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Traveller-digest      Friday, December 3 1999      Volume 1999 : Number 1435<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.<BR>
All rights reserved.<BR>
<BR>
The following topics are covered in this digest:<BR>
<BR>
Re: Brilliant Lances (was Re: Hello and TNE question)<BR>
Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
Re: "Aslan" name debate again<BR>
Re: TDigest: Big gap in numbering!!!!<BR>
Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
Re: Terran Jump Drive<BR>
Re: 3D Star Maps<BR>
Re: Stopping the world...<BR>
Phantom World in the Spinward Marches<BR>
re: Bribery Skill<BR>
Re: 3D Star Maps<BR>
Farscape<BR>
Re: LEO's<BR>
Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
Re: California Weather<BR>
Re: Sci fi films<BR>
Re: early christian writings and roman rumors<BR>
Re: LEO's<BR>
re: Naval rank question<BR>
Re: independent Terran invention of jump drive? sure<BR>
Re: Terran Jump Drive<BR>
Re: LEO's<BR>
Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #1434<BR>
Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
Re: "Aslan" name debate again<BR>
Re: 3D Star Maps<BR>
<BR>
----------------------------------------------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 09:25:04 +0000<BR>
From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com><BR>
Subject: Re: Brilliant Lances (was Re: Hello and TNE question)<BR>
<BR>
Kristian Miller <travellerne@3rd-imperium.com> wrote:<BR>
>Luther Martin wrote:<BR>
>> <BR>
>> Has anyone out there played Brilliant Lances or Battle Rider? If so, what<BR>
>> did you think of them? Good? Bad?<BR>
>> <BR>
><BR>
>Hi Luther,<BR>
><BR>
>Brilliant Lances is pretty good.  My only little complaint is that the<BR>
>movement record keeping is a little hard to pick up quickly.  We can set<BR>
>up a game when you and Glenn are done pulverizing the planet Mongo in<BR>
>the 5FW.<BR>
><BR>
>Kristian<BR>
<BR>
IMHO<BR>
<BR>
Stick with the Battle Rider movement system.<BR>
<BR>
The one in BL manages to combine increased complexity with reduced realism.<BR>
<BR>
The amount of effort gone into trying to make a turning circle system<BR>
emulate a vector movement system is amazing - especially the bit about<BR>
having 12 facings instead of 6 and then how your ship moves along hex edges...<BR>
<BR>
I just can't figure out why they bothered.<BR>
<BR>
Phil Kitching<BR>
- --<BR>
  http://www.btinternet.com/~salvo/<BR>
  Postmark Design Bureau, Emerging Technologies Division.<BR>
 "Microwaving half-baked ideas from across the Galaxy"<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 01:51:10 -0800<BR>
From: shudson@lightspeed.bc.ca (Steven Hudson)<BR>
Subject: Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
<BR>
>Andy and I need this info for "Navy".  Has there ever been a canonical (that<BR>
>a word? :) illustration of the 50DT Heavy Fighter in the past?  He's got a<BR>
>killer 2d illo idea for "Navy", and I'll be modelling it and useing in<BR>
>pictures as well.<BR>
<BR>
  There's _a_ 50 Dt, TL F heavy fighter in COACC.<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 01:59:25 -0800 (PST)<BR>
From: Terry Mixon <tlmixon@yahoo.com><BR>
Subject: Re: "Aslan" name debate again<BR>
<BR>
- --- Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> As I've said before, _I_ still have the legal right to copy DGP<BR>
> material,<BR>
> because Roger Sanger hasn't bothered to inform me it's revoked. OTOH,<BR>
> the<BR>
> reason he ignores me is that he owes me money, which means that all<BR>
> the<BR>
> work I did for DGP after Starship Operator's Manual is actually mine;<BR>
> assuming that others are in the same boat, I don't think that my<BR>
> authorization would cover their work. Being in no position to check<BR>
> who<BR>
> owns which article (ie who was paid for their work) I'm probably<BR>
> better off<BR>
> not copying.<BR>
<BR>
