Traveller-digest       Friday, June 13 1997       Volume 1997 : Number 1424



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Jump drives (looooooong)
Re: T4.1 Chargen/skill value notes
Re: 3 Products
Re: Quick Physics Question
Re: Scenario: Generation-Ship
Re: Scenario - Generation Ship
Re: Quick Physics Question
Re: Fire in 0 Gravity (was Re Traveller-digest V1997 #1421)
Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
Re: Quick Physics Question
Re: Planet X site going down
Mental stability (was re: initiative)
DGP's former staff?

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 00:07:59 +0000
From: Garry Ward <Garry.E.Ward@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Jump drives (looooooong)

With the current discussion of jump drives; I wish to contribute a piece
that I prepared and filed away to use when ever players had questions. It is
done in the form of a lecture transcript from a Professor of advanced
Mathematics

For your enjoyment and commentary.

Good morning, class. My name is Stephano Davros. You may call me Professor
Davros. 

This class is Advanced Math: Jump Theory.  Today's session will be an
overview in which  I will be trying to separate the mathematical reality of
Jump Theory from the popular misconceptions.  Listen carefully, my
assistants will be conducting a test after the  lecture. Continued presence
in this  class will depend upon the results of that test. 


Jump 'space' does not exist.  Exclude from your minds any concept of 'space'
from jump theory. Failure to accomplish this will mean failure in this class. 

The classic model for space time is the culprit of this mis conception.
Image one, please. 

Note that the basic model presents space time as a surface on which various
objects are placed, their mass causing deformities in the surface: the
ubiquitous gravity 'well'.  The depth of the well is considered proportional
the mass of the object. 

What are the flaws? First space time is not a 'surface'. Surfaces imply
edges and sides, which space time does not have.  Secondly, all the
deformities are from the base line surface. Consider our star system.  In
the classic model,  the deformity in space time created by the primary is
separate from the deformities created by each planet, moon, comet, meteor,
ship, whatever.  Neatly separate and isolated.  And totally misleading.
Image two, please. See, to reflect the interaction of  the various masses,
we adjust the classic model by moving the 'wells' created by the smaller
masses into the walls of the 'wells' created by the larger masses.  This
gives us a closer, but not too close, of a approximation to reality since we
are still basing it on a surface.  Each mass, or more precisely, the effect
of the gravitational signature of each mass creates deformities in space
time. Deformities that extend in all directions from the mass, unlike what
is shown here.  If space time were a gelatin desert, each mass would be a
piece of fruit embed in the gelatin; each deforming the gelatin around it in
to varying degrees.

Image three, please.  Note here, in this artificially limited slice of space
time, colored a faint yellow for clarity only, that each mass, represented
the small dark dots, creates distortions in the yellow of space time,
represented by the faint reddish, translucent spheres surrounding them. Each
distortion sphere is of a progressively lighter shade to represent the
lessening intensity of the distortion effect. This model is as close as we
can come to the nature of the interaction of space time with mass. It is
woefully inadequate; but it is many fold better than the classic model used
popularly. 

The deformities overlap one another; the deformities created by smaller
masses would be contained within the deformities of the larger masses.
Photons of light do not have the mass to create any currently detectable
deformity of space time. However, they are bound within the deformities of
all masses. Therefore, they proceed over and under, up and down, around and
around the deformities, travelling large apparent distances from source to
destination. The interactions of the various deformities control the
apparent distance that is travelled by any object.  Your greatest challenge
in this class is going to be understanding that all of these relationships
are just that; relationships, and not physical existence. I can show you the
relationship as a mathematical formula; I can not show you the deformity of
space time that the formula represents. I can show you the effect of it;
like I can show you hundreds of examples of the PI relationship in circles;
but I can not pick up PI and hand it to you. 

