Traveller-digest      Monday, October 4 1999      Volume 1999 : Number 1157



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Traveller Versions 
Re: MT and TNE designs
Re: Murphy's Rule
Re: falkenbergs legions firing into civilians
RE: Traveller Versions
Re: MT and TNE designs
RE: Military Spending and Taxation (getting OT)
Re: MT and TNE designs
Re: MT and TNE designs
Re: Downport trouble...
Re: OT: Diskworld Science
Re: Shionthy too
Re: Citizens of the TML 
RE: Re TNE/Nth RFW
RE: Shiont(h)y Belt
Re: TL8 Light Battlesuit
Re: OT: Diskworld Science
Re: Shiont(h)y Belt
Living Expenses (was re: taxation)
Re: TL8 Light Battlesuit
Re: Traveller Versions
Battlesuit energy
Re: [BITS] Extra!

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 03:52:36 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Traveller Versions 

> shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson) writes:
> 
> >>From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
> >>Book 8 is Robots and not really relevant as a core system. Striker is
> >>equally applicable.
> >  Are you suggesting that "Striker" _isn't_ really relevant?
> 
> No. I'm suggesting that I'd prefer to use Striker. Suggesting Striker isn't
> relevant is like saying HG was clunky.

Quick, call Cardinal Fang!

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: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 17:12:34 -0700
From: "Antony Farrell" <Skaran@bigpond.com>
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Jory Earl <j-man@iname.com>
To: <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 1999 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs


>
> >There's not only a C-64 emulator for the PC, but they also sell a cable
> >that'll let you hook a 1541 drive to a PC printer port.
> >
> >That might save you some time.
>
> There are programs that READ commodore disks in PC drives and ctreate disk
> images on a PC's hard drive.
>
>___________________________________________________________
>  J-Man
>  ICQ# 2843475
>  New Hampshire - U.S.A.
>  Email : j-man@iname.com
>  Home Page : http://www.geocities.com/~jman037/
> ___________________________________________________________
> Any idea where I might find such a program, and would I be able to get the
files into a wordprocessor?

Antony Farrell
>

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

Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 22:03:21 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: Murphy's Rule

From: Hans Rancke-Madsen 
> Maybe the spacers have a great union.

IMTU, spacers and starport workers are among the prime targets for Ine
Givar union organisers.  The Ine Givar unions are the ones to join - they
tend to be the most resistant to noble terrorism and takeovers by organised
crime, plus they're the least interested in cooperating/collaborating with
planetary governments.

An OT Real World(tm) curiousity:  there is a political party in East Timor
one of whose main bases of support is among dock workers.  It seems like
they
may have been influenced by unionised crews on some of the ships that have
gone there.  

OBTRAV:  Obviously interstellar trade influences 'elite' politics on
Imperial and near-Imperial worlds.  Presumably it influences 'popular'
politics too.  These influences could just as easily come through megacorp
ships as through free traders - all it takes is that assistant engineer who
is a keen Spacers' Guild activist. 

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 22:03:18 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: falkenbergs legions firing into civilians

From: AveNelso@aol.com
>     Ahh, but Vilani revolutionaries would expect something like that and
be 
> prepared.  The only reason it worked for Falkenberg was that it was a 
> complete surprise, one that he could do it, and the other that he would
do 
> it.     

This whole business is stolen from history, as I'm sure 'Dave the Ancient
History guy' would realise.  It's poached from the suppression of the 'Nika
riots' in Constantinople by Belisarius and Narses.

David Drake used the same idea in one of his "Hammer's Slammers" stories. 
I can't remember the title.

L Sprague de Camp used it in a fantasy setting in "The Clocks of Iraz".

The Nika riots were kind of cool, as the organisation of the rioters was
provided by the chariot racing factions - kind of half political parties
and half gangs of soccer hooligans^h^h fans, with vague associations with
different Christian religious sects.  (See de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall"
for some flavour of religious disputes in this period, even though the book
is of course fiction.)