I am certain you have been asked this a million times but here goes <BR>
one million and one. Why do you not take him to court for the monies <BR>
you are owed, interest and court fees? <BR>
<BR>
Terry<BR>
__________________________________________________<BR>
Do You Yahoo!?<BR>
Thousands of Stores.  Millions of Products.  All in one place.<BR>
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 11:20:26 +0000<BR>
From: Timothy.Collinson@solent.ac.uk<BR>
Subject: Re: TDigest: Big gap in numbering!!!!<BR>
<BR>
>Can anybody tell me what happened between TDigest 1418 and TDigest 1426?<BR>
>System crash? Do these issues exist?<BR>
<BR>
I have 19 through 25 if you want me to forwrd them.<BR>
<BR>
tc<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 11:38:20 GMT<BR>
From: "Jonathan Lupton" <jonathanlupton@hotmail.com><BR>
Subject: Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
<BR>
>Andy and I need this info for "Navy".  Has there ever been a canonical <BR>
>(that<BR>
>a word? :) illustration of the 50DT Heavy Fighter in the past?  He's got a<BR>
>killer 2d illo idea for "Navy", and I'll be modelling it and useing in<BR>
>pictures as well.<BR>
<BR>
Hi,<BR>
<BR>
There was a Sourz class heavy fighter printed in an issue of<BR>
challenge (about issue 45 ish) complete with a picture and stats for<BR>
MT. I can't remeber what the displacement was though. I'll check over the <BR>
weekend. I can scan it and mail it to you if you like.<BR>
<BR>
J.<BR>
<BR>
______________________________________________________<BR>
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 01:03:28 +1300<BR>
From: "Andrew Moffatt-Vallance" <a.vallance@netaccess.co.nz><BR>
Subject: Re: Terran Jump Drive<BR>
<BR>
Date sent:      	Thu, 2 Dec 1999 15:40:41 -0800 (PST)<BR>
From:           	Anthony Jackson <ajackson@molly.iii.com><BR>
<BR>
> dadams@parracity.nsw.gov.au writes:<BR>
<BR>
> > As well, Terrnas did not realised that Jump could be used for interstellar<BR>
> > travel. It was used for microjumping, and it took a lot of effort to use it<BR>
> > to go interstellar travel (supply caches et al).<BR>
<BR>
> Which is weird, because you can always carry 2 jumps worth of fuel on a<BR>
> J-1 ship, which is enough to reach alpha centauri or barnard's star.<BR>
<BR>
Not really when you look at the actual circumstances of the invention. The<BR>
team that developed Jump drives were infact trying to produce maneuver<BR>
thrusters. It was as if the Terrans were trying to build a better mousetrap<BR>
and ended up with a spice rack. So the Terrans get this niffty new drive with<BR>
no real idea of how it actually works. So they don't understand the theory<BR>
behind the extremely complex calculations involved in plotting a course<BR>
through jump space and instead base their calcuations on some rough and<BR>
ready rules of thumb based on obsevational evidence. Hence these<BR>
calculations become hidiously inaccurate as range increases, drastically<BR>
limiting the range of the early Terran jump drives. Only when their equations<BR>
increased in accuracy were they able to get anything like sufficent range for<BR>
interstellar travel. IMTU I limit 1st generation J-drive to around 30 AU, and<BR>
2nd generation (the ones used to reach the stars) to about 1 LY. Only when<BR>
they contacted the Vilani did they realise that their equations were totally<BR>
stuffed and finally get things right.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Andrew etc<BR>
Homepage http://users.netaccess.co.nz/amv/<BR>
Traveller http://www.downport.com/amv/<BR>
 "What do you expect from a species who's females are<BR>
 always in heat" Ko of the Ilui clan on Humans and honour<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:01:50 -0400<BR>
From: Les_Howie@keane.com<BR>
Subject: Re: 3D Star Maps<BR>
<BR>
Very good stuff, which I will look at in more detail when I have a chance, just<BR>
