FTL Communication?

[GypsyComet]

Okay, so you DON'T ignore rule changes updating the tech of the 50-70's in Trav. as you advise others to do.

If you can find where I advised others to ignore rules, please quote it.

 

[Meanderer]

Traveller in the 3I setting, and that's the three or four decade iconic one now, has always been flavored with the trappings of an Age of Sail. You didn't see it? Long lonely voyages between ports of call at ports that run from nothing to Andre's Fill It Yerself to Ports of the Galaxy plus pirates and miners looking for the motherload and space battles between barrages of energy cannons to trading with the natives in exotic locales a few cosmic klicks from the boom town colony of the region. Can't think of any other sci fi game that combines those elements without being an actual AoS game. Taking the communication by the Speed of Ship munchkins the game into something it was not. Ever notice the jump torpedo never went beyond the one adventure? It was just wrong.

It was part of the beauty of the system. A universe where you can outrun your past, or travel to someplace considerably different than the world you are on. The slow spread of information and culture as well as technology makes each world essentially its own bubble with varying degree of influences from outside (depending how much they are on the major trade routes).

The speed of communication must remain as fast as a ship can travel or you don't get the Traveller universe. That said, I don't see how a jump torpedo changes this. If it offered a cheaper way of communicating than the x-boat system it would impact how information and culture have spread - but it doesn't. It takes as much time to spool up the engine, it's jump capability is not any more than can be obtained in a 100 ton ship (you can build a jump 6 express boat at TL 15) and it averages greater cost per jump (as the starship is reuseable). It arrives at it's destination system (hopefully) and someone picks up its beacon to come and retrieve the data (hopefully) so the distress call (because what else is so important to waste such an expensive bit of technology) can be heard by someone and (hopefully) passed on to the government or your sponsoring corporation (again hopefully). Being able to send a starship with a crew to deliver the message would be sooooo much more reliable. And if two or more jumps is needed to get back to civilization the jump torpedo will fall short (burning out after one jump) while a second starship can refuel and keep going.

And even if you turn to a jump torpedo instead of having a second starship along who can go for help, it still takes the same week in jumpspace for the torpedo to get anywhere. FTL communication - yes, but that is already in the game. Hop on a subsidized liner and travel in one week a distance that will take several years for light to travel.

The torpedo was a cool gimmick which deserves its place in the universe. Most likely occurring as an object found by the players out on the frontier. They receive a distress call with a lot of the data missing. What do they do? Do they try to take this to the offices of the company to pass on the message (and hope for a reward) or do they travel to the system the torpedo was sent from to investigate what happened to the ship that sent it and look for survivors or salvage?

Or something cryptic, such as a name and location on a piece of paper and a key. Certain not to be lost to electromagnetic interference, but why? Why is the key so important that an unreliable communication method - the torpedo - was used to send it instead of the sender making the trip him/herself? Something of value accessible with the key, but what and where? And when they start asking questions will this attract the attention of others who know what is hidden and are eager to find it?

Such things adventures are made of.