Traveller-digest     Saturday, August 28 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1033



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Metric Madness
RE: [BITS] Something which excites me!
Re: Attachments
FS .pdf at BITS
Re: GT Armor - Cheaper Merchants, Faster Combat Craft
Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)
PBEM games (was Re: List Civility)
Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)
Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard) 
Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard) 
Re: what to order?
Re: Metric Madness
Re: Starship Materials
Re: Re Emulate CT...
re: what to order?
Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)
Re: Starship Materials
Re: Re Emulate CT...
Re: 101 Starships
Re: Terraforming
Re:[BITS] Something which excites me!

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

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 21:48:05 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Metric Madness

> No! No!  A  "klick" is a kilometer, a "tick" is a second, and a "click" is
> an empty gun chamber. ;-J

This episode has been brought to you by the letter "C".
BANG!
Oh no! They killed Cenny!

I hate the letter "C".
;)

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

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 22:06:24 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: [BITS] Something which excites me!

Just FYI, there's an out-take up now from the original version.  Because it
was such a rush job, I got the first version wrong.  Andy wanted a space
shot and I did one in atmosphere.  Oops :)

Jesse
www.vision-forge-graphics.com/jesse/traveller/trav_welcome.htm
"Striving to Produce a Better (Illustrated) Traveller Universe" (tm)

p.s.  No "e" at the end there Dom ;)


>Dom wrote:
>snip<
> I've just seen something great - the cover for our new adventure
> 'SpaceDogs'.
>
> It's been produced by the TML's very own Jesse DeGraffe
> (http://www.vision-forge-graphics.com/) and has an Empress Marava Far
> Trader in distress. It looks really nice! The book should be out on
> Thursday next, but I'll try and get a small version up, along with the
> cover for the Khiidkar Incident this weekend.
>snip<

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

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 99 23:56:13 -0500
From: "Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>
Subject: Re: Attachments

On 08/27/99 at 03:18 PM,  "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net> said:

>Hey, guys, /PLEASE/ don't send attachments to the list... those of us
>on digest mode not only cannot recieve them, but they turn into huge
>chunks of gibberish in the middle of a digest (The list does not
>preserve attachments when digesting).

Yes, please don't send attachments, but don't stop creating and
making available all the neat stuff you come up with.

Instead, of an attachment consider posting a url or email address
where we can get a copy of whatever you wanted to send as an
attachment.

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
"Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 22:25:38 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: FS .pdf at BITS

Just today I got through reading the Famille Spofulam .pdf at the BITS site.
I absolutely could NOT stop laughing or chuckling for hours!  Some of the
descriptions are absolutely outstanding, and led to ALL KINDS of evil
illustration ides in my wittle skull.  Maybe there'll be an illustrated
version of this file in the future :)

Jesse

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

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 22:20:29 -0700
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)
Subject: Re: GT Armor - Cheaper Merchants, Faster Combat Craft

...
>I thought we decided I was Third Assistant Undersecretary For Superfluous
>Redundant Rules. :-)

  What, did WotC^h^h TSR hire you to work on something? :)

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

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 22:20:35 -0700
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)
Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)

>From: AveNelso@aol.com
>Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)
...
>    Sorry, but I seem doomed to DM D&D, since that's what the players I find 
>want ot play, and I got momentarily excited about the 3rd edition news about 
>D&D.  One day I'll run Traveller again,  I bide my time with my new D&D 
>players, but it will happen when they're ready.

  Funny, I just had a gaming group go "sproing", and it looks like I'm 
back to running (A?)D&D too...   <_argh_>

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 99 00:48:18 -0500
From: "Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>
Subject: PBEM games (was Re: List Civility)

On 08/27/99 at 05:59 PM,  AveNelso@aol.com said:

>In a message dated 8/27/99 9:21:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
>jamstar@accesstoledo.com writes:

> Ever think of running a PBEM?
 
>I've thought of it, but I don;t think I'd get out of it what I get
>from  table-top gaming, although there are some old friends it would
>be neat to  play with by e-mail.  I suppose I should play in a PBEM
>before I ran one.

