Traveller-digest        Monday, June 9 1997        Volume 1997 : Number 1415



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

See you in September!
Re: Starship windows
Re: Tech level dependant skills
Re: X-Boat data capacity
Non-Lethal damage????????
Star ship design question
Finding Andy Lilly
Re: Windows on Starship?
"Long Way Home" (INCLUDES SPOILERS!)
Rating T4 products
RE: Traveller in Valkyrie 13
Re: Dark Ages & Tech Advance
off topic...
Re: Techlevel dependant Skills
Coversion Rates
Re: Initiative Thoughts
Re: Dark Ages & Tech Advance
Re: High Tech offenders
FS Sector Data revision
Pocket Empires Errata

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

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 19:24:23 -0500
From: Ryan Christensen <litefoot@feist.com>
Subject: See you in September!

Well, it's off to boot camp for me. Im leaving in the morning, but I
figured I'd drop a line before I left.

	I hope TTA/FFS2 turns out to be as good as I hope it will. Sorry I
wasn't able to contribute as much as I would have liked; getting ready
to put your life on hold for three months takes more doing than I'd
thought. Hopefully by the time I'm out you guys will even have the 3.0
version revised & expanded erratta ready <G>!

	I do really hope that the sector data for T4 gets ironed out in time
for the hardback version. 

	I have really enjoyed the discussions on this list (flamewars being
deliberately excluded), even for the brief time I've been here. I'll see
you all again once I get out.

	Good luck on all the projects, and keep the flame burning bright (just
don't use it on each other, K?)!

Ryan Christensen

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

Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 18:32:26 -0500
From: Ryan Christensen <litefoot@feist.com>
Subject: Re: Starship windows

pierre-louis constantin wrote:

<SNIP Discover Article>

>         This isn't exactly what I was talking about originally but it
> does point out to the fact that thin sheets of metals or
> semiconductors can be made transparent and maybe someday thick slices
> can be made transparent (at will) too...

	An easier way to go about it is layer several pieces of this stuff,
with slight gaps in between - pass gas <G> between them when you want to
see out. The gaps don't have to be very wide either - just enough to let
the hydrogen flow through.

	Multiple layers may very well have the same AV as the rest of the hull
... or at least it could be designed that way.

>         The article I saw in the Economist talked about making
> certain metals transparent to thinks like x-rays or other and their
> transparency was seet during manufacture.  No mention of thickness
> limits afaIcr...  I'll keep looking. :)

	This sort of thing would allow you to armor sensor antenna/reciever
stuffs, wouldn't it?

	Just a headache I thought I'd throw out there.


Ryan Christensen
litefoot@feist.com

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

Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 18:56:53 -0800
From: Richard Hough <rdhough@orca.bc.ca>
Subject: Re: Tech level dependant skills

>I have a question about certain Skills that should be Tech level
>dependant. Should a
>Ships engineer who was taught at a T12 University be able to work on T14
>stuff?
>This just doesn't seem logical. There are lots of skills (at least
>technical skills)
>which are Tech level dependant or should be. Has anybody every thought about
>some rule modifications which would correct this?

I think a character who was educated at TL 12 should be able to work on TL
14 stuff; just not very well. On the other hand a TL 14-educated character
should be able to work on TL 12 equipment, but not as well as the TL
12-educated one because of their lack of familiarity.

The only situation I have had with skills at different tech levels has been
characters trying to operate equipment or perform tasks on lower-tech
planets. I handled all of these on a case-by-case basis, but I will try to
put together my basic reasoning. First of all, I agree that characters
should perform tasks outside their experience less well, whether because of
cultural or technological differences. Secondly I want to avoid putting
tech level or cultural specifiers on every skill, both because it's too
unwieldly and because it rewards munchkins who choose the "right" planets
and skills. Third, it should be possible to generalize the method to deal
with situations like technical, training, or cultural differences.

