Traveller General: You can't teach an old Vargr new skills

I've never been able to run a successful game where the PC's explore the uncharted galaxy and meet unknown aliens, any tips?

The PC's kinda treat meeting unknown aliens as just another encounter, or they'll take the immediate offensive approach if the aliens show any aggression like they're conquistadors.

>>51315859
If your players are of a conquering bent, maybe make it so that they don't have the firepower to take on any one species of alien in a fair-fight, but their advantage is such that if they manage to get some aliens on side they'll win?

Think the Spaniards allying with the Tlaxcalans to conquer the Aztecs

>>51315859
I feel that you'd have to pitch the game right. You could totally run a "Spirit of Exploration" sort of thing but you would probably a) want to give the PCs a(n extra) reason to make peaceful contact and b) reward taking clever and peaceful approaches appropiatley

A book I picked up second-hand and want to recommend to anyone planning on running a game: The Aliens Archive.

It was published for Marc Miller's Traveller, but of course is easy enough to adapt to any other edition. It's a collection of minor alien races, and I really dig it as a way of making the setting a bit more varied, and allowing sophont races that won't just make the PCs go "yeah yeah Aslan causing trouble again, we know how that goes".

File: denaar1.jpg (221KB, 750x600px) Image search: [Google]

221KB, 750x600px

>>51318945
>The Aliens Archive.
POTATO
O
T
A
T
O

>>51318967

I'm quite fond of those geneticist jellyfish people myself. Once had one in a tank on board a Science Ship. PC's assumed the human scientists were running tests on it, until it told them to fuck off.

>>51318945

Yep, it's in the Archives' T4 directory.

I'd also recommend the GURPS aliens books, a lot of good minor races got a writeup there.

>>51318992

Neat, I'll keep an eye out for them.

It occurred to me recently that I've never been in a Traveller game that involved Psionics. Never played as one, never played with one, never run a game involving one. We haven't deliberately excluded them, they've just never come up.

Anyone else in the same boat? Am I even really missing out on anything?

File: Rogue Trader.png (507KB, 768x1024px) Image search: [Google]

507KB, 768x1024px

If you're looking for me
Better ask some Swordies
Because that is how you'll find me

Swoooord Woooorlds
Shit's named after Wagner
Swooooord Woooorlds
And also sometimes Nazis
Swooooord Woooorlds

File: commish__space_elves_by_rooster82-d4kx335.jpg (37KB, 268x309px) Image search: [Google]

37KB, 268x309px

>>51322301
> absolutely correct and unironic representation of the sword worlds.

Also don't forget darrians, guys basically blew up their home system, for science !

>>51322301

Still a better depiction than in GURPS Sword Worlds.

File: 1_BB1003Cx2a.jpg (745KB, 1920x1200px) Image search: [Google]

745KB, 1920x1200px

What's your prefered Traveller ships /tg/?

File: type_s_scout_by_arcas_art-d5sg7o5.jpg (281KB, 1071x746px) Image search: [Google]

281KB, 1071x746px

>>51324451

The humble scout ship is both an excellent conveyance for small parties, and a ready-made plot hook, since it's owner has agreed to be given charge of the ship as part of "detached duty" meaning the Scout Service can nag him to do stuff for as long as he doesn't return it.
But that's the GM in me talking, I love gifts with a cost.

>>51324451

Good ol' Fat Trader. Can't go wrong.

>>51325858
I like that, it's a good way to give PC a ship and to control them better.

>>51325858

"Gifts with a cost" is the whole point of Traveller, though.

Whenever I need to describe it to someone, I say "Alright, so you've got a spaceship, but in order to afford it you had to take out a mortgage". If they can dig that, they can dig Traveller.

Jump-1

>>51326856

I wouldn't say it's the WHOLE point. It is a running theme, though, which may be why I like it so much.
I prefer to make them work for a ship rather than give them one -- they appreciate it more when they've had to hoof it for a while.

>>51329797

I don't think I've ever played a Traveller game where we didn't either start with a ship or obtain one inside the first session.

I can look at it intellectually and say "yeah, sure, have some sessions on one planet before you get a ship" but on a purely instinctive level, for me Traveller=spaceships.

>>51329909

Give it a try sometime, the vagrant life is entertaining too. Scraping up money for tickets, trying to get a working passage, trying not to get hosed in the deal, getting sent to another planet to do some dirty deed only to find that your return trip didn't show, needing to find a way to get off planet discreetly before the authorities catch you, knowing that a really uptight ship's captain might report you just for asking for unlisted passage.

File: SpaceHobos.jpg (46KB, 720x544px) Image search: [Google]

46KB, 720x544px

>>51330016

Forgot the picture.

>>51330016
>>51330030
You know, that could be a really interesting campaign. You could compete with each other for who can hide the most stuff in weird places on your person. Every time you hop off at a new world it'd be like, "Man, are you a bit taller?" "Naw, I stuffed the soles of my shoes full of SKUB to smuggle it in and sell for profit. They're actually pretty comfy."

>>51335274
I'm the only one underwhelmed be the Droynes being the ancients?

>>51335619

Frankly, I consider the ancients as a whole to be totally possible to do without. Even on the rare occasions when they're relevant, you could just pick one of the other races and go "yeah they did it".

>>51335811
They are good to have the occasional "you've never seen anything this advanced ever" objects, or to have a reason for research bases to exist in the middle of nowhere.

File: solmani-ships.jpg (635KB, 1382x926px) Image search: [Google]

635KB, 1382x926px

>>51324451
Solmani ships, Terran pride galaxy wide.

File: traveller - tarsus adventure.jpg (190KB, 573x741px) Image search: [Google]

190KB, 573x741px

>>51329797
>>51326856
I kinda like the Tarsus Adventure, it's a module written with the idea of having an entire campaign on a single planet. Reward at the end is a 1000+ year old Sword World initial colony phase era 400t "cruiser" they find in some old forgotten bunker. Good luck finding spare parts for that thing.

File: safari_vessel__star_huntress_by_biomass-d8w9ma8.jpg (93KB, 1024x739px) Image search: [Google]

93KB, 1024x739px

>>51324451
ANIMAL-CLASS SAFARI SHIP, BITCHES

File: traveller - rock to zhodane.jpg (1MB, 1521x2148px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1521x2148px

Asteroid ship, comes with free frozen loli.

File: two_sisters__fiery_gunned_escorts_by_wbyrd-dabnrqr.png (537KB, 1024x736px) Image search: [Google]

537KB, 1024x736px

>>51335908
What books have good pics from the solomani ships? Because the web isn't being very helpful finding good pics.

>>51336036

So you must have been pretty happy when Mongoose 2e included them in the core book.

File: 1386444179175.jpg (138KB, 1440x900px) Image search: [Google]

138KB, 1440x900px

>>51336098
GURPS Rim of Fire and the Alien Module for Solomani (the pic in the other anon's post was from the latter). I always liked the Courier myself.

>>51336150
I've not read MgT2E anon, but yes that is nice to hear. Are Hunters back? I will a little miffed they removed them as a class originally.

>>51336173

No hunters, I'm afraid.

On the whole, I'd recommend taking a look at it. It's just much a much nicer book than Mongoose 1e. They've remembered to actually have production values.

File: tumblr_ojlipoz3P11sndzdgo1_1280.jpg (151KB, 617x1014px) Image search: [Google]

151KB, 617x1014px

Dateline: Regina, 1117: Illegal quxozimat fishermen busted by Department of Sentient Molluscs raid, subscribe to read more

>>51336566

The shellfish anti-defamation league will be up in arms!

File: traveller - stoner run.png (291KB, 754x958px) Image search: [Google]

291KB, 754x958px

>>51336173
The Sol Courier is a great ship and outperforms the Imp Scout/Courier in every way except cost; 50% performance increase comes at a 200% price increase. Also it looks like an oversized B-Wing.

My favorite is Sol the Free Trader, mostly because of the bridge doubling as the ship's launch. I like ships with a unique gimmick.

But mostly I like the solomani ships because they're human built but not imperial built. Everyone flies a Suleiman Scout/Courier or a Beowulf Free Trader because they're iconic and by the setting they're the most common ships in space. Also Solomani ships aren't optimal for their jobs, in that they're not 100ton variants with varying cargo/jump/maneuver drives like the Imperial standards.

On the other hand I doubt anyone would have trouble finding a replacement part for the bog standard TL 12 Suleiman S/C that's been in non stop production for that past few thousand years.

File: 58e0bdac2883c1eae6921f91b6d4101e.jpg (110KB, 593x770px) Image search: [Google]

110KB, 593x770px

>>51337109
>But mostly I like the solomani ships because they're human built but not imperial built.
One of the books (I think it's either the BiTS or GURPS ship expansions) paints a picture of Solomani ships being cramped, smelly and generally on a par with stuff like the Nostromo in Aliens. It comes from that later view of the Solomani as quasi-Nazi/Soviet types but I did like it, because it reflects the idiosyncrasy of Terrans, and the way we LIKE our ships cramped and smelly because they've always been that way.