one point -- you have to be a bit careful with drawing density coinclusions from<BR>
the hipparcos catalog beacuse the mission only went down to about apparent<BR>
magnitude 13.5.  This lets you look for F/G stars out for a reasonalble distance<BR>
(sorry I be precise, my references are not here) it leaves out scads of small<BR>
M's<BR>
<BR>
While the M's do not have a lot of potential as habitable planets, they do have<BR>
a good change of having gas giants as fuel sources; very important in a<BR>
Traveller universe.<BR>
<BR>
I did some work on the Gleise a while ago.  I believe in that data a jump 3<BR>
would get you pretty much anyware with patience, while a jump 1 was worthless.<BR>
The analysis I did was based around generating "clusters" of mutually accessable<BR>
stars for a given jump number, then determining how many seperate clusters the<BR>
database boiled down to.<BR>
<BR>
I think that the idea of running traveller in 3D is really great.  3 dimensions<BR>
must have effects on trade and strategy which we miss entirely in 2D games.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
- ------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 12:22:19 +0000<BR>
From: Phil Kitching <postmark.design@btinternet.com><BR>
Subject: Re: Stopping the world...<BR>
<BR>
david.d.jaques-watson@centrelink.gov.au wrote:<BR>
<BR>
>Sounds closer...<BR>
><BR>
>"Just remember that you're standing<BR>
>On a planet that's evolving,<BR>
>And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour.<BR>
>It's orbiting at ninety miles a second,<BR>
>So it's reckoned,<BR>
>About a Sun that is the source of all our power.<BR>
><BR>
>The Sun, and you and me,<BR>
>And all the stars that we can see,<BR>
>Are moving at a million miles a day,<BR>
>In an outer spiral arm (at fourty thousand miles an hour),<BR>
>Of the galaxy they call the Milky Way!"<BR>
><BR>
>_The Galaxy Song_, Monty Python.<BR>
<BR>
That's the second time in two months that someone has quoted that song<BR>
to correct an assertion about the universe.<BR>
<BR>
Should I laugh or cry?<BR>
<BR>
Phil Kitching<BR>
- --<BR>
  http://www.btinternet.com/~salvo/<BR>
  Postmark Design Bureau, Emerging Technologies Division.<BR>
 "Microwaving half-baked ideas from across the Galaxy"<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 13:37:04 +0000<BR>
From: "Carlos Alos-Ferrer" <carlos.alos-ferrer@univie.ac.at><BR>
Subject: Phantom World in the Spinward Marches<BR>
<BR>
A phantom world in the familiar Spinward Marches:<BR>
MT Imperial Encyclopedia lists (in Trin's Veil subsector):<BR>
<BR>
2632 X895674-8 Ag Ni An R201 Im F3V M0D<BR>
<BR>
Notice that it is a Red-Zoned Ancient Site... maybe that is the <BR>
reason it does not show up in any maps! I would be itnerested to know <BR>
whether this is an MT artifact or was (wasn't?) already there in <BR>
earlier versions...<BR>
<BR>
Just speculating... coult it conceivably be the case that the <BR>
Imperium erases some world from all databanks and consistently <BR>
manages to hid its existence, until a group of PCs casually finds a <BR>
very old record with an extra world? Probably not, since it has an <BR>
F3V main star and it is (would be) next door to an A-starport world, <BR>
hence probably observable even wihout mechanical aid. But still....<BR>
<BR>
Eskayloyt, anyone? Nah, too large...<grin><BR>
<BR>
Carlos Alos-Ferrer<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 13:48:59 +0100<BR>
From: "Jens" <Jens.Maskus@stud.uni-hannover.de><BR>
Subject: re: Bribery Skill<BR>
<BR>
in "Civilisation" an Diplomat can bribe an bomber of fighter without getting into contact with crew!<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 14:31:54 +0100<BR>
From: Jens Rydholm <jenry023@student.liu.se><BR>
Subject: Re: 3D Star Maps<BR>
<BR>
Kurtis Rodgers wrote:<BR>
> I've been poking around with one of the "bad penny" Traveller issues,<BR>
> the star mapping system.<BR>
<snip><BR>
<BR>
