T-4, the good, the bad, the ugly

[jchurchill]

So which books in T4 are useful and which are to be avoided?

So far I have the Core Rules book and Millieu 0, -- oh and Pocket Empires. All of these have good material for me and I don't regret getting them but what else is good in this series and what has disappointed people?

 

[jchurchill]

So which books in T4 are useful and which are to be avoided?

So far I have the Core Rules book and Millieu 0, -- oh and Pocket Empires. All of these have good material for me and I don't regret getting them but what else is good in this series and what has disappointed people?

 

[kafka47]

Aliens Archive, Fire, Fusion & Steel & Starships were major disappointments.

I actually liked parts of Anomalies & the Emperor's Vehicles & Weapons were not bad but Milieu 0 was by far the best product. And, Long Way Home as in the original BITS adventure was very good save the ending the last adventure was very hokey.

 

[kafka47]

Aliens Archive, Fire, Fusion & Steel & Starships were major disappointments.

I actually liked parts of Anomalies & the Emperor's Vehicles & Weapons were not bad but Milieu 0 was by far the best product. And, Long Way Home as in the original BITS adventure was very good save the ending the last adventure was very hokey.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I've got:

Emperor's Arsenal, and if you want to look at the same weapon 5 times at 5 different tech levels, it's ok, I think it could have gotten consolidated, tho. Lot's of Weapons, and a nice dissertation about Nukes in Traveller.

Emperor's Vehicles, it's got one example of just about every TYPE of vehicle that isn't a Starship or Small Craft (even has Fighters and Bombers), including (my favorite) a "Personal, Grav" vehicle which is the Traveller version of a Star Wars speeder bike.

Central Supply Catalog has lots and lots of Milieu 0 specific equipment (focusing on Fusion+ a lot).

Aliens Archive has maybe 3 aliens I've found useful - kinda disappointed in that one.

Psionics Institute has just about everything you've ever wanted to know about Psionics and where to learn them at (except for the "new" psionics that were in The New Era).

Naval Architech's Manual has a ton of room-specific deck plans (i.e. there's a deck plan for a small, medium, and large bridge, a small, medium, and large engine room, etc...). I just liked looking through this one.

And some day, I'm going to find me a copy of Starships.

Hope that helped,

Scout

 

[Spinward Scout]

I've got:

Emperor's Arsenal, and if you want to look at the same weapon 5 times at 5 different tech levels, it's ok, I think it could have gotten consolidated, tho. Lot's of Weapons, and a nice dissertation about Nukes in Traveller.

Emperor's Vehicles, it's got one example of just about every TYPE of vehicle that isn't a Starship or Small Craft (even has Fighters and Bombers), including (my favorite) a "Personal, Grav" vehicle which is the Traveller version of a Star Wars speeder bike.

Central Supply Catalog has lots and lots of Milieu 0 specific equipment (focusing on Fusion+ a lot).

Aliens Archive has maybe 3 aliens I've found useful - kinda disappointed in that one.

Psionics Institute has just about everything you've ever wanted to know about Psionics and where to learn them at (except for the "new" psionics that were in The New Era).

Naval Architech's Manual has a ton of room-specific deck plans (i.e. there's a deck plan for a small, medium, and large bridge, a small, medium, and large engine room, etc...). I just liked looking through this one.

And some day, I'm going to find me a copy of Starships.

Hope that helped,

Scout

 

[Commander Drax]

It was all dissapointing, every single product was in some way or another badly put together or badly edited, the best of the bunch were Milieu Zero and Psionics institutes. Despite this Millieu Zero is my favorite (milieu - that word again!) as M0 did promote the free-wheeling kind of adventure possibilities and genuine exploration of the unknown that I like.

Starships is only fit for recycling...
Emporers vehicle is the only vehicle catalogue that I have ever bought for travller that fills pages yet tells you nothing useful.

In order to rectify this I was just about to launch a web based project that I was going to call T4 - The Traveller Restoration Project in which members of the web community could rewrite the T4 rulebook and upgrade its content in order to make it into the game that it should have been.

I was all set for go, when I found out that T5 was being developed so I have adopted a wait and see attitude. T4 and its follow on books had the Kernel of a great game system, it's just a pity there was no editing or quality control.

Now before people start telling me that I feel this strongly about the subject then I should do something, let it be known that I have. I am a major contributor to the soon to be revamped pocket empires site. At present the site is bustling with lots of new materials such as adventure settings, ship designs and rule enhancements etc.

I cant wait for the site to go live.

 

[Commander Drax]

It was all dissapointing, every single product was in some way or another badly put together or badly edited, the best of the bunch were Milieu Zero and Psionics institutes. Despite this Millieu Zero is my favorite (milieu - that word again!) as M0 did promote the free-wheeling kind of adventure possibilities and genuine exploration of the unknown that I like.

Starships is only fit for recycling...
Emporers vehicle is the only vehicle catalogue that I have ever bought for travller that fills pages yet tells you nothing useful.

In order to rectify this I was just about to launch a web based project that I was going to call T4 - The Traveller Restoration Project in which members of the web community could rewrite the T4 rulebook and upgrade its content in order to make it into the game that it should have been.

I was all set for go, when I found out that T5 was being developed so I have adopted a wait and see attitude. T4 and its follow on books had the Kernel of a great game system, it's just a pity there was no editing or quality control.

Now before people start telling me that I feel this strongly about the subject then I should do something, let it be known that I have. I am a major contributor to the soon to be revamped pocket empires site. At present the site is bustling with lots of new materials such as adventure settings, ship designs and rule enhancements etc.

