Traveller-digest     Thursday, October 14 1999     Volume 1999 : Number 1209



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Spraying near-c-rocks-B-gone liberally
Re: Battledress/Battlesuit Protection (GT)
Re: Norris the Man... 
Re: Norris the Man 
Re: Norris the Man... 
Re: Norris the Man 
Re: Lucan the Man... 
RE: Population Growth
Re: Population Growth
RE: Heplar Efficiency
Re: Heplar Efficiency
Re: Annic Nova
"Jump" by Sunbeard the Pirate
Re: Traveller Versions
Re: "Jump" by Sunbeard the Pirate
Re: Heplar Efficiency
Re: subsector/sector mapping software
Quick astronomy question...
City Killing on the Cheap
Lack of Knowledge Games
Re Smart Book
Re: City Killing on the Cheap
Re: Spraying near-c-rocks-B-gone liberally

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 10:10:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Craig Berry <cberry@cinenet.net>
Subject: Re: Spraying near-c-rocks-B-gone liberally

> Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 03:08:33 PST
> From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
>
> > This is the kicker.  Yes, of course it does.  That's why you don't get to
> > fly accel-flip-decel profiles in a HEPlaR vessel.  But again, a-f-d
> > profiles are both canonical and (IMHO) part of the trav 'feel' -- which
> > thus requires recourse to magic t-plates, which violate conservation laws
> > and turn every lifeboat into a potential planet-cracker.  That's the
> > dilemma. 
> 
> At least back in the LBB days, I always just assumed that there was an
> unspoken "if you have enough fuel" for those profiles.

Yes, but in LBB days, maneuvering didn't use fuel per se.  You fueled your
power plant (and with a smallish amount of fuel, too) on a monthly basis,
and it in turn powered any amount of thruster use during that month. 
Hence my term 'magic carpet drive'. 

> >> Not sure of overall density of interplanetary dust, but a 1 milligram
> >> dust particle at 84 G-hours speed has an energy of 4.5 megajoules with
> >> better focus than any laser, and should be able to punch holes in your
> >> average unarmored craft without difficulty. 
> >
> > You'd think so, wouldn't you?  Good thing about that ultrahard unobtainium
> > alloy they use for hulls...shame it's no good against lasers, or even
> > missiles...just dust. :)
> 
> Alas, it *can't be good against "dust" and not good against other
> kinetic impacts.

I know that.  Hence the smiley. :)  But one handwave is as good as
another, once you get into the violating-physical-laws game...

Note that another advantage of HEPlaR in this regard is that with a
typical ship having only 40 G-hrs of thrust available, you can't get up
into deadly-dust-grain velocity regimes.  But, as I mentioned, this also
means that planning in-system trips gets much harder, and executing them
usually takes much longer.

And again, in-system jumps make sense if you have a jump drive, but
j-drives and their associated fuel tankage make transporting a given
payload in-system much more expensive per ton.  Most low-priority cargo
and passengers will travel through normal space for anything under a
month's trip time, I'd think.

- -- 
   |   Craig Berry - cberry@cinenet.net
 --*--  http://www.cinenet.net/users/cberry/home.html
   |   "They do not preach that their God will rouse them
      a little before the nuts work loose." - Kipling

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 10:15:42 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Battledress/Battlesuit Protection (GT)

> In mail you write:
> 
>>> I've seen photos of a 1 MW beam in the lab
>>> and it looks like a cheap special effect, with various sized "globes"
>>> of ionization forming and collapsing at random along the beam path.
>>
>> You wouldn't know where one might find such photos on the net, would you?
>
> Nope. And the one I have is B&W on paper slightly better than
> newsprint. It was in an article on weapons grade lasers in Analog,
> probably about 15-20 years back.
>
> But I meant it when I said *cheap* special effect. The ionization blobs
> weren't distributed *anything* like evenly. Really *odd* look.

