Traveller-digest      Tuesday, October 5 1999      Volume 1999 : Number 1162



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Shiont(h)y Belt
Re: Annic Nova
Re: Laserconstruction tool
Re: Laserconstruction tool
Why Democracy?
GT: Ship's Lasers Design
Re: DGP question (OT)
Re: Traveller Versions
Re: falkenbergs legions firing into civilians
RE: Re TNE/Nth RFW
Re: Democracy and Traveller 
Re: MT and TNE designs 
Re: Democracy and Traveller 
Re: Ship's Lasers Design
Re: Annic Nova... 
Re: Why Democracy?
Re: Annic Nova 
Re: Annic Nova... 
Re: Annic Nova 
Re: BRS Class Emergency lifeboat - THUDDD 10 non-Entry

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 21:10:49 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: Shiont(h)y Belt

Anthony Jackson wrote:
> 
> Leonard Erickson writes:
> 
> > If it's got a stellar wind, the <????>pause (the place the wind quits
> > displacing the interstellar medium) will be giving off a lot of hard
> > radiation.
> 
> For the sun, the heliopause.  I don't know if there's a separate term for stars other than the sun.

I dunno.  Astropause?

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

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 21:15:22 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: Annic Nova

Walter Smith wrote:
> 
> Hans Rancke-Madsen wrote:
> >>>>>>>>>
> That's not the point. If you remember the discussion about drop tanks and
> jump projectors half a year ago, you will remember that energy storage
> devices that can build up a jump charge over time and store it for even a
> few hours makes jump projectors possible and that jump projectors are even
> more economically effective than drop tanks.
> >>>>>>>>>>
> Did you mean some kind of jump fuel tender - where you run a hose to the
> ship, have the ship burn the fuel as it comes, then the ship holds the charge
> until it reaches a safe jump distance?

IIRC, jump projectors would beam energy over to the ship that was
intending to jump.  Once the capacitors were charged up, the ship would
use the power to initiate jump.

This also ties into the interminable "how does a ship use its jump fuel"
debate (I choose not to take sides, should that one start up again).

<<snip>>

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

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

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 15:15:51 +1300
From: "Andrew Moffatt-Vallance" <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz>
Subject: Re: Laserconstruction tool

From:           	"Eric Freitas" <ericfrei@gte.net>
Date sent:      	Tue, 5 Oct 1999 10:10:09 -0400

> Hey, I just read your announcement that you have an FFS spreadsheet.
> Could I get a copy of it?

There are two FFS spreadsheets I know of. Andy Akin's FFS2 for the design
of starships and my T4 gunsmith for weapons. You can find them at:

FFS <http://www.truserve.com/~igor/traveller/> look in the operations
T4GS <http://www.bits.org.uk/> look in the archives

Hope this helps


Andrew etc
Homepage http://users.netaccess.co.nz/amv/
Traveller http://www.downport.com/amv/
 "What do you expect from a species who's females are
 always in heat" Ko of the Ilui clan on Humans and honour

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 21:32:19 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: Laserconstruction tool

Andrew Moffatt-Vallance wrote:
> 
> From:                   "Eric Freitas" <ericfrei@gte.net>
> Date sent:              Tue, 5 Oct 1999 10:10:09 -0400
> 
> > Hey, I just read your announcement that you have an FFS spreadsheet.
> > Could I get a copy of it?
> 
> There are two FFS spreadsheets I know of. Andy Akin's FFS2 for the design
> of starships and my T4 gunsmith for weapons. You can find them at:
> 
> FFS <http://www.truserve.com/~igor/traveller/> look in the operations
> T4GS <http://www.bits.org.uk/> look in the archives

On my Web site, you can download the spreadsheets (Akins ver 3.2, for
Excel 5.0, with a bug fix in G-comp) used to create a variety of
AuricTech Shipyards designs.  If you have a general idea of the type of
ship you want to build, you can use these designs as a starting point. 
I only ask that you give AuricTech credit if you use one of our ships
"off-the-shelf", so to speak.  The URL is:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776/travler.html

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

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 19:40:58 -0700
From: Clay <arioch@theriver.com>
Subject: Why Democracy?

