Wormholes to World War II

[Tom Kalbfus]

I just thought of a way to incorporate the World War II vehicles supplement in a Traveller Campaign. Lets say there is a wormhole moving through space. The wormhole is fairly large, about 100 meters in diameter, and anything less that that can pass through the wormhole. One end of the wormhole is moving quite fast at about 10% of the speed of light, the other end is moving at 99% of the speed of light. It is the end that is moving at 99% of the speed of light that is passing through the OTU, the other end which is moving at 10% of the speed of light is passing close to the Solar System at around January 1, 1944. Now lets suppose the PC's starship is in space at precisely the wrong time, and the wormhole opening swallows their starship, and the other end spits out their starship which exits that end in 1944 going at 89% of the speed of light relative to Earth. Fortunately, the starship has its full load of jump fuel, which can also be used by the Maneuver drive to slow down. 89% of the speed of light is about 267,000 km/sec, with would take a starship with Maneuver 2 154.5 days to slow down from 89% of the speed of light. By the time the PC's ship has slowed down they find themselves in the Solar System on June 2, 1944, their fuel tanks are empty, so they skim Jupiter's atmosphere and head for Earth picking up some radio broadcasts as they draw closer, they establish that the went back in time and confirm the date by listening to the various radio shows. Their vessel is a scout/courier. What do you think they should do?

 

[Pyromancer]

The fun thing would be to simply start the campaign and find out!

Depending on the characters, one obvious route would be to fly to the Ziru Sirka and work from there, perhaps to prevent the rise of the Solomani and the end of the First Imperium.

I hardly see a chance that they would engage in any activity that would lead to the need for WWII tank stats.

If you want your characters to engage in WWII tank battles, the best choice would be a mercenary ticket to a TL6 world, no need for worm holes and time travel.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

The fun thing would be to simply start the campaign and find out!

Depending on the characters, one obvious route would be to fly to the Ziru Sirka and work from there, perhaps to prevent the rise of the Solomani and the end of the First Imperium.

I hardly see a chance that they would engage in any activity that would lead to the need for WWII tank stats.

If you want your characters to engage in WWII tank battles, the best choice would be a mercenary ticket to a TL6 world, no need for worm holes and time travel.

All these different tech levels are hard to rationalize, when you think about it. After all in today's 21st century, there are no nations that are still fighting with tech level 6 weapons, if there were, then they would quickly be conquered by higher tech level polities. I mean yes there are nations out there where horses and plows are still used by the majority of people in Third World subsistence farms, but those same nations with the Third World peasants take pains to at least have weapons from the current century. The secret to the success of Europe's colonial Empires were largely due to differences in tech level between the conquerors and the conquered. Christopher Columbus quickly saw the potential when he noticed that the natives didn't have guns, he could after all stick the Spanish Flag into their soil and claim the territory for Spain with impunity, now it would not have been so easy if Columbus actually got to where the intended to go, if he had stuck the Spanish Flag into Chinese soil for instance, I think the Emperor and his armies would have had something to say about that!

Another difference is if a Scout ship full of PCs got stuck in the World War II era, it would not be easy for four PCs and a Scout ship to conquer the World. Yet if a Tech Level 6 World existed in the OTU, then its just a matter of getting the right military force together to conquer that world.

Short of conquering that World, what else could the PCs do?
They could try landing the Scout ship in Washington DC.
The problem is the basic shape of the Scout/Courier.

As you can see here, the Scout/Courier might be mistaken for a German Experimental aircraft intruding on US airspace.

 

[Pyromancer]

All these different tech levels are hard to rationalize, when you think about it. After all in today's 21st century, there are no nations that are still fighting with tech level 6 weapons, if there were, then they would quickly be conquered by higher tech level polities.

In today's 21st century, most nations still fight with TL6 weapons. Mozambique for example has one of the most powerful air force of sub-saharan africa: They have 8 MiG-21s (constructed in 1955). Others in that part of the world don't even HAVE that kind of technology.
Fielding TL8.5 weapon technology is expensive, and there are only a hand full of countries that bother with it.

Another difference is if a Scout ship full of PCs got stuck in the World War II era, it would not be easy for four PCs and a Scout ship to conquer the World. Yet if a Tech Level 6 World existed in the OTU, then its just a matter of getting the right military force together to conquer that world.

Perhaps you can win the war, but superior weapon technology does nothing to secure the peace. See Iraq. See Afghanistan.

