Combat in Traveller: some tactical principles

[IanBruntlett]

Streetwise would tell you how law enforcement officers would react under certain conditions, Administration how to interact with the desk sergeant at the station, and Liaison how to schmooze with the Police Commissioner.

I can't find a "Liaison" skill in the CRB 2016. There is a "Diplomat" skill, though.

 

[Condottiere]

I wonder, if, like in Star Trek, every edition needs to be twenty five percent different from the previous one.

 

[CordwainerFish]

Streetwise tells you how many credits to fold inside your passport as you tell the police officer "I really hope you could just let me off with a warning this time"

Heh, I just reread Heinlein's Friday, where slipping the appropriate squeeze in your passport when you go through CHI is just how things are done.

 

[Condottiere]

I'm pretty sure it was Michener's The Source, where I was introduced to the concept of baksheesh.

It remains one of my favourite words.

 

[swordtart]

Oh. So it's pretty much a remake of Fist Full of Dollars?

Which is itself a remake of course.

 

[shirgall]

Streetwise and Broker are relevant, too, and scale in difficulty with law level, I was not being exclusive. Many kinds of things with those skills are independent of law level so I didn't want to muddy the waters.

 

[Condottiere]

Reconnaissance, to figure out what's over the hill, and around the corner.

 

[Galadrion]

I'm pretty sure it was Michener's The Source, where I was introduced to the concept of baksheesh.

It remains one of my favourite words.

Huh. I first encountered it in Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad. Not that the concept was new even then; the word itself was in fact from Middle Persian - not exactly a modern language.

 

[Condottiere]

The more exact modern analogue, at least at the higher strata, would be campaign contribution.

I had to read Huck Finn in secondary literature, it did not endear Mark Twain's literary style to me, so I didn't venture into his other works.