You might, or might not.  It depends on a lot of things.  I'm
playing in several PBEM's, and GMing a couple at the moment.  I've
been active in PBEM RPing for 10 years now and I can say that the
experience is *different* from FTF gaming, but it isn't inferior.

PBEM RPing requires everything that a FTF game does and more.  In
addition to creativity, a sense of fun (if not humor) and the
ability to spin a good yarn you have to have the ability to write a
good post putting all that in writing.  You have to be able to
visualize a scene from a written description and not only *enjoy*
doing it, but be able to give it right back to the GM and all the
other players.  And, not least, it requires a lot of patience and
stamina.

The need for writing and reading skills are obviously due to the
nature of the medium where almost everything happens in writing.
The GM posts background, descriptions of the scene and the dialog
and actions of the NPCs. The players respond for their characters
explaining what they want to do and what the PC's say in posts.
A flurry of posts cross back and forth between the players and
GM as the PC's and NPC's talk and interact and the scene progresses.
The GM has to take all the posts and integrate them, resolve actions
telling the players what happened and continue to post descriptions
and NPC actions.  

It isn't uncommon for a player to post two or three times a day and
there to be twenty or more posts total each day.  If the players and
GM don't enjoy reading and writing, they won't enjoy the PBEM RP
experience...they won't stick with it.

The need for patience and stamina is because PBEMing just takes a
*lot* of time for much to happen, and as you can see from the
previous paragraph a lot of time each day just to stay up with the
game.  For example it's taken 2 real years to play 3 game months in
my AKUS MOBY game, and this has been 2 years of continuous play with
no downtime or breaks.  PC's go off on their own and/or get ahead of
the others, then they have to wait until the others catch up.  Real
life intrudes, from time to time, and illness, work, holidays take
players away and the others have to go slow (or put up the the GM
NPCing the missing players).

It's also true that sometimes players simply go AWOL, and have to be
dropped.  This can slow things down and make for discontinuities in
the game.  It can be very disheartening for the GM when a player
who has a character in the middle of a plot just disappears.  I
guess being stubborn, and refusing to give up on a game, is a
requirement for PBEM RPing too.

IMO, though, PBEM RPing is a very rewarding experience.  I've been
able to play with and become friends with many excellent people from
around the world...people I would never get a chance to play with
otherwise.  I am able to give my roles and moves, as player, a lot
more thought than I ever could at the table in FTF games.  As GM, I
also have the ability to work with the players (and their PC's) as
individuals, allowing us to run many private sub-plots and
breakaways from the whole group, even to explore aspects of the PC's
"inner life" that simply can't be done at the game table.  And just
as a practical matter, it has let me continue to play Traveller
consistently when I couldn't find a FTF game.

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
"Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 01:22:08 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)

Steven Hudson wrote:
> 
> >From: AveNelso@aol.com
> >Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)
> ...
> >    Sorry, but I seem doomed to DM D&D, since that's what the players I find
> >want ot play, and I got momentarily excited about the 3rd edition news about
> >D&D.  One day I'll run Traveller again,  I bide my time with my new D&D
> >players, but it will happen when they're ready.
> 
>   Funny, I just had a gaming group go "sproing", and it looks like I'm
> back to running (A?)D&D too...   <_argh_>

I would suggest degaussing their brains, until the urge to play Other
Game [tm] recedes....

- -- 
AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
"Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 06:23:47 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard) 

> >From: AveNelso@aol.com
> >Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)
> ...
> >    Sorry, but I seem doomed to DM D&D, since that's what the players I find 
> >want ot play, and I got momentarily excited about the 3rd edition news about 
> >D&D.  One day I'll run Traveller again,  I bide my time with my new D&D 
> >players, but it will happen when they're ready.
> 
>   Funny, I just had a gaming group go "sproing", and it looks like I'm 
> back to running (A?)D&D too...   <_argh_>
 
What, they didn't like *CLASSIC* gaming?????????

