Traveller-digest     Friday, September 17 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1101



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Site silliness
Re:  Re: boing?
Even more art...
Weapons fire discussion
[none]
Re: World Builder Deluxe
Re: World Builder Deluxe
RE: boing?
Re: World Builder Deluxe
Re:  Re: boing?
RE: boing? (Auto Reply)
test
test
Re: Vargr 
List AWOL
Re: Acceptable Battle Losses
another Palm dice roller program
Re: wiring plans
Re: Question regarding software for Traveller gaming
Re: Acceptable Battle Losses
Re: Subsidized Merchants and Fighters

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 21:28:49 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: Site silliness

Couldn't help myself (an ongoing problem as you're probably aware)....Hit
the "News" section.

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

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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 01:03:11 EDT
From: GypsyComet@aol.com
Subject: Re:  Re: boing?

I got a digest shortly after sending that message, but the digest didn't 
contain my message. I sent in a response to one of the messages in the digest 
this morning, but have not yet seen another digest. Either the list's 
digesting tool is dispeptic or outgoing communication is sporadic due to the 
hurricane.  Are the non-digest subscribers seeing anything?

GC


In a message dated 9/16/99 6:38:08 PM, Zane wrote:

>>Nothing in more than a day?
>>
>>GC
>
>This is wierd, I got this message you sent to the list this morning.  Also
>I got a couple other messages tonite, but I've had basically nothing today.
>Also yesterdays traffic was VERY, VERY light.  Oops, actually yesterdays
>traffic was dead after 0014.
>
>I'd be blaming my ISP if not for your message.  I'm currently investigating
>why one of the mailing lists I'm on, and is physically located a few miles
>away, doesn't seem to be sending traffic either.
>
>               Zane

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 15:58:25 -0700
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Even more art...

Might as well inflict^H^H^H^H expose the TML to my 3D artistry...

Only one shot right now, of the fabled Orrimot hippie-starship
'Furthur':

Not completely done yet, either, I have to figure out how I want to do
the hamstercages, and I'm not pleased with the texturing, though it's
much better than my first attempts!

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~bjohnson/traveller.html

Click on the Traveller Art link on the bottom. It's a big pic, about
100k in size. I'll get thumbnails when I have more to show off.

More on the Orrimot, and an earlier rendering is available in the
Adventure seeds section.

- -- 
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 16:26:18 -0400
From: Walter Smith <SmithW@HARTWICK.EDU>
Subject: Weapons fire discussion

Someone on the sfconsim-l list has asked for the calculations presented
here during the last discussion on whether or not a laser can hit
a maneuvering missile or starship at range. Does anyone still have
the equations that were used for this?

If you could send by private email them to me, I'll be happy to forward
them. Or, if you're on the sfconsim-l from onelist, I'm sure they'd find
them useful for their current spacewar project. Or did anyone put the
"final results" up on a web page?

Walt Smith

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 16:03:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: [none]

>    First what is PBG: 323?
lets use 324, instead, for clarity

Pop Mult, Belts (planetoid/asteroid), and Gas Giants. Sometimes labels PPG.
so the 3 means the first digit of the population is a 3, giving a pop of
3*10^x, where x is the population code from the UPP.
The 2 is number of planetoid belts in system, not counting the mainworld if
the mainworld happens to be an asteroid belt.
the 4 is how many gas giants are inthe system

>    Second what is the number preceding planetary Satellite. For example I
>created the following system listing, the numbers I am reffering to are 5
>(jenghe), 7 (Satellite 2), 35 (Satellite 3) etc.

orbit in planetary radii.

>    Third when I look at the listing for the first gas giant it listed as
>size C, does this correspond to diameter? Is there a table for gas giant
>diameters?

This is not standard.

>    Last of there seems to be lots of life in this system and the what
>seems to be very unlikely places. For eaxmple,
>
[snip]

Yeah, yeah, yeah... All Real Traveller editions (IE, not GT) have  had a
large number of habitable worlds in systems... it would appear that the
anchients were REALLY busy making worlds habitable. CT Bk 6, MT, TNE all
used the same methods for system generation, and all have the same
problems. T4 was looiking like it would use the same system generation
mechanics, too.

