Cloaking

[Shaddath]

Just got Traveller 20. Just a quick question...

Are there any rules for cloaking? I'm not talking about Star trek Kilingon type cloaking where the ship actually disappears, but rather electronic stealth information for star ships. With the stealth technology we now possess in this world, I would assume that it would be considerably improved at TL 12.

 

[sandman]

Originally posted by Shaddath:
Just got Traveller 20. Just a quick question...

Are there any rules for cloaking? I'm not talking about Star trek Kilingon type cloaking where the ship actually disappears, but rather electronic stealth information for star ships. With the stealth technology we now possess in this world, I would assume that it would be considerably improved at TL 12.

Well, there are rules for jamming sensors and the like. As for electronic stealth, Silent Running is your best bet.

 

[MichaelL65]

You can always import a Black Globe from CT...

 

[sandman]

Originally posted by MichaelL65:
You can always import a Black Globe from CT...

You don`t have to import them, they are also in T20

 

[mega-traveller]

My T20 book is being shipped, so I dont have it yet.

Do they address how many of these things are floating around out there? (Black Globes, that is)

Thanks!

 

[Jame]

As I recall, Traveller never had cloaking devices as such. Does anyone know if it's otherwise?

 

[hemulen]

For use in combat, where you push a button and just disappear, I don't think there are any mentioned.

Presumably you could jump in a long way out-system, get up some speed, reduce your signature as much as possible and drift in? Especially if you are a planetoid hull. If you're just after information, you could probably hang around on the outskirts of a system, even in the Oort cloud equivalent, and just listen in.

Or else put your black globe on 100% and keep a stopwatch handy...I guess you could still be detected if someone happens to be looking in the right direction as you occlude a star.

cheers,

Mark

 

[Jame]

What I meant was: Traveller, as I recall, never mentioned a specific, ship-mounted single purpose cloaking device (a la Star Trek-style) aside from black globes, which were shields as well as cloaks. I think that Traveller allows for sensor stealthing, though I can't point to any rules.

 

[sandman]

Originally posted by mega-traveller:
My T20 book is being shipped, so I dont have it yet.

Do they address how many of these things are floating around out there? (Black Globes, that is)

Thanks!

Yup.

They are in the "Players should consider themselves EXTREMELY lucky to see one, much so to have one" category.

IIRC, aside from possibly experimental ones, they`re Ancient Artifact that have been jury-rigged to fit modern ship

 

[Elliot]

Cloaking device a la Star Trek = Canon Traveller never even went there!

 

[hemulen]

Originally posted by Elliot:
Cloaking device a la Star Trek = Canon Traveller never even went there!

I'd think that the nearest that you could hope for in canon traveller would be some stealth tech to give you some bonuses against sensor scans.

Of course, the Ancients did seems to leave a lot of stuff lying around - who knows what might be out there?

I seem to remember there being a white globe generator as well; or am I imagining it? Can't remember what it did though.

You could go the whole hog and have the D&D Prismatic Sphere Generator

cheers,

Mark

 

[trader jim]

It is just a RUMOR, repeat, just a RUMOR, mind you.....but it has been whispered VERY quietly, that TRADER JIM has 3 black globes in his possesion, thay could be BOUGHT for a rather Large Amount of CA$H!!!!!

 

[Liam Devlin]

(SHHHH Jim! Ye aren't supposed to be selling the duds that way!)

 

[Shadowdancer]

Originally posted by Mark B.:
You could go the whole hog and have the D&D Prismatic Sphere

If you do go the D&D route, wouldn't it be Cloaking of Elvenkind on the ship?

 

[Elliot]

The white globe did exist as a Ancient artifact = it allowed you to fire out but no one to fire in. If it was white, I would imagine that you would be like a little star, rather than cloaked, however.

 

[Richard Saunders]

Good Afternoon.
Why cant you just add Camelion (ignore poor spelling)to the ship it masks Heat Light and you would have to assume electronic sensors too otherwise why would ground troops (Marines) have it on their armour. Yes once you have fired your spotted MAYBE.
On another question.
Maneuver drive is it a reaction drive or like star trek (grabbs space and moves the ship at a set speed, 3G you accellerate up to 96 feet/sec and stay at that speed untill you turn of the drive).
If its a reaction drive with continuous accel then the perfect weapon as noted elswhere is a rock or missile with 40*1kg pellets in the nose with a variable choke (shotgun). The pattern could be set at 1k from target to cover all possible maneuvers, you get minimum one hit probably more.
BYE.