The method I use is to first decide on the character's basic familiarity
with the technology, equipment, or culture the task is based on. Then I
decide on the "degree of separation" between an ordinary task and the task
to be completed. This is necessarily rather subjective and depends on the
exact nature of the task, but I will give a few examples later. Once this
is understood the rule I use is simple. Depending on the character's
familiarity, add the degree of separation as a DM or difficulty scale. The
basic progression is:

	Discoverer	Add DoS to DM
	Familiar	No change
	Unfamiliar	Subtract DoS from DM
	Experimental	Increase task difficulty by DoS times
	Inconceivable	Requires DoS "Impossible" task rolls

"Discoverer" means the character actually discovered the equipment or
technique being used, in this case the degree of separation corresponds to
how specific the equipment or technique is to the discoverer. A Familiar
task is one the character has trained for or has encountered many times
before. An Unfamiliar task is one the character has no personal experience
with, but has heard of or seen before, even if only on TV (or whatever). An
Experimental task is one the character has no training for or knowledge of,
but which is based on principles or equipment the character does
understand. An Inconceivable task is one the character does not even
understand the basics of, let alone have training for. Through years of
experience Experimental tasks will become merely Unfamiliar and Unfamiliar
tasks Familiar, but Inconceivable tasks will always remain so until the
character gains a fundamental understanding of the task.

The Degree of Separation of a task is how many conceptual steps the task is
different from tasks the character is familar with. For equipment of
different tech levels this could be the difference in tech levels. For
processes using different training or operation it is the number of
"evolutionary stages" between the operations. This is necessarily a fuzzy
concept, but think of trying to change one operation into the other through
a series of small changes. A few example should give you the idea:

A TL 12 character is trying to repair a TL 14 jump drive. The GM determines
this to be a Difficult task. However, the character has never repaired a
jump drive of this technology before, though the drive operates on the same
jump theory as other drives the character has worked on. The GM decides
this is an Experimental task, and the 2 tech levels difference counts as 2
degrees of separation. So the task becomes 2 ratings higher, or Staggering.
It would still take dozens of successes for the character to become
knowledgeable enough of the TL 14 drive even to make it Unfamiliar.

Suppose a TL 14 character tries to repair a TL 12 jump drive. Now in my
campaign, a TL 14 engineer would have seen enough TL 12 ships at the
starport to make the task a Familiar one, so there would be no task
modification. However, lets assume the character has been locked in a drive
design plant on a planet with no foreign ships and has never seen a TL 12
drive before in her life. Even so, she would know that TL 12 drives once
existed, even from history class, so the task counts as an Unfamiliar one.
The 2 tech levels difference would count as 2 degrees of separation, so the
task gets a -2 DM.

An electronics technicial has built a bunch of customized devices for
monitoring electronic signals. The technology is standard, but the devices
use techniques and circuits the technicial invented himself. The technician
gets a +1 DM to any Intrusion task with these devices, while other
characters would get a -1 DM to use or circumvent the devices since they
are Unfamiliar with this specific technique. Note that I would give no DM
if the devices were merely scratch built and did not have an innovative
design.

Here's a tougher one; a TL 4 native gets his hands on a TL 12 laser pistol.
Now the TL 4 character has no concept of what a laser is so you may think
the task should be Inconceivable, however the concept the character uses is
"how do I point this thing at my enemy and kill him" and not "how do I
generate a coherent beam of electromagnetic energy". Therefore, I would
rule the task is Experimental, since the character has experience with
firearms even though this particular one is new. Also, I would not use tech
level as the degree of separation, since the character is trying to
understand its operation and not its technology. I reason this way: the
laser pistol is like his shotgun except it is one handed, does not fire
shells, and has no recoil. I count this as 3 degrees of separation, so an
attack at short range is increased 3 levels of difficulty to Impossible. In
this case I would let a few days of target practice make the character
merely Unfamiliar with the operation of the weapon, so he would only get a
- -3 DM to the normal task difficulty. Trying to repair or recharge the
weapon, on the other hand, requires understanding of TL 12 technology, so
this would count as an Inconceivable task requiring 8 Impossible
engineering or Physics rolls, one for each tech level difference.

Got the idea? Here's one for you: Some TL 12 characters want to break into
a TL 7 computer system and recover some secret data.

- --
Richard Hough
rdhough@orca.bc.ca

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

Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 19:18:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Craig Berry <cberry@cinenet.net>
Subject: Re: X-Boat data capacity

> Date: Sat, 07 Jun 1997 22:12:16 -0600
> From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
> 
> >Shannon's Law:
> >
> >	C= W log2( 1 + S/N )
> 
> 	I believe that should be "ln" (natural log) ... 

Nope, base-2 logarithm.  x = log2(y) if 2^x = y.

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

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:26:50 +0930
From: "Grimscale" <grimscal@inorbit.com>
Subject: Non-Lethal damage????????

Hello there
  In EA there is a hint at somthing called Non-Lethal damage.
page 10 Limited Blunt Trauma.