William F. Hostman  |  "Smith & Wesson: THe original Point and Click
interface!"
Aramis 0602 C55A364-C S kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge-
533
Mailto:aramis@gci.net http://home.gci.net/~aramis http://www.alaska.net/~mhaa
ICQ:14640742          AIM:AKAramis	ARM 1.0: 3 R H++ P+
IMTU 1.0: tc tm++ tn- t4-- tt+ to- tg-- ru+ ge 3i+ c+ jt-() au+ st- ls
pi+() ta+ he+(-) kk+ as+ hi+ dr+ va++(--) so+ zh++ vi+ da++ sy- ge- pi+

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 13:07:19 EDT
From: GypsyComet@aol.com
Subject: Re: World Builder Deluxe

- --M <mitch@sirius.com> asks:

>>   Second what is the number preceding planetary Satellite. For example I 
created the following system listing, the numbers I am reffering to are 5 
(jenghe), 7 (Satellite 2), 35 (Satellite 3) etc. <<

 These are the orbit of the satellite expressed in gas giant radii.

>>    Third when I look at the listing for the first gas giant it listed as 
size C, does this correspond to diameter? Is there a table for gas giant 
diameters?

 This notation appears to be unique to this software. Since size codes above 
"A" aren't part of the OTU, you could assume that "B" is a small gas giant 
and "C" is a large one. According to Scouts (Book 6) small GGs range from 
20,000 to 60,000 km in radius, while large GGs range from 60,000 to 120,000km 
in radius.  There has been some speculation that gas giants wouldn't actually 
get that -size- though they could certainly have the associated mass (gas 
being what it is...). DGPs World Builder's Handbook had an actual table for 
generating GG radius, but even they never seemed to use it...
 I notice the GG is also showing a TL. More silliness...

>>    Last of there seems to be lots of life in this system and the what 
seems to be very unlikely places. For eaxmple,

>>12 Satellite 5   F201663-8 -- has millions of inhabitants?
>>       I assume this part of the random generated system and some creative 
explaining or some fudging.  <<

  The rules of system generation (and by extension the definition of a "main 
world") prevent any other world in the system from having more people or 
better TL than the mainworld. These other worlds shown below are mostly 
fellow colonies of Jenghe (govt type 6). Most of this system apparently 
belongs to another system's government. Jenghe has been designated the 
mainworld due to being the most habitable and having at least the pop and TL 
of everything else. This means it's either the original colony world insystem 
and the center of this system's economy, OR it was originally independent.  
The low law level suggests that this is a friendly colony situation, not a 
takeover, so Jenghe is the base for another system's utter utilization of 
this one.

>>
0  Gas Giant   XC00000-8
    5 Jenghe    C799663-9
    7 Satellite 2   G420560-8
    35 Satellite 3   F320560-8
    200 Satellite 4   Y405000-8
    12 Satellite 5   F201663-8
    40 Satellite 6  F62A523-8
    8 Satellite 7   F212630-8
    4 Satellite 8   F100360-8
    30 Satellite 9   F366660-8
    3 Satellite 10  GS00760-8 <<

GC

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 09:23:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Steven Bonneville <bonnevil@ima.umn.edu>
Subject: Re: World Builder Deluxe

<mitch@sirius.com> wrote:

>   Maybe someone coud help me out I have ben running a PBE campaign with group 
> whose job it is to take a census at worlds in the marches. I have having them 
> gather very detailed system info as they go along. I have been generating this
> info with the World Builder software. I don't understand some of the 
> information.
[...]
>    Second what is the number preceding planetary Satellite. For example I 
> created the following system listing, the numbers I am reffering to are 
> 5 (jenghe), 7 (Satellite 2), 35 (Satellite 3) etc.

