Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Yet another ridiculous rule I’ll ignore.I think it originated in Tee/Five.
It migrated over to Mongoose.
That's why we need that index, to pin down the exact refence book and page.
Yet another ridiculous rule I’ll ignore.I think it originated in Tee/Five.
It migrated over to Mongoose.
That's why we need that index, to pin down the exact refence book and page.
Combine a ram scoop (high guard version) and a reaction drive… If you want to kill a planet’s biosphere you can at TL7.If I understand it correctly, it's a low level gravity well generator.
Try combining that with orbital ranged manoeuvre drive.
I feel like it is older than that, because I didn't buy T5 until after I involved in MgT2e. But it was probably fan theory prior? Like the sophont sentience rule. But, regardless, neither of those rules help make the game better, imho. So they go bye-bye.T5 introduced it, but specifically had a number of different drive options you could use instead. I don't know details on them though, so I don't know what they did, so I don't know if the m-drive nerf was meant to so drastic or if it was expected that obtaining these other drives was reasonable
Yeah... I ignore those rules too.I feel like it is older than that, because I didn't buy T5 until after I involved in MgT2e. But it was probably fan theory prior? Like the sophont sentience rule. But, regardless, neither of those rules help make the game better, imho. So they go bye-bye.
It is older than that, much older. I have a vague memory of it being in the Q&A of a Digest or Journal - a DGPism to explain why MT had grav drives and thruster plates as m-drives, or some such, I will go and check. It may have reared its ugly head in T4 but I will get back to you on that one too (a cut off at 2000AU is mentioned in FF&SII)I feel like it is older than that, because I didn't buy T5 until after I involved in MgT2e. But it was probably fan theory prior? Like the sophont sentience rule. But, regardless, neither of those rules help make the game better, imho. So they go bye-bye.
There is no example of it in Traveller canon until introduced in a MgT supplement, why is was then fanonised into canon by others is beyond me. There is, just for a change, actual canon to contradict it in the Third Imperium setting.I happen to be firmly on the side of requiring sophonts for ships. It's silly of course, but I have no interest in the robot handbook, or in any significant level of automation on ships.
Very Advanced and Self-Aware Brains can operate outside of their programming, including adjusting to things that they are not programmed for, even developing skills on their own if they have the available bandwidth.As long as you don't play your robots as slave sentiences like the Star Wars droids, there's lots of reasons to have humans on interstellar ships. Namely the ability to react to unusual circumstances or deal with things they aren't programmed for.
I love robots in general, so I have them everywhere in high tech societies, unless they wouldn't be for social reasons. Although, once the Virus hits, well, *starts singing* "When the walls, come tumbling down..." lolNot to mention the Vilani already lived through their skynet phase and don't want to do that again.
I was leafing through the original SOM earlier hunting for references for a few wiki pages (adding proper citations and sources to it is a constant battle!), and the M-Drive section does actually mention something somewhat like it, but with a very important caveat. Relevant section reproduced below, from page 2 of the original SOM:It is older than that, much older. I have a vague memory of it being in the Q&A of a Digest or Journal - a DGPism to explain why MT had grav drives and thruster plates as m-drives, or some such, I will go and check. It may have reared its ugly head in T4 but I will get back to you on that one too (a cut off at 2000AU is mentioned in FF&SII)
So back then, what the original SOM terms 'gravitic propulsion' is what T5 would understand as the M-Drive, and the actual Thruster Plates/M-Drive is a genuine reactionless system unfettered by any such limitations.Eventually, most races begin using gravitic propulsion for thrust within a star's gravity well. Beyond the strong pull of gravity, however, drives of this type rapidly drop off in efficiency, limiting their ability to propel a ship in the outer reaches of the local star system.
For missions outside of the local star system, many advanced cultures have employed ramjets. Craft of this nature rely on a vast electromagnetic "funnel" to gather the scattered atoms of hydrogen adrift in interstellar space for use as fuel in their fusion drives.
Upon reaching tech level 11, breakthroughs in quantum physics lead to reactionless thruster plates. Faster and more efficient than gravitic propulsion systems, thruster plates represent the most modern form of slower-than-light transportation available to any known race.
On that note, I'm not a super fan of the "Jump is a straight line through real space" concept because it adds nothing to the game. There's no way to actually track that on an interstellar level. There's not even really any meaningful way to do so on a star system level. So its just like this fact that exists that I guess you can use to explain some kinds of misjumps? But in game mechanics, you are going to misjump from engine problems. The astrogation roll is just a help for the engineer's roll.
There's a lot of words invested in the idea you might accidentally hit some planet or star but no mechanics for actually doing so. Misjumps are nearly impossible now that they effectively got rid of unrefined fuel and annual maintenance.