Wonderful! Especially since I've been considering 3D-mapping for a<BR>
Traveller game I will start running this spring.<BR>
<BR>
> I'm currently using the Hipparcos star catalog for my source data.  I<BR>
> have only imported the data from hip_main.dat file, which contains<BR>
> 118,218 records.  A *very* few of these records lacked parallax data,<BR>
> and were discarded.  The rest were plotted into a Cartesian<BR>
> coordinates table, with Sol at 0,0,0.  A record was added for Sol at<BR>
> 0,0,0.  : )<BR>
<BR>
I would be very interested in having the cartesian coordinates table.<BR>
Could you pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaase mail it to me privately? It would save me<BR>
a lot of trouble.<BR>
<BR>
> A destinations child table was compiled from the main Cartesian<BR>
> reference table.  Due to the projected processing time required for<BR>
> finding J1-6 destinations for every star in the catalog (well over 30<BR>
> hours on my P300 server), I decided to limit myself (for now) to a<BR>
> sample set of data: all the catalog stars within 60 parsecs of Sol. <BR>
> This comes to 9946 records, a very reasonable sample data set (just<BR>
> under 10% of the total catalog).<BR>
<BR>
I don't think that a table of destinations is the way to go for a<BR>
project like this. A far better idea would be to write a small program<BR>
that takes the coordinates table and lets you pick a star which to view.<BR>
Add in stars that can be reached with different jump ranges in different<BR>
colors in some kind of 3D-projection. Perhaps secondary (2 jumps)<BR>
destinations should be added as well.<BR>
<BR>
This is what I've been considering anyway. Such a program would not be<BR>
terribly hard to write, and it would be very nice. Styling it like an<BR>
actual navigation aid would help a lot as well  *grin*<BR>
<BR>
Ideally, the same program would include UWP and star data as well, but<BR>
that would mean a lot of work.<BR>
<BR>
> For the purposes of this model, all stars are assumed to be useful<BR>
> refueling points, and thus potential destinations for star travel. <BR>
> (This is *not* an assumtion I would make in an actual campaign.)<BR>
<snip><BR>
<BR>
Since you get a LOT of possible destinations, I would suggest making<BR>
refueling points (gas giants) rather rare in such a campaign. Otherwise,<BR>
as you point out, high-tech ships will get ANYWHERE very quickly.<BR>
<BR>
In order to make J-1 ships useable to any degree, I would suggest<BR>
allowing drop tanks *shudder*<BR>
<BR>
Or perhaps just upscaling the jump ranges a bit, so that a J-1 ship can<BR>
get from Sol to Alpha Centauri in one jump.<BR>
<BR>
> I've already used a lot of bandwidth for a single post, so I'll stop<BR>
> here. Remember - these numbers are for Jump-6.  If we limit the jump<BR>
> capability, the results get much more interesting (and encouraging,<BR>
> ...and shorter, too).  So, anyone interested in seeing this same<BR>
> table at max Jump-3?<BR>
<BR>
Seeing the table at J-3 would help me deciding if such a campaign is<BR>
useable. Please mail it, either here or in private mail.<BR>
<BR>
/Jens 'Spacejens' Rydholm<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 13:53:22 +0000<BR>
From: Timothy.Collinson@solent.ac.uk<BR>
Subject: Farscape<BR>
<BR>
Is anyone familiar with Farscape?<BR>
<BR>
It's just started on UK tv and I had thought that our American friends<BR>
might be able to give the low down on whether it is worth bothering with.<BR>
But then I noticed this new import actually came from Australia.<BR>
<BR>
I watched the first part and the usual caveats about banking space<BR>
fighters, sounds in a vaccum and instant speech translation apply.  It<BR>
seemed to be a kind of Buck Rogers Above & Beyond Klingon Star Wars kind of<BR>
thing, but fun nonetheless.<BR>
<BR>
Anyone seen it down under?<BR>
<BR>
tc<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 07:54:55 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com><BR>