That should be the distance of the satellite from the planet in the planet's
radii.  So the Earth-Moon system would be listed as

  3  Terra  ...
     60 Luna ...

Moons under 200 km in diameter (smaller than size S) are ignored.  So
while Jupiter has sixteen moons, only four are size S or larger and are
counted; and neither of Mars's moons are counted either (although the
DGP _Solomani & Aslan_ supplement suggested one had been destroyed or
knocked out of orbit in the Solomani Rim War).

Some of the data in your example looks ... odd.  For example:

> Third when I look at the listing for the first gas giant it listed as size C
> does this correspond to diameter? Is there a table for gas giant diameters?
[...]
> 6  Gas Giant   XC00000-8
[...]
>      9 Satellite 4   YR00000-8

Gas giant diameter generation was messed up a bit (compared to reality) in
Book 6, as I understand it.  There were two main sizes, "Small" and "Large"
which covered a range of possible diameters each, and no UWP was assigned.
So the GG UWPs don't make sense, although I notice they all are size code C.
Also, I don't think it's possible for a ring (size code R) to be assigned
any orbit greater than 3 radii under the rules (quite reasonably), so there's
something screwy there too. 

  -- Steve Bonneville

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 21:27:17 -0700
From: "Jesse DeGraff" <fenris@slip.net>
Subject: RE: boing?

'Tis a wee bit light, isn't it?
Jesse




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com
> [mailto:owner-traveller@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of
> GypsyComet@aol.com
> Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 1999 9:47 PM
> To: traveller@mpgn.com
> Subject: boing?
> 
> 
> Nothing in more than a day?
> 
> GC
> 

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 08:07:04 -0600 (CST)
From: "Jason Kemp" <Jason.Kemp@tdh.state.tx.us>
Subject: Re: World Builder Deluxe

> From: --M <mitch@sirius.com>

It's good to see that people are using Stuart Ferris's World Builder 
Deluxe software.  It's probably the best Traveller software I've seen 
for system generation and extended detailing of world data.  He's put 
an incredible amount of work into the process, and his future plans 
are even more impressive.  :)

>     First what is PBG: 323?

P: population modifier.  It's the primary digit of the population of 
the mainworld.  In this case, it's 3 X 10 ^ (Population Level from 
the UWP.)

B: number of planetoid belts in system

G: number of gas giants in system

>     Second what is the number preceding planetary Satellite. For
> example I created the following system listing, the numbers I am
> reffering to are 5 (jenghe), 7 (Satellite 2), 35 (Satellite 3) etc.

The number given is the orbit number, in planetary radii, of the 
satellite around the main planet.  They are not in order as they 
would normally appear in published extended systems, due to the way 
the data is generated.  That problem has been corrected, I believe, 
and will be available in a later release of WBH.  (And the details on 
that are very, very cool!  :)

>  Third when I look at the listing for the first gas giant it listed
> as size C, does this correspond to diameter? Is there a table for
> gas giant diameters?

I'm unsure of that value, but a table of diameters is available in 
both CT's Grand Census and MT's World Builder's Handbook, upon which 
World Builder Deluxe is based.

> Last of there seems to be lots of life in this system and the what
> seems to be very unlikely places. For eaxmple,
> 
> 12 Satellite 5   F201663-8 -- has millions of inhabitants?

Yes, it does have millions of inhabitants.  Looks like a colony of 
the mainworld Jenghe to me.  But good point, as the population should 
not equal or exceed that of the mainworld, since according to Book 6 
or MT's Referee's Manual on extended system generation, the mainworld 
is considered such due to its population being the highest in the 
system.

>        I assume this part of the random generated system and some
> creative explaining or some fudging.

Ah, the perview of the Referee: to take this random data and make it 
into an adventure.  Enjoy!

