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To: dan@engrg.uwo.ca (Dan Corrin), bfwong@ocf.berkeley.edu (Raven Blackburn),
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Subject: TML Bundle #234: Msgs 2856-2860
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TML Bundles come from the archives of the Traveller Mailing List,
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun Sep 15 21:00:11 PDT 1991
From: traveller-request@metolius.wr.tek.com (TML Administrator)
Subject: TML Bundle #234: Table of Contents

-AMN- --Date--- --Sender--------- --Subject-----------------------------------
2856  09-Sep-91 "Robert S. Dean"  The Horde is Coming, Part 1 << You have all p
2857  08-Sep-91 bonnevil@acc.stol Re: Starship Combat << In regard to the rule 
2858  09-Sep-91 Joe.Heck.875-4451 RE: PBEM Goughzar << [Edited to match private
2859  10-Sep-91 Marc Alexandrovic Re: Genie to TML, 2300 and people << In TML n
2860  11-Sep-91 d9bertil@dtek.cha Machinetools 1 (revised:) << Ok, here we go a

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2856
Date:     Mon, 9 Sep 91 16:04:42 EDT
From: "Robert S. Dean" <rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil>
Subject:  The Horde is Coming, Part 1

You have all put up with the horde of jokes in recent weeks, and the results
of your forbearance will be appearing in three or four chunks over the next 
few days.  Contrary to notes below, all designs are by Scott, with suggestions
and general scut-work from me, and history from metlay.

Good Gaming!

Rob Dean

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

THE HORDE

The Horde may be the most effective marketing ploy in the history of
human civilization. It is the only known instance of a single coordinated
advertising/marketing/manufacturing campaign turning a large but
unremarkable company into an Imperially recognized megacorporation,
and its fruits are seen and accepted every day by literally trillions
of people across the entirety of known space. To date, the profits it
has netted its originators have been calculated as being enough to 
purchase the fifty most populous and prosperous worlds in the Imperium 
and everything on them... and the cashflow shows no signs of slowing down.

In the early centuries of the Third Imperium, starship travel was both
risky and rare, as the regrowing nation strove, often unsuccessfully,
to assure travellers of easy access to the materials and parts they needed
to keep their ships, which represented their lifelines, in working order.
It was not uncommon (as it is now, in the Rebellion, again becoming 
common) for a ship to be grounded many parsecs from home because a single
part that could not be replaced by local manufacturers was lost or broken.
Even worse, this situation extended to the much more common nonstarships
that were relied upon in every system even when Jump travel was a lost
art, and forgotten until they broke down and caused trouble by their absence.
Imperial military contractors had some degree of standardization in their
gear, but this suffered from sector to sector as Solomani designers in 
firms like GSbAG locked horns with Vilani designers at Sharurshid and refused
to compromise on various design points. This made waging war relatively 
straightforward when the ships fought and were built in the same area, as
in the Frontier Wars, but when ships had to be moved across wider ranges
of the Imperium itself, such as in the chaos of the Civil War in the early
600s, the problems of resupply became hellish. There was no guarantee
that a naval fleet could resupply from a depot of the same Navy! The
situation was ripe for change, technological advances into the realm of TL 12
coming at the same time as turmoil and unrest in the political arena,
and it was only a matter of time before someone saw an opportunity to
make money, and leaped on it in a big way. That someone was a tiny company 
on a planet with unremarkable characteristics but a fair amount of 
historical import, only recently reintegrated into the Third Imperium.
The company was called General SpaceCraft, Inc., and the planet was Terra.

