
-------- TML Message #593 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 593
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 89 13:43:44 EDT
From: ("William B. Morrison") morrison@pyr.gatech.edu
Subject: Star System Digest, hey, wake up!


[Replies to this should go to Bill Morrison (look at the From and
Reply-To lines), who will coordinate the discussion and prepare digests.
Be careful not to reply to JAMESP or TRAVELLER-REQUEST, or there will be
a delay as I will have to manually redistribute the mail to him.
Similarly, mailing to TRAVELLER isn't necessary, since he will digest
the traffic for the rest of us.  Questions/concerns? Let me know --
James]

With all of the recent interest in the star system generation
programs, I would like to get the star system discussion group
going again. I remember (way back when :-) that James Perkins
and Fred Schiff were discussing the developement of their
program to generate sectors and subsectors with PostScript
output on hex paper. 

Our main topics of discussion would be:

     - What referees and players would like to see in a (generic)
       sector/subsector/planet generation program,
     - The design of these programs, and whether they should be one
       program or several programs in one system,
     - The necessary data needed to keep consistency between
       each generation system,
     - Expansion of any system generation program in scope/scale
       (eg. to include planetary maps of generated worlds, maybe
       down to the 'city' level).
     - Modification of James' (with his permission) and the existing
       'real' system generation programs to incorporate new functions,
       capabilities, and data items.

We will add other topics as soon as they are mentioned. Please note
that the 'expansion' item above is *very* ambitious with the amount
of time available (I assume that most readers have jobs and/or
school?) to use? 

We are looking for programmers, physics/astrophysics/astronomy
experts, biologist, SoRag agents, and anyone else who is
interested and has ideas about system generation (alright, even
if you don't have ideas on system generation we could use you).

This will be a sub-discussion group with myself as moderator, and
I'll post digests (just like the Trade & Commerce group) of the
discussion to the rest of the traveller mailing list. So if you're
interested, send me email and I'll add you to my personal alias
list (yes, that means that I'll have to forward all messages
back to the subgroup by hand).

I look forward to hearing from you.
- --Bill Morrison
  morrison@pyr.gatech.edu
  Star System Discussion Group coordinator

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-------- TML Message #594 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 594
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 89 12:05:24 PDT
From: gazis@halley.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: Long aimless ramble about cold start launches



     In The Eight Worlds (my Traveller-like game), a starship can be in 
any one of six states of readiness.  The nature, consequences, and
transition times between these states are:

     DOWN- Cold, lifeless, inert, and covered with dust:
     "Well, she flew pretty good ten years ago, but she's been sitting 
in the shed since then."

     COLD- On battery power and ready for opperational use.  
     "We rented a 'dozer an' pushed 'er out to the pad.  'Arry filled the 
air tanks an put new filters in the lifesystem.  Got a bit covered with 
sludge an 'e's not to 'appy bout that let me tell ya.  Arnie poked 'round
around Engineering an' says that looks pretty good.  'Arold replaced some
cracked boards in the avionics suite.  Sheila put new seat covers on all
all the crash couches.  We put 'er on battery power and nothing broke so 
I guess she's OK.  The whole job took about three weeks where's our cash?"

     RESERVE- Fusors up, drives ready, ship pre-flighted and on internal 
power.  Reserve consumes a detectible but negligable amount of fuel and
resources.  Reserve status also requires a small maintenance crew, 
whisically refered to as the 'anchor watch'.
     "Right boys, this is an old ship, no telling what we'll find, let's
tear this thing apart ourselves.  
     "Johnathan!"
     "Aye Cap'n?"
     "Go through the ENTIRE Engineering checklist before you pump down 
the fusors and drives, and make sure the power conditioning equipment 
downstream of the convertors is clean.  I don't trust this Arnie person 
one bit.  Give me a call before you warm and flash the fusors so we can 
co-ordinate things up on the bridge.
     " Ensign Viggens!"
     "Yes sir!"
     "Take a look at the lifesystem and see if this 'Arry fellow filled 
the tanks with oxygen.  And check to make sure he didn't mount the filters 
in the solid waste unit in backwards.  Remember what happened last time.
     "B'son Dgai!"
     "Yes Captain?"
     "Reboot the bridge hardware WITH the diagnostics option which this 
'Arold fellow so conveniently forgot and check the antenna feed lines on 
the fire radar.  I'll bet those fools used solder!
     "Ensign Peters!"
     [Sultry voice] "Sir?"
     "These crash couch covers are nylon, they'll burn like candles.  
I want 'em replaced by the time we're on Low Standby.
     [Outraged sultry voice] "Sir!  Replacing them will take a week!"
     "Don't worry, we've got the time."
     o[Sultry voice] "Sir, may I ask a question?"
     "Yes Ensign."
     [Sultry voice] "How come the women always get the boring jobs?"
     "Ensign Peters, Navy Regulations are not to be questioned."