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 11:49:16 +0100 
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: RE: Traveller Versions

Dom wrote:
> The Dag sourcebook for T4 died when IG folded.

So, can BITS print it?

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

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 21:39:26 +1000
From: "The Roc" <roc@kewl.com.au>
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Antony Farrell <Skaran@bigpond.com>
To: <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 1999 4:54 PM
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Leonard Erickson <shadow@krypton.rain.com>
> To: <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
> Sent: Sunday, October 03, 1999 12:18 AM
> Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs
>
>
> > In mail you write:
> >
> > >> Sure, you and a number of other people have asked for the stats, I
> > >> am in the process of re-entering them on my current PC, the
> > >> originals were done on a long since dead Commodore 64.
> >
> > > Ahhhhhhh... what memories... reentering old C64 data to a newer,
> > > non-compatible system...  :^)
> >
> > There's not only a C-64 emulator for the PC, but they also sell a cable
> > that'll let you hook a 1541 drive to a PC printer port.
> >
> > That might save you some time.
> >
> > --
> > Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
>
> Well it would have done if the two 1541 drives I had didn't die at the
same
> time. Oh well back to typing the designs in, done about 14 so far.
> Antony
>

My problem was that I went to an Atari 1040ST (for financial reasons) when
the C64 slowly perished and everything I had to transcript was from
hardcopy.  Heheheheheh... then the diskdrive of the 1040ST died and I
shifted to a PC some *months* later and again, had to transcribe from
hardcopies!  Sheesh!!  LOL

- -- The Roc

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 12:24:26 +0100 
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: RE: Military Spending and Taxation (getting OT)

Terry C wrote:
> Obtrav: The Imperium, during it's expansion phase, would take
> possession of existing Starports. Sometimes it would claim
> jurisdiction over whole systems, like Naval Depot systems. What
> about strategically located systems with only marginally
> habitable worlds or only belts. Does the Imperial Government
> directly fund Starports and logistic support?

I agree with your comments about the  expansion  phase.  However,
as to whether the 3I funds starports in the post-expansion phase:

Disliking "one size fits all" answers I think that where possible
the 3I would try to coerce the local planetary government to fund
local infrastructure improvements, or at least joint  fund  them.
Sometimes the 3I would foot the bill but that would depend on the
personalty of the subsector  and  sector  nobility.  Sometimes  a
starport would be built by a megacorporation who would either use
it for themselves  or  run  the  facilities  as  a  profit-making
business.  Starports are something which can readily be justified
to the commercial world.

One thing the 3I would be concerned about is tech  compatability.
Difficulty in maintaining shipping would hurt both commercial and
military quarters.  To that end I see a  series  of  3I-sponsored
tech specifications, covering everything from starship components
to subsystems and sometimes beyond.  Check  out  the  section  on
IDPs on my StuffOnline web site for more details.



Regards PLST
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/trisen/sol
"Rome wasn't burned in a day."

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

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 20:03:50 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs

In mail you write:

>>There's not only a C-64 emulator for the PC, but they also sell a cable
>>that'll let you hook a 1541 drive to a PC printer port.
>>
>>That might save you some time.
>
> There are programs that READ commodore disks in PC drives and ctreate disk
> images on a PC's hard drive.

1541 disks aren't readable in PC drives without extra hardware. They
use GCR format, which standard FDC chips can't handle. The same goes
for older Mac floppies.

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

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

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 20:05:55 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs

In mail you write:

>> In mail you write:
>>
>> >> Sure, you and a number of other people have asked for the stats, I
>> >> am in the process of re-entering them on my current PC, the
>> >> originals were done on a long since dead Commodore 64.
>>
>> > Ahhhhhhh... what memories... reentering old C64 data to a newer,
>> > non-compatible system...  :^)
>>
>> There's not only a C-64 emulator for the PC, but they also sell a cable
>> that'll let you hook a 1541 drive to a PC printer port.
>>
>> That might save you some time.

> Well it would have done if the two 1541 drives I had didn't die at the same
> time. Oh well back to typing the designs in, done about 14 so far.

Ask around, or hit a flea market, and you should be able to find
another drive, cheap. 

