Ask MongooseMatt ANYTHING!!!

[Terry Mixon]

Summary of questions asked and @MongooseMatt's (or someone else officially with Mongoose)'s response to them:

1. Is the MCr1 price of an emergency low berth in High Guard 2022 Update a typo? Previous editions call for KCr100.

[Status May 13, 2025: Answered]

[From @paltrysum: Not a typo as it has been MCr1 since Mongoose 2e in 2016 but as 1e and CT has it as KCr100 it might be updated.]

2. Will Mongoose consider using KCr, BCr, TCr, and commas ( or anything, really) separation to make large numbers readable?

[Status May 6, 2025: Answered]

[From @MongooseMatt: They are considering KCr and BCr may have already been used.]

3. Why persist with a hydrogen filled jump bubble when: 1. it is based on very dodgy fanon and 2. it is contradicted by collectors and batteries in both the setting and the High Guard rules themselves.

[Status May 10, 2025: Answered]

[From @MongooseMatt: Mongoose wishes to leave these details up to referees without further clarification.]

4. Are single occupancy staterooms the default in Mongoose Traveller or double occupancy? Do the leaders (officers) go single or are they also double occupancy?

[Status May 10, 2025: Answered]

[From @MongooseMatt: There is no default assumption for staterooms. Some high ranking officers will be in singles (captain, executive officer, chief engineer?) and the rest will double up.]

5. Regarding the Telepath or Clairvoyance Psionic powers:

Can a Telepath or Clairvoyant project an image into a mechanical device?

[Status May12, 2025: Answered]

[From @MongooseMatt: As it stands, no. However, it is not beyond the possible that someone, somewhere in Charted Space, has figured out how to do this.]

—-

Okay, not really anything, but when we post questions about the rules or potential typos in the feedback area, we often don't receive a response, so I'm creating this thread in the hopes of getting some response to questions we have, even if it is "we're looking at that" or some such.

I'll kick this off with a question I posted a few days ago. The emergency low berths in High Guard 2022 Update are listed at MC1 a pop. Seems real pricy since Mongoose 1e and all the previous versions of Traveller we checked had it being KCr100. In Mongoose 1e, it was listed as MCr.1 and we suspect a typo. Can we get some clartity on that so we can update the starship build sheet to reflect what we suspect if we're right? Thanks.

Also, allow me to suggest that adding KCr, BCr (or GCr to please @Geir), and TCr to your repertoire would be really helpful and would minimize the complaints about not having comma separation in your big numbers, too.

And sorry for all the wild AMA questions you're about to get @MongooseMatt.

 

[MasterGwydion]

The crew of the Serenity had money problems because they were a bunch of screwups of low enough repute (partly because of their money problems) to not be competitive in the lucrative core worlds and in a state of diffident spaceworthiness (largely because of their money problems), and kept running into the consequences of their prior dubious actions (which they got into in ill-advised attempts to get out of their money problems). Shouldn't be hard for a referee to lock players into that position without obviously having their thumb on the scales.

I loved Firefly, but they were essentially the luckiest morons in space. So yeah, they were always broke and had bad reputations among the other shady types, making finding work nearly impossible, as well as having a captain and first officer on the ship who were considered traitors by the winning side. Not to mention having the most wanted person in the whole universe on their boat.

 

[Condottiere]

Creative solutions can mitigate financial squeezes.

But, starships tend to be money pits.

 

[rinku]

Creative solutions can mitigate financial squeezes.

But, starships tend to be money pits.

Now I want Space Scrooge McDuck.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[paltrysum]

Summary of questions asked and @MongooseMatt's (or someone else officially with Mongoose)'s response to them:

1. Is the MCr1 price of an emergency low berth in High Guard 2022 Update a typo? Previous editions call for KCr100.

Not a typo as far as I can see, but we should consider revising it. Here it is in the 2016 edition:



One million of your hard-earned Credits, then and now. However, looking back at Classic Traveller Book 5, it was Cr100,000.

 

[Condottiere]

Check the size of the battery pack.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Not a typo as far as I can see, but we should consider revising it. Here it is in the 2016 edition:

View attachment 4850

One million of your hard-earned Credits, then and now. However, looking back at Classic Traveller Book 5, it was Cr100,000.