Subject: Re: LEO's<BR>
<BR>
> >>thing pop up in the damndest places), and if we are to go by Stargate<BR>
> >>SG-1, unless the planet is reall, really weird, all planets are<BR>
> >>Vancouver ;-)<BR>
> >>-- <BR>
> >Stargate SG-1 also showed us that, with few exceptions, all Earth's<BR>
> >languages end up evolving toward english. <BR>
> <BR>
> Heck, we've known that ever since the original Star Trek series.<BR>
<BR>
Unless of course you're watching Anime sci-fi, in which case<BR>
all world-conquering aliens speak fluent Japanese!<BR>
<BR>
			--Cynthia <BR>
			(Bad case of DBZ-obsession)<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 07:46:50 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com><BR>
Subject: Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
<BR>
> >Andy and I need this info for "Navy".  Has there ever been a canonical <BR>
> >(that<BR>
> >a word? :) illustration of the 50DT Heavy Fighter in the past?  He's got a<BR>
> >killer 2d illo idea for "Navy", and I'll be modelling it and useing in<BR>
> >pictures as well.<BR>
 <BR>
> There was a Sourz class heavy fighter printed in an issue of<BR>
> challenge (about issue 45 ish) complete with a picture and stats for<BR>
> MT. I can't remeber what the displacement was though. I'll check over the <BR>
> weekend. I can scan it and mail it to you if you like.<BR>
<BR>
Wasn't the Sourz a Vargr fighter?  Hence not the canonicalm Impie Navy<BR>
Heavy Fighter?<BR>
<BR>
				--Cynthia<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 07:38:24 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com><BR>
Subject: Re: California Weather<BR>
<BR>
> On Wed, 1 Dec 1999, Douglas E. Berry wrote:<BR>
> <BR>
> > Ah, the perils of television.. every summer San Francisco gets planeloads<BR>
> > of tourist in shorts and t-shirts, who proceed to develop hypothermia while<BR>
> > waiting for cable cars.<BR>
> > <BR>
> > Y'see they've seen "Baywatch", which is filmed in California, so they know<BR>
> > what the weather is going to be like...<BR>
> > <BR>
> My ex-BF Go came from Saitama to SF one year with NOTHING but t-shirts and<BR>
> shorts because he believed California was so warm...<BR>
<BR>
Heh. I'd still think California was like Hawaii if I hadn't spent<BR>
'A'-school in San Diego in the middle of the summer. After coming from<BR>
boot camp in Orlando in the spring, the weather was niiiice and COOL.<BR>
(And after living in New Orleans summers... :-(<BR>
<BR>
				--me<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 06:45:28 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com><BR>
Subject: Re: Sci fi films<BR>
<BR>
> <BR>
> accurately represents what space travel is likely to<BR>
> look like and be like for the people doing it: more<BR>
> that than the toothpaste-tube cleanliness of Star Trek<BR>
> or Star Wars.<BR>
<BR>
You must have seen a different set of Star Wars movies than<BR>
I did, then :-).  One of the things I liked about Star Wars<BR>
was the fact that the high-tech equipment was frequently dirty,<BR>
banged up, had access panels missing where some teenage garage<BR>
mechanic was working on it, etc.  It WASN'T "gosh-wow" stuff to<BR>
the characters in the movie, it was just everyday machinery--<BR>
which is how it should be in a 20,000-plus-years-old starfaring<BR>
civilization.<BR>
<BR>
			--Cynthia<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 06:51:28 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com><BR>
Subject: Re: early christian writings and roman rumors<BR>
<BR>
> fracticious planet has been in interstellar contact for a while, the PC's<BR>
> are really going to have to work to come up with answers the people<BR>
> haven't been exposed to yet, or answers they haven't thought of<BR>
> already themselves.<BR>
> <BR>
> Of course, you might have a PC on board with CT Liaison-8 skill...<BR>