>>51337160

I wasn't aware having cramped and smelly ships was associated with the Nazis or Soviets.

I mean, sure, the U-Boats are famous, but I don't think there's any submarine that's actually pleasant to be in.

>>51337182
It's definitely a Soviet thing, that's for sure. British crews who did tours in their subs in WW2 were horrified at the state of them. But what (I think) I was getting at was that the Sollys came to be depicted as some kind of villain, and were given villainous trappings like gloomy spaceships (see also: the Klingons).

>>51337213

Right, now I get you.

File: 2a0d593ba2233905897d33f11549fce0.jpg (51KB, 736x312px) Image search: [Google]

51KB, 736x312px

>>51337182
>I don't think there's any submarine that's actually pleasant to be in
Nemo would like a word with you...

>>51337303
Depending on whether you were crew or a "guest", that would be a pretty creepy place in itself, anon

>>51337303

I remember liking that film as a little babby anon. Then again, babby anon also quite liked Van Helsing. I rewatched that with a friend recently and HOLY SHIT is it a bad movie. It's woeful.

>>51337350

Its so bad it killed Sean Connery's career

File: nmtlf.jpg (927KB, 1280x1714px) Image search: [Google]

927KB, 1280x1714px

This looks pretty comfy

File: spec_sheet___bernal_sphere_mk2_by_glennclovis-d5jj8r6.jpg (2MB, 2078x1200px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2078x1200px

What kind of campaign do you guys enjoy the most? I really like space based ones, specially Merc/pirate/privateers themes with spaceships of little tonnage.

What are the best books than have a traveller feel?
The vatta wars books for example reminded me to a traveller campaing with an ansible.

>>51339206

The Mote in God's Eye. It has the "Landed gentry in spaaaaace" themes you get at the higher levels of the Imperium, and I'm pretty sure the main ship's forcefields directly inspired Traveller's Black Globe Generators.

>>51339316
I have to read that one.

>>51335619

The Droyne are the remnant of Ancients, which is a bit different. And they're probably not the only Ancients that were, just the most prominent. (If you ask me, Grandfather is a liar, weaving some nice pat story for his grandkids)

>>51339206

If you haven't read Agent of the Imperium, do so, it's pretty damn good.
Poul Anderson's Dumarest series was one of the inspirations for Traveller, though Dumarest himself is more of a government troubleshooter than itinerant spacer. There's a couple of them up in the archives.
Eric Frank Russell's Wasp is a great old SF espionage book, also in the archive. It's a little obscure these days, but was well regarded at the time, and has some really brilliant bits. The aliens are basically humans with funny foreheads, though, which is a bit hokey. (I suspect if Mr. Russell had set it in East Germany instead of outer space it probably would today be regarded as a classic in the espionage field.)

>>51339316

It's a fantastic book, though I'd say it's overrated when some folks call it the greatest sci-fi book ever written.
Also I can't reread it anymore without seeing it as Jerry Pournelle Presents: The Menace of the Space Mexicans!
Gotta build that wall or they'll overrun us and put neon lights on the underside of our spaceships, man. They're a bigger threat than the robot nazis! We need a strong border patrol to protect us from the little brown guys that breed like rabbits and are constantly having wars and revolutions!

>>51341052
I had never made the Mexican connection before, and frankly I don't think I ever would have if you hadn't suggested it. Maybe you're just preoccupied with them?

>>51341231

It just occurred to me while I was reading it for the third time, (I really do like the book) and was a "cannot unsee" moment. Knowing more than I'd like about Pournelle's politics, I can tell you it's not a stretch for him to (knowingly or unknowingly) have made a parable about how we need strong immigration controls to keep Them out or else They will come here, outbreed us into a minority, and turn Our place into an overpopulated war-torn shithole like Where They Come From.
Now I can't think of the Moties without them wearing sombreros and laughing my ass off.
Niven probably had nothing to do with it. He's a sweet guy, but to be honest, I don't think he's had an idea all on his own since 1976. He's an expert recycler of ideas, but not an originator.

>>51341335

I don't know anything about either of them as people, so fair enough.

Isn't it a shame when talented authors turn out to be dingbats?

File: korean-spiciness-chart.jpg (69KB, 600x694px) Image search: [Google]

69KB, 600x694px

So exactly how crunchy is Classic Traveller? How advanced are the calculations, and how frequently do they have to be performed?

I hate crunchy as in "complicated buildgame", but on the other hand I'm one of those guys who chuckles at the >differential calculus meme about GURPS, on the grounds that compared to integral calculus, differential calculus is easy and straightforward.

>>51342321

Depends a bit on which Classic you go for. Starter Traveller is pretty light, especially since it swaps out the old book 2 vector-based ship combat for an abstract range-band one. (It also shaves down a few other bits, but that's minor.)
With just the core books, it'd mildly crunchy. Most of the crunch is tools for the GM to generate stuff, for players it's pretty light overall.

File: lotta-shit.png (118KB, 1420x799px) Image search: [Google]

118KB, 1420x799px

Damn, there's a lotta shit here. Where should I start?

>>51343152

The folder named Core Books, of course.

>>51343240
Ah, GDW - Core Books, not just Core books. I see it now. Thanks!

>>51343152

Grab The Traveller Book and/or Starter Traveller. Grab extra core books for anything you think is important (Scouts or Robots or what have you) though be aware some of them have careers that use the Advanced chargen which takes longer and makes stronger characters than the Basic chargen found in the core rules and Supplement 4: Citizen of the Imperium.

Check out Rule68A for a bit of rules explication on how rulings work -- if you want a more structured task resolution, use the Universal Task Profile or Universal Game Mechanic.

Look through the supplements, there's good stuff in there. The aforementioned Citizens has good stuff, as does 76 Patrons and Traders and Gunboats.
Under Games Modules, I'd modestly recommend Snapshot, which translates basic combat onto a grid for indoor combat -- if you like that sort of thing, it's fun. It will slow combat down, but also make it a touch less immediately fatal.

Third party stuff is sorted by publisher, 'cause it's a natural fit what with the old Land Grant thing where each publisher got its very own sector to publish stuff for:
FASA does some of the best third party stuff. Cargonaut, Gamelords and Paranoia are pretty good. The Marischal sector is largely by J. Andrew Keith, who's also behind some of FASA's best stuff. (Anything with one of the Keith brothers behind it is going to be decent at least) Group 1 has some faintly 2000AD type stuff, a little out there from stock Traveller, but interesting. Judge's Guild's work is kind of crappy, but they were clever enough to combine the range and armor tables into one for their referee's screen, which is nice.

I've got a question. Is there a source for names for the nonhuman races?

As in vargr names, aslan names ect.

>>51346892

Not that I'm aware of. The old books have a way to randomly generate words in Aslan, Vargr, and other languages from some tables and rules. Weird, but kinda fun.

>>51346892
Would this work for you?

http://www.spacecorsair.com/wordgen.html

>>51349170

Neat! The sentence generator seems to use too many polysyllabic words, but it's still pretty handy.

File: broadside of a barn.jpg (829KB, 1224x1795px) Image search: [Google]

829KB, 1224x1795px

Repostan this

>>51322629
>Also don't forget darrians, guys basically blew up their home system, for science !
There's an adventure where you can find out exactly how they did make their stellar bomb. Probe sent to get readings from their sun's core, low tech and any empire capable of space travel can make one. Learning that secret puts the player in a very big danger because every intelligence agency will want to learn it, and then the galaxy will have a very short life once the secret gets out.

What books do you prefer to use for making space ships? I'm starting traveller and the new high guard is interesting, but perhaps the older ones are easier to use or have more options so I'm interested in opinions.

File: traveller - adv1.png (546KB, 767x914px) Image search: [Google]

546KB, 767x914px

>>51355969
I like the mongoose stuff, classic but cleaned up.

Megatraveller has more detailed rules but I don't think it helps the game. Then there's TNE, 4th, 5th... getting progressively more complicated and difficult to use or even read.

How would you guys handle interspecies love?

If I have a humanoid race that came to be in similar environments as humans, would it be plausible that they could, you know, get together? Even in star trek the klingons were able to copulate with humans, even though the pregnancies were difficult iirc

>>51356290
Is moongose 2nd edition good or is better the first? Or are more or less the same.

>>51357140

Well, in Star Trek, humans and klingons (and most other humanoid races) are sort of related due to meddling by Trek's own ancients. That's not quite true in the OTU. There are a lot of human subtypes, who would be cross-fertile, but beyond that pretty much nothing like that's gonna work.
That doesn't mean it can't in your Traveller universe, where you could say "you're fertile, midichlorians did it" or whatever, or go halfway and say they'd have to spend a year or two travelling out past the frontier to find the mysterious alien masters of bio-engineering to get your weird cross-species baby, complete with g-engineered womb interface layer so she can carry it to term like it was all biological and shit.