Short of conquering that World, what else could the PCs do?
They could try landing the Scout ship in Washington DC.
The problem is the basic shape of the Scout/Courier.
As you can see here, the Scout/Courier might be mistaken for a German Experimental aircraft intruding on US airspace.

In 1944, there is no weapon on earth that can scratch the hull of a Scout/Courier. They can do what ever they want, but their power only reaches as far as their laser.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

All these different tech levels are hard to rationalize, when you think about it. After all in today's 21st century, there are no nations that are still fighting with tech level 6 weapons, if there were, then they would quickly be conquered by higher tech level polities.

In today's 21st century, most nations still fight with TL6 weapons. Mozambique for example has one of the most powerful air force of sub-saharan africa: They have 8 MiG-21s (constructed in 1955). Others in that part of the world don't even HAVE that kind of technology.
Fielding TL8.5 weapon technology is expensive, and there are only a hand full of countries that bother with it.

Another difference is if a Scout ship full of PCs got stuck in the World War II era, it would not be easy for four PCs and a Scout ship to conquer the World. Yet if a Tech Level 6 World existed in the OTU, then its just a matter of getting the right military force together to conquer that world.

Perhaps you can win the war, but superior weapon technology does nothing to secure the peace. See Iraq. See Afghanistan.

Short of conquering that World, what else could the PCs do?
They could try landing the Scout ship in Washington DC.
The problem is the basic shape of the Scout/Courier.
As you can see here, the Scout/Courier might be mistaken for a German Experimental aircraft intruding on US airspace.

In 1944, there is no weapon on earth that can scratch the hull of a Scout/Courier. They can do what ever they want, but their power only reaches as far as their laser.

I don't know about that. Anything that could destroy an airplane could probably also destroy a Scout/Courier, they fact that parts of it is much higher technology doesn't make it indestructible for tech 6 weapons. A caveman could, for instance smash a laptop computer to pieces with his club, without understanding how the underlying technology works!

 

[Pyromancer]

In 1944, there is no weapon on earth that can scratch the hull of a Scout/Courier. They can do what ever they want, but their power only reaches as far as their laser.

I don't know about that. Anything that could destroy an airplane could probably also destroy a Scout/Courier, they fact that parts of it is much higher technology doesn't make it indestructible for tech 6 weapons. A caveman could, for instance smash a laptop computer to pieces with his club, without understanding how the underlying technology works!

This has nothing to do with TL or understanding technology, but with the rules concerning armor.
Remember, the Scout/Courier is a ship that has a good chance of surviving a hit with a nuclear warhead in ship-to-ship combat!

According to the rules, there is a factor 50 between starship and non-starship damage, so you have to inflict more than 200 points of damage to overcome the armor rating of 4 of the Scout/Courier. Nothing on earth can stop this ship!

Edit: The CT adventure "Night of Conquest" relies on this. It is set on a TL5/6 world, where the PCs suddenly find themselves in the middle of an invasion. The "victory condition" for the PCs is to simply get to their ship - which is parked on the other side of the city, so this isn't trivial. But as soon as they are there and in the ship, they are invulnerable.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

In 1944, there is no weapon on earth that can scratch the hull of a Scout/Courier. They can do what ever they want, but their power only reaches as far as their laser.

I don't know about that. Anything that could destroy an airplane could probably also destroy a Scout/Courier, they fact that parts of it is much higher technology doesn't make it indestructible for tech 6 weapons. A caveman could, for instance smash a laptop computer to pieces with his club, without understanding how the underlying technology works!

This has nothing to do with TL or understanding technology, but with the rules concerning armor.
Remember, the Scout/Courier is a ship that has a good chance of surviving a hit with a nuclear warhead in ship-to-ship combat!

According to the rules, there is a factor 50 between starship and non-starship damage, so you have to inflict more than 200 points of damage to overcome the armor rating of 4 of the Scout/Courier. Nothing on earth can stop this ship!

Edit: The CT adventure "Night of Conquest" relies on this. It is set on a TL5/6 world, where the PCs suddenly find themselves in the middle of an invasion. The "victory condition" for the PCs is to simply get to their ship - which is parked on the other side of the city, so this isn't trivial. But as soon as they are there and in the ship, they are invulnerable.