This Term apire's in othere parts of the book I think.
My Question is What is the term for. Will there be diferent forms of
damage,
Taking diferent times to heal. Stune, Trivial, Life taking damage ????

Grimscale
  ICQ# 267122
  The Telleport Gallery is at 28950s 29708w 180 in Alpha World
  Surf in 3D for free at http://www.activeworlds.com/index.html

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

Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 00:55:13 -0400
From: "Michael D. Peters" <Letterworks@Comten.com>
Subject: Star ship design question

Ive started laying out a set of deck plans for a 200 std yaght. I used
the SSDS Design Templates for Excel to determine the volume for the
various components, and to add some custom touches. While laying out the
design I noticed that the fusion power plant I used to power the ship
used only 125 M3 for fuell for a year and was capable of powerring the
ship, including a 1G thruster drive, which needed no seperate fuel.
However the 1J jump drive demands 280 M3 for fuel space for 1 jump. Now
maybey one of the gearhead types could explain why I can build a ship
that needs only a minimuim of fuel for a YEAR to move around inside a
system, but can't jump without more than five times as much LIQUID fuel?
Does the J-drive burn the fuel, or is it pushed through the power plant
to increase it's output just before jump? And what about accumulators?
Could I replace the liquid fuel with accumulators to store power over
time for the jump? If accumulators are used how can I determine what
size PP to install for what lenth charge rate? I'm sure someone has
already discussed this and I just missed it. If anyone has worked out
alternate rules along this line please let me know, or at least let me
know if the fuel is burned in the j-drive so I can note the fuel piping
to the proper place.
Thanks for the help
Mike Peters
Letterworks@Comten.com

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 12:01:15 +0400
From: Andy Long <andyl@icluae.co.ae>
Subject: Finding Andy Lilly

I've been getting bounces from Andy Lilly's ISP with the following
message:-

'One or more mandatory argument(s) were missing from the recipient'

Anyone able to get me a more up-to-date address, or some other way of
contacting him? (I'll be back in the UK from Monday 16th for three
weeks)

Andy

================================================================
smtp Email:		andyl@icluae.co.ae OR
			andylong@x400.icl.co.uk OR
			A.G.Long@abu0101.wins.icl.co.uk OR
			andylong@emirates.net.ae
x400 Email:		c=ae;a=emdan;p=icl;ou1=abu0101;
			s=Long;i=AG;
			o=International Computers Ltd;
A.G. Long, c/o ICL	Phone:	+971 (2) 335200/338066
PO Box 7237		Fax:	+971 (2) 338724
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
================================================================

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 11:12:30 +0100
From: anders.backman@aniware.se (Anders Backman)
Subject: Re: Windows on Starship?

>IIRC, The much ballyhooed _Starship Operator's Manual_ spoke of the
>chameleon paint job.

Chameleon paint doesn't make the hull material different - just the surface
of it. If you paint your house red does the wood turn into red paint all
through?
"Lets paint our superdense material with transperant paint" idea sound both
childish and Nivenish to me but as not to irk somebody too much this is my
personal opinion and does not reflect upon the holders of such ideas - just
the ideas themselves ;)


/Anders Backman
Aniware AB
anders.backman@aniware.se

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 97 05:14:40 -0400
From: FKiesche@concentric.net
Subject: "Long Way Home" (INCLUDES SPOILERS!)

Greetings:

<<spoiler space>>






<<spoiler space>>






<<spoiler space>>






...There...that should be enough!

In the BITS publication (soon to be IG publication, but in two parts) of 
The Long Way Home the playing group encounters a hyperspace (hand wave ! 
hand wave!) tunnel that catapults them into the Gamma Sector (whoops!, 
sorry! wrong universe!)..errr...another sector of space.

Much of the adventure is set around trying to find the Way Back, 
including looking for another such hyperspace tunnel.

To the authors of this fine adventure (and to the list in general): Is 
this a new innovation, or has it been cited in previous "canonical" 
sources?

Thanks!

Frederick Paul Kiesche III
(FKiesche@concentric.net)
(Traveller since 1977!)

"For two weeks,then, preparations can be made...The characters should be 
heavily involved in such planning...after all, their safety will depend 
on the precision and coordination of the attacks they launch."