>>51357337

It's prettier, I don't know about better. It looks to me like it's MGP's usual practice of "change some things, seemingly at random, and ship it."

>>51355969

I use classic's High Guard. MGT1's High Guard as a whole left me unimpressed, but the shipbuilding part seemed solid. I haven't read MGT2's High Guard yet, but some folks in past threads said it's got some problems vs 1e.

>>51359605
Ok, so it would be easy to use MT1 for MT2.
>>51360000
What problems? Any old guard said them?

>>51360473

>Ok, so it would be easy to use MT1 for MT2.

Shouldn't cause any problems, I don't think. There might be differences in what builds are "valid" under one system or another, but the High Guard statistics themselves are basically the same as they've ever been, so it should be compatible with all the ships that have been built over the years.

>What problems? Any old guard said them?

You'd have to dig through the archives for the old threads from a couple of months back, but there was some detailed discussion of stuff involving engines and power requirements and so forth.

>>51353879
> Probe sent to get readings from their sun's core, low tech and any empire capable of space travel can make one.

Not exactly and definitely not low tech. It was the probe's cooling plume interfering with a twin meson beam interferometry experiment.

> Learning that secret puts the player in a very big danger because every intelligence agency will want to learn it, and then the galaxy will have a very short life once the secret gets out.

It does make the players targets of everyone, but the tech is an "I'll Kill Both Of Us" weapon because it also somehow fucks up systems 10+ parsecs away from the actual target.

MAD seems to work in the OTU, otherwise near-c rocks would have smeared everyone by now.

>>51357140
>How would you guys handle interspecies love?

I'd tell the player who raised the idea to go play Albedo and then kick their "furry" ass out. I'd then use the idea for laughs and an indication of an NPC's profound psychiatric issues.

Let's face it. People who insist on inserting sexual situations in RPGs are people who aren't getting any in real life and people who insist on inserting weird sex are merely being weird for weird's sake.

>>51355969
>What books do you prefer to use for making space ships?

I use Classic's High Guard because it gives a solid base I can then detail or not depending on the group's needs/desires.

>>51364054
>otherwise near-c rocks would have smeared everyone by now.

Well, that's assuming you can get near-c from maneuver drives. If they lose efficiency as you gain speed relative to the nearest gravity well (and we know gravity wells affect the older grav drives that preceded the M-drive) then you'd find your acceleration falls off before you get to high relativistic velocities.

>>51364179

[No fun allowed intensifies]

Not everything is because of a fetish, dude. What he's talking about's a venerable old staple of sci-fi, and space opera especially.

>>51364360
>Well, that's assuming you can get near-c from maneuver drives.

They needn't even be near-c. Plain old kinetic bombardment works just as well. "Agent of the Imperium" actually has warships called "Sieges" which do just that it. Yet the 3I hasn't smeared Cipango, Gram, and Home. The Zhos haven't smeared Regina, Mora, and Rhylanor. The Swords haven't smeared Lunion. the Darrians haven't smeared Narsil, the Sollies haven't smeared Dingor etc. etc. etc.

MAD seems to work in the OTU

>[No fun allowed intensifies]

More like "No Fucking Freaks, Thank You."

>Not everything is because of a fetish, dude.

In this case, yes it very much is.

>What he's talking about's a venerable old staple of sci-fi, and space opera especially.

Which can and has been be met in the OTU with the dozens of human minor races.

>>51364584
>More like "No Fucking Freaks, Thank You."

You sound like an unpleasant person to game with.

>In this case, yes it very much is.

And that's a lot of >inferring you're doing there. As was pointed out, they did it on Star Trek all the time. Are you saying you'd kick the Trek writers out of your table for being "fucking freaks?"

File: Rustning,_Gustav_Vasa_-_Livrustkammaren_-_32921.tif.jpg (30KB, 220x330px) Image search: [Google]

30KB, 220x330px

Okay so I have a LFG running for MTraveller 1E and the first player to join directly asks why I'm not using 2E.

Up till now i disliked 2E for the chasgrab marketing of "put ship construction in high guard", the seemingly half heartet boon/bane system and the fact that it somehow still managed to be 60 pages longer.

Am I missing out ?

Also
>2E's equipment is more balanced.
So It's a bad thing that metal plate armor is not effectiv in a sci-fi setting ?

>>51365064
>Am I missing out ?

I don't think so. It's not like a huge improvement or anything.
Maybe grab the pdf from the archives and give it a skim, though, so you can at least say you looked before you tell him "we're playing MGT1, like it or lump it"

File: 1_Assult_Cruiser07.jpg (230KB, 1280x1024px) Image search: [Google]

230KB, 1280x1024px

>>51368710
Nice quality of this piece.
What other alien races do you guys like to use? I tend to fall for babylon 5 ones and Star wars.

>>51371797

I like the minor races in the GURPS Traveller books, but I try not to do races from recognizable franchises. (I will steal from classic SF I know nobody's read but me, though)

>>51365064
It mostly comes down to taste IMO. There are some things that are slightly better in 2e, some weird things (introducing radiation damage & protection in combat just so they can tack it on 1-2 weapons). IMO there's not really any bad changes, just odd ones & stuff that's different for difference's sake (changing task difficulty from a modifier to a shifting target for example). Boon/bane is imo was put in there because they went something like this: "D&D 5e's advantage/disadvantage seems popular, why don't we put that in?"

Overall I like 1e better, but 2e is neither a good or nor a bad choice. It's just different.

File: 1_5000FE7C_LAUNCH_GCarrierB.jpg (318KB, 2048x1536px) Image search: [Google]

318KB, 2048x1536px

>>51372535
I don't export them 100%100, but for example a marsupial war-like race inspired in the Narn exist. The setting has a scale a lot lower than the third empire.

File: 1_DE180IBL01.jpg (308KB, 1600x1200px) Image search: [Google]

308KB, 1600x1200px

Destructor bump.

What are the best zines ?

File: Pensions in Traveller.jpg (193KB, 621x1168px) Image search: [Google]

193KB, 621x1168px

>>51376865

Well, JTAS is a goldmine obviously, but looking past the official one, there are some standouts. Freelance Traveller is excellent. High quality, long running, and full of all sorts of good stuff.
Travellers' Digest was pretty good too, run by the folks at DGP who gave us might-as-well-be-canon stuff like the Grand Census book back in the CT days.
High Passage was FASA's house magazine, and while it doesn't seem to have lasted very long, its contents are up to FASA's usual fairly high standards.

That said, even the minor ones sometimes have a gem in them. Pic related.

>>51377631
Sweet, I will get the fasa ones, I liked some of they stuff.

Anyone know of any resources for running a CT game set during the Interstellar Wars?

>>51379429
I think the GURPS 4 edition had the Interestellar game setting and rules.

>>51379545
I know that, I'm just wondering if anyone made a conversion.

>>51379545
I was just scrolling through /tg/ when I read that without context, and this came to mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbVt74ueD2I
http://picosong.com/DtJK/

I hope you can forgive me.

File: Traveller Garuda.jpg (267KB, 1920x978px) Image search: [Google]

267KB, 1920x978px

Do you give player vessels quirks?

>>51379756
>Do you give player vessels quirks?

All the time. GDW did it from the first. The stock scout/courier has a life support system which becomes increasingly foul and eventually requires special flushing. Permanently fixing the problem not only cost money but also used up some of the ship's limited free tonnage.

CT also has rules for software flaws.

Quirks can be beneficial too. One of my groups had a ship with equipment that gave them a DM on navigation rolls.

Jump-1

>>51383406
Jump-2

File: traveller - deadly artifact.jpg (2MB, 1504x2047px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1504x2047px

>>51383406
Jump-1 is cheap but it's only useful in densely packed star clusters; NPC puddle jumpers that fill up the background. Yeah, you can pack on extra fuel for a 2nd jump but that seems dangerous if you jump between two stars and something goes wrong. Nobody find you for thousands of years.

Jump-2 is standard for adventurers, with the Scout/Courier and the Far Trader.

In Mongoose 1e, on page 168 it shows an example of subsector map. What do the dotted lines between 0510 to 0610, and 0601 to 0801 mean? I'm helping a friend prepare for an upcoming session, and I can't find a clear answer in the book, though I may just be missing it. We know it's not Comm Routes, so we think it's Trade Routes.

>>51387311

Perhaps it's supposed to be a trade route? It says you should mark trade routes between worlds of certain types (but the example has no data so we don't know what types those worlds are) and doesn't say what sort of mark should be used.
None of their other maps appear to have that feature at all, and that example map doesn't correspond to anything else so I can't be sure. Another Mongoose puzzle.

>>51387311

The very bottom of page 169 has two diagrams showing a communication route and trade route. A trade route uses a dotted or dashed line.

>>51388131
That diagram doesn't exist in my copy. So it must be something added in another printing.

>>51386116
Jump-3

What alternative techs do you use in your games? Like shields or wormholes.

