Traveller-digest       Friday, August 20 1999       Volume 1999 : Number 988



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Grav Belts
Re: Baby [OT, but traditional]
Re: Baby [OT, but traditional] 
Re: Fast Food... 
Re: Hal Clement... 
Re: Experience System 
Re: Fast Food 
Re: Poul Anderson...Hal Clement...links... 
Re: Baby [OT, but traditional] 
Re: Experience System
re: Baby [OT, but traditional] 
re: Roma Class
Re: HEPlar lives!
Re: Elizabeth Moon...
Re: Hard Science 
Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 22:57:30 +0100
From: John Buston <John.Buston@tesco.net>
Subject: Re: Grav Belts

>Are you trying to say that my Grav Belts are too useful?

Certainly not. Keep at it. Just trying to cross-fertilise.

How can anything gearheaded be too useful? ;-)

With CG and reactionless thrusters, the universe it at our mercy. After all
quite small thruster plates can move planets, given enough time. Near-c-rocks
are for the amateurs :)

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:46:16 -0400
From: Michael Peters <travelleri@home.com>
Subject: Re: Baby [OT, but traditional]

Quick Note:

Congradulations! Have you started teaching her the rules yet, and what
version will she be playing CT, MT, TNE, T4, G:T?

"William F. Hostman" wrote:
> 
> Quick announcement: My Wife and I have just been blessed with a baby girl,
> Tammalyn Elizabeth Hostman; 3.335kg, 47cm, 19:38 Alaska Daylight Time, 19
> August 1999.
> 
> Wil (who will be unavailable for the next week.)

- -- 
Mike Peters
travelleri@home.com

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:52:36 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Baby [OT, but traditional] 

> Quick announcement: My Wife and I have just been blessed with a baby girl,
> Tammalyn Elizabeth Hostman; 3.335kg, 47cm, 19:38 Alaska Daylight Time, 19
> August 1999.

Hope you got caught up on your sleep the last few months.  You'll be going 
with very little sleep for a few months...  <grin>

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:47:09 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Fast Food... 

> At 06:03 PM 8/20/1999 +1000, you wrote:
> 
> >> Bowmen and crossbowmen get sent to sniper school.
> 
> >I also recall a Purnell publication, reading that British Commandos used
> >crossbows on a handful of raids to noiselessly eliminate enemy guards at a
> >safe range?
> 
> The US Army has experimented with crossbows for Ranger teams doing recon,
> as a method to eliminate enemy soldiers who wander to close to the wrong
> set of bushes.
> 
> Don't know if anything ever came of it.  But I do recall finding the NSN
> (National Supply Number) for compound bows and arrows while working in a
> supply room.

Special Forces teams usually have somebody who can use a crossbow if they're
doing deep penetration missions.

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:44:54 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Hal Clement... 

> In mail you write:
> 
> > Why *not* a Fuzzy chief engineer?  All he'd really need is the
> > training, and by the books, they're pretty bright.  They just don't
> > have much in the way of technology.  Which supports the 'castaways'
> > theory; they're *MUCH* too smart to be native stone aged beings.
> 
> Excuse me? Members of stone age socities are *not* stupid. They merely
> lack the *knowledge* of how to make better tools. It takes a *lot* of
> time for such small populations to stumble across a new "trick". Once
> they do, they usually exploit it to the hilt. 

That was my *point*, Len.  *Both* counts.  A being as bright as a Fuzzy 
should have been able to conquer top position in the local food chain and 
expanded to fill the top exploiter niche *IF* it had evolved locally.  
According to the books, the total Fuzzy population was *small*, on the order 
of a few thousand, and all on 1 continent of Zarathustra.  They're too highly 
evolved *not* to have spread across the planet, and too dependent on traces 
of titanium (IIRC) for reproduction and health.  A being that naturally 
evolved on Zarathustra wouldn't necessarily be tied needing rare trace 
elements.  They'd tend to evolve to not need them as much.
 
