TL 18 Military Equipment

[Jame]

So far, I would like to focus on the stuff the gropos use, and perhaps the science behind it, as opposed to naval stuff. Feel free to include naval equipment too, but maybe later?

My main question is "what would tl 18 battledress look like, and how would it work?"

I put it here 'cause it's sort of "superscience" for the Traveller Universe, and since it wouldn't be available for PCs (yet, anyway

)...

 

[cmdrx]

Looking at my copies of MT:Ref's Companion and FF&S. A MIB-TL18 would prolly be armed with a disintigrator rifle. The BD would be made of Bonded Coherent Superdense material (The next step of armour beyond TL14) and would have a personal damper on it for foiling disitigrators fired at it. It would have more efficient contragrav and would all be powered by an antimater pod/backpack. I am not sure, but it may also be capable of teleportation due to portal tech being available at TL18.

This would look like some kind of obscene amalgam of everything in Star Trek. (Phasers/Disitigrators, Borg personal shields, transporters, etc...)

Unofficialy, I have had friends come up with "Jump Armour" which has a Jump drive in it. The theory is that J-drive can go below the 100dt limit at higher techs. This is of course up to the ref and how he envisions his TU. YMMV.

 

[jchurchill]

At that tech level, I would foresee armies issuing personal items to soldiers like the following --

a small military knife that also contained "multi-tasking" tools like a saw, a magnifying glass, a corkscrew, a screwdriver, an awl, scissors/clippers, dental hygiene items like a toothpick, etc. The items would all be of a futuristic "stainless steel" that would not rust easily and would be housed in a high impact petroleum based polymer handle/storage unit.

Some might question the science behind this item but I think even with today's technology much of this would be possible.

Wait...did you say TL-18?? I thought you said TL-8. Um, never mind.

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by cmdrx:
Unofficialy, I have had friends come up with "Jump Armour" which has a Jump drive in it. The theory is that J-drive can go below the 100dt limit at higher techs. This is of course up to the ref and how he envisions his TU. YMMV.

The dreaded "Jump Torpedo" might be a canonical reference that applies.

However, for the record, there is no proof such a torpedo can provide a field which sustains anything LIVING through the jump at a mass of under 100 dTons. Messages and electronics yes, but there is no evidence to suggest you could make this work with live people....

And besides, JTorps give most grognards of the OTU a serious pain in the nether regions.... <hands over ears, singing la! la! la! la! la! at the top of the lung capacity>

 

[DED]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
The dreaded "Jump Torpedo" might be a canonical reference that applies.

However, for the record, there is no proof such a torpedo can provide a field which sustains anything LIVING through the jump at a mass of under 100 dTons. Messages and electronics yes, but there is no evidence to suggest you could make this work with live people....

Well maybe not Jump Torpedoes, but Jump Boats do.

And besides, JTorps give most grognards of the OTU a serious pain in the nether regions.... <hands over ears, singing la! la! la! la! la! at the top of the lung capacity>

One of the things that most TNE-haters overlooked was the Jump Boat. In the Regency Sourcebook on pg88 there is a 55 ton Jump Boat (TL15). It's the result of a merger between a 30 ton ship's boat and a 25 ton engineering module. It has a crew of 2.

I don't know if T20 intends to support this or not.

 

[kaladorn]

I wasn't aware of the Jump Boat in TNE.

To quote my prior post:

Hands over ears....

La-la-la-la-la-la-la!

...at top of lungs...

<hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil....>

 

[Rahnd]

I would imagine that TL18 battle dress would somewhat resemble the current renditions of Iorn Man or War Machine. probably have multiple onboard weapons on the armor itself.

 

[savage]

TL18 BD would probably be nuclear battlefield surviveable. And I mean blast zone near direct hits.

It would probably be able to have mini-tactical nukes built in.....disintegrator rays....washer dryer...in wall vac and direct TV.


Savage

 

[Rahnd]

Perhaps some regenerative properties? Quck self repair units...

 

[vegascat]

Areas armor needs to cover are:
Protection factor
Destructive capability
Mobility

Think liquid metal, as in Terminator 2, but without the homicidal tendencies. Then again, it is meant for war.
Add some built in weapons, like the classic disentigrator, stunner, narrow beam cutting laser, light saber, and explosive throwing stars.
Install a good built in sield capable of handling up to 100 vehicle weapon class hits, power absorbed into capacitors to power the shielding and weapons. The kietic energy of incoming rounds would be sucked out by the field leaving a round so slow it could not penetrate the metal skin.
Fit a safe little antimatter power converter to cover normal power needs.
For movement, the metal skin would support the weight of the whole package. High effect grav drive controlled by the troops foot movements. Manuevers seen in HongKong kungfu flying wire movies would be possible. Add in a teleport system may be a bit over the top for TL18, but not TL19.
Install a environment control system capable of handling vacuum or nasty chemicals.
Now for the final reason for liquid metal skin for the armor, camoflage. What is detected as a target can be taken out. The normal appearance of the armor would be a black suit ala M.I.B..
THe armor would change appearance to match local surroundings as an appropriate visual outfit. It would look like a tree in the woods, a rock in the mountains, a civilian in a city, a demon/dragon in a TL 1 area, or whatever the trooper or his CO selected.

 

[bobpartdeux]

I think that jump drives, and major weapons should all continue to go up (as well as armor)

I like the idea of battledress getting better

and maybe some really strong mechs or the like

maybe better maneuvering drive

and maybe a new weapon, I have a d30 at home dying to be used (I know it is not one of the standard d20 dice)

I mean you could go to crazy stuff like miniblackholes and the like

Jon Miller

 

[bobpartdeux]

maybe some new stealth stuff also?

I mean there are a lot of Sci-Fi possibilities (MOO2 had a lot of things for one)

JM

 

[womble]

Have a squint at Alistair Reynolds (Revalation Space, particularly, I think) and Iain M. Banks (Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons, I think) for power suit ideas for high TLs.

 

[Malenfant]

Have a squint at Alistair Reynolds

Two words: Cache Weapons

Absolution Way has a nifty space battle in it with some really advanced tech in it (emissionless stealth drives, planet-busting weaponry, etce)

 

[Badbru]

arrrgh "Planet-busting weapons" are we still playing Traveller? Didn't the Ancients do enough planet busting for you? I dunno about your PC's but I don't ever - no never- want to see MY Player's with access to that stuff!

As for jump boats/ torpedo's though I can see how J-Torps upset the OTU, namely they'd halve the size of the IISS and then where would all the CT player's get their characters from? But really was there ever a valid reason given for what (to me) sounds like a totally arbitrary value plucked from the ether of: "nothing smaller than 100 tonnes shall jump" . I mean in TNE FFS gave us design rules that justify your designs. Essentially if it fits, you can power it, you can crew it, then you can have it. Makes it hard to make a crewed boat under 100 Dt's jump capable but it can be done.
wait
what's that noise?
closer
yes it's getting closer...

arrrgh the onslaught of abuse "yeah but TNE ain't traveller anyways so who cares...

yes I can hear it comming

 

[womble]

Absolution Gap was pretty good. I like the way Reynolds has developed the technology, and the ending is just priceless...

RE: 100dT minimum jumpable.
I think it's an arbitrary limit set for playability, same as the 7-day jump. Metagame. Like aging rolls. And, really, J-torps only halve the size of the ISS if they have AI too...

RE: planet-busting weapons
Near-c rocks. 'Nuff sed.