Ask MongooseMatt ANYTHING!!!

[Terry Mixon]

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.

 

[CordwainerFish]

PROTIP: ALWAYS go about like you're on your way to do something, ALWAYS have a manual in your possession, and ALWAYS look busy and distracted even if you're not. Or else the poor sucker who got stuck with 'that job' will be YOU.

They probably won't order you to paint the hull during jump. Probably.

 

[Galadrion]

They probably won't order you to paint the hull during jump. Probably.

Unless you've done something that embarrassed your petty officer. In which case, all bets are off.

 

[MongooseMatt]

So how are things looking for The Relief of Novy Kyiv? End of the month?

Looking good!

 

[Arkathan]

EVERY spacehand has 'housekeeping' work available at all times. Maintenance, cleaning, painting, classes, briefings, 'dog and ponii' shows, there is always plenty for the spacer with time on their hands to do...

[PROTIP: ALWAYS go about like you're on your way to do something, ALWAYS have a manual in your possession, and ALWAYS look busy and distracted even if you're not. Or else the poor sucker who got stuck with 'that job' will be YOU.]

Facts.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Reckon the State of the Mongoose is just around the corner?

 

[Terry Mixon]

A new one for you, @MongooseMatt. Element Class Cruisers is pre-22 High Guard Update. The new rules make no allowances for pods. Are they still acceptable as standalone rules? Are the invalidated because High Guard no longer includes them? Is this a vague squishy area where you quietly intone "It is as the gods will."?

As you are consolidating rules for the rules compendium, even though this is High Guard stuff, if they are valid but won't be in the new High Guard Update @paltrysum is overseeing, can @Geir add them to the new compendium? I've reverse engineered how to build my own (both hard mounted and attached by docking clamps) but having official rules in the current iteration would be nice.

I'm a believer that old rules that aren't explicitly stated in the current ruleset aren't valid anymore, but on the flip side, Element Class Cruisers is still on sale and will likely remain that way, so the rules should be codified in either the High Guard Update (preferably) or the new rules compendium. At this time, it has one foot in both editions.

 

[Uqbarian]

Not sure if this is a good place to ask, but are there any plans to release Pirates of Drinax on Roll20?

 

[hopsnbaer]

Not sure if this is a good place to ask, but are there any plans to release Pirates of Drinax on Roll20?

I would ask Coryphon here - https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/roll20-compendium.125602/

 

[MongooseMatt]

Reckon the State of the Mongoose is just around the corner?

I do so reckon...

 

[MongooseMatt]

A new one for you, @MongooseMatt. Element Class Cruisers is pre-22 High Guard Update. The new rules make no allowances for pods. Are they still acceptable as standalone rules? Are the invalidated because High Guard no longer includes them? Is this a vague squishy area where you quietly intone "It is as the gods will."?

They are still useable, if not replicable with the current rules so yes, they are still valid.

If you need some justification for this (and, indeed, this goes for any ship done between Updates), assume that not every ship in Charted Space is built the same way; different shipyards, different technologies, different processes... I would, incidentally, like to replicate that in the rules - but I think madness would lie that way (not to mention a 400 page High Guard!).

So yes, differences between ships are just fine within the context of a canonical Charted Space.

 

[MasterGwydion]

They are still useable, if not replicable with the current rules so yes, they are still valid.

If you need some justification for this (and, indeed, this goes for any ship done between Updates), assume that not every ship in Charted Space is built the same way; different shipyards, different technologies, different processes... I would, incidentally, like to replicate that in the rules - but I think madness would lie that way (not to mention a 400 page High Guard!).

So yes, differences between ships are just fine within the context of a canonical Charted Space.

So, in other words, the rules don't matter just make everything up as you go? You just said that there is no way to violate the rules and it not be Canon. So, that means We can have TL-9 warp drives and TL-9 Disintegrators in the OTU?

Madness lies in the direction of not having rules. Here is a question. Why would you need a 400-page High Guard? Quit adding more stuff that isn't needed. How many different types of M-drive are there? Why not make all docking facilities the same entry? Docking Bay, Full Hangar, and Docking Facility? Make them the same price, just allow their size to be 110%, 200%, or 300% of the ship size. Make the price per ton the same. Keep the difference in capabilities (110% is the minimum space for a ship being docked internally but doesn't allow you to do much. 200% is the minimum needs to perform repairs and maintenance on the ship. 300% is the minimum needed to use as a commercial cargo bay.) Now it is 1 entry and takes up less space than those three entries individually.

Do this with everything. Make Pods, Modules, Drop Tanks, etc. all variations of the same thing. If you come out with new components in every new book, of course you are going to eventually have an unwieldly mess. So, stop doing that. Keep all of the components in High Guard. Put new ships designs in all of the other books (and follow the ship construction rules).