> But going by Piper's books, Fuzzies *aren't* as intelligent as humans.
> If they *were* as bright as humans, then the court rulling that gave
> them "minor children" type status was a travesty.

Funny, they say the same thing about stone aged tribesmen on Earth in the 
20th.  <grin>
 
> Still, there's room for doubt. 
> 
> > Also, the fact that they needed a trace metal that was only found in
> > one source locally.  If something would have happened to those 'land
> > crabs', the Fuzzies would be an evolutionary also-ran.
>   
> We need vitamin C. Unlike many creatures, we can't produce our own.
> It's thought that the trait was lost while our ancestors were tree
> dwellers, with a diet that was high in vitamin C. Thus, the accidental
> loss of the gene wasn't a problem. 

Vitamin C is relatively easy to find in our ecology.
 
> Fuzzies were just unlucky that whatever *common* species or group of
> species they formerly preyed on and that also concentrated Titanium
> died out. Heck, it could be that they developed in an area where some
> *plant* was the source. But it doesn't grow outside a limited range. 

Which would only account for their relative few numbers and concentration in 
1 area of the planet.  To totally exploit the niche, they'd have to evolve 
beyond the need for titanium.
 
> >> And I bet they'd do just *fine* at lower ranks in the Army and Marines.
> >> Especially for scouting and some types of special ops.
> >
> > Scouts, definitely.  Special ops, depends on the op.  But I doubt
> > they'd make good regular grunts.  They're too small and fragile for it.
> 
> Small has advantages. For one thing, given how small they are, they
> should have a *much* lower terminal velocity.. Thus they can survive
> falls from much greater heights than humans. So if you need something
> climbed, send the fuzzy. :-)

I still don't see it.

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:09:49 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Experience System 

> >How else would you skew a PC so that he improves about 1 skill level per
> >game year--like character generation?
> >
> >Kenneth.
> 
> 
> Personally, I wouldn't. I can't speak for anyone else, but game years pass
> pretty slowly in the games I've played in (except Ars Magica). I tend to
> want my PCs to improve faster than that.

Be quiet.
 
Keven
- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:14:43 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Fast Food 

> In mail you write:
> 
> > Does anybody have any experience with those spear chucking thingies? Atlatl
> > or something?
> 
> Atlatl is a name in one of the "Mexican" languages (Nahuatl?).
> Australian aborigines call them woomeras. Mostly, from the few antro
> types I'ver talked to, they seem to use "spear thrower" as the generic
> term. 

I've played with them a bit.  They're pretty easy to make, and they work 
pretty good.  I'm a *LOT* more accurate with an atlatl than I am with a 
'regular' bow and arrow, and about the same accuracy with a crossbow.
 
> >From the description in a few texts, they sound like they aren't *too*
> hard to use. Still need a lot of practice though. 
> 
> > I was thinking of making one.
> 
> As I recall, there's a pretty good description in one of Jean Auel's
> books. Not "Clan of the Cave Bear", but one of the sequels.


They need a *bit* of practice, but believe it or not, they're easier to hit 
things with than just the spear itself.  If you're anywhere *near* 
co-ordinated, shouldn't take more than a couple weeks.

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:22:07 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Poul Anderson...Hal Clement...links... 

> >> > On Mesklin, yep, maybe it wouldn't work, but who knows if we'll ever
> >> > get jump drive! The way I run things, most of my players are more in
> >> > it for the action and adventure, rarely have I ever gotten a player
> >> > that has questioned the "science". So, we just accept the wacky
> >> > planets I've thrown in and go with the flow (heck, they've even
> >> > encountered the Well World and Tekumel at various points, along with
> >> > Jack Vance's "Planet of Adventure" and others...)
> >> 
> >> If one of *my* characters wound up at Well World, you can be sure that
> >> unless I was sure that we were with Nathan Brazil or Mavra Chang, I'd
> >> "accidentally" fumble a roll and get killed *quickly*. Heck, even if we
> >> *were* with either of those too, "opting out" would be *real* tempting.
> >
> > Two things.
> >
> > 1.  It would take a major handwave to get back from the Well World, 
> > basically a readjusting of the equations that define the universe.  This is 
> > pointed out in the series.  *BOTH* series.  <grin>  And I'd *shudder* to 
> > think of what TL it would take to *BUILD* the Well World.
> 
> I was assuming that we'd gotten there by *ship*. 

