
-------- TML Message #1200 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1200
Subject: PBEM turn 4.2 (3 of 3)
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 6:27:12 PST
From: wrgate.wr.tek.com!agora.hf.intel.com!richard@tessi.UUCP (Richard Johnson)


About 30 minutes after breakfast, your first morning out, your
intercom comes to life:

"All hands muster on the main rec deck.  All hands to the main rec
deck.  Morning muster will be held in 10 minutes."

Around you you can hear the sounds of others also preparing for the
morning ritual.  "Wonder how they'll like if I show up half shaved."
and "The way I'm feeling right now, they'll be lucky if they see me
by noon." and so forth.  Nevertheless, you know inside that this is
important, so you find it somewhere within you to go there, if only
to get your morning coffee.

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

You have all gathered in the main recreation area of the Alcyon,
except for a very few of you in critical positions that must be
occupied at all times.  The rec deck is not as large as you would like
for a gathering of this many people.  It is shoulder-to-shoulder
bodies.  In the time-honored military tradition, you have grouped
into your respective teams, and your command tem rep has taken
roll.

In turn, each of the command team reps walks to Admiral Ger and
quitely reports departmental status and body count.  He then returns
to his team.


Admiral Ger rises to address you.  In the case of those on station, 
the image is holo-projected at your position.  He speaks:

Good morning, fellow travellers.  We have now embarked on an epic-making 
journey.  We are travelling into the unknown.  What we might discover
there, no one knows.   However, we know there are dangers.  We are all
individually prepared to face them.  Now we must accept the challenge
of facing the unknown and its dangers as a team.  Our best chances lie
with working together.


I have a few announcements to make this morning.

First:  Many of you have not reported in.  Please contact your command
team rep (drop them some E-mail) right away, and let them know you are 
present!  Command team reps are:

	Engineering:	Johann Abuko
	Transport:	Etienne de Mer
	Security:	Lazer Farouk
	Med/bio:	Christian van der Merwe
	Phys. sci:	Karl Morser
	Soc sci:	Dave Sokuku
	Generalists:	Ralf

[If you can't reach yours, or if I'm wrong - fire up the GM!]


=============
Second:  To date, only nine people have reported for their physicals.  
We need to get this done.


=============
Third:  We have some preliminary results of our continuing evaluation of
those R-alpha tapes they showed us.  In a nutshell, we've determined:

   there is roughly 1-g at the surface, 

   whatever power is used must come from solar collectors somewhere 
   (rather than artificially produced),

   light gases (like Hydrogen) are extremely rare in R-alpha's
   atmosphere,

   the outside surface of the ring is a hardened, recently (in 
   cosmic terms) repaired, alloy,

   there is weather, but we're unsure of the overall air mass flow,

   there are CO2 (imagine a subscript) concentrations - suggesting
   animal life or open fires -- likewise small methane concentrations
   indicating herbivores,

   definitely artificial - no indication why it has been missed before.


We'll be continuing discussion of what we know during the jump.  Your 
comments are welcome, but please remember that right now we want to 
stick to facts; we can speculate later.


=============
Fourth:  I have been approached by several people about being on the 
"first" team to the surface, or to organize the away teams. Here, 
several parsecs from our destination, I have ideas for 14 jobs. Highly 
dangerous jobs ar marked with a *, and may not be taken by command crew.

Some of these jobs will require full teams, others just one or two people.
Mission duration is highly variable, but they will be initiated in the
order given below. These are all subject to changes based on new data.

Job 1: Probe Controller:
	Desingate a course for the probe inside the ring and collect data.

Job 2: System survey:
	Examine the solar system for objects not directly associated with
	R-Alpha.

Job 3: Exterior surface ananysis: *
	Match velocity with "underside", walls, and wall-tops, and gather 
	data.

Job 4: Initial flyby: *
	Attempt to match velocities with r-Alpha, and take an atmosphere
	sample. Subject to probe data analysis.
	
Job 5: Surface mapping: *
	Fly-by of entire surface, using high-speed visual equipment,
	generate a rough map of the surface. Depending on conditions and
	equipment capability, this my be a retrograde maneuver.
	
Job 6: Auxilary sturture analysis:
	If such structure exists (day/night cycling, solar energy
	collection, system defenses), investigate by close flyby (possible
	landing), and collect data.

Job 7: Initial landing:
	Choosing an un-interesting spot on the surface. Match velocities,
	discharge grav test vehicle?, and land shuttle? Test out various
	pieces of equipment. Frist surface mission.

Job 8: Satellite placement:
	Launch satellites, or affix them to the tops of the wall at
	the appropriate points in relation to the base camp.
	
Job 9: Base camp set-up:
	Land, and set-up the base camp.