Perhaps you and Jesse could engage in some feedback so he could render the
effect? Do you remember the name of the lab? Perhaps they might have a photo.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:39:53 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Norris the Man... 

> At 03:45 PM 10/13/1999 +0100, you wrote:
> 
> 
> >Alan Bradley wrote:
> >
> > > I've never quite worked out how Norris' fleets got burned so badly.  Sure,
> > > they were stretched dealing with the Vargr and Aslan, and they got into a
> > > brawl with the Vilani, but I would have thought that most of these
> > > engagements would have tended to involve Cruisers or smaller ships.  I
> > > can't really see where the Battle squadrons would have suffered the serious
> > > losses that would have occurred to Lucan's and Dulinor's fleets.
> >
> >Norris had just come out of a the FFW a few years before. I doubt the
> >fleets would be back to full strength even after 10 years. He also
> >didn't have the corridor fleet in reserve. The Vargr also take double
> >the fleet assets, than any other foe, to keep them at bay (the
> >corridor fleet was at double strength for this purpose).
> 
> Perhaps if he was able to negotiate some sort of agreement with the Zho, 
> that would allow him to free most of the resources he needs.  Plus, he does 
> have the mothball fleets and considering what the opposition would be able 
> to field, it is highly possible that ol' Norris can do a "March to the Core".

The Zhos weren't his biggest problem.  The Vargr to coreward and the Aslan to rimward were.  Now, if he were to cut a deal with the Aslans pouring into his rimward border, he *might* have picked up enough throwweight to start pressing through Corridor, especially if he could get a couple good sized bands of Vargr to sign on with him.  But he'd still be leaving Deneb wide open for any 'unassured' Vargr incursions.

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: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:46:13 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Norris the Man 

> 
> How did this myth that Norris was a stickler for legality arrived. Isn't he
> the man who made himself archduke of Deneb without Strephons knowledge.
> Strephon later confirmed it however.

He had the Imperial Warrant in his hand when he signed the documents 
elevating himself to Archduke.  With things getting stupid around him, it was 
the only way he could have a chance at guaranteeing the continued safety of 
the Marches and the Domain.  And yeah, in my take, that Warrant made it 100% 
legal.  Remember the legalese on it?  <grin>

> Then there was the problem of an imperial warrant during the FFW. Norris did
> not let things get in the way of his vision.

He used that warrant *sparingly*.  Santanocheev was screwing the pooch 
bigtime when Norris relieved him of command.  It was obvious to *anybody* he 
had to be replaced.  The Warrant went into his safe after he replaced him, to 
be held for later useage.  And remember, Strephon later told him by mail that 
he did the right thing.  Thing is, if he *didn't* have that Warrant in his 
hand when he kicked Santanocheev out of the Big Chair, he wouldn't have had 
the authority to do it.

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: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:43:27 -0400
From: Kurt Feltenberger <kurt@blazenet.net>
Subject: Re: Norris the Man... 

At 01:39 PM 10/14/1999 -0400, you wrote:
> > At 03:45 PM 10/13/1999 +0100, you wrote:
> >
> >
> > >Alan Bradley wrote:
> > >
> > > > I've never quite worked out how Norris' fleets got burned so 
> badly.  Sure,
> > > > they were stretched dealing with the Vargr and Aslan, and they got 
> into a
> > > > brawl with the Vilani, but I would have thought that most of these
> > > > engagements would have tended to involve Cruisers or smaller ships.  I
> > > > can't really see where the Battle squadrons would have suffered the 
> serious
> > > > losses that would have occurred to Lucan's and Dulinor's fleets.
> > >
> > >Norris had just come out of a the FFW a few years before. I doubt the
> > >fleets would be back to full strength even after 10 years. He also
> > >didn't have the corridor fleet in reserve. The Vargr also take double
> > >the fleet assets, than any other foe, to keep them at bay (the
> > >corridor fleet was at double strength for this purpose).
> >
> > Perhaps if he was able to negotiate some sort of agreement with the Zho,
> > that would allow him to free most of the resources he needs.  Plus, he 
> does
> > have the mothball fleets and considering what the opposition would be able
> > to field, it is highly possible that ol' Norris can do a "March to the 
> Core".
>
>The Zhos weren't his biggest problem.  The Vargr to coreward and the Aslan 
>to rimward were.  Now, if he were to cut a deal with the Aslans pouring 
>into his rimward border, he *might* have picked up enough throwweight to 
>start pressing through Corridor, especially if he could get a couple good 
>sized bands of Vargr to sign on with him.  But he'd still be leaving Deneb 
>wide open for any 'unassured' Vargr incursions.