- --The Traveller Adventure, GDW, 1983

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 10:56:27 +0100
From: Nick Munn <N.S.Munn@sheffield.ac.uk>
Subject: Rating T4 products

On my own scale of 0 (no use) to 5 (top):

T4 basic:  3 (useful, but some serious flaws)
Aliens A:  0 (I don't want it, it's irrelevant to me)
Starships: 1 (mostly for SSDS, I don't trust the designs)
FS:        0 (no way I'd buy this, having flicked thro')
M0:        4 (marred by broken sector data)
CSC:       3 (good quality but some annoying features)
EA:        3 (good at low TLs, but I won't use TL12+ as given)
PE:        4 (only had chance for a quick look, might be 5)
JTAS 25:   1 (very poor content)
JTAS 26:   2 (somewhat better, but only somewhat)

CSC and EA are down-rated for serious violations of the CT/MT 
universe (and FF&S 2 will be, too).  I don't mind personal lasers 
being high-TL, but I do object to gauss rifles being impractical at 
TL12... because they will exist.

That's a whole other post, however...

Nick



Dr. Nick Munn, Dept. of Information Studies, University of Sheffield
Tel. (0)114 222 2673, email n.s.munn@sheffield.ac.uk

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 02:57:17 -0700
From: Eric Nolan <ericno@MICROSOFT.com>
Subject: RE: Traveller in Valkyrie 13

Valkyrie is (afaik) suppossed to be bi-monthly, but their average has
been a lot worse than quarterly recently.  The do say they're going to
improve. . .

Their web page is at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/d_renton/
for anyone who's interested.

Eric.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk [SMTP:aboulton@cix.compulink.co.uk]
> Sent:	Friday, June 06, 1997 9:19 PM
> To:	traveller@MPGN.COM
> Subject:	Re: Traveller in Valkyrie 13
> 
> In-Reply-To: <v03102802afbd4d843405@[205.184.181.73]>
> 
> << Haven't seen any sign of this on the list.  Last Saturday at one of the
> local bookstores I found a couple of interesting magazines.  One of these
> was "Valkyrie 13" Volume 2 Issue 2.  It looks to be a VERY nice RPG
> magazine, one I'll be keeping an eye out for further issues of.  It has an
> interview with Marc Miller, a six page adventure, and some patron
> encounters. >>
> 
> Yeah, Valkyrie is a good mag. Only problem is, it's not very regular at the 
> moment (supposed to be monthly, actually more like quarterly), so the news & 
> reviews tend to be a bit out of date.
> 
>     ---------=========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: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 02:58:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Clark <clarkm@OIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: Dark Ages & Tech Advance

  I enjoy this discussion - nice to be able to use my graduate training in
history for a change rather than my very out-of-date physics and biology
knowledge. 

  I must point out that the Vilani culture explanation for the lack of
Imperial progress works for the single case, but how then do we explain
what is going on in other cultures?  After all, the other major races seem
to have a similar pattern of technological development.  Is it a
requirement for a large interstellar society that it be conservative when
it comes to technology?  I'm not sure, but unless you make that
assumption, it become hard to explain why the other major races don't
advance any faster than the Imperium (unless Grandfather is putting
something in the water...). 

  As for the idea that necessity is the mother of invention, well, the
consensus among historians of technology is that it is not.  When one
thinks of the extraordinary proliferation of designs of things, and the
huge numbers of ways one can accomplish any given task, it is clearly
inadequete to say that some sort of necessity drives the invention
process.

  The exact mechanism behind technological change is still open to debate,
but my particular favorite centers around an evolutionary model.  Machines
are never true inventions, but are combinations of previous design
elements of other machines, merely arranged in new ways.  These new
assemblies of ideas then become the models for further development.  The
ultimate ancestors of all machines are copies from the natural world,
which provides the initial models humans copy and expand upon.  If you
find this idea interesting, you'll want to read George Basalla's _The
Evolution of Technology_, a popular and influential book (it has been
translated into more than 15 languages, last time I talked to the author).

______________________________
Dr. Mark Clark
Oregon Institute of Technology

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 05:06:33 -0500
From: "The Druid" <tntsrv@10mb.com>
Subject: off topic...