<BR>
I had a free trader captain with Liason-9 once. I rolled her up<BR>
from Book 8 Merchants, IIRC, and kept trying to get that last Legal-1<BR>
skill to qualify for her Captaincy--and term after term, I kept<BR>
rolling Liason instead! I was determined to have a free trader Captain<BR>
though, so I didn't give up no matter how old she got...<BR>
<BR>
			--Cynthia<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:06:00 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Cynthia Higginbotham <cyhiggin@pipeline.com><BR>
Subject: Re: LEO's<BR>
<BR>
> either...and according to TeeVee all of California is balmy, Korea,<BR>
> Africa, and most locations around the world look just like the hills<BR>
> outside of LA, there's a singular rock formation on dozens of planets<BR>
> and sites around the world (The rocks where Kirk fought the reptile<BR>
> thing pop up in the damndest places), and if we are to go by Stargate<BR>
> SG-1, unless the planet is reall, really weird, all planets are<BR>
> Vancouver ;-)<BR>
<BR>
I saw that rock formation in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey",<BR>
AND RECOGNIZED IT as the one from that Star Trek episode.<BR>
My, those two idiots sure got around!<BR>
<BR>
			--Cynthia<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 09:22:12 -0500<BR>
From: Walter Smith <SmithW@HARTWICK.EDU><BR>
Subject: re: Naval rank question<BR>
<BR>
Swordy wrote:<BR>
>>>>>>>>><BR>
Bloody Coast Guard, that's what they are.  They deserve no Naval rank at<BR>
all.  A JG could handle a silly PT boat like an SDB and a light commander<BR>
would be wasted running the whole canoe club!  If you really must give the<BR>
sorry sot a title then Bathtub Commodore should cover it.  Harrumph.<BR>
>>>>>>>>><BR>
Unlike the "real navy" types, the SDB flotilla can't "jump for cover" when<BR>
things get tough.<BR>
<BR>
And some of those system defense "boats" can be cruiser size...<BR>
<BR>
Walt Smith<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 09:35:44 -0500<BR>
From: Ethan Henry <egh@klg.com><BR>
Subject: Re: independent Terran invention of jump drive? sure<BR>
<BR>
Volker Greimann <volker@greimann.de> wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> >It's in much earlier canon, too.  The Terrans invented<BR>
> >the jump drive more or less by accident while mining<BR>
> >the asteroid belt.<BR>
> <BR>
> Or so the Solomani claimed.....<BR>
<BR>
Exactly! I mean, can you really say something like<BR>
<BR>
"discovered it by accident while mining the asteroid belt"<BR>
<BR>
(which was most likely caused by the FInal War)? Sheesh!<BR>
<BR>
Anyway, there is a certain amount of play here with regards<BR>
to how you interpert this little bit of canon.<BR>
<BR>
Certain parts of the various Traveller books are obviously<BR>
meant to state absolute reality in the Traveller universe.<BR>
The amount of damamge from a shotgun, for example. Other<BR>
bits are obviously very much "in-game" and need to be <BR>
interpreted as such. The description of events during the<BR>
rebellion, for instance. The description of these events<BR>
is meant to be subjective, biased and subject to interpretation.<BR>
<BR>
Other bits are, however, much less clear.<BR>
<BR>
Is the Terran discovery of jump drive meant to fall in <BR>
the first category or the second? Obviously many of<BR>
you feel that it falls in the first - it's simply a statement <BR>
of fact to help the ref understand the universe and set<BR>
the scene. I think it's in the second category - it's what<BR>
the characters, not the players, understand to be reality<BR>
and it's not necessarily 100% true. As a matter of fact,<BR>
I sincerely hope that no one runs a campaign where the<BR>
players know anything with 100% certainty. :)<BR>
<BR>
While it may be true that you'll probably never invent<BR>
jump technology inside 100 diameters of a major stellar <BR>
body, don't you find it a bit odd that in Imperial space<BR>