Writing from work can sometimes cause thought processes to not be stated 
clearly!  ;-)

I guess what I had intended to say, was that the deal would have the Zho 
apply pressure on their doggie allies as well as beef up the presence in 
the Vanguard Reaches sector to offset the Aslan.  This would still leave a 
weak point along the coreward border of Deneb and Corridor.


Kurt Feltenberger

"To our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations,
    may she always be in the right, but our country, right or wrong!"
      ~Stephen Decatur


mailto:kurt@blazenet.net

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:48:11 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Norris the Man 

> What was the problem with the Imperial Warrant? I thought the scenario was
> that Norris led a dangerous expedition to an interdicted system to recover
> the lost warant, possibly placing himself at risk for violating the
> interdiction if the expedition failed. With a warrant in hand, pretty much
> anything goes. Remember the Three Musketeeers?

Norris used the weight of that Warrant *twice*.  Once to relieve Santanocheev and once to elevate himself to Archduke.  It wasn't like he waved it around to get free lunches whereever he ate.

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: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:51:13 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Lucan the Man... 

> At 11:28 AM 10/13/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >2, he wouldn'tve had a legal 
> >leg to stand on if he'd tried it, and he was a *stickler* for legality.  
> >IIRC, Avery was born *after* the assassination.  It would have been tricky 
> >trying to pass him off as Strephon's last surviving heir.  Fairly
> impossible, 
> >I'd think.
> > 
> 
> In the official Traveller Universe, that minor legality didn't stop
> Margaret from artificially inseminating herself to produce a "legal" heir
> to the throne. Of course, Challenge magazine folded right after that so I
> don't know what finally happened to the twins.

In the OTU, it was almost like they were setting up a 'Norris vs Margaret' 
battle after Dulinor and Lucan whacked each other out.

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: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:56:58 -0400
From: Ian Ferguson <ian@vax2.concordia.ca>
Subject: RE: Population Growth

Timothy Collinson writes:
>Assuming that they have next to no ability to hunt for meat (at
>least at first - I reckon they'd learn swiftly), that would 
>leave fruit, nuts, vegetables, berries, fungi...
>
>Anything obvious I've missed?

	Bugs.  Not very appitizing, but common, nutricious, and
	generally easy to catch.  If there are no large carnivores,
	large animals may also be easy to catch, as they may not
	have evolved any strategy to avoid being eaten.  Even with
	predators, some animals might rely on such things as spines
	to protect themselves, and may be easy to kill (e.g.
	porcupines).  Eggs, if you can find them.  Fish, clams, and
	other aquatic organisms might be relatively easy to catch,
	depending on the size of the water habitat.  Hopefully,
	rations and vitamines from the ship will keep them going
	while they learn how to forage.

>Anything exotic/SFish anyone's used in Traveller situations like
>this?

	If there were relatively large Trapper-type plants, freshly-
	killed animals might be carefully stolen by the survivors.
	Likewise, some local hazard (tar pit?) might trap animals
	that the kids could not otherwise catch.  Semi-intelligent
	locals might be capable of trade, but that would change the
	scenario substantially.

<snipped>

Peez

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:59:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Re: Population Growth

Alas, a lack of healthy reproductive males is not usually a problem (well,
a _total_ lack would be of course...).  It's a lack of fertile females
that really slows you down, which is why population biologists concentrate
on them as the limiting factor.  

