature.  You could even use the ships weight
to drive big stakes into the ground if nothing else is available.

I could see starships docked to flying cities complete with gangplanks 
laid down.  The ships contra grav allows it to stay level with the city
docks and tractor beams hold it in place.  This could be much more
acceptable
to the city managers, since more ships could dock with the city due to 
the decreased power plant size needed to keep everything up in the air.

Just one of those fleeting thoughts.

Eric

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 17:09:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: "John R. Snead" <jsnead@netcom.com>
Subject: Windows in starships

Well, if superdense or bonded superdense can be made either opaque or 
transparent (or possibly even made in a color and transparency changing 
variety) then all problems are solved.  If you can make transparent 
superdense then the windows doesn't even need seams, they can simply be a 
part of the hull which had the transparency process used on it.


- -John Snead jsnead@netcom.com

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

Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 19:24:03 +0000
From: "Kenneth Bearden" <dreamer@weck.brokersys.com>
Subject: TNE Form People--look at this

For all of you who asked for my TNE forms, you may not have gotten 
them all.

I just noticed that there may be a limit to the number of attachments 
that I can attach to a reply.

You should have files through "trave56a" and "trave57b".

Look at the files I sent you.  If you don't have them, let me know, 
and I will furnish the ones you missed.

Kenneth.

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

Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 17:21:47 -0700
From: Scott Ellsworth <Scott_Ellsworth@alumni.hmc.edu>
Subject: High tech or hiogh pop worlds in core (also long)

FWIW, here are the worlds in core that have tech 11 or greater, and those
that have high populations.  I think we are going to find far too much
opposition, or some really strange ideas, if we let all 80 high tech, but
not high pop, worlds stand:

High tech, high pop:
0305	Muudeshi .	B100AAA-B	Na Ind HiPop Va 	 	301
0440	Ganshas.	A53A965-C	Wa HiPop 	 	403
1524	Shibashliim	A626A88-C	Ind HiPop 	 	912
1836	Khea	C3409BG-B	Ind Po De HiPop 	 	703
2036	Uundi Zi.	A410977-C	Na Ind HiPop 	 	804
2209	Nimluin	A476AA9-C	Ind HiPop 	 	710
2226	Skeen	B491A89-C	Ind HiPop 	 	722
2330	Raami	C522966-B	Na Ind Po HiPop 	 	403
2408	Arnaki .	A20098C-C	Na Ind HiPop Va 	 	513
2640	Dishadshii	B614ACA-C	Ind Ic HiPop 	 	804
2933	Ganad	A656A96-B	HiPop 	 	604

High pop:
0714	Kiishad .	B6A7995-8	HiPop 	 	521		K3 V M1 D
0731	Zzugep	C453AA6-9	Po HiPop 	 	300
0811	Alekvadin	B675978-A	Ind HiPop 	 	702
0905	Shazeku	B553ADB-A	Po HiPop 	 	100
1322	Liper.	C675AEE-7	Ind HiPop 	 	323
1335	Umkashuu	C35499D-9	HiPop 	 	222
1531	Emsha I.	C3339CC-8	Na Po HiPop 	 	213
1609	Sirma	C2249A8-A	Ind HiPop 	 	502
1940	Nii  .	B548A8D-8	Ind HiPop 	 	420
2218	Shaaak .	B436997-9	HiPop 	 	304
2323	Lezaar .	B423A8B-8	Na Ind Po HiPop 	 	803
2425	Diki Shi.	C200ABB-A	Na Ind HiPop Va 	 	423
2610	Kerliar .	C5949BG-7	Ind HiPop 	 	605
2703	Derku	C610A9E-A	Na Ind HiPop 	 	303
2836	Khuir .	B478ABA-9	Ind HiPop 	 	204
2906	Damki Im .	B200ABG-9	Na Ind HiPop Va 	 	903
3011	Laudum	B352ADD-9	Po HiPop 	 	801
3034	Iishaanka .	B554977-A	HiPop 	 	603
3123	Kankuup Ir .	B424AFG-8	Ind HiPop 	 	114
3125	Kadushii	E695ADE-5	Ind HiPop 	 	813
3128	Mish .	C679A86-9	Ind HiPop 	 	803
3226	Duuka  .	B686958-A	HiPop 	 	300