I figured the Scout ship's invulnerability would be due to the ship's ability to outmaneuver any threats presented to it in the tech Level 6 world, any known threats, however if a Scout/Courier were to come in for a landing on the National Mall in Washington DC on June 2, 1944, with the nation at war, there is going to be some that may suspect it of being a German secret weapon. If the Scout ship flies low and slow in preparation for a landing, it might be vulnerable to World War II antiaircraft fire, and if the PCs come outside to say, "We come in peace," they may be machinegunned down by World War II weapons if they aren't careful. I believe this would be called "The Day the Earth Stood Still" Scenario.

 

[Pyromancer]

[ If the Scout ship flies low and slow in preparation for a landing, it might be vulnerable to World War II antiaircraft fire,

As I pointed out, this is not the case. The earliest anti aircraft weapon to threaten a Scout/Courier will be the AIR-2 Genie (aka MB-1 "Ding-Dong"), introduced in 1957.
At TL6, you NEED nuclear warheads to damage a Scout/Courier. In 1944, there are none.

and if the PCs come outside to say, "We come in peace," they may be machinegunned down by World War II weapons if they aren't careful.

This, however, could totally happen.

 

[Epicenter]

In today's 21st century, most nations still fight with TL6 weapons. Mozambique for example has one of the most powerful air force of sub-saharan africa: They have 8 MiG-21s (constructed in 1955). Others in that part of the world don't even HAVE that kind of technology.
Fielding TL8.5 weapon technology is expensive, and there are only a hand full of countries that bother with it.

While I fully agree with the fact that most nations of the world fight with TL6 weapons, quite a few nations in sub-saharan africa (which is basically "anywhere in africa that's not facing the Med") have significantly better fighters than Mozambique. Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia all operate aircraft like Su-27s. Uganda operates Su-30s. I won't get into craziness of some of these nations operating aircraft like this when their nations are locked in grinding poverty and they don't have "large" air forces, but they do operate "modern" fighters. Obviously, South Africa also operates modern fighters (Saab Gripen).

A more important point about low-tech weaponry is that almost all nations, once you get past a their "elite" units, the TLs drop rapidly. Even nations such as India or China with burgeoning military spending and upgrade efforts, once you get past their elite units the rest of their military quickly end up effectively in the TL6-7 range. Indeed, even "first world" nations have pretty spotty coverage of "high tech" equipment.

 

[Pyromancer]

While I fully agree with the fact that most nations of the world fight with TL6 weapons, quite a few nations in sub-saharan africa (which is basically "anywhere in africa that's not facing the Med") have significantly better fighters than Mozambique. Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia all operate aircraft like Su-27s. Uganda operates Su-30s. I won't get into craziness of some of these nations operating aircraft like this when their nations are locked in grinding poverty and they don't have "large" air forces, but they do operate "modern" fighters. Obviously, South Africa also operates modern fighters (Saab Gripen).

I'm no expert myself, I only heard Mozambique mentioned as having a rather good air force, because their TL6 fighters are in a condition that they could actually fight. South Africas TL7/8 Gripens mostly sit on the ground, because they don't have enough pilots, and they don't have the manpower and expertise for proper maintenance.

I imagine this is a situation quite common in the Traveller Universe. A low TL world might buy a few dozen grav tanks and 100 battle dresses, but after a few years they rot in the hangar and are cannibalized for spare parts. Then, they are mainly used as threats or in last ditch efforts, because they are too valuable and too fragile to be risked in any normal battle.

 

[Epicenter]

I imagine this is a situation quite common in the Traveller Universe. A low TL world might buy a few dozen grav tanks and 100 battle dresses, but after a few years they rot in the hangar and are cannibalized for spare parts. Then, they are mainly used as threats or in last ditch efforts, because they are too valuable and too fragile to be risked in any normal battle.

I'd actually go one step further. Most worlds in the Traveller universe might have a dozen grav tanks and 100 suits of battle dress and they're brought out for parades (maybe). Mostly, they're there so they show up as "local forces" on TAS databases. This serves to keep other people (not necessarily other planets but "adventurer" types as well) honest. Otherwise, most planets in the TI simply bask in long centuries of unbroken peace. The suits that are bought may or may not work; I'm sure in the TI Interstellararms and similar companies sell you maintenance contracts when you buy stuff; every year some people come by and make sure all the stuff you bought still works.

I mean, the "history" of the Third Imperium is full of wars and such, but most of these wars don't have any effect on the vast majority of the member worlds of the Imperium, it's just something that's shown on the news, months or years after the fact due to the speed of the X-Boat network. Wars are things that happen to other people and parsecs and parsec away.