Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 35

Okay, back to this. Clearly, I won't be done the second book by the New Year, but we're getting there. We continue with more effects of decompression during space battles.

 To my complete lack of surprise, hull hits result in explosive decompression that will kill anyone not wearing a vacc suit. However, somehow it's possible to throw on a vacc suit in time to avoid death, if you roll 9+, modified by your dexterity and level of vacc suit expertise. I'm sorry, but what? Explosive decompression means that all the air leaves RIGHT NOW, taking everything that isn't nailed down with it. How in the blue hell is someone supposed to manage to throw on a space suit while hanging on for dear life to the nearest anchor? I just don't see that as a possibility. Maybe if you are caught unawares in a fight and you already started to put on the vacc suit before decompression happens, THEN you might have the above chance of finishing the job in time to avoid being sucked into the vacuum of space. Otherwise, no; you're just dead.

Alright, moving along. Atmospheric braking allows a ship to slow down a bit; if any portion of the ship's vector passes within 1/4 inch of a planet's surface, the vector is reduced by 1/4 inch. So...you have to get VERY close to the planet to take advantage of this, and it's not going to do much to slow you down anyway. Hardly seems worth it, frankly.

Ah, now we get to everyone's favorite part of space combat: Abandoning the ship because you're about to get blown into space dust. You can use the ship's vehicles as escape vessels; they launch during the ordnance phase. Now, you can't do something else while trying board these ships; it's an exclusive activity. And if the individual trying to board is in a vacc suit, throw a 6+ to board or wait until the next turn. How tight are the doors to these things?

The above applies to military vessels, who drill in this sort of thing regularly and thus can do it faster than civilians can. Those ships take 1-6 turns (roll a die) to fully load all their little ships, and if you're impatient, you can always leave without the stragglers. Hey, the ship's about to be destroyed; it's not like they're going to complain afterward.

If you're in a vacc suit, you can always just jump out the nearest airlock and hope another ship picks you up. Or, if you're close enough to a planet and are into extreme skydiving, you can try to set an all-time record. Mind you, your suit is only good for up to 100 ten-minute turns, although if you thought to bring a spare air tank with you that time is doubled. Your suit is capable of a total of 3 inches of acceleration...again, what? 3 inches of acceleration in a vacc suit? Jumping Jiminy Crickets...that's three thousand miles in ten minutes. That's EIGHTEEN THOUSAND MILES AN HOUR!!!!!! That is absolutely insane! The Apollo rockets took four days to get to the Moon; a standard vacc suit can do it in a mere 13 hours! There's got to be another interpretation of that, because that's beyond ridiculous. Even if that's its maximum speed, you're still moving faster than a bloody moon rocket.

You can get a reentry ablation shield as part of your vacc suit, and if you're moving at those speeds, you're damn well going to need it. It only works if your vector doesn't exceed two inches, though. So much for that idea. At the speeds above, you're going to burn up like a shooting star as soon as you hit the atmosphere. And even if you do everything right, by which I assume you're not free-falling at interplanetary speeds, you still have to roll a straight 6 or better to survive.

Wilderness refueling is next; this is the process of skimming the atmosphere of a gas giant in the system so as to provide your ship with enough fuel for a jump drive to work. Gas giants are easily determined from a ship's library, or can be predicted from a short distance away (Jump-1). The referee throws the dice, and a 10+ means there's no gas giant, so if you don't have fuel, you'd better hope you can live comfortably on whatever planet is in this system, because otherwise you're screwed six ways from Sunday, 'cause you ain't going nowhere.

Ah, planetary defensive systems. Because nothing gets the juices flowing like watching heavy artillery leap up from the planet you're swooping by. Planets can have defenses in orbit on on the surface; the ones in orbit are treated like starships when attacked, and usually shoot lasers. Planetary surface weapons are attacked as usual, but they're only affected if the hit location roll indicates turrets. If you've got someone on the surface, they can serve as a forward observer to help the accuracy of your shot. Hey, I remember that skill from Book One; glad to see it's actually useful for something.

Finally, we have Damage Control. This continues on the top of the next page, so we'll end it there. Crew members can do field repairs; rolling a 9 or better (with appropriate skills giving positive modifiers) repairs one hit of damage. You can only try to fix one thing in a ten-minute turn, and if your drive or power plant is destroyed, you ain't fixing it. Suck it up.

Whew! That was a long page, wasn't it? Lots of information there. Next up...more stuff about space fighting.

Christmas Break

Well, that was a bit of a blogging vacation. But, it's Christmas, and things do get busy this time of year. Still, I need to be more diligent in getting this done. So, I'm back, and there are still a few days left to talk about how wonderful 2020 has been for everyone.

