[warning: the following article contains a graphic description of the
ballistic effects, if you'll pardon the pun, of laser weapons]
Scott Kellogg repeated one of the most oft-repeated and
least true beliefs about laser weapons: "You just wave
them around the target and burn them." That's unfortunately
wrong, and here's why.
The concept of the "beam" laser is often thought to be the best
weapon by people who don't understand how laser weapons usually
damage a target. It isn't. Pulse lasers are much, much more
effective. Presume you have two lasers, one beam, one pulse, that
put out the same amount of energy per second. Say that this is about
oh say enough energy to boil 25 cm^3 of water. Ok, the pulse laser hits
an human target, spends about 10% of its energy burning through the
clothes, and deposits a lot of energy fast in the first centimeter of
skin. Bang, in addition to a burn you get impulsive damage as the
water vaporizes. Not only do they hurt, but they likely fall over
stunned from the internal shock wave, not just damage. They've got
one cm^3 of flesh gone, the surrounding 10 cm^3 charred, and are
suffering from about the same impulsive damage as a pistol round.
Sound painful? Would be... Ok, hit someone
else with the beam laser. Now, since the weapon isn't being held steady,
and the beam is continuous, its impact is spread around a bit. This
means that more of its energy is disspated burning clothes. Ok,
but we've still got most of the energy. Say that the beam wavered only a
quarter meter of total path during that second, and that most of the
energy still got through clothing. Results? A 25 cm long second
degree (maybe) burn, painful, but not necessarily even disabling.
Not convinced yet? Armour the person a little bit. Suddenly,
half the energy of the pulse is absorbed and doesn't get through, but
some does, still doing the same type of damage (if less). On the
beam laser, since the beam is moving around, it never gets through
the armour.
Personally, I'll take a pulse laser. Can you run it continously
at low-power mode to act as its own targeting aid? Yes, sure, no problem
if you design it right. Will firing it at the second it is held steady
on the target be easier than with a laser-sighted rifle or pistol? Nope.
Same problem, though you won't get recoil after you fire.
Enough lasers. TNE wish list... umm ... umm... 8-)
Simplicate. Try a quick character system for intro players.
(or, alternatively, include a few pages of sample characters...)
Combat, well, the T2k2/D20 system is reasonable, if you include the
explosive/antitank weapons lethality rule and apply it to (for instance)
plasma weapons. DO A GOOD SYSTEM TO CONVERT MT CHARACTERS 8-)
Noncombat interactions: Kick the T2k skills system a bit.
MT had a wonderful variety of USEFUL noncombat skills. Don't lose
that. Rescue the interstellar trade system from classic Traveller.
Vehicle design: Seperate systems out, but make sure they're
compatable where they interact (you already were talking about that).
This allows some simplification. Cull the rules that no longer make
sense (i.e. too much detail) from each resulting system. Add reasonable
water and aircraft systems, though those can wait for a suppliment
(and I am willing to help with that, and the current systems do leave
enough room for improvement that starting over again might be good 8-)
Space Combat: High Guard was the high point. It has gone
downhill since... try hard to retain elegant simplicity. A slightly
more skill oriented HG variant might be just the thing... Or, perhaps,
something based on the T2k vehicle system, with new orders of magnitude
of weapons (i.e., reasonable pen/damage values for space weapons, but
if you shoot a ground vehicle with one, multiply by 10 or something...
handle spinal weapons the same way: if you shoot something smaller than
10ktons with a spinal mount, multiply pen/damage by 10 (or whatever,
that's not the optimal point but you can probably get the idea).
The T2k2ed system has a lot going for it, mostly in a basic
simplicity of having evolved from a wargame. Functionality can be
added without affecting that simplicity. The Traveller background
is a good place to play with, even after the Hard Times. It will
be challenging to play in. Try hard to keep the quality level up
for the materials. Help me convince more of these TML people
to put their pens/typewriters/word processors where their mouths are
(though that may be hard 8-).
Ok, that's my TNE wish list. Have fun everybody 8-)
- -george william herbert
[email removed]
[email removed] (coming soon to an internet near you)