The following is a copy of E-mail I sent to Loren Wiseman, for him to
share with the rest of the folks at GDW
I picked up Traveller: The New Era yesterday, and have skimmed through
it (I haven't had a chance to read it thouroughly yet). I got the
next-to-last copy at Dream Wizards (the local game store). Aparrently,
sales of T:TNE are better than expected: I touched off an exchange
between the storekeepers: "I think you'd better order more copies of
Traveller!" "Wheren't you the one who told me that ten copies was more
than enough?" etc...). In any case, it seems to be selling well.
In comments to other TML members, you (Loren) mentioned that the
starship construction rules will be part of a board game, while the rest
of the vehicle construction rules will be part of the Technical
Architecture manual (?! or at least, that's how it sounded to me ?!).
I'd like to very strongly suggest that the starship and spaceship
construction rules be in BOTH products. At $30 or so for the board
game, very few roleplayers are going to be willing to spend *MORE* for
the starship design rules than they spent on the game; and most of the
role-players are probably *NOT* going to be interested in the boardgame.
Therefore, the potential market for the boardgame is the people who are
interested in both Traveller role-playing and boardgaming (most probably
an even smaller minority of Traveller players than ten years ago) plus
those role-players who have $30 to spend on a product that they
fundamentally don't want (an even smaller minority, IMHO).
And if High Guard is any indication, the role-players will be most
interested in the starship design rules out of all the things that are
likeley to be covered in the Technical Architecture suppliment. If the
starship and spacecraft rules aren't in there, the demand for this
product will be greatly reduced.
Putting the starship rules in the boardgame and not in the technical
architecture suppliment will most likely reduce the demand for the
technical architecture suppliment *without* a corresponding increase in
the demand for the boardgame. My guess is that most purchasers of T:TNE
could be easily persuaded to shell out an additional $10 to $15 in order
to get *all* of the starship, spaceship, vehicle, weapons, and other
construction rules, tables and charts. Very few people are going to be
willing to shell out $45 to get all of this, and most aren't going to be
satisfied without the starship construction rules.
With that out of the way, on to my impressions of T:TNE!
Although it's awfuly big for a single volume, I definitely like T:TNE's
price to content ratio. This one's a good value; particularly when
compared to MegaTraveller (or many of the other games that are on the
market today).
Compliments:
* The artwork is good; I like the mix of new art and old favorites.
* New starship rules look good
* Well organized; the text is in a logical order, and the index and
table of contents are a nice touch.
Observations:
* Gas Giant refuelling is a very effective way to wast large amounts of
time and money. Other than that it's not good for much. I think that
Gas Giant refeulling would only be used when a ship is passing through
a system (without stopping at the starport) and only then if there was
no world with a liquid water ocean.
Gripes:
* Layout is "busy" - Headers and footers make the page look cluttered;
and the page numbers are hard to read. It rather resembles what
happens when someone gets ahold of a Mac and Pagemaker for
the the first time (Survival Margin had this problem, and Font Mania [too
many fonts on one page] too).
* Incomplete index: for example, missles for starships are *not* indexed
under missiles (which does point you to the rules for using starship
missles, as well as the TAC missile tables, etc), but it you want to
find the table of *Starship* missiles, well it's not referenced there.
(It is under Starship Weapons, though).
Another minor gripe (and it applies to Survival Margin, too): The author of
the virus items is aparrently unaware of the meaning of "Operating System",
and seems hazy on the concepts of computer "hardware" versus "software",
and the distinctions between systems programs, application programs, and
data. While this admittedly a nit, it is as annoying as is the news
media's inability to distinguish between a Main Battle Tank and an Infantry
Fighting Vehicle, or those who use the terms "bullet", "round", and
"shell" interchangeably. While it certainly isn't a major flaw, it
certainly does give me pause when reading certain sections.
Notes: I noticed that all of the missiles listed are detonation
lasers. Detonation lasers are certainly reasonable technology; however
"normal" missiles are certainly possible and effective with Traveller
technology.
An impact with a couple of hundred kilograms of conventional explosive
in a shaped sharge should do heavy damage to T:TNE starships;
particularly given their new (and much lower) armor values.
An impact with a nuke (even one of the "micro-nukes" that normally power
the detonation lasers) should vaporize nearly any ship. And larger
nukes (in the kiloton range) wouldn't be any larger than the nuke/laser
assembly on a detonation laser, and would be deadly to some distance
even if a direct hit wasn't made. Perhaps a variety of "Normal" missile
warheads and guidance systems could be made available in the Technical
Architecture manual. These impact missiles could be deadly at short
ranges, and would be just the thing for arming a fast, highly
maneuverable fighter craft, which can carry them into close proximity to
the target before releasing them.
Conventional High-Explosive missiles are likeley to be a favorite of
merchants, too. Much cheaper than detonation lasers, and effective
in close-in fighting against pirates.
But enough of that. My overall impression is a good product, and I am
eagerly going through it. I will probably follow-up with additional
comments as I notice individual items. The rules seem good, solid, and
very playable --- I'd say (and this is high praise) that it is as good a
foundation for science-fiction roleplaying as was the original
Traveller.
Good Work!
[email removed]
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Science-Fiction Adventure
in the New Era