High tech:

0132	Lash .	C76A355-B
0203	Khaur Ga .	C234533-B
0319	Uurze .	B234000-B
0322	Enluur .	B242000-B
0334	Irka.	B9A9616-B
0402	Apge	B772558-D
0403	Irli Un .	B000140-B
0416	Sanches	B654847-B
0421	Murda .	B887212-B
0423	Gig  .	B400323-B
0428	Irlu	C5358AC-B
0432	Khiieshirk .	C150743-B
0519	Zan .	C100264-B
0603	Dashgad.	C140247-B
0622	Uurgigi .	B647487-B
0624	Giirud .	A100266-C
0806	Gaage .	A212533-C
0821	Lakhia.	B000411-C
0839	Night	B5748C9-B
0915	Mupisar.	B577000-B
0922	Guba Ak .	B375000-C
1002	Mishaar	B140544-C
1008	Uusla  .	C302422-B
1012	Uurmu Kuu .	C424100-B
1016	Urshra	B361758-B
1123	Guuirk .	A100000-D
1124	Imkhasham.	A8AA674-C
1134	Aursis	A545520-B
1232	Diam Kani.	C130000-B
1236	Iipgiir.	C491356-B
1317	Gipkikhar .	C203324-B
1323	Kushur Naa .	B310200-C
1334	Anshar  .	BACA000-B
1430	Uukzi Giish.	B100000-B
1440	Minduun Sammad .	A58A411-C
1518	Uugnii  .	A86A530-C
1534	Gid  .	B76A533-B
1539	Dimanaam .	A583350-C
1630	Kuusuu Uur.	C130376-B
1736	Mished.	B4208AC-C
1821	Shar .	B78A200-D
1822	Anga Ke.	B200545-C
1837	Anlumir.	BA9A35A-B
1912	Khamiila .	A430300-C
1930	Kegi And.	B000788-C
2008	Khekaa .	A110120-C
2021	Shaashsha  .	A300436-B
2034	Daindkhara .	C324353-B
2101	Khizuuuum.	A85A435-C
2115	Zimiin  .	A331746-B
2118	Sylea	A586530-C
2136	Kiir  .	A77A000-D
2211	Gid .	B655554-B
2219	Ase	B22048B-C
2224	Kuula Iish.	B160323-B
2312	Giikkala.	B79A753-B
2401	Erkiim .	A52A111-B
2422	Geiish .	B473000-B
2501	Erani.	B000699-B
2526	Kisa .	A7C6000-C
2609	Bambe .	C599300-B
2623	Gurdaan	B310635-B
2624	Idas	A492310-C
2639	Suuashuur.	C100100-B
2709	Kimvle .	A000669-C
2730	Maan.	B24146A-B
2803	Kersi Am.	B427568-B
2837	Igla	B414553-D
2910	Shusa Liishli.	C211000-B
2928	Vlaki Khuu .	A494586-B
2936	Saregon	A584522-C
3008	Mim .	A400466-B
3019	Kinekesh.	C222100-B
3028	Duuguu  .	A373246-C
3033	Ashmelam.	A424636-D
3040	Unlakhar	A629733-C
3103	Gar  .	B43968B-B
3105	Kir.	C300542-B
3218	Kaskii	B300767-E
3234	Gau .	C433665-B

Scott

Scott_Ellsworth@alumni.hmc.edu   http://users.deltanet.com/~fuz
"When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment 
results" - Calvin Coolidge, (Stanley Walker, City Editor, p. 131 (1934))
"The barbarian is thwarted at the moat." - Scott Adams

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

Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 17:21:14 -0700
From: Scott Ellsworth <Scott_Ellsworth@alumni.hmc.edu>
Subject: Assumptions for a list of PEs in core at Y0 (LONG)

I have recently reread M0 and FS, and the data there are terribly
inconsistent.  (No reflection on the M0 authors - they had the data they
intended to use yanked out from under them.)  In order to make this all
work, I have come up with the following proposals for pocket empires in the
M0 era.  These pocket empires use the names in M0, and are thus going to
have to be agreed on, at least tacitly, by Marc and IG.