This is a critical element in Jump theory.  Mass and it's corresponding
gravitational signature has an effect  on space time that creates
distortions therein. Some huge masses, like the proverbial 'black hole'
create distortions that have useful effects. Under proper conditions a
collapsed stellar remnant of sufficient mass can distort space time
extensively, creating what is called a 'worm hole' . In is not a 'hole' as
you would find in a wall, but a specific distortion effect of space time
such that two apparently distant points in space time are connected. You
have not left space time. You are not outside of space time. You are not
under or over, sub or hyper,  space time. You can not use a sheet of paper
to create a model of it., as you can with the Mobius strip. You can not
create any image of the distortion that is visually perceivable to the eye.
You can conceive of it in your mind, you can create a mathematical model of
it; you just can't see it. You want to understand Jump theory; leave your
eyes behind.  The distortion effect of the mass's gravitational signature
has twisted the space time so that the two points are now in a different
relationship to each other than they are to other points.  When you
understand the math behind this cumbersome verbal statement; you will be at
the point of most pre-stellar civilizations that are dreaming of the stars. 

Given you do achieve that understanding; what is the next step to creating a
jump drive? Yes? A means to control mass and the gravitational signature?
Good. You may have a chance to pass this class.  How do we perform this?
Lanthanum? Correct!

Lanthanum has a  rare, naturally occurring, property. The property that,
when stimulated by large amounts of energy, will alter it's gravitational
signature. 

You can not have gravitic technology without Lanthanum. Your air raft, your
lift belt, our floating cities; even our jump drives all rely on Lanthanum.
Every race that has independently developed jump drives has had large,
naturally occurring deposits of Lanthanum within reach, either on their home
world or within their home star system.  

Like the aforementioned 'wormhole'; controlled stimulation of a set of nodes
made from Lanthanum by sufficient energy can create an artificial
gravitational signature enabling the distortion of space time that connects
two apparently distant points.  The math representing this is . . .
challenging. The actual computations are beyond an organic brain; computers
are a prerequisite.  Applying the energy to the nodes in the correct
sequence and degree is an extremely precise process. 

The artificial gravitational signature created has a duration of 168 hours.
No more, no less. The distortion effect lasts for 168 hours. When this has
elapsed; the vessel that was at point A in space time is now at point B in
space time.  Much like in one instant your finger is on the apparent
interior of the Mobius strip, the next it is on the apparent exterior,
without having left contact with the surface or crossed an edge. Did the
ship  traverse something in between? No. Did it leave space time? No. It
existed within the distortion of space time; which, while not  visible, that
is, not penetratable by light or electromagnetic waves, to those not subject
to the same distortion effect, was still within space time. During the
existence of the distortion; space time was twisted such that point A and
Point B effectively overlapped. It takes 168 hours for the artificial
gravitational signature to induce this overlap.  Bending space time is not a
quick process.  When the artificial gravitational signature ceases to be
effective, the vessel is now at different point in space time than it was. 
 
Conservation of Energy? Energy was used to distort space time for a period
of time, and when the energy was no longer applied,  then space time
returned to it's undistorted state.  No violation of physics here. Did the
ship move? The ship's velocity is unchanged; neither gained or lost. Heading
or direction? Due to the distortion effect, these may be somewhat irrelevant
terms. The vessels heading is relative to the other masses in context of a
specific point in space time. By expending energy to distort space time we
can change the apparent direction with the distortion, as long as the
vessel's velocity does not change.  Remember the Mobius strip? In traversing
the surface thereof you do not take any action to change the side you are
on, yet you end up moving from apparent interior to apparent exterior. If
you do not have enough velocity to retain position  relative to your new
surroundings when the distortion effect terminates;  you will be drawn to
the nearest mass. If you have too much velocity, you will generally increase
your distance from the nearest mass depending on the relative direction you
are heading at termination.  Remember with a jump drive; you have expended
energy on SPACE TIME, not on the vessel.  

I see this concept has confused some of you.  That is expected, given that I
am verbalizing the concept rather than demonstrating it mathematically.  
 
Beginning tomorrow we will be leaving verbal descriptions behind and moving
into the math that represents these effects.  If you have questions that you
want a verbal answer for, ask now. After we have started the math, you will
only get answers in math. 