The Horde was conceived of by three young executives working in various 
branches at the General home office on Terra. Their names have been 
forgotten now, except where reverent design engineers and marketing 
strategists have engraved them on their hearts while still in college.
They were led by Peter Broom, an advertising trainee who was already 
showing a killer instinct suitable for a Crested Jabberwock. His two
compatriots were Stewart Provost, an Assistant Technician in R&D, and
Shannon Mills, a newly-employed manager in the Shipwrights' Division, where
actual ship construction took place. The two hardware men were constantly
harangued by their fellow employees for their shared and rather uncommon
penchant for outlandish schemes for making the firm rich. Broom, however,
knew talent when he saw it, and risked the jeers of his superiors in
Marketing when he began sitting with the pair at lunch in the Executives'
Cafeteria and listening, first with feigned interest and later with genuine 
enthusiasm, as The Twins (as they were usually called) sketched out
weird profitmaking ideas on placemats and napkins. Broom's business aplomb
flattened most of those ideas in the birthing stages, but the others
didn't mind: there was a good, WORKABLE idea in there somewhere, and 
sooner or later they'd find it. And when they did, the Imperium's newest
member world was going to give it one hell of a shock.

Their first major breakthrough was the discovery of certain properties of
Tevlac, a plastic recently developed on Warinir and enjoying a fair degree
of popularity among industrial chemists for its sturdiness and easy
machinability. Tevlac, Provost discovered, developed a strong affinity
for temporary molecular rebonding upon fracture lines when stimulated with
a trickle of electric current: it would be broken into pieces, and stick
together along the breaks as long as it was connected to a battery. The 
adhesion wasn't much, but it was enough to solve one of the starship
industry's biggest headaches-- how to get the little hole that always
remains when an Iris Valve closes up to seal airtight every time. Soon, 
Tevlac valve-seats were in use all over known space, and the patent money
and licensing fees began flowing in. People took notice of Provost's 
inventiveness, of the risks Mills took in trying the new technology on the 
line, and Broom's aggressive marketing of the idea, and lights began
turning green at higher levels of management.

Mills's invention of gravitationally-induced hull fitting, where hulls
were friction-fit for spotwelding by the application of tight antigrav
fields, sped up spaceship hulling by 3%-- not much until one considers the
long haul, where it added up to substantial increases in productivity.
This was adopted over pin-fitting by all Imperial Navy contractors by
order of the Navy in 597. But the real boon, and the discovery that 
got the corporate gears turning, was the development of the RAMKS by Provost
and Mills in 601. Up until that time, the welding and fitting of superdense
hulls was considered an expensive luxury, due to the difficulties in 
getting the impenetrable materials to bond together easily. The RAMKS (an
acronym for Robo-animechaniakatasthyser) was a man-portable device
incorporating fusion and grav technology to induce superfluid states in
confined areas of superdense hullmetal, allowing smooth joins as easily
as two copper pipes could be soldered together with a brazing torch. 
The explosion outward of this technology removed the last vestiges of
resistance from the Board of Directors-- what Broom, Provost and Mills
wanted, by God they got it.

The stage was set for the Horde.

In early 604, the three men, now division directors of a rapidly-expanding
company, politely asked to meet with the President and Board in a closed
session. They had, Broom said mildly, an idea. With the dollar signs
barely hidden by their contact lenses, the Board set up the meeting. It
lasted over fourteen hours, and the written records of the session were
kept sealed for nearly two hundred years. But when the meeting let out,
the President looked twenty years younger, the Board were sweating 
profusely, and the Three Amigos were grinning like the cats that had just 
eaten the canary. The next day, things started moving.

R&D shifted over to component design optimization. Overnight, virtually
all of the R&D division's time went into designing structured-modular
avionics and engine control circuitry-- the essential idea being an
interlocking design for electrical and mechanical subsystems with a
stepped degree of throughput based on the Tech Level of each component,
the lowest one in a given subsystem being its least common denominator.
These components were strictly standardized in easily-made forms, and
optimized at Tech Levels ranging from 9 to 13 (the maximum available 
at the time). What this meant was that if a module blew, a TL 11 design
could use a replacement fabricated on a TL 9 world with a positive,
documented understanding of exactly which functions would be limited 
and how. This degree of centralization was unheard of, except perhaps
among the Vilani megacorporations, whose designs were standardized
by default but uniform by Tech Level with little or no crossreferencing.