Why all the talk about a democratic Imperium?

Are you having trouble coming up with adventures in the current
pseudo-feudalism of the 3I?

It seems I missed the beginning of this discussion.  Did anyone give a
reason why as opposed to a reason how?

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 21:45:53 -0500
From: D Smart <dsmart@imagin.net>
Subject: GT: Ship's Lasers Design

I'm trying to custom design a space combat x-ray
laser for GURPS Traveller using Vehicles, 2nd Edition.

My copy appears, however, to be missing some info.

I can't find the rules for figuring beam weapon
volume or the specifics on building weapons with
the "compact" option.

In the latter case, p.124 states the compact
option "substitutes compact, high-tech components
for more routine systems reducing the weapon's
weight and volume but increasing cost."

The problem is there are no formulas for reducing
the weight/volume or increasing cost.

Does anyone know what/where this info is?

David

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 21:54:26 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: DGP question (OT)

Sword Worlder wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tom <tbergman@brawleyonline.com>
> > In MT Journal #4, Joe Fugate talked about a new game that DGP was working
> > on.  There were even ads for it.  What happened to the mysterious "A.I."
> ??
> > Anyone know?
> 
> Still born.  They ran out of time and money, went well beyond deadlines and
> it never saw the light of day.  They hyped it for two years.  I understand
> that there may be some outstanding bills for the project even now, twelve
> years later.  Anyone know if Sanger got AI, too?

I was going to make an uncharitable comment, along the lines of,
"Obviously not; his handling of the OOP DGP material displays no
intelligence, of either natural or artificial varieties."  However, I
realized that such a comment would be unworthy, so I won't make it.

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

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

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 11:36:45 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: Traveller Versions

> From: "Sword Worlder" 
>  There you go, putting words in my mouth.  I meant no such thing.  All
> these new-fangled '80s books are superfluous.  One has to carefully watch
> that questionable 1979 stuff, too.  That's when they started making
> references to the lame "imperium" background idea.  I told people that
> that foolishness wouldn't last, but they wouldn't listen!  Now look at
> the mess they've made.
> tsk, tsk  Will they never learn?

My ISP was down for most of the last week, so I'm playing catchup on the
list.

While it was down, however, I started getting Traveller withdrawals, and
started designing a new campaign.  In a fit of fundamentalism, I built it
entirely around LBB 1-3!

I did actually wimp out a little, and conceded that certain other books
were OK, like Citizens of the Imperium, *some* of the gear from Mercenary,
and, of course, Mayday, and I accepted some of the gear from the post-1977
CT rules sets - the g-carrier, for example.

On balance, though, I stayed pretty orthodox.  There are quite an
interesting set of assumptions implicit in the original rules, although I'm
not sure quite how to rationalise the jump routes generated from "that
table" with the ship encounter table.  Of course the jump route table is
quite useless unless you are using a computerised world generation tool
like Galactic - it makes a terrible mess of your map, is incredibly boring
to work with, and it's hard to keep track of where you are.  I've seldom
bothered to use it when generating subsectors by hand.

One issue I ran into was that I was assuming that there was no real
overarching interstellar state - just some microstates, indicated by the
presence of Captive Government worlds - and I found that Scout bases were
appearing all over the place, and I couldn't really justify why, if the
Scouts were essentially planetary services.  The scouts, I think, suggest
the presence of some kind of interstellar government, although it may be
fairly loose.  Alternatively, it could mean that most planetary navies tend
to use fairly informal structures, or else the scouts are a non-military,
commercial operation.  (Ahh!  Thinking out loud has its benefits).

The other thing that gave me an urge to start tweaking worlds was the
presence of Captive Governments.  There is no guarantee that a suitable
"owner" can be found anywhere nearby, and I was reluctant to put them too
far away, given that there were independent worlds in between.  Of course
it's possible to handwave explanations of this government type that don't
involve owner worlds, but I was attempting to read things in the most
literal and traditionalist manner.  So I had to start fudging stuff by
hand.

Anyway, it was lots of silly fun, and I may even go nuts enough to
eventually actually run this thing.  Back to the Future!