It's not even in our galaxy, from what I remember.  Only way to get to it is 
by entering a Marcovian gate, and they're a bit tricky to open unless the 
character is *extremely* depressed & despondent...
 
> > 2.  No *WAY* would I, as a GM, allow *any* Markovian holdout like Nathan 
> > Brazil to be a player character.  NPC, mebbe.  But not a *player*.
> 
> Just remember that Mavra Chang started out as a PC. :-)

And ended up written into the master program as a reset switch.

> > And I'll add a 3rd thing:
> >
> > 3.  It would be *MUCH* more fun to dump the PCs into Flux on World and see 
> > how well they adjust *there*.  <grin>
> 
> ???
> 
> I've not read any other Chalker.

Great stuff.  Check out the 'Flux and Anchor' series, as well as some of his 
other stuff:  'Dancers in the Afterglow' (note:  Do *NOT* read this if you're 
in an extremely depressed mood and have been partaking of recreational 
chemicals; you might end up slitting your wrists), the 'Four Lords of the 
Diamond' series, the 'G.O.D. Inc' series, and for serious sword and sorcery 
freeks, the 'Dancing Gods' series.  <grin>

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 20:01:08 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Baby [OT, but traditional] 

> > Quick announcement: My Wife and I have just been blessed with a baby girl,
> > Tammalyn Elizabeth Hostman; 3.335kg, 47cm, 19:38 Alaska Daylight Time, 19
> > August 1999.
> 
> Congradulations! Have you started teaching her the rules yet, and what
> version will she be playing CT, MT, TNE, T4, G:T?

Do I hear a hint of heresy here???

'There is but one game Traveller, and High Guard is its product!'

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 00:56:13 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: Experience System

"Nick Bradbeer" <nickb@ndirect.co.uk> writes:

>>How else would you skew a PC so that he improves about 1 skill level per
>>game year--like character generation?
>Personally, I wouldn't. I can't speak for anyone else, but game years pass
>pretty slowly in the games I've played in (except Ars Magica). I tend to
>want my PCs to improve faster than that.

One thing to bear in mind is the impact of jump on skill progression. If
you don't have something happen, a two jump sequence on commercial shipping
takes characters out of play for about a month game time. When I last ran a
merchant campaign it was surprising how fast time added up...

Dom

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 01:00:09 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: re: Baby [OT, but traditional] 

"William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net> writes:

>Quick announcement: My Wife and I have just been blessed with a baby girl,
>Tammalyn Elizabeth Hostman; 3.335kg, 47cm, 19:38 Alaska Daylight Time, 19
>August 1999.
>
>Wil (who will be unavailable for the next week.)

Congratulations...

Dom

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 1999 01:18:22 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: re: Roma Class

FWIW this is as close as I could get to your Roma class using GT Shipyard.

Dom

- ------

Unnamed-class Starship (GTL12)
Designed by Anonymous

This starship was designed using the rules in GURPS Traveller

Ship Description


Crew: 4 bridge crew, 9 engineers, 2 gunners, 3 medics, 11 scientists


1200-ton USL Hull, DR 10000, PD 4, Turret with 2 fusion guns, Turret with
mixed weapons, Nuclear Damper (24 km range), Basic stealth, Basic emission
cloaking, Command Bridge, Engineering, 450 Maneuver, 49 Jump, 369 Fuel, 15
Staterooms, 2 Bunkrooms (32 personnel), 3 Utility, Spacedock (Spacedock),
Vehicle Bay (Vehicle), 2 External Cradles (2 external cradless), 2
Battledress Racks (40 sets stored), 2 Sickbays, 11 Lab Modules, 43.5 cargo
(+6 in turrets)

