I'll be the first to admit that I think the Traveller TL system is excessive granular and doesn't make a lot of sense in a setting that claims interstellar trade is as easy as modern intercontinental trade. I only use about 7 TLs personally. "Early space", "standard space", and "advanced space" is granular enough for me. So I would certainly be fine just ditching the TL modifiers in the system completely. But there are quite a few of them in High Guard. Stealth, Missile Tracking, general offensive and defensive DMs, etc.
First, the idea that building something with the functionality of a TL 12 system at a TL 15 shipyard does not mean it its being built using TL 12 methods or even built on that world. They are importing the parts from Space Vietnam or they are fabbing them in their universal widget maker. And they are doing that because this is an imperial standard design that is used across the empire and no one needs to pay for an iphone 10 when all they are doing is making basic phone calls.
Second, this is a game. I like my games to make sense, but I much prefer them to be playable. And tracking the homeworld tech of every free trader and whether it can be repaired at this world or that world is not particularly interesting or fun. Especially since, at worst, it just means I have to pay extra to have the part shipped to where I am.
I want mechanics that make the game more fun. Which is obviously subjective. In this case, I would like the computer thing changed because I think the bandwidth mechanic is overly restrictive (aka unfun) and doesn't make a lot of sense if you dive into it. I do not want to replace it with fire, fusion, and steel where every system in the ship has its own TL table for cost/size/etc. I want a nice easy rating for how sophisticated the overall system of the ship is. And a mechanic that offloads the effects of current software into system upgrades. Similar to how sensors work now.
Sensors are rated by the TL of the ship. And then they have modifiers to that baseline performance. Basic/Civilian/Military/Improved/Advanced and a bunch of other toys you can buy for special options. No software involved (unless you count the space battle EW stuff). That would be my ideal for fire control (which is 90% of the software programs
) and the autopilot stuff like evade. You have Piloting controls Basic/Civilian/Military/Improved/Advanced with an associated evade or maneuver modifier. Done.
But there's a lot more to the ship that than and I would like a simple system for rating the sophistication of the overall ship's operating system. There's 7 models of computer in the game and there's 7 TLs of space interstellar ships and existing rules for TL differences when doing things like hacking and whatnot. So that seemed like a pretty straightforward way to achieve what I wanted with the benefit of not requiring rewriting all the basic ships out there.
I'm only using TL-equivalency because that's consistent with the existing modifiers and I don't feel inclined to worry about renaming existing modifiers in a brainstorming session.
First, the idea that building something with the functionality of a TL 12 system at a TL 15 shipyard does not mean it its being built using TL 12 methods or even built on that world. They are importing the parts from Space Vietnam or they are fabbing them in their universal widget maker. And they are doing that because this is an imperial standard design that is used across the empire and no one needs to pay for an iphone 10 when all they are doing is making basic phone calls.
Second, this is a game. I like my games to make sense, but I much prefer them to be playable. And tracking the homeworld tech of every free trader and whether it can be repaired at this world or that world is not particularly interesting or fun. Especially since, at worst, it just means I have to pay extra to have the part shipped to where I am.
I want mechanics that make the game more fun. Which is obviously subjective. In this case, I would like the computer thing changed because I think the bandwidth mechanic is overly restrictive (aka unfun) and doesn't make a lot of sense if you dive into it. I do not want to replace it with fire, fusion, and steel where every system in the ship has its own TL table for cost/size/etc. I want a nice easy rating for how sophisticated the overall system of the ship is. And a mechanic that offloads the effects of current software into system upgrades. Similar to how sensors work now.
Sensors are rated by the TL of the ship. And then they have modifiers to that baseline performance. Basic/Civilian/Military/Improved/Advanced and a bunch of other toys you can buy for special options. No software involved (unless you count the space battle EW stuff). That would be my ideal for fire control (which is 90% of the software programs
) and the autopilot stuff like evade. You have Piloting controls Basic/Civilian/Military/Improved/Advanced with an associated evade or maneuver modifier. Done.But there's a lot more to the ship that than and I would like a simple system for rating the sophistication of the overall ship's operating system. There's 7 models of computer in the game and there's 7 TLs of space interstellar ships and existing rules for TL differences when doing things like hacking and whatnot. So that seemed like a pretty straightforward way to achieve what I wanted with the benefit of not requiring rewriting all the basic ships out there.
I'm only using TL-equivalency because that's consistent with the existing modifiers and I don't feel inclined to worry about renaming existing modifiers in a brainstorming session.