Yes?  Why 168 hours? Ah; why is it that no matter what size the circle, the
relationship between circumference and diameter is the same?  Why is it that
the square of the hypotenuse is always equal to the sum of the squares of
the other two sides in triangles? It is an observed effect. Research is
being done to try and define the why of  the matter.  Some rather advanced
theories seem to suggest that it is a matter of  how the nodes and
constructed and the degree of control in the stimulation thereof.  Given
this interpretation, properly configured Lanthanum nodes and energy
distribution network, would make shorter duration jumps with lesser energy;
but they will also be of shorter distance. You can not get two literes of
water in to a one liter pitcher, no matter how you design it or run the
water.  Of what value is a jump that lasts a few hours, uses only a few
liters of fuel, and barely gets you a single AU from initiation to
termination point? For intra system travel, thruster plates or Heplar
thrusters are much more cost and space efficient.  This will not be
discussed further in this class. If you pass and enter the next class, we
will touch on the subject towards the end.  A full exploration of this
subject is left for directed study projects, if anyone thinks they can find
a profitable use for these short jumps and can make a case for it.  

Yes? Parsecs for measuring jumps? Weren't you listening to my earlier
comments? Every mass creates a distortion effect. What is a parsec? Think.
Parallax Second? Good. What defines a Parallax Second? Taking an observation
of a stellar body from two points on diametrically opposing sides of another
stellar body.  Stellar bodies that create large space time distortions.
Why? For  measuring the APPARENT distance between the two distortion
enducing stellar masses.  When we get into the math, if you can keep up, you
will begin to see that the mathematical model of the distortion created by
the observer's stellar mass and the apparent distance to another stellar
mass have a major roles to play in the calculation of the overall space time
distortion between the two points and the energy requirement and application
pattern for the jump drive.

Next?  The 6 parsec jump limit?  Precision and Control. Each advance in
distance was related to better understanding of the math, better computers
to calculate the needed distortion effect and better means of controlling
the stimulation of the Lanthanum nodes and better means of construction the
of nodes.  The various stories of 'misjumps', or more properly, minimally
controlled jumps, that have exceeded 6 parsecs demonstrates that is possible
to cover larger distance; we just have not developed the control TECHNIQUE
to match the THEORY. How far is the max? That is a good question. A common
corresponding question is short jumps and the 'zero' jump.  Depending on the
precision of the calculations and the control, a jump is possible between
any two points definable within space time. As I said earlier, the upper
limit is currently set by TECHNIQUE, not by theory. At the other end, a
limit is imposed by the nature of gravity, Lanthanum and the mathematics. An
attempt at a zero jump was made some years ago, fortunately by an unmanned
automated scout ship.  Programmed to travel  to a point well outside of
possible interference by other masses, it was to calculate a distortion
effect where both initiation and termination points were identical and then
execute the jump.  It carried out this part successfully. The monitoring
ships noticed a residual gravitational anomaly at the initial jump point.
The anomaly intensified for a approximately 82 hours; then stabilized.  It
remains stable to this day. Subsequent  reanalysis of the jump program
transmitted by the scout prior to jump shows a possibility that the
artificial gravity signature would feed back upon itself creating a stable
distortion of space time, a 'black hole' like effect.  The scout is
effectively eternally in a jump state.  What some have called a 'pocket
universe'. The general rule for the shortest jumpable distance, derived from
the minimal safe jump distance from another mass, is the terminal point of a
jump must be at least 100 times the longest axis thru the center of mass of
the jumping ship. For our unfortunate scout, at 37.5 meters long, the
termination point should have been at least 3.75 kilometers from the
initiation point. 
 
Most races that developed jump drives did so initially to supplement the
early, poor performance, reaction based drives for orbit to orbit  jumps
within their own star systems.  In fact, the consistent element in the
records of each race is that the first jump was actually an accident
occurring in the testing a new designs for thruster plates, the operational
theory of which has many elements in common with jump theory.   

