First Imperium Naval Tech

[Theophilus]

Has anyone done any tweaking on Vilani First Imperium technology?

For instance, the vilani had TL10 Crystal Iron, and had perfected TL11, could they have crystal iron at tl11, with greater toughness and less weight? After thousands of years to "perfect" TL11 I'd think they could come up with some improvements on TL9-11 Equipment.

Also CT's High Guard limits ship sive based on computer size. At TL11 the largest ship the vilani could operate was 99,999 tons, A 100,000 ton ship required a TL12 computer! Could we get a tweak here as well.

Any Thoughts.

 

[Border Reiver]

As I recall the great weakness in Vilani society was their technolgical rigidity (if not stagnation) which was symbolised by their bizarre patent system which positively discriminated against new technology (at least from a solomani viewpoint). This lack of technological flexability led to there eventual downfall (along with Vargr raids, Terran incursions and general malaise). But it's your game to enjoy, there is nothing to say that you absolutely can't run a 100 kton ship on tech 11 computers. And a races tech level isn't rigidly the same across the board, the vilani were poor in medical science & biotech.

 

[The Oz]

Hmmmm. If I were running a low-TL campaign, and still wanted to have big ships, I'd work it this way.

At TL-11 the biggest ship you can build under strict HG is 99,999 dtons, as you say, using a Mod/5 computer. If you wanted to build a bigger ship, I'd say you needed one Mod/5 computer per 99,999 dtons or fraction thereof in your ship.

So a 200,000 dton dreadnought would require three Mod/5 computers, one for each of the the 99,999 dton sections and the last one for the remaining 2 dtons.

You could also require a few crew positions for each "extra" computer, to increase the mass penalty, if you felt it was necessary.

In combat those extra computers would not count as backups, they are all considered to be "joined together" as one big Mod/5 computer to run the ship and take damage just as one regular Mod/5 computer. If you want to have a backup computer for that 200,000 dton vessel, you'd need a total of six Mod/5 computers, one backup for each of the initial three required computers. And they'd still only take damage like two Mod/5 computers.

I'm not sure that any tweaking is needed. The Vilani were not a people to make casual changes in anything, and smaller ships make for a more interesting universe for PCs, anyway. 99,999 tons is plenty big enough to threaten a 200 dton trader.

 

[Whipsnade]

Mr. Theophilus,

From what I'm led to understand - and this from the GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars board - neither the Vilani or Terrans will have 'full' tech levels. That is to say, they'll have holes in their technical abilities. Just because they have one item that appears at a certain Traveller tyech level, they will not automatically have every item that appears at the tech level. ForEx:

- The Terrans canonically lag in gravitics tech, even into the Solomani Rim War Era in which T20 is set.

- The IW Era Vilani warships are jump2; a TTL12 item, but none field spinal mounts; which are first available at TTL9.

This 'TL with holes' idea should make the IW era fun to play in.

Another GT:IW proposal is to have 'different tech'; a 'road not taken' approach. The Terrans' first jump drive is nonstandard. What other stuff did they use that doesn't fit into the 57th Century tech level menu?

Here's another: The Vilani may have computers that were derived from analog devices with specific functions instead of the Turing universal machines the Terrans use. In this case, the Vilani would have different machines for sensors, weapons control, jump, etc. Please note; not computers running different software to control those functions, but utterly different machines that are constructed from the ground up to handle those functions. To reprogram a Vilani machine one may have to rebuild it!


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[snrdg082102]

Hello Theophilis,

Checking CT: Book 2 I did not find any mention of armor, of course I did a quick scan and may have missed the reference. CT: Book 5 mentions how to add armor, but again I could not find text describing the material the armor is made of. MT, TNE, T4, and GT do mention specific armor by material type. A quick scan of T20, which is based on CT, also desn't identify the type of material hull armor is made of. Again I may have missed the reference in T20 to armor material type.


On the issue of computers, modifying a Model 5 to a Model 5 bis should do the trick.

Originally posted by Theophilus:
Has anyone done any tweaking on Vilani First Imperium technology?

For instance, the vilani had TL10 Crystal Iron, and had perfected TL11, could they have crystal iron at tl11, with greater toughness and less weight? After thousands of years to "perfect" TL11 I'd think they could come up with some improvements on TL9-11 Equipment.

Also CT's High Guard limits ship sive based on computer size. At TL11 the largest ship the vilani could operate was 99,999 tons, A 100,000 ton ship required a TL12 computer! Could we get a tweak here as well.