     LOW STANDBY- Engineering systems on line at low power, ship ready to 
lift after drives and fusors have been warmed up and pre-takeoff checklist 
has been completed.  Low Standy consumes moderate amounts of fuel (about 
1% what is used in normal opperations) to run the fusor and to circulate 
through the various cooling systems.
     "Bridge, Engineering, Johnathan here, ready to flash the fusors."
     "Alert, this is the Bridge, all crew to damage control stations and
acknowledge."
     [jumble of acknowledgements]
     "B'son, your board?"
     "Green board Captain."
     "Engineering, Bridge, go ahead with the fusors."
     "Aye Cap'n."
     CLOOOOOOONK!
     "Fusors up, engaging convertors."
     PNINNNG!
     "Convertors up, 101% nominal, batteries on charge, applying power to 
drive coils."
     TOOKA TOOKA TOOKA!
     "Fusors, convertors, and drives are at Low Standby Cap'n, everything
looks nominal."
     "Good work Master Johnathan.
     "Alert, Crew, secure from damage control stations.  Begin pre-takeoff
checklist, I want this ship off the ground in an hour.
     "Ensign Peters, where are those new seat covers!"
     [Hurt sultry voice] "They should have been delivered by now Captain.
Oh, look I see the truck arriving now.  Permission to leave the bridge?"
     "Granted."

     STANDBY- Ready for takeoff.  Even though the drives are not running
(in fact, in the Eight Worlds, fusion drives can not be used if the 
external atmospheric density is greater than 1.0E-15 atoms/cc or they
will explode, BOOM, with a consequent reduction in the ship's opperational
capabilities.  Atmospheric flight is accomplished through the use of
thermal scramjets driven by heat from the fusor), Standby consumes 
considerable amounts of fuel, about 10% what is used in normal opperations,
but a ship can be lifted from Standy in the time it takes to spool the
lifters.
     A ship can also be lifted from Low Standby in an emergency.  This
involves omitting the pre-takeoff checklist, and thus any chance of
discovering if there is something wrong with the vessel (In Eight Worlds
game mechanics, I roll dice before each liftoff to determine if there
is a malfunction in any of the ship systems.  This chance depends on
the quality of the vessel.  If the crew perform their pre-takeoff 
checklist, they get a chance, dpependant on the relevant skills, to
detect and prevent the malfunction before it occurs.  If they fail to
do this, they must prevent the malfunction after it occurs, which is
considerably more difficult and entertaining.)
     [Sultry voice] "Sir, that's not the truck from the chandlery, it's 
a truckload of Plieades Federation death cyborgs.  Ick."
     "Alert!  Secure for lift!  Pilot!  Hit it!"
     Cloonk.
     "No!  I meant hit the throttles!"
     Ting.
     "B'son, execute a liftoff, full thrust, NOW!"
     THOOM ROAR POWER LIFT ALL SORTS OF GOOD STUFF!
     [The entire crew] "Grunt"
     "Launch plus eight seconds, altitude 1280 meters, speed 320 meters 
per second."
     "Bridge, Engineering, Johnathan here, I think..."
     SPUTTER DIE KAPUT
     "... that we might have a problem."
     "Can you fix it?"
     "Altitude 3980 meters, speed 220 meters per second."
     "Johnathan?"
     "Altitude 5680 meters, speed 120 meters per second."
     "Working on it Cap'n."
     "Altitude 6300 meters, speed 0 meters per second."
     "Johnathan, better hurry."
     "Altitude 5680 meters, speed negative 120 meters per second."
     "B'son, what's our estimated time to impact?"
     "Hard to say sir, it depends heavily on aerodymanic effects,
and whether our trajectory carries us into that mountain range over
there.  Altitude 3980 meters, speed negative 220 meters per second."
     "B'son, I want an answer!"
     "Sir, I gave you an answer.  Perhaps your request was 
insufficiently specific."
     "Damn Kiwade and their crazy sense of humor!  Why couldn't I
have found a Human pilot?"
     "I can't imagine.  Altitude 1280 meters speed negative 320
meters per second impact in 3.84..."
     "JOHNATHAN!"
     "Lifters ready Cap'n"
     "B'SON!"
     THOOM ROAR POWER LIFT ALL SORTS OF GOOD STUFF CAN THEY MAKE IT
IN TIME SEE IF YOU CAN CALCULATE THE APPROXIMATE SURFACE GRAVITY OF
THE PLANET AND THE APPROXIMATE FULL THRUST OF THIS SHIP FROM THE 
INFORMATION GIVEN ABOVE!