Yes, I know; that would be sarcasm.

So, after all that talk about how much snow PEI gets every winter...we ended up with a green Christmas. That's right, the snow was gone. It was 11°C on Christmas day! That's about 42°F for you Americans. My father told me that Florida was getting virtually identical weather. Meanwhile, Ontario got five inches of snow dumped on them.

Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

The nice thing about Christmas being so warm is that we were given a second chance with the rink. The first try was a decent effort, but we cut a few corners, and you can't really eyeball a level frame. Not only that, but the way I had designed the frame to attach to the tarp ended up being completely backward; the water was getting in between the two-by-fours, freezing and separating them. Screws snapped, and fully half of the rink got no water at all.

So, we tore it apart and put it back together again. This time we did it all in one day, and it was a lot of work...but we got it done, including leveling the sides. We started filling it, and then the rain came. By the time we were done, it's still about half full, but the sides are higher on the low side now, so we should be able to fill the whole thing without overflowing the one side. Fingers crossed, if the weather stays cold we might be able to skate on New Year's Day!

Here's hoping, anyway. In the meantime, I'm going to fill it some more tomorrow from the well; I want to see ice all across the rink in a couple of days. Wish me luck!

Winter has Arrived

Well, that's quite the snowstorm we're getting. Why did I move out here again?

Yes, it's winter in Prince Edward Island. Three days before Christmas, and Mother Nature has decreed that yes, this is going to be a very, very white Christmas. The roads are icky, at best, and I saw three emergency vehicles rushing around while I drove to work. You'd think these people would be used to the road conditions by now; they've lived here long enough. Then again, I'm not the only newcomer to the Island; maybe they just got here, too.

The funny thing is, I didn't want this. When my Honey Bunny and I first broached the idea of moving, eight years ago, I was adamant that snow was off the table. Somewhere warm, I said. Somewhere that doesn't get buried in snow. Somewhere that we can relax by the pool in shorts while watching the kids open their Christmas presents.

Oops. I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.

If you don't get that joke, you're culturally deprived, and need to start watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons immediately. Trust me, it's important.

Of course, the snowfall also reminds me that I'd better do some Christmas shopping. Usually my wife does all of that; she even buys her own gifts, which sucks, because she doesn't like surprises. Well, I do like surprises. Specifically, I love surprising her. So, I'm going to surprise her.

There have been some questions posed about my writing. I admit that it's slacked off since we moved; I've been very, very busy not only with school, but with the move and its aftermath. It sucks, but I expect that to change very shortly. I just need to get back to the groove and plop my butt down in front of the computer screen and start typing.

With all the crazy going on in the world, it's actually nice to look out the window and see the snow. It's something I've known all my life, especially when I was kid, living out in the Maritimes and digging two-story snow forts in the winter. Or getting surprise snow squalls in May up in Quebec. Those were some fun times. Now, my kids are getting to experience that on an 18-acre farm, driving around on a quad pulling a sled, or sitting out in the heated garage playing with model trains. Being brothers, which is great.

Now I know why I moved out here.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 34

Continuing with damage to ship systems, next up is the Computer. Yeah, this one should be important. And it's the longest paragraph in the damage section, so you know it's serious. Every time the computer gets hit, it has an improved chance of malfunctioning. It works the opposite of the Double Fire program; your computer rolls a 1 or better (on two dice) to work properly. Every hit gives you a -1 on the roll. So, on the second hit, if you roll a 2, your modified score is 0 (-2 DM), and your computer is malfunctioning for the remainder of the phase. The effects of a malfunction aren't really spelled out, although a computer which is 'not operating' renders a ship effectively paralyzed. Every phase, you roll again to see if the malfunction has been fixed. At twelve hits, though, the computer is toast like a laptop dropped down the stairs. The next sentence states that a computer operator can use his skill level as a counter-modifier to the damage modifier, but I'm going to guess that the twelve-hit thing takes priority; you can be the greatest computer expert in the world, but that won't help if the CPU has been melted into slag.

Next up, we get the effects for small craft hits. There's the passenger section, which decompresses (hope you're in a vacc suit), weaponry, which destroys whatever weapon was hit (further hits do nothing) and the drive, which is destroyed in a single hit, turning the small craft into a ballistic rock, unable to maneuver or accelerate.

Next to this, we have the Hit Location table. It's on a 2D scale, so stuff in the middle is more likely to get taken out. That means that for a starship, the hull (6-7) and the hold (8) are the biggest targets. The power plant is the safest thing on the ship, with only a 1-in-36 chance (2 on the dice) of being hit. For small craft, the drive takes up the whole bottom of the range, with the cabin having 7-9 on the table and the weaponry at 10-12. Damage gets marked on the hit location table.

