There have been several posts following up my coments on 3D
Traveller along the lines of "great idea, too complicated to run
or for the players" or "nifty but impossible to code"
What's wrong with you people? Wake up! Did you not note that
my post was about what it *is* like to run 3D traveller, not what it
*would* be like.
I've been running 3D traveller for 5 years now. It is *not* too
complicated for players. My players don't even have a technical
background. The main ones are a Biblical Scholar, a Printer, and a
Economics/Philosophy student.
The main aid for all of this has been a 10x10x10 map done as 10
10x10 sheets and a simple cubic diagram of what relative cells you can
reach with a jump-2 ship. There have been one or two mis-calculated
jumps in those 5 years.
As far as representation, come off it. All you need to know is
the basic rotational matrix. I spent two hours and volia! I had a 3D
displayed map added into SYSGEN that you can cycle and rotate. (For
those who *still* don't know, SYSGEN and its companion LIBRARY are
programs that generate almost everything you might want to know about
Traveller worlds down to World Builder's Handbook detail, available on
anonymouse FTP on either the TML server or on walton.maths.tcd.ie in
the pub/jaymin/trav directory).
The Traveller system and background *does not* break down in 3D.
In fact, if you apply exchange rates like in TNE/TCS you need the extra
choice that 3D gives to ever hope of making a profit on cargo speculation.
This brings me on to my second topic. *Does* anyone else use the
exchange rate system in TNE for cargo speculation? It kind of makes it
even slower to generate cargo available at a port. It used to really
slow down game play to sit and roll loads of dice to generate what cargos
were available at each port. Eventually I incorporated it into SYSGEN.
Then it was a simple matter to put in the exchange rates and a further
extension predicted what profit the would make at each planet within their
jump capability.
Things change dramatically when you introduce the exchange rates.
In the normal course of things the most profitable trade routes are from
high-tech worlds to low-tech world. Going from TL15 to TL0 nets a minimum
150% profit (on top of the normal 25%). There are trade code effects but
these are fairly minimal. When you add in the exchange rates, though
you discover that the currency of most low tech worlds is fairly worthless.
Thus the whole things moderates and you can wave good-bye to all those
high-profit routes.
The next add-on planned for LIBRARY is a course planner that
recursively chooses the best trade route (using the Knight's Tour
algorithym) from either point to point or just around the place. Once
that is done I'll post the best rountes for the Spinward Marches.
Some people were complaining before about the lack of lethality
in TNE combat. Well, I spoke before of how I used the TNE-Virus idea as
a Virtual Reality game that my player's characters played. Well at the
moment I'm re-working some D&D modules as a Fantasy VR game that they
have on-line and might play. For that a combat system that isn't as
lethal as "real life" is perfect. To best enjoy the game you want the
players to live, yet destroy loads of enemies. So, solution: use the
non-lethal combat system for VR and save the leathal one for reality!
Jo