 

[Liam Devlin]

"Fascinating, Captain"

Hmm. Now in Honor Harrington/Weber-verse we see a a concept I saw in a Glen Cook Novel, where the ship goes into sub-space temporarily (a speed thing) where in it temporarily cannot be seen, then drops back out. This might be an alternate type of technology/ drive thingy. (I ain't much on gearheadin, but i do like ideas that can be sci-fied into game-If they make relative sense/ can be extrapolated-we are usin imagination here, right? RIGHT!).

Then we have the chameleon skin LCD hull stuff (MTJ#4) accessory. Makes yer ship blend in to its background. What with the high power sensors n all in the game, ye'd have to powered down/ lying doggo, using passive sensors waiting on yer target to get close before ye pounce (Corsairs/ Navy types, pay heed (Rabid Vargr, Blacklight)! Or you merchies in the smugglin bidness -TJ, this means YOU!).

In movies we have seen the Predator light bending/ shimmer armor affect, and lately in James Bond007 latest flick "Die Another Day" light bending technology.

Still--those are visual sensory effects.
Power emitted will be a challenge. EMM (electronic magnetic masking) will help add minuses to the sensor operators skill & tech level of his/ her equipment. (versus the +/- of TL of the stuff he/ she's trying to detect!),

Last, we have the Black globe (TL-16+) which sucks up energy, and cloaks the ship (but visually stars can be temorarily blotted out--if yer that close to see that, they are close enought to blow yer keister out of space!).

I see the Klingon cloaking device as a visual sensory thing-, not an energy absorbing BG (ST-The one with Kirk gettin to a Klingon Prison world showed this, and how the Klingon's had adapted the cloak to remain, and still fire their weapons! But it in NO way stopped it from getting whacked!). It being holographic type of projection, I figure a minimum of TL-13 (D).

my .000000125Mcr, worth.

 

[MichaelL65]

I see the Klingon cloaking device as a visual sensory thing-, not an energy absorbing BG (ST-The one with Kirk gettin to a Klingon Prison world showed this, and how the Klingon's had adapted the cloak to remain, and still fire their weapons! But it in NO way stopped it from getting whacked!). It being holographic type of projection, I figure a minimum of TL-13 (D).

my .000000125Mcr, worth.

The ST cloaking devices cloak both visually and from sensors. In ST6, the missile was able to hit because it was modified to track heat - apparently a sensor reading that is not commonly used in the ST universe (as cold as space is, looking for heat sources may not be real useful as the heat from the ship would probably blind them - like trying to look at the stars durring the day).

 

[Liam Devlin]

The ST cloaking devices cloak both visually and from sensors. In ST6, the missile was able to hit because it was modified to track heat - apparently a sensor reading that is not commonly used in the ST universe (as cold as space is, looking for heat sources may not be real useful as the heat from the ship would probably blind them - like trying to look at the stars durring the day).

--------------------
Michael E. Landon

**************************************************
Thermal tracking/ passive & Active sensor, seeking ship's emissions level. One of the things ST & I have disputes on. Just cause ye go hi tech doesn't mean ye forget the basics that got ye there.

 

[Uncle Bob]

IIRC Chamelian suits use a special cryogenic cold can to kill IR signiture. A heat dump that could handle the megawatts from a starship power plant is mind boggling. Something that could, for minutes or hours, handle the kilowatts from a ship powered down in stealth mode is conceivable.

My favorite stealth technology is a large, cold, double-sided mirror. It only works in one direction, though.

Position the mirror between the sensors and the ship, tilted at an angle. The mirror masks the ship from passive sensors, and high resolution sensors (telescopes) will just see the reflected patch of stars. Active sensors (radar or ladar) will reflect off the mirror at an angle into deep space, and as long as the echo doesn't come back to the sensor it looks like nothing's there.

(OK, it ain't that simple. Active senors can get edge effects, scatter, off the mirror. But if the bad guys ain't looking for it, they can miss it.)