At the same time, the Shipwrights began building prototype hulls using
techniques easily available over the same spread of Tech Levels. The
main manufacturing areas were divided into a dozen sample field ship
construction areas, with spotwelders hobnobbing with fusioncutters
and RAMKSers and cable-trays next to fiberbundles and infralinkups.
A microcosm of ship construction techniques under one roof, carefully
hidden from the press by a normally-talkative company, began to get
tongues wagging. 

Marketing used the firm's past history and future prospects with surgical
precision. Investors eager to cash in on the fledgling firm's latest
breakthrough went anywhere from buying shares on speculation to writing
blank development checks. Some of these, like Hortalez et Cie and Antares
Holdings, would later be rewarded with shares in the new company; others,
like Beechcraft Interstellar, would resist going the way of their old
rivals like Cessna and Piper (now a division of GSbAG, which watched the
proceedings with some interest and much discomfort) by merging with General
to profit more directly in what was to come. These were great risks, but as
it turned out, this early risk-taking paid back in incredible measure. The
chaos of the Civil War, which caused a great deal of damage to the Navy and 
the Core sector but had little effect elsewhere, merely served as cover 
for what happened next.

In 609, ships began leaving Terra for parts unknown. Properties were bought
at starports on many worlds, and carefully sealed off from public view,
first hundreds and then thousands of them. The planning had been meticulous--
each property was tiny, and raised little or no speculation on its own.
No one saw the larger pattern until it was far too late to do anything 
about it. By 615, there were worlds from Jewell to Spica with these small
properties on them, and supplies were flowing from local factories to 
stockpiles nearby. The only places deliberately avoided were worlds where
the Sharurshid shippers had a stranglehold on the industry-- the Vilani 
weren't even given a whiff of what was about to happen.

In that same year, advertisements began to be posted on thousands of different
worlds, each bearing the same words: "The Horde is Coming." Public speculation
ran riot, and the overtaxed investors, certain that their long wait was about
to bear fruit, held their breath.

On Holiday of 616, the Horde was unveiled simultaneously on every planet
in the campaign. Local investors took one look at the degree of local 
capital involved in the project, and began shoveling money into the 
company's gaping maw. Shipping firms read the specs, watched the promo
films, conducted tests of their own, and began buying. The project built
up momentum and never stopped. Its first major victory came in 620, when
Tukera Lines began replacing old craft with the Horde. Soon after that,
the first Tech Level Boost Program, a system for upward compatibility
as the Imperial TL climbed, was announced, and the Imperial Navy and 
Scout Service began using the Horde for non-critical tasks in thousands
of backwater bases and fringe areas. The final victory came over twenty
years later, when Sharurshid purchased the license fees to begin building
the Horde itself, and the Vilani megacorporation completed what is now
taken for granted as the base standardization of non-milspec ship parts
in the Imperium and surrounds. Broom, Provost and Mills were rather older
by then, but they were present on Vland when the agreement was signed,
and they were present before the throne of Arbellatra a year later when
the Limited Imperial Charter was granted to the new megacorporation of 
General Products, LIC.

And what, precisely, WAS the Horde? Let me give as an explanation the words
of Peter Broom, taken from that first board meeting:

"Gentlemen, people are sick and tired of being strangled by the inability
to rely on standardizations when they travel. No one will agree to a set
of standards-- they have to be RAMMED down the shipping industry's
collective THROAT. What we are proposing here is not a glamorous action,
or even one that will be remembered, oh, five hundred years from now. What
we are about to do will lay so basic a foundation for the construction
and support of starships and orbital-support spacecraft along accepted 
and standardized lines, that our designs and parts will not only be a
household word in a decade or two, but in a century the Vilani will have
caved in as well, and in TWO centuries people will have largely forgotten
that there ever WASN'T a standard! When people of the year 1100 pick up
a copy of "Traveller: Science-Fiction Gaming in the Distant Past," and
read about the spaceship designs that were just becoming standard when
the Imperium was cracking under its own inertia and those upstarts from
Earth who'd been in the Imperium for less than twenty years were turning
things on their collective EAR.... I want them to read about OUR designs."

