Traveller-digest     Thursday, October 14 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1207



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Tracers (was: Ammo Conservation)
RE: Traveller Versions
Re: Battledress/Battlesuit Protection (GT)
Re: Bigger ammo clips
Re: Lucan the Man...
Re: Many guns II
TCS Campaigns Using HG2 or T4/FF&S2
Re : Near C rocks and Roger McBride Allen
Re: Bigger ammo clips
Re: TCS Campaigns Using HG2 or T4/FF&S2
Re: TCS Campaigns Using HG2 or T4/FF&S2
noise
Dont point that at my planet!
Re: Battledress/Battlesuit Protection
Re: Bigger ammo clips
Re: SEC: UNCLASSIFIED Was Re: GURPS errata now Graffiti
Re: Bigger ammo clips
Re: Dont point that at my planet!
Re: Lucan the Man...

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:13 +1300
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: Tracers (was: Ammo Conservation)

On 12 Oct 99, at 16:57, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> One possiblity (that risks ruining the weapon) would be for "rail gun"
> type weapons to fire titanium projectiles and somehow ignite them
> (preferabbly as they leave the barrel! :-).
> 
> That would provide a nice tracer effect, and possibly make a decent
> incendiary round. Especially from larger caliber weapons. :-)

Other igniteable metals you could use include depleted uranium. I can 
see it now: APFSDSDU-TI (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding 
Sabot Depleted Uranium - Tracer Incendiary).


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

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:12 +1300
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: RE: Traveller Versions

On 12 Oct 99, at 14:46, Brandon Cope wrote:

> >From: "Joseph R. Dietrich" <yikes@evansville.net>
> >
> >Simply assign a task a difficulty and apply the following modifier to
> >skill:
> >
> >Difficulty       DM
> >-------------------
> >Simple ........  +6
> >Routine .......   0
> >Difficult .....  -6
> >Formidible .... -12
> >Impossible .... -18
> >
> >Then make the normal GURPS skill roll.
> 
> I'd tone this down a bit:
> Simple +4
> Routine +0
> Difficult -4
> Formidable -8
> Impossible -16
> 
> Note that a Formidable task can't succeed at skill-10 or less and an
> Impossible skill can't succeed at a skill-18 or less (effective skill
> would be 2, and your best roll is a 3).

I'd tone it down even more - to +-2 per difficulty level. When using a 
3d6 range a plus two effectively halves the chance of failure if the 
target number was 11+, or doubles the chance of success if the target 
number was 10- (roughtly speaking). As a TNE fan I quite like this 
halving/doubling effect. The only problem is that GURPS seems to 
consider anything less than a +-3 modifier as hardly woth bothering 
with.


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

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:12 +1300
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: Battledress/Battlesuit Protection (GT)

On 12 Oct 99, at 10:26, Brandon Cope wrote:

> 
> >From: j_pete@bellsouth.net (Pete)
> >The problem with grenade launchers (and most ballistic weapons) is the
> >launch point can be discovered using counter battery radar.
> 
> The capability now exists to trace the fire from an assault rifle back to
> it's source with a high degree of accuracy (even saw this on a show about
> military technology).

However for this to be of much use you have to be able to do something 
about the firer before he uses his traceable rifle bullets to take out 
his target and/or the sensor's operator.


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

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:12 +1300
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: Bigger ammo clips

On 12 Oct 99, at 15:02, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> In mail you write:
> 
> > For all of you guys with experience with military weapons...
> > In a number of games I've seen players express interest in getting clips
> > the hold more ammor for their guns (so they don't have change as often).
> > This would seem to be relatively easy (just make them longer, they
> > aren't that long right now), but if it was, it would seem likely they
> > would already be made that way.  What do you guys think?
> 
> I mostly know about this from a late friend who was a gunsmith.
> 
> First problem is that the extra weight can do nasty things to the
> magazine catch. Like cause it to fail, dropping a partially used
> magazine at an inconvenient moment. Or to jam, making it impossible to
> remove an empty. 

I can imagine this happening with a pistol, but not with most military 
rifles.

> Next, the extra weight can make the weapon harder to handle. I never
> got to *fire* it, but I did get to *handle an AK-47 with 30 round
> magazine, 75 round drum, and 100 round drum. Those drums weigh a *lot*!

Ah, but the fun one could have :) There'd be less recoil, too.