Yes? Going insane by looking into jump space?  Been sleeping? I said there
was no such thing as jump space.  The ship is inside the distortion effect
of the gravity signature.  Certain effects of the distortion have been
observed. The one that seems to create a problem for people is that,
visually within the bounds of human physical perceptions, the ship no longer
seems to have an apparent outside. Any aperture through which the
undistorted space time was formerly viewed is bent back upon itself. You
look out a window and see yourself looking back in through the same window.
Which one is the real you and which one is the 'distortion effect?' Open an
air lock to go outside and you enter the ship, not leave it.  There is an
analog to the geometric construction called an Tesseract. I suggest you
review the material on that subject.  This phenomona has produced some
interesting events in relation to poorly controlled jump occurances.  While
most 'misjumps' generally send the entire vessal to some unplanned point in
space time; a few have resulted in the distortion effect bisecting the
vessel generating it.  In these cases, the portion of the vessel left
outside the distortion effection was immediately laid open to vaccum. The
portion inside the distortion effect, because of the fold back phenomona,
actually had the open area laid back on itself, effectively sealing the
vessel until the distortion effect terminated.  Those inside the effect had
the duration of the jump to prepare themselves; enter life pods and or
vaccum suits, or seal off undamaged portions of the vessel, what ever. Very
rare occurance.    
 
Next?  Where does the fuel go? It is consumed, of course. Oh, you want a
reasonable response... Using a fusion power plant to run the regular systems
on a ship is the not the same as using a fusion power plant to power a jump
drive.  In normal operations, the power plant, like most any power plant
back to tech 6 or 7, actually generates power from waste heat. The contained
plasma releases energy that exits the magnetic bottle as heat, which
converts a coolant from liquid to high pressure gas used to drive an
generator which converts the physical  motion of a metal through a magnetic
field into electrical energy. Stable, generally cost effective depending on
how much power must be used to maintain the plasma. With a jump drive we are
distorting space time on a large scale. This requires power. Lots of power.
When a power plant is used to run a jump drive, fuel is fed into the
magnetic bottle where the electrons are stripped from he nuclei, releasing
energy and electrons. An electrical current is a flow of electrons  from one
atom to another.  For the jump drive, the released electrons are siphoned
out of the plasma and feed as current directly into the drive unit and from
there to the Lanthanum nodes. Huge quantities of electrons are needed to
create the current which, from the nodes becomes the artificial
gravitational signature. Even the nuclei, as they fuse, release electrons
that are also siphoned off to create current. 

This is one of the reasons that it is extremely dangerous for ships to jump
and then immediately jump again. After a jump, the power plant's plasma is
contaminated by huge quantities of  fusion by products commonly called heavy
nuclei. Part of the time spent between jumps is used to purge the plasma of
these heavy nuclei, generally outside the ship in deep space. 

Why is this a problem? For the same reason that unrefined fuel is a problem.
Pure hydrogen has an anticipatable quantity of electrons. Pure Hydrogen has
anticipatable number of nuclei fusing, releasing a knowable quantity of as
electrons to use in the Lanthanum stimulation.  Heavier elements either
release more electrons when injected into the plasma or pull electrons from
the plasma back into the atoms, depending on which element is involved. As
heavy nuclei are created; it becomes more and more difficult for the fusion
process to continue. Fusing two hydrogen nuclei takes less energy than
fusing two helium nuclei;  more heavy nuclei; less fusion. Either condition
alters the flow of electrons to the grid; creating unplanned over
stimulation or under stimulations; altering the artificial gravity signature
from the jump plan.  Result: your termination point is not the one
calculated. We will explore various simulations of jump plans and how
changes of power inputs will affect them later in the class.  
        

Other questions?  No? Then your ready for the test.  I will be seeing some
of you tomorrow.