And so it has been. Although General Products has taken a lot of flak
recently for its starship designs, its spacecraft, now manufactured
under subcontract by every shipping firm in the Imperium to some degree 
or another, are so standard as to have been forgotten... and the industry
has upgraded them as the Tech Level advances, so that they are now on
the market from TL9 to TL16, with TL17 designs on the way. 

Or, in game-design terms--

We the designers (Scott Kellogg and Rob Dean) and the storyteller/historian
(metlay his-SEFF) are proud to ceremoniously dump upon the TML community
a collection of standardized and Imperially accepted "norm" designs for
non-Jumping support craft of every type, guaranteed to work better at
all TLs than the designs written up in the MT rules and to serve in each
and every campaign that requires a TL-appropriate "vanilla ship" for
any purpose at all....

THE HORDE!
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Launch TL9-17

     The launch is a minimal small craft intended for utility space to space 
operations, as well as light cargo and personnel landing.  Most of the launch-
es shown below have a loaded wieght based on the maximum load that can be 
given a 1-G acceleration.  If manueverability is not an issue (as with space 
to space transfer work), the cargo holds can be fully loaded with a reduction 
in acceleration.

  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL9, MCr5.23
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40D, Unloaded=201t, Loaded=260t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=27.5MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (StdGrav), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: AllWeatherRadar=Planetary, RadarDirectionFinder, Light
           Amplification, ActObjScan=Diff, ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Imp
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HUD*1, CompLink*46
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env,
           basic ls, extended ls, airlock
    Other: Fuel=9.89kl, Cargo=190/172kl (Max wt=58.93t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL10, MCr7.59
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40E, Unloaded=205t, Loaded=260t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=46.6MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (StdGrav), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Continental, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Form
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HUD*1, DynLink*75
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env,
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=12.6kl, Cargo=183/165kl (Max wt=53.8t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL11, MCr6.62
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40E, Unloaded=210t, Loaded=280t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=47.8MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Continental, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Form
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HUD*1, DynLink*75
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env, 
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=12.91kl, Cargo=183/167kl (Max wt=63.4t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL12, MCr5.49
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40F, Unloaded=190t, Loaded=280t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=47.5MW, Dur=15
     Loco: 1/2  Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Interplanetary, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HUD*1, DynLink*63
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env, 
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=12.82kl, Cargo=183/165kl (Max wt=89.4t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL13, MCr5.04
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=30, Config=4SL, Armor=40F, Unloaded=171.4t, Loaded=280t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=60MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Interplanetary, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HeadsUpHoloDisplay*1, HoloLink*1
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env, 
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=18kl, Cargo=181/263kl (Max wt=107t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL14, MCr5.14
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40G, Unloaded=145t, Loaded=280t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=60MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Interplanetary, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HeadsUpHoloDisplay*1, HoloLink*1
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env, 
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=18kl, Cargo=181/163kl (Max wt=134t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL15, MCr3.97
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40G, Unloaded=107t, Loaded=280t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=54MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Interplanetary, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HeadsUpHoloDisplay*1, HoloLink*1
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env,
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=19.44kl, Cargo=183/165.kl (Max wt=172t), ObjSize=Avg, 
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL16, MCr3.89
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40G, Unloaded=100t, Loaded=280t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=63MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1G, NOE=40kph, Cruise=750kph,
           Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Interplanetary, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HeadsUpHoloDisplay*1, HoloLink*1
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env, 
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=21.6kl, Cargo=181/163kl (Max wt=178t), ObjSize=Avg,
           EmLevel=Faint



  CraftID: Launch Type QL, TL17, MCr 4.29
     Hull: 18/45, Disp=20, Config=4SL, Armor=40H, Unloaded=100t, 
           Loaded=252/234t
    Power: 1/2, Fusion=63MW, Dur=15 days
     Loco: 1/2, Maneuver=1 (Thrusters), MaxAccel=1.12G, NOE=40kph,
           Cruise=750kph, Top=1000kph, Agility=1
     Comm: Radio=System
  Sensors: ActEMS=Planetary, PassEMS=Interplanetary, ActObjScan=Diff,
           ActObjPin=Diff, PassEnScan=Rout
      Off: Hardpoint=1
      Def: DefDM=+3
  Control: Computer=0*3, HeadsUpHoloDisplay*1, HoloLink*1
    Accom: Crew=1 (Pilot), Seats=Roomy*10, FoldingCramped*10, Env=basic env, 
           basic ls, extended ls, inertial comp, grav plates, airlock
    Other: Fuel=21.6kl, Cargo=181/163kl, ObjSize=Avg, EmLevel=Faint

