What would you like to see?

[NOLATrav]

+1 for Robots, especially if integrated into Drone / Vehicle design.

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Greetings,
I’m a sucker for “a detailed look at X” where x can be anything, a ship, air/raft, snub pistol, a particular vacc suit model...

The Ghalalk used to be just another cruiser to me, until the Element box came and brought it to life with detailed deckplans and a full book describing it in detail, so now it’s become something of a favorite capital ship.

Detailed plans, pictures, cutaway drawings, descriptions, stat blocks, preferably some quirks and trivia, basically stuff that transforms an item from just a stat block into a “living, real” object ready to interact with.

Sure, details are easy to make up along the way, but the more info I have before I make something up myself, the better

I mean, sure I can decide that there’s a survival kit under each seat in an air/raft and that there a semi-hidden compartment in the door that just happens to fit an SMG, but the more I have before deploying an item ingame, the larger the chance to use that particular item above other similar ones.



Another thing I’d love to see (kinda related to the above) is a CSC/vehicle handbook-heavy supplement for the imperial marines. There are some great resources about them already within JTAS and Element box, but not so much in the stat and detail areas.

What models of battledress do they use? Are there any standard or typical slot loadouts? What kinds of APCs, support vehicles and tanks do they use? Perhaps throw in a high guard section as well, with dropships and troop transports?

This could be a single supplement, or a series of “detailed look at..” titles Perhaps something like the scout equipment and vehicles articles from JTAS 5 and 6?

 

[G. K. Zhukov]

"Vanguard" reborn, or any sort of skirmish miniatures game based on Snapshot or Azhanti High Lightning.

I'd love to get new 28mm Traveller minis, especially hard to find aliens like Aslan, K'kree, Droyne and Hivers (though I have to admit I did not enjoy the helmets of the Imperial Marines in Battle Dress that were previewed during the failed KS).

 

[locarno24]

Greetings,

Another thing I’d love to see (kinda related to the above) is a CSC/vehicle handbook-heavy supplement for the imperial marines. There are some great resources about them already within JTAS and Element box, but not so much in the stat and detail areas.

What models of battledress do they use? Are there any standard or typical slot loadouts? What kinds of APCs, support vehicles and tanks do they use? Perhaps throw in a high guard section as well, with dropships and troop transports?

Something akin to the Naval campaign(s) could be awesome; a bunch of missions from the perspective of an imperial marine section, complete with appropriate detailed looks at their wargear.

I can imagine a few "basic training" scenarios to start with, plus a few combat-armour-and-rifle operations leading up to the first full-court battledress-and-PGMP shootout.

 

[locarno24]

Greetings,

Another thing I’d love to see (kinda related to the above) is a CSC/vehicle handbook-heavy supplement for the imperial marines. There are some great resources about them already within JTAS and Element box, but not so much in the stat and detail areas.

What models of battledress do they use? Are there any standard or typical slot loadouts? What kinds of APCs, support vehicles and tanks do they use? Perhaps throw in a high guard section as well, with dropships and troop transports?

Something akin to the Naval campaign(s) could be awesome; a bunch of missions from the perspective of an imperial marine section, complete with appropriate detailed looks at their wargear.

I can imagine a few "basic training" scenarios to start with, plus a few combat-armour-and-rifle operations leading up to the first full-court battledress-and-PGMP shootout.

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Hm, kinda like Mercenary meets Naval Campaign Sourcebook meets Imperial Marines? Yes, that’d be great!

 

[Sigtrygg]

Can you at least get their name right - Imperial Star Marines according to MWM (JTAS, AotI and interviews). Also they are not a stand alone service they are part of the Imperial Navy (think UK Royal Marines rather than USMC).

But yes, such a supplement, tied in with Vanguard and usable deckplans would be great.

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

The Imperial Marine Corps was originally formed as an adjunct to the naval forces but has developed into a complete combat service in its own right.

 

[locarno24]

I'd imagine something more akin to the generic tile deckplans would be more useful for a marine campaign;

2d plans for a free trader or scout or whatever is nice but when you're attacking a station or capital ship or whatever it's far more likely you'd play out a 'scene' where there's a shootout in a given compartment then move on than try to maintain a useful combat-level map for a complete tens- or hundreds-of-thousands of dTons warship.

The Imperial Marine Corps was originally formed as an adjunct to the naval forces but has developed into a complete combat service in its own right.

Is there any context elsewhere in the article as to what that statement is intended to mean? - taking Sigtrygg's examples, both the UK Corps of Royal Marines (A branch of the Royal Navy) and the USMC (a branch of the Department of the Navy) are actually both services 'nested' inside their parent fleet - they recruit directly and don't trade personnel in and out much, but they're still legally a component element of their respective national navy.

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

The example task force presented here is on wartime deployment as a significant combat force. It is light on administrative and support capabilities as these are provided by higher echelon formations or the Imperial Navy

Sounds like they’re still part of the navy.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The Imperial Marine Corps was originally formed as an adjunct to the naval forces but has developed into a complete combat service in its own right.

I would think the writings of Marc Miller trump Mongoose authorial lack of research and knowledge of the OTU. Come to think of it it also has to trump Loren's version of Imperial Marines since it was Loren who wrote the original JTAS article. Perhaps this is the long sought point of departure from the OTU and the GT:ATU?

Marc has always referred to the marines of the Third Imperium as Imperial Star Marines.