>>51391060
I don't know if it properly counts as alternative, but I enjoy adding holodeck/VR type technology at higher levels.

>>51391583
I tought it was how Traveller entertainment worked, with holograms and stuff. If I recall correctly, a vargr hologram than appeared in the media and was anti-human had a huge following in one of those minor Vargr domains.

Anyone has tried the Cepheus Engine? Lot's of third party will start using it, what are the differences with CT or Mongoose traveller?

>>51392232

Holograms, yes, but holodecks are a whole other level. Being able to generate a whole holographic world on the fly and especially to make it tangible so you can actually interact with it physically? That's pretty much Trek -level magic.

>>51393377

Haven't read it in depth, but it looks like just MGT1 with some small changes for CT compatibility. I should really sit down and go over it one of these days.

>>51394760
Cool, I was wondering what traveller use because there are a fuckton of them, but I'm going for the one than will have more new material so Cepheus seems the safer bet. When you read it I would like to read an old guard toughts on it.

>>51388158

That could very be. Mongoose's editing, researching, and general quality is pretty much shit.

All that really matters is that you now know what the dotted line means! And you'd pretty much figured it out already!

Have fun playing.

>>51391060
>Like shields or wormholes

I've used something like shields. Depending on which rules you use, sand either lasts one turn or provides no protection after a ship moves.

Instead of that, I had ships use gravitics to "drag" sand along with them. Ships could stack levels of sand, missile/laser hits would remove levels of sand, and the "shield" worked both ways.

We used Mayday a lot so a ship could deploy sand shields by hexside. The shield would then only effect lasers/missiles crossing that hexside.

As for wormholes, I've used all kinds. Natural, man-made, short, long, extremely long, go to the past, go to the future, anything can pass though, only energy can pass though, you name it.

File: swgmr02_YG-4210.preview.jpg (244KB, 640x444px) Image search: [Google]

244KB, 640x444px

Anyone has made SW ships into Traveller rules? The little freighter like the Ghost or the Millenium falcon are perfect for adventurers.

>>51397460
Without massively increasing their sizes they really wouldn't work in traveller. Both the ghost & millenium falcon are smaller than traveller shuttles.

>>51391060
I'm gearing up for an Orbital game, near future tech but with EM drives for RCS and nuclear thermal rockets.
That being said, Niven's Alderson drive (See >>51339206 ) is pretty sweet, the only change I am making is you have to be right up next to the star instead of way out past the planets.

And the star lines were laid out by humanity in the future past as the galaxy burned out, to give their ancestors a better future.

>>51390612
Jump-4

File: nebula space3.jpg (297KB, 1200x1000px) Image search: [Google]

297KB, 1200x1000px

>>51397546
Thousand Suns uses a Jumplines map system if you're interested in using Alderson drives.

>>51399544
Jump-5

>>51396972
I already knew that. I'm not the person who had the question, just someone pointing out not all books have the diagram.

>>51400000
As it stands it only matters for Proxima centauri and her sisters, unless I can keep a party going beyond the first arc and timeskip into the sequel.
But, your digits compel me to have a look regardless.

File: nebula map3.jpg (346KB, 1200x1000px) Image search: [Google]

346KB, 1200x1000px

Another Jump map.

File: 1_TravellerSmallCraftGCBStarport.jpg (837KB, 4000x2000px) Image search: [Google]

837KB, 4000x2000px

>>51397501
Sometimes I forget how big are Traveller spaceships, when you say 50dt is more akin to 250t of ship.

>>51406645
Space travel is pretty slow in Traveller, you're supposed to live in the ship for a couple weeks at a minimum. Plus taking all that reaction mass/fuel reduces the amount of actual walking space by a lot.

Star Trek ships on the other hand only can get anywhere in the galaxy in a few hours and are powered by something that fits in one's hand.

What media do you guys use to inspire Traveller games? I tend to fall to European/latin american comic and Space opera books like Miles Vorkosigan or the Lost fleet.

File: 1_FELDELANCE_GAIBU_NEWx2B.jpg (280KB, 1280x1024px) Image search: [Google]

280KB, 1280x1024px

>>51407892
And that's with reactionless drives, imagine if they had to use reaction drives only.

>>51409032
> So you arrived in your target system. What are you all doing in the 5 months it takes you to reach the planet?

Anyone use spreadsheets or some software for Mongoose ship building? To make it easier/faster.

>>51315502
Has anybody a source of the good 1E supplements ? those made by 3rd partys, not mongoose ones

>>51413924
Or a classic traveller pdf without pages missing ?

>>51413924
>>51413958

Check the Master Archives in the OP thread. Mongoose Traveller/Third Party/Rules and Careers has various third party rules supplements.
Classic Traveller core rules are under Classic Traveller/GDW - Core Rules.

>>51414039
Thanks anon

File: challenge magazine - deadly artifact.jpg (2MB, 1504x2376px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1504x2376px

>>51386116
>not getting the last bit of text from the next page

that's not real nigga shit

>>51415103
Huh thanks for this! I didn't read the original until the end so I would have missed those few bits.

>>51415103
nice

>>51401895
Jump-6

File: 1381035378364.jpg (121KB, 1181x676px) Image search: [Google]

121KB, 1181x676px

>>51408273
I really love the whole 70s/80s sci fi art feel - "retrofuture", I think you can call it. I draw a lot of Traveller inspiration from that. I definitely agree that Heavy Metal comics is a great source. Being a big Classic fan I like to look back to the 1975-1980 period and really use the sci-fi of that era.

File: 1342252164801.jpg (279KB, 1554x1481px) Image search: [Google]

279KB, 1554x1481px

>>51413958
>Or a classic traveller pdf without pages missing ?
We've had this problem reported before, apparently the issue is with some fancier PDF readers. I use plebeian old Acrobat and there's no missing text there.

File: 1_DESTROYER_3002.jpg (402KB, 1280x1024px) Image search: [Google]

402KB, 1280x1024px

Who has the most aesthethic non-human ships in traveller? Oh that's right, the Aslan Hierate wins again.

File: 85ab3913cae56e49b295585e3bcb4022.jpg (174KB, 1280x887px) Image search: [Google]

174KB, 1280x887px

>>51424371
Didn't really try to hide the fact that the Aslan vs Solomani were just proxies for the Kilrathi vs Terran Comonwealth.

File: Traveller - Dark Nebula.pdf (1B, 486x500px)

1B, 486x500px

>>51424659
Aslan and Solomani have been fighting each other before there even was a Traveller, anon.

File: solomani-courier.jpg (87KB, 539x700px) Image search: [Google]

87KB, 539x700px

>>51424724
I didn't know that.
Also who has the best "non-Nazi" solomani books? Because heck, the modern books I seen made them totally unlikable.

File: Terra article.jpg (2MB, 2107x866px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2107x866px

>>51424797
GURPS Rim of Fire is pretty cool, it gives a more well-rounded view of the Party and Solomani politics etc.

>>51424659
Big evil cats is a staple of retro sci-fi. It really fits them too, cats are dicks.

File: 1_5000FE7x2C.jpg (580KB, 1600x1200px) Image search: [Google]

580KB, 1600x1200px

Mang, that general is ded. What are your prefered traveller webpages dudes?

Incoming to the Library this week we have a load of good stuff, including:
A number of new BITS books, featuring their combat system, At Close Quarters, a short convention adventure called Star Worn, and 101 Religions.
A system-neutral adventure called Circling the Planet, where players are trapped on a cargo hauler around a world defended by an ancient satellite weapons platform.
Rules for running Traveller in FUDGE
Gateway to Destiny for T20
and Intercept, a detailed and crunchy vector-based combat system that can be dropped in to replace MGT's ship combat. (Or any other Traveller system, with a bit more work)
All currently up under the Incoming folder, but also to be found filed away elsewhere.

>>51435936
thanks for your efforts!

>>51435936
Thank you so much!
Your efforts are recognized and appreciated

>>51435936
Aww yeaah.
No one has anything from Clement sector second edition? They ship`books are nice, I have the first edition ones.

Any word on when the next Mongoose 2e book is coming out? I heard something about delays.

So, deckplans. Do you make your own? How do you draw them? I'm thinking to start using sketch up but I'm sure there are easier options.

>>51443089
Honestly there's so many of them out there that I don't bother with them unless there's something specific I want.

Of course I let the players draw their own.

File: New Helen of Troy Free Trader.png (83KB, 1255x903px) Image search: [Google]

83KB, 1255x903px

i design them in word , then export out to paint

>>51319703
They come up often here, but it should be group dependent

>>51341052
>Poul Anderson's Dumarest
While Poul Anderson and the Dumarest saga both inspired parts of Traveller, they are not otherwise related.
Poul Anderson wrote the Falkayn/Van Rijn stories, which are a big part of the Free Trader and merchant prince feel. HE also wrote the Dominic Flandry stories, which reinforced the Asimovian idea of the Long Night, an empire full of isolated cultures, and part of how Traveller handles psionics (most of the rest of that came from Norton).