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2857
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 91 23:20:17 -0500
From: bonnevil@acc.stolaf.edu
Subject: Re:  Starship Combat


In regard to the rule requiring the forfeiture of a shot for each sensor
task beyond the first:

Yes, that rule is actually in the Ref's Manual.  I agree that it doesn't
seems like it should work very well -- but ofcourse, we already know about
the extensive editing on the MT rulebooks, right? :)

I understand the concept of forfeiting a shot in return for taking the time
to do some more sensor scans, but I don't think that that rule works
well for that.  I toyed with the concept of using a "scout escort" covered
with sensors to feed scan information to a EMS-active silent fleet.  The
idea was to keep from exposing the important ships to automatic sensor
locks while allowing them to use the data from the escort.  The problem
is, you need to install a LARGE number of weapons on a ship in order to
get a large number of sensor tasks.  Unarmed ships only get two sensor
tasks.  Even if you have a giant crew of sensor operators.  To me, this
makes little sense.  And if you need to defend the escort from incoming fire,
you need to put extra weapons on it for defense.

What if you put laser rifles on the ship?  They don't even take up turret
space.  Do you get to do the subtraction from those "batteries" instead of
the main weaponry?  (Probably not, it would be a silly work-around, but
they _are_ weapons...and you'd still get to shoot them if you can't use
them for sensor tasks!)

The idea to involve the computer makes sense, and maybe skills of the ship
commander and the sensor operator should play a role; faster identification
and orders to fire control about targets would help more of the batteries
have a chance to fire for effect.  Any more ideas out there?

- --Steve

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2858
Date: 9 September 91, 17:50:18 CDT
From: Joe.Heck.875-4451.CSPECJH@UMCVMB
Subject: RE: PBEM Goughzar

[Edited to match private mail sent after this message - James]

Goughzar has undergone an address change - if you please my address is now
cspecjh@umcvmb.bitnet (or for you internet folk - cspecjh@umcvmb.missouri.edu).

The player is also changed, although the character Goughzar will not - my name
is Joe Heck and I've actually been running Goughzar through my roommate's
account. Thanks,

Zar (Joe)

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2859
From: Marc Alexandrovich Volovic <mav@cs.huji.ac.il>
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 91 00:31:30 PDT
Subject: Re: Genie to TML, 2300 and people

 
In TML nightly V25 I9 CDF1@PSUVM.PSU.EDU writes:
 
>2300 people I know from TML:
>"Johnny B." <ccm007@deneb.ucdavis.edu>
>ran el-Yaniv <yaniv%shum.huji.ac.il@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
>Yngve Larsson <yngve@tigger.softlab.se>
>CHOINSKI@env.prime.COM
>Joel Lovell <jlovell@smdvx1.intel.COM>
 
  ran el-Yaniv (yaniv@shum.huji.ac.il) is an emergency account once used
by ME. Ran (the person) is interested in electronic music and politics,
not some newfangled starships. Any material sent by him may be
reobtained from me at MAV@LIZARDO.HUJI.AC.IL.
 
  I am VERY interested in 2300 material. I can offer quite a few 2300
craft designs and a very extensive starsystem/scenario set after the
Battle of Beowulf.
 
>    You also offered to act as intemediary in my requests for use of
>material from their mail in my magazine, if that offer is still
>available, I would like to ask the following people to use their
>material (I would also like to have their permission to have the material
>used in a new Official GDW MT newsletter that is being worked on):
>
>Marc Alexandrovich Volovic <mav@cs.huji.ac.il>
>
> [... Rob, Scott and Bertil deleted :-)...]
>
>    I also need there addresses in the cases of those people I don't
>have one for. They will get a copy of the 'zine once I publish 4 of their
>designs, this might be awhile though as I tend to lack articles more than
>designs, especially if I can use their designs.
 