Job 10-14: Site Alpha/Beta/Chi/Delta/Epsilon investigation:
	Based on previous surveys, visit the four-five most interesting
	spots via shuttle or grav transportation.

Remember the atmosphere is presumably rotating  at the same speed as the
surface. When a shuttle enters the atmosphere, it should be able to use the
air to keep it in place... ie fly through the air.

Also, We still need a few people to help create a ring simulation for 
R-alpha landing practice.  If done right, you guys could also 
use the simulation to pre-test some of your theories about how 
this ring is built, what gravity it has, and so forth.  Notify 
Eneri de Aith if you're up for this.

Any suggestions for new/overlooked jobs, contact me. Volunteers for various 
jobs, see your team leader, and cc myself.


=============
Fifth:  More than a few of you have indicated a serious dislike of having
your weapons locked away in a major armory.  No one, other than
our security team, has objected to anyone carrying weapons.  There
have been rumors of a few hot tempers as we settle in, and even
death threats.  No one has acted on them.  Please continue to 
demonstrate this self-restraint.

A more pressing concern is just how lethal some of your sidearms
can be to the integrity of your ship.  Some of you are packing 
heavy artillery.  I don't expect anyone, with the exception of
security, to worry about fighting those kinds of duels.  This is
supposed to be a PEACEFUL mission of exploration and discovery.

Here is a compromise proposal that I hope will cool everyone off - 
and it's OFFICIAL.  For everyone except security personnel:

[Actually Richard is usurping just about everyone here and hopes 
he doesn't alienate too many of you - now you know where to aim 
your flamethrowers.]  

All ranged weapons, other than your issue stun pistol, are to be 
locked up.  You can either turn them in to security, or you can 
*lock* them in your personal effects locker.  You can keep ONE 
loaded magazine for each weapon in your locker.  In the locker, 
not in the weapon...

You can keep your personal blades and point-blank-only (like laser
sword or force blade) energy weapons on your person.  High energy
tools, like torches or gas chromatographs, are the responsibility
of the various team leaders.  Keep an eye on them and make sure they
don't get used for sabotage or whatever. 


==========
Sixth:  Everyone should engage in the various training excercises we 
have available, while we are underway.  Physical conditioning is on the
Corondor Talisman every morning and every evening.  Personal weapons 
practice and zero-G drills are also on the Talisman; arrange times
with Lazer Farouk or Thule Jonson.   

Sensor operations, navigation, and piloting excercises are on the Paladin 
every morning at 08:30.   Everyone with any skill at all in these areas 
is needed.  [Write the GM for details, if you don't have them already.]  

The Paladin't computers are being largely turned over to scientific 
programming for the duration of the jump.  See Alexander Nayduz, Karl 
Morser, and Dr. Werner, to schedule time.




=============================
{non-speaking activity insert:

Those of you in the rec room notice the tell-tales on psi shields 
occassionally start to flicker.  If you are psi, you might notice
someone "touch" your automatic (internal) shield if you are not 
using [wearing it switched off doesn't count :-)] a shield helmet.

    [roll 2D6, int or less to notice flickering]


[Any psi-trained character who wishes to be available for psi 
contact with  "like-minded" individuals, contact the GM.  I am 
compiling a list for those who volunteer this information.

- -- yes even the one who did the above stunt.  You know who you are,
   but I accidentally lost the note I scribbled your name on. ]
}


Well. That's about it for today.  As you can see we all have a lot 
to do.  There is something special about being the first to go in.
There is also something special about doing the job really well.
Let's do both.


Carry On.
	-Admiral Ger.


======================
With this the admiral turns and leaves the rec deck.  He heads in 
the general direction of the Alcyon's bridge.



-------- TML Message #1201 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1201
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 10:52:14 EDT
From: Chris Bartlett (Mouser) <cdba_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu>
Subject: Getting together


I think it's a great idea!  It would great just to meet everybody, and I
think it would be a hell of a lot of fun to play MT with you guys face to
face.  Unfortunately, I am a poor college student, and as James pointed out,
the costs could be (and are) prohibitive.  

But hey, if anybody is in the western New York area, you're cordially
invited to stop by for a beer.

Chris



-------- TML Message #1202 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1202
Subject: Re: Planet UPP's and software 
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 08:15:08 PDT
From: James T Perkins <jamesp@metolius.WR>


John Kim states he's been reading about programs being undertaken to
generate worlds and systems, and wants to know what became of the
efforts.

There are several commercial programs available containing generation
programs and official sector data from GDW's Imperium Campaign: GDW
produced some for Apple ][ some time back, and Digest Group Publications
produced IBM, Mac, Apple ][, and Commodore (Amiga, I presume) versions
of a World Builder program (detailed system/world generation) and the
IISS Second Survey Sector Data (37 Imperium and nearby sectors).