*  Interstellar war cannot easily take place if the vessels are too far
from maintenance and resupply.  The guideline in Pocket Empires indicates
that going more than three jumps from your border is a bad idea.  I am
willing to accept strategic staging bases, but they had best have a full
Naval base, a decent port, and decent tech levels to support a fleet of any
size, so no colonizing efforts beyond that.

*  Colonizing worlds is difficult to begin with, and having to jump far
makes it worse.  Colonies are far more likely on a world on a J1 main, with
a J2 hop on a main a distant second, and a jump off the main a far, far
distant third.  Crews do not like jumping to interstellar space.

*  The Sylean federation grew primarily with the Risk strategy of the
Crusty Marshmallow.  To expand in this way, first send a bunch of scouts
through an area.  They will find the physical stats of any world they see.
Then, colonize or coopt as you have to.  Since you cannot support anyone
more than a jump 9 away, you are not likely to have many colonies in such a
position.  The important exception to this is the jump 3 route to Vland,
which I am making more important due to the AAB branches common in Vland.
(I know they are common in Core too, but a few strokes of the pen can fix
that.)

*  In order to explain the long night, I am assuming that jump drives are
finicky, and very sensitive to dust, radiation, and other bad things in a
system.  If your ship does not have an accurate set of charts, or
scout-grade sensors, you are running a grave risk with each jump.  Thus,
the reason why many worlds did not start their own Pocket Empires was a
simple matter of economics - at a tech level below about 12, the scouts
needed to do the surveys to keep your system connected were very expensive.
 This also means that having a permanent presence in a system is really
important - this is where up to date charts are bought by non scouts.  As a
result, it is very easy for a culture to get to the point where it does not
have jump travel.

*  Jump 1 ships are common enough in Y0 that there will likely not be more
than one political entity with jump travel in a cluster of worlds.
Clusters are also important economically, as it makes trade easier, so PEs
often comprise one cluster, plus as many worlds along the surrounding mains
as the home world thinks it can defend.

*  Along a main, you might not go farther than one jump from the important
world of the entity, and military power beyond 3 jumps is unlikely, so
there will be a lot of PEs along mains, all based on high pop or high tech
worlds, and encompassing a single jump or perhaps one or two jumps to
either side of the important world.

*  No ruler in his right mind wants to have an enemy base within a single
jump of his seat of power.  This is a situation that cannot be allowed to
continue.  If such a thing is on the map, then we need a reason why.
Example, Sylea is just too close to both Shaak and Ase for them to remain
independent.  I explain this with Shudusham - were Sylea to move militarily
on them without a previous attack, Shududsham would have a hissy fit.
Diplomatic means, OTOH, are quite acceptable, and once the Imperium was
officially begun, Sylea lost many constraints on its behavior.

*  All worlds within one jump of a high tech, high pop world are going to
be under the direct or indirect control of that world.

*  Every world that is either high tech or high pop is going to be important.

What follows is a list of all the high tech or high pop worlds in core.
The sheer number is a bit disturbing.

Scott
Scott_Ellsworth@alumni.hmc.edu   http://users.deltanet.com/~fuz
"When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment 
results" - Calvin Coolidge, (Stanley Walker, City Editor, p. 131 (1934))
"The barbarian is thwarted at the moat." - Scott Adams

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

Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 20:32:20 -0500
From: Sam Thomas <sinbad@dfw.net>
Subject: Re: New old Library Data on the Web!

At 09:31 PM 6/5/97 +0200, you wrote:
>Hello all
>
>I'm very pleased to announce the launch of a big project of mine (one of
>those project which'll make you wonder if I have a life or not) - a very
>big collection of Traveller Library Data, gathered from more than 45
>canonical sources and severely hypertexted!
>
>There's more than 700 kB raw html files, so chances are that the
>information that YOU seek is there! Check it out! The location:
>
>http://www2.dk-online.dk/users/mark_seemann/library/
>
Mark,

I have been to the url that you have listed, I get message saying that I
need to download a frame capable browser like MS Explorer 3.0. I use
Netscape 3.0, I have used frames on other url's successfully ,,,,,what's up?

- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
(c)1997 Sam Thomas  |Email:sinbad@dfw.net|
Sinbad Sam, Owner and Operator of Sinbad Sam's Saloon 
Chief Weapons Designer For Reddkneck Arms and Munitions
- -----------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 05 Jun 1997 21:54:26 -0500
From: Sam Thomas <sinbad@dfw.net>
Subject: Re: Kinetic Kill BB's For T4

At 01:53 PM 6/5/97 -0500, "Peter  H. Brenton" <pete@cummings.uchicago.edu>
wrote:
>snip<
>How about a few more details Leonard and Sinbad;
>
>At what range (from the target ship) does the warhead have to "deploy"?

Well that will depend upon the launching platforms(missile) closing speed,
the speed of the target, and the pattern size needed to insure optimal hit
chance.

>Once a missile deploys, how easy at 2g can a ship get out of the
>"footprint"?

Well ok lets keep it simple then, 
the missile is detected by the target ship at a range of 100,000km 
the target is unarmed so has to evade the missile/Bigshot pattern
Both the missile and the target ship have been travelling at max
acceleration for two turns(60 minutes)
the missiles max acceleration is 12 g's giving it a velocity of 1,555,200kph
the target ship has max acceleration of 2 g's giving it a velocity of
259,200kph.
the missile will close to you last detected position in 0.23 seconds in
that time the target ship will able to travel 16,671 meters. That means
that your ship could be inside of projected cone narrow end at the last
detected point, wide end at the end. All the missile has to do is fire a
pattern of say 1,814,953 Bigshots into 19,178 meter radius "flat disk',
giving a Bigshot density of one shot every 2,000 square meters or one every
25.2 meters in a square. 
Will that hit the target ship if it is larger than 1000 tons yes, less
better than a 70 percent chance. If it hits is will have a damage/pen value
of 44 or a USP of 8.
 
>How about 3g? 4g? 6g? 9g?

The missile will have to adjust the pattern to cover the different
accelerations.

>How easy is it to hit/destroy the carrying missile before deployment?

Normal missiles very easy under normal rules/situations, but I don't make
"Normal" missiles, mine are armored against point defense fire.

>To what extent are ships armored against "debris" in space which closely
>approximates the kinetic energy of a single BB?

Most ships would not be armored against a 44/USP of 8.

>Could the BBs be "stealthed" against standard PEMS and AEMS sensors?  If
>so, what is the *maximum* range that the bbs could be deployed and keep
>their "footprint"?

Why there would be over 100,000+ Bigshots, each only 1 cm in diameter, what
is the minimum resolution of the scanning sensors? Bigshot pattern
dispersal rate is controlled at time of launch, what ever is needed can be
done. After launch shooting at the Bigshots with a laser would be
laughable. But using a nuclear warhead to blow a hole in the pattern would
work, if it can be delivered in time.

>I remain (at this point) unconvinced after all the debate (a long time ago
>now) about bb warheads that starships are susceptible to such warheads.
>Then again, I don't think impact missiles should work either, but suspend 
>disbelief in favor of game mechanics.

The Bigshots may not damage some ships but they will at least "scuff the
paint job", damaging heat radiators, sensors arrays, etc and making the
crews wet their vacc suites. A sensor blind or impaired starship is not a
threat to moving sensor equipped starships.

>Convince me.

Wait for RAAM's "Bubba" and "Little Bubba" missile/torpedo, coming soon,
available in "cannonite" and "herectic" versions.


- -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
(c)1997 Sam Thomas  |Email:sinbad@dfw.net|
Sinbad Sam, Owner and Operator of Sinbad Sam's Saloon 
Chief Weapons Designer For Reddkneck Arms and Munitions
- -----------------------------------------------------

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

End of Traveller-digest V1997 #1408
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