I remember one of my teachers telling me "Men are expendable.  We could
easily eliminate 90% of the males on the planet and survive quite well. 
How does that make you feel?" My response was "A 10:1 female to male
ratio? Let's do it!" :-)  Of course it only occurred to me later that
unless they were selecting for good gaming genes I would probably be one
of the first eliminated... :-) 

This of course reminds me of the scene at the end of Dr. Strangelove
(spoiler coming, if somehow you haven't seen it) where he tells the
assembled generals that to survive in the salt mines they're going to need
a 10 to 1 ratio of women to men and that because the men would be expected
to do a "prodigious amount of copulation" that the women would have to be
selected for their "arousing sexual characteristics".  I love Kubrick! :-)

I had a point here somewhere, now where was it?  Oh yes, the stranded kids
would probably be able to create a surviving colony for a few generations
assuming they weren't all brothers and sister and that they were willing
to use some alternative social forms.  In this sense their youth might
give them much-needed flexibility, allowing them to adopt a kind of
communal system where paternity would not be such an issue.  

Even with just 5 males and 5 females, you can create a second generation
of 25 kids, none of whom share both parents.  This is a regimen of 5 kids
per female, with each coming from a different father.  This is an
idealized situation of course, assuming no deaths in labor, perfect
fertility and (most of all) willingness to follow such a system.  But this
does give an upper boundary to work with.  If they do the same thing for
the third generation (assuming 12 females in the second generation), you
get 60 kids who don't share both parents nor (I think...) any
grandparents. 

The short version is that after a few generations there would be some
inbreeding problems, but with careful record-keeping and match-making you
could keep going for a while.  

Charles.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 11:04:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: "John R. Snead" <jsnead@netcom.com>
Subject: RE: Heplar Efficiency

"Antony Farrell" <Skaran@bigpond.com> wrote:

> > If people think Heplar thrusters are too efficient the solution seems
> > simple, just increase the fuel consumption for a given thrust. Doubling
> > fuel consumption immediately halves the drives efficiency. In any case
> > trying to fit 40 GHrs of fuel in some ships can be a real challenge.
>
> Reasonable realistic fuel consumption is about 100x (4,000
> seconds).  If you wanted to be very optimistic, 10x is probably
> fair, but in that case you should consider CG to be mandatory on
> any ship intended to ever land on a planet, HEPlaR is far too
> dangerous to use near other objects.  For close-in manuevering
> thrusters (docking and the like), I'd probably assume that the
> HEPlaR thrusters can be tuned down.

While I much prefer t-plates for Traveller, reducing the fuel consumption
for heplar by a factor of 100 is unnecessary. Heplar currently has an ISP
of 4 million.  For anything not involving anti-matter or similar exotic
stuff this is too high. However the 400,000 to 1 million range is
perfectly reasonable for a fusion rocket.  I'm assuming that heplar
involves actual fusion of the hydrogen, since otherwise it would be
pathetically efficient.  So, multiply the fuel consumption by 5 and you're
in the ballpark of reasonable fusion.  Also, 8 G-Hours is enough to do
pretty well in the inner solar system (total Delta-V of around 280 kps). 

My personal preference for Traveller drives is a modified t-plate which
totally converts hydrogen to light-speed neutrinos.  No exhaust problems,
and the fuel consumption is 2/15s that of heplar (since the exhaust
velocity is C). 

Such a system would act like t-plates, a typical ship would have 150-300
G-hours, but unlike conventional t-plates momentum and energy are
conserved.  It looks like a reactionless drive, but behaves
conventionally. 


- -John Snead jsnead@netcom.com  

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 11:13:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: Heplar Efficiency

John R. Snead writes:
> > Reasonable realistic fuel consumption is about 100x (4,000
> 
> While I much prefer t-plates for Traveller, reducing the fuel consumption
> for heplar by a factor of 100 is unnecessary. Heplar currently has an ISP
> of 4 million.  For anything not involving anti-matter or similar exotic
> stuff this is too high. However the 400,000 to 1 million range is
> perfectly reasonable for a fusion rocket.

