Swords

> From: [email removed]
> Subject: more TNE...
>
> 	More TNE:
>
> 	I note with some pleasure that gas giant refueling is now
> effectively dead.

  It is *possible* in a system that looks like Regina: Where the mainworld
is in orbit around a gas giant, although it isn't really profitable (it never
was really profitable).

  The main effect of this will IMHO be to slow down the reexploration of
charted space. If you enter a system for the first time you will hesitate
before jumping in at the mainworld, and if you jump in at a normal gas giant,
you will have to spend 50 days or so going to the mainworld, or send a smaller
faster shuttle. In the latter case the transfer time will be on average 9
days Terra-Jupiter with a 20 G hour burn from a ships boat.
  I think this is good. Without it reexploration would go much too fast.

(I did a brief calculation on this wrgt the HubWorlds and found out that with
 only a small number of ships, a pretty thorough survey could be carried out on
 all worlds in the Massilia sector in less than a year, even when including
 duplication of effort)

> 	Well, it can.  If you use 9G-hours (which will save you all of 350
> credits when it comes time to refill the tanks, then the trip from
> Jupiter to Terra will take only 56 days to complete.

  It's worse than that, actually. Those 9 G hours is only the acceleration.
Since an equal deacceleration is necessary 5 G hours is the max acceleration
possible if you only have 11 G hours to play with.

> 	I also note that, in a fight between two unarmoured men, you are
> better off using your bare hands (assuming the requisiste skill) than
> you are using a sword.

  Sure about this? I interpret the '2' damage notation as meaning 2d6.

> 	One moderately serious technical error though:  under these rules,
> there are different government ratings in the wilds and the safes.  So a
> government rating of "7" means one thing on THIS side of the line, and
> another thing on the other side of the line.  This was NOT a bright
> move.  Instead, you should have extended the rating scales like was
> originally done for the various alien government types...

  I agree with this.

  BTW: Keeping in mind our long and heated discussions on 'how to armour a
grav tank for planetary combat', I hope you sat down when you saw the
armour figures for the grav tank:)
  Even I admit that this is too thin on the non-glacis faces.

> 				---Steve Higginbotham

- -bertil-
- --
"It can be shown that for any nutty theory, beyond-the-fringe political view or
 strange religion there exists a proponent on the Net. The proof is left as an
 exercise for your kill-file."