>>If I were a pirate, I wouldn't jump my multi-million credit ship into a =
>>system blind and start shooting at the first ship I found.
>>get into a vector that would take me near enough to a shipping lanes
>>and wait. If a ship is going from planet A to planet B, it has to be
>>along course C.
>Gee, I wonder if there is anything a merchant can do to foil this =
brilliant
>plan? Nothing, except taking his ship a few percent outside his direct
>route. It's cheap, costs him only a few hours extra travel time, and it
>makes him pass you a a distance beyond your detector range.
>>Now, some Traveller material
>>(TNE actually, when talking about the Virus blockade) implied you could =
>>even tell what planet a ship has jumped from or is jumping to by it's
>>vector to or from a jump point. If I know The Queens Gold will be =
heading
>>from Regina to Roup, then I can try to intercept it along that vector. =
>No you can't, because The Queens Gold will certainly jump from a safe =
point
>to another safe point.
> Hans Rancke
>University of Copenhagen
> [email removed]
Changing course works in CT and MT, but isn't really an option in TNE =
since fuel is so bloody limited. About the biggest question then is for =
referees to decide what, in there campaign, Jump Point means.
Is is a fixed point in space, sort of like the Lagrange Points in Earth =
Orbit, where traffic is regular, or is it just some point beyond 100 =
planetary diameters.
Can you tell where vessles are comming from or going to by their approach =
or re-entry vector, or can a navigator control that and so the system has =
no clue about ships travel. I personally liked the approach vector =
effecting destination since it made it more difficult for players to skip =
on bank payments. Other then that one passage in TNE about ships with =
certain vectore being attacked instantly to keep the Virus blockade, =
Traveller seams to have always implied that Jump Point was more this veil =
beyond the limit then an actual point, and once Jump is engaged, no one =
knows where you go except the ship's navigator, though you might argue MT =
neutrino Sensors could detect how big a jump was made based on the jump =
drives output.
So, unless you have a really good luck streak (luck of the vargr?) you =
have the surface area of a sphere with 3 million Km radius (for a 30,000 =
km diameter planet) as your hunting ground, and sensors that reach =
between 30,000 Km to 2 Parsecs depending on which rule version or =
interpitation you are using. If the shorter sensor ranges are being =
used, you need to have some sort of cooralation between normal space =
entry points and jump space exit points or Piracy becomes more of a spy =
game then a wait and pounce game.
One of the reasons I stopped playing fantasy games was to escape =
arguements about the nature of magic, and now I have arguements about =
Black Globes and Jump Drives.
0.0
\_/