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T5 Errata Discussion Thread

Ooo.

I think so, just no scar. Psychological hit, maybe?

Ran into that a couple of times with Medals. I treated it as a generic sub XS level generic citation.
Nice, I had not thought of the Psychological Wounds (which is odd being that is so horrifyingly common today).

I also like your Citation idea. Thanks.

I still would like to see it addressed for others though. Not everyone who gets T5 is going to be hanging out here and seeing this thread.
 
Here are a couple of grammar/formatting errors that I have noticed

Page 163 – Section on Hostile Environment split over two pages due to Language section being placed in the middle on the Hostile Environment section making it appear that the Hostile Environment section had finished when it actually continues. (should be some indicator that the language section is a side bar otherwise information is easily missed)

Page 206 – Extra Bracket following Benchmark. Object Texture

Page 529 – First paragraph second column – Character spelt Ch1aracter.
 
Starship armor vs. Other AVs

Question: Is Starship Armor the same as Vehicle Armor and Personal Armor or as I recall from somewhere is Starship Armor 10xAV in Personal combat.

I can't find the latter explicitly stated anywhere, although there are suggestions that it is the case on p336

If it is 10xAV in Personnal Combat it needs to be clarified in errata.
 
Page 372

Jump Entry Flash
A ship entering Jump Space emits an active flash of broad spectrum energy equal to Ship Size plus Mod +4. The ship’s gravitational signature vanishes from any sensors.
Entry Flash is subject to lightspeed and lasts about a minute at peak strength. It then degrades -1 every minute
until its becomes undetectable.
For example, a ship at Range S=12 (= 30 Light-minutes)
is detectable to sensors 30 minutes after its initiates Jump.
So ship size is 12 + mod 4 = 30 light-minutes???
Am I missing something?
 
The "S" here means "Space range" to distinguish it from world range, which would be listed as "R". p 41 has Space Ranges, and lists S=12 as 500 million km, 30 lm, 3 AU.
 
The "S" here means "Space range" to distinguish it from world range, which would be listed as "R". p 41 has Space Ranges, and lists S=12 as 500 million km, 30 lm, 3 AU.

Well there goes any remote concept of "surprise". May not know WHAT showed up, but certainly that something did.
 
I don't think so, a jump flash doesn't happen in all encounter circumstances. For instance, most pirates do not attack soon after entering a system, they lie in wait in the system waiting for ships to jump in, or leave a planet, in which case, the victim will see no jump flash. Now in military engagements this will be less often true, but properly managed they may still be able to engineer some surprise, for instance off the top of my head, jumping in-system further out, so that the jump flash is harder to detect. Distance is still a factor in detecting them.
 
Failure on a 12

Ok, I have one (I think):

Sorry, I am not so good on the page numbers I have the CD, but on page three under "personal combat" in "how attacks work" the rules state:

"Any attack (whether 2D or 3D) fails on a roll of 12."

But shouldn't a 3D attack fail on a roll of 18?

If I look at my probabilities with a 3D roll the chances are much greater to roll a 12 than with a 2D roll. So shouldn't the automatic failure of a 3D roll occur on an 18 not a 12?
 
Ok, I have one (I think):

Sorry, I am not so good on the page numbers I have the CD, but on page three under "personal combat" in "how attacks work" the rules state:

"Any attack (whether 2D or 3D) fails on a roll of 12."

But shouldn't a 3D attack fail on a roll of 18?

If I look at my probabilities with a 3D roll the chances are much greater to roll a 12 than with a 2D roll. So shouldn't the automatic failure of a 3D roll occur on an 18 not a 12?

I don't find that language in my PDF or on the CD on page 3 of Personal Combat navigating from the index.html (menu) page, going directly via the Personal Combat link, or in the Core Rules master PDF on the CD (the top link on my CD menu page).

There is the Immediate Action special case which is 2D and fails on a 12.

(If it's autofailure were on all 6s, regardless of number of difficulty dice, the chances for automatic failure go down as the task becomes more difficult. Same things happen if it is "exactly 12" after 3 dice: 1D: -, 2D: 3%. 3D: 12%, 4D: 8%, 5D: 4%, 6D: <1%).
 
Starship Building

I'm posting this here before I post it in the Errata thread. I just went through a sample shipbuilding process to test the rules, and these are issues/questions I had through the process.