 

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 19:20:40 +0000
From: Kenneth Bearden <dreamer@brokersys.com>
Subject: Re: T4.1 Chargen/skill value notes

>    T4 skill levels do not equate well with those in CT and MT for two
>    reasons:
> 
>    1) Character competition.  Because T4 characters have so many skills
>    at such high levels, a fair minded referee cannot just indiscrimantly
>    mix old CT characters with new T4 characters.  On average, to make a
>    CT character as attractive to a player as a T4 character is, you need
>    to double or even triple the CT character's skill levels.

What I'm trying to say is, yes, I know that T4 characters have more
skills than a character generated under CT.

This is a good thing.  CT characters were always generated with sparse
numbers of skills.  The T4 method is an improvement.

But, I'm also saying that a side effect of the T4 system, which is
broken, is that some skills can reach the double digits in level.

The levels of skills should be kept the same.  Game mechanics throughout
the book, originally generated for CT, depend on it.

Give the T4 characters more skills than CT characters had--I'm all for
this, but watch out that any one skill does not reach too high a level
(say, 5 or 6, because they should be rare).


>    Note that these two reasons do not depend on arguments based on
>    canon or qualifications to be a doctor, but merely the laws of
>    statisitics and supply-and-demand.

And the problem with what you are saying is that there are CT game
mechanics in the T4 rule book that depend on skill values being the same
as they were in CT.  If you inflate the numbers of CT skills to match T4
skills as you say, then these rules (which are all over the main book)
are skewed greatly in one direction.  

That's just not viable.  T4 skills must be kept at the same value as CT
skills.  You can still improve T4 characters over CT ones by giving them
more actual skills,but you must still watch that each individual skill
does not get too high.

In other words, a level-3 skill in T4 is the same as a level-3 skill in
CT.  Exactly the same.

Kenneth.
> 
>    -Rob

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 22:54:35 -0400
From: "Shade" <jwatts@catt.com>
Subject: Re: 3 Products

Whoa!!!

Psionic Institutes is out already???  When did this happen?

Shade

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 21:07:13 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Quick Physics Question

At 02:26 pm 06/12/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi, all-
>
>        I tried to send this to the list yesterday, but apparently it never
>went through.  In the event you receive this twice, then I apologize.
>
>        I have a quick question to pose to those TML'ers with more physics
>background than I.  Here's the situation:
>
>        Consider an orbital station, say around 5,000 metric tons mass.
>Now, suppose there was a ship docked to this station, of around 200 tons,
>but with rather robust engines (it's a ground-to-orbit cargo hauler,
>currently unloaded).  It is docked nose-on to the station, facing in the
>opposite direction from the station's orbital path.
>        Okay.  Now suppose this cargo hauler flares its engines, say about
>5G for about 1.5 seconds.  What will be the effects?  Here are the main
>effects, as I envision them:

	Are these 5G engines designed to produce 5G for the cargo hauler by
itself? In which case it only produces 0.3Gs for the combined
hauler/station. And if it's producing 5Gs for the combined hauler/station,
that means the hauler by itself is designed for nearly 90 Gs ...

>1.) The station suffers a sudden, sharp deceleration, dropping it below
>orbital velocity.  The station's orbit begins to decay.

	Total change in velocity for 5Gs at 1.5 seconds is only 75m/s ... You'll
drop into a slightly lower orbit, but that's all.

>2.) The airlock the cargo hauler is docked to likely crumples under the
>sudden strain, possibly opening the hauler to space and parking it partway
>into the station itself. (Providing it holds together.)

	Yep.

>3.) Everybody on the station not strapped down goes flying HARD against a
>convenient bulkhead, console, etc.

	Definitely.
        
>        Does this sound right?  Am I missing anything glaringly obvious?  I
>would appreciate any insight you guys can give me.