Communicators: Radio 3 million km, Laser 6 million km, Meson 0.1 million km
Sensors: PESA 160000 km, AESA 320000 km, Radscanner 6400 km
405-MJ Laser: Imp, Acc 33, Dmg 5dx100(2), 1/2D Rng 41630 km, MxRng 124900
km, FP 7
2 Fusion Guns: Exp, Acc 29, Dmg 6dx411, 1/2D Rng 5920 km, MxRng 17600 km
Note: all weapons have SS 30, RoF 1/60

Statistics: EMass 12024.1 tonnes, LMass 12221.4 tonnes, Cost MCr 510.9, HP
77400
Performance: Accel 3.3 G (3.4 G empty, 3.1 G overloaded), Jump 3, Air Speed
0 km/h


Design Spreadsheet

STRUCTURE                         Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
1200-ton hull                   (1200.0)      22.7       2.5    4645.2
0.0
Airtight sealing                     0.0       0.0       0.5       0.0
0.0
Armour: DR10000, PD4                 0.0    9360.2     123.8       0.0
0.0
2 turrets (6 spaces)                 2.0       0.8       0.1     148.6
2.0
Basic stealth                        0.0      11.7       3.9       0.0
0.0
Basic emission cloaking              0.0      11.7       3.9       0.0
0.0
DRIVE MODULES                     Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
Engineering module                   1.0       3.4       0.2       0.0
0.0
Jump drive (3 parsecs)              49.0     177.8     149.4       0.0
0.5
Jump tanks                         369.0     435.1      59.0       0.0
0.0
Maneuver drive (3.3G)              450.0    1632.6     130.5       0.0
4.5
WEAPON MODULES                    Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
Missile Rack                       (1.0)      11.8       0.0       0.0
0.0
405-MJ Laser                       (1.0)       7.1       0.7       0.0
0.0
1 sandcaster                       (1.0)       4.5       0.3       0.0
0.0
2 Fusion Guns                      (3.0)      24.5       4.8       0.0
0.0
Nuclear Damper (24 km range)         2.0      18.1       8.0       0.0
0.0
WORKSPACE MODULES                 Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
Command Bridge                       5.0      17.8       8.5       0.0
4.0
3 utility modules                    3.0      31.3       0.8       0.0
0.0
Spacedock                          150.0       0.9       0.0       0.0
0.0
Vehicle Bay                         31.5      68.0       2.3       0.0
0.0
2 External Cradles                   0.0       0.0       0.0       0.0
0.0
2 Battledress Racks                  2.0      52.2       0.0       0.0
0.0
2 Sickbays                           2.0       1.5       0.4       0.0
3.0
11 Lab Modules                      22.0      99.8      11.0       0.0
11.0
Hold                                43.5       0.0       0.0       0.0
0.0
ACCOMMODATION MODULES             Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
15 staterooms                       60.0      27.2       0.2       0.0
0.0
2 bunkrooms sleeping 32 person       8.0       3.5       0.0       0.0
0.0
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS               Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
Fuel                             (369.0)       0.0       0.1       0.0
0.0
Cargo                             (43.5)   (197.3)       0.0       0.0
0.0
Spacedock                         (75.0)       0.0       0.0       0.0
0.0
Vehicle                           (30.0)       0.0       0.0       0.0
0.0
2 external cradless               (30.0)       0.0       0.0       0.0
0.0
Missiles                             0.0       0.0       1.7       0.0
0.0
Sand cannisters                      0.0       0.0       0.1       0.0
0.0
TOTALS                            Spaces      Mass      Cost      Area
Crew
Fully loaded & fitted out         1200.0   12221.4     512.8    4793.8
29.0
Unloaded with skeleton crew       1200.0   12024.1     510.9    4793.8
13.0


(Designed with GT Shipyard: GURPS Traveller's Starship Design Software.
Copyright Robert Prior, 1998)

- ----------Dom Mooney---dom@cybergoths.u-net.com------------
                       MiB - Marines in Battledress
   "Protecting the Imperium from the Scum of the Galaxy"
Rob Prior's Mac software @ http://www.bits.org.uk/ 

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 17:38:33 -0700
From: "Bruce Macintosh" <bruce.macintosh@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: HEPlar lives!