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, 28 Aug 1999 06:30:03 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard) 

> Steven Hudson wrote:
> > 
> > >From: AveNelso@aol.com
> > >Subject: Re: List Civility (was Re: Insulting Leonard)
> > ...
> > >    Sorry, but I seem doomed to DM D&D, since that's what the players I find
> > >want ot play, and I got momentarily excited about the 3rd edition news about
> > >D&D.  One day I'll run Traveller again,  I bide my time with my new D&D
> > >players, but it will happen when they're ready.
> > 
> >   Funny, I just had a gaming group go "sproing", and it looks like I'm
> > back to running (A?)D&D too...   <_argh_>
> 
> I would suggest degaussing their brains, until the urge to play Other
> Game [tm] recedes....

Don't let Ditzie do it.  She tends to let too much brains soak into the carpet.

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, 28 Aug 1999 12:49:45 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: what to order?

 "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com> writes:

>> Background for MO - get the _Milieu 0 Campaign_ version not the original
>> _Milieu_ 0 Softcover as it has 32 pages of extra material and First Survey
>> thrown in.
>Oh, /now/ you tell me.
>;)

If you'd asked.... ;-)

If it's any consolation I have both versions.

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, 28 Aug 1999 04:32:36 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Metric Madness

In mail you write:

>> I'll skip the mole and candela, unless folks are *really* interested. :-)
>
> Please! Tell us! Well, at least tell me. I love this list for the sci/tech
> goodies thrown about. I catch 'em up and stash 'em like a chipmunk.

You asked for it....


Mole - The mole is the amount of substance of a system which contains
as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilogram of
carbon-12. When the mole is used, the entities must be specified and
may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, other particles, or specified
groups of such particles (14th CGPM, 1971).

Candela - The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction,
of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540X10^12
hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of (1/683)
watt per steradian (16th CGPM, 1979).

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 08:32:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: Starship Materials

>Robert Prior writes:
>
>> Except that there are 'advanced' metals at every tech level. Weight is 2/3,
>> while cost is 3-1/3 more. For heavily armoured ships, like battleships,
>> this makes a significant difference.
>
>So?  At 'early' in _any_ TL 'advanced' materials shouldn't be available.
>What the advanced materials _are_ varies with TL, however.

If the Imperium is early GTL12, then it just has 'expensive' metals
available to it. But other states, in the later phases of their tech
levels, should have advanced metals. So far we've seen 'typical' ships from
the Imperium, Vargr, Zhodani, Aslan, and K'kree, and none of them have used
advanced metal.

I think I'll play around with some GTL10 ships, both military and civilian,
and see how significant the effects are.

Also, I suspect that the Sword Worlds, being mostly GTL9, would get the
most benefit from advanced materials. I'll post a few redesigned ships once
I modify GT Shipyard.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 08:56:13 -0500 (CDT)
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com>
Subject: Re: Re Emulate CT...

> > An emulation of WHICH Traveller?  CT books 1-3, CT + all the supplements,
> > CT+Striker, MT, TNE, T4, TDR? Even with the same ruleset, MTU and YTU can
> 
> What's TDR?

Traveller Done Right, a mailing list effort to fix Traveller
rules and background to be consistant and make sense. It was
based on CT, and I don't know what happened to it.  Did it morph
into Freelance Traveller?

			--Cynthia

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 10:17:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca>
Subject: re: what to order?

>>Starships?
>
>Don't buy. Lousy broken book. The designs are broken, the deckplans are
>drawn by a 5 year old, and the colour plates damage the SSDS design system
>by breaking it up. You can download the SSDS design rules from the Missouri
>Archive for free as a pdf (I think QSDS is there too). The Missouri archive
>is linked off BITS (see below).

You can also get the QSDS application from BITS <www.bits.org.uk>.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 10:17:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: Thrust effects (was HEPlar lives!)