	Other than the question about G's, that sound fair.
- -- Dave Golden                  http://www.pcisys.net/~goldendj --
   goldendj@pcisys.net                       finger for PGP key
    *** USE OF THE ABOVE EMAIL FOR SOLICITATION PROHIBITED ***

 "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
  enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
  a precedent that will reach to himself" -- Thomas Paine

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 00:09:50 -0400
From: Bill Rutherford <worj@topgun.cinecom.com>
Subject: Re: Scenario: Generation-Ship

At 06:56 AM 6/12/97 EST, Anders (and others) wrote:
<Snip>...
>>        Metamorphosis Alpha was first reviewed in White Dwarf in the UK
in the
>>first edition, dated June / July 1977. Traveller was first reviewed in
>>White Dwarf nearly a year later, in the April / May 1978 issue.
>
><A bit off topic>
>Metamorhosis Alpha was a supplement for AD&D...

I KNEW that if I kept looking, I'd find my old MA!  It came out in the late
1976 (I think the finished product went to the printers in August) for
$5.00 (prod. no. SF18-R).  It was, indeed, stand-alone (at least in name),
though it's obvious that James Ward, the designer, had a copy of D&D (the
original 3-book set) in his other hands (he was a mutie) while he wrote MA.
 The character sheet templates and game charts do appear on pp 29 - 32 of
the rules, but some of the explanations of how to do things presumed prior
D&D-ish knowledge... Looking through MA, I wound up pulling my old CT copy
- - life was simpler 20 years ago!   ;^) 

- ---------------
Bill Rutherford
worj@topgun.cinecom.com

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 00:33:01 -0400
From: Bill Rutherford <worj@topgun.cinecom.com>
Subject: Re: Scenario - Generation Ship

At 09:19 AM 6/12/97 EST, they wrote:
<Snip>
>>   Anyway, he did a program for Metamorphasis Alpha...
>
>...This reminds me of another T$R game called Gamma World. It was sent of
>Earth after a nuclear war...

Supposedly, 18 yrs after the Warden left Earth, there was a final war
there.  GW portrayed life on Earth after this war.  See?  T$R was looking
out for our need for a consistent universe 20 years ago!   ;^)



- ---------------
Bill Rutherford
worj@topgun.cinecom.com

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 22:26:41 -0600 (MDT)
From: Merrick Burkhardt <merrick@Rt66.com>
Subject: Re: Quick Physics Question

 
>         Consider an orbital station, say around 5,000 metric tons mass.
> Now, suppose there was a ship docked to this station, of around 200 tons,
> but with rather robust engines (it's a ground-to-orbit cargo hauler,
> currently unloaded).  It is docked nose-on to the station, facing in the
> opposite direction from the station's orbital path.
>         Okay.  Now suppose this cargo hauler flares its engines, say about
> 5G for about 1.5 seconds.  What will be the effects?  Here are the main
> effects, as I envision them:

The smaller ship is 25 times less massive than the station and is
rated at 5gs.  F=ma so F is 9.8e6 N.  The acceleration of the
station is 1.96m/s^2---0.2 gs.  The station will gain or lose a*t
m/s, so 1.96*1.5s = 2.94m/s.  Not a lot. 

> 1.) The station suffers a sudden, sharp deceleration, dropping it below
> orbital velocity.  The station's orbit begins to decay.

Nope. the orbit becomes very slightly eccentric.

> 2.) The airlock the cargo hauler is docked to likely crumples under the
> sudden strain, possibly opening the hauler to space and parking it partway
> into the station itself. (Providing it holds together.)

If it's already docked little will happen to the airlock or grapple
IMO.

> 3.) Everybody on the station not strapped down goes flying HARD against a
> convenient bulkhead, console, etc.

They've gained/lost 10km/hr worth of delta v, reasonably hard if
they have no grav comp.  If the force comes along the right axis
they'll feel a bump, maybe a big bump.

Remember that their orbital velocity is on the order of 10km/second,
so the orbit won't change much at all.

