Thoughts about Colonies, etc.

[email removed] writes:

> There is nothing in GDW's current (or past) Traveller series technology that
> requires a celestial body for jump.

Except the background, that is.  Many of the supposed barriers
to travel would not exist without this as at least a practical
requirement (for example, you can do it, but you waste fuel and
it adds an element of danger).

An example from Classic Traveller is the Great Rift, and the
corresponding J-n routes across it which would no longer be needed
(before saying they're for traders, think about the cost savings
of using a smaller Jump drive and the fact that you have more cargo
space by making a series of smaller jumps--besides, they weren't
just for traders).

An example from TNE (which I don't own) is the Regency's defense
against the virus.  I guess TNE claims they are covering every
cubic meter in a shell 6 parsecs thick around the Regency (which
is ludicrous--they would have to be able to INSTANTLY destroy any
ship coming out of jump in that area and NEVER fail).  More likely,
they are covering every planet and gas giant at the border.  Of
course, this doesn't work if it's easy to jump to empty space.
There would be a whole chain of Virus refueling stations extending
throughout the Regency's open space by now (scary, isn't it?).
Make it a little harder to do, and the refueling stations still
appear at the border (slowly), giving the blockade fleets another
horror they have to face before it's too late (not to mention the
occassional deep-space jump patrol popping in on top of literal
fortresses just inside of Regency space).

,-----------------.
|Gerald S Williams|
|[email removed]|
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