Assuming your fusion rocket produces 10^-4 Gs or less, sure.
 
> My personal preference for Traveller drives is a modified t-plate which
> totally converts hydrogen to light-speed neutrinos.  No exhaust problems,
> and the fuel consumption is 2/15s that of heplar (since the exhaust
> velocity is C). 

I'm fond of that too, because it comes fairly close to CT fuel consumption; I
tried to convince people to use it for GT (with no luck), though conversion
thrusters made it into GURPS Space 3/e.  It doesn't really fix problems with
near-c rocks, however.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 11:14:47 -0700
From: Richard Hough <rdhough@home.com>
Subject: Re: Annic Nova

>> I liked
>> the suggestion about the very rare, naturally occurring jumpspace bubbles,
>> except that such a bubble would, IMO, be worth more than the estimated
>> MCr200 alone.
>
>I am not sure I am grokking this. In fact I know I'm not. Where would one
>keep this convenient little goodie? In one's pocket?

This is based on the suggestion that most of the hydrogen used for a jump
is used to form a normal-space "jump bubble" in jump space. If this is the
case, the proposed stable jump bubble would be in jump space, the same
place any ship's jump bubble is. Except a stable jump bubble doesn't
disappear after a week and can be used again and again.

- --
IMTU t4+ ru ge+ !3i(3i++) jt-- au+ ls- 

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:28:01 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: "Jump" by Sunbeard the Pirate

"Jump" by Sunbeard the Pirate
(sung to the tune of "Jump" as performed by Van Halen)

Owwww!

I sell up(port), and nothin' gets me down(port)
You got it tough -- I've seen the in-system round
And I know, Eneri, just how you feel
You got to steal from the Sirka and get to what's real

Ah, can't ya see me runnin' here
I got my PD Laser 'gainst the Navy machine
I ain't the worst that you've seen
Ah, can't ya see what I mean?

Astrogator says jump. Jump!
Might as well jump
Go ahead an' jump. Jump!
Go ahead and jump

Ow-oh! Hey, you! Who pinged me? System Defense, how you been?
You say you don't know, won't know until we're imprisoned again

So can't ya see me runnin' here
I got my Merchant against the SD-Beeee
Refueled at the LG-Geeee
Ah, can't ya see what I mean?

Ah, Pilot says jump. Jump!
Go ahead and jump
Might as well jump. Jump!
Go ahead and jump
Jump!

(Guitar Solo)

Might as well jump. Jump!
Pilot to jump
Get going, jump. Jump!
Astrogation, jump
Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!


[upport, downport = starport types (orbital and ground)]
[Eneri = typical Imperial first name (an average Joe)]
[Sirka = slang for any powerful, impersonal, hostile trade conglomerate]
[PD Laser = Point Defense Laser.  No range.]
[SDB = System Defense Boat, usually heavily armored and weaponed]
[LGG = Large Gas Giant, used for frontier refueling]

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 19:57:04 +0100
From: John Wood <John@elvw.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Traveller Versions

William F. Hostman <aramis@gci.net> and SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-
net.com> wrote:
[Explanations of the difference between a task system like MT and a
skill system like GURPS]

Thanks for that; I see what you're saying now. I disagree with some of
your points - the use of modifiers is right at the heart of the GURPS
system, allotted two paragraphs in the one-page Quick Start summary on
page 9 (which begins with the words "Read this first!"), as well as the
places Chris Seamans mentioned - but I *do* see the difference.

I think GURPS aims more for flexibility, MT for simplicity - both have
good and bad points. I am comfortable with GURPS, but would hate it if
all other systems disappeared.

Selected words of wisdom:
"I'm sure everyone has their own preferences, but that is _all_ it is, a
preference.   GURPS is in no way inferior to MT, it is just _different_
with its own faults and avantages...." (David Summers)

"Personally, I feel the rules are a non-issue." (Dom Mooney)

Right, now we can get on with our near-C rock throwing...