Permission granted, second time running. SnailMail address is in signature.
 
>     HIWG is going to do the MegaTraveller newsletter for GDW, to be
>called IMPERIAL LINES.  As it looks right now, it'll be quarterly, 8
>pages, and circulated from GDW.  Geo Gelinas will be chief editor.
 
  I am interested in the extreme.
 
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Marc A. Volovic -                       Procrastinator and do-no-gooder|
| mav@LIZARDO.huji.ac.il     Snail: P.O.B. 23114, 91230 Jerusalem, Israel|
|             Dept. of Linguistics, Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus        |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                       Fencers do it with rapid thrusts                 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

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

Archive-Message-Number: 2860
From: d9bertil@dtek.chalmers.se
Subject: Machinetools 1 (revised:)
Date: Wed, 11 Sep 91 12:27:24 MET DST

  Ok, here we go again. These weapons use powder loadings similar to that in
real-life ammo when such exists. 

   Machinetools 1b

   Featured Weapons: 5mm Revolver
                     7mm Revolver
                     9mm Revolver
                     9mm Magnum Revolver

   On ammunition: The ammunition used in these these weapons is somewhat
standardzed. All calibers are pure metric calibers in millimeters, only the
Solomani use the inch based calibers common on old Terra (with one exception,
see the 9mm Magnum Revolver below). Originally Imperial forces used the old
classic calibers like 5.56mm, .357 and 9mm Parabellum, but following the
creation of the new dress code, Emperor Styryx issued a directive that all
Imperial acquisitions of new weapons had to be pure metric caliber weapons. It
was enforced by patching the software used by the Imperial Ministry of Defence
so that it didn't accept any decimals in the calibre. With the Imperium only
buying pure metric weapons, the major defence contractors soon followed and
redone their whole line to the new standard. This new standard was still
gradually making it's apperance fifty years later during the Solomani Rim War,
and some analysts claim that the less than optimum performance of some Imperial
units during the ground campaign on Terra was due to ammunition incompatibility
between regular and colonial forces, the latter which hadn't upgraded to the new
ammunition.
   The "I" designation for pure metric calibers originated within the
Intersellarms Megacorp - the official name was "P" for "Pure", but that usually
got confused with the Solomani "Parabellum". Witty sophonts use to claim that
the "I" now used by viritually everyone don't mean "Imperial" as Interstellarms
claims but "Interstellarms".
   While all pure metric caliber types of ammunition produced by Interstellarms
is called "I" there are a small number of other letters for ammunitions usually
associated with a specific service, like the "N" for the Navy line of snub
pistols and "M" for the IMCs 9mm Magnum.
   Techlevel is indicated by appending "-TL" after the ammunitions name.
5x10mmRI-7 AP is thus a techlevel 7 5x10mm Imperial armor piercing round for a
revolver. Extraimperial orgin use standard designations such as 'Da' and 'Zh'.

   On discounts: They are as given in good old 'Mercenary', ie on Pop 9+ worlds,
guns and ammo can be had at a discount. Guns are packed in cases of 20 (assume
that weapons in cases weigh 25% more and are 100% larger than normal). Buying a
full case will give 20% discount, 5 cases 40% and 50 cases for 60%. For ammo
those limits are 20, 100 and 1000 cases. Most cases are further divided into
paper or plastic boxes with each box containing enough for one magazine full.
For guns with small magasines (less than 30) one box generally contains 50
rounds.

   Remember that it's easier to buy many (over a thousand) weapons than just a
handful, because most manufacturers are more used to dealing with large
entities.

   On attenuation: Some weapons are of so low power that they have an
penetration/attenuation listed as 0/2. In those cases halve *damage* after each
two range bands.

   On compatibility: When using weapons and ammunition of different techlevels,
the combination will behave as the worst of them. In some cases, hightech
ammunition will lead to higher chanses of malfunction but this is detailed in
the text on each weapon.