The Dumarest Saga, written by E.C.Tubb, is where a bunch of the small scale things like the Passages, drugs, and a few weapons came from.

>>51397501
The Ghost is probably close to a Scout ship in size, especially if it has full height access end to end.

The Falcon is bigger on the inside than the outside. Even New Hope, when it shows Han and Luke in the gun pods, implies that the hull is three decks deep in the center.

>>51407892
>>51409032
Traveller's Jump-1 is on the order of 160 lights. Halving that to refuel is still bloody fast.

>>51426575
That would be way more obscure if Battletech hadn't borrowed it.

>>51448723
Vincent Di Fate is still distinctive in style.

>>51319703
>It occurred to me recently that I've never been in a Traveller game that involved Psionics.

Me too and, like you, not deliberately either.

In ~20 years refereeing none of my players ever showed interest in psionics or being a psion. I had NPCs use psionics and I had the PCs think NPCs were using psionics, but I had no PC interested in psionics. Weird.

>Am I even really missing out on anything?

I'd like to think my groups missed out because I did take care to use psionics occasionally as the referee. I just can't described what we failed to experience because we never experienced it. :(

Is there a free Mongoose 2e char creator anywhere? There's a great one for 1e and the only 2e one I can find is paid

>>51452662
For most editions (that aren't TNE) psionics are just another tool. TNE's psionics tie in with the system also used for Dark Conspiracy, and have the potential to be much more powerful. TK in TNE is like always having a pistol.

File: gb9-s.jpg (40KB, 450x300px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 450x300px

How would you make Casaba Howitzers work in Traveller?

>>51453909
I don't even know how they work in Gunbuster.

The Solomani are such a mess in Traveller.
Lower tech, lousy description of them (they are like all the evil bogeeyman from the 20th century) and in general pathethic.

>>51454165
Well, to be fair, they received a catastrophic cultural dicking. Imagine how insane it would drive -us- if we lost Holy Terra, and then had it reduced to a hostage showpiece world to keep us peaceful and ensure we would never again draw the sword?

Still, though, I agree that they could use some fleshing out, though I suspect that might just be Earthling pride talking.

File: 8229861438_13e23aaf2d_b.jpg (318KB, 1024x783px) Image search: [Google]

318KB, 1024x783px

>>51454165
That's the problem with different writers holding different interpretations, over a long period of time.
I've come to see them as something like the Federation in the Starship Troopers movie.
I do like the lower tech and general aggressiveness of them, it gives them a scrappy underdog quality.
While they're easily my favorite faction, I try to be careful personally to avoid too much of a "HFY" style viewpoint.
It's a broad church too, they can potentially cover all sorts of human governments and societies, you don't have to necessarily go for just the fascists in Mao suits.

>>51454239
Even before that they were a mess and totally unlikable, they got all the less palatable traits of the bad guys of the 20th without any of the good ones.

Please forgive a nub question, but do the Solomani even still exist in the Mongoose editions? They never seem to get mentioned in any of the books I have?

>>51454245
I like under dogs,but they tend to have a few good qualities. Apart from being "us" they are the weakest from the major races, even the Vargr than are more a joke have a bigger tech (in some worlds 15 and even 16).

>>51454261
To be fair, if our modern behavior is any indication, we kinda might be the bad guys when we get to space, to some degree.

>>51454285
Yeah, they got a book too. They made them even more nazi.

>>51454290
I can get that. The Imperium from wh40k are the bad guys and people loves them, but at least they are badass. Meanwhile The solomani whimper in they corner bleedign from they assholes from the last imperial dicking.

File: solsec_badge.gif (4KB, 156x75px) Image search: [Google]

4KB, 156x75px

>>51454290
I think that was the general idea, we're the hairless apes who just gotta kill conquer and rape because we're so good at it

>>51454324

It is a point often repeated, but it remains as true today as ever: Nazi Eagles perching on top of your logo looks fucking dope.

File: condor.gif (6KB, 100x139px) Image search: [Google]

6KB, 100x139px

>>51454347
I can't remember where I found these, apparently I downloaded them in fucking April 2004, jesus. I think there was some old Yahoogroup I joined where they were trying to work on a more comprehensive Solomani splat.

>>51454245
>That's the problem with different writers holding different interpretations, over a long period of time.
>I've come to see them as something like the Federation in the Starship Troopers movie.

I've always figured that the Solomani get more "normal" the further you get from the Imperial border/ceasefire line. Once you move a sector or two rimward, the people there are more interested in the open frontier than recovering Terra or knocking over the Imperium.

Whiel the systems facing the Aslan and Hivers support the Confederation because they need the muscle to keep the Toons and Starfish at bay, they don't want to see that strength pissed away against the Imperium.

So you've got the older, more settled core frothing about the Cause and all that bullshit, the spinward and trailing borders more worried about aliens, and the rimward frontier too busy exploring, expanding, and exploiting to give much of a fuck about the rest.

>>51452713
Seconded.

>>51455675
In the "modern" era, the war that took Terra away is more recent than the American Civil War is to us now. Rancor in areas directly affected is going to last centuries. Though the Solomani have no known analog to Sherman's March to make script flipping easier, the causes of the war don't really require one; the Imperium put up with their shit until it didn't, then it attacked. MUCH easier to craft an eternally rebellious narrative and cultural response.

The high level politics of the Solomani gets some airing in the alternate GURPS timeline advancement, and it is fairly easy to extrapolate that backwards and illuminate why the Solomani have not managed to take Terra back in 120 years.

>>51457156
>more recent
Or about as recent, what with longer lifespans.

Anyone has tried to use mechs in traveller? Votoms/Heavy gear kind of mechs specifically, small enoguh than they can be carried like any tank.

>>51457962

Under Mongoose 1e/Third Party/Ships and Vehicles you'll find a book called "Cyclops Trans-littoral Walker" and "Mech Tech n' Bot: Mech Squadrons."

>>51457962
Chicken walkers (AT-ST style) are present from MT materials, as a scale up of normal robots on worlds where, for whatever reason, grav, wheels, or tracks are not practical.

Small suits like a VOTOMS don't break things too badly, since armor and other defensive measures are up to the task of keeping them in the small vehicle range for survivability. They are certainly no wonder machine, though. Expect to attract FGMP fire if the big boys show up.

File: 23013-7.jpg (651KB, 770x1027px) Image search: [Google]

651KB, 770x1027px

>>51458095
Dang, those walkers are old school. But they are an interesting frame to make the mechs from, thanks bro. The other one mechs are way to big.
>>51458147
IT's alright, it's what I want, a mechs shouldn't be able to exterminate everything in sight like a gundam, but to be a kind of uber infantry, for my tastes anyway.

>>51458563
In Traveller terms, the early Gundam suits (specifically) benefitted from prototype armor of a higher TL than what everyone else was fielding for armor or weapons, had access to the cutting edge of (again) higher TL prototype beam sabers, and was piloted by one of the emergent combat psions of the age. We basically watch a TL advancement ripple through the system through MSG, GZ, CCA, and GZZ.
That alone can account for a lot of the original Gundam's dominance and longevity.

Anyone has the Traveller20 Fighting Ships and Fighting Ships from the SolomanI? I think we don't have them in the mega folder of t20.

File: 166e5201f96e307d1e2edbdb83f1c9f0.jpg (61KB, 535x800px) Image search: [Google]

61KB, 535x800px

>>51459315
Well, the Minowsky particles fucked the sensors lot, only for that they got they niche in the gundam universe. Anyway gundam style mechs, while pleasant at the eye, are too far away from my view of mechs, than it's a lot smaller in scale and capabilities.
What kind of mechs would the aslan drive? If the humans use not-scopedogs.

>>51459315

The only thing that Amuro had going for him until space was that he had the best suit going. Zeon couldn't even touch it's performance till the Gelgoog and even then it lacked the durability.

Going by RL standards I'd say it'd be like taking a M1 abrams back to WW2 with a crew taught entirely by book reading.

Eventually they'd get it together and be utter rape incarnate but even without the trained crew it'd be a guaranteed battle winner if it showed up where it could face other tanks because it'd be immune to everything bar the largest artillery shells landing on it.

>>51364654
clearly Spock, being a half-vulcan hybrid, was Gene Roddenberry fursona

File: you got me.gif (916KB, 245x183px) Image search: [Google]

916KB, 245x183px

>>51462678

>>51462678

Trek's so-called "aliens" are more akin to Traveller's human minor races than anything else and most of those are interfertile. Kirk boning the Hot Alien Babe of the Week highlights Trek's and sci-fi's pulp roots, nothing more.

A player wanting their PC to get jiggy with, for example, a Githiaskio is simply mixing in tentacle pron for the lulz and nothing else.

Are there any stats for Xenomorphs for any version of Traveller?

>>51466795

Why are you picking that weird minor race and not, say a Darrian, Traveller's own not-Vulcans? Kirk didn't do it with the Horta either, or Bones would have had to treat him for some nasty third degree burns.