>So the from the start, it's a *given* that the USL ships *aren't*
>designed to enter atmospheres. Otherwise the rules would say something
>different.
>
>--
>Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)

Not in GURPS Traveller.  According to the starship construction sequence
designer (David Pulver), in GURPS Traveller SL ships are the MegaTraveller
Airframe ships, while USL ships are the MegaTraveller Partially
Streamlined. Open Frame and Planetoid ships (OF & PL? hopefully coming in
GT: Starships) will be the equivalent of MegaTraveller Unstreamlined.

This will hopefully be errataed in the second edition of GT, to clear up
the confusion.


However, to avoid confusing ourselves, maybe we should use words rather
than configuration codes. Alternately, attach the game system to the code.
For example:

GT:SL ships are designed as radically streamlined lifting bodies, and may
safely enter an atmosphere at transsonic speeds. GT:USL ships are not
streamlined, but are compact designs; most are capable of entering
atmospheres at low speeds, although 'heavy weather' can be a severe danger.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 10:17:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: Starship Materials

>> John Buston raised a good point: there's a contradiction between the GT
>> rulebook sidebar that says you can use different materials from GURPS
>> Vehicles when designing ships, and the fact that all GT ships published to
>> date have just used the standard 'expensive metal' option.
>
>[snip]
>> I can see three choices here:
>>
>> 1) Errata the GT sidebar that allows advanced materials (ie. prohibit them).
>
>Well, you should remember from the old days, I never liked
>arbitrary rules that existed for no other reason than to preserve
>some poorly thought-out background explanation intact. They tend
>to wreak havoc with the necessary "suspension of disbelief"...

I was thinking more along the lines of making 'expensive metal' the best
that exists at a particular tech level.

>> 2) Handwave a reason why they aren't used for starships.
>
>It better be a real damn good reason. Please don't tell me it's
>because they're all used in the transponders ;-)

No. But they _are_ vulnerable to the Empress Wave. :-)

>> 3) Redesign existing military ships to use advanced materials.
>
>Which is the classic TML answer to half-baked published designs.
>The huge flood of MT designs in the archives came about in response
>to the poorly designed ships originally published in Megatraveller.

True.

>> Now, personally I like the idea of military ships being intrinsically
>> different from civilian ships (in more than just the amount of armour).
>
>Ditto.

This would be a break from Classic Traveller practice. Would it be a
significant one?

What do people think? Would having military ships use heavier frames and/or
more advanced armour upset the 'look-and-feel' of Traveller?

>> OTOH, I don't want GURPS Traveller to drift too far from the Traveller
>> background, and I certainly don't want GT to be a system where all the
>> official ships are intentionally suboptimal.
>
>Unlike MegaTraveller? ;-) I still have a copy of Shattered Ships
>on a back shelf somewhere...

Case in point. GT: Imperial Navy will be the GT FSotSI, hopefully with none
of the flaws that product has. But to do that we have to ensure two things:
(1) the designs should be good Traveller designs using the GURPS design
rules, and (2) the GT-specific flavour of the GURPS design rules needs to
have its limitations clearly spelled out.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 10:17:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: Re Emulate CT...

>I like the differentiation I see these days on the TML between MTU
>(My Traveller Universe) and OTU (Official Traveller Universe) and maybe
>YTU (Your Traveller Universe).  It's a distinction that used to be
>forgotten in the endless discussions of what was "sacred" Canon and
>what wasn't.

A good distinction.


>> >I thought this was a forum for discussing all aspects of all versions of
>> >traveller. I personally have no interest in the detailed mechanics of CT
>> >or maintaining its "purity".
>>
>> Definitely not all aspects... MWM has set some limits, and Rob set a few
>> others... common courtesy says a few others should be avoided (Like
>> kvetching about your GM's nosepicking, etc)...
>
>They have?  When? Where?  The only FAQ I have seen is so ancient,
>it is identical to the one I got the first time I joined the TML,
>back in the early MT days. I heed common courtesy, but dadgumit!
>This is the TRAVELLER Mailing List, therefore fit for all things
>Traveller.