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 11:35:33 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: falkenbergs legions firing into civilians

> From: AveNelso@aol.com
> >  (Me:) 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.
> 
>     You know, as many times as I have read Gibbon, Grave's Count
> Belisarius and the Falkenberg books, I never made the connection between
> the Nike riots and the Falkenberg-stadium thing.   Jeeeze, you'd think
> I'd have figured that out.

For everyone else, here's a quote from Gibbon' "Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire":
(Riots have broken out in Constantinople involving the chariot racing
factions - the blues and the greens.  The hippodrome is the stadium.)
"It was an easy and a decisive measure to revive the animosity of the
factions;  the blues were astonished at their own guilt and folly, that a
trifling injury should provoke them to conspire with their implacable
enemies against a gracious and liberal benefactor;  they again proclaimed
the majesty of Justinian;  and the greens, with their upstart emperor, were
left alone in the hippodrome.  The fidelity of the guards was doubtful; but
the military force of Justinian consisted in three thousand veterans, who
had been trained to valor and discipline in the Persian and Illyrian wars. 
Under the command of Belisarius and Mundus, they silently marched in two
divisions from the palace, forced their obscure way through narrow
passages, expiring flames, and falling edifices, and burst open at the same
moment the two opposite gates of the hippodrome.  In this narrow space the
disorderly and affrighted crowd was incapable of resisting on either side a
firm and regular attack;  the blues signalized the fury of their
repentence, and it is computed that above thirty thousand persons were
slain in the merciless and promiscuous carnage of the day."  
(Gibbon continues with the punishment of the leaders of the revolt.)

As you can see, this stuff has been lifted by both Pournelle and Drake. 
This gives us a clue as to a technique we can use in scenario design -
stealing stuff from history and literature.  The traditional literary
source to steal from is of course Shakespeare.  I'm not quite sure how to
do "Hamlet in Space", though.  "The Tempest" might work.  There may be
elements of it in "Forbidden Planet", though it's been years since I've
seen it.

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 11:35:46 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: RE: Re TNE/Nth RFW

> From: "Trevor, Peter" 
> Each faction was (in general) controlled  by  the
> local nobility who  continued  to  have  overall  public  support
> within their territories.  
.......
> 
> - - Dulinor's faction wanted democracy ... but started to  squabble
>   internally.

This is why I've always considered Dulinor to be a demogogue and a
charlatan.  His "democratic" claims were always likely to be held hostage
to maintaining the support of the nobility.

> - - The Vland faction was opportunistic/separetist.
......
> - - All the other factions came into being  and  defied  Lucan  for
>   reasons of self-presevation.

Well,  maybe a cynic might suggest some opportunism and separatism in
Brzk's faction too....  

> > Except for Daibei. If I could be anywhere  when  the  Rebellion
> > hit, it would be Daibei. ;)
> 
> Although my heart will always be in the Solomani  Sphere,  'home'
> for me is the Regina subsector of the Spinward Marches.

Yeah, Regina is 'home' for me too, although I usually spread out into Lanth
and Aramis as well, and Vilis (Free Tanoose!), and District 268, and....

Among the Rebellion factions, I'm a Brzk groupie.  Publically, that's on
the basis of his pan-sophontism, which sets him aside from reactionaries
like Lucan, Margaret, Vland, and, of course, the Solomani.  In private
though, it's because of the sheer madness of a Vargr trying to become
emperor....

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 22:59:20 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Democracy and Traveller 

>  >What about online democracy?  If everyone has net.access, and the
>  >representatives are obliged to vote as their constituents direct, this
>  >might actually work-- mightn't it?  Of course, decisions would be made
>  >slowly; one couldn't respond to an immediate threat this way.
> 
> A true democracy requires a well educated, caring population.
> Even if *everyone* had net.access, it's another step to get them to vote.
> Can you see planetary LEOs rounding up 'vote dodgers'  to do community 
> service work for failing to vote?

