Recent content by PeterDebney

I would agree that you should not increase the mass, but rather increase the size. But to what? I note that the sun (G2V) is predicted to become a red giant, but if size TBC. I don’t have the book to hand but I would say that, in principle, if your main sequence star is too old to remain in the...

This is the section from the World Builder Manual about jumping into “empty” hexes: ——- JUMPING TO ‘EMPTY’ HEXES Jumping to hexes not marked as containing star systems is risky. Even if a large gravitational anchor such as a white or brown dwarf is present, a jump is more hazardous than normal...

For extra (real world) complexity: there is no consistent time between different systems. It is relative to the local gravity gradient and how fast you are going. Also, remember that speed is also not absolute but relative to something else. So your speed relative to the planet you have left is...

For extra (real world) complexity: there is no consistent time between different systems. It is relative to the local gravity gradient and how fast you are going. For extra complexity, remember that speed is also not absolute but relative to something else. So your speed relative to the planet...

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In The Anarchy, a history of the East India Company, it talks about their first trading mission (at about 1603) to buy spices from the East Indies (ie Indonesia etc) and bring them back to England. They were “chased off” by the Dutch East India Company, so to ensure that they still made a profit...

Yep, in the case of the Earth a 4 hour variation in time is a 34D variation in distance. And planets in higher orbits will be travelling faster.

I wonder: how about not allowing the characters to know that they failed the roll, but discover too late when they emerge somewhere else…?

I don’t have access to the 2300 rules. How do they fit into the Traveller Tech Levels? Would they be a good basis for lower-TL craft?

I would love to see Aliens of Charted Space vol 1 updated as there are quite a few glitches and bugs in there. Or is the new Clans of Aslan book part 1 of the incremental replacement?

Not only that but, if you are detecting anything from 1 parsec away, that information is 3.5 years old. At least space is mostly empty, so even a large star’s 100d sphere will be difficult to hit unless you are jumping into that system and not just passing though. Ultimately it is just a game...

This is all totally correct. To add to it: Air travel is constrained by shortest paths and avoidance of war zones, constantly guided by air traffic control, because our skies are reasonably crowded. While shipping lanes are restricted by islands and shoals, in the open ocean they just take the...

IMHO empty is relative. Our own asteroid belt is far from empty, but it looks nothing like the Star Wars version. If we pass through the asteroid we would be lucky to see even a single asteroid. Out in the Oort Cloud it is even sparser. In interstellar space there are rogue planets (ejected from...

There is another old rule (from Arthur C Clarke if memory serves…), which is that any technology that is sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. I think that he also allowed one item of fantasy in all his hard-sf stories. We are trying to understand TL 12 to 15 technology with our...

There’s a lot of discussion about the merits of using pulse lasers over beam. They certainly cause more damage, but only if they hit. So how much more damage are they likely to cause over multiple rounds? First of all, what are the chances of 2D equalling or exceeding a particular score: 2+...