Exactly. We discuss Traveller, not modern geopolitics, religion, and the
latest paris fashions. We also refrain from personal invective. Cynthia,
were you around during the "Clif Incident"?  That is the kind of thing we
don't tolerate (and Rob Miracle suspended Clif's access to this list -
which I think is a TML first).



>> >Are you saying that Gurps gearheads are not welcome on the list?
>> >
>> Min-maxers have not been welcomed on this list in the 4 years I've been on
>> it... they tend to get obnoxious and asked to leave. Gearheads are not of
>> necessity min-maxers. Min-maxing gearheads create such "un-travelleresque"
>> things as the BD in GT:SM; things which have no buisiness in Traveller, but
>> are doable with GURPS.
>
>When the hell did that happen?  Gearheads *were* the heart & soul
>of the TML 8-10 years ago. Traveller is a Science Fiction game with
>advanced technology--take out the engineering and science and what's
>left? Politics & religion?

Actually, we've always had that kind of common-sense limit. One edition of
the rules (FFS1?) had no lower limit on meson guns. The kind of min-maxing
gearhead being complained about would have insisted that that made meson
pistols legal, while the rest of us figured that it was an errate for the
design rules.

In this context, I think the original poster is equating "min-maxer" with
"munchkin". If you reread the post thinking "munchkin" whenever you see
"minmaxer" you'll see what I mean.

We still do gearhead stuff. Scott Streibech would fit right in.


>Okay, then don't read those letters. Simple.  But don't bother trying
>to tell me (or anyone else) what I can and cannot post, unless you
>have replaced Rob Prior as moderator in recent years.

You mean Rob Miracle, not me.

>The ruleset used defines the game: [snip]
>Therefore, Rules are as important as Background (I assume that
>Background is what you mean by "Traveller first"). I do not
>understand your disdain for "min-maxing", as any rules should
>be pushed to see what their limits are--you need to know where
>the ruleset falls apart, so it can be fixed or taken into consideration.
>Some extremes of design have given me new ideas and new insights
>into the game universe.

Exactly. But there's a difference between pushing the rules until they
break then fixing them, and insisting that the rules can't be altered.

GURPS is not the original Traveller ruleset. We are still in the stages of
figuring out what GURPS options to include in GURPS Traveller. That means
that we push the rules, but it also means that we accept that GURPS
Traveller will have limits.

As an obvious example, just because FTL radio is included in GURPS
Vehicles, we wouldn't include it in GT because that violates one of the
basic elements of teh Traveller background (that communication is limited
to the speed of travel).

The 'outrageous' battledress mentioned earlier using the Vehicles rules to
design battledress that was totally impervious to most military weapons.
This isn't how we've always seen battledress in Traveller, and there was a
long and somewhat rancorous debate about how to handle it.



>OTOH, I have no idea who Cliff and Leroy
>were, they seem to have been after my time.  Must have been
>bad, as the names seem to frighten people when mentioned. Anyone
>want to clue me in?

It's been a while, eh?

Leroy insisted that the Rule of Man had a high tech level. He was always
going to post his 'evidence' in support of this, but never did. He also got
fairly abusive, for example, insisting that his friend's deer-hunting skill
meant that his friend knew more about rifles than Doug Berry (an
ex-sniper). He also made thinly veiled personal threats.

Clif was a troubled individual who had some very strange ideas. At one
stage he was accounting for  over half the posts on the TML! He got
personally abusive multiple times, was suspended by Rob once, and
eventually resigned just before Rob was going to cut him off permanently.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 10:04:43 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: 101 Starships

