More MT Comments

A thread of 4 messages, 5 February 1990 to 8 February 1990, in the order they were sent.

#924 More MT Comments

W. Dow Rieder:
        Thanks for setting me straight. I had noticed the efficiencies of
scale table, but for some reason didn't notice the part of the table for
large plants. The wealth of information must have been too much. :-)
        I don't know about anyone else, but I would be grateful for any
MT errata you or someone else could provide. That way, I can feel that
my money was well spent. :-)

        As I continue to peruse MegaTraveller, I've noticed something
else - but I'm not sure if it is a bug or a feature.. :-)
        There seems to be some confusion regarding slug thrower skills.
First, there are skills for pistol, body pistol, revolver, and snub pistol.
No mention of gauss pistol; shouldn't that be included in the Handgun
skill? Secondly, where does the accelerator rifle fit? How about the
Assault Rocket Launcher? I would presume the Acc Rifle under Rifleman,
and the ARL under Combat Rifleman.
        More importantly, has anyone else noticed that Marines and Army
personnel can't get Combat Rifleman? They only can get Gun Combat (like
everyone else), which includes most anything EXCEPT the ACR, Assault Rifle,
and the Gauss Rifle. Further, under the Gunnery chart for the Advanced Navy
generation, you see "Spl Combat." Probably *should* be Space Combat, not
Special Combat, where for some reason, a Navy Gunner gets all kinds of
nasty Marine/Army type skills.
        On a related issue, I find it stupid that only Marines/Army would
be able to use the Gauss rifle and other advanced slugthrowers (not incl.
heavy weapons, though). Especially regarding the Scouts, who according to
my old Book 6, have some police enforcers, commandoes, and shipboard light
troops. Why prohbit them from learning advanced slugthrowers, but allow
"old" slugthrowers, laser weapons, and FUSION & PLASMA weapons? I find
this limitation ludicrous... (and I bet Field scouts would agree; they
would need some firepower to escape an unfriendly planet on occasion,
I'd think.) If you were a ship commander, would you want your security
troops to have a Gauss rifle (Penetration 7) or a Plasma or Fusion
weapon (Penetration 20 to 34). I wonder. :-)
        Well, I've rambled on long enough. Reply away!

Nicholas Sylvain (sylvain$[email removed] OR [email removed])

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#930 Re: More MT Comments

There are many bugs in Megatraveller, especially when considering "classic"
traveller.  There are errors in tables (numbers here and there), half of
some tables are missing (mainly Striker tables), and entire tables missing...
(agian Striker and Robots).  All things considered, MT is ok...but like people
on the list have already said....they didn't proof it very well if at all and
they did a very lousy job of the vehicle designs.

Any comments from the gallery?


- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Thomas		[email removed]     	*!psuvax1!shire!tim

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#944 Re: More MT Comments

[This came to [email removed], looks like it was
meant for [email removed].  Watch those automatic reply
headers! -- James]

Nick Sylvain ([email removed]) writes:

[stuff deleted for brevity here]

>this limitation ludicrous... (and I bet Field scouts would agree; they
>would need some firepower to escape an unfriendly planet on occasion,
>I'd think.)  If you were a ship commander, would you want your security
>troops to have a Gauss rifle (Penetration 7) or a Plasma or Fusion
>weapon (Penetration 20 to 34). I wonder. :-)

Weapon choice would obviously depend on the situation.  Plasma or Fusion guns
are usually a *BIG* no-no for repelling boarders.  Unless the fighting is
taking place in a very large cargo bay, the defenders will end up turning them-
selves into crispy critters along with the attackers.  There might also be a
lot of unintended fatalities as bulkheads, decks, and the outside walls of the
ship are inadvertently penetrated and people from both sides of the battle are
sucked out through the resulting 3 meter holes.

I will agree though, that P & F guns are great fun for dirtside use.
Commanders should have HE weapons AND slug-throwers in their armories.

Just my $0.02.

/************************************************************************\
* John J. Wilber        * "Life's a big fuck and money is the lubricant- *
* [email removed]       *  without it, it hurts, and with it, it feels   *
* student, partier, and *  really good."                                 *
* fun-loving guy.       *                                 JJW            *
\************************************************************************/


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#949 Re: More MT Comments

John J. Wilber writes:
> Nick Sylvain ([email removed]) writes:
>
> >		If you were a ship commander, would you want your security
> >troops to have a Gauss rifle (Penetration 7) or a Plasma or Fusion
> >weapon (Penetration 20 to 34). I wonder. :-)
>
> Weapon choice would obviously depend on the situation.  Plasma or Fusion guns
> are usually a *BIG* no-no for repelling boarders.  Unless the fighting is
> taking place in a very large cargo bay, the defenders will end up turning them-
> selves into crispy critters along with the attackers.  There might also be a
> lot of unintended fatalities as bulkheads, decks, and the outside walls of the
> ship are inadvertently penetrated and people from both sides of the battle are
> sucked out through the resulting 3 meter holes.

Can a FGMP penetrate a ship's hull?  Its penetration rating is 34, while even
an "unarmoured" ship has an armour rating of 40 (according to Striker - I'm
still one of these old timers who sticks to the good ol' stuff :-) .

I dislike using PGMP's and FGMP's for on-ship - and other close-quarter -
combat for another reason.  Those things have severe recoil problems.  You
just do not do snapshots with them.  You have to get into specific poses, so
that the recoil can be absorbed properly.  They're also very heavy; even the
mini-gravitics on the TL15 stuff won't help you against inertia, and using
one will feel a bit like pushing a cannon around on a trolley.  Result; I've
got my high-tech laser carbine, he's got his FGMP.  He starts aiming his gun;
I take a quick snapshot and put a nice hole in him.  Lasers are especially good
for the tactic of standing by the corner, then quickly going round and firing
at any enemy in sight.  And for heavy duty, a high-tech laser rifle can match
the penetration of the PGMP-12.  Both, according to Striker, have penetration
of 20.  A bit more clumsy than the carbine, but much neater than the PGMP.

As for slug-throwers; I always preferred ACR's to gauss rifles.  They're down
a point on penetration (ACR 6, gauss rifle 7) but ammo is more widely
available as it's TL 10 vs. TL 12.  There are lots more TL 10 worlds of low
enough law level, than there are TL 12 worlds.  And at a push, you can use
ordinary slug ammo instead of the discard sabot stuff.  This drops your
penetration to 4, but its better than an empty rifle!

 "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian     |  ARPA:   [email removed]

All opinions and material above is the responsibility of the originator.
Submissions: [email removed], or [email removed]
Administrator: [email removed] (James Perkins)
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