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

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

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 20:10:08 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Downport trouble...

In mail you write:

> Actually, it is a Zhodani plot...
>
> We have no explanation yet, but I suspect that a router failed.  We have
> resolved the issue so far, but I appreciate that you noticed.  Sorry about 
> any inconvenience this caused.
>
> Tascelt@aol.com wrote:
>
>> I just tried to get to the site using the URL I got off the TML and it said
>> "domain not found"  HHmmmmm....it must be a Zhodani plot!

There was a *major* break in the Internet Backbone in Ohio. Could that
have done it?

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

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

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 20:13:36 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: OT: Diskworld Science

In mail you write:

> On 03 Oct, Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> I just bought the book "The Science of Diskworld", by Terry Pratchett,
>> Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen.
>
>> I highly recommend it as a good overview of how science works. They
>> use the metaphor of the wizards at the Unseen University on Diskworld
>> looking at a magical simulation of Roundworld (ie. us).
>> Highly entertaining, with some pretty deep ideas.
>
> I second that suggestion.

I wonder if any of the design rules can handle a computer like HEX? :-)
Especially the requirement for the FTB unit.

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

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 09:03:07 -0300
From: Michel Vaillancourt <misha@empire.atlantic-online.ns.ca>
Subject: Re: Shionthy too

At 09:09 AM 03/10/1999, you wrote:
>At 02:50 AM 10/3/1999 +0200, you wrote:
>
>>Eskaloyt's sun is thought to have been between an F2 V and an F7 V. Since
>>_Regency Sourcebook_ changed a number of M-type stars to other types by
>>substituting an F, G, or K for the M and retaining the number, I'd
>>suggest that Shionthy's star ought to be an F4 V.
>
>Perhaps Eskaloyt was a binary system, and Yaskodray only took one star with
>him.
>--
        Doug,
        ...at which point the sudden and dramatic rearrangement of planetary
orbits converted at least one world to gravel...  

        --Michel
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	Michel R. Vaillancourt	misha@atlantic-online.ns.ca
				ICQ # 31172292
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	    NET-City Communications....
	         Providing "Solutions for the Common Company"
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	***REMEMBER - Always virus-check your emails ***
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 08:07:08 -0400
From: "Sword Worlder" <swordworlder@clinic.net>
Subject: Re: Citizens of the TML 

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Keven R. Pittsinger <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
> You get my bio yet, or do you want me to send it to you, Colin?

Yes, indeed.  I have added both you and J-Man, and have updated Doug Berry
and Charles Hensley.  Now that are router is back up, was there anyone else
interested in being added or in need of an update on the "Citizens of the
TML" listing?  http://www.downport.com/understanding/TML.html


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The TRAVELLER Domain
http://www.downport.com
Colin Michael, WebDev

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 13:19:28 +0100 
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: RE: Re TNE/Nth RFW

<quickly changing into asbestos underwear>

Chris Seamans wrote:
> Is that Dave Nilsen speaking, or the people of the former Third
> Imperium? That's an important distinction to make. If it's
> simply the opinion of an author, and he implausibly thrusts
> democratization into the setting, I can agree that it's a bad
> thing. However, if it can be rectified with other events in the
> storyline (such as a civil war between petty nobles that ended
> up killing billions, maybe even trillions of sophonts) the
> opinion of Dave Nilsen no longer matters as much.

Ah, but  the  Rebellion  was  started  by  the  assassination  of
Strephon (maybe) by Dulinor to bring about democracy in  the  3I.
He  and  the  pro-democracy  movement  are  to  blame  ...   thus
"democracy"  on  the  interstellar  scale  could   be   seen   as
dangerously radical and destructive.  The successors  to  the  3I
would be anti-"interstellar democracy" not pro.

It did seem like the democratisation of the OTU was an attempt to
remove those elements that made the authors of TNE uncomfortable.