- -Merrick

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 22:35:32 -0800
From: Peter Newman <pnewman@alaska.net>
Subject: Re: Fire in 0 Gravity (was Re Traveller-digest V1997 #1421)

Mikko V. I. Parviainen wrote
> 
> On Thu, 12 Jun 1997, Traveller-digest wrote:
> > Leonard Erickson wrote:
> > >
> > > Just be *very* careful. The program wasn't very SF. For example, that
> > > shipboard fire could have been fought in two different ways. First, cut
> > > off the air. Ok, that's a bit hard on anybody trapped in there. But the
> > > SF answer is "turn off the gravity". No gravity, no convection
> > > currents, no flames. The fire strangles on its own smoke (no grav,
> > > smoke don't "rise").
> >
> > Convection currents have little to do with the presence of a
> > gravitational field. Consider: the flame, in zero-G, creates a
> > high temperature, low pressure region of air in its immediate
> > vicinity. The lower temperature, higher pressure air further away
> > immediately moves in to occupy the space, driving the warmer air
> > out. That's the convection and gravity has nothing to do with it.
> >
> > Smoke particles will be carried away with the lower pressure air.
> >
> 
> Well.. I remember reading a book years ago which stated that          > astronauts had tried to burn matches on a space station (can't        > remember whether it was Skylab or russians ). The smoke from the fire > just stayed around the fire and eventually (quite soon, actually) > extinguished it.

As I understand it a match will go out because it is too small a flame
to drag fresh air to it.  A larger fire will & thus can be dangerous. 
If I understand correctly even a large fire could not spread quite as
rapidly as in gravity but the fact that it was using up the oxygen in
the air would serve to make it more deadly. It will burn out when it
runs out of oxygen but that will be too late for anyone who needs to
breathe.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 22:28:21 -0800
From: Peter Newman <pnewman@alaska.net>
Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist

Leroy William Lu Guatney wrote
> Subject: Re: T4.1 Char Gen Checklist
> 
> Marc,
> 
>   Seeing the discussion on the list, I remembered that J.P. had ask me to
> mention that Liaison was missing from T4.  This may have already been
> hammered to death here, so if that is the case, so be it.  I haven't
> finished digesting much beyond the past week. :)

But do we really need a Liason skill, it always seemed to me to be 1)
unfairly more powerfull than Admin or Streetwise since both skills
defaulted from it and 2) implausible, yes there is such a thing as
training in how to interact with people but I think that in Traveller
terms you should just get Admin or Streetwise whichever you are _really_
learning.  In addition T4 adds in Diplomacy which _is_ formal training
in how to interact with people.  When I converted charecters from
earlier editions of Traveller over to T4 I made Liason convert to
Diplomacy & it seemed to work well (I threw in Admin 0 and/or Streetwise
0 if they fit the charecter concept).

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 09:37:59 +0100
From: anders.backman@aniware.se (Anders Backman)
Subject: Re: Quick Physics Question

>1.) The station suffers a sudden, sharp deceleration, dropping it below
>orbital velocity.  The station's orbit begins to decay.
>2.) The airlock the cargo hauler is docked to likely crumples under the
>sudden strain, possibly opening the hauler to space and parking it partway
>into the station itself. (Providing it holds together.)
>3.) Everybody on the station not strapped down goes flying HARD against a
>convenient bulkhead, console, etc.
>
>        Does this sound right?  Am I missing anything glaringly obvious?  I
>would appreciate any insight you guys can give me.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Mike Lee

First of all the hauler will produce 200 * 5 = 1000 tons of thrust for 1.5
s. This will give the station an acceleration of 1000/(5000+200) Gs for 1.5
seconds.
The deltaV will be 9.81 * 1.5 * 1000/(5000+200) = 2.83 m/s.
This orbital speed decrease will be totally insufficient to alter the orbit
of the spacestation as it is SOO much less than the orbital speed.

1) The space stations orbital velocity is slightly reduced which should be
of no significance whatsoever.
2) If the airlock could t ake 1000 tons standing on it on a 1G planet for
1.5 s it will crumble. Causing some damage to the haulers nose as well as
the stations airlock. The stations stress taking capacity is hard to figure
as it doesn't have to take any stresses being orbital but as it will
regularly dock with ships the airlocks would probably be tougher.
3) The inhabitants of the station will be jolted slightly but will be able
to react as it will build for 1.5 seconds.

