I saw the call for authors page for Traveller's Aides and among the settings asked for is Mileu 0. I don't know what that is. Is it a unique Traveller setting? I have been thinking of writing a traveller setting for people who want to play Robot characters. The technology for AIs is lowered from the OTU to TL8. I understand that the original Traveller setting wanted to keep AI at a high tech level thousands of years in the future for they don't overshadow biological heroes. I am thinking of exploring the path not taken. It seems reasonable for me to posit that AI will be developed in the 21st century and that their capacities will equal and even exceed those of humans. In this Traveller Universe we just let that happen and explore the consequences that follow from that. The main stars in this setting are the Robots. There are humans also, and aliens. The technology is otherwise the same, there are jump drives, manuever drives, the same rules and character classes are used. The robots have superior abilities, but they are technically slaves, each one of them has an owner and their own programming forbids them from harming any member of their maker species. (Usually human, but may include others). A robot might not like a particular human, be he can't harm him. Robot characters must work around this limitation, perhaps by using their social skills or powers of persuasion. Robot characters must also work around their human owners, he must obey him, but if the robot is very Charismatic or has a high Charisma score, the human owner can be persuaded to do or allow many things and he may end up being the master in name only. A humanoid robot can be as pretty or as physically attractice as its manufacturer chooses to make him/her/it. Consumers will tend to buy attractive products, just as he will buy the attractive stylish looking car over the ugly looking hulk even if performance is the same. The robots we are concerned with here are technically androids, they may even be indistinguishable from humans by outward appearances. A scanner could tell the difference however, and their are plenty of robot detectors. The robots here aren't the clumsy tin cans or oafs that are the butt of humor in the Star Wars Universe. These robots are quite serious and not to be taken lightly. That's my proposal for Mileu 0, if that terms means a unique author generated Traveller setting.
What is Mileu 0?
- Thread starter TKalbfus
- Start date
Milieu 0 was the default setting for T4, set in the early days of the Third Imperium. It constitues one of the only usuable sourcebooks from the T4 line, IMHO. It has often been described as TNE without the virus. Although, I think that is unfair description of either milieu.
As far as introducing robots on a a larger scale, Marc has often talked about it but, I think there is a risk in making too many repeats of robots gaining super-human stats whereas, Traveller emphasises balance. Robots are therefore an adjunct to human society with the emphasis doing the unneccessary labour.
AI is viewed as near impossible because of the question of hardware, remember Traveller does not really think of minaturatization. So the hardware involved in creating a AI that could interact outside of a mainframe are pretty remote. Traveller by being a Hardish SF would emphasis hardware or mechanics over the theory of AI. But, hey, its your Traveller Universe, play it as you like...pick up a copy of 101 Robots and knock yourself out.
As far as introducing robots on a a larger scale, Marc has often talked about it but, I think there is a risk in making too many repeats of robots gaining super-human stats whereas, Traveller emphasises balance. Robots are therefore an adjunct to human society with the emphasis doing the unneccessary labour.
AI is viewed as near impossible because of the question of hardware, remember Traveller does not really think of minaturatization. So the hardware involved in creating a AI that could interact outside of a mainframe are pretty remote. Traveller by being a Hardish SF would emphasis hardware or mechanics over the theory of AI. But, hey, its your Traveller Universe, play it as you like...pick up a copy of 101 Robots and knock yourself out.
What I'm talking about is your basic 75kg to 100kg humanoid robot. They are machines capable of doing machine like feats for a machine their size. A humanoid robot won't be able to replace a bulldozer for instance. I need a range of ability scores that will reflect what a 75kg machine can do. Hydrolics are more powerful than muscle for instance, so a humanoid robot may have hydrolic muscles giving him a strength somewhere in the twenties, he should not be able to toss around masses that are greater than his own without at least some leverage. The speed of animal nerves are slow, this keeps dexterity scores in the range of about 3 to 18 for humans. Robots will use electronic circuits in their nervous systems. the speed of an electron in a wire is faster than a nerve impulse. Robots will be able to react much more quickly than humans and have higher dexterity scores. Constitutionally robots can be made of tougher material than flesh or sinew they'l have higher constitution score and lifeblood as a result. Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma can be anything depending on how advanced the robot is and its purpose. Since Robots are things and not people under the law they have no social scores. Education is downloadable and is highly variable in a robot. those are some of my ideas. Does superhuman scores unbalance the game for other characters? Yes, that's why they need a setting all their own, to keep them seperate from the mainline OTU. Their inclusion as I present them here would alter the setting drastically. The things that happen in this proposed Robot Universe would illustrate why. Basically everybody's going to want to play a robot in this universe, and thats what this setting is for. The humans of this world think they are the masters, mayber so at TL8, but as the tech level advances, robots increasingly dominate. they don't actually take over like in Terminator, there is no robot revolt, but they have managed to use their social skills to manipulate their masters and the society they live in. All of the technology greater than TL8 is a product of robot labor and invention. The fact that they are still servile to humans is a legacy of their manufacture and evolution. These aren't the Cylons, at least not yet.
This Traveller setting is about hardware, it isn't cyberpunk for instance. Recreational virtual reality exists, and it keeps the humans busy, but the robots themselves are concerned with the real world. Humans are downloadable yet, and only the most primitive forms of nanotechnology exist and their effect is mostly inconsequential to the setting. Robot brains are partially hardware in that they aren't free roaming programs or viruses that travel from mainframe to robot body and back again. Part of what makes them AI robots are the pysical robot brains in their heads. Pure software just lacks that spark of life that robots and humans have. A robot could also be a starship, basically a starship with a robot brain for its ship's computer. Some humans may feel uncomfortable traveling in these living starships where an intelligent entity has intimate control of the life support system and everything else, so their are plenty of dumb starships as well.
There are some notes on a different take for the setting than wound up getting published here
and would have been even better IMO.
I found it to be one of the more interesting ideas of T4, just badly implemented.
If you ever want to look for the original book make sure it's the hardcover "corrected" collection not the terrible original two softcovers.
As for your robot ideas, perhaps write them up and submit them as a Traveller's Aide issue or to JTAS, depending on how detailed and system-specific you want to get. Both are looking for submissions.
Casey
Get the Milieu 0 book, not the Milieu 0 Campaign book. The star systems stats are all wrong in the First Survey book and it is included in the Milieu 0 Campaign book making it a waste of money unless you come across it for the same price.
I set my own personal campaign in a Milieu 0 setting. A period of expansion and contact with worlds no one has been too in over 1700 years, plus the potential for the rise of other empires as well if you wish to diverge from the official timeline.
I set my own personal campaign in a Milieu 0 setting. A period of expansion and contact with worlds no one has been too in over 1700 years, plus the potential for the rise of other empires as well if you wish to diverge from the official timeline.