> 0  Gas Giant   XC00000-8
>     5 Jenghe    C799663-9
>     7 Satellite 2   G420560-8
>     35 Satellite 3   F320560-8
>     200 Satellite 4   Y405000-8
>     12 Satellite 5   F201663-8
>     40 Satellite 6  F62A523-8
>     8 Satellite 7   F212630-8
>     4 Satellite 8   F100360-8
>     30 Satellite 9   F366660-8
>     3 Satellite 10  GS00760-8
> 1  Gas Giant   XC00000-8
>     11 Satellite 1   F700360-8
>     15 Satellite 2   F410360-8
>     9 Satellite 3   H100000-8
>     45 Satellite 4   Y200000-8
> 2  Other World   G200563-8
>     10 Satellite 1   GS00234-8
>     1 Satellite 2   HR00000-8
> 3  Asteroid/Planetoid Belt X000000-8
> 4  Other World   F300000-8
>      7 Satellite 1   YS00160-8
> 5  Asteroid/Planetoid Belt X000000-8
> 6  Gas Giant   XC00000-8
>     6 Satellite 1   YS00000-8
>      11 Satellite 2   F400363-8
>      20 Satellite 3   Y200000-8
>      9 Satellite 4   YR00000-8
>      13 Satellite 5   YS00000-8
>      7 Satellite 6   Y200160-8
=============================
Jason Kemp, ADS Programmer IV
(512)458-7111 ext. 3375

Internet Address: jason.kemp@tdh.state.tx.us
==============================

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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 09:48:57 -0300
From: Michel Vaillancourt <misha@empire.atlantic-online.ns.ca>
Subject: Re:  Re: boing?

At 01:03 AM 17/09/1999 EDT, you wrote:
>I got a digest shortly after sending that message, but the digest didn't 
>contain my message. I sent in a response to one of the messages in the digest 
>this morning, but have not yet seen another digest. Either the list's 
>digesting tool is dispeptic or outgoing communication is sporadic due to the 
>hurricane.  Are the non-digest subscribers seeing anything?
>
>GC
>
        GC:  I am a non-digest subscriber...  and, I saw this.

        --Michel

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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 03:11:55 -0400
From: Ukkie <het.kind@MailAndNews.com>
Subject: RE: boing? (Auto Reply)

This is an automatic reply generated for Ukkie.

I hate you!

You are sick!

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 16:16:36 +0100
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: test

... its quiet.

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 19:50:58 -0700
From: "Wayne" <wewart@home.com>
Subject: test

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

- ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF007C.CBB75E40
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

test

- ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF007C.CBB75E40
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>test</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

- ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF007C.CBB75E40--

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 22:53:27 -0400
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd@gate.net>
Subject: Re: Vargr 

Got a question, there has been a lot of verbiage on the list about modern
humans and their family tree but little about Vargr.  It has been a long
time since historical geology and my paleontology course was invertebrate,
do we have any people on the list knowledgeable about quaternary vertebrate
paleontology, specifically that of the evolution of wolves and dogs?  Just
what was running about 300,000 years ago that gramps might have taken a
liking to?  I know that CT has some passing strange references to Vargr
varieties which don't look or act like your average Vargr on the street and
I'm pretty sure he didn't start with the equivalent of your average modern
feral dog.

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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 10:35:33 +0100
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: List AWOL

Don't know if anyone is getting this but I only  got  9  messages
from the TML in the past 24 hours ... and none  of  them  was  my
preveous test message.  The list server dosen't  seem  completely
dead, but its not exactly healthy either.

Regards PLST
"Rome wasn't burned in a day."

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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 00:34:04 -0700
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)
Subject: Re: Acceptable Battle Losses

Hello,
...
>>  Komrade Mooney! We here at the Historic TML Flamewar Re-Enactment Society
>>(Summer `97 RoM TL division) appreciate your rabble-rousing! AFAIK, however,
>>the I:E counter mix depicts Terran/Solomani TL inferiority (or near-parity -
>>take your pick). Imperial TL E units*, while rare, were superior to pretty
>>much anything the Solomani deployed.            *e.g., AHL's
...
>The Confederation fleet had been severely mauled and broken (_Battle of
>Dingir_ 1st Quarter 1002) by the time the Imperials reached Terra (Quarter
>2 1002). Arguably, the defenses left to Terra were not the best possible,
>just the best left after 12 years. It is telling that after the six month

  This isn't leading back to the "Terra stopped building high-tech forces"
thesis that Leroy promulgated, is it? :)

...
>battle for Terra and a twelve year war, the Imperium was decided to
>instigate an armistice because "the Imperial High command felt they lacked
>sufficient strength to resume their advance into the rest of the Solomani
>Sphere" (Invasion Earth).