Is anyone here by any chance from the preston / ribble area?
This is WAY off topic, kinda.
reply to:clarkweb@bellsouth.net

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

Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 11:40:29 +0100
From: Bruce E J Lewis <bruce@legend.ftech.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Techlevel dependant Skills

At 14:06 08/06/97 -0700, Bruce Johnson wrote:
>
>On Sun, 8 Jun 1997, Bruce E J Lewis wrote:
> 
>> 	If someone trains to learn how to drive a car in 1965, they could
>> probably still drive many cars from today after having just seen them for
>> the first time. This would represent a jump in TL from 6 to 9, three
>> changes. The basics won't have changed, only the luxuries, but they are
>> usually so user-friendly in cars I'd discount them as being too difficult
>> for a 1965 person to cope with.
>> 
>
>Whoa there....modern autos are _NOT_ TL9, no way. At _best_ modern autos
>incorporate some TL-7-8-ish advances in materials technology, but the
>basic design and operation of the automobile hasn't changed much since
>the widespread introduction of the automatic transmission in the early
>50's got rid of the clutch.
>
	Ummm...that's what I meant when I said the basics won't have changed much.
I'd say that today's cars _are_ TL 9 because they incorporate today's
technology and production methods, and wouldn't be too diffcult for 1965
man to drive. And if you look in say QSDS, ship components are smaller,
better, more efficient, but they are still nevertheless a different TL. For
example, a Basic Sensor System; a TL 10 system incorporates much the same
technology as a TL 11 system, as, say, cars do, but it still has better
qualities that make it a TL 11 system.

	Today's car over its 1965 counterpart or even 1981 counterpart would be a
better TL. Consider, better road-holding, more efficient auto-transmission,
better fuel consumption, better safety measures, airbags, electronic
ignition, power steering (maybe earlier, but more common now), to name but
a few things. These increases coupled with finding them in more and more
cars would make the average new car TL 9 and not 7 or 8.

	See ya...


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

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 20:43:09 +0930 (CST)
From: David Sarkies <oedipus@student.adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: Coversion Rates

I was wondering if anybody knows how one would convert a Megatraveller
weapon for use in TNE. This is because I play the TNE system but have
collected a number of megatraveller books from various second hand places.
I was also wondering how ship statistics could be converted.

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Apollo ordained my fate ... but the hand that struck my eyes were mine
alone." Oedipus Tyrannos
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:52:46 +0100
From: anders.backman@aniware.se (Anders Backman)
Subject: Re: Initiative Thoughts

>        Kenneth: I'd suggest using DEX+INT as the basis for initiative
>rolls.  I'd say that at least half of being able to act quick in a given
>situation is being due to think really really quick.

Why not simply combat experience? Mr Einstein might have been a bright chap
but he was probably not all that quick headed in a serious gunfight. I use
DEX + modifiers for aim, morale etc.

At one time I toyed with the idea that combat experience is the flipside of
karisma. The more karismatic/empathic you are (better at relating to others
etc) the worse off you are in a fight. This would work nicely as a
Travellers version of CoC sanity/Cyberpunk psuchosis: The more combat you
endure the harder you'll have relating to other humans. Finally you'll need
psychiatric care.
(I didn't implement it though due in a large part to my players objections ;)


/Anders Backman
Aniware AB
anders.backman@aniware.se

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 14:18:52 +0100
From: anders.backman@aniware.se (Anders Backman)
Subject: Re: Dark Ages & Tech Advance

>  The exact mechanism behind technological change is still open to debate,
>but my particular favorite centers around an evolutionary model.  Machines
>are never true inventions, but are combinations of previous design
>elements of other machines, merely arranged in new ways.  These new
>assemblies of ideas then become the models for further development.  The
>ultimate ancestors of all machines are copies from the natural world,
>which provides the initial models humans copy and expand upon.  If you
>find this idea interesting, you'll want to read George Basalla's _The
>Evolution of Technology_, a popular and influential book (it has been
>translated into more than 15 languages, last time I talked to the author).
>
>______________________________
>Dr. Mark Clark
>Oregon Institute of Technology

Do you have the ISBN number?


/Anders Backman
Aniware AB
anders.backman@aniware.se

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 14:56:52 +0200 (METDST)
From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
Subject: Re: High Tech offenders

Phillip McGregor writes:
>From: Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk>
>>You're quite right. Given our own recent history it does seem
>>implausible that at least _some_ worlds would not advance tremendously
>>in 1700 years. 
>Why is it so difficult to understand? Surely there is more than 
>enough hard evidence in even recently published T4 stuff to give the 
>answer? It's simple, the Vilani have adopted a societal structure 
>that values stability above progress, and actively work to *suppress* 
>progress that is not conducive to maintaining said stability.

Yes, but the Vilani are not the only players on the arena. There are scores 
or even hundreds of worlds settled or taken over by Solomani.