Jim MacLean wrote:
> Based on what Dave Nilsen has said on the  TNE-RCES  list,  the
> first part of your statement is  true.  Dave  joined  GDW  long
> after the history of the Rebellion  and  Hard  Times  had  been
> written.  He  believed  that  the  Rebellion   story-line   had
> thoroughly morally discredited every faction and that  allowing
> any of them to win would have been wrong.

That's exactly what I liked about the Rebellion story-line: there
were no good guys and bad guys but a more realistic reflection of
the human condition ... a moral maze.  If you want  a  game  with
saccarine preachy good-v-evil background go and play Star Wars!

<sarcasm on>
    As for not letting the bad guys win ...  its  not  like  that
    ever happens in RL, right?
<sarcasm off>

Given the hard-SF aspect of FF&S and the T2K house system rules I
always thought  that  2300AD  should  have  been  given  the  TNE
treatment (and not MT).



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

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 10:15:35 -0400
From: Ian Ferguson <ian@vax2.concordia.ca>
Subject: RE: Shiont(h)y Belt

Peter Trevor writes:
<snipped>
>(a) whatever created the  antimatter  is  more  recent  than  the
>    Ancient War, or ...
>(b) something is creating fresh 'supplies' or  antimatter  in  an
>    ongoing process, or ...
>(c) the destroyed planet was in the outer system, or ...
>(d) something else.

	Has anyone worked out the potential consequences of the star
	itself being antimatter?

Peez

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 09:01:09 PDT
From: "Brandon Cope" <copeab@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: TL8 Light Battlesuit

>From: jmaclean@ix.netcom.com
>*ObTrav:  If we want to eliminate mecha-like battledress from GURPS 
>Traveller,
>	all we need to do is use realistic figures for the performance of legged
>	suspensions.  I suggest dividing the GURPS Vehicle Speed Factors
>	(pg.128) for legged suspensions by ten.

Why do we want to delete them? The problem (at higher TLs) is more a matter 
of armor than speed (the infamous high-DR battlesuits I've heard about in 
Star Mercs).

A generous and sadistic GM,

Brandon Cope

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 09:23:32 PDT
From: "Brandon Cope" <copeab@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: OT: Diskworld Science

>From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com>
>
>On 03 Oct, Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> > I just bought the book "The Science of Diskworld", by Terry Pratchett,
> > Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen.
>
> > I highly recommend it as a good overview of how science works. They
> > use the metaphor of the wizards at the Unseen University on Diskworld
> > looking at a magical simulation of Roundworld (ie. us).
> > Highly entertaining, with some pretty deep ideas.
>
>I second that suggestion.
>

You may also want to read "Strata" by Terry Pratchett, which predated his 
Discworld books. It's a SF book that features this flat world in space ...

A generous and sadistic GM,

Brandon Cope

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 09:31:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: Shiont(h)y Belt

Leonard Erickson writes:
> > It will gradually turn the asteroid to powder, like any sort of
> > radiation.   The real problem is collisions, though -- a microgram of
> > sand will produce a  90 terajoule explosion, which is enough to vaporize
> > small asteroids and  shatter objects of significant size.
> 
> Huh? A microgram is 1e-6 grams. That's 1e-9 *kg*. Which gives an energy
> release of 2e-9*(3e8)^2. Which is 1.8e8 joules. 180 megajoules is
> nowhere *near* 90 terajoules. Nor is it enough to disrupt a large body.
Oops, right, meant milligram and gigajoule.  Duh.

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 12:03:37 -0400
From: Joseph Coles <jcoles@nac.net>
Subject: Living Expenses (was re: taxation)

On Sun, 3 Oct 1999 Hans Rancke-Madsen <rancke@diku.dk> wrote:

