Ah, so that is the difference between Megatraveller and CT. Pity. I was
able to take on the background pretty easily; I thought it was great. As
for price, $20-$30 is about thge going rate for complete rules these
days. And you could always shave costs by dropping the Encyclopedia.
Oh well. I felt like I was a regular Traveller when I got Megatrav.
GURPS: I don't have Space, but I do hear tell they have spaceship
building rules in it. I suppose you could do it with Vehicles, but
you'd have to keep real good track of the details. Vehicles are initially
measured in cubic FEET; volume is calculated from that. It's primarily
for personal vehicles, though examples extend up through luxury liners
and clipper ships.
T2K damage: Can't vouce for the higher tech stuff, but I totally agree that
damage in that system is too low. In twilight, the average PC can take
2.5 full-damage hits from an assault rifle and still be called 'slightly'
wounded. I haven't campaigned since the 2nd ed came out, so I don't have
any playtested fixes, but I'll post some as I come up with them.
J Roberson