Scott "Spell it Like the Breakfast Cereal" Kellogg:
> I would say tho, that up until TL 6 or so, almost every
> prototype of anything is hand made. Guns, planes,
> trains, automobiles and battleships.
True. Also, I believe aircraft were largely made one at a time
until the 1930s (when Lindberg wanted a plane, he went to Ryan
and they built it for him...albeit according to a standard
pattern, modified to suit his individual requirements...pretty
much the way George Washington would have bought a carriage).
The way Hans has it set up, however, standardized parts would
seem to be out the window, so it looks to me like repairmen are
pretty much going to have to fabricate replacement parts from
scratch.
------------------------------
David Johnson:
> reading through the rule book last night I saw some entries in
> the pen column of the ammunition to be 1C (This was mainly
> by the HEAP rounds) what does this mean.
1C means that the ammunition's penetration is a constant 1
throughout its range, that is, that is, it does not vary with the
distance the round has travelled. For small arms this is
sometimes written as 1-1-1.
> Refering to the fact that some rounds had not chance of getting
> past the armour (as mentioned in some other messages), have
> you consider the impact damage that is refered to in the rule
> book. i.e. When it is still possible to be damaged, even though
> the round did not get through. I was only skimming the book
> yesterday so I may have missed a few details but I think this
> is correct
This is called blunt trauma (Traveller: TNE page 285), and it
counts towards wound effects such as knockdown, initiative loss,
and so on. A weapon with a damage of 4 and penetration of 1
hitting an AV of 4 would not penetrate, but would do 4 points of
damage nevertheless.
------------------------------
Bruce Pihlamae:
> Can somebody post some sample firefights (and calculations)
> with a variety of weapons to show me that I'm not reading the
> rules right or where I'm going wrong?
HEAP, with a penetration of 1 should lose 1 point of damage for
each level of armor it penetrates.
From TNE, page 285: "Multiply the target's armor protection by
the weapon's penetration value, and subtract the result from the
weapon's damage value." A snub pistol HEAP round (at any range)
has a penetration of 1C (or 1-1-1) and a damage of 2. Vest's AV
of 1 times Penetration of 1 = 1, and 2-1 = 1 damage die per round
(that much math I am capable of doing without a calculator!).
If you hit the guy 5 times in the vest (chest or abdomen hits)
this should have done 5 dice of damage (5D6 damage points) plus 5
points of blunt trauma (in this case, 1 point per round that
didn't penetrate, see also p. 285). 5D6 will average 17.5 (3.5*5
= 17.5), plus 5 = 22.5. If they are chest hits, each hit die
causes a test under the provision of the Quick Kill rule (in this
case, five D20 rolls for 2 or less, what's that...a 40% chance of
croaking from Quick Kill alone?). For abdomen hits, the Quick
Kill rule doesn't apply (chest or head hits only).
(All of this assumes you didn't get a conspicuous success in
one of the To Hit die rolls...if so, you do double damage.)
If the hits taken in a single turn exceed the character's
Agility, the character is knocked down (if all 22.5 hit the
target in one turn, even the strongest character will be arsey-
varsey) and can't conduct any actions for the rest of the turn.
This should enable you to clog-dance on his/her neck or put a
couple rounds point-blank into the body part of your choice (or
get a head start at running away, if you've a mind).
Now, as for wound effects, this will vary with the attributes
of the target character, but the first time a character is
wounded (1 point is enough) that character loses his/her next
action. If the hits all go into the abdomen, the average
character will be seriously wounded by 22.5 points. If they all
go into the chest, 22.5 will cause a slight wound. Just for
comparison, 22.5 hits in the head would be a Critical wound, and
result in immediate death, 22.5 hits in an arm or leg would be a
serious wound.
A Serious wound means that a character has to make a D100 roll
against their Constitition to stay conscious, and repeat this
roll every turn in which they wish to conduct any action(s). A
Serious wound also reduces the character's strength by half, and
knocks 2 points off of their initiative (in addition to the
initiative reduction for slight wound, for a total of 3). Serious
wounds in a limb cause the character to lose the use of that
limb.
------------------------------
Speaking of combat, here's a question. When a rifle bullet
passes through a human head, which way will the head be
propelled, all other things being equal?
A. In the same direction as the bullet is travelling.
B. In the opposite direction from that the bullet is travelling.
For the wrong answer, see Oliver Stone's film _JFK_.