This discussion is a dumb hypothetical anyway, the guy asking upthread didn't specify enough to really judge what is going on at his table, all we've got are scenarios pulled out of people's butts.

>>51466795
Have you seen what people will put their dicks in?

>>51466875
Was there an article in an early JTAS issue or maybe in SpaceGamer?

>>51466875

I don't know, but I will say the Horde part of the classic module Chamax Plague/Horde is clearly inspired by Aliens

>>51467387

I checked the JTAS index, and there's an Alien scenario (with Ellen Ripley and everything) called Forced Entry, in Challenge #62, page 90.

>>51466875
One of the JTAS magazines has the Reticulan Parasites. That is what you want. Give me a bit to locate which one.

>>51466875
>>51468587
JTAS number 4. Can be found in the archive up in the first post.

File: Alien01.jpg (341KB, 589x895px) Image search: [Google]

341KB, 589x895px

>>51466875
This is an interesting read in hindsight because it was written before the lore as we know it today existed.

>>51468644
Where is the JTAS folder?

>>51469014

It's under Zines.

>>51469054
Thanks spacer.

>>51469014
Bottom, under Zines.

>>51471151
Old Gamma World art?

File: 9780880384773-us.jpg (24KB, 300x400px) Image search: [Google]

24KB, 300x400px

>>51472724
Excellent eye, anon. No mistaking that Elmore art.

Does traveller give an explanation for the excess heat than any ship generates?

>>51473515
Yeah, it generates it, due to engines and weapons and the ships being largely of odd origins. You can't transport ships through jumps so they get made by all sorts, including you, All types of tech levels generate ships.

>>51473515

I believe The New Era made some efforts in that direction, but it was soon dropped again, as that way lies number-crunching madness.

IMTU life support includes coolant which is run into the jump drive and vented into the jumpspace medium, where it drops out again a week later in a nearby hex. If the jump drive can insert hydrogen into jumpspace to create the jump bubble, it can create small bubbles of hot water or whatever to dump excess heat.
Running out of coolant means trouble maintaining temperatures, which might kill you faster than the oxygen running low.

This also means that IMTU pirate ships can sort of stealth themselves by moving power plants and other machinery away from the hull and installing outsized cooling systems from bigger ships to reduce their thermal signature. (Not that it's too big a deal considering sensor rules in CT)

>>51473515
Traveller 3rd ed did and classic traveller doesn't.

The tech of the imperium is late Type 2 on the Kardashev Scale and is at the "lol magic" with whatever black globe generators do, let alone the anti-grav vehicles that takes less power than a lightbulb to power and cold fusion reactors. They don't have nearly the same problems with excess heat as we do who aren't even on the Kardashev Scale.

File: argus___beyond_the_stars_by_limontea-danxa4i.png (2MB, 1580x1176px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1580x1176px

>>51474884
Talking about stealth, it works well in Traveller?

>>51477674

It works okay.

>DETECTION
>Ordinary or commercial starships can detect other ships out to a range of about
>one-half light-second; about 1,500 millimeters. Military and scout starships have
>detection ranges out to two light-seconds; 6,000 mm or 6 meters.
>
>Ships which are maintaining complete silence cannot be detected at distances of
>greater than half detection range; ships in orbit around a world and also maintaining
>complete silence cannot be detected at distances greater than one-eighth detection
>range. Planetary masses and stars will completely conceal a ship from detection.
>
>Tracking: Once a vessel has been detected, it can be tracked by anyone up to
>three light-seconds (about 9,000 mm, or 9 meters).

I've seen some rules include asteroids and other bodies in the "one-eighth range" rule, I forget if it's Mayday or what.
A light second is roughly 300,000km, so detection ranges for a normal ship are 150,000/600,000km (.001AU/.004AU), civilian/military respectively.
If that ship's being silent, it's cut to 75,000km/300,000km, and if it's near a world (like sitting in a gas giant's rings waiting for prey to come by to refuel) it's down to 18,750km/75,000km. Which is pretty short range in astronomical terms.

>>51477674

Sort of. It's best to remember there's a difference between "detecting" and "targeting".

Knowing someone is out there is one thing. Knowing where they are precisely enough to aim a laser over multiple light-seconds is another thing.

>>51467096
>Why are you picking that weird minor race and not, say a Darrian,

Because they, like you, are deliberately ignoring the fact that Trek's aliens are more akin to Traveller's Human Minor Races than "real" aliens.

You and they are also deliberately ignoring that, for the most part, Traveller Human Majors and Minors in Traveller are interfertile and have already mingled to some extent. For example, most Darrians in the Classic Era have some Solomani ancestry and, in the Imperial Core, differentiating between Vilani and Solomani requires genetic testing.

Citing Trek's Spock or B'Elanna Torres so you can claim that Human-Vargr, Aslan, Hiver, or whatever crossbreeds exist in Traveller ignores the lore of both settings.

>>51478117
Nice, so a pirate can hop in a system and kinda of hide in asteroids/planet for an ambush?

>>51478367

>arguing vehemently against stuff nobody, and I mean NOBODY said

Dude, chill already.

>>51478409

Yeah, if you saw a patrol coming your way it might be time to haul ass to 100 diameters and jump for your life, but you can reasonably lie in wait under those rules.

File: traveller - itslikethat.jpg (251KB, 661x951px) Image search: [Google]

251KB, 661x951px

>>51478409
>>51478117
>>51478503
I'd hate to have to track all of the space junk that would accumulate after several thousand years of space flight in any well traveled system, and try to figure out what's a pirate and what's somebody's trash they dumped before the next jump. Esp considering rusting heaps like the "Broadside of a Barn" is allowed to operate in populated space.

>>51478409

Again, sort of. Remember that weapon ranges in the game are freakin' huge. You can be outside Terra's 100D jump limit, for example, and shoot at ships in orbit over Terra.

Another thing to remember is that a pirate needn't steal a lot of stuff to break even. Using Classic's numbers, grabbing a single small craft and selling it at 25% of cost will pay your bills for nearly two years.

>>51478582
>Again, sort of. Remember that weapon ranges in the game are freakin' huge. You can be outside Terra's 100D jump limit, for example, and shoot at ships in orbit over Terra.

Depends on rules set, though. Book 2 has, as quoted above, an outer radius for tracking ships of 3 light seconds, or 900,000km, beyond which you may lose track of them.

>>51478503
Sweet, the life of a pirate doesn't seem too bad if>>51478582 say applies, a simple run job could get you enough to life for two years, only forcing some poor lad to get away from they small craft.
>>51478572
Well, that's what patrols are paid for. It must be terrible boring tough, in a little vessel scanning rocks for days.

How difficult is to get rich trading with a tipical player space ship like a beowulf or a fat trader? Being good law abiding citizenens I mean and a secong hand ship.

>>51478968
>How difficult is to get rich trading with a tipical player space ship like a beowulf or a fat trader?

Kinda tricky if you're just doing cargo incidentally, the big shipping concerns have most trade all buttoned up.
If you minmax the speculative cargo hard and find a "golden pair" you can make a fortune by RAW in CT/MGT, but if the GM busts out the modifications to trade from GURPS Interstellar Wars it'll get more realistic and less exploitable.

Also there's the possibility the GM will treat you running back and forth between two worlds to rack up the big cash as a threat to the larger shipping companies, who might try to shut you out or shut you down.

>>51478968
>How difficult is to get rich trading with a tipical player space ship like a beowulf or a fat trader? Being good law abiding citizenens I mean and a secong hand ship.

Depends on the ruleset. Classic, for example, is designed for that to be very hard if not impossible. The idea was that you'd have to take risks, do jobs for patrons, and otherwise engage in adventures in order to make ends meet.

That being said, Classic's economic/trade system also can create "Golden Pairs" or "Santa Claus Routes" where trade between certain worlds almost always produces a profit.

>>51479079
So possible, and can entail adventures? That's good.

>>51484627
RELEASE
THE
SPORES

File: 37192285_p0_Space Battleship Yamato.jpg (785KB, 1280x700px) Image search: [Google]

785KB, 1280x700px

How would you guys adapt Space battleship yamato to traveller? What version and all that. The ships are too small for generic imperial or even solomani craft.

File: 43698699_p0_Yamato.jpg (200KB, 1500x699px) Image search: [Google]

200KB, 1500x699px

>>51494247
The Yamato would be smaller than a tipical light cruiser at 14.600 dt (or 15.000dt ) with his spinal weapons and all.

>>51494247

The Yamato would be about 14000 dTons.. I'd build it in HIgh Guard and give it a spinal mount meson cannon for the Wave Motion Gun, maybe make it a TL15/16 one for extra punch, and you're pretty much there.
Add in material restrictions that disallow ships much bigger than that and you should have yourself the makings of a decent Yamato universe.

File: 1462063632519.jpg (483KB, 2048x1423px) Image search: [Google]

483KB, 2048x1423px

>>51494467
What high guard? CT or mongoose? Also I prefer a small ship universe, I was thinking at caping the biggest jump capable ship at 25.000dt. IT wouldn't be a Space Yamato port 100%, but the influece is there.