BTW the RPK-47 automatic rifle (or LMG, if you prefer) came with a 70 
round (IIRC) drum magazine for use in the ititial assault, and after 
that you switched to the standard AK-47 30 round magazines. It would 
appear that the Soviets found the bigger mag to be too heavy or clumsy 
for general use. 

> Oh yeah, an interesting idea for refs to dump on players. Have them not be
> careful enough in buying ammo for their weapons. That is, buying a crate
> of ammo that turns out to be oboxes of loose round, rather than boxes of
> magazines or clips. 
> 
> In a combat situation, I'd *much* prefer to have my ammo drop consist of
> the ruggedized "cans" of SKS ammo. Each can contains a bunch of 10-round
> "clips" wrapped in paper. You peel the top off the can (easy, even if you
> are in a hurry and grab a handful of these and dump them in a pouch or
> your pocket. If you are *really* rushed, you might scrape your fingers a
> bit on the edges of the can. Big deal.  The paper keeps the rounds from
> collecting dirt, and unwraps easily (makes good fire starter too!). And if
> you are in a hurry, you can throw away the clip (a flat metal "stripper
> clip").
> 
> Contrast this with opening the crate and finding lots of cardboard
> boxes containing 20(?) loose rounds. You'd better have saved the
> stripper clips from your original ammo issue, and have *time* to load them
> with rounds. Or to load rounds by hand into the internal magazine in the
> rifle. 

I've encountered this, too. I think that the cardboard boxes started to 
be used when the manufacturer began selling on the civilian market.
 
> The above is based on personal experience dealing with two different
> purchases of "bulk" ammo for the SKS. I'm sure similar situations apply
> with other weapons and ammo. 

Some of the cheaper 5.56mm ammo comes in 20 round boxes and loading a 
whole lot of 30 round mags is really time consuming, boring and hard on 
the fingers.
 
> Anyway, sometimes "cheap" can get *real* expensive (like trying to
> reload magazines by hand while under fire).

Try rebuilding an MG link in this sort of situation because the 
resupply was of loose rifle ammo only. Fortunately it was only an 
exercise...


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

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:13 +1300
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: Lucan the Man...

On 12 Oct 99, at 12:06, Chris Peers wrote:

> Ok, now explain how come Lucan didn't use them in the Black War period of
> the Rebellion. He nuked quite a lot of planets bare, and intentionally
> left many other planets without the infrastructure to support their own
> populations, so near-c rocks would've been right down his alley.
> 
> Some possible reasons Lucan didn't use near-c rocks could be:
> 
> 1) He didn't want to spend resources researching and developing ships
> capable of projecting rocks when he has ships capable of planet nuking
> already deployed.  I think this is the most likely reason.

Any ship with thruster plates and a cargo bay can do it.


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

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:13 +1300
From: "Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Subject: Re: Many guns II

On 12 Oct 99, at 18:16, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> In mail you write:
> 
> >> were made.  The Chinese versions were even more flighty.  I wouldn't
> >> even wanna *LOOK* at an Afghani monkey copy let alone shoot it.
> 
> >From everything I hear, the hand-made Afghani copies of just about
> *any* gun are just as good as the original, unless the original
> requires special steels.

The AK-47 has a chromed barrel to reduce wear, so I imagine that an 
Afghani copy would suffer fairly dramatic barrel erosion quite quickly.


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

A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history.

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

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 23:15:00 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: TCS Campaigns Using HG2 or T4/FF&S2

Since there's a renewed call for Trillion Credit Squadron (TCS) PBeM
gamers, we provide the following announcement as a public service:

TO: All TML Sophonts

SUBJECT: HG2 and T4/FF&S2 Ship Designs

In the event that anyone joins a TCS campaign using either HG2 or
T4/FF&S2, let it be known that AuricTech Shipyards is willing to design
ships for any participants.  Our only real fee (in other words, my
request that you respect my intellectual property rights to a given
design) is acknowledgment (both in the game and, after the game ends, on
the TML) that any AuricTech designs used came from our design bureau (of
course, in-game one must note that standard architect's fees must be
paid for _any_ new design, IAW TCS rules [see pages 8 and 19 of Adv 5
(TCS) for details]).  We will strive to meet whatever design parameters
you provide, and we will supply you with the full design and
construction blueprints [OOC: the Excel 5.0 spreadsheet in .zip format],
as well as the appropriate final design parameters.  Turnaround time
averages three to five solar days from time of receipt to time of
transmission for designs (obviously, construction takes much longer).