   All prices are in local credits as defined in Striker. TL G didn't exist back
then so I have added it and expanded on the lower end. The local credits concept
means that, due to lower demand of their goods compared to the high tech worlds
of the imperium, low tech backwaters have weaker currencies than high tech trade
hubs. The concept of local credits don't seem to be around anymore, but on the
other hand, I haven't seen it explicitly discarded either:)

Value of one local credit in Imperial credits depending on local TL and port:

                  STARPORT
TL    A      B      C      D      E      X
G   1.20   1.15   1.10     -      -      -
F   1.00   0.95   0.90     -      -      -
E   0.90   0.85   0.80   0.75   0.70     -
D   0.80   0.75   0.70   0.65   0.60     -
C   0.70   0.65   0.60   0.55   0.50     -
B   0.60   0.55   0.50   0.45   0.40     -
A   0.50   0.45   0.40   0.35   0.30   0.30
9   0.40   0.35   0.30   0.25   0.20   0.20
8   0.30   0.25   0.20   0.15   0.10   0.10
7   0.20   0.15   0.10   0.08   0.05   0.05
6   0.10   0.08   0.05   0.04   0.03   0.03
5     -    0.05   0.03   0.02   0.01   0.01
4     -    0.03   0.01   0.01     -      -
3     -    0.01     -      -      -      -


Revolver 5mm

   There are no compatibility problems with the ammunition to this gun on
techlevels 5 to 9. Wildcatters that use tech 15 powder have only themselves to
blame. The ammunition used is the 5x10mmRI, it is sold in cases of 2000 rounds,
(Lead: 1liter 5kg Cr233) (AP: 1liter 4kg Cr466) (DS: 1liter 2kg Cr699) (APDS:
1liter 2kg Cr1398)

TL Item Rds  P/A Dmg Rng Aut Dng Sig Recl  Diff Len  Wt   Prc  Fail In  A I/D
5  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.11 0.33 57   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.07 14
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.01 0.7

6  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.11 0.33 59   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.06 14
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.01 0.7
   AP    6   1/1  2                                  0.01 1.4

7  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.11 0.33 61   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.06 15
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.01 0.7
   AP    6   1/1  2                                  0.01 1.4

9  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.11 0.31 64   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.06 16
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.01 0.7
   AP    6   1/1  2                                  0.01 1.4
   DS    6   1/2  2                                  0.01 2.1
   APDS  6   2/2  2                                  0.01 4.2


Revolver 7mm

   There are no compatibility problems with the ammunition to this gun on
techlevels 5 to 9. The ammunition used is the 7x13mmRI, it is sold in cases of
1000 rounds, (Lead: 1liter 7kg Cr117) (AP: 1liter 5kg Cr234) (DS: 1liter 3kg
Cr351)

TL Item Rds  P/A Dmg Rng Aut Dng Sig Recl  Diff Len  Wt   Prc  Fail In  A I/D
5  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.12 0.50 60   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.08 15
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.03 0.7

6  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.12 0.50 63   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.08 15
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.03 0.7
   AP    6   1/2  3                                  0.02 1.4

7  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.11 0.48 66   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.08 16
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.03 0.7
   AP    6   1/2  3                                  0.02 1.4

9  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.11 0.46 70   0.50 +4  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.07 17
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.03 0.7
   DS    6   2/2  2                                  0.01 2.1


Revolver 9mm

   All ammunition for this weapon at tech levels 4 to 9 is fully compatible with
no increased risk of malfunction. The ammunition used is 9x14mmRI and it is sold
in cases of 1000 rounds, (Lead: 2.6liters 14kg Cr136) (AP: 2.6liters 10kg Cr272)
(DS: 2.6liters 6kg Cr408) (APDS: 2.6liters 6kg Cr816).