     bounce

     "Altitude 100 meters speed 300 meters per second.  Do you wish
me to strike the throttles for good measure?"
     "NO!"
     [Sultry voice] "Captain?  Ground control wants to know why we
took off without clearance."

     FULL- Opperational at full power.  In Eight Worlds ship opperations
Full power is only used during manuvers or combat.  During the long
10-20 hour coast out to the jump limit the ship is usually dropped
back down to Reserve.

     [Sultry voice] "Captain?  I've found the seat covers I ordered.
Special padded seat covers made from fireproof Nomex cloth with 
integral thermal control matting."
     "Very good Ensign Peters, let's see them."
     "PAISLEY!!!"
     [Hurt sultry voice] "It was the only color they had."
     [Captain stomps out of the bridge, in as much as it is possible
to stomp in zero g]
     "Thanks for the idea B'son."
     "Oh, don't mention it.  Got any fish?"

     Bringing a Ship Up is an ancient ritual, refined by 1500 years of
tradition.  I can, in fact, re-construct the elements of this ritual
for anyone who is interested.

Paul R. Gazis
gazis@hal.span.nasa.gov   or
gazis%hal.span@ames.arc.nasa.gov   or
something like that


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-------- TML Message #595 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 595
Date: Wed, 4 Oct 89 15:29 EDT
From: 09NILLES%CUA.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: sternmetals


Could it also be that they want to give that impressoin(of incompetance)?

After all if you think they are incompitant, then how much time are you
going to spend thinking up plans to put them out of the picture?  Alot less
I would guess.  Also with mining, it may simply look like incompitance
to the untrained eye?

Just putting in my 2Cr. worth

Dave
09nilles@cua.bitnet

Nuke 'um till then Glow
      Then Shoot Them in the Dark.

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-------- TML Message #596 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 596
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 89 08:40:23 -0700
From: (Happiness is a Goal in Sight and a Path Underfoot) baranski@yoda.enet.dec.COM
Subject: cold start launch


RE: Paul Gazis

Your descriptions of different states of readiness seems to overlap some. 
RESERVE implies that the powerplanet 'fusors' are running, but the description
does not match.

RESERVE- Fusors up, drives ready, ship pre-flighted and on internal  power.

LOW STANDBY- Engineering systems on line at low power, ship ready to  lift
after drives and fusors have been warmed up and pre-takeoff checklist  has been
completed.

In my mind, there should be the states:

DEAD         :  No energy being generated or used:
BATTERY POWER:  Battery power is available.  Doors, life support, lighting,
                controls may be turned on or off.  Computer will drain
                batteries within an hour if used.
BATTERY DIAG :  Normally a set of diagnostics are run on battery power before
                bringing up the main power plant.  Takes 5-15 minutes.
POWER CHARGE :  Charge the power plant in preperation to starting it.
                Can take minutes to hours depending on TL.
POWER START  :  Main fusion power plant is running at minimum capacity.  Full
                power is available within a moment.  Computer is available.
POWER DIAG   :  Normally a set of diagnostics are run to fully check the ship's
                systems.  Takes an hour or more.
MANEUVER WARM:  Apply power to the maneuver drives and ready for full power.
                Takes a moment.
GRAVITY START:  Ship's gravitics lift off the ship from the surface.
MANEUVER START: Ships's maneuver drives produce appropriate thrust at
                appropriate altitude.
JUMP DIAG    :  Diagnostics are run for the Jump Drive.
JUMP WARM    :  Minimum energy is applied to the Jump Drive.
JUMP DIAG    :  Diagnostics are run again for the Jump Drive.
JUMP START   :  The Jump Drive is energized, and the ship transfers to jump space.
JUMP MAINT   :  Jump Drive runs to maintain Jump.
JUMP STOP    :  Jump Drive is ??? to exit Jump.

most ships are kept at POWER STARTed state if they are going to be used within
the next month, or if there is crew aboard.  Naturally, the diagnostic steps
can be skipped.  The drives can each also be cold started with significant
chances of failure.

Jim Baranski
Tewksbury MA

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-------- TML Message #597 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 597
From: ("45252-Peter L. Berghold") wrgate.wr.tek.com!uunet.uu.net!allegra!violin!plb@tektronix.TEK.COM
Subject: Introductions
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 89 15:56:31 EDT


Hi everyone,

I am somebody who has been away from the game Traveller for a while and has 
been somewhat surprised by all the changes. (Guass Pistols?!?!? What'll they
come up with next?)   

Being a rabid C programmer both by trade and as a hobby I am always working 
on programs to automate things, in particular stuff like table lookup and 
such.

I know that there are "projects" underway for program development for 
Traveller.   What stage are they in and what needs to be written?  I am 
making myself available.


Pete

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-------- TML Message #598 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 598
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 89 21:39 EST
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: HOW TO DIE YOUNG



Many thanks to those of you who've written to compliment me on my series of
signatures, HOW TO DIE YOUNG. I'm sorry to say that there is no listing of
all of the bylines, though: I make them up and assign random numbers to them
as I go along. However, the list is open to anyone with a sick mind and a 
good sense of the ridiculous: I'd like to thank Kelly St. Clair, in 
particular, for HOW TO DIE YOUNG #14: 

Braid colored ribbons into the mane of a sleeping Aslan warrior.

Shades of the Cowardly Lion... "COWARDLY?! RRRAARRRR!!!" *rip tear shred maim*

Er, make that HOW TO DIE YOUNG #14-A....|->

Should I be archiving these?

oh well what th' hell, 

metlay				| HOW TO DIE YOUNG, #75:
Traveller Mailing List Historian| 
				| Take a Centaur out for lunch
metlay@pittvms.BITNET		| ...at McDonald's.
metlay@vms.cis.pitt.EDU		| 



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-------- TML Message #599 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 599
From: (Steven J Owens) scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 0:08:09 EDT
Subject: Zhodani & Psionics Information?



Hello out there in the Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate...
 
	Does anybody out there know anything about the Zhodani, or
about any expansion rules for Psionics?  Just curious, I'm now playing
a Zhodani Nobleman psionic in our local traveller game.  We've got the
module, Expedition To Zhodane, and I've got Journal #23, with Zhodani
Philosophies.  I *used* to have the Zhodani Alien Module (#4).  For the
longest time it was lying around collecting dust because I was hardly
ever playing traveller, and when I was I wasn't playing Zhodani, and now
that I finally need it, I can't find it!  (I *think* I leant it to some-
body...)
 
	I'm thinking of writing a little expansion for psionics - not
to increase the power, but to fill in some gaps that seem to be in the
rules (telepathy, for example, jumps from skill 5 strength 2 sending
thoughts to skill 9 strength 9 probing...  what about the skills and
strengths in between?) and to add some techniques for using existing
psi abilities ("flickerscanning" for example, using sense thoughts by
skimming rapidly through a large crowd of people looking for key thoughts
or intentions - after which the psi would follow-up with a direct sense
thoughts) and some non-psi techniques for dealing withh psis ( the "jingle"
method of keeping your mind from being read, from Alfred Bester's _The
Demolished Man_).  Maybe (very iffy) some new minor technologies that
can be used by psis (psionically sensitive material that can have a message
or image psionically imprinted on it).  Any other thoughts occur?