If you have an answer for these, I'd love to hear it, BUT, please point to where in the rules you find this answer. My purpose here is not interpretation or house rules, but finding problems/confusing areas in the T5 master text, which can be passed on the DonM and Marc. Thanks!

-----
p. 358: The example of the Scout/Courier lists it as being a TL-10 ship and capable of Jump-2. However, the Tech Level Availability chart on p. 338 shows the minimum TL for Jump-2 as TL-11.

p. 336: The Hull Armor Layers table starts with layer 1, and has no tonnage cost associated with it. The Ship Fillform on p.250 lists a Layer0, which is not listed in the Hull Armor Layers table.

p.339: Clarification—The requirement for a ship's operational fuel tonnage (Y) is expressed as Potential x Hull tonnage / 100. Does this refer to the Potential of the Drive Letter, or the Potential based on the drive's Tech Level restrictions? I.e. A M-Drive type B in a 100 ton hull has maximum potential of 4. (p.340). However, if the ship is TL-10, its maximum potential is reduced to 3. For calculating Y fuel costs, should one use 4 or 3?

p.341: The rules may want to point readers to the "How Sensors Work" section on p. 379 for explanation of each of the sensor types. Similar signposts might be useful for other areas (i.e. "How Weapons Work", etc.)

p. 344: On table C, Life Support, the cost in both tons and MCr for "Luxury" life support is the same as "Standard" life support, and for the same number of people (10). Shouldn't Luxury Life Support be more expensive? Is this 'per stateroom'?

p. 345: Clarification: Every 'mechanism' requires a Control Panel. A 'mechanism' is defined as "A mechanism is any of the drives, sensors, weapons, defenses, or installations that equip a ship." This last item, "installation" is vague. What constitutes an installation? Do landing pads require a control panel? (I'm thinking no, as this is part of the pilot console.) Does additional armor ("installed" on the ship) require a control panel ? (I'm thinking no.) If you install an Air/Raft, does that require a Control panel? (Assuming to mean the controls for the berth and airlock, but that might mean every airlock requires a Ship's Control Panel, which is different than the controls needed to operate them, right?) Do Fuel Purifiers and Scoops require a control panel? (I'm thinking yes? But do you need one for each?) Does the ship's computer require a control panel? (I'm thinking no, it's included. Plus, you'd have to assign it to a Console after you'd already calculated the consoles you needed.) Anyway, clarification is needed.

p. 350: If more than one Console is installed on a ship, esp. of different types, there is insufficient space to record this on the fillform.

p. 350: There is insufficient space on the fillform to detail various stateroom and other payload considerations separately.

p.350: There is no space to record Cargo space on the Fillform.

p. 345: The section on Consoles specifies assigning various Control Panels to a Console, and writing a Console ID in the "Con Column for each CP". However, I can find no such place to record this information on the Fillform or the Ship Sheet.
 
I just rolled up a scout who did 3 terms as a scout and made 3 discoveries but failed to get the pilot skill on any of his rolls (since it is only available on two columns under ship skill). So my scout spent 12 years alone in his ship without the ability to actually pilot it..

So I was wondering at the value of maybe adding either an automatic skill to scout (get pilot in the first term and every N terms after that) or perhaps having some set skills that you have to get in your first term in the career (this may apply to other careers, I haven't taken a look if any of the other careers have the same kind of issue).
 
I just rolled up a scout who did 3 terms as a scout and made 3 discoveries but failed to get the pilot skill on any of his rolls (since it is only available on two columns under ship skill). So my scout spent 12 years alone in his ship without the ability to actually pilot it..

So I was wondering at the value of maybe adding either an automatic skill to scout (get pilot in the first term and every N terms after that) or perhaps having some set skills that you have to get in your first term in the career (this may apply to other careers, I haven't taken a look if any of the other careers have the same kind of issue).

page 87 "The Scout is recognized as the Discoverer of a valuable new world or a valuable feature on a known world"

See bold - who says he was ever in a starship?
 
The description of scout "The scout is a solitary explorer, equipped with a small ship and a hold fill of supplies, sent to seek out and explore new world"

So why equip them with a small ship if they are just going to leave it somewhere and take passage on other ships to wonder around already settled worlds due to not knowing how to use the ship.
 