alone, out of the several dozen human races and the <BR>
countless non-human races, only _2_ races actually<BR>
"invented" jump? While at the same time at least one <BR>
other human race (and maybe other non-human races) actually<BR>
did copy jump drive off of an Ancient relic? What about<BR>
the infamous "black globe"? According to canon, the Imperium,<BR>
even at TL 15, in its most advanced research labs, can't<BR>
build the damn things - most of the black globe units<BR>
come from Ancient sites (there is a canon ref for this,<BR>
but I don't know it off the top of my head...).<BR>
<BR>
And the fact that almost every race (except the Hivers <BR>
and perhaps the K'kree) had evidence of extensive Ancient<BR>
facilities on their homeworld? I mean, on Zhodane and<BR>
Vland there are basically gigantic buildings and broken<BR>
down Manga-style monster robots sitting there with gigantic<BR>
pictures of Grandfather on the side! Do you really believe<BR>
that hundreds of generations of humans just looked at these<BR>
artifacts and just said "eh, old junk - I think I'll go<BR>
mine some asteroids"????<BR>
<BR>
Anyway, maybe I better stop before I start frothing at the <BR>
mouth (again).<BR>
- --<BR>
Ethan Henry                                        egh@klg.com<BR>
Java Evangelist, KL Group                   http://www.klg.com<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 09:38:23 -0500<BR>
From: Ethan Henry <egh@klg.com><BR>
Subject: Re: Terran Jump Drive<BR>
<BR>
dadams@parracity.nsw.gov.au wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> MT also refutes this. It was explicit that in order to successfully test Jump<BR>
> Drive was to be _outside_ a strong gravity field. So in order to discover Jump,<BR>
> you have to be off planet.<BR>
<BR>
Well, this doesn't really refute it, per se. This statement can be true<BR>
at the same time as "The Terrans copied jump" can be true.<BR>
<BR>
> As well, Terrnas did not realised that Jump could be used for interstellar<BR>
> travel. It was used for microjumping, and it took a lot of effort to use it to<BR>
> go interstellar travel (supply caches et al).<BR>
<BR>
This seems to only prove the fact that the Terrans had no frickin' idea<BR>
how the damn thing worked - presumably if you designed something like<BR>
this, you'd know how far it could go. (Though I am reminded of the <BR>
warnings that trains should not go above 20 miles per hour for the<BR>
fear of "sucking people's breath away" or somesuch).<BR>
<BR>
- --<BR>
Ethan Henry                                        egh@klg.com<BR>
Java Evangelist, KL Group                   http://www.klg.com<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 14:52:37 +0100<BR>
From: Volker Greimann <volker@greimann.de><BR>
Subject: Re: LEO's<BR>
<BR>
At 14:54 03.12.99 , you wrote:<BR>
>Unless of course you're watching Anime sci-fi, in which case<BR>
>all world-conquering aliens speak fluent Japanese!<BR>
<BR>
As well as every American or European Child! For example Asuka Langley on NGE,<BR>
who is supposed to be native German (strange name for a German Girl ;-)<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 09:49:03 -0500 (EST)<BR>
From: Charles Collin <charles@hebb.psych.mcgill.ca><BR>
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #1434<BR>
<BR>
<Kurtis><BR>
These numbers are pretty bad, as expected.  Can you image fueling up your<BR>
J-6 Yacht and having 112 possible jump destinations to choose from?<BR>
Yikes!<BR>
</Kurtis><BR>
<BR>
To make matters worse, you're probably missing a lot of stars in that<BR>
database.  At least that's the case with the one I've tinkered with, the<BR>
Gliesse data.  The problem is that as distance from earth increases, you<BR>
get a selection bias towards bright stars and the most common stars<BR>
(little red M classes) are not detected.  The effect is quite steep, I<BR>