   Steven J. Owens  |  Scratch@PITTVMS  |  scratch@unix.cis.pitt.edu

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..."
 
	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...

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-------- TML Message #600 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 600
From: ("45252-Peter L. Berghold") wrgate.wr.tek.com!uunet.uu.net!allegra!violin!plb@tektronix.TEK.COM
Subject: Re: HOW TO DIE YOUNG
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 8:27:45 EDT


>> Braid colored ribbons into the mane of a sleeping Aslan warrior.
>> 

Better yet:   SHAVE the mane off of a sleeping Aslan warrior!

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-------- TML Message #601 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 601
From: (Adrian Hurt) adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Subject: Re: crash start launch
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 9:48:21 BST



> > Hi. Any ideas about the length of time involved in going from a
> > ship with only its power plant running for essential services
> > (lights, some computer functions, etc.) to a launch in a real hurry?
> 
> Consider the amount of time it takes to get your average airliner off the
> ground, starting with everything off. The time is probably on the order of
> an hour or so, more if you are unfamiliar with the ship.

Most of that is concerned with safety, and especially air traffic control -
waiting for your turn to take off. The question says "in a real hurry", so a
more valid comparison would be with a fighter getting scrambled. Anyone
know how long that takes?

 "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk

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-------- TML Message #602 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 602
From: ("45252-Peter L. Berghold") wrgate.wr.tek.com!uunet.uu.net!allegra!violin!violin!plb@tektronix.TEK.COM
Subject: Next dumb question
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 10:07:52 EDT


For the projects that are being worked on for Traveller:

	What languages and operating systems are they being targeted for?
MSDOS?  UNIX?  C++? 


Pete


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-------- TML Message #603 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 603
From: ("45252-Peter L. Berghold") wrgate.wr.tek.com!uunet.uu.net!allegra!violin!violin!plb@tektronix.TEK.COM
Subject: HELP!
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 11:23:34 EDT


I just recieved the gensec and mapsub programs (thank you Jim!) and have 
discovered a problem....  I can't seem to seperate out single subsectors.
The package I recieved was minus the tools to do this.  

If anybody has them handy, please send them to me!


Pete

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-------- TML Message #604 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 604
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se (Bertil Jonell)
Subject: Re: Zhodani & Psionics Information?
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 16:59:25 MET DST


[This came to jamesp@dadla.wr.tek.com, looks like it was meant for
traveller@dadla.wr.tek.com.  Watch those automatic reply headers! -- James]

Steven J. Owens said:
> Maybe (very iffy) some new minor technologies that
> can be used by psis (psionically sensitive material that can have a message
> or image psionically imprinted on it).  Any other thoughts occur?

In my last campaign (Pre Rebellion in Spinward and Deneb) the players 
travelled around for som months with the Zho Thought Police Blensh
Desdiliepr (They had the common goal of preventing the 6:th (sic!) Frontier
War). She had the special dicipline of being able to add to positive DM
in combat by spending psi points on a two for  basis (If this was going
to be used by a Player Character rather than a NPC I'd recomend one for one!)
- -bertil-

- -- 
Bertil K K Jonell @ Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg
NET: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se 
VOICE: +46 31 723971 / +46 300 61004     "Don`t worry,I`ve got Pilot-7"
SNAILMAIL: Box 154,S-43900 Onsala,SWEDEN      (Famous last words)      
"GOOD DEEL ON SLIGHTLY USED CRANE" - Orson Scott Card 'The Abyss'


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-------- TML Message #605 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 605
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 08:49:06 PDT
From: gazis@halley.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: RE: cold start launch


[This came to jamesp@dadla.wr.tek.com, looks like it was meant for
traveller@dadla.wr.tek.com.  Watch those automatic reply headers! -- James]

RE: Jim Baranski
 
>Your descriptions of different states of readiness seems to overlap some. 
>RESERVE implies that the powerplanet 'fusors' are running, but the 
>description does not match.

     Sigh, 'tis true.  I admit it.  I do not have my rules memorized and 
was trying to reconstruct them off the top of my head while waiting for a
program to bomb.  I was partially sucessful.  The program did bomb.
 