 

[locarno24]

The example task force presented here is on wartime deployment as a significant combat force. It is light on administrative and support capabilities as these are provided by higher echelon formations or the Imperial Navy

Sounds like they’re still part of the navy.

That's the impression I get, and is generally the way marine forces in most militaries work.


If you're following an infantry section in the campaign, I'm not sure the exact nature of the organisation's upper hierarchy matters too much at the top level, so much what you see at the immediate level a squaddie will see: if, for example, the ISM has its own medics and dropship pilots, or uses navy personnel in the role.

 

[Old School]

The Imperial Marine Corps was originally formed as an adjunct to the naval forces but has developed into a complete combat service in its own right.

I would think the writings of Marc Miller trump Mongoose authorial lack of research and knowledge of the OTU. Come to think of it it also has to trump Loren's version of Imperial Marines since it was Loren who wrote the original JTAS article. Perhaps this is the long sought point of departure from the OTU and the GT:ATU?

Marc has always referred to the marines of the Third Imperium as Imperial Star Marines.

There are numerous examples of “Imperial Marine” being used in Marc Miller materials, including CT, MT, T5, and AotI. So although your “defender of the canon” efforts are admirable in intent, maybe this one isn’t worth getting so worked up about.

 

[MonkeyX]

System breakdown like the few that were done for 1e. I love these and wish there were more. My PCs have visited a few non-mainWorlds because of these.

 

[Sigtrygg]

There are numerous examples of “Imperial Marine” being used in Marc Miller materials, including CT, MT, T5, and AotI. So although your “defender of the canon” efforts are admirable in intent, maybe this one isn’t worth getting so worked up about.

It's not a question about getting worked up, it is a question of canon.

I know that the Imperial Star Marines are often referred to as Imperial Marines in a lot of cases, if not the majority in fact, but their official in universe title is given in many places by the actual primary author and owner of the setting and should be included in any official supplement about them.

If you really want to see me worked up ask about grav tanks vs gunships or how people have getting time in jump wrong ever since HG, and finally jump masking...

 

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Well regardless of what they’re formally called (a name that may or may not vary between editions) I’d presume that if I, a wishlisting fan - not an author of official books - call them “Imperial Marines” there’s no real doubts about which organization I refer to?

I’m not sure why them being or not being a part of the navy would be relevant either..? Unless you’re thinking about this part:

Perhaps throw in a high guard section as well, with dropships and troop transports?

I didn’t mean that I demanded to see ships belonging to and being operated by marines, I just mean it could be interesting to see ships that transport and support troops.

Finally, not to start an argument or anything, just genuine curiosity, but what is the issue about grav tanks vs gunships?

 

[locarno24]

I’m not sure why them being or not being a part of the navy would be relevant either..? Unless you’re thinking about this part:

Disregarding in-universe canon, if you had a marine equivalent of the Element Cruiser campaign, then which roles are filled by marines and which by navy characters would be relevant for both the story, and, I guess, character choices.

1st edition Mercenary provided a load of fleshed-out careers - stuff like medics, technicians, and so on. In a putative campaign box-set, they'd be a great addition if they actually exist as a role within the 3rd Imperium's version of the Marines.

Finally, not to start an argument or anything, just genuine curiosity, but what is the issue about grav tanks vs gunships?

Without knowing what Sigtrygg has in mind, there's two bits - nomenclature and rules:

Nomenclature - once you get to high TL, armoured grav vehicles are capable of fast, nap-of-the-earth and high-altitude flight, and even orbital deployment, and as such it's referred to as a gunship; since it behaves more like an attack helicopter with tonnes of armour and massive weapons, rather than a classic tank, and it practical terms they're indistinguishable from smallcraft. The term 'tank' often irks some people as a result.

Rules - because Traveller (mongooses' version, at least) DOES draw a mechanical distinction between a big vehicle and a small spacecraft (it's where the two 'scales' cross over), historically one or the other has been 'better' for an equivalent sized, equivalent TL unit.

If you build a gunship with a vehicle-mounted laser of the same size as a streamlined fighter built with the spacecraft rules and a beam laser, and size both to take up 10 dTons of space in a hangar, the latter has traditionally been much better in a fair fight for no readily apparent reason.

 

[Old School]

If you really want to see me worked up ask about grav tanks vs gunships or how people have getting time in jump wrong ever since HG, and finally jump masking...

You’re fighting a lonely battle, and should at least consider whether it needs to be fought. MM obviously doesn’t care about these things nearly as much as you, or he would insist upon compliance with canon, whatever that means to him.

 

[bklokis]

This might be counter to the premise of Traveller, or perhaps I should just start reading the Judge Dredd supplement, but I would love a Campaign with a much much smaller setting scope and much more streamlined background reading. Like one system, or a localized multisystem adventure about a single corporate entity, or agents within that entity. Just something that doesn't require knowledge of 50 systems, ship-types, races, empires, corporations, etc. These are hard enough for the Referee to keep together over a multi-year campaign let alone players who may be first time to the table.

The last couple of campaigns & kickstarters have promoted themselves as these massively expansive sandbox-y campaigns....I guess I'm asking for an alternate approach, where the complexity grows inward rather than outward...thinking in terms of depth rather than breadth.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Can you at least get their name right - Imperial Star Marines according to MWM (JTAS, AotI and interviews).

Where in CT or JTAS?

I can only find Imperial Marines, no Star Marines.