John
 
John G. Wood            <john@elvw.demon.co.uk>
Oxford, United Kingdom  http://www.elvw.demon.co.uk/Traveller/

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:08:08 -0400
From: "Jory Earl" <j-man@iname.com>
Subject: Re: "Jump" by Sunbeard the Pirate

ROFLMAO!!!
___________________________________________________________
 J-Man
 ICQ# 2843475
 New Hampshire - U.S.A.
 Email : j-man@iname.com
 Home Page : http://www.geocities.com/~jman037/
___________________________________________________________

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 13:33:28 -0500
From: ehenry@newberlin.org (Eric Henry)
Subject: Re: Heplar Efficiency

How does that work?  If you're using thruster plates i'll assume classic
traveller / high guard.  Would the Maneuver drive percentage of hull still
be the same?  What does the fuel equation work out to be?

- -----Original Message-----
Subject: RE: Heplar Efficiency


>"Antony Farrell" <Skaran@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>My personal preference for Traveller drives is a modified t-plate which
>totally converts hydrogen to light-speed neutrinos.  No exhaust problems,
>and the fuel consumption is 2/15s that of heplar (since the exhaust
>velocity is C).
>
>Such a system would act like t-plates, a typical ship would have 150-300
>G-hours, but unlike conventional t-plates momentum and energy are
>conserved.  It looks like a reactionless drive, but behaves
>conventionally.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:30:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Michael Houghton <herveus@Radix.Net>
Subject: Re: subsector/sector mapping software

Howdy!

> 
> 	Where's this stuff again? I tried your website below, and found no
> links to it ...
> 
http://www.radix.net/~herveus/traveller/

yours,
Michael
- -- 
Michael and MJ Houghton   | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
herveus@radix.net         | White Wolf and the Phoenix
Bowie, MD, USA            | Tablet and Inkle bands, and other stuff
                          | http://www.radix.net/~herveus/

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:38:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Quick astronomy question...

...is the parsec based on a baseline of 1 AU or 2 AU?  I thought the
latter, but working it out I get a value of 1 AU.  Why would this be the
case since (I thought) distances to stars were measured by taking two
views from opposite sides of the sun?  Am I just messing up the math?

Thanks,
Charles C.

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:36:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: City Killing on the Cheap

A though occured to me on the Near C Rocks thread...

Such rocks only need go fast enough to still have major energy upon surface
impact... say about 3 G-days or so should do it, IIRC...

The perfect delivery vehicle then should be the Type R subsidized
merchant... Big, matching doors fore and aft... load the bay with rocks
(Nickel-iron ones, preferably)... Would 4x4x4m Rocks do?. Come out of jump
around 4 days out at max burn aim straight for the planet and apply full
thrust for 3 days, turn around, open the aft, cancel the inertial comps in
the bay, apply a few minutes of max burn, turn 45 more and arc yourself out
of the planet's way, and then full burn on by to the 100 d limit and jump
out...

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, 14 Oct 1999 15:36:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: Lack of Knowledge Games

>The aspect you'd get in the proposed you-are-an-admiral FFW computer game
>that is *not* modeled in CC is being unsure where your own forces are.
>I've actually contemplated doing a space game like this for several years
>now, and come up with some of the same ideas (e.g., date-stamped position
>info) as were suggested here.  Maybe it's finally time to stop
>contemplating and start coding. :)
>
I've done this on a PBEM game of Lords of Space (on WWIVnet, years ago)...
as the GM, it was a pain... the players both loved and hated it...

One trick is to use a timeline in a wp with a sort function.... as things
are determined, figure out when the info will arrive back, then enter that
in your sort key position. as the turn rolls around, look up all the
"Return Despatches" for the current turn, and then return those bits to the
appropriate players.