Thanks for looking. Someone else has said it was different, but I didn’t have have book.

I made robotic variants that were 1/10 the cost so KCr100 seems more realistic. MixCorp AutoBerths! Saving lives and money!

 

[WHULorigan]

I made robotic variants that were 1/10 the cost so KCr100 seems more realistic. MixCorp AutoBerths! Saving lives and money!

Saving lives and money! @ 1/10 the cost! . . . and @ 1/10 the rated number of passengers and crew aboard the TGS Gigantic:
"After all, we'll never use them anyway; if we run into trouble, we'll just abandon ship on the lifeboats . . . "

 

[boggo2300]

Thanks for looking. Someone else has said it was different, but I didn’t have have book.

I made robotic variants that were 1/10 the cost so KCr100 seems more realistic. MixCorp AutoBerths! Saving lives and money!

I believe it was Cr.100,000 right up until TNE, I don't know if anyone checked MgT 1e

 

[Terry Mixon]

I believe it was Cr.100,000 right up until TNE, I don't know if anyone checked MgT 1e

The quote above was from Mongoose 1e. I suspect price fixing by a corrupt megacorporation is to blame.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Saving lives and money! @ 1/10 the cost! . . . and 1/10 the rated number of passengers and crew aboard the TGS Gigantic:
"After all, we'll never use them anyway; if we run into trouble, we'll just abandon ship on the lifeboats . . . "

They will prove useful in making my life pods more cost effective for sure.

 

[boggo2300]

The quote above was from Mongoose 1e. I suspect price fixing by a corrupt megacorporation is to blame.

no it's from 2016 says in the message so thats 2e

 

[Terry Mixon]

no it's from 2016 says in the message so thats 2e

Ah. I misunderstood. I’m new to Mongoose, relatively speaking.

EDIT: Found this is the core rulebook with a copyright date of 2008, so that would be 1e, right @paltrysum? Until I know for sure, I’ll keep the question as being researched.

 

[AndrewW]

Ah. I misunderstood. I’m new to Mongoose, relatively speaking. Can anyone find the 1e version to see and maybe paste the text?

1st edition Mongoose Core Rulebook: (Page: 110)

Low-Passage Berths
Emergency low berths are also available; they will not carry passengers, but can be used for survival. Each costs Cr. 100,000 and displaces one ton. Each holds four persons.

 

[Grognardia]

Ah. I misunderstood. I’m new to Mongoose, relatively speaking.

EDIT: Found this is the core rulebook with a copyright date of 2008, so that would be 1e, right @paltrysum?

View attachment 4852

I checked the prices for a Low Berth (not Emergency Low Berths)

It was Cr50,000 in Classic Traveller Book 2 (Starships), T20 Traveller, and The New Era.
Mongoose 1st Edition and Marc Miller’s Traveller (T4) both priced it at MCr0.05 (50,000 credits).
Traveller5 listed it at MCr0.1 (100,000 credits).

So normal Low Berths have always been between Cr50,000 and Cr100,000 before.

 

[Terry Mixon]

I checked the prices for a Low Berth (not Emergency Low Berths)

It was Cr50,000 in Classic Traveller Book 2 (Starships), T20 Traveller, and The New Era.
Mongoose 1st Edition and Marc Miller’s Traveller (T4) both priced it at MCr0.05 (50,000 credits).
Traveller5 listed it at MCr0.1 (100,000 credits).

So normal Low Berths have always been between Cr50,000 and Cr100,000 before.

Yeah, the low berths have the same price. It’s the emergency version that bumped up x10. Looks like it happened when 2e came out as I tracked down the 1e core rulebook and it was KCr100 there.

 

[Terry Mixon]

1st edition Mongoose Core Rulebook: (Page: 110)

Thank you. Yep. Looked like it somehow went up by 1000% with 2e.

 

[Geir]

Thank you. Yep. Looked like it somehow went up by 1000% with 2e.

Yeah, but now they come with cup holders plus free wifi and beverage service.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Yeah, but now they come with cup holders plus free wifi and beverage service.

Worth the upgrade for sure.

 

[Condottiere]

Track down the author, and shake the explanation loose from him.

It may have been part of the nominal twenty five percent change, that reboots generally need to incorporate from previous iterations.