Naturally, we will ensure that no AuricTech custom designs will leak to
any other parties, prior to the final end of hostilities (the end of the
TCS game).

Any interested parties can reach our design bureau electronically at:

wombat@premier.net

//signature//

Lola Goetz
Vice-President for Public Relations
AuricTech Shipyards (M:0)

//signature//

Jenifer Rearden-Taggart
CEO
AuricTech Shipyards (M:1100)

Other settings/eras, address correspondence to wombat@premier.net for
further contact information.

Note that, due to lack of certain resources (rule books), MT and TNE
designs are not currently available.


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

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 14:05:55 +1000
From: dadams@parracity.nsw.gov.au
Subject: Re : Near C rocks and Roger McBride Allen

Leonard wrote:

>Actually, vessels are virtually *immune* to such attacks, as neither
>sort of projectile has enough manueverability to be worth mentioning.

I did not exclude vessles, as I was thinking of the exact book you mentioned
below AND that I class Highports and space instalations vessles.

>BTW, Roger MacBride Allen had an interesting (and 'legal') variation on
>this in one of his books. The enemy assembled a mass driver in an
>asteroid belt and aimed a lot of *small* (a few kg) projectiles at
>where various orbital facilities would be when the projectiles arrived.

No problems there. I love the Narn bombing scene from Babylon 5 (althought the
Narns world have been pissed off)

>Also, by varying the velocities, they were able to make it a well
>co-ordinated "time on target" strike. That is, almost all the
>projectiles reached their targets at the same time.

>It severaly damaged all high orbit facilitities, and (by pure luck)
>severely damaged a number of fleet units that had the misfortune to be
>"in the way".

If the first shot had not punctured the hanger where the *whole* Britanic high
command, a large percentage of the senior officers and senior political figures
where having dinner, the effect would not have been so savige. It was pure dumb
luck that Guardians blindsided the fleet when they did. A fleet in a typical
High Guard position would have easily avoided the most damage by the simple
method of moving.

BTW the book i refer to can be ound in RMA "Aliens and Allies" anthology
(origionally published as a novel Rouge Powers. Buy it, it is the bets 2300AD
book I ever read :-)

In the Near C Accords, This would be an allowed weapon, as it is a low impact
weapon, at most it has the same effects as the bombing of Drezden or Tokyo, not
the distruction of whole land masses.

>The "steel sleet" attack was followed quickly by an attack in force by
>enemy vessels.

The most damage was done by bio-engineered metal eating bugs that ate the
Britanin fleet, with massive loss of life. The Guardian fleet was wiped out with
little effort.

OBTrav. Maybe a better virus would be a organism capable of eating superdense
metals?

Darryl

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

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 23:34:56 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: Bigger ammo clips

Rupert Boleyn wrote:
> 
<<snip>>
> 
> Try rebuilding an MG link in this sort of situation because the
> resupply was of loose rifle ammo only. Fortunately it was only an
> exercise...

I wold imagine that your thoughts were along the lines of "Fun, Travel,
Adventure" ["FTA"], especially since I would expect that your machine
guns, like most (if not all) modern machine guns use disintegrating-link
belts (for the uninitiated, that means belts held together by many small
bits of metal, connected only by the brass of the machine gun ammo, as
opposed to one long piece of metal or cloth).

(For the _truly_ uninitiated, "FTA" is short for "F**k The Army".  One
may note that, in my Basic Training "SMART" book [I forget what the
acronym means, but it's a book of common soldier information], one could
have found "FTA", neatly inscribed in pencil, in such diverse places as
the bore evacuators of drawings of Soviet tanks and the front of
drawings of Claymore mines.)

ObTrav:  If any slang acronyms from the modern US Army survive in the
3I, I would expect "FTA" and "FIGMO" ["F**k It, Got My Orders" (either
to change stations or to leave the service)] to be among them.  Other
possible surviving acronyms would be "FIDO" [F**k It, Drive On] and
BOHICA ["Bend Over, Here It Comes Again"].