>CT and T4 had a few basic prices for food and lodging. I can't >remember
of MT and TNE did too, but I think they did. They were:
>
>Starvation level: Minimum food, Cr60. Dismal lodging, Cr60.
>Subsistence level: Reasonable food, Cr120. Acceptable lodging, Cr180.[*] 
>Ordinary level: Good food, Cr200. Good lodging, Cr200.
>Good living: Fine food, Cr400. Fine lodging, Cr400.
>High living: Luxury food, Cr600+. Luxury lodging, Cr600+.
>
>[*] Or it may have been food 180, lodging 120, I can't remember.
>
>>I always figured that the SOC/upkeep rule was pretty good for a
>>abstract rule. We have people living in Australia who, like many >>places
in the world, live in parks/on the street/in the >>gutters/etc.
>
>Ah, but these people aren't SL 1. That is, I know that they have >to be SL
1, because the Imperium dosen't allow SL 0 (slaves). >However, people
living on the street can get by with the Cr60 for >food alone (plus an
unknown amount for other basic necessities). >Yet the Cr250/SL rule
requires them to spend Cr250. And if they >only spend, say, Cr100, they
lose a SL. But they can't get any >lower than SL 1, so they won't lose it
after all...
>
>At SL 2 you're already well on your way to ordinary level. You >have to
spend Cr500/month to stay SL 2. That's enough to get you >reasonable food
and acceptable lodging for Cr300 and leave you >Cr200 for other expenses.
By SL 3 you are already a bit over >ordinary level: Cr750 will buy you good
food and good lodging for >Cr400, leaving Cr350 for other expenses. By SL 5
you are living >good; Cr800 for fine food and fine lodging, leaving you
Cr450 for >other expenses. By SL 7, which many think is average SL (I
myself >think SL 6 is the average SL, but that's just a theory), you have
>to spend Cr1,750/month, which will buy you luxury food and luxury
>lodging and leave you Cr550 for other expenses.
>
>I still think that the Cr250 per SL rule is badly broken.
>
My thought is that the Cr250 per SL is what applies to travellers, and
other PC-types.  These are people who are are living in hotels, eating in
restaurants, using expensive dry cleaners, buying toiletries and other
supplies in small quantities (rather than in the economy bulk industrial
packages). In other words, think of the way that a person on vacation
spends money.  And, when we consider PC's in particular, we are considering
people who may have spent several weeks or months on a cramped and
uncomfortable ship placing themselves in considerable danger.  I think that
there wold be certain amount of "kicking back and relaxing" expense also.  

In contrast, regular citizens spend considerably less money to maintain
themselves (think of the way that we all spend money when we're not on
vacation).  

I've actually always like the Cr250 per SL rule for PC's.  It is a nice,
somewhat abstract way to replicate the differences between that SL3
engineer's mate and the SLA ship owner.  
Joseph Coles
jcoles@nac.net

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 09:43:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: TL8 Light Battlesuit

jmaclean@ix.netcom.com writes:
> I don't think a horsepower has much to do with the actual amount of energy 
> used by a horse when running.  The unit originated, IIRC, as a rough
> estimate  of how many horses a steam engine could replace for the purpose
> of pumping  water out of a mine.

It doesn't.  It has to do with the energy _output_ by the horse.
> 
> I decided to try to answer my own question using the wonders of the web.  
> According to the American Heart Association, a 150lb. person running 10mph 
> burns 1280 Calories/hour, or .356Calories/sec.  Big "C" calories are
> actually  kilocalories, so let's rewrite that as 356calories/sec.  One
> calorie equals  4.19joules, so that's 1,490joules/sec or ~1.5kW.  This
> figure is for a 150lb. person, for a 600lb. robot we multiply by 4 and that
> figure rises to ~6kW.   That's _10_times_ what the GURPS battlesuit uses!

Hm.  That seems high on the calories/hour figure.  Most sustained moderate-heavy exercise is in the 600 calories/hour range.  In any case, bear in mind that calories/hour is the fuel _input_, not output, and that humans are not particularly efficient at turning fuel into energy (<20% as I recall).  As such, the 600 lb human has closer to a 1 kW power plant than a 6 kW power plant, as power plants are rated by energy output, not fuel input.  An additional factor of two improvement through various sorts of leg optimizations isn't unreasonable.

> *ObTrav:  If we want to eliminate mecha-like battledress from GURPS
> Traveller,      all we need to do is use realistic figures for the
> performance of legged      suspensions.  I suggest dividing the GURPS
> Vehicle Speed Factors       (pg.128) for legged suspensions by ten.