There are some small offerings on the Traveller Mailing List written by
listees.  I wrote gensec, a sector/subsector world UWP generator, and
mapsub, which turns gensec output into hex grid maps, either in ascii
(line printer) format or postscript (laserprinter) format.  Phill
Everson and Gareth Waddell wrote a program that generated systems in
accordance with Scouts (Book 6) Expanded System Generation.  Paul
Netherwood wrote a program to expand UWP's into a more human-readable
format.  Bill Morrison wrote a program to generate REAL star systems,
not specifically for Traveller, but in accordance with modern
astrophysical simulation.  Jo Jaquinta wrote a "1,000,000 stars" program
as an example of keeping a database of 1,000,000 stars for a PBM via
generating them as needed via a small algorithm.  All these are
available from the TML Archvies, maintained by yours truly, as TML
Packages SW1 through SW8.

Most importantly, there is a discussion list for this very topic, which
has been chartered to act as a mailing list peripheral to the TML.  It
is maintained by Bill Morrison, and you should contact him to join.
Here's the blurb from the TML Orientation message:

Star System Digest: morrison@pyr.gatech.edu (Bill Morrison)
	This person collects messages relating to computer methods of
	the generation, representation, and display of star system data,
	digests it, and resends it weekly to the Traveller Mailing List.

Actually, "weekly" is a misnomer, "periodically" would be a much more
apt description.  I strongly urge anyone planning to spend time
developing a system to join this discussion and get everyone fired up
about developing a program; progress is slow and comes in spurts -- I
think we're all pretty busy at our jobs most of the time.

As for legality of posting, it is legal to post your own programs to the
list, or adjustments to previously-posted programs.  It is legal to post
small snippets of data from existing copyrighted sources, in accordance
with law permitting "fair use" of copyrighted material.  As far as I am
concerned, any information posted by GDW or DGP, or members of those
organizations, to other public bulletin boards, are fair to post on the
Traveller Mailing List.  Specifically, anything submitted for public
dissemination by Joe Fugate or Gary Thomas is okay.

> Has anyone thought of saving those isocahedral planetary maps
> as graphics files on computer?  I think it'd be awfully neat
> to flip through them as if you were really flipping through
> Imperial survey data on your ship's computer :-)  Or how about
> a program that takes a planet's UPP, orbit, star type, albedo,
> axis tilt and generates a map, weather patterns, ocean currents...

Yes, I have, and I'd love to come up with a program to generate, store,
and display these on my Sun workstation or dumb ascii terminal at home,
and be able to browse through world maps, UWPs, subsectors, sectors, and
quadrants.

> Come to think of it, has GDW ever published planetary maps of
> some major worlds (like Regina) for general use, not as part
> of an adventure?

I don't believe so.

James
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Traveller Mailing List Administrator	  James T. Perkins @ Tektronix, Inc
traveller-request@dadla.wr.tek.com	  Beaverton, Oregon, USA
uunet!dadla.wr.tek.com!traveller-request  "Load Auto/Evade, Beowulf!"

-------- TML Message #1203 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1203
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 11:48:41 PDT
From: And now for something completely different! 10-Apr-1990 1442 <baranski@meridn.enet.dec.COM>
Subject: scanning maps...

Recently someone mentioned having maps on their home computer.  If there are a
few people who have maps that they would like digitized, I have access to a
Digital scanner.  I can produce postscript, DDIF, sixel, and a couple of other
odd formats.  The scanner is on a VMS VAX system.  I can get to TK50/70 tapes,
and 3.5" 'floppies' easily.

Jim Baranski
Norwich CT

-------- TML Message #1204 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1204
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 90 22:16:36 EDT
From: Andrew Salamon <salamon@sun.udel.edu>
Subject: Forum-net?

Just out of Curiosity (yes I meant it to be capitalized):  How many of you out 
there, especially the PBEM'ers, have access to Forum-net?  If, by some remote 
chance, enough of us do have access we could try to arrange a time to have a 
real-time traveller game!

  I just canceled my senior thesis :) so I might have some free time the
rest of this semester.  Which is why I came up with this silly idea.

  BTW: I will be going to UCSD for grad school starting in September.
Is there a large enough group of Traveller players there to start a
campaign?  Does anyone have time?  Is it easy to find apartments in the
La Jolla area? (ooops, how did that slip in there?)

  Ta.

Magic in my Mind                     |   /Andrew/
Music in my Heart                    |   soi-disant Bleydion op Rhys
Laughter in my Soul                  |   salamon@sun.acs.udel.edu
And...A Sword in my Fist (sigh)      | 

-------- TML Message #1205 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1205
From: Bertil Jonell <d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se>
Subject: Re: Maps of Regina
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 10:10:03 MET DST

In "(1194)  Planet UPP's and software" "John H. Kim" <jokim@jarthur.claremont.edu> writes:
> Come to think of it, has GDW ever published planetary maps of
> some major worlds (like Regina) for general use, not as part
> of an adventure?