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

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

Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 21:30:50 -0700
From: "Luther Martin" <martin@ksarul.com>
Subject: Re: TCS Campaigns Using HG2 or T4/FF&S2

Even if such a game never occurs, I am curious about the design philosophies
which people have. My own perspective is somewhat warped by too much RL
management, so that the spiffy but INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE designs which people
come up with make me shake my head. Some of the THUDDD designs are
particularly skewed in this way, and I have noticed that the practical and
inexpensive ships tend to get poor ratings on THUDDD.

(They want 800 ZCr (zillions) for that ship!! You can get almost the same
functionality using SSDS and at a fraction of the cost!!)

But then again, this (the budgetary constraint) is why TCS is such an
interesting testing ground.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 00:20:53 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: TCS Campaigns Using HG2 or T4/FF&S2

Luther Martin wrote:
> 
> Even if such a game never occurs, I am curious about the design philosophies
> which people have. My own perspective is somewhat warped by too much RL
> management, so that the spiffy but INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE designs which people
> come up with make me shake my head. Some of the THUDDD designs are
> particularly skewed in this way, and I have noticed that the practical and
> inexpensive ships tend to get poor ratings on THUDDD.

If you want to see my design philosophy in action (using FF&S2), go to:

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

Two other points:

1.  If you haven't guessed by the name I've given to my design bureau, I
tend to build Gold-Plated [tm] ships.  I figure that the increased
sensor capability (a common factor in high ship costs) of my designs
often justifies the increased cost.  After all, a defending ship that
can detect attackers early often can avoid attack altogether. 
Similarly, an attacking ship that can detect its targets early can
maneuver to ensure a successful attack, often from surprise.

2.  Increased cost _does_ allow increased capability.  Obviously, ships
that expect to see combat need better sensors, armor, and firepower than
ships that are not expected to see combat.  Ships that are high-value
targets (such as yachts, VIP transports, and other ships carrying
high-value passengers or cargo) are natural targets for pirates or enemy
commerce raiders, and thus need better defenses.

Besides, you'll notice that THUDDD voting has several different
categories.  Often the "best overall" design is _not_ voted as "most
likely to use in a campaign."  Thus, THUDDD participants can vote both
for the best design (probably expensive) and for the most likely used
design (probably less expensive).
> 
> (They want 800 ZCr (zillions) for that ship!! You can get almost the same
> functionality using SSDS and at a fraction of the cost!!)

This is often the case.  One must then perform a cost/benefit analysis. 
If the higher cost of a civilian ship ensures a higher delivery rate of
cargo and passengers, the increase in cost may be worthwhile.  If the
increase in cost does not translate to a sufficient increase in delivery
of cargo and passengers, then the increase in cost is counterproductive
in a merchant vessel.  For warships, the question becomes: will a large
number of relatively cheap starships provide more combat power per
credit spent than a smaller number of realtiveively expensive,
more-capable starships?  Factors here include firepower, defenses
(active [sandcasters, PD weapons, and screens] and passive [armor]),
acceleration, jump distance, and endurance.  Juggling these factors
leads to differences in ship design.  Manwhile, yachts must perform at
whatever parameters the prospective owner desires (cost of operation
often being nearly immaterial), or nobody will buy them.

Note also that SSDS ships are based on a Standard life support system (2
weeks duration).  Ships that require longer cruise durations (such as
most warships) will cost more, since they need to allocate tonnage both
to Extended life support systems and to increased ration supplies.

> But then again, this (the budgetary constraint) is why TCS is such an
> interesting testing ground.

True enough.  Probably, a fleet that has some AuricTech ships (which
tend to have superior sensors for their class) and some non-AuricTech
ships (which, since they only need adequate sensors [since the AuricTech
ships can perform early-detection functions] can mount greater
firepower, protection, and/or maneuverability) will do best in T4/FF&S2
TCS games.

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

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:48:48 +1000
From: david.d.jaques-watson@centrelink.gov.au
Subject: noise

Dear Folks -

Here's the thread:
>> > >> 'I AM THE ANGLE OF DEATH'
>> > >
>> > >I wonder how many degrees that would be?
>> >
>> >I would guess less than 90. I picture death as being more acute than
>> >obtuse. ;-)
>>
>> I agree. Just read any DC Veritgo comic with Death. She isa prettya
>> cute...!
>>
>I used to dress up as her at conventions when I was skinnier...