I cant wait for the site to go live.

 

[aramis]

Aliens Archive has a few really good write ups, several mediocre, and a bunch of lousy ones... (Mike Myers on SNL Flashback: They are not scottish...)

Psionics really is the best of the bunch, provided you ignore the task mechanic for psionics and just add the various specials to the base rules. Unless, of course, you don't like psionics.

The one covering "political tasks" is worth having if you run LARGE setting campaigns where players are in fact bigwigs.

 

[aramis]

Aliens Archive has a few really good write ups, several mediocre, and a bunch of lousy ones... (Mike Myers on SNL Flashback: They are not scottish...)

Psionics really is the best of the bunch, provided you ignore the task mechanic for psionics and just add the various specials to the base rules. Unless, of course, you don't like psionics.

The one covering "political tasks" is worth having if you run LARGE setting campaigns where players are in fact bigwigs.

 

[mike wightman]

I really like Imperial Squadrons, Pocket Empires, and Psionics Institutes.
I've found Central Supply Catelogue, Emperor's Arsenal, Emperor's Vehicles, and Starships to be of some use

 

[mike wightman]

I really like Imperial Squadrons, Pocket Empires, and Psionics Institutes.
I've found Central Supply Catelogue, Emperor's Arsenal, Emperor's Vehicles, and Starships to be of some use

 

[jchurchill]

Thanks for all the opinions and suggestions. I think maybe the last items I will get are Starships for the deckplans and maybe Fire Fusion and Steel but if it is a glorified Striker then perhaps I don't need it after all.

 

[jchurchill]

Thanks for all the opinions and suggestions. I think maybe the last items I will get are Starships for the deckplans and maybe Fire Fusion and Steel but if it is a glorified Striker then perhaps I don't need it after all.

 

[aramis]

FF&S is the hunky wrestler to striker's 120 pound healthy older brother....

and covers far more. FF&S2, the T4 version, is really filled with NIFTY NEATO add-ons to FF&S1 (TNE Version).

If you get both, FF&S1 teaches you how to design things, and FF&S2 adds more options.

 

[aramis]

FF&S is the hunky wrestler to striker's 120 pound healthy older brother....

and covers far more. FF&S2, the T4 version, is really filled with NIFTY NEATO add-ons to FF&S1 (TNE Version).

If you get both, FF&S1 teaches you how to design things, and FF&S2 adds more options.

 

[Commander Drax]

Secretagent, please don't buy Starships it really is crap, the deck plans look like they have been put together by a five year old in art class and as for the illustrations they bear very little relation to the actual technologies used in the Traveller Universe. The write up's of each ship I am sure you have read a thousand times (except for the occasional new design in there) and are all lifted from classic traveller. Every small craft is wrong in stats, and some of the others suffer from bad workmanship too such as the patrol cruiser whilst the remainder suffer from an apalling lack of detail such as neglecting to put in any design basic things like the range of the onboard communicators, or even detailed crew breakdowns so that you can employ the right people to fly your vessel.

I Cant emphasise it enough, it's just not worth spending your money on. The Chris foss artwork was interesting though not really traveller, as I've seen every single one of his pieces on the covers of loads of different 1970's sci-fi novels that I own.

I cant belive that Marc Miller would even put his name to this project because it simply isnt anything near quality.

 

[Commander Drax]

Secretagent, please don't buy Starships it really is crap, the deck plans look like they have been put together by a five year old in art class and as for the illustrations they bear very little relation to the actual technologies used in the Traveller Universe. The write up's of each ship I am sure you have read a thousand times (except for the occasional new design in there) and are all lifted from classic traveller. Every small craft is wrong in stats, and some of the others suffer from bad workmanship too such as the patrol cruiser whilst the remainder suffer from an apalling lack of detail such as neglecting to put in any design basic things like the range of the onboard communicators, or even detailed crew breakdowns so that you can employ the right people to fly your vessel.

I Cant emphasise it enough, it's just not worth spending your money on. The Chris foss artwork was interesting though not really traveller, as I've seen every single one of his pieces on the covers of loads of different 1970's sci-fi novels that I own.

I cant belive that Marc Miller would even put his name to this project because it simply isnt anything near quality.

 

[daibaka]

I have to agree with Commander Drax - DON'T waste good money on Starships unless you are a rabid completist who NEEDS to finish off his T4 collection. The deckplans are by a large margin some of the worst put together ones I've seen anywhere - in print OR on the web. They bear no resemblance to text or art (in some cases) and how the book made it past an editor of any sort is a mystery to this day.

Good books have pretty much been covered above. The core rules, Milieu 0 and Pocket Empires are pretty much the cream of the crop. I hear that Imperial Squadrons is quite interesting too, but apart from some very nice interior art (and an intriguing take on Battledress post TL14) the various equipment and vehicle catalogs are quite pedestrian. All in all, a very hit-and-miss line of books.

 

[daibaka]

I have to agree with Commander Drax - DON'T waste good money on Starships unless you are a rabid completist who NEEDS to finish off his T4 collection. The deckplans are by a large margin some of the worst put together ones I've seen anywhere - in print OR on the web. They bear no resemblance to text or art (in some cases) and how the book made it past an editor of any sort is a mystery to this day.

Good books have pretty much been covered above. The core rules, Milieu 0 and Pocket Empires are pretty much the cream of the crop. I hear that Imperial Squadrons is quite interesting too, but apart from some very nice interior art (and an intriguing take on Battledress post TL14) the various equipment and vehicle catalogs are quite pedestrian. All in all, a very hit-and-miss line of books.