------------------------------
J Roberson
> As for lasers, let's discuss armor. Kevlar is made up of a
> ballistic weave, like a big quilt.
"quilt" would not be the word I would use, but I suppose that's
close enough
> When something blunt (a bat, a bullet) hits it,
> it spreads the damage out over a greater surface area,
> dispersing it in a way. However, as a weave, it is
> very susceptible to impaling attacks, like knive and
> lasers (which are pretty thin). I would igore the armor
> rating againt laser for any armor based on such a weave
> (though hard armor, like a battlesuit, should have full
> protection).
Our original laser penetration research was based on some SDI
documents, which indicated that small lasers (along the lines of
what we are talking about for small arms) were very poor
penetrators. Further investigation indicates that they are poor
penetrators against metal and other dense materials.
One of the experimental rules we are playing around with is to
make lasers ignore all non-metallic/ceramic/hard armor, meaning
they will go through ballistic cloth like it isn't there, but
will be stopped by battledress and the like. This is for lasers
only (not plasma/fusion weapons).
------------------------------
A few corrections to Kerry Harrison's notes concerning TNE
items (manufacturer's suggested retail price):
Available Now:
Product # Title Price (US$)
300 Traveller: The New Era $25
301 Survival Margin $10
303 Brilliant Lances $30
306 Traveller Player's Forms $14
Due in November:
304 Fire, Fusion & Steel $16
Due in December:
302 Deluxe Traveller $40
Delay with the box...everything is else is OK (don't ask about
the Johnny Reb boxes).
Due in January:
307 Traveller Referee Screen $8
Check your local store first, and if they can't get them for
you, you can order from us. Email your wants, your shipping
address, and a Visa or Mastercard number (include expiration date
and the name as it appears on the card).
------------------------------
Glenn E. Myers
[email removed]
I have a few questions concerning BL.
> (1) Has anyone found the stats for the Manta fuel skimmer
> listed in the Aurora-Class Clipper.
Yes. They were right there in Dave's office all the time...: )
RCES "Manta" Fuel Skimmer
Rate: 400
Total Volume: 5600
Price (MCr): 119.57359
Configuration: Dome/Disc SL
Armor: 31
MW TL-12 Fusion PPlant (150kl/hr), C-G TL-12 Hi-Eff, TL-12
Linked controls, TL-8+ Avionics, 3xTL-12 Model ST
rs, 60,000 Active EMS TL-12, 60,000 km TL-12 Passive EMS
, 60,000 km TL-12 Passive EMS Antenna (fixed), EMM
ge, 300,000km Radio, 1,000 AU Maser Commo, Basic Life
, Artifical Gravity/G Compensators, Bridge
stations), Engineering (8xworkstations), Sm. Cargo Hatch,
4), Fuel Scoop.
s normally converted into field expedient crew quarters.
: Loaded: 2788.566 tonnes
Empty: 2410.166 tonnes
hrust megawatts
rs: 3 Gs for 8.25 hours = 24.75 GHours.
Crew: 12 (8xEngineering, 1xElectronics, 1xManeuver,
enance, 1xCommand).
idge Workstations: 3
gineering Workstations: 8
me know if I left anything out...Dave's notes on the ship
tle hard to read.
s there been any reference to the capacitors used with
lobes.
Globes will be in FF&S
- -------------------
s:
succumbed to Pop Culture and visual media
literature to get my point across, I am
mistakably a member of Generation X! Acck!)
al media as a reference predates the birth of many of
bers of the Baby Busters (or Generation X if you will).
is one of their hallmarks, it is not unique to them.
such people lead quite normal lives... I'd advise you to try
ink about it so much.
(you _can_ still read, can't you?)
- -------------------------
hock" [email removed]
ings up an interesting question: how does a character
ccquire level 0 skills, aside from the default skills? Is
one through training? points?
Not at all?
hnically speaking, not at all (training and points all give
imum of 1 point, and only with skills you already have).
this comes under the heading of ref's common sense. In my
, I'd give a character a skill zero if said character
eded one or more times at an unskilled task attempt (only
for an impossible success, never for any number of
successes, etcetera).
- ------------------------
ck Dietz,
[email removed], [email removed]
> Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow.
What a blast from the past! John M. Ford and I _founded_ EGBT.
le I was giving out EGBT pencils. I was going to get
EGBT lolli-pops [fnord] made up but they turned out to be
xpensive in the small quantities I wanted.