Does that mean you are acute?  ;-)

[Actually, if you want to know, visit http://http://www.tsoft.com/~tiamat,
Kierestelli Aradia Morgan's home page. You can even say hello to Princess
Tissriel! No Traveller stuff, however... anyway Kiri, is Tim Hamill, MD,
any relation to Mark?  ;-)]
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
David "Hyphen" Jaques-Watson        Beowulf Down (Tavonni/Vilis/SM 1520)
http://www.tip.net.au/~davidjw                       davidjw@pcug.org.au
"I file things in historical order, with a hashing algorithm of gravity"
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
REQ'D DISCLAIMER - material & opinions contained within are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the
position of Centrelink or any other Commonwealth Government agency.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:43:34 +1000
From: dadams@parracity.nsw.gov.au
Subject: Dont point that at my planet!

Given the perenial debate over Near C rocks (and my attempt to put them into
context of the 3I), maybe we should look at it from the other way.

Maybe we can look at all the cannon, on what planets got nuked, plasted, germ
bombed, gassed or Barry Manillowed, and from that look at the rules of war, and
other conventions of the Third Imperium.

From memory, Near C rocks are cannon, as is germ warfare and nukes, but only in
terms of Ancients Final War. What are the other acts of stupidity from the
Interstellar, Fronteer, Civil and Expansion (et al) wars.

Hard Times / Black War period may be left out, or inserted if requested.

The reason, maybe we can get Doug Berry to list cannonical and non cannonical
methods of blowing things up in Groundpounders?

Your feedback and flames to the usual place.

Darryl

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 09:09:02 +0100
From: Ewan Quibell <E.D.Quibell@bton.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Battledress/Battlesuit Protection

Martin Hardgrave wrote:
> 
> In message <37FE5D72.393F1BA8@premier.net>, Black ICE
> <wombat@premier.net> writes
> >Anthony Jackson wrote:
> >>
> >> Terry Carlino writes:
> >>
> >> > You are obviously using the BD from GT. First In gives Scout BD at an even
> >> > lower value DR 60. The issue is the GTL-12 Imperial Marine Commando Battle
> >> > Dress from GT:Star Mercs p61, with DR 1200, which will basically ignore
> >> > FGMP fire.
> >>
> >> The star mercs BD is also 3/4 of a ton, flies, runs at 70 mph, etc....
> >
> >And exactly what effect does the suit running at 70 mph have on the legs
> >of the wearer?
> >
> The image of Wallace and Grommit in "The Wrong Battledress" suddenly
> crossed my mind.
> --
> Martin Hardgrave

LOL ........

- -- 

   Ewan Quibell                       Their's not to make reply,
   Senior Communications Engineer     Their's not to reason why,
   Computer Centre                    Their's but to do and die:
   University of Brighton             Into the valley of Death
                                      Rode the six hundred.
   E.D.Quibell@brighton.ac.uk              Alfred, Lord Tennyson

   #include<stddisclaimer.h>

   My spelling is entirerly due to dyslexia, typos, and poetic license

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 21:35:54 +1300
From: "Andrew Moffatt-Vallance" <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz>
Subject: Re: Bigger ammo clips

From:           	"Rupert Boleyn" <rboleyn@paradise.net.nz>
Date sent:      	Thu, 14 Oct 1999 16:45:12 +1300

> On 12 Oct 99, at 15:02, Leonard Erickson wrote:

> > Anyway, sometimes "cheap" can get *real* expensive (like trying to
> > reload magazines by hand while under fire).

> Try rebuilding an MG link in this sort of situation because the 
> resupply was of loose rifle ammo only. Fortunately it was only an 
> exercise...

Sometimes there's a lot to be said for old fashioned canvas belts ;*>


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: Thu, 14 Oct 99 11:14:23 +0100
From: greg.aldridge@marconicomms.com
Subject: Re: SEC: UNCLASSIFIED Was Re: GURPS errata now Graffiti

> In mail you write:
> 
> >>> 'I AM THE ANGLE OF DEATH'
> >>
> >>I wonder how many degrees that would be?
> >>
> >
> > 666?
> 
> Which becomes 306 degrees when you reduce it. And then, considering
> that it was probably measured counter-clockwise (widdershins) it
> becomes 54 degrees clockwise (deasil).
> 