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, 14 Oct 1999 15:50:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: "William F. Hostman" <aramis@gci.net>
Subject: Re Smart Book

The "Smart book" of Basic training is not an acronymn per se... the book is
entitled "Soldiers Manual of Common Tasks"; a prior edition than that I
went through with was the "Soldier's Manual of Required Tasks", from which
you might extract SMaRT...

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, 14 Oct 1999 12:57:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com>
Subject: Re: City Killing on the Cheap

William F. Hostman writes:
> A though occured to me on the Near C Rocks thread...
> 
> Such rocks only need go fast enough to still have major energy upon surface
> impact... say about 3 G-days or so should do it, IIRC...

Depends on how efficient you want it.  3.5 G-days (1% of c) is about a kiloton per kilogram, which means a couple tons of rock will do for most cities.  On the other hand, a conventional nuclear weapon by TL 12 is probably at least 10 kT/kg and much easier to deliver.  Where relativistic rocks really come into their own is for long-haul terrorist attacks.  Take a Rampart, put it on autopilot for a planet from 600 AU out; tell the autopilot to cut thrust a day before arrival (so it will be running quiet for the last 20 AU).  A month later it hits at half the speed of light with a force of 200,000 megatons

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

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 15:39:06 -0500
From: Eris reddoch <eris@pcola.gulf.net>
Subject: Re: Spraying near-c-rocks-B-gone liberally

Craig Berry wrote:
 
> Note that another advantage of HEPlaR in this regard is that with a
> typical ship having only 40 G-hrs of thrust available, you can't get up
> into deadly-dust-grain velocity regimes.  But, as I mentioned, this also
> means that planning in-system trips gets much harder, and executing them
> usually takes much longer.

> And again, in-system jumps make sense if you have a jump drive, but
> j-drives and their associated fuel tankage make transporting a given
> payload in-system much more expensive per ton.  Most low-priority cargo
> and passengers will travel through normal space for anything under a
> month's trip time, I'd think.

Like we haven't been through this before? :->  

I'll sally forth with MTU "solution" to in-system travel and the
near-c rock...

A dual drive maneuver drive system with Stutterwarp drives, limited to
pseudovelocities of about 1% of c, for normal insystem position
change, and Reaction drives (HEPlaR, plasma focus, fusion, whatever)
for actual dV change.  A ship would mount a Stutter rated at something
like 2,000 km/s, and a reaction drive fueled to be capable of
something like a 40 km/s change of velocity. This ship could change
position at about 1 AU per 21 hours and with its reaction drive,
and/or gravity assist on both ends, match orbits with most anything in
a system, but it couldn't truly accelerate anything, not even itself,
beyond that 40 km/s. 

To tie everything together, Stutterwarp and Jump are branches of the
same science, and technically very similar. For example, all jumps, be
they the tiny stutter or the parsecs long jumps are instantaneous.  

The ultra short jumps of a stutter drive don't need the "jump fuel"
reaction mass or jump grid (as explained below), thus the stutter can
cycle very rapidly translating the ship rapidly across space. The
practical limit of how fast you can cycle the stutter drives is what
limits your pseudovelocity to a small faction of c. 

When you add the jump fuel to the stutter you create an artificial
wormhole though which the ship falls, instantly translocating the ship
some lightyears away. The ship is protected from the wormhole by the
"jump bubble", a pocket universe created by the jump grid. It takes
roughly a week for the "jump fuel" to dissipate across the bubble, for
the bubble to collapse and the ship to translate back into normal
space at its new location.

Learning to control, expand, and stabilize "pocket universes" is
beyond the "current level" of technology, but might be something the
"Ancients" could accomplish. Likewise, increasing the pseudovelocities
of the Stutter drive to trans-c by increasing the the cycle rate for
the short Stuttering jumps may be possible...someday, but certainly
not with current levels of technology.

There's more, but that's enough. <g>

So, now, having said my say, I'll withdraw from the field...


Eris,
   the Heretic

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1209
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