The Fifth Frontier War begins in two days
- Thread starter MongooseMatt
- Start date
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Why does anyone make decisions at all, when super genius on a chip is available on demand?
Because it's likely a career-ender. Not only might the chip personality decide you need to be eliminated (low-risk), but you're also saying you are out of your depth and abrogating responsibility to a ghost (high-risk).
That was facetious. I don't find the idea of personality chips like that to be fun or interesting. Or to make a lot of sense, because the thing the person is skilled at isn't likely to be a static field. You'd have someone really good at fighting the last war. Or fixing the old model engines Or whatever.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
Well, I think we're forgetting several main details in the Norris and the Warrant plotline...
1. Player Characters are intimately involved with retrieving the Warrant in CT Adv 1: Kinunir
2. Let's not forget the pretty dire hazards involved in getting it... namely a rogue AI and an asteroid belt full of loose antimatter.
3. The CT supplement/adventure The Spinward Marches Campaign briefly discusses the risks to Norris and his house if his gambit had failed. Because GDW's writing style was pretty minimalist at that time, you have extrapolate just what might have happened if Norris' coup had not worked in several different scenarios. The Spinward Marches Campaign implies very severe political consequences if Norris failed to get the warrant, if Norris' redeployments had been erroneous, if the counterattack at Efate had failed and if the trap at Rhylanor had failed.
CLEARLY, MM wanted an Imperial hero to emerge from the 5FW, a Basileus to Strephon's Justinian. That was fully demonstrated in the follow-on publications in MegaTraveller.
So I remain unconvinced that there was all that much 'deus ex machina' in the 5FW. There is certainly a lot less than Arbellatra's career, and even that is nothing compared to Avery's career.
One last thing to remember:
The GDW board games are not the RPG. Their plot lines are different. The wargame 'Imperium' is not the canon description of the Interstellar Wars, the Fifth Frontier War wargame is not the canon description of the OTU historical incident. MM has made this clear in numerous statements. They provide a combat sim if players want to game out these events, but the randomness of die rolls figure largely in the wargame end results. Those die rolls may swing one way in your playthrough but that has no bearing on the OTU.
1. Player Characters are intimately involved with retrieving the Warrant in CT Adv 1: Kinunir
2. Let's not forget the pretty dire hazards involved in getting it... namely a rogue AI and an asteroid belt full of loose antimatter.
3. The CT supplement/adventure The Spinward Marches Campaign briefly discusses the risks to Norris and his house if his gambit had failed. Because GDW's writing style was pretty minimalist at that time, you have extrapolate just what might have happened if Norris' coup had not worked in several different scenarios. The Spinward Marches Campaign implies very severe political consequences if Norris failed to get the warrant, if Norris' redeployments had been erroneous, if the counterattack at Efate had failed and if the trap at Rhylanor had failed.
CLEARLY, MM wanted an Imperial hero to emerge from the 5FW, a Basileus to Strephon's Justinian. That was fully demonstrated in the follow-on publications in MegaTraveller.
So I remain unconvinced that there was all that much 'deus ex machina' in the 5FW. There is certainly a lot less than Arbellatra's career, and even that is nothing compared to Avery's career.
One last thing to remember:
The GDW board games are not the RPG. Their plot lines are different. The wargame 'Imperium' is not the canon description of the Interstellar Wars, the Fifth Frontier War wargame is not the canon description of the OTU historical incident. MM has made this clear in numerous statements. They provide a combat sim if players want to game out these events, but the randomness of die rolls figure largely in the wargame end results. Those die rolls may swing one way in your playthrough but that has no bearing on the OTU.
Studio Cat
Banded Mongoose
If I may also add, The Kinunir adventure was done very early on in the development of both Traveller the game and the OTU. I doubt that they had thought through the ramifications of the Imperial Warrant or the Fifth Frontier War even occurring at the point in time in which it was written.
OriginalCaruso
Banded Mongoose
Is there space for a “canon knowledge” book?
Imminent...
Talon Greyfeather
Banded Mongoose
Got it!
Thank you!
Commence bombardments
Commence bombardments
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
Interesting, at a very quick first blush. This Norris is less "jowly".
Also no specs for the Zhdits (or any other ships)... if that plays a future role, I should send along what I worked up for the Sky Raiders update so it matches any yet-to-be-released sourcebooks or adventures...
Also no specs for the Zhdits (or any other ships)... if that plays a future role, I should send along what I worked up for the Sky Raiders update so it matches any yet-to-be-released sourcebooks or adventures...
AndrewW
Emperor Mongoose
Imperial, Zhodani and some colonial ships are covered in War Fleets of the FFW.
Studio Cat
Banded Mongoose
Please, please tell me we get stats for a Shivva......
AndrewW
Emperor Mongoose
Sorry, no such luck.
ColinD
Cosmic Mongoose
Is that a chapter or separate book?
It could be different versions of a ship class. There are 4 different flights (I, II, IIA and III) of the Arliegh Burke class destroyer. Flight I comes in at 8300 tons, while Flight III comes in at 9700 tons.
It may be ok that the authors have somewhat different implementations of a ship class to meet their needs. I’ll agree to being nervous if they’re not communicating with each other at all. Different flights of a ship class should have some reasonable level of similarities.
No, that will be getting it wrong - FFW and Ware Fleets were written by the same author (Martin is a busy beaver!).