Any Thoughts.

 

[snrdg082102]

Evening Mr. Whipsnade,

Could you please cite a reference concerning the lag in Solomani gravitic technology during the Rim War period. Reading through, I do admit I may have missed the text, the material I have I could not find any indication that Solomani gravitic technology lagged behind the 3I. After 800+ years, approximately half in relative peace, of being associated with the 3I I can't see how gravitics technology would be very different.

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
Mr. Theophilus,

From what I'm led to understand - and this from the GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars board - neither the Vilani or Terrans will have 'full' tech levels. That is to say, they'll have holes in their technical abilities. Just because they have one item that appears at a certain Traveller tyech level, they will not automatically have every item that appears at the tech level. ForEx:

- The Terrans canonically lag in gravitics tech, even into the Solomani Rim War Era in which T20 is set.

- The IW Era Vilani warships are jump2; a TTL12 item, but none field spinal mounts; which are first available at TTL9.

This 'TL with holes' idea should make the IW era fun to play in.

Another GT:IW proposal is to have 'different tech'; a 'road not taken' approach. The Terrans' first jump drive is nonstandard. What other stuff did they use that doesn't fit into the 57th Century tech level menu?

Here's another: The Vilani may have computers that were derived from analog devices with specific functions instead of the Turing universal machines the Terrans use. In this case, the Vilani would have different machines for sensors, weapons control, jump, etc. Please note; not computers running different software to control those functions, but utterly different machines that are constructed from the ground up to handle those functions. To reprogram a Vilani machine one may have to rebuild it!


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[aramis]

Better computers are needed... under MT it is implied that if you need more CP out than your best available can handle, you just load an additional... but it's not explicit.

Now, I noticed that MT computers have a CP multiple by TL, and a max CP out based upon size and TL... and a long time ago posted a fomula for customizing them to fit.... hehehe

 

[Border Reiver]

I remember reading about a lag in Solomani grav tech. It may have been in something by dgp. This may take time to check but possible refs are Vilani & Vargr, Solomani & Aslan, GDW's Solomani Alien Module and Traveller's Digest Issue 13?? "TERRA!". There was a listing in the Terra issue breaking down Terra's stat's World Builder's Handbook style. I'm sure it had a much lower gravitic tech rating.

 

[shield]

The solomani's poor contr grav is mentioned in book 8 robots and in 101 vehicles. Its probably also in Adv Signal GK,and in the various aliens books.

Thats why several TL13/14 solomani vehicle designs use tracks instead of the imperial standard grav. I think I remember somewhere that their grav modules cost more and only gave 70% of the thrust of the imperial version - from memory.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Whipsnade]

Thomas Rux asked:

"Could you please cite a reference concerning the lag in Solomani gravitic technology during the Rim War period."


Mr. Rux,

Most of the references are in MegaTraveller, specifically DGP's work in MT. You'll find the majority in Rats and Cats (i.e. Solomani and Aslan). That book even lays out the penalties used while designing Solomani grav vehicles; stuff like less thrust, more volume needed, higher power requirements, etc.

Another reference can be found in MT's 101 Vehicles within the description of the Solomani Blitzkrieg tank. Although procured at TL13/14, that AFV still uses treads because of Solomani deficiencies in gravitic technology.

The late CT product LLB:8 Robots; which was also penned by DGP, contains the following paragraph in its description of robots in the Confederation:

Solomani grav technology is often poor for its tech level, and in some locations may lag one or even more tech levels behind other technology. Because of this, Solomani grav modules use 30% more power and only produce 80% as much thrust as normal. Solomani robots use grav locomotion less than any of the other major races.

There are other examples scattered through-out canon. I'm sure a plea at JTAS or here will have the various Imperial Archivists posting examples.

Now on to your real question; Why should the Solomani lag in gravitics after so many centuries? Sure, the thrusters used by the Vilani during the IW Era beat anything the Terrans could field, but why didn't they catch up?

I dunno.

Answer this question and you may have an answer for that question: Why weren't bricks made in the British Isles between the withdrawal of the Roman legions in the 400s and the mid-1600s? Bricks were made throughout that period right across the Channel in France and the Low Countries and bricks were used in Britain, but bricks weren't made in Britain for over eight centuries. Why?

Answer that question and you may have an answer to your other question.


Sincerely,
Larsen