Space stations that regularly dock with ships will either enforce that
dockings are performed by station pilots (look up the word pilot to see the
original meaning) and/or have telscopic airlocks that can take the stress.
Airlocks on stations will probably be "tentacle" like that snake out to
dock with a stationary ship. Oh yes the cargo hauler pilot will lose his
papers and be grounded for a year whereafter he will be allowed reapply for
space duty. He will also be severely beaten by thugs hired by a wealthy
playboy who got bruised in the incident as he was practicing zero-G sex
when the incident happened.
The hauler pilots thinks that this is the final straw and joins a new
colonist program from one of the pocket empires out there. !4 years later
he (now a custom inspector pilot for the Zurrhon empire) happens upon the
playboy character and breaks his arm. End of story.


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

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 11:16:23 MET
From: "Volker A. Greimann" <GREI5001@uni-trier.de>
Subject: Re: Planet X site going down

- -> <Engage Shutdown>
- -> "The Domain of Deneb goes off the air immediately, We keep the..."
- -> <CANCEL>
Waittaminnit! The Domain of Deneb remains up! Hey, where's my site? 
How'd you do that? ;-) 

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: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 21:44:27 +1200
From: Andrew Vallance <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz>
Subject: Mental stability (was re: initiative)

>Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 22:44:21 -0500
>From: The Stump Family <stumps@earthlink.net>
>Subject: Re:initiative

>Anders wrote;

><snip>

>> 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.

>Well... IMHO this is inaccurate. I spent a lot of years living and
>working with U.S. Army Special Forces troops; lots of training, lot of
>combat experience, tons of training, etc. One guy I knew walked into a
>dark room from bright sunlight, caught a dart thrown at him in jest and
>snapped it across the room and hit the dart board... all in one smooth
>motion, all without warning, all in less time than it takes to say
>'boo!'. And S.F. guys are usually the nicest, most polite people you
>will ever meet. My wife (a non-military type) says they were the most
>gentlemanly group she ever met. IMHO a skilled professional soldier will
>be very self assured and, thus, very empathic.

>[Kinda' off-topic, but close]

You have to remember that S.F. personnel are not your average 'grunt';
they are highly specialist personnel. One of the selection criteria is
mental and emotional stability, and the military expends considerable
resources on maintaining their mental health (the last thing you want on
a critical mission is for somebody to go over the edge). They are not a
good example to use for the mental and emotional effects of prolonged
exposure to combat. Being self assured is no measure of a persons level
of empathy, self assurance mearly means you regard yourself well; it
doesn't neccessarily follow that you regard others well. There a quite a
number of very self assured criminals. (before anybody leaps on me,
most of the soldiers I have met are fairly good at empathy, given the team
nature of warfare, it's probably a neccessity).

However back to traveller. I have very rarely seen the effects of
traumatic stress adequately played. If your being shot at it does count
as a traumatic stituation; and the higher your exposure to traumatic
stress, the greater the liklyhood it will effect you. Traumatic stress will
mess people up but good (understatement). The most common response
tends to be some form of dissociation (mentally divorcing yourself from
the situation), which then carries on past the event. A quick skim of the
DSM-IV will give a good range of effects. In my games, players get
very concerned about the effects of combat on their emotional and
mental stability rather quickly.

  Andrew etc.
    a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz

****************************************************************************
The longest distance between two points is with children.
****************************************************************************

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

Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 12:17:15 MET
From: "Volker A. Greimann" <GREI5001@uni-trier.de>
Subject: DGP's former staff?

Hi,
_does anybody know what the former staff of DGP like Joe Fugate and 
others do now? 
Are they still interseted in Traveller?
 It would be nice to hear their opinions on things and see a 
new supplement by them from time to time.....
 

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!!!" -----

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

End of Traveller-digest V1997 #1424
***********************************