>The section on "super lasers" is *very* interesting. They've got a
>"modest tabletop laser" with an intensity of 3e17 W/cm^2. And the pulse
>duration is 3.5e-14 sec (I get 10.5 kJ/cm^2). Fired into a jet of
>Deuterium gas the jet exploded fusing some of the deuterium into
>Helium-3.

Note that the beam size is tiny (much smaller than 1 cm^2), so the
actual energy involved is currently very, very low.

Bruce

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 19:39:33 -0500
From: Jimmy Simpson <nimrod@santech.com>
Subject: Re: Elizabeth Moon...

At 07:08 AM 8/19/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I think her Paksenarion series is GREAT fanasy...but for sci-fi try the
>Sassinak (sp?) series.
>
>TAS
This was part of Anne McCaffrey's Planet Pirates books.  Elizabeth Moon 
co-wrote 2 of the 5: Sassinak and Generation Warriors.  I am not positive, 
but I believe this was done the way many co-authored books are today, 
McCaffrey providing the basic storyline and the co-author writing the story.

Jimmy Simpson
      nimrodd@fastlane.net

"The avalanche has already started.
It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
                       -Kosh Naranek (Babylon 5)

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 21:26:55 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Hard Science 

> At 09:27 AM 8/20/1999 +1000, you wrote:
> 
> >I have read a book by Ben Bova (from the top of my head "How to write Space
> >Sci Fi', but the book is at home so I can not get the name right). He had
> >an interesting point. In one of his stories, he mapped out exactly how his
> >spaceships worked. Yet he did not use any of this information in the story.
> 
> Ben Bova writes for and edits the Science Fiction Writing Series for
> Writer's Digest Books.
> 
> >Why? They where not needed to progress the story.
> 
> But it's important so that your technology remains constant.  Otherwise,
> you get a "Star Trek:TNG" environment where every other menace is solved by
> manipulating particles or forces that never get mentioned again, despite
> the world-shattering nature of the solution.

I remember Chalker writing something on a simular line, and I *know* Niven & 
Pournelle have, too.  They also mentioned that they had to work out the 
*implications* of their technologies like the Alderson Drive to see what 
kinds of cultures were possible.  For instance, given even *current* weapons 
technologies (1999 AD), no Langston Field, and an Alderson Drive that allowed 
you to pick and choose where in a system you could come in at, assuming you 
could come out at orbital distances instead of 'way the hell out there', it's 
just too easy for Bad Guys to come out of space, shoot the place up, land, 
loot, and fade into the woodwork before getting caught.  Planetary defense is 
a *nightmare*, and 'upward mobility' means getting your hands on a ship and 
some nukes and raiding your neighbors.  Damned near impossible to create and 
maintain anything like a stable culture.
 
> My favorite example of this is "Rascals", where Picard, Ro and Chief
> Bartender Whoopie are reduced to adolescence by the ubiquitous transporter
> malfunction.  Later in the show, they figure out how it happened, and
> restore the characters to their proper ages.
> 
> Examine this for a second:  The Enterprise just discovered practical
> immortality!  Age regeneration without *any* loss of memory or brain
> function!  I could endless go from 28 (when my cancer presented itself)
> back to 14 or so, and live forever with a working immune system!  But we
> never hear about this marvelous discovery again.

Typical TNG.  Typical plot:  "Wesley saves the ship again using Yet Another 
Weird Bogus Particle'.  Thing I *liked* about the original series ('TOS') 
were remarks like Scotty saying 'But Cap'n!  Ye canna break the laws of 
*physics*!!'

This is pretty much the same reason I like B5 and Crusade so much.
 