>>51494638

Oh, I'd use CT, myself. Thought I mentioned it.
If you're using High Guard rules for combat, be aware that it's been my experience that the bigger ship will usually win, if the size differences are substantial.

File: 27693365_p0_Gundam.png (1MB, 3500x1922px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 3500x1922px

>>51494694
Even vs a wolfpack of smaller ships? I would like the smaller ones to have some kind of fighting chance or at least able to assist bigger ones, tough big ships should win vs smaller ones if they are alone, specially if they are from the same tech.

>>51494850

Yeah, a wolfpack is a viable tactic, I meant in a stand up fight between two vessels, the bigger one is pretty strongly favored.

>>51494874
Anyone knows a good space shipt generator using CT and high guard? I found one using megatraveller, but I don't know how well translate to CT.

>>51495272

There's an old Windows program called High Guard Shipyard that does CT+High Guard shipbuilding. Works well under Wine here on Linux.
http://www.downport.com/amv/software/hgs.html

>>51495395
Using windows 7 and It doesn't work for me, it starts well but after the initial windows with the High guard and the space ship an error windows appear and disapears in less than a second. Using adming and downgrading the windows doesn't work either.

>>51495475

Huh. Well, I must admit I haven't used Windows since the XP days so I'm not the guy to ask for help there.
There's bound to some way to get it to work, though, even if it was just "install virtualbox, add linux virtual appliance, apt-get install wine"

>>51494850
>Even vs a wolfpack of smaller ships?

That's hard to answer and explain in something as limited as a chan post. COTI has hundreds of threads discussing the issues.

As for wolfpacks, they work in CT/HG2 *at certain TLs*. Below ~TL12, "fighters" can mission kill their MCr in larger ships in one combat round.

Computers and agility is important in CT/HG2. As TL increases, larger ships get more agile while also carrying better computers letting them beat "fighters". However, as TL increases meson guns get better so building ships over a certain size doesn't make sense.

TL;DR - It depends on TL. If you want smaller ships then cap TL.

File: 1484599555159.jpg (99KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

99KB, 1024x768px

>>51497292
Ok, so I should cap the TL at, let's say 12-13 (I like fighters, but not god-like ones), and tonnelage at 25.000dt for jump capable space ships.
Any idea for rules for "screens" and other weapons like railguns or point defense apart of lasers?

>>51497709
>Any idea for rules for "screens" and other weapons like railguns or point defense apart of lasers?

This refers to CT/HG2 and not the Mongoose versions. Capping TL will effect screens too as they, like everything, improve as TL increases.

As for railguns and the like, they're part of the Mongoose versions and I'm not as familiar with them. I do know that Mongoose has added rules, weapons, & systems which make fighters worthwhile at higher TLs so MgT might be a good choice for you.

Finally, if you limit only JUMP capable ship to certain sizes there's nothing limiting NON-JUMP ships. That's means you 25K dT jump battleship can end up facing a million dT monitor. It's best to cap all ship sizes.

File: 47968130_p0_master1200.jpg (961KB, 1200x873px) Image search: [Google]

961KB, 1200x873px

>>51498111
Mongoose? Aren't they a wee bit hated? It's the second edition any good? I heard they shanked the third party publishers.
If the system is nice tough I could use it, but I will have to wait for a space ship generator for sure. Thansk anon, you are being very helpful.

>>51498248

Mongoose is staffed by lazy scum and their version has far more misses than hits. Their version of Merc was insultingly bad as were many other of their early splatbooks and their attempts to use Traveller as a generic rules sets failed due to their own laziness and stupidity.

That being said, Mongoose's output has gotten marginally better primarily thanks to their finally hiring writers who know the game and the topics being covered. You can look over all of Mongoose's stuff in the links above.

Mongoose did shank 3rd parties but at the cost of making themselves irrelevant in the future. They stupidly released a SRD version while at the same time locking anyone else out of the OTU. That means the number of alternate settings using common rules has exploded. Check out Cepheus Engine in the links above for the best version of the SRD.

Finally, as bad as Mongoose is, their HG version was written to allow more PC involvement in large battles with big ships than CT/HG2. CT Book 2 ship combat was wholly player focused which made using lots of big ships tough. HG2 ship combat was more of a wargame with few RPG touches which can be boring for players. Mongoose tried to split the difference between the two. Whether or not they succeeded is a question we each need answer for ourselves.

In the end, YOUR needs and the needs of YOUR GROUP are all that matters. Use or don't use what YOU want and the hell with everyone else, including me!

>>51498681
>CT Book 2 ship combat was wholly player focused which made using lots of big ships tough. HG2 ship combat was more of a wargame with few RPG touches which can be boring for players

Personally I like the method of running the player's ship and its combatants by Starter Traveller rules, and handling any other ships' combat with HG.

>Pre-Career Education
>A Traveller can select university or military academy education, making a roll for successful entry. If this is failed, the Traveller must immediately attempt entry into a career and, failing that, be drafted as normal. Further attempts can be made in terms two and three if desired but only one attempt can be made for entry to one of these pre-career options in any one term.
>Once successful entry has been achieved, the Traveller will gain any skills noted and roll on the Events table opposite. Upon successful graduation, one or more benefits will be awarded. Unlike a career, there is no mustering out or gaining of anything else other than the benefits listed. If graduation is not achieved, then no benefits are gained though the Traveller may still have earned some skills during this time.

MgT2e. So it seems like if you fail to get into college, you can retry in another term. Once you're getting your education, however, you only have one shot for proper "graduation" and either get the bonus benefits for graduating or you don't. Am I reading this correctly? Does your Traveller effectively only stay in school for those four years and either graduates or drops out?

>>51411355
Not even, if the drives are still as hot as standard Traveller drives. One G-Hour is smoking along pretty good as you coast to your destination and slow down with another G-Hour at the end.

On melee weapons, what does negative heft mean?

Is there a resource for space vessels made for the Orbital supplement? I have been futzing about with the creation rules, but it's a bitch to cross reference three books of varying levels of detail and editing trying to make a scout ship.

I just need something to put a half dozen to a dozen survey crew in, send to proxima centauri, and then brutally murder with xenomorphs. Since the players won't care, should I just rough out the tonnage and construction and wing it?

>>51502608
Heft? Mongoose 2e?

>>51502623
>Since the players won't care, should I just rough out the tonnage and construction and wing it?
The players will only care if the ship can be salvaged, at which point you need to be able to provide details.
If the ship cannot be used by the PCs, then the tonnage doesn't matter and just draw the map you need for xenomorph murder.

>>51502662
Just mongoose traveller I believe. Its basically recoil but for melee weapons.

>>51502676
The PCs will be on it and possibly survive, if they aren't completely dumb. Thus why I'm waffling about granularity.

>>51502693

Yeah, here's the rules section:
>Recoil and Heft
>When you make an attack, compare your Strength DM to the Recoil
>rating of the weapon you are using. If your Strength DM is higher, no
>further effects apply. If your Strength DM is lower then the difference
>is applied to your initiative next round. Melee weapons have a rating
>called Heft which works in exactly the same way.

So using weapons heavier than you can handle (as measured by Heft v. Str mod) will penalize your initiative. Negative heft is just for weapons that even the scrawny dudes can wield without a penalty.

>>51502748
But thats covered by 0 heft I would have thought. If not, whats my initiative penalty for a 0 heft weapon at -1 str mod?

>>51502748
>>51502815
Wait dont worry, I got it now. Thanks for the help. The he'd take negaitve one.

>>51502815
>>51502830

Yep, you got it. So like -2 Str dude needs a -2 Heft weapon to avoid penalties.

>>51502700
Then the question is how useful the ship will be after the murdering. If it is intended to be a working base of operations for exploration then some functional details will be useful because the players will eventually ask those questions.
If it turns into an office building "crashed" on the surface then only the plans and a looser idea of what the ship's former capabilities (labs, sensors) were will matter.

>>51502888
The former is my intent. It's less of a 'murder and then run away home' and more of a 'survey and then get jacked on the way home, if they aren't careful'

>>51502997
Then the desired details will be linked to how long they get to use it.

Do exist bio-ships in the third imperium?

File: traveller-ancient ship.jpg (440KB, 1302x973px) Image search: [Google]

440KB, 1302x973px

>>51505762
Exist they in the third imperium but are not manufactured since biotech isn't advanced enough to make them. Find them in Ancients ruins.

>>51506042
I ain't gettin in that thing

>>51507497
We're almost there buddy. Don't go full Barracus on us now.

>>51507497
I'm a bit concerned at the fact the thing has no hallways. It's all teleporters based on unknown technology which is powered by more unknown technology.

On the other hand the ship's survived 100,000 years without external maintenance so what are the odds the thing will fail with players aboard.