So, here are the odds of a particular system getting hit in combat, out of 36.

Hull: 11

Turret: 6

Hold: 5

Computer: 4

Fuel: 4

Jump: 3

Maneuver: 2

Power plant: 1

Next up, special situations, starting with decompression. We learn that ships will always depressurize their interiors before combat and put everyone into vacc suits if they can, so as to avoid the inconvenience of having an enemy ship do it for you and blowing your unprotected people into the vacuum of space. Some sections might stay pressurized (like cargo holds). It takes ten minutes to depressurize, so the odds are pretty good that you'll have time to do it; it's tough to sneak up on someone in space combat. Putting the air back takes two turns.

The pilot on the bridge controls what gets depressurized. Hmm...that could make for an interesting scenario: A rogue pilot trying to kill off passengers elsewhere on the ship, and you have to get to the bridge to stop him. Anyway, the engineering section, the hold, the bridge, and individual staterooms and turrets can be pressure-controlled from the bridge.

Some good stuff so far. Let's see what's next.

Progress on the Rink

Alright! School's out until the new year! For me, at least. I wrote my last exam last night, so now that I'm done with the studying, I can get back to blogging more regularly. Now, on to the topic at hand...

Well, I always said this was going to be a learning experience...here's what I've learned so far from working on the ice rink.

First, water is very, very heavy. I didn't realize just how heavy it could get. I mean, obviously, I know how heavy water can be, but the way we put the frame together did not handle the weight very well. The boards have pulled apart in a couple of places where the ground was lower and the water pulled the tarped boards away from the top brace. So, we've had some leaks so far.

Second, not all the water freezes right away; the top of the ice is good, but underneath, it's still very much water. We discovered this when I accidentally ripped a couple of holes in the tarp trying to fix the aforementioned pull-aparts, and the water drained out to create a second patch of ice on the ground instead. I've tried blocking it off, but with no success.

Third, make damn sure the ground is level, or at the very least, very carefully level the entire frame before letting any water get in. The side closer to the road is lower than the backside, so we've got some nice ice on one side of the rink, but bare tarp at the other side. Now, if it wasn't leaking, we could fill the roadside up some more, and it would fill up the whole think and cover up that tarp. But so far, that's not happening, yet.

So, tomorrow Ashton and I are going to figure out how to repair those little holes in the tarp so we can properly fill this rink. Next year, we'll have a better idea of how to do this, and we'll make it even better. For now, we're not giving up just yet.

Let's Read: Traveller 1977 Edition, Starships, page 33

Let's finish off the computer programs. There are two more 'routine' programs on this page: Navigation, and Anti-Hijack. Navigation is primarily used for jumping, in conjunction with the Jump program. The Generate program makes the flight plan, then it's dumped into the Navigation program for processing. Seems rather cumbersome to me. Anti-Hijack is basically a defensive program that will lock the controls and bridge access if hijackers are detected. It's possible to get around this program; hijackers throwing a 5 or less (on two dice, not one, I assume) will get through the security system undetected.

PCs can come up with new programs if they like, assuming they have the Computer skill (from the first book). The standard ones seem to have all the necessities covered, though.

Smaller ships (the parasite kind) don't carry computers, or at least not the type described, so they are limited in what they can do: Maneuver, or shoot. They can't do both in a turn, and they can't participate in the laser return fire phase, or use anti-missile fire. Gunners only get half their expertise on these smaller ships, which sucks. Does that mean no snub-nosed fighters, like X-Wings and Vipers? That would definitely suck; those are important!

And we're done with computers; next up, Detection and Damage. Not in the same section.

Detection is straightforward; civilian ships are going to detect anyone within 500 inches (half a million miles). Military ships are going to do so up to 2000 inches away (two million miles). So much for sneaking up on someone, then.

Except that the next paragraph says if you're trying to be stealthy, you can get to within 100 inches before being seen. That's still over eight feet, so you're not likely to get on the game board undetected unless you're using one of GDW's football-field-sized game boards. If you're orbiting a planet, though, while being quiet, ain't nobody gonna see you until they're ten inches or less away from you, which means that planets are great for setting up ambushes.

Moving on to damage definitions, we get a few descriptions of what's going to happen when your ship gets hit. Drives and power plants are one of the most important ones, so they get listed first. Basically, if your drive or plant gets hit, it moves down the alphabet (C becomes B, X becomes W, etc.). This can be a problem for ships whose drives or plants are at the minimum needed for the ship to operate, since one shot could strand the ship in the system until repairs are made. Best to have some leeway in that regard if you're expecting to take a ship into combat. Or run into pirates. Because it is a statistical fact that whenever a ship enters a new star system, any pirates in the area will be able to get to striking distance in a hurry. It's science; what can you do? Have a bigger engine in your ship, obviously.