   The old 'Grand Survey' by DGP included a map of Regina. I *think* it is in
the World Builders Handbook as well, but I'm not sure about that. 
   Note, however, that this was the only planetary surface map in the 'Grand
Survey' and was included as an example of planet-building.
   MegaTraveller Aliens Vol1 (also DGP) has maps for Vland and Lair, but there
are some bugs in the Vland map, compared to the map of Vland published in the 
'Travellers Digest' # something (between 4 and 8, I think) (also DGP).
   There have been a few maps in the 'Travellers Digest': Capitol(?), Terra,
& Vland are the only ones that I remember.

   When it comes to maps in adventures, my knowledge is more limited 
(ie: Non-existent :-)

Standard Disclaimer: I work for nobody :-)

- -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)      
"I say cut his air!" "I say cut his heat!" "I say raise his rent!" "Hey, we're 
trying to get rid of an Alien, not evict a tenant!" Alien - American MAD version

-------- TML Message #1206 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1206
From: carson@tron.bwi.wec.COM
Subject: Regarding get togethers 
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 02:15:01 EDT

   This weekend (4/13-4/15) is Balticon at the Hunt Vallet Inn just
north of Baltimore.  I'm staying at the Courtyard across the street and
would be glad to see anyone else who is there.
   For a little more notice 7/13-7/15 is Atlanticon (mid atlantic gaming
con) at the Baltimore Sheraton Inner Harbor.  I'm writing BA01 Early
Release using Ringworld rules and would be happy to try to kill any of
you :-).

Dana Carson
Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group  Mail Stop 1615
UUCP:carson@tron.UUCP 
     carson@tron.bwi.wec.com
     ...!uunet!tron!carson
work: (301) 765-3513
home: (301) 255-9579
WIN: 285-3513


-------- TML Message #1207 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1207
From: Bertil Jonell <d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se>
Subject: Re: Wimpy Gauss Weapons
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 11:38:21 MET DST

In "(1196) Wimpy Gauss Weapons" "Mark F. Cook" <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM> writes:

> one of my more experienced players voiced a loud objection to the numbers
> given by GDW for weapon penetration in the Players manual.  When the player
> in question discovered that the Gauss Rifles (TL 13) aboard their starship
> couldn't penetrate Battle Dress or Combat Armor from the same tech. level,
> he pointed out that this would be like sending soldiers into battle with
> flak jackets, and arming them with weapons that couldn't kill an enemy
> wearing the SAME flak jackets.
> 
> He has a point.

   A TL-12 gaussrifle will penetrate (low penetration) TL 10 to 13 combat armor
and TL 13 battledress if pinpoint location is used. 
   This is somewhat like the situation before the advent of automatic weapons
where a soldier have to take careful aim in order to accomplish anything.
   Even versus TL-14+ armours it will do the minimum damage based on the degree
of exceptional success. (But that would be true even of a sawed-off shotgun vs
TL-15 battledress :-/

   By this numbers, it would seem that the the Gauss-rifle is only used as a
frontline standard infantry weapon at level 13 (Ye olde 'Mercenary' says that
at TL-12 it's only used as a sniper-rifle). And that it is superceeded by
energyweapons at higher techlevels.

> The gauss rifle in particular has been significantly watered
> down from it's original descriptions in Classic Traveller (Mercenary) and
> Azhanti High Lightning.  Does this mean that gauss rifles are passe as battle-
> field weapons?

   I think that the greatest bugs in the data for the Gaussrifle in the MegaT is
the fact that it's difficulty profile is listed as 'Rifle' when, according to
the description in the Imperial Encyclopedia it should have a diff as 'Rifle**'
(ie Gyrostabilized Rifle with Scope). With this modification, it is a ok
weapon if one takes advantage of pinpoint and remembers that the vast majority
of users of a gaussrifle has +2 to the task (+1 for Skill-1 & +1 for Dex 5+).
(Yes, I know about the major bug in the pinpoint-rules :-(

   
   For military applications, however, there is a nice solution to the problem.
(But it is probably to heavy for players to run around with). The RAM auto
grenade launcers (high TL) have a pentetration of around 36 for HEAP, thats
high penetration against battledress-15! 
   Since weapons like this (The russian 'Plamya' 30mm auto-GL) can be used for
direct fire today (Terra TL-8 :-), I see no reason for restricting any of the
weapons on the 'Grenade Launcher' list of the Players Manual to Indirect fire.
Especially since RAM grenades are rocket assisted and thus have a much flatter
trajectory than 'ordinary' grenade-launchers grenades (that are more like the
ones that are used in the M203 (the big black tube under the barrel on some 
M16's))
   But indirect fire gives a longer range, so the method that I have used is
allowing direct fire as 'Rifle' whith a maximum range *one range less* than the
indirect fire's max range.
   And sooner or later, someone is bound to get the idea to mount grav-
compensators on a RAM Auto GL to be able to run around and play rambo with the
piece...
   The automatic fire feature of a RAM Auto GL will give it an advantage, even
over a plasma or fusion weapon, at least as long as it has ammo...