Laugh.  Factor of two at worst.  Factor of 10 increases power requirements by x100.

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 18:31:03 +0100
From: Timothy.Collinson@solent.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Traveller Versions

On Fri, 01 Oct 1999, Timothy.Collinson@solent.ac.uk wrote:
>>I'll repeat my previous gripe. There simply isn't enough source material
>>available. I don't want rules. I want a more detailed universe rather
than
>a
>>few subsector maps and system lists.Behind The Claw is to be applauded as
>it
>>is the first real attempt to detail a sector, but as the system info if
>>restricted to GURPS rules it doesn't interest me.
>
>
>I think 'first real attempt' is a little harsh on _Signal GK_ which was
the
>actual first attempt to detail an entire sector at this level.

Mark Watson, markw@antares.demon.co.uk very fairly pointed out:
>Er, there's Chuck Gannon's guide to Diaspora, with extra detail he supplied in
>Traveller Chronicle. There are some other detailed attempts which don't go
>world by world, such as Solomani Rim in Traveller Chronicle, Far Frontiers in
>Ares and Traveller Chronicle, Gateway in MT Digest 4. Plus there are the JAK
>subsector guides to Caledon and Drexilthar.
- --


You're quite right and I wouldn't want to detract from the excellent work
that Mr Gannon did.


However, I was thinking more along the lines of sources that detailed [1]
*every* world of an entire sector (as Behind the Claw and the Signal GK
issues did).

tc
[1] Presumably this would be open to some minimal interpretation but by
this I'd have tended to assume at least a UWP and a paragraph or two of
description.  Of course, *detailed* would be WBH type descriptions!

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

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 19:50:27 CEST
From: "Patrik Holmstrm" <glappkaeft@hotmail.com>
Subject: Battlesuit energy

>>Another question, this thing weighs 600lbs, runs at 13mph, and >>only uses 
>>.6kW?  Maybe I've got my units confused, but I think if I >>turned all the 
>>lights in my apartment on I could use .6kW.  Does >>the suspension really 
>>use this little power

<snip>

>I decided to try to answer my own question using the wonders of the >web. 
>According to the American Heart Association, a 150lb. person >running 10mph 
>burns 1280 Calories/hour, or .356Calories/sec.  Big >"C" calories are 
>actually kilocalories, so let's rewrite that as >356calories/sec. One 
>calorie equals 4.19joules, so that's >1,490joules/sec or ~1.5kW.  This 
>figure is for a 150lb. person, for >a 600lb. robot we multiply by 4 and 
>that figure rises to ~6kW.  That's _10_times_ what the GURPS battlesuit 
>uses!

The human body converts food to energy at, IIRC, ~30% efficancy. The 
conversion Energy -> Motion is also pretty inefficiant. A machine would 
probably do this much more efficiantly. Still GURPS is probably a bit 
overoptimistic. On the other hand a TL-15 300 kg walker in FFS1 with a 6kW 
engine has a top-speed of (5+10+(0.006/0.3)*2500)*0.25=16.25 (*)kph so...

(*)(if the TL bonus applies to walkers - it's listed under "wheeled/tracked 
modifiers" but then so is the catagory "If legged")

Patrik Holmstrm <glappkaeft@hotmail.com>
"Absolutely everything was available to him, but that only meant that it was 
impossible to find whatever it you were looking for, which is the purpose if 
computers --- Terry Pratchett

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

Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 19:15:23 +0100
From: SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com>
Subject: Re: [BITS] Extra!

Michael Peters <travelleri@home.com> wrote:

>Dom,
>
>My wife wanted me to say "thanks" to you, from her after she saw the
>size of the order I sent off the Ainsty! ;^>

Oops! Send her my apologies... I'm like that whenever I see GZG.

>Those are beautiful minis and they are VERY appropriate for Taveller.

I'm glad to hear it - they approached Andy at GamesFest 99, and arranged
the link swap after showing him some models...

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/ 

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1157
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