remember noticing that even at 50 ly, the stellar density in the Gliesse<BR>
data was significantly lower than that inside 25 ly.  <BR>
<BR>
One solution to the "too many destinations" problem is to change jump from<BR>
parsec to lightyear units.  Jump-6 would then become only about Jump-2, if<BR>
you get my meaning.<BR>
<BR>
Charles C.<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:47:47 -0600 (CST)<BR>
From: Steven Bonneville <bonnevil@ima.umn.edu><BR>
Subject: Re: 50ton Heavy Fighter<BR>
<BR>
> Nope, try again =)  That's a 20DT Strike Fighter.<BR>
><BR>
> COACC maybe?  Thought I had a copy of it, but I'll be damned if I can find<BR>
> it.  Anyone?<BR>
<BR>
COACC definitely -- the _Magnum_ heavy fighter.  Unfortunately, I don't<BR>
have a personal copy of COACC either....<BR>
<BR>
  -- Steve Bonneville<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 09:47:36 -0500<BR>
From: Ethan Henry <egh@klg.com><BR>
Subject: Re: "Aslan" name debate again<BR>
<BR>
Robert Prior <robert_prior@sympatico.ca> wrote:<BR>
>	<BR>
> As I've said before, _I_ still have the legal right to copy DGP material,<BR>
> because Roger Sanger hasn't bothered to inform me it's revoked. OTOH, the<BR>
> reason he ignores me is that he owes me money, which means that all the<BR>
> work I did for DGP after Starship Operator's Manual is actually mine;<BR>
> assuming that others are in the same boat, I don't think that my<BR>
> authorization would cover their work. Being in no position to check who<BR>
> owns which article (ie who was paid for their work) I'm probably better off<BR>
> not copying.<BR>
<BR>
Rob, why all the pussyfooting around? Roger is obviously not in a<BR>
"cash rich" position or he'd pay you. If he can't afford to pay<BR>
you, I don't see how he's going to afford a lawyer. Copyright isn't<BR>
somthing that's enforced by the police, last time I checked. And to<BR>
top it off, if enough copyright violations occur, then he _can't_<BR>
sue you. These rights need to be policed by the holder (correct<BR>
me if I'm wrong).<BR>
<BR>
Photocopy as many books as you want. If Roger doesn't come after you<BR>
after the first few, then you have (what I believe is) a valid<BR>
legal defence.<BR>
<BR>
For heaven's sake - come the New Year I resolve to find some time<BR>
to photocopy my DGP books until they fall apart from photodegredation.<BR>
<BR>
Everybody on this list treats Roger Sanger like he's some sort of grenade<BR>
with the pin already half out. I seriously doubt he can scrape together<BR>
the postage to send me a registered letter to cease and desist.<BR>
<BR>
If I'm totally wrong on this one, I'd love to have someone explain <BR>
it to me.<BR>
<BR>
Ethan (not speaking on behalf of my employer)<BR>
- --<BR>
Ethan Henry                                        egh@klg.com<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 1999 14:38:26 +0100<BR>
From: "Jens" <Jens.Maskus@stud.uni-hannover.de><BR>
Subject: Re: 3D Star Maps<BR>
<BR>
On Fri, 3 Dec 1999 08:01:50 -0400, Les_Howie@keane.com wrote:<BR>
<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
>I did some work on the Gleise a while ago.  I believe in that data a jump 3<BR>
>would get you pretty much anyware with patience, while a jump 1 was worthless.<BR>
>The analysis I did was based around generating "clusters" of mutually accessable<BR>
>stars for a given jump number, then determining how many seperate clusters the<BR>
>database boiled down to.<BR>
<BR>
I've got the same conclusion.<BR>
IMTU (3D) I added one more parsec per jump. Jump 1 is 2 parsecs and jump 6 is 7 parsecs.<BR>
I've converted the Gateway Campaign Data into a chview file.<BR>
One of my target was to save the jump-distances between the major systems. With I think good results.<BR>
<BR>
Jens<BR>
<BR>
------------------------------<BR>
<BR>
End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1435<BR>
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