  Well, the IN no doubt could have taken the Grand Fleet again with a rest
for reinforcements, right? But with Terra (the ultimate bargaining chip,
supposedly) already in hand, why actually force their way into sub-sectors
full of systems where the Party had held sway - and directed Home Guard
budgets - for centuries?

  My suggestion would be that the end of the war was clearly a political
artefact, and not an inevitable result of the military situation. If so,
then we can profitably ask ourselves why the Imperium might have been
happy to stop the largest war of conquest and pacification in almost 800
years (well, actually, _ever_)?

  I have to wonder if some factions in the 3I (Vilani, Ilelish) maybe
didn't think that _another_ decade of war followed by generations of
military occupation of worlds prepared for protracted struggle might
not be a good precedent to set?

  Alternately, the economic costs of the war might have threatened to 
spiral completely out of control just as the crunch came in funding the
reconstruction of all the Imperial worlds liberated from the Solomani.

>The Imperium was over twice the size of the Confederation at the start of
>the Rim War, but was fought to a standstill, occupying four sectors of the

  Fought to a _pause_, I would suggest. The delay at Terra allowed the Sphere
to re-organize, but not to actually _create_ the reserves required to prevent
the IN from prosecuting the war to a purely military (if sterile) victory.

>Sphere. Perhaps I am wrong in my original posting objecting to the result -
>the outcome of the war was predictable because the Imperials could not
>fight their way through a uniform tech based opponent, close to them in
>capacity and technology. Especially when they had the spectre of a similar
>opponent (the Zhodani) on the other frontier...

  Perhaps they could have, but the opportunity cost is there, and the longer
that the war promises to go on, the greater the risk that the Zho's will feel
compelled to go for it. The tempation to roll up to Deneb and permanently
seal the 3I away from the Consulate might be overwhelming if the IN were now
committed to calling more sector reserves away to fight a decade long war
for the suppression of the individual worlds of the Sphere.

        Steven Hudson

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

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 08:56:26 -0400
From: Mark Urbin <eclipse@ultranet.com>
Subject: another Palm dice roller program

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/9565/

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
eclipse@ultranet.com http://www.ultranet.com/~eclipse/  Opinions Mine!
COFFEE.EXE Missing - Insert Cup and Press Any Key.
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 01:05:32 +1200
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: wiring plans

On 15 Sep 99, at 10:18, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> *Never* underestimate the stupidity of people doing an
> upgrade/overhaul. Unless *explicitly* instructed to save items being
> replaced, they will treat them as "worthless junk" no matter *how* much
> they are actually worth.

I'm currently working as a cleaner, and on one job the week before I 
started they had a big upgrade and cleanout. They threw out a good 
half dozen old 3/486's, in their cases, with drives (all small) and 
network cards. Apparently they were throwing out all their ISA 
networks cards in favour of PCI. When I asked what they'd done with 
them I was told "They all went to the dump, it's not like they were 
any use." Grrr.

Not worth much, maybe, but still useful.


- --
Rupert Boleyn <paradise.net.nz>
Wellington, New Zealand

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 19:54:08 -0700
From: "B. Mallory" <bmallory@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Question regarding software for Traveller gaming

Michel Vaillancourt wrote:
> 
>At 03:25 PM 12/09/1999 -0400, you wrote:
>         I am currently creating a CT ship design program and am in the
> process of working out a abstracted file format that ought to be fairly
> portable.
>snip

It looks like you also have an interesting character generator out there
as well.
I was going to point out that program to you until I checked the
address.