And, best of all:
   The weight if it will keep the players from using it :-)

> First, some weapons (i.e. Gauss Rifle and Pistol) have specific auto-fire
> numbers given in the Imperial Encyclopedia (4 for the pistol, 4 or 10 for
> the rifle).  Should these be used instead of the standard 5 listed in the
> Players' Manual.

I use the Encyclopedia figures. 

> Second, if multiple targets are available, and you hit the primary target,
> are the adjacent targets hit automatically or must you reroll for each?

Reroll for each.

> Third, if you are in auto-fire mode and there is only a single target,
> is he hit by all the auto-fire rounds? 

Probably not, especially since the firer don't controll where these rounds will
hit. They are just extra rounds that flies 'in the general direction' of the 
primary target.

> First, have 2 different versions of the Gauss Rifle, a TL-11 and a TL-12.
> The TL-11 version has a PV of 8, and the TL-12 version has a PV of 10.
> All other stats. remain unchanged.

Short Discussion on Armor Penetration:
[Oh no! He's gonna apply pseudo-real-life physics on Traveller! Stop him! ]

   By using several pieces of data in a way that they not were intended to be
used :-) I arrive at the conclution that Penetration 7 is equivalent of being
able to penetrate 1.75 cm of armor plate steel. Penetration 8 and 10 are 
equivalent of 2 and 2.5 cm ditto. (I got here by using rule 5B in TD#15,
'Radiation Exposure and Treatment' that is about thickness of armour)
   A gaussrifle fires it's ammo at (i think) 1km/s. Maximum possible penetration
from a kinetic round is achieved when the speed of the round exceeds the speed
if sound in the material that the round is made of (4km/s to 6km/s, I think)
   As a quick rule of thumb, I'd say that the penetration (in cm) goes up by
1.5 every time the speed of the round is doubled (up to max 6km/s).
(I got this figure from a guy who have worked with tank weapons, but he
 warned that it was very approximate.)
   This would give a 2.63 cm penetration if the round was fired with 2km/s
instead of with 1km/s. 2.63 cm equals penetration 10.
   The kinetic energy of the round, and the energy needed to accelerated, would
double twice, to 4 times the original amount.

   Summary: having a gaussrifle with a penetration of 10 is Ok, but it would
probably be heavier that a standard gaussrifle.

   (I checked this against the VRF Gauss Gun  (that fires ordinary gauss-rounds
but with 4km/s, and has penetration 20 (5.95 cm armor plate steel) and that
gives a factor of 1.85 every time the speed of the round is doubled. The
'true' value is probably somewhere around 1.7 - 1.9 instead of 1.5)

Disclaimer: The author is not responsible for characters killed as a result
of the application of, or errors in, the suggestions above :-)

- -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)      
"I say cut his air!" "I say cut his heat!" "I say raise his rent!" "Hey, we're 
trying to get rid of an Alien, not evict a tenant!" Alien - American MAD version

-------- TML Message #1208 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1208
From: Bertil Jonell <d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se>
Subject: Re: A question... (About radiation and hulls)
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 12:12:08 MET DST

In "(1197) A question..." Chris Bartlett (Mouser) <cdba_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu> writes:
> I was thinking about the relative merits of gas giant refueling yesterday,
> relative to dipping from a world's ocean.  Now, as I understand it, in
> "real" life a gas giant, say, Jupiter, has a region of intense radiation
> around it.  Now what I want to know is how this affects refueling operations
> around a gas giant.  Can a starship with a hull armor factor of 40 withstand
> this radiation long enough to skim enough fuel, or is it and its crew going
> to get fried real quick?  Can some of the physics or astronomy types help
> out? 

   I don't claim to be either a physics or astronomy major, but here is what
stands in the Radiation rules in TD#15 on the subject of cosmic radiation and
radiation belts.