Heheh.  Gotta love that one.  "Mr Efrattian, you're under arrest for not 
voting on the new zoning laws.  Come with us, please."  I can just *see* 
something like this happening on a place like Gralyn.  <evil grin>
 
> It's interesting to watch what Congress does now near election 
> times.  Those overnight polls can drive or kill legislation.

Check out a book called 'Heaven Belt' (author's name slips my limited mind at the moment).  One of the local cultures used what they called a 'Demarchy', a democratic anarchy tied together with computerised voting, to 'rule'.  They practically lived by straw polls, and *nobody* really liked media consultants, but treated them like nukes; the other side has 'em, so our side gets a few, too.  <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: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 23:00:29 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: MT and TNE designs 

> >Have you tried pawn shops? The pawn shops around here have scads of
> obsolete
> >computer equipment. If you can prove to them that they'll never get the
> >price they put out for it (they almost always lack a sense of what they've
> >got is really worth) you can sometimes get a real deal.
> 
> That's the hard part.  In a pawnshop once I saw a Hewlett-Packard 150
> computer (proprietary 8088) with a 15meg hard drive.  The pawnshop guy had a
> 3,000 price on it and a "SALE!" sticker on it dropping it down to $1,000.
> 
> If any of you know what this system is, you'll be laughing hard about now.

It's basically a lobotomised XT clone wannabe.  Worth mebbe 5 bucks as a
paperweight or doorstop.

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: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 23:01:46 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Democracy and Traveller 

> In a message dated 10/5/99 9:38:11 PM !!!First Boot!!!, 
> johnson@pharmacy.arizona.edu writes:
> 
> << obTrav: Except, of course, for those who think the Emperor is flying
>  black helicopters full of Imperial shock troops around in a secret
>  effort to rule despotically :-) >>
> 
> Hey! I'm from Nevada; I resemble that remark...:-). I swear Nevada must have 
> the highest per capita level of conspiracy freaks in the U.S. Probably has to 
> do with 85% of the state being owned by the feds...

What's this I hear about them moving Area 51 out of Nevada?

Wonder what they did with that crashed Vilani freighter they scraped off the 
mountain at Roswell...

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: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 23:02:42 -0400
From: "Thomas Schoene" <TomSchoene@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: Re: Ship's Lasers Design

- ----------
> From: D Smart <dsmart@imagin.net>
> To: traveller@mpgn.com
> Subject: GT: Ship's Lasers Design
> Date: Tuesday, 05 October, 1999 10:45 PM
> 
> I'm trying to custom design a space combat x-ray
> laser for GURPS Traveller using Vehicles, 2nd Edition.
[snip] 
> The problem is there are no formulas for reducing
> the weight/volume or increasing cost.
> 
> Does anyone know what/where this info is?

It's not exactly intuitive, but it's there.  Volume for weapons is
calculated in Chapter 3 (p42), buried in the description of weapon weight. 
For simplicity, weapon volume in cf is almost always Wt/50, unless they are
concealed in the structure.  GT weapons are generally not treated as being
concealed (even spinal mounts, which seems a bit odd to me, but what the
heck.)

Tom Schoene

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 23:08:24 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Annic Nova... 

> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella <xrp@sierratel.com>
> To: <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
> Sent: Saturday, October 02, 1999 2:30 PM
> Subject: Re: Annic Nova
> 
> 
> > > My major problem with making it a Droyne ship is that it seemed built
> for
> > > humans.  There were no perching bars, for example, and the doorways were
> > > all human-scaled and -proportioned.
> >
> > Well, we seem to be getting a whole list of clues here, Could it have been
> > built by a multi-racial or singular non-humanoid race with the intent of
> > crewing it or selling it /to/ humanoids.
> >
> > These are actually quite a few clues posted so far, has anyone kept track?
> > Eris probably, as he mentioned curiousity over the issue. The map chip for
> > the interdicted system Victoria sounds like something worth thinking
> about.
> >
> 
> I just recalled some more clues (from memory of course...)
> 
> *A hydroponic vegetation deck (for food I'd assumed, but nothing was ever
> said was there?).  Fresh vegies or research?  Perhaps it was a yacht??
> **How about the little toy robot that every player I ran through the game
> shot and killed (errrr, destroyed :)  What shape was that?
> ***The drawing on the door?  Was it if a snake?  Humanoids?
> ****The two Star Trek-like pods that were actually common ship's
> boats/pinnaces?
> 
> In the early days, I took the easy out by "assuming" it was Droyne, but now,
> as pointed out above, I'm not so sure... I never had real info about Droyne
> back then, and it was easy to overlook that furnishings and controls were
> not described as particularly "alien" to humans.
> 
> The vessel was alien enough not to be known to anyone in Imperial space, but
> it could have been a custom design too?  But no-one knew the text of the
> markings either?  The thick plottens??
> 
> Errrr... how's the memory holding up so far?