The description of scout "The scout is a solitary explorer, equipped with a small ship and a hold fill of supplies, sent to seek out and explore new world"

So why equip them with a small ship if they are just going to leave it somewhere and take passage on other ships to wonder around already settled worlds due to not knowing how to use the ship.

Did your scout muster out with a starship? What other skills did they get?

As Traveller character gen is random, you get some unusual characters, that need a bit of lateral thinking to explain and provide a little extra challenge to run.

Most scouts are given a small scout ship and off they go exploring. Some are assigned to the office doing admin (in T5 this can be represented by Functionary career), just pilot X-boats, and maybe even get assigned to a solitary world to do a thorough survey. Part of the beauty/fun of the random roll character generation system is to come up with an explanation.

For example, maybe your character annoyed their initial trainer, who got them assigned to a 12 year planetary survey. They made the most of it and discovered three important features - ore deposits, rare gems, native sophonts etc which made them famous and rich. Maybe as the trainer was a vindictive SOB and was upset the character did good at the posting, they ensured (now being posted in the Admin area as he was a bad trainer due to his vindictive nature) they were allocated a Scout ship they could not fly, when they went on Detached Duty. Opens up adventure in having to find a Pilot (opportunities for group formation or later skill improvement) and provides a background Enemy/foe in the Detached Duty Office - who is going to throw them tough jobs to undertake for the Scouts <insert evil GM laugh here>.

Look at the order the character got the skills in - do they tell a story?
 
Did your scout muster out with a starship? What other skills did they get?

As Traveller character gen is random, you get some unusual characters, that need a bit of lateral thinking to explain and provide a little extra challenge to run.

Most scouts are given a small scout ship and off they go exploring. Some are assigned to the office doing admin (in T5 this can be represented by Functionary career), just pilot X-boats, and maybe even get assigned to a solitary world to do a thorough survey. Part of the beauty/fun of the random roll character generation system is to come up with an explanation.

For example, maybe your character annoyed their initial trainer, who got them assigned to a 12 year planetary survey. They made the most of it and discovered three important features - ore deposits, rare gems, native sophonts etc which made them famous and rich. Maybe as the trainer was a vindictive SOB and was upset the character did good at the posting, they ensured (now being posted in the Admin area as he was a bad trainer due to his vindictive nature) they were allocated a Scout ship they could not fly, when they went on Detached Duty. Opens up adventure in having to find a Pilot (opportunities for group formation or later skill improvement) and provides a background Enemy/foe in the Detached Duty Office - who is going to throw them tough jobs to undertake for the Scouts <insert evil GM laugh here>.

Look at the order the character got the skills in - do they tell a story?

Yes the Scout did muster out with a ship. I can accept and work with unusual but there are only two duties listen under scout and that is the one I quoted and courier which definitely can't be served without pilot, no admin listed in the description so telling someone who's character signed up for Imperial Scout service that they don't get to actually use a ship and got stuck doing admin for 12 years seems a bit like the poor referee is having to grasp at straws to cover for the character creation process (plus if that was the case the character would have had a good chance of changed careers after the first and second terms knowing they would not do what they wanted or that there superior is against them). And if there is basic training then that would imply that they should have learned specific skills during that process (after all basic training is standardized for a reason), in which case they would have learned the skill along with there class or flunked out (read as failed admission roll, which this character did not).
 
kilandra, fridge nailed it directly: Traveller's random chargen has always been about finding the explanation, regardless of a few words thrown around in the text descriptions. It really has always been about fitting your character's background to what happened in a series of random rolls, and when you open your mind to that, it becomes the heart of the fun.
 
Maybe as the trainer was a vindictive SOB and was upset the character did good at the posting, they ensured (now being posted in the Admin area as he was a bad trainer due to his vindictive nature) they were allocated a Scout ship they could not fly, when they went on Detached Duty. Opens up adventure in having to find a Pilot

No, it is a flaw in the rules.
 
...it is a flaw in the rules.

It's a flaw in *your* rules, while it's not a flaw in fridge's; you fill in your gap with a Skill, he creates his character's stories. There's plenty of room for interpretation.

I, for one, like things the way they are, as there's room for some truly odd characters and stories that wouldn't arise in a Traveller Universe where all Scouts have Pilot Skill.

Not to mention every one would need Astrogator, all four flavours of Engineer, and Sensors as well to single-hand a Scout ship.
 
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