   The hull of a standard starship (Factor 40 Bonded superdense) has a shielding
factor of around 2000 (1000 if you go exactle by the book and 2000 if you do
it mathematically :-) (For those interested I can mention that a factor 40
bonded superdense hull is about 1 inch thick (2.31 cm))
   
   Cosmic radiation is given as up to 3000 units per day in a radiation-belt
(I guess that this implies earth-type radiation belts like the Van Allen. I'm
not sure whether the belts around major GG's are stronger than this, but I 
guess that they are. Here I have guessed that they are a factor 10 stronger.)
   30000 units per day means 1250 units per hour (dead within 15 minutes).
But a hull will decrease this by 2000 times to 15 units per day. That is no
*immediate* health threat, but it will be bad news for the descendants of the
crew...
   But remember that this is the *maximum* value in the radiation belts.
And if they are shaped like the Van Allen belts this will occur somewhere 
between 1 radius and 3 radiuses over the surface (wild guess). So any sane pilot
would go full throttle down to the atmosphere of the GG to avoid spending
too much time in the area of maximum radiation.

   But beware of drifting in orbit around a GG in a disabled ship for longer
periods...

- -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)      
"I say cut his air!" "I say cut his heat!" "I say raise his rent!" "Hey, we're 
trying to get rid of an Alien, not evict a tenant!" Alien - American MAD version

-------- TML Message #1209 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1209
From: plb@violin.att.COM
Subject: Whew!  Loads of data!
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 13:04:05 EDT

Operating System: HP-UX A.B7.00 U
Organization: AT&T-BL, Red Hill System Administration Group (HRSAG)
Location: HR 1F138
Phone: (201) 615-4419
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.2 PL16]

Well!  Just got my copy of World Builder's Handbook in the mail
yesterday!   I can't believe how much stuff is in there!   It
occurred to me though that if you generated that level of data on
every planet/system in a sector that you could end up with
something resembling the Encylopedia Britannica.   

What guidelines do other refs' use to determine when to use all of
those tables to their lowest levels?

- -- 
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Peter L. Berghold            |  AT&T, HRSAG, +1 (201) 615-4419        |
|INTERNET: plb@violin.att.com |  UUCP: {uunet!allegra|att}!violin!plb  |
|FAX: 1(201) 706-2004         |                                        |
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------- TML Message #1210 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1210
From: Matt Burdick <burdick@hpindbl.hp.COM>
Subject: Re: Planet UPP's and software
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 10:18:26 PDT

> Bill Morrison wrote a program to generate REAL star systems, not
> specifically for Traveller, but in accordance with modern astrophysical
> simulation.

If you're thinking of the Starform (aka Accrete) program, that was actually
done by me.  Version 3.3, by the way, is currently available.  It generates
moons for each planet using the same accretion algorithm as is used to
create the planets.  The new version also allows you to pick which type of
star you would like to generate, too (ie main sequence G3, giant K1, etc).

At this point, I would like to provide a better interface using graphics or
at least curses-like screen manipulation.  The problem with this is that
whichever way it goes, you lose portability (PC's don't generally have
curses or xwindows).  Since I'm leaning towards an xwindows display, I'd
like to poll everyone out there to see how many could use it.  How about
it?

Since the program is not really specific to Traveller, is it a good idea to
post it to this mailing list?  Where are the Traveller archives kept
anyway?


							-matt
- -- 
Matt Burdick                    | Hewlett-Packard
burdick@hpda.cup.hp.com   OR    |
burdick%hpda@hplabs.hp.com      | Information Technology (IND/IT)





-------- TML Message #1211 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1211
From: "Mark F. Cook" <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: What does High Psg. buy you?
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 17:11:35 PDT

Let's talk about what high, middle, low passage on a starship actually
buys for you.

According the the MT Imperial Encyclopedia, High Psg. costs Cr. 10,000,
regardless of the jump length.  Middle Psg. is Cr. 8,000 for the same
thing (and can be bumped by a High Psg.).  The price for Low Psg. isn't
stated, but I seem to recall a figure of Cr. 2,000.

Now if I'm the owner of a jump-2 capable ship, and I know that I can get
a passenger from pt. A to pt. B (which are jump-2 apart) twice as fast
and for half the price of 2 jump-1 hops, wouldn't I logically charge
more than Cr 10,000, but less than Cr 20,000?  Cr 14,000 has a nice ring
to it.  Ditto for 2 ships with identical jump capability, if one is much
more luxurious than the other.  I could see prices of 120% on up to %300
or more for the nicer ship (maybe even higher!).

I guess my basic question is: does anybody have a 'rule of thumb' that
they use for determining what the going passage price on a particular ship
will be, based on jump capability and quality, or do you just haggle with
your players each time?

I'd just as soon not re-invent the wheel if I can avoid it.

Later,

        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
UUCP:     {cmcl2, harpo, hplabs, rice, tektronix}!hp-pcd!markc

-------- TML Message #1212 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1212
From: "Mark F. Cook" <markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.COM>
Subject: Deneb sector system names?
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 90 16:45:46 PDT

So far, I've downloaded the full sector UWP's for the Marches, Deneb,
Corridor, Vland, and Gushemege from the GEnie library archives.  However,
now I've got another problem.  I really need full information on Deneb
sector and only 3 of the subsectors have all of the worlds named (those
subsectors being Pretoria(A), Lamas(B), and Atsah(H)).  All of the others
only have a handful named, with just the UWP, Base, Economic notes, and
stellar info for the others.

