On Sun, 09 Jan 94 20:30:03 EST you said:
>In the case of future Tech Level advancements on technology, how should I
>deal with the miniaturization issue? For certain, we have seen advances in
>our lifetimes of epic proportions in computer hardware and even common
>domestic equipment. I Just received a Discman CD player for Christmas, that
>has even more features than my previous CD player (Which was the size of
>your typical stereo component) and is the size of two and a half CD cases
>stacked on top of one another... Quite a reduction in size, and we haven't
>even advanced a Tech Level!! ;->
>
>So I have been thinking if maybe we should have a formula for this. One of
>the more sensible formulae that I have come up with over christmas has been
>this ...
>
> Introduction Tech Level Attribute Value
>Modified Attribute Value = ---------------------------------------------------
> (Current Tech Level - Introduction Tech Level)
> 10
>
> This seems to work in one instance I can cite - the infamous TL 11 Hand
>computer. It says that it has a volume of 0.2 litres. Cool. Now, taking into
>account the modifications expressed in the Starship Computer Tables in the
>Referee's Manual, we have a value of 200 kl at TL 5 (or 200,000 litres) and
>a weight of 50 t at TL 5 (or 50,000 kg). Now, applying the formula, we come
>up with:
>
> 200,000 l 200,000 l
> 0.2 l = --------- = -----------
> (11 - 5) 6
> 10 10
>
> 50,000 kg 50,000 kg
> 0.05 kg = ---------- = ----------
> (11 - 5) 6
> 10 10
>
>
> Now, there is a whoops there. The mass is supposed to be 0.5 kg, not
>0.05. However, this could be due to the resident battery pack, which is by
>far the most heavy piece of the device. As for the pricing of the computer,
>I don't have a contingency as of yet. Now, The rule seems pretty reasonable
>to me for physical aspects of equipment, but I'd like to know what you all
>think of it.
The basic formula seems to work quite nicely, with a problem from the
published rules - the computers don't decrease in size consistently through
the TL's, and are assumed to include 'synaptic processing'. When I created
the rules for the laptop and desktop comp's for my game, I just incremented
the TL and based the sizes, prices, etc off the published equivilants. For
example, the desktop/laptop models are 2 TL's behind the 'standard' comps
and the handheld's are 4 TL's behind the 'standard's. I made some allowances
for 'flight' versions of desktops - which essentially become laptops.
> This, in keeping with the idea that the robot rules should meld with the
>computer rules, makes it possible to construct a Hand Held Tl 11 Mod/1
>computer with the proper number of CPU modules and Storage modules. In fact,
>this brings the question forward of what are the module requirements for
>each of the models of computers. I haven't bothered with the idea of how
>much memory should reside in a Storage module as of yet. The various real
>world/Traveller Computer correspondences are necessary, and I will have to
>do some research on the various "most advanced computers" of the times.
>Don't ask me about the Control Points thing... 8-(
Anthony, I think you're really shooting yourself in the head trying to keep
the Traveller computers close to Real-World (tm) values. This is something
that's been 'broken' for a long time, and they've not gone back and
re-worked it to match. The component pieces for robots, etc are great - but
as soon as you try to match it to real-world data, you're going to have more
agruments than ever over 'how things work'. To give an example - Scott 2G
Kellogg had come up with some comments a while about about thin-film diamond
processing and the possible effects it might have on computer technology. It
was really something! (Although I don't remember all the details).
I'm not saying 'don't develop the components' rules, but rather just don't
match them too closely to the real-world. Even Book 8 didn't try to match
them all up, and simply relied on a table of 'skill X requires 3 storage
points' per level of skill.
BTW - I like the component conversions!
joe University of Missouri - Columbia
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