 

[shirgall]

So, in other words, the rules don't matter just make everything up as you go? You just said that there is no way to violate the rules and it not be Canon. So, that means We can have TL-9 warp drives and TL-9 Disintegrators in the OTU?

Madness lies in the direction of not having rules. Here is a question. Why would you need a 400-page High Guard? Quit adding more stuff that isn't needed. How many different types of M-drive are there? Why not make all docking facilities the same entry? Docking Bay, Full Hangar, and Docking Facility? Make them the same price, just allow their size to be 110%, 200%, or 300% of the ship size. Make the price per ton the same. Keep the difference in capabilities (110% is the minimum space for a ship being docked internally but doesn't allow you to do much. 200% is the minimum needs to perform repairs and maintenance on the ship. 300% is the minimum needed to use as a commercial cargo bay.) Now it is 1 entry and takes up less space than those three entries individually.

Do this with everything. Make Pods, Modules, Drop Tanks, etc. all variations of the same thing. If you come out with new components in every new book, of course you are going to eventually have an unwieldly mess. So, stop doing that. Keep all of the components in High Guard. Put new ships designs in all of the other books (and follow the ship construction rules).

No contradiction. Go back to page 4 and re-read "Rule Zero".

 

[MasterGwydion]

No contradiction. Go back to page 4 and re-read "Rule Zero".

Rule Zero is for the end user of the product, not the writers. How many times does this need to be explained?

 

[hopsnbaer]

Traveller is not a Sim or a War Game the details don't matter as much to me. It is a system to tell cool stories and while as a player I do like to have rules and structure that makes sense. As long as the GM is consistent, I am satisfied.

As a GM I look at the rules and ask myself if that specific rule messes up my story. Most of the time it makes no difference.

 

[shirgall]

Rule Zero is for the end user of the product, not the writers. How many times does this need to be explained?

It doesn't need to be explained because everyone that *uses* the product is a end user. How many adventures revolve around an innovation that would change the setting? I introduce stuff that is experimental with concomitant peril all the time. Why are the writers forbidden from such innovation?

 

[Arkathan]

It doesn't need to be explained because everyone that *uses* the product is a end user. How many adventures revolve around an innovation that would change the setting? I introduce stuff that is experimental with concomitant peril all the time. Why are the writers forbidden from such innovation?

Writers breaking the rules makes the broken rule official. This causes confusion, especially when the breakage is not well documented/codified. Writers making ships that do not follow the rules, while not simultaneously adding a new rule, is frustrating. Adding the new rule across multiple sources makes searching for them tedious (and expensive).
The pod rule could be condensed to little more than a small paragraph. The same is true for many of the variants of other systems spread across numerous tomes.

 

[hopsnbaer]

Writers breaking the rules makes the broken rule official. This causes confusion, especially when the breakage is not well documented/codified. Writers making ships that do not follow the rules, while not simultaneously adding a new rule, is frustrating. Adding the new rule across multiple sources makes searching for them tedious (and expensive).
The pod rule could be condensed to little more than a small paragraph. The same is true for many of the variants of other systems spread across numerous tomes.

On the other hand, I can see how random rule changes would mess you in particular up. Thanks for your work.

 

[shirgall]

Writers breaking the rules makes the broken rule official. This causes confusion, especially when the breakage is not well documented/codified. Writers making ships that do not follow the rules, while not simultaneously adding a new rule, is frustrating. Adding the new rule across multiple sources makes searching for them tedious (and expensive).
The pod rule could be condensed to little more than a small paragraph. The same is true for many of the variants of other systems spread across numerous tomes.

I don't deny the confusion. I do expect the Core Rules / High Guard to be internally consistent, but I do recognize some license when it comes to an adventure or a campaign. "Element Class Cruisers" is in a purgatory between the two, which doesn't help.

 

[MasterGwydion]

It doesn't need to be explained because everyone that *uses* the product is a end user. How many adventures revolve around an innovation that would change the setting? I introduce stuff that is experimental with concomitant peril all the time. Why are the writers forbidden from such innovation?

Mongoose is not an end-user. They are the Creator.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I don't deny the confusion. I do expect the Core Rules / High Guard to be internally consistent, but I do recognize some license when it comes to an adventure or a campaign. "Element Class Cruisers" is in a purgatory between the two, which doesn't help.

I don't recognize that difference for one very simple reason. You have then allowed something designed only for that adventure to now be a part of the general rules of the game. Writers of Adventures and Writers of Campaigns should not be allowed to write rules. That is for rule books and the Writers of Rulebooks.