In Reply to Your Message of Thu, 06 Jan 94 20: 30:03 EST
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 94 10:46:45 EST
From: Keeper Of The Lint <darkstar>
[email removed] had this to say:
:A few comments on Jerry's recent post to th TML:
:
:Jerry ([email removed]) sez:
:
:> First off all, to the guy who was upset that MegaTraveller doesn't
:> transfer well into TNE terms.
:
:The polite thing to do is to copy what the other fellow said. This
:allows: 1) other people to see what they said and 2) prevents you from
:misquoting them.
You're absolutely right. I was too lazy to go back and quote from the
article. And look at all of the problems that it caused. After all,
you're not even the guy I was talking about/to.
[tirade about cross-compatible designs deleted]
:You suggested that:
:> Pick up a copy of Survival Margin. It's purpose is to provide a
:> bridge between the two games. Now, this is only in respect to
:> characters. It tells you how to convert MT characters into TNE
:> characters
:You answered yourself there :-) But I do have a copy of Survival Margin.
Gee, well then I guess that if you have a copy of it, then you know
what's it's used for. I was talking about converting EVERY aspect of MT
to TNE. And who would've thought that characters actually are part of
the game.
:Then you said:
:> As for vehicles, I'm afraid that you'll have to convert them all by
:> hand by recreating them using the FF&S rules.
:Right so far...
:>Now, you said that ships transferred okay between Classic and MT, but
:>that these designs are too radically different to be easily converted
:>to TNE rules. That's a bunch of BS! The ship design rules between CT
:>and MT were radically different.
:Hmmm... I know I THINK this, but I couldn't find where I posted this
:on this list, so I'm not sure if I'm being misquoted or not ;-)
:Right, the RULES were different, but the results were largely the same:
:everything still fit on the hull, so Kinunir and Broadsword conversions
:left the ships with the same characteristics. Under TNE, things like
:triple turrets and particle accelerator barbettes are gone, so if your
:ship had them in CT and MT, how do you explain to your players that
:they don't exist in TNE?
:Other missing things that carried over from CT to MT but not to TNE are:
:Effectively unlimited ship movement
:Crew Sizes (they increased slightly with MT, but doubled with TNE)
:How Nuclear Dampeners work
:Anti-Grav devices providing thrust
:etc.etc. Duplicating CT ship designs was easy in MT: nothing "disappeared".
:This isn't the case with TNE.
Okay, well first of all, let's look at what Survival Margin and the TNE
rulebook said (after all, if you have it, then you must have read it).
Computers were redesigned to deal with, and be more resilient to Virus.
Both books said that the computers became less centralized, and now had
more stations and checkpoints. Gee, I wonder if that could be why you
now need more people to crew a specific station?
In FF&S, reactionless thrust has been put back in. Use it, I know I do.
:Anyway, I'm recapping this stuff because you're new to the list. Most of the
:other people on this list are bored to tears/sleep/death by this topic.
:You go on to say:
:>Ships in MT (and their creation rules) weren't compatible with High
:>Guard and Trillion Credit Squadron. All of the CT ships had to be
:>completely reworkedto fit into MT.
:Not really, see above. Redesigned, yes. Re-explained, no.
:> Thats just the way it works. With each of these revisions, they've
:> found a few more holes to plug, and a few more bugs to spray.
:Nah. They majorly changed the game.
:> But, in MT's defense I have grown accustommed to reactionless
:> drives and multiple weapon turrets. It's a good thing that they put
:> at least one of these back in FF&S (I can live with single weapon
:> turrets).
Oh please, in High Guard/Trillion Credit Squadron, I could design a ship
that had lots of G's, big guns, jump-100, etc, and fit it into 100 tons
of hull! Geez, and then when MT came around, you couldn't do that
anymore. Now, you actually had to think about maximizing your space,
and doing some other things. Granted, most CT designs could transfer
with the only big losses being losing some maneuver G's, and cargo
space, but the entire concept behind ship design still changed.
:You conclude:
:
:>As for the rules of play, well, they're different enough that you need
:>to learn them, but not different enough that they don't "feel" similar
:>to the old rules.
:
:Except that combat isn't as dangerous, you run out of fuel in
:space combat, in system transit times are alot slowers, blah blah blah.
So, are you upset because it's not as easy for you to off someone, or
because it's not as easy for your character to take the big dirt nap?
Fuel in space combat? Hmm, well, it seems more realistic. Yeah, it
takes some getting used to, I guess you've actually made a good point.
If you don't like the new in system transit times, then use the old
ones. Who knows, new ship rules, new transit times?
:I _LIKE_ TNE, but I'm trying to convert an existing campaign. Had they
:retained alot of the building blocks of CT and MT, they would have alienated
:fewer long time players and made conversion MUCH easier.
:So in the future, if you're going to flame at someone, PLEASE use basic
:courtesy and quote them, OK? We'll all be better internetters for it.
:Of course, I'm only assuming you were flaming at me ;-)
Well, obviously this proves the old adage "when you assume, you make and
ass out of you and me". Listen, my previous post wasn't directed
towards you. I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way. You've got a
pretty thin skin if you considered my response flaming. Now this
response was a flame (I tend to actually be sarcastic when I'm flaming).
Thank you for welcoming me to the list in your very special manner...
--Jerry
|> Jerry Alexandratos ** "vengo de la tierra del <|
|> [email removed] ** fuego ten cuidado cuando <|
|> [email removed] ** llamas mi nombre..." <|