>RESERVE- Fusors up, drives ready, ship pre-flighted and on internal power.
 
>LOW STANDBY- Engineering systems on line at low power, ship ready to  
>lift after drives and fusors have been warmed up and pre-takeoff checklist  
>has been completed.

     I knew that!  I knew that!  I was just testing to see if you were
paying attention.

>In my mind, there should be the states: 
>[description of states follows]

     The heart of the matter.  Yes, you have chosen fine states.  They
are goodly states indeed.  I will be the first to admit that your states
are every bit as good as mine.  Maybe better.  However...
     Your states appear to be chosen on the basis of crew activities, 
mine were chosen on the basis of power consumption and drive functionality.  
Other possibilities exist as well (weapons functionality, avionics status, 
opperational level of the Feel-O-Tron, etc.)  The particular choice of 
opperational states would seem to depend upon the nature of the starcrew 
subculture, the availability of Feel-O-Trons, and the whimsy of the GM.
A martial culture may only be concerned with the weapons.  A race of
hedonists may wait in line for the Feel-O-Tron.  Eight Worlds ships are 
TERRIBLY fuel limited so fuel management becomes THE overriding issue.
     And oh yes I forgot.  Fuel consumption and power level also
determine the extent to which the ship is visible to passive sensors.
This has, at times, been a matter of supreme importance.

TECHNICAL NOTE: 
     There are no GRAVITICS in the Eight Worlds universe.  Eight Worlds  
spacecraft are propelled by reaction drives, the way the gods meant Man 
to propel spacecraft.  No inertial compensation either.  Grunt snort.
     There are also no Feel-O-Trons in the Eight Worlds, to the dismay
of PCs who think that this would be an acceptible alternative to
inertial compensation.

Paul R. Gazis
Sunnyvale, CA

gazis@hal.span.nasa.gov   or
gazis%hal.span@ames.arc.nasa.gov   or
something like that


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-------- TML Message #606 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 606
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 89 22:17:25 -0400
From: (Palmer Davis) davisp@marina.scl.cwru.edu
Subject: Re: cold start launch



About starships, airliners, and fighter planes:

Northrop claims that an F-20 can go from sitting on the runway with the pilot
drinking coffee to 20,000 feet and firing missiles at incoming enemy bombers in
less than a minute.  We can reasonably assume it takes about twice that long.
The MegaTraveller rules state that it takes 3d6 X 30 seconds to warm-start the
fusion plant on a parked starship or small craft, which works out to about 5
minutes.  If you add in safety checks like you're supposed to, you have to make
a Cautious task attempt, which means it takes twice as long, or 10 minutes.
Once we add in taxi and takeoff times, it appears that spacecraft in Traveller
take about as long to take off if they're following traffic control rules as
our airliners do.

Let's examine a typical Traveller case of a PC group in a hurry to take off.
Scout Susan Blaire is surveying a Tech Level 0 world.  She leaves her Type/S
Scout/Courier in "low fuel consumption park" mode as she plans to move on to
another continent the next day.  While outside her ship, she encounters natives
of the Ooga-Booga tribe (a minor race of humaniti).  While conversing with their
Grand High Poobah by use of her CLT, she rolls a fumble and manages to offend
His High Grumpiness.  Her attempt to patch things up (a hazardous, fateful
Liason test) results in a Destroyed mishap.  She decides to run for her life.

She manages to get back to her ship 2 1/2 minutes ahead of the pursuing savages.
Crash-starting her scout ship requires a Routine, Pilot, Dex, 30 sec.  Letting
TL 0 savages see a TL 15 scout ship is against Scout Service regulations, so
she decides to rush things a bit.  Her dexterity of 10 and her Pilot skill of 2
combine to give her a +4 DM on the task attempt.  Normally she would need a 7+
since this is a routine task, but since she's making a hasty attempt the 
difficulty goes up one level, to an 11+.  She rolls a 7 (which converts to an 
11 by her +4 DM), indicating success.  She rolls an 12 for her time roll, which
would normally mean a time of six minutes.  But because of the hasty task 
attempt, she subtracts twice her DM's from the roll, for a total of 4, meaning
it takes her two minutes to get her scout off the ground.  Thirty seconds later,
the Ooga-Boogas rush into the clearing where she had been parked, only to find
her mysteriously gone.  Such are the ways of the gods...