It looks like your work may be the defacto standard. How do you feel
about other
people writing programs that utilize the character files or ship files
created by
your programs?

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

Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 01:21:57 +1200
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: Acceptable Battle Losses

On 17 Sep 99, at 0:34, Steven Hudson wrote:

>   My suggestion would be that the end of the war was clearly a political
> artefact, and not an inevitable result of the military situation. If so,
> then we can profitably ask ourselves why the Imperium might have been
> happy to stop the largest war of conquest and pacification in almost 800
> years (well, actually, _ever_)?
> 
>   I have to wonder if some factions in the 3I (Vilani, Ilelish) maybe
> didn't think that _another_ decade of war followed by generations of
> military occupation of worlds prepared for protracted struggle might not
> be a good precedent to set?

How about because the Vilani didn't want to see all those nasty 
Solomani back in the Imperium? The original 'integration' of the 
Terrans include as a part of its cost a very strong Solomani influence 
at court. Given the obvious economic power of the Solmani sphere 
who long would it have taken them to regain that position if they were 
reincorporated, even if by conquest?

>   Perhaps they could have, but the opportunity cost is there, and the
>   longer
> that the war promises to go on, the greater the risk that the Zho's will
> feel compelled to go for it. The tempation to roll up to Deneb and
> permanently seal the 3I away from the Consulate might be overwhelming if
> the IN were now committed to calling more sector reserves away to fight a
> decade long war for the suppression of the individual worlds of the
> Sphere.

How good would the 3I's maps of the rimward edges have been? I 
don't imagine the Navy would've enjoyed pushing deeper and deeper 
into poorly mapped territory trying to finish the Solomani. It would be 
an effectively impossible task, as they'd just keep retreating rimward. 
Didn't the Confederation mount some quite extensive rimward 
explorations?


- --
Rupert Boleyn <paradise.net.nz>
Wellington, New Zealand

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 23:18:38 +0100
From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: Subsidized Merchants and Fighters

On 15 Sep, Michel Vaillancourt <misha@empire.atlantic-online.ns.ca> wrote:

> Given what I have seen for fighter-pilot life expectancy in CT
> sessions I have played, no.  Fighters get mission-killed *very*
> quickly by critical hits due to size vs wpn USP.  One Patrol cruiser
> can mission kill four fighters per round, quite easily.

The following are all High Guard figures:

=======
depends
=======

The type T is 400T, has 4G, model/3 computer, 2 x factor-3 missile
and 2 x factor-4 laser turrets

If you shoot at the MCr 18.6, 8.5ton Gnat from TCS
model/2 (=1 because no bridge), Agility 0, missile-2, laser-2, sand-3,
no armour

If the defence is only the sandcaster, the Type T hits
missiles: 69% (60% at short range)
lasers  : 60% (49% at long range)

(Then again, the Gnat can't hit at all, it just cannot overcome the
 agility and computer advantage.)

So the Gnats are dead, but it will take a couple of rounds.

==================
One the other hand
==================

The Imperial heavy fighter (MCr 105, 50tons)
model/7 (=6 due to no bridge), Agility 6, missile-2, laser-2, sand-3
and armour-8

The Type T cannot hit this at all. even if it could, the armour
would prevent automatic criticals.

The IHF hits the Type T
missiles: 41% (27% at short range)
lasers  : 25% (15% at long range)

So now the Type T is dead, although a single IHF will take some time.

=======
However
=======

Unless your Type R subbie has its two triple missile turrets as a
single battery, it still won't hit the Type T (even if it does, we're
only talking 2% chance at long range and if the Type T has any armour
there won't be any automatic criticals.)

The Type R is not much better protected from the Type T either.

So in practice, whilst the Gnat is being killed, the subbie could
probably escape.

But if you bolt an IHF to your subbie, expect no one without some
serious modifications to attack you.

=============
Phil Kitching

- -- 
Postmark Design Bureau, Emerging Technology Division
"Microwaving half-baked ideas from across the galaxy."
http://www.btinternet.com/~salvo/traveller/deckplans/

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1101
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