Now I don't mind coming up with my own names for systems, but I'd hate
do it and then discover that they already have real GDW/DGP "approved"
names.  So my question is A) do they already have names, and B) if so,
where can I get the complete list?  Help me out, guys (n' gals).

Thanks in advance.

        Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
        Hewlett-Packard - Interface Technology Operation
        1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com
UUCP:     {cmcl2, harpo, hplabs, rice, tektronix}!hp-pcd!markc

P.S. For those of you that are interested, the GEnie library archives also
have UWPs for the following sectors:

Alpha Crucis    Fornast                 Old Expanses
Amdukan         Fulani                  Reft Sector
Antares         Glimmerdrift Reaches    Riftspan Reaches
Core            Hinterworlds            Solomani Rim
Dagudashaag     Ley Sector              Spica
Daibei          Lishun                  Trojan Reach
Delphi          Massilia                Verge
Diaspora        Mendan
Empty Quarter   Meshan

I haven't downloaded any of these yet, but they ought to be as good as the
ones I've already got.

-------- TML Message #1213 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1213
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 90 12:26:34 BST
From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
Subject: Reccomended authors

	In the recent discussion of recommended authors there was one I felt
completely neglected: C.J.Cherryh.
	The first book of hers I read was "Pride of Chanur". The first
thing I thought when reading it was 'this really *feels* like Traveller'.
In fact my delight with her books reawakened my interest in Traveller and
prompted me to run a full time campaign.
	I have often thought about using the Traveller system to run a campaign
set in the Union/Aliance/Compact universe. The ships are sufficiently similar in
concept to just use the Traveller specs and change what it looks like on the
outside. Jump still takes a long time although time doesn't pass for those in
jump. There are two or three chapters in "Rimrunners" devoted to battle dress.
	But putting technical items aside, her universe *feels* like Traveller.
Trade, commerce, planet-space relations, aliens and even war all seem just
like what I see in gaming sessions. Does anyone know if she has actually played
(or run) a Traveller campaign? I wouldn't be suprise. (Actually I have a 
sneaking suspicion that C.J.Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, & Leslie Fish all game
together and use it as inspiration for their stories although the latter two
are far beneath the quality of Cherry).

					Jo Jaquinta
					jaymin@maths.tcd.ie


-------- TML Message #1214 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1214
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 90 10:20:42 EDT
From: Dan Pierson <pierson@xenna.encore.COM>
Subject: (1211) What does High Psg. buy you?

"Mark F. Cook" writes:
 > Now if I'm the owner of a jump-2 capable ship, and I know that I can get
 > a passenger from pt. A to pt. B (which are jump-2 apart) twice as fast
 > and for half the price of 2 jump-1 hops, wouldn't I logically charge
 > more than Cr 10,000, but less than Cr 20,000?  Cr 14,000 has a nice ring

Maybe, on the other hand you're getting the passenger there in half
the time of the jump-1 ship.  I suspect that many passengers would
happily pay a premium for that sort of service.  Cr 25,000?
Cr 30,000?  It probably depends on the local wealth and amount of
competition. 

Since higher jump ships are more expensive and have less capacity, the
premium should probably increase non-linearly.  What would a jump-4
ship charge for a 4 parsec trip?  Jump-6 and 6 parsec?

Or has the Imperium instituted price control on passages?  If so,
there shouldn't be many commercial ships with jump ratings higher than
absolutely necessary.  Of course, with things breaking down now,
that's all subject to change.  Anyone want to invest in a high-fee,
express passenger service?

                                            dan

-------- TML Message #1215 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1215
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 90 01:07:34 CDT
From: Alan David Mead <mead@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: Hi-Tech Sports

{I dist'ed this to traveller and put a better subject line on it -- James}

[Perhaps a disclaimer: I'm *used* to be OT illiterate (Isuppose I'm a
verifiable *artifact* by now!  Hope I'm not wasting BandWidth.]