Legate Legion wrote:
> 
<<snip>>
> 
>     OK.  Got one.
>     If the Battle Rider idea can work for military ships, why not for
> merchant shipping?
>     What I would like to see is this:
> 
> The Sharlin class Merchant Tender
> Concept:  50,000 dton USL merchant tender, CT TL 13 (I do not know what the
> GTTL is, sorry, Rob), jump 3 or 4, & 1 g of acceleration.
> 
>     The Sharlin is a bold concept in Merchant shipping, using the idea of
> the Battle Rider tender the Sharlin carries 5 Tebryn class Mechant Ships.
> Used in the 3I on major Trade Routes.  By using the Battle Rider Concept,
> the 5 Tebryn class vessels while still jump capable, are also able to be
> dropped off to service planets in the area.
>     While service on a Sharlin is a long & hard duty, the crews enjoy their
> status as truely far traders, as they go from one end of the 3I to the
> other.
>     Sub Craft:  several Type S Scouts, several shuttles, and a few fighters.
>     Passengers:  between 1,000 to 5,000.
>     Defenses:  Good, as the Zho, Alsan, & Solomani would love to get their
> hands on one of these ships.
>     Extras:  Able to refine its own fuel.

So far, the AuricTech designers have been able to approach, but not yet
meet, these design specifications (using FF&S2).  By using TL-15
materials and techniques, we have been able to, on a base hull of 50,000
dtons, achieve a jump-3 ship, carrying 4 10,000 dton freightliners (for
a final size of 90,000 dtons).  Other parameters are broadly similar to
the specifications above.  Your suggestion that the tender be able to
use the jump drives of the carried craft to supplement its own jump
drive does not appear to be feasible.  However, we are still
experimenting with using power couplings from the carried ships, to
assist in charging the tender's jump capacitors.  The ability to do so
will depend in part on our final design for the Tebryn-class
freightliner.

<<snip>>

- -- 
AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
"Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 99 12:09:49 -0500
From: "Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>
Subject: Re: Terraforming

On 08/28/99 at 05:04 AM,  "Dr. Nik" <sharik@barrayar.demon.co.uk> said:

>>> I guess I must have missed something. I thought B5's Mars was a habitat
>>> environment.

>>It is.  However, it is still partially terraformed, with a much thicker 
>>atmosphere than mars has now.

>And that's the problem - you _could_ make it that much thicker in the
>timespan involved, but only if you plough most of your homeworld's
>economic output into it. If you have something like a Dilgar War or
>(to bring it back to Traveller) an Interstellar War or N (which are
>at about the same time as B5 is set), then you won't have the money
>to do it because you're too busy building warships.

IMTU, it is simply unexplained.  Obviously *some* precursor
civilization(s) did extensive terraforming in this this part of the
galaxy, but it was far, *far* back.  It must have been a million
years or more, to have been as extensive as it is and leave zero
evidence of who or how.  Then why are a few 2,000 mile planets still
with dense atmospheres?  It's a puzzle, a mystery, and something
that *worries* people that think it though.

Who, or what, was behind this?  What happened to them?  Are they
still around...somewhere?  Is terraforming still happening?  All
unanswered questions.

Even Grandfather...if there *is* a Grandfather...has no answers.  I
imagine what would most worry him, if he existed, is "Why did they
do it, and are they coming back?"  ;->

So, am I involking "the ancients?"  Maybe, but not GDW's ancients.
Besides, this is a mystery that the players and their characters may
never solve.  (I'm tempted to simply say they *can*not* solve it, but
I don't mind letting them try, and you never know they might,
someday, find what they think is the answer.)

Heck!  The GM doesn't have to worry about a *real* explaination if
it's "just a mystery that no one has ever figured out."  I don't
have many of them, but this *is* one. ;->

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
"Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 13:56:29 -0400
From: "Terry Carlino" <carlino@home.com>
Subject: Re:[BITS] Something which excites me!

>BITS - British Isles Traveller Support
>http://www.bits.org.uk/
>
>I've just seen something great - the cover for our new adventure
'SpaceDogs'.
>
>It's been produced by the TML's very own Jesse DeGraffe
>(http://www.vision-forge-graphics.com/) and has an Empress Marava Far
>Trader in distress. It looks really nice! The book should be out on
>Thursday next, but I'll try and get a small version up, along with the
>cover for the Khiidkar Incident this weekend.

Please, please, please, tell me SJGames intends to distribute them in the
U.S. Loren Please. <Down on hands and knees>

Terry C

All that is Gold does not glitter
Not all who travel are lost

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1033
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