So we've linked up with the acute angle part of the thread :->


- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     Greg Aldridge      | "Since light travels faster than sound, isn't
   Software Engineer,   | that why some people appear bright until you
   EASAMS Engineering   |              hear them speak?"
        Systems         |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Email: Greg.Aldridge@marconicomms.com    Tel: 01245 353221 x4437
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMTU tc tm tn t4+ tg ru+ ge(+) 3i+ c+ jt au- ls+ pi ta-- he as vi sy+ so
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 03:37:32
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Bigger ammo clips

At 11:34 PM 10/13/1999 -0500, you wrote:

>ObTrav:  If any slang acronyms from the modern US Army survive in the
>3I, I would expect "FTA" and "FIGMO" ["F**k It, Got My Orders" (either
>to change stations or to leave the service)] to be among them.  Other
>possible surviving acronyms would be "FIDO" [F**k It, Drive On] and
>BOHICA ["Bend Over, Here It Comes Again"].

One of my favorites was "Echo, Tango, Suitcase!"  ETS was the day you were
schedules to leave the Army.
- -- 

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/index.html

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 03:38:56
From: "Douglas E. Berry" <gridlore@pop.mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: Dont point that at my planet!

At 04:43 PM 10/14/1999 +1000, you wrote:

>The reason, maybe we can get Doug Berry to list cannonical and non 
>cannonical methods of blowing things up in Groundpounders?

That sort of devastation should be covered by the Nice Folks doing the Navy
book.
- --

Douglas E. Berry       gridlore@mindspring.com
http://gridlore.home.mindspring.com/sylea.html
Inquisitor Maximus, Reformed Canon Church of Sylea

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 20:31:57 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: Lucan the Man...

> From: "Joseph R. Dietrich" 
> >> Someone to go back in time and write it into "official" Traveller
canon
> >> this way.
> >>
> >> Rebellion --> Hard Times --> Norris' Long Dawn --> 4th Imperium
> >>
> >> Oooh. I'm getting the shivers. :-)
> >
> >Would have taken him a few decades to get the strength up to push
through
> >Corridor with anything worth talking about when he finished it.
> 
> So, a few decades worth of Hard Times. Oooh. ;-)

OK, I got a bit of scepticism about whether or not the "Norris solution"
could work.  Here is a longer version, based on earlier thoughts of mine
about how to prolong the Hard Times.  

1.  Dulinor's flagship misjumps under mysterious circumstances.  Dulinor is
assassinated.

2.  Hutara captures Capital with the Coronation Fleet.  Lucan flees.

3.  Given the mysterious circumstances of Dulinor's death, Isis stays on
Dlan.  Hutara declares himself Regent.

4.  Lucan is declared insane, and deposed.  Tranian declares for Margaret.

5.  Norris feels obliged to send a (fairly small) fleet to support
Strephon.  It crosses the Great Rift by use of calibration points (fuel
caches) and tanker squadrons.  This revives Strephon's previously moribund
faction.

6.  Unsupported by Isis, hated by Lucan's former worlds, attacked by
Strephon/Norris and Margaret/Tranian, Hutara is defeated.

7.  Strephon and Margaret cut a deal.  Isis sues for peace.  The Moot is
recalled.

8.  The Imperium is restored.  The Imperium is a smoking ruin.

9.  Up to you.

Notes:  The "solution" above is, of course, partial and unstable.  It only
includes some of the factions, and some areas of the former Imperium.  It's
quite possible that a partition of the Imperium could result.  This gives
scope for the emergence of other states in what was Imperial territory,
which the "restored" Imperium can't, and possibly doesn't want to attempt
to, recover in the near future.  This is particularly likely to apply in
the rimward areas.  That's where a republican confederation is likely to
emerge - between the "restored" Imperium and the Solomani Confederation. 
(Diaspora?  Daibei?  Parts of the Solomani Rim?)

Another option is Antares, in the aftermath of Brzk's assassination.  There
is likely to be a bunch of successor states here, who might well adopt a
model influenced by the Julian Protectorate in the absence of an effective
central government.

Obviously, we can't get a consensus as to the desirability of any
"solution" to the "Rebellion question".  Still, this solution can at least
accomodate some of the expressed preferences, to a certain amount.  There's
an Imperium, a Republic, lots of microstates, and a bucketload of anarchy. 
It's also fairly CT/MT/HT compliant.

*I* like it.  Critiques are welcome.  I'm quite happy to modify the model
to accomodate them, if its possible.

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1207
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