>Since the Terran "victory" in the Nth Interstellar War was actually a 
>defeat -- the Terrans allowed (well, that's one way of looking at 
>it!) the Vilani to absorb them into their culture rather than 
>destroying and reshaping Vilani culture into the image of Terran 
>culture. Or, putting it another way, the terrans simply bit off more 
>than they could chew.

That's only partly true. In the rimwards sectors there are plenty of
Solomani planets. 

>The Third Imperium is contaminated with Vilani ideals far more than 
>with any lingering Terran remnants, ergo, the 3rd imperium values 
>social stasis more than progress.

The 3rd Imperium is only part of the point. I'm talking about technological
progress during the Long Night. If technological progress is 'merely' a
matter of will, rather than ability, then by the law of averages _some_
planets would have raced ahead. The Vilani mindset may explain why _some_
planets didn't want to advance, but it can't explain why every planet from
the Rim to the Vargr Extents felt the same way, because they wouldn't feel
the same way.

Besides, you're overlooking one crucial factor in the Vilani conservatism:
That during the Ziru Sirka they could afford not to advance, because they
were the biggest and baddest people around. But technology provides an 
edge; and if you're competing against other people who are about the same
strength as yourself, you're going to try to get an edge. The Long Night
provided a perfect environtment for technological development what with
Pocket Empires and Reavers and Aslans (Oh my! :-). Of course, the Long Night 
also provided a lot of impediments to technological development. It's no 
surprise that most planets regressed. But IF technological advancement is as 
easy as Earth today seems to indicate, then it is implausible that _some_ 
planets wouldn't have beaten the odds.
 
>You might note the interesting throwaway lines about patent law in 
>the Milieu 0 Sourcebook -- *very* interesting implications, and fully 
>supportive of the above position.

Imperial, or even Sylean, patent law didn't apply on 95% of the planets in
Charted space during the Long Night.

And, incidentally, I don't agree that the 3rd Imperium would be nearly as
conservative as the Siru Zirka was. The whole tenor of Milieu 0 speaks of
an altogether more agressive mindset.

I still think that if technological progress above TL 9 was as easy as
progress from 4-9 was on Earth, then the Traveller history won't work.
And if some planets around Sylea had TL 14 in Year 0, then Sylea would have
had TL 14 in Year 50 or 100.

So, in the Traveller universe technological progress is NOT an easy thing, 
at least not when you get above TL 8-9. (I would also reccomend that the 
Terran TL 4 to 9 spurt be regarded as a freak occurrence, but that isn't 
strictly necessary).


      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     rancke@diku.dk
- ------------
        "The referee should determine the nature of subsequent
         events based on the individual situation."
                                _76 Patrons_, p. 8

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 15:06:45 MET
From: "Volker A. Greimann" <GREI5001@uni-trier.de>
Subject: FS Sector Data revision

One more question, Marc:
In what format or how should we best send you our 
suggestions/corrections of the FS data?
Or do you just take them off the TML? In that case, please tell us 
what you adopted so we can discuss other changes instead of dwelling 
on things that don't need changing anymore. 
Ad Astra,
V.A.G.       
- ------  Volker A. Greimann, also known as: Grei5001@uni-trier.de  ----
- -- Am Weidengraben 86,C6 - 54296 Trier - Germany - T+F: +49651148846 -
- ------- check out: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/4061 --------
- ---- Student of Law, Gamer, Illuminatus Primus, Slayer of Windows95 --

- -----  "Don't hold me up: I am just barely ahead of insanity!!!" -----

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

Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 08:37:55 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Joseph E. Walsh" <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Subject: Pocket Empires Errata

Hi,

In addition to the Alien Race Table having been left out, it appears that 
the text in Chapter 2 (The Family, by Jo Grant) does not match the Partner 
Table provided in the back of the book.

The table in the back of the book is equally useful, it just doesn't 
agree with the example given. However, if you want to use a table that 
reflects the example in Chapter 2, you can use the one provided below.  

PARTNER TABLE

1D  Social Rank  Homeworld
1   Soc +1       Same World
2   Soc +0       Same World
3   Soc +0       Neighbor World
4   Soc -1       Neighbor World
5   Soc -2       Another Pocket Empire
6   Soc -1D      The Imperium


- -Joe
______________________________________________________________________________
Joseph E. Walsh  |  Game Designer for Marc Miller's Traveller
_________________|  Atari 1200XL and Apple IIGS User and Programmer

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

End of Traveller-digest V1997 #1415
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