TL Item Rds  P/A Dmg Rng Aut Dng Sig Recl  Diff Len  Wt   Prc  Fail In  A I/D
4  Lead  6   0/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.22 1.16 67   0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.15 17
   Lead  6   0/2  3                                  0.07 0.8

5  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.22 1.19 73   0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.14 18
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.08 0.8

6  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.22 0.80 161  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.14 39
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.07 0.8
   AP    6   2/2  3                                  0.05 1.6

7  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.22 0.79 178  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.13 43
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.07 0.8
   AP    6   2/2  3                                  0.05 1.6

9  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.22 0.77 197  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.13 48
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.07 0.9
   AP    6   2/2  3                                  0.05 1.8
   DS    6   3/2  3                                  0.02 2.7
   APDS  6   4/2  3                                  0.02 5.4


Revolver 9mm Magnum

   Although officially pure metric, the 9x22mmRM ammunition is in reality of
.357 caliber. The IMC managed to protect it from the metric purification of the
weapons by claiming that the revolver wasn't a weapon but a part of the uniform.
It is further notable as being the only widely available revolver that have
versions made at high techlevels. Due to recoil purposes the higher techlevel
models have different amounts of waste weight (TL12 50g, TL13 160g, TL14 280g,
TL15 420g, TL16 570). Full ammunition compatibility between all techlevels was
one of the original design requirements and it has been fulfilled despite the
fact that they originally only covered techlevels 5 to 13. 9x22mmRM ammunition
appear in cases of 1000, (Lead: 3.3liters 17kg Cr233) (AP: 3.3liters 12kg Cr470)
(HE: 3.3liters 7kg Cr670) (DS: 3.3liters 7kg Cr670) (APDS: 3.3liters 7kg
Cr1400).

TL Item Rds  P/A Dmg Rng Aut Dng Sig Recl  Diff Len  Wt   Prc  Fail In  A I/D
5  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 1.09 181  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.23 45
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.08 1.0

6  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 1.09 204  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.22 50
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.08 1.1
   AP    6   2/2  3                                  0.06 2.2

7  Lead  6   1/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 1.07 231  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.21 56
   Lead  6   1/2  3                                  0.08 1.1
   AP    6   2/2  3                                  0.06 2.2

9  Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 1.04 262  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.20 64
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.08 1.2
   AP    6   3/2  3                                  0.06 2.4
   DS    6   4/2  3                                  0.03 3.6
   APDS  6   6/2  3                                  0.03 4.8

10 Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 0.97 290  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.19 71
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.08 1.2
   AP    6   3/2  3                                  0.06 2.4
   DS    6   4/2  3                                  0.03 3.6
   APDS  6   6/2  3                                  0.03 4.8

12 Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 0.92 312  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.17 77
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.08 1.3
   AP    6   3/2  3                                  0.06 2.6
   DS    6   4/2  3                                  0.03 3.9
   APDS  6   7/2  3                                  0.03 5.2

13 Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 0.92 335  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.15 82
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.08 1.3
   AP    6   3/2  3                                  0.06 2.6
   DS    6   5/2  3                                  0.03 3.9
   APDS  6   7/2  3                                  0.03 5.2

14 Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 0.92 360  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.12 88
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.08 1.3
   AP    6   4/2  3                                  0.06 2.6
   HE    6   1/-  4                                  0.03 3.9
   DS    6   5/2  3                                  0.03 3.9
   APDS  6   8/2  3                                  0.03 5.2

15 Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 0.92 385  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.09 94
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.08 1.4
   AP    6   4/2  3                                  0.06 2.8
   HE    6   1/-  4                                  0.03 4.2
   DS    6   5/2  3                                  0.03 4.2
   APDS  6   8/2  3                                  0.03 8.4

16 Lead  6   2/2  3  Lng  -   -  Med Med/R Hand 0.20 0.93 411  0.50 +2  1 1/1
   Drum  6                                           0.07 101
   Lead  6   2/2  3                                  0.07 1.4
   AP    6   4/2  3                                  0.05 2.8
   HE    6   1/-  4                                  0.03 4.2
   DS    6   5/2  3                                  0.03 4.2
   APDS  6   8/2  3                                  0.03 8.4

- -bertil-
- -- 
"Det a"r en Svensk grej. Du skulle inte fo"rsta^..."

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

End of TML Bundle
*****************

