I've been reading quit a bit about TDR on the TML here. I'm all in
favor of it, and I'd like to submit a few ideas of my own.
TDR FORMAT:
First, I like the idea that it will be distributed in ASCII. This will
allow anybody with a computer to be able to format the text as they
desire. This will also make it easy for someone to modify the rules,
and still have them neatly printed and bound, if desired.
WEAPON MAINTENANCE:
Several people have also been discussing the extent of the maintenance
a player can perform on a weapon with only skill in that weapon. With
today's weapons, a soldier can fix a problem with his weapon 90-95% of
the time. This would include replacement of most parts. The rest of
the time he turns it over to the unit armorer, who should be able to
fix the problem in less than an hour, given the right tools and parts.
I would imagine that a few special wrenches might be needed once in
awhile, but other than that, most of the tools needed would be
available in any hardware store. I realize that I'm talking about
weapons that rely on exploding gasses here, but I think a lot of this
would apply to energy weapons, too, or else armorers in units with
man-portable energy weapons would be overloaded with things to do. A
good guideline for weapon-skill-only maintenance might be this: If it
needs something more complicated than a screwdriver, see the armorer.
For energy weapons, a simple multimeter might also be allowed for WSO
repairs. Also keep in mind that as the TL of the weapons increases,
the average education of the man using them will tend to increase too.
Here might be a sample from FM 328-9401, "Maintenance for the M89
Fusion Gun, Man-Portable" [The FGMP-15 to us].
Symptom: Excessive Recoil [Remember that the FGMP-15 has a
grav-compensated recoil absorbtion
system]
Problem: Bad recoil compensation grav units. Check resistance across
each recoil compensating grav unit. If resistance across any of them
is less than 1000 ohms or greater than 5000 ohms, the unit is probably
shorted or burned out. Replace the unit, and turn the defective one
into your armorer. [Only an ohmmeter and possibly a screwdriver is needed.]
Problem: Excessive power is sent to fusion chamber magnets. Check
magnet power distribution module...... [you get the idea]
Anyone who knows the principles of operation behind a weapon should be
able to fix most problems.
MANEUVER DRIVES
I like the idea of reactionless drives, which probably implies
anti-gravity technology in one form or another. With reaction drives,
the fuel requirements are so immense, and the endurance of the vessels
using them so short, in-system travel becomes difficult without using
jump drives. I don't think this is any fun. I think space travel in
traveller should be about as difficult as air travel today. Besides, I
like the idea of a solid state drive. I think there's a certain
elegance about a large ship slowly and silently lifting away from its
landing pad.
The system that _Striker_ used for grav vehicles seems quite workable,
and this could be easily extended to spacecraft. Each grav module can
provide a maximum of n kilograms of thrust, and the designer adds
modules until the desired performance is reached.
When I used to referee, I told my players that each module generates a
virtual gravitional field, or VGF, and that on-board avionics can
control the module to put the VGF anywhere in relation to the module.
This would translate the pilot's commands to actual ship movements.
The VGFs would only act upon the modules themselves. This would allow
different modules to have forces acting on them in different
directions, possibly producing a net torque on the spacecraft. This
would eliminate the klugey solution of having a large gyroscope in the
middle of the craft. See the diagram below.
* - VGF *
+------------+
< Ship |
+------------+
*
In this diagram, the ship would rotate clockwise. The 6G limitation
could be imposed by saying that grav modules can only be made so thin,
and power-supply frequencies have to be increased as the amount of
"thrust" is increased. To eliminate large phase differences between
different parts of a grav array (array = bunch of modules) the modules
have to be made thinner and thinner as wavelengths decrease. At 6G's,
they can't be made any thinner. Agility can be described as using
extra energy to produce additional VGFs which would move the craft up,
down, or sideways while the biggest VGF would be moving the craft
sideways.
VEHICLE DESIGN
I think that TDR should have a vehicle design system that would apply
across the whole range of vehicle sizes- kind of like a "unified field
theory" of vehicle design. Again, I think _Striker_ has the right
idea. I like Striker's system because you know that the resultant
vehicle is x meters wide, y meters tall, and z meters long, unlike
MegaTraveller. The designer would use the same rules for designing any
kind of vehicle, whether it was a motorcycle, grav tank, submarine, 100
ton merchant ship, or 100k ton dreadnaught. In some circumstances, one
might pick the dimensions of the vehicle, and be given a formula for
picking armor, and determining the usable volume, like for aircraft.
Some examples of vehicles that I would hope to be able to apply such a
design system to:
Motorcycles
Passenger Cars
Civilian/Military Trucks
Aircraft (All types)
Water-borne vessels
Hovercraft
Grav Vehicles
Spaceplances
Spacecraft
Starships
COMBAT SYSTEM
I like the Azhanti High Lightning/Striker system of combat where
separate rolls to hit and penetrate are needed. If a hit location
chart (arms/legs/torso/head) is added, the problem of taking cover is
resolved- if the part of the body hit is under cover, then figure in
the armor value of the cover when rolling the penetration. This also
makes it easy to adjust for different ammo types in certain weapons
(like the ACR).
CHARACTER GENERATION
I like the character generation system as it now stands, but how about
adding a few new occupations in additions to Scouts, Marines, etc?
Suggestions: Police, Lawyer (useless in some campaigns, great for
others), Techie (a catch-all for electrical engineer/auto
mechanic/telephone repairman/computer programmer types).
I'm interested in seeing what other have thought up for TDR, but
haven't seen any submissions yet.
John J. Wilber
[email removed]
"You're never too close to a vacc suit"