> Having your technology set as hard as possible keeps the abuses down to a
> minimum.  If you have a transporter that can do the tricks shown in
> _Rascals_, your society is going to be very different (add in the "pattern
> buffer" trick from _Relics_ and you have a race of immortal
> twenty-somethings who aren't afraid of death, because they have spares in
> the Life Center pattern buffer.)

A quick fix would be 'Yeah, we hit them with the antibogositron particles.  
But it fried out the main flux manifold, and we'll have to send back to Star 
Fleet Supply for a replacement; we *can't* replicate it, they just don't 
*work* when you try it!'

> <snip>
> 
> >If you want to have a game of Traveller that is based on real science, it
> >is your right. People who like myself enjoy the sense of wonder imagining
> >are universe where humanity and aliens regularly laugh at the laws of
> >gravity, design vessels which make the Concorde look like a biplane, and
> >fight wars of senseless carnage.
> 
> Yes, but we define just what it takes to defy the laws of gravity.  Not so
> much in theory, but in terms of how many kg of CG gear will it take to
> propel mass x at velocity y.  That's the hard "gearhead" science, a
> coherent set of design rules that follow that internal consistency.
> 
> Make no mistake, I love scooting across solar systems at ridiculous
> velocities, arming my ships with grav-focused lasers, and carrying
> unlicensed nuclear reactors on my back.  I just enjoy having it all make a
> little sense.

Here, here!!

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 18:38:30 -0700
From: "Tom" <tbergman@brawleyonline.com>
Subject: Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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> Antti Lahtinen writes:
>
>>      Hmm. If Traveller HEPlaR drive is considered to be a kind of=20
>>      plasma focus device, it might be possible to use FF&S to=20
>>      calculate how much damage the exhaust plume inflicts, assuming
>>      that it is a fusion gun with very high rate of fire...
>
> *cough*.  If you really want people toasting small cities with their=20
> engines, go for it.  HEPlaR has a power output of roughly 15 megawatts =
per=20
> newton of thrust -- your average free trader, at something like 20 =
million=20
> newtons thrust, generates the equiva
> lent of a 50 kiloton nuclear weapon every second...

Just curious, but isn't this why most downports have landing pads = separated=20
from living quarters?  Some of them with high earthwork walls? ...or am = I=20
missing the point?

Oriontwin
Orion 0609 C36AA84-A hi- va+ vi+ so++ A633
tc+ tm+ tn t4+ tg-- ru+ he+ 3i!(+) c+ jt- st++ pi+ ta ge

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<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dwindows-1252" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
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<DIV><FONT size=3D2>&gt; Antti Lahtinen=20
writes:<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt;&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hmm. If =
Traveller=20
HEPlaR drive is considered to be a kind of=20
<BR>&gt;&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; plasma focus device, it might =
be=20
possible to use FF&amp;S to <BR>&gt;&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; =
calculate=20
how much damage the exhaust plume inflicts,=20
assuming<BR>&gt;&gt;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; that it is a fusion =
gun with=20
very high rate of fire...<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt; *cough*.&nbsp; If you really =
want=20
people toasting small cities with their <BR>&gt; engines, go for =
it.&nbsp;=20
HEPlaR has a power output of roughly 15 megawatts per <BR>&gt; newton of =
thrust=20
- -- your average free trader, at something like 20 million <BR>&gt; =
newtons=20
thrust, generates the equiva<BR>&gt; lent of a 50 kiloton nuclear weapon =
every=20
second...<BR><BR>Just curious, but isn't this why most downports=20
have&nbsp;landing pads separated </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>from living quarters?&nbsp; Some of them with high =
earthwork=20
walls?&nbsp;...or am I </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>missing the point?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3D2>Oriontwin<BR>Orion 0609 C36AA84-A hi- va+ vi+ so++ =
A633<BR>tc+=20
tm+ tn t4+ tg-- ru+ he+ 3i!(+) c+ jt- st++ pi+ ta =
ge</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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End of Traveller-digest V1999 #988
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