Originally posted by atpollard:
So a ship with 1G maximum acceleration cannot take off from a world with greater than 1G of local gravity. After 30 years, common sense prevails (who would have thought?)
Isn't it amazing how so many people (myself included) just completely glossed over this in the rules. Sure, it's a bit hidden. I guess MWM and LKW and Frank thought the math example in Book 2 was enough.
But, after 25 years of playing Traveller, do you know this is the first time I've ever even bothered with the math and mm conversion in Book 2 space combat. It alwasy
looked complicated, and I didn't want to mess with it. Besides, my first Traveller purchase was Starter Traveller, which completely skips that section of the rules in favor of Range Band movement.
Then MT comes along and changes the concept all together. The M-Drive can be placed into "overdrive" for short periods of time so that a drive rated at 1G can actually produce thrust of up to 3Gs for a short period of time.
The rest, is history. Things get glossed over. Things get left out.
For example, under Book 1 autofire for gun combat, if two other targets are close to the primary target, then they may be attacked by an autofire burst at the appropriate negative
only if the adjacent targets aren't using evasion. If they're using evasion, they can't be targets.
That same rule is regurgitated in TA#1: Personal Weapons of Charted Space EXCEPT the part about evasion is convieniently left out.
I see this happening with a lot of Traveller editions that are based on CT. Whole sections of CT text are cut-n-based to later Traveller editions (sometimes so that some people actually think the concept originated in an edition other than CT ... like skill cascades or the Experience Limit in MT), but important sentences are trimmed for space or not added from another section of CT rules.
The Escape Velocity rule is certainly a rule that disappears when you get to other versions of Traveller.
I remember when, years ago, I was reading an article about it, and my brain was like, "What's this? What do you mean a 1G ship can't land on every world it comes into contact with?! Rubbish!"
But, it makes sense. And, it also adds a dimension to the game that I find rather enjoyable.
The tramp captains with J-1, M-1 vessels have not only stick to the mains, but also look at the world size and starport class of their next destination.
If the world is size 8+, then hopefully the starport is Class A or Class B. That way, the ship can dock at the High Port, and business goes on as usual.
If the world has a Class C or less starport, the tramp freighter captain may want to skip that world.
Somebody has said this before about this very issue, but I'll quote them here, "Heck, maybe this is why there are so many Far Trader's floating around out there!"
Here's a handy table, presented in
FIFTY STARBASES by Judges Guild (one of the best supplements JG ever put out...don't let the crappy art and newprint cover fool ya).
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">UWP Starport Orb. Port Orb. Station Orb. Dock
------------ --------- ------------ ----------
A 9+ Present No
B 10+ Present No
C 11+ 8+ Present
D 12+ 10+ Present
E 13+ 12+ 11+</pre>[/QUOTE]DM of +1 for each UWP TL above 8.
If Orbital Facility is present, then roll 2D on this next chart to determine Services offered. Use a DM of +1 for each UWP Population code above 5.
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"> 2D
------
2-7 Basic Services at the Orbital Facilty
8-11 Standard Services at the Orbital Facility
12+ Extensive Services at the Orbital Facility</pre>[/QUOTE]
Definitions
------------------
Basic Orbital Port: Construction of vessels up to 1000 tons displacement. Construct J-Drives on a roll of 9+. Accomodates at least 5,000 passengers and 5,000 work crew. Scheduled shuttle flights to world below as well as all other important settlements and installations in the system. Small craft and interplanetary vessels available for hire. Interstellar vessels of 1000 tons available on roll of 8+. Refined fuel, water, and luxury food supplies available. Repairs and annual maintenance available on 7+.
Standard Orbital Port: Construction of vessels up to 10,000 tons displacement. Construction of J-Drives. 10,000 passengers and up to 10,000 work crew. Scheduled shuttle flights to world below as well as all other important settlements and installations in the system. Small craft, interplanetary, and interstellar vessels of up to 10,000 tons displacement available for hire. Interstellar craft over 10,000 tons available on 8+. Refined fuel, water, and luxyry food available. Reparis and annual maintenance avaiable.
Extensive Orbital Port: All the capabilities of a space born city. Construction of vessels up to 100,000 tons displacement. Construction of J-Drives. 50,000 passengers and up to 50,000 work crew. Scheduled shuttle flights to world below as well as all other important settlements and installations in the system. Small craft, interplanetary, and interstellar vessels of up to 50,000 tons displacement available for hire. Vessels over 50,000 tons available on 8+. Refined fuel, water, and luxyry food available. Reparis and annual maintenance avaiable.
Special Category: A special category exists for those extremely large Orbital Ports in systems with populations of A or better and tech levels of E and above. The Orbital Ports, in addition to the services provided by the Extensive Orbital Port, are capabile of building vessels of 1,000,000 tons displacement and above. They are a complete industrial complex in space, capable of producing any device or item their tech level will allow.
Basic Orbital Station: Accomodate up to 250 passengers and 250 work crew. Scheduled shuttle service to the planet below available. Small craft are available for hire, and a Type A Free Trader will be available on a roll of 11+. Refined fuel, water, and basic food supplies are available. Spare parts for standard small craft available.
Standard Orbital Station: Accomodate up to 1,000 passengers and 500 work crew. Scheduled shuttle service to the planet below available. Small craft are available for hire, and a Type A Free Trader will be available on a roll of 7+. Other types of commercial vessels will be available on a roll of 11+. Refined fuel, water, and basic food supplies are available. Roll 9+ for luxury food supplies. Spare parts for standard small craft available. Repair services for small craft available on 7+.
Extensive Orbital Station: Accomodate up to 5,000 passengers and 1000 work crew. Scheduled shuttle service to the planet below available as well as scheduled shuttle service to other significant settelments and bases in the system. Small craft and interplanetary craft of up to 500 tons are available for hire. Interstellar craft of up to 200 tons available for hire. Interstellar vessels of up to 1000 tons are available on a roll of 7+. Refined fuel, water, and basic food supplies are available. Roll 9+ for luxury food supplies. Spare parts for standard small craft available. Repair services for small craft available on 7+.
Basic Orbital Dock: Facility for storing cargo in geosynchronous orbit at one of the beacon positions. At a minimum, this is a pressurized bubble with standard cargo hatch adapters for transferring cargo and a series of mesh wire open cages for holding materials which can be shipped and stored in vacuum (vacuum storage container, normally). Unrefined fuel, water, and basic food supplies available on a roll of 4+. Refined fuel available on a roll of 11+. No replacement parts of any type available.
Standard Orbital Dock: Adds a small crew of cargo handlers, several small space mules, at least one small craft capable of re-entry, and a life support facility capable of handling 100 people indefinitely to the facilities offered under the Basic Orbital Dock description. Unrefined fuel, water, and basic food supplies available. Refined fuel available on a roll of 7+. No replacement parts of any type available.
Extensive Orbital Dock: Accomodates 50 passengers and up to 200 work crew. Several small craft available as scheduled cargo and passenger shuttle service world below. Unrefined fuel, water, and basic food supplies available. Refined fuel available on a roll of 6+. Some spare parts for small craft available on a roll of 9+.