Not bad.  It's holding up better than mine is.  Personally, I think it must
have come from someplace in Far Frontiers sector or something like it
(Foreven?)  It's from no known culture, and most of the surrounding area is
charted, so that lets out anything canonical.

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: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 23:10:24 -0000
From: "Chris Seamans" <semo@pil.net>
Subject: Re: Why Democracy?

- -----Original Message-----
From: Clay <arioch@theriver.com>
To: TML <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 06, 1999 2:44 AM
Subject: Why Democracy?


>It seems I missed the beginning of this discussion.  Did anyone give a
>reason why as opposed to a reason how?


It started with some complaints about the Regency setting for TNE. I asked
why the nobility was so important to fans of the Third Imperium.

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

Date: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 23:15:56 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Annic Nova 

> > From: Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella <xrp@sierratel.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, October 02, 1999 2:30 PM
> > 
> > I just recalled some more clues (from memory of course...)
> > 
> > *A hydroponic vegetation deck (for food I'd assumed, but nothing was ever
> > said was there?).  Fresh vegies or research?  Perhaps it was a yacht??
> 
> It always 'felt' like a yacht to me.  Not much cargo space, no obvious
> major weapons or armor, no lab space or large sensor arrays, lots of
> living space...hard to read it as anything other than a pleasure craft. 

There was cargo space onboard.  Mebbe 100 dtons, IIRC.
 
> > ****The two Star Trek-like pods that were actually common ship's
> > boats/pinnaces?
> 
> That was a fun one. :)
> 
> > The vessel was alien enough not to be known to anyone in Imperial space,
> > but it could have been a custom design too?  But no-one knew the text of
> > the markings either?  The thick plottens?? 
> 
> The markings do thicken things a lot.  The only credible scenario I can
> come up with is that the ship was built by some race 'unknown' in the
> Marches (perhaps on record in the databanks, but not immediately
> recognizeable), and subsequently somehow came into the hands of a human
> family (or family-like group) who somehow reached the Marches before being
> infected with and dying of a virulent plague.  The Victoria map chip
> suggests they were moving more or less coreward through the Marches --
> unless that's where they were *heading*.  Hm.

They had contact with *somebody* from across the Claw; that case of wine came
from Terra.  Mebbe a minor race from spinward of Reavers' Deep?

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: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 23:26:45 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Annic Nova... 

> I'm not sure I agree with the pleasure craft idea.  It did have reasonable 
> cargo space (150 tons).  It was armed with two single lasers slightly more 
> powerful than a pulse laser.  Not a war ship by any means, but capable of 
> defending itself in the early CT days.  Orbit to surface missles "fitted 
> with audio, visual, and telemetric devices" for use in world surface 
> exploration could be launched from an observation deck.  And if that wasn't 
> enough, it contained a machine shop, metallurgical shop and electronic shop 
> that would impress even Tim (the tool man) Taylor.

Yeah, it had enough stuff in it to get Tim Taylor into *serious* trouble.  
<grin>
 
> The ship seems to be designed specifically to provide a group of players 
> with a fully capable, low maintenance ship capable of providing years of 
> adventure transportation.  One of the truely cool ships of CT.