Notice that in the above example, it took about as long to get the scout ship
off the ground as it does to scramble a typical fighter plane.  However, in her
rush to get off the ground to avoid a code break, Sue forgot her safety checks,
making her task attempt uncertain.  Unless the referee also rolls a 7 or better,
Sue might just find herself stranded on this TL 0 planet... such are the risks
you take in lifting in a big hurry.

- -- Palmer Davis --
davisp@skybridge.scl.cwru.edu

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-------- TML Message #607 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 607
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 89 00:24 EST
From: METLAY@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Subject: ahem....











FEEL-O-TRON?!










metlay

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-------- TML Message #608 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 608
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 19:44 EST
From: EHT%PSUARCH.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu
Subject: Feel-O-Tron!!!1



The Feel-O-Tron!  Of Course!  Why didn't I think of that myself!  That solves
a whole slew of problems I've been having interfacing my heads up display with
the electronic gun sights on my Grob-O-Matic!  I could just use the interface
module from the Feel-O-Tron and cross-synch the vertical hold on the Grob-O and
   when it's on-target I would feel like I wanted to pull the trigger!er!
Simplicity itself!  Thank you very much!

- ---------
>From the Bridge of the NOMAD

Paul Baughman
AKA UNKA Paul
AKA The Man From UNKA
AKA The Cloned OP

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-------- TML Message #609 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 609
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 89 16:05:13 -0700
From: (Happiness is a Goal in Sight and a Path Underfoot 09-Oct-1989 1703) baranski@yoda.enet.dec.COM
Subject: ship gravitics, was take off procedures


RE: "There are no GRAVITICS in the Eight Worlds universe.  Eight Worlds  
    spacecraft are propelled by reaction drives, the way the gods meant Man  to
    propel spacecraft.  No inertial compensation either.  Grunt snort."

My inclusion of gravity drive was done for a couple of reasons:

Traveller spaceships assume that there is some kind of artificial gravity for
the living quarters orientation at least.  The rules sort of assume that except
for fighters, all ships have artifical gravity.  If they have artificial
gravity, I assume that it's strength can be varied.  It may not be dymanic
enough to cushion a crash, but it can certainly be set to some static value to
counteract acceleration.

I have yet to fathom how the majority of Traveller ships land and take off with
out some kind of gravity or auxiliary thrusters.  Take the scout ship, which
has the drive in the stern, yet lands horizontally.  How does it take off or
land in a wilderness as a scout should be able to do?  Since Traveller ships
obviously have some gravitics, why not use some form of gravity drive for at
least the initial liftoff?

I wish Traveller would either explictly define the spaceships gravity drive, or
explain how these ships land and take off without them.  And allow for ships
designs with and without the gravity drives.

Jim Baranski
DEC Tewksbury MA

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-------- TML Message #610 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 610
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 17:31:34 -0400
From: davisp@solarium.scl.cwru.edu (Palmer Davis)
Subject: gravitics and m-drives



According to the REFEREE'S COMPANION, maneuver drives work by combining 
gravitics and nuclear dampers technology.  The strong molecular force is 
manipulated by a grav field to push against large plates mounted in the
stern of the ship.  Presumably, although the thruster plates themselves
lack the projective capabilities of grav modules, the grav modules that
are in the m-drive are used by themselves to lift the ship off the ground.
Once airborne, the ship then switches to the thruster plates for primary
locomotion.  That's how a type/S with its thruster plates in the stern can
land on a planet on its belly.

- -- Palmer Davis --


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-------- TML Message #611 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 611
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 89 13:32:28 EDT
From: morrison@pyr.gatech.edu ("William B. Morrison")


Another entry in the 1001 ways to die:
  -- Give a sleeping Aslan warrior an inverse Mohawk

Then again, they may like that. So everyone won't think we
have it in for the Aslan, here is way to die #1002:
  -- Go up to a Kzinti warrior and say "Here kitty, kitty..."

- --Bill


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-------- End of TML Messages --------