>>51507912
It doesn't sound very attractive desu, how do you know it is a passenger star ship and not some kind of mobil food plant than goes from planet to planet hunting the juiciest meat for example.

>>51507945
Something about it makes me think of the Lexx, and not in a good way.

There are several degrees of organic construction, from the living skin of B5's White Star, through balanced hybrids like Lexx, all the way to implanted mechanicals in a dominant living body like Moya or the Space Whales from X-Men (first Brood saga), and all organic like the Ancient's ship or ST:TNG's Tin Man.

File: traveller - hppe.jpg (2MB, 1483x2021px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1483x2021px

>>51507945
Fine. You can have this "free" Scout/Courier. All you have to do is be on board and jump to the nearest system to have it fixed.

>>51508222
How are Vilani vessels like? Because the wedge shaped vessels of the imperium (the majority) are inspried in the solomani ones.

File: fat_trader_in_port_by_drell_7-d5iuyhb.jpg (167KB, 1145x698px) Image search: [Google]

167KB, 1145x698px

>>51509239

From MT's Vilani and Vargr book: "Vilani vehicles are blocky and rounded, heavily built with functionality stressed over form. Vilani-made vehicles will get you there, promptly, comfortably, and cheaply -- you just may not arrive in style.

If the Type S Scoutship shows obvious Solomani design influence, the Fat Trader likewise shows obvious Vilani design influence.

File: FreeTrader_BeowulfBoultonStyle3.png (2MB, 2880x2160px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2880x2160px

>>51509894
I have a soft spot for the Beowulf Free Trader, blocky and rounded yes but looks like an industrial machine designed for heavy use.

Shame it's only a Jump-1. I dislike the Far Trader even though it's the same tonnage, those two pods for the bridge and crew quarters jutting out from the hull annoy me.

>>51512771
>well, there's your problem.

>>51510699

There's a rule in MGT1's High Guard which will let you upgrade the jump drive and power plant to a higher TL and reduce its footprint, squeezing a Jump 2 capability into the same space.

In Classic HG, you can also upgrade to a Jump 2, but even at TL15 it will reduce your cargo space from 82 to 67 tons.

File: Command deck.jpg (266KB, 1407x710px) Image search: [Google]

266KB, 1407x710px

>tfw you find out one of your favorite weird underground comics people did work for your favorite old RPG

I almost missed it because she was credited as D.J. Barr instead of Donna Barr, but the linework's a dead giveaway.

>>51510699
The Free Trader and Far Trader both exist in both the Hero (Beowulf) and Empress hulls, per CT.

File: 1379085733354.jpg (737KB, 1260x1260px) Image search: [Google]

737KB, 1260x1260px

>>51515304
Why are picks of starship bridges always so cool?

>>51515629
Empress Hulls?

File: empress_marava.png (43KB, 666x640px) Image search: [Google]

43KB, 666x640px

>>51517218
I think that they meant this layout

>>51517218

The Empress Marava class. You know, the one with the pickle fork bow.

File: Type A2 (Lily) TNE.jpg (322KB, 708x872px) Image search: [Google]

322KB, 708x872px

>>51517554
>>51517553
>>51517218
That's the one, though I prefer the TNE version. 2m grid so each square is a ton.

File: 1_TravellerSmallCraftParade03.jpg (860KB, 3840x2160px) Image search: [Google]

860KB, 3840x2160px

>>51519596
I really like the utilitarian look of those small crafts. Is there a legit way of making a campaign using small craft only? Is there a way for cheap inter estellar hoping from star to star?

>>51520368
Calculations someone did years ago:
>The pricing schedule for freight and passages is BADLY broken. most entries are, in fact, below cost of that travel, including some really odd combinations. J2 high passage, for example, makes money over carrying cargo of equal lost volume (after accounting for the ton of the steward's stateroom and the ton of baggage), but J1 passage (high or low) is below cost of shipping that much volume.
>
>So... I worked out some BARE BONES ships (minimal everything but crew and cargo, no passengers) then worked out averages.
>
>The figured out how much, for a new, fully financed ship (which is the point of worst return) the cost per ton is to ship various distances.
>
>t's pretty obnoxious; a ton of cargo, J6, costs about Cr95,000 to ship one jump. Not to mention that you can't build J6 til TL15, and can't, under the CRB design system, build one smaller than 1000 Tons Displacement (hereafter, Td).
>
>I cranked out a spreadsheet with budget boxes (but not skimpy-crew, albeit only 1 pilot, 1 nav, std engineers, no medic, 1 gunner, no stewards) to figure out base cargo costs. I used 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, and 2000 Td Ships. None are fitted for passengers. Financed value is 100%. Maintenance per half-month, annual payment per half-month, fuel per jump, salaries per half-month.
>
>I got the following landmarks for cost per Td of cargo:
>
>Jump ____ J1 _______ J2 _______ J3 _______ J4 ________ J5 _________ J6 __
>Max ____ 699.96 _ 1,316.77 _ 2,432.97 _ 5,157.50 _ 19,026.67 _ 111,265.74
>Avg ____ 645.14 _ 1,159.88 _ 2,022.08 _ 3,768.07 __ 9,322.59 __ 70,703.81
>Min ____ 538.16 _ 1,050.15 _ 1,903.51 _ 3,396.43 __ 7,311.50 __ 44,323.65
>Median _ 646.07 _ 1,156.44 _ 1,992.19 _ 3,610.38 __ 8,053.17 __ 61,072.32
>StDev ___ 42.79 ____ 68.62 ___ 152.75 ___ 517.31 __ 3,543.95 __ 25,387.21
>
>A couple notes: For J1 and J2, 400Td is the optimal hull; for J3-J6 2000Td is. Figured that irony should be shared.

>My final results, after sevral transformations, for love of round numbers or half-rounds (bt not cargo below J5 - just passenger fares), and to base costs of passage upon actual costs of shipping...
>
>_____________________ J1 ________ J2 ________ J3 ________ J4 ________ J5 _________ J6 __
>Round to next 100 __ 700.00 __ 1,300.00 __ 2,200.00 __ 4,300.00 _ 13,000.00 __ 96,000.00
>MP, SO ___________ 7,500.00 _ 10,000.00 _ 14,000.00 _ 23,000.00 _ 65,000.00 _ 430,000.00
>MP, DO ___________ 4,500.00 __ 6,000.00 __ 8,000.00 _ 13,000.00 _ 35,000.00 _ 235,000.00
>HP, SO ___________ 9,000.00 _ 12,000.00 _ 18,000.00 _ 31,000.00 _ 85,000.00 _ 585,000.00
>HP, DO ___________ 6,000.00 __ 8,000.00 _ 12,000.00 _ 20,000.00 _ 55,000.00 _ 390,000.00
>
>Now we have some workable numbers. Profit is slim; it can be raised by more down payment, reducing crew salaries to profit shares, having better stewards, and using unrefined fuel.
>
>The "Large Liners", given the book rates in MGT, lose money hand-over-fist on passengers. This is, in part, due to the requirement for Middle Passage stewards, and the much higher rate of stewards than in other editions.
>
These are the numbers you'll need most:
>_____________________ J1 ________ J2 ________ J3 ________ J4 ________ J5 _________ J6 __
>HP, SO ___________ 9,000.00 _ 12,000.00 _ 18,000.00 _ 31,000.00 _ 85,000.00 _ 585,000.00
>HP, DO ___________ 6,000.00 __ 8,000.00 _ 12,000.00 _ 20,000.00 _ 55,000.00 _ 390,000.00
>MP, SO ___________ 7,500.00 _ 10,000.00 _ 14,000.00 _ 23,000.00 _ 65,000.00 _ 430,000.00
>MP, DO ___________ 4,500.00 __ 6,000.00 __ 8,000.00 _ 13,000.00 _ 35,000.00 _ 235,000.00
>Cargo, per Td ______ 700.00 __ 1,300.00 __ 2,200.00 __ 4,300.00 _ 13,000.00 __ 96,000.00
https://rpggeek.com/thread/486422/badly-broken-economics
Loading a 30dt Ship's Boat and for just a J3 would cost you 66,000, which gets expensive fast if you have to go far.

>>51520759
>>51520651
Nice, 60.000cr isn't cheap but for a little outfit of three fighters doesn't sound too bad, being ferried there, take some escort mission in frontier worlds and hop again if it dries. It doesn't sound so good for a trader but a little 30Td cutter could be used for anyone to ferry stuff like parts or something.

>>51520864
I kinda wonder how standardized the 30dt Ship's Boat is. It's no Modular Cutter but then there seems to be only one accepted "Ship's Boat" design.

I would totally see loading 3x 10ton fighters onto subsidized freighters and moving a small mercenary company around using established subsidized trade routes to decrease costs. Maybe offer escorts for the carrying ship in exchange for reduced rates.

File: sup7-tand-g.jpg (68KB, 485x603px) Image search: [Google]

68KB, 485x603px

Also living on a ship's boat for weeks/months at a time would probably drive me insane.

New thread?