Turrets that get hit don't work. If you've got more than one, dice rolls determine which one gets hit. Note that turrets with more than one weapon on them are totally knocked out, so that triple turret you are so proud of is going to be melted into scrap just the same as the single one on the other ship.

Hull hits cause decompression. Once. After that, the ship is already decompressed, so what's the point? I mean, you would think that hull integrity would be affected if the ship takes enough hull hits to look like a block of Swiss cheese, but apparently not. Go for the engines, kids.

The hold is where the cargo is; get hit in the hold, and you lose cargo. And, finally (on this page), fuel hits. Every time your fuel tank gets hit, you lose about 20 tons of fuel. If you lose 60% of your fuel (which might not be in three hits, depending on how big your tank is), you ain't jumping out. If you lose all the fuel, obviously you're not moving at all. Or at least, you're not going to be maneuvering. Which would suck, especially if you're pointed at a big heavy object like a planet or asteroid.

Operation: Skate Zone stage 1 complete

The rink is assembled! It took a few days, thanks to the lack of daylight after I get home from work, but it's done! Man, that was a good feeling. Father-son bonding time, working together as a team...it all came together. Now, it's just a matter of filling it and letting it freeze.

This is how it looked the other night when I first mentioned the rink. The tarp was laid out, and we had the wood more or less in place. Looking back, I realize that we didn't need to do more than just trim the boards, instead of cutting them to twelve-foot lengths; the sides are almost sixty feet long anyway. Still, it gave us some smaller pieces to use, which came in handy later on.

And here's what it looks like now.  The ground isn't exactly even; the near left-hand corner is definitely lower than the one with the two stakes, and there's a gap on the far end in the middle where the boards are held up by the cross-piece. Honey Bunny wasn't going to let me dig up the front yard to make it all even, though, so we make do. If you look very closely, you'll see that there is a small piece of wood under the left-hand corner, raising it up off the ground to even things out a bit more. It's still not perfect, but it doesn't have to be.

And yes, that's the highway behind the rink; we put it in the front yard. We couldn't have done this back on our Ontario property, that's for sure; the backyard wasn't that big. Here, we had to weigh pros and cons of where on the property we wanted to put it. Having eighteen acres is pretty awesome.

So, the next step is filling it up, one bit at a time. Ashton is going to hose it down today and get a thin layer in place so it can start to freeze; we don't want to overdo it, of course, since we don't want to drain the well dry. But if we work on it a little bit each day, and the weather continues to be cold, we'll have a nice rink before Christmas Day.

One of our neighbours stopped by yesterday and mentioned that there's a pond up the road that freezes in winter, and someone keeps it clean for skating. Well, that's great, but that's nearly two miles down the road; this is a hundred feet from our front door. I know which way I'd rather go. And we can invite people over to skate, too; it's a great way to socialize, even in the days of Corona-mania.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 32

More computer programs. There are six more offensive programs: Selective, Launch, Multi-Target, Return Fire, Anti-Missile, and Double Fire. They're pretty self-explanatory, but let's take a look for any hidden gems within the descriptions.

Selective allows the gunner to pick either the main compartment or the Engineering Section as the targeted spot on the enemy ship. It means it's a tougher shot (DMs depending on which version of the program), but when you do hit, you'll hit what you were aiming at.

Launch...other than also needing the Target program, there's not much else to this one.

Multi-Target is, again, self-explanatory. Note, however, that each turret can only fire at one target; if you've only got one turret on the ship, don't bother buying this program, because it will be useless. You only need this if you're going to have multiple turrets (not hardpoints) firing at different targets. And, of course, you need the target program. Note, however, that the Anti-Missile program doesn't need this; it targets multiple missiles automatically.

Return Fire was mentioned earlier; you can only shoot back at someone who just shot at you. You also need the Target program, and if you're surrounded, you'll need the Multi-Target program as well.

Anti-Missile does what it says on the box; point lasers shoot at enemy missiles that have come into contact with the hull (but haven't exploded yet). This program is self-contained; it doesn't need any other programs to work, and no other programs affect it.

Double Fire is for improving your laser power for a short time. You have to have a bigger power plant than M-drive (and it has to be undamaged to pump out this much power). This gives you two rolls to hit; you might still miss, or hit just once, or hit twice for double the power. Not a bad deal. Of course, you might damage the power plant; the first time you do it, you're fine (roll better than 1 on 2D). The second time as well (2 or more on the roll). After that, the chance of overload goes up one point per shot until your power plant effectively takes a weapon hit and is damaged.

Okay, we're moving on to the routