Jim sez:
>Cellophane went out of style real quick after some bug decided it liked
>the stuff.
Is that what it was? I always thought it went out of style because
it was *highly* flammable, and they developed less flammable replacements.
>Has anyone ever read an old SF short about these aliens that thought they could
>destroy the earth's economy by dropping a pair of duplicators on earth before
>they invaded?
Yes. I read it in either one of the Analog collections or one of
the anthologies of classic SF stories. Long, long ago...
Greg Givler:
>What is TravCom2, well it is an attempt to integrate both Classic Traveller
.....
>There are plans to port this to both Rexx, this should be easy, for OS/2
>and QBasic, when I get the time, if there is enough interest.
>Anyone who is interested let me know.
Since I run OS/2 here at the office, I'm interested. (Gawd, I love
OS/2 2.0!!) What are the differences between ARexx and Rexx?
To Mark Cook/Dan Corrin:
I've been altering your old xssv program to display a subsector
in a reasonable amount of screen acreage for a SVGA display. It's still
an X program, tho. Do you have a more recent version? If I ever get so
inspired as to port it to DOS or OS/2 or Windows, does anyone want a copy?
Does anyone want to inspire me? Does anyone know how to convert X bitmaps
to Windows .BMP files?
Wildstar sez:
>WWI did not permanently damage civilization on a worldwide basis.
It did, however, do a good job of trashing Europe for a generation.
As did the U.S. Civil War to the South. Both places experienced severe
economic depressions, loss of industrial base, some loss of population base...
They might provide a model for the Hard Times/Short Nap milieux. Post-WWI
Europe (or post-100 Years War Europe) was splintered into a number of
economically damaged but independent states that were ripe for "any man on
a horse" to come along and "save" them. I expect to see a similar situation
early in the "Short Nap" -- small polities ruled by dictators trying to
conquer their neighbors as a way of improving the situation at home (or
taking the populace's minds off their own problems).
Contrariwise, the South after the Civil War was economically
damaged, but under the control of a healthy industrial state. It merely
languished as a provincial backwater for about a century. I expect to see
a similar situation in areas where the "Safes" (including the Empire of Deneb)
control Hard Times damaged areas (the Hard Times "frontiers").
>The "Short Nap" - the intervening 70 years - seems to me more like the time
>between the fall of Rome and the rise of Charlemagne.
Poor example, Fall of Rome to Charlemagne is about 350 years, not
70. Good example, in that I think the TNE should be set about 200-300 years
after, not 70. In 70 years, too many people who remember the Imperium are
still around, and TOO MUCH IMPERIAL TECHNOLOGY STILL WORKS. Two or three
hundred years is recent enough that PCs can have heard stories from their
grandparents about how it was under the Imperium, and late enough that
surviving TL 15 gear will be rare, delicate museum pieces if it exists at all.
>And probably the
>light of civilization brought by the Star Vikings of the New Era will be
>about as permanent as the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne. Brilliant
>conquerors will re-unite much of what was the old Imperium, but these new
>empires will probably not last beyond their founders' lifetimes.
See note above about "man on a horse". Charlemagne's empire broke
up because of a poorly planned succession policy. Alexander's empire had
the same problem. For a contrary example, note how long Rome held on to
Caesar's conquests in Gaul. The Romans had a well-established routine for
transfer of rule from one proconsul to another, and they were clearly
subordinate to Rome's authority; Charlemagne's sons and Alexander's heirs
were equals with no central authority to bind them together.
Point being, viability of interstellar states will depend on internal
politics, not how many years after the collapse of the Imperium it is.
More on the starport codes:
I still haven't tried it, so I can't suggest what tuning it might
need yet. However, the Traffic code seems to be a natural to apply to
the Passengers Available/Cargos & Freight Available tables as a mod.
In addition to the existing mods, use it either as a direct add to the
number of passengers, or as a (Code/5) mod to the number of passengers.
For Cargoes & Freight, Traffic should be a *negative* mod to amount
available. Why? My reasoning is that the standard table should actually
be called the "Spot Cargoes and Unscheduled Tramp Freighter Consignments
& Passengers Table"; an entirely different table should be used for
"Subsidized Merchants and Scheduled Liners", and a really different one
for "Perpetual Contract Bulk Haulers". (SOMEday I might draw them up...)
The more traffic/trade through a port, the more likely cargo and passengers
are to be flying on a subsidized, *regularly scheduled* merchant or liner,
or consigned to a contracted bulk hauler. Thus, fewer cargoes or passengers
for unscheduled tramp freighters (read: free traders).
-- Cynthia
"Microwaves are teeny, weeny little waves" -- wireless LAN salesman