Replies to recent topics

Rob Dean [email removed] writes:
> of how thrusters work--I've always assumed that they _really_ work on
> F=ma, and that the drive ratings are simple approximations of what per-
> formance would be expected with a typical weight on a given hull size.

I'd like to see this change, one way or another, in TNE.  Either
everything should be calculated based on tons of thrust and tons of mass
(which has the advantage of making sense), or both accelleration and
agility should be computed on volume of the drive field (which has the
advantage of being easy to calculate).


[email removed] (Edward Swatschek) writes:
>    I've never liked using thrusters that accelerate a volume instead of mass.
> One problem is with relativity: if mass does not affect the acceleration, you
> can approach and exceed c without penalty to the acceleration. Also, how does
> the maneuver drive define the volume to be accelerated? Can you extend it out
> beyond the hull? Why are inertial compensators needed if every part of the
> ship is being accellerated equally?

Well there is an intertialess drive in the "literature".
It's called the Bergenholm, and it's an old and honourable stardrive
(created by Edward E. "Doc" Smith for his Lensman saga) with a long
history of science fiction behind it.

But it's not Traveller.


[email removed] (Scott S. Kellogg) writes:
> I was just making some orders to GDW, when, I got switched over to
> Loren Wiseman.  So, here's some news fer ya'll.  I haven't seen any
> advertizements of ImperialLines, but they've put up a few issues,
> I gather they've already sent out issue #3.  They do still have
> some back issues for those of you who didn't subscribe yet.

What a weird bit of synchronicity.  I spoke to Dave Nilsen, apparrently
on about the same date that you were talking to Loren.  The subject of
our discussion was made public on TML-Not! (and presumably the thread
will move over here).

I will simply have to subscribe to Imperial Lines.  No way around it.

> Astrogators Guide to Diaspora is also out.

I have it; it's apparrently been out for about a month now.  It is very
nice, and I reccommend it.  The price is right for the amount of data
provided.  I have only a few minor nits to pick.  First of all, I found
the large map to be overly "busy" - trying to code travel zone
(Frontier, Outland, Wilds) as well as everything else was confusing.
Since this information was already represented on the small map, I don't
see why it was coded twice.  The text also includes some minor errata
for Hard Times and Assignment: Vigilante (the Outlands/Wilds coding in
the Hard Times map legend is backwards, and some of the world UWPs in
Assignment: Vigilante are wrong).

I forget which one it was in (I bought Assignment: Vigilante and
Diaspora Sector at the same time), but one contained Imperial Lines #1,
while the other contained a multi-page, full-color, slick-paper ad for
(UGH!) Dangerous Journeys.  Save your advertising budget, folks; I'm not
interested.

> We chatted fer a bit, and I will confirm Metlay's statement that
> it's nice to connect a human voice to the writing on the computer.
> (Yes, folks, he's human, and... Even *I'm* human. :-)

I'll add that Dave Nilsen is a good guy, too.  It turns out that he is
from around here (Rockville, MD; near Washington, DC) and we chatted
about some things of local interest.


From: [email removed] (Scott S. Kellogg)
> Specifically, The inertia & conservation of energy problems
> are solved, allowing someone to teleport with far greater
> freedom and even up to interplanetary ranges.  To counteract
> this new advantage, he proposed that there is a delay time
> between when a teleport starts to form in the new environ
> and when they can actually move and act.  (A few seconds
> making teleportation similar to the transporter effects of
> Star Trek.)

I don't think that this is enough of a disadvantage to offset the
greater freedome and range of teleportation.  Although this is a start.
Let me see if I can come up with some logical limitations (I wouldn't
mind seeing teleport become more powerful, as long as it didn't
unbalance the game).  Such things are not necessicarily too powerful ...

> If someone can teleport across interplanetary ranges,
> Ship to ship combat would be useless in the Frontier Wars
> with the Zhos.  A Zho teleport commando would be able to
> teleport right to the bridge and wipe it out.

First of all, teleportation (and clairvoyance, and any other psionic
power) should not be able to cross an artifical psionic shield.  I
assumed that it was ordinary practice for the hulls of Imperial warships
(and for the secure areas of important Imperial installations) to have
integral psionic shields.  End of problem.

> Now, if you want to have a mechanical transporter
> either akin to Blake's Seven, or (Ohmygod) Star Trek
> Then nuclear mayhem will similarly be out of control.

Number One: make the transporter unable to beam through a nuclear damper
and/or a meson screen.  That makes it much less useful for large-ship
actions.

I used a "Blake's Seven" style transporter in one of my early campaigns.
It had this limitation (and also couldn't beam through superdense or
bonded superdense materials).  Finally, it had a really significant
power draw (about 4ep, in High Guard terms, which would now be what,
about 1,000Mw) and a relatively short range (low orbit at most) and was
limited in the amount of material it could beam through.

Yes, it did give the players a big advantage.  On the other hand,
because they had the device, they got a lot of the otherwise
"impossible" assignments.  It all comes out in the end.

For many player character groups, this would be too much.  As a referee,
"Star Trek" sized gimmics go with "Star Trek" sized responsibilities.

Here's one for all of the psionics experts out there.  What are the
range and conservation of energy effects for a teleport going from one
artifical gravity field to another, or from one artifical gravity field
to a world's surface?


[email removed] (Michael A. Surman) writes:
> Chrysler or Chevrolet has installed a basic HUD as an option in
> some of their models. It only displays your speed but it does so
> by projecting the information onto the windshield.

Then again, one of the plants that GM will be closing is it's Willow Run
facility, which makes automatic transmissions.  Willow Run was
originally constructed by Ford in 1941 to build B-24 bombers for the
USAAF.  At 2.5 million square feet, it was the largest in the world, and
by 1944, it was producing a finished aircraft at the rate of one an
hour.  After the war it was sold to Kaiser-Fraiser to produce
automobiles and C-119 cargo planes; GM bought the facility in 1953.
Some of the original equipment installed by Ford (including heavy
machinery like the overhead cranes) is still in regular use.

Late TL-5 or very early TL-6.


[email removed]
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                                                 Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                         in the Far Future