Definitely agree on that point.  Course, the cool thing is, it takes 1 to 6 
weeks for the boat to recharge, *and* it was a slow moving boat in normal 
space, relying solely on the two boats for thrust.  <grin>  Makes life 
interesting for PCs to have to deal with stuff like that.  And if the boat 
enters the system *inside* the solar jump radius, it'll take awhile to move 
it out to safe jump territory.  <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: Tue, 05 Oct 1999 23:32:30 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Annic Nova 

> >I wrote:
> >>My main problem with the ANNIC NOVA is the magic capacitors that allow a
> >>jump charge to be built up over several weeks.
> 
> Antony Farrell replied:
> 
> >I actually assumed that there were two sets of capacitors, one set for each
> >jump drive fitted (Annic Nova had two seperate jump drives) plus a set of
> >storage batteries which both stored power for normal ships use and charged
> >the jump drive capacitors allowing them to discharge in the normal way.
>  
> 
> And Keven R. Pittsinger likewise:
>  
> >I remember it as more of a bank of batteries or equivilent, kind of like
> >Robert A. Heinlien's 'Shipstones'.
> 
> That's not the point. If you remember the discussion about drop tanks and
> jump projectors half a year ago, you will remember that energy storage
> devices that can build up a jump charge over time and store it for even a
> few hours makes jump projectors possible and that jump projectors are even
> more economically effective than drop tanks.

Just because you can *store* a lotta power doesn't mean you can *release* it
instantly.  Try shorting out a car battery someday.  Use a *thick* cable or
else it'll melt on you.

A battery *isn't* a jump capacitor.  Though it could possibly *feed* a jump
capacitor.  And I still don't get the physics behind a jump projector; IIRC,
they first came about from one of Andy Slack's 'Expanding Universe' series.
IMTU, ain't no such critter, as there's no grid to dump the capacitors in.
I *don't* buy the handwave of dumping power into somebody *else's* grid.  CT
& MT jump drives need *control* to open a jump tunnel.  A projector wouldn't
give that.

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: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 11:18:06 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: BRS Class Emergency lifeboat - THUDDD 10 non-Entry

In mail you write:

>>Without THUDDD10, the BRS would never have existed (it has the performance
>>that I wanted a lifeboat to have) but a lifeboat that size needs to carry
>>30 people, not one and a half. The other problem with the BRS is that it
>>isn't finished. It needs several days playing around with the thrust/power
>>options to find a compromise that is significantly smaller. Finally, it
>>really ought to be 100MCr but I can't tink how to make it that expensive.

A couple of suggestions for "lifeboats". 

Drive. 

First, forget any *major* drive. The boats need enough power to get
away from the ship if there's a chance of an explosion. And enough to
*slowly* rendezvous with each other later. Or to have a somewhat
controlled re-entry from planetary orbit.

The rendezvous bit is because a group of lifeboats is easier to locate
than individual. And because if there are any survivors with vacsuit
experience, you can link the "boats" and share power & consumables.

I said "rentry from orbit" because that's doable. Anything moving at
typical "run to/from Jump" speeds is moving to darn fast for any
reasonable power plant to let it achieve orbit, much less land.

Hull.

In spite of limits set by most rules on ship construction, I'd say that
only one "side" of a lifeboat need to meet the minimum structure
limits/hull thickness. The boat orients to place that and the drive &
other equipment between the lifesystem and the local star. Given the
properties of high TL hull material, that should suffice to give
"shadow shielding" from most flares. 

The rest of the boat can be lightweight composites and plastics. 

Other.
Life support should be a lot cruder than on shipboard. Probably time
limited. Instead of recycling air & water, there will likely be
chemical canisters to remove excess CO2 (lithium hydroxide or the
like), water (various dessicants), and "trace gases" (activated
charcoal). 

I could see a setup that uses shadow temps to condense water from the
air system instead of using dessicant chemicals. That'd stretch the
water supply. 

With the above sort of thinking, I'd expect some sort of "lifeboat" to
be a bit more reasonable.

BTW, there's an old James White book "Lifeboat" that deals with the
survivors of an accident taking to the lifeboats. He got a lot right,
even though he made some *howling* errors (the biggest one being that
you *can't* kill spin, nor change the spin axis, simply by crawling
around. It *requires* steering jets or flywheels). He also overlooked
the need for radiation shielding.

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

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1162
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