"Les Howie" [email removed] said:
>
(1) What are the major areas change. I have heard that it uses 2300 style
combat.
> What else?
The 2300 comparison comes from the importance of detection and sensor locks.
The primary difference from the imposition of the tyranny of the fuel gague.
The "they keep working as long as they have power" manuver drives have been
replaced with a system that consumes enough fuel to make a difference at
a tactical level.
Makes for a more interesting combat game, but plays havoc with in-system
travel.
>
(2) Has the Task system been retained?
Yes
>
(3) How has ship designe been changed?
Yes
> What are the major paradigms?
Not sure what you mean by this...
> Can ships
be designed without having a dedicated Cray to do the calculations
> (my main beef
about megatraveller)
Yes, but a calculator will be needed. A spreadsheet is recommended, but not
neccessary.
The biggest pain in the neck is creating the damage charts, which cannot
be automated.
>
(4) I noticed a comment in last night's TML about chnages in "scientific
>"
rationalizations. What material changes does this cause?
See above comments on the new maneuver thrusters.
Also, weapons arrangements have altered. High energy weapons are
useless in space combat (their "projectile" is too slow for ship combat speeds)
and are usually replaced by lasers. Since lasers, particle accelerators,
and meson guns can be custom designed, there's room for greater
variety in these weapons. Turret or barbette sized accelerators are useless
for ship combat (range too short), and due to design limits, bay-sized PA's
have trouble against ships with heavy armor. Good for hull-scraping, though,
which should not be underestimated considering the importance of sensors,
whose antennae are vulnerable to scraping.
Speaking of design limits, I'd recommend an energy limit on lasers of 50 Mj
per tech level, or else their versitility will make PA's and MG's a couple
of also-rans in the weapons ratrace.
Finally, missles are all supposed to be nuke-det X-ray laser warheads.
No impact missles, and the ol' Imperial No-Nuke rule goes out the window.
regards,
John H Bogan