Hmm.  No one that I've seen has much to say about incidental stuff that
could still be very cool; sports, fiction, bogus news articles,
fashion, entertainment, ....  For instance, I remember an oldish board
game called gravball that would be fun to implement.  The recent posting
of a grav cycle sparked the idea for this sport:

|GravCycle Polo
|
|GravCycle Polo is played by two teams using [you guessed it] some sort
|of anti-grav devices.  These are generally armored but *not* armed.
|Team size varies as a function of the playing field, but might range
|from 5-10 players on a 100m cubic field.  The game ball is generally
|10-25m in radius and filled with some lighter-than-air gas to the point
|of near bouyancy with a small gravic device, anchored at the center,
|keeping the ball within the field.  The object of the game is to drive
|the ball into the other team's goal (out the other side of the field).
|The duribility of the ball is not entirely standard, but only in rare
|games at higher tech levels can a player ram the ball at full speed
|without risk of deflation (a penalty - applied to the survivor, if
|any).
|
|There are reports of similar (and not-so-similar) sports being played
|at lower tech levels on lo G worlds using winged mounts and/or less
|manueverable forms of heavier-than-air devices.
|
|Other variants include time limits on the gravic's air time between
|rechargings, modifications to the rules (or the ball) requiring the 
|use of special (1-4m) "sticks" for ball handling, use of nets (on both
|the ball and opponents), much smaller balls, ....  In one particularly
|dangerous version found on <insertyourfavoriteworldhere>, the players
|kneel on small discs that have no armor.  The player's legs are 
|strapped down leaving his or her arms to use the ball.  The disc is 
|controlled by head and foot movements.  Since the player wears little
|personal armor (disc cannot lift too much for too long; goalies and
|rear defence wear the most), the possibility of knocking the player 
|out cold (occasionally resulting in crashes; always resulting in loss
|of the ball) is pretty good, particularly when the attack is initiated
|from a higher altitude.

What are some of *your* high tech sports?  I'm really curious how 
american football, european football, hockey, and lacross might be
altered by tech advances.  I'd also like to see some kind of robot
gladiators (kinda like C-Robots & P-Robots, if you've seen them), an
advanced form of Lazer Tag, PaintGunWars (or Survival or whatever),
BattleChess (ala Star Wars or the recent game of the same name), etc
....  Has anybody seen a fairly aweful cable show called _New Age
Gladiators_?  It's pretty outrageous.

I doubt that anything like Roller Ball (is that the name) or the game
in the movie _Running Man_ would ever be played, but ....

Well, the rest later.

- -alan mead

-------- TML Message #1216 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1216
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 90 13:02:02 EDT
From: Dan Corrin <dan@engrg.uwo.ca>
Subject: StarShip Design

With each revision of the star-ship design (Starships, High-Guard, 
High-Guard rev.2, Mega-Traveller), I have attempted to generate a ship 
design program. My programming skill has increased proportionally to the
increased difficulty of generating starship designs (IMHO). However,
I never finished to designs due to a lack of Energy.

It has gotten to the point now where I need a starship design program,
and I don't want to make the same mistake again. If I could get the
prgramming help of a few of the members of the list, I am sure we can
produce a good design program (I posted an algorithm a while back). 
Mainly what I need halp in, is programming the charts. I find that the
fact that there is so much data here, that I give up  when trying to 
enter it all. 

If you would like to help me, so we can produce a good program (at least a
usable one) that the list can share, contact me. (dan@engrg.uwo.ca)

					-Dan Corrin

P.S. I have found a couple of typos in the new supplement, "Fighting
ships of the Impium" or something like that. Two of the ships have
the same name, and one of the design sections (sensors: I believe)
wasn't labelled. So far nothing major.

-------- TML Message #1217 --------

Archive-Message-Number: 1217
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 90 15:42 EDT
From: Rob Miracle <RWMIRA01%ULKYVX.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: UPP and Software

>At this point, I would like to provide a better interface using graphics or
>at least curses-like screen manipulation.  The problem with this is that
>whichever way it goes, you lose portability (PC's don't generally have
>curses or xwindows).  Since I'm leaning towards an xwindows display, I'd
>like to poll everyone out there to see how many could use it.  How about
>it?
>
>Since the program is not really specific to Traveller, is it a good idea to
>post it to this mailing list?  Where are the Traveller archives kept
>anyway?
>
>Matt Burdick                    | Hewlett-Packard

Acutally, I would like to see it run in an MS-DOS environment.  I don't have X
close at hand (though I hope to have some day).  What would be best is if you
could write it using "Generic Routines" such as Line(), Pixel(), and such, then
in those routines, you could put the specific routines for the target system in
there.  Since most programs need a routine to start and end grapics (under X it
would be to create the window and close it), you could have a generic
StartGraph() and EndGraph() that we PC people could plug our own routines into.
That way, you could get a Mac, a PC, an Amiga, an X person to contribute their
own routines to do what you need.

I got burned in a similar fashion with my Traveller GM Aid.  It is written in
Turbo Pascal which kills it portability on the spot.  It is written to REQUIRE
VGA (Or at least 480 Lines of vertical resolution)...  Talk about non-portable!

I would post it, even if it isn't traveller specific, it could be used by
somebody.  If nothing else, mail it to the comp.source.misc moderator.

Rob
(Sorry, if I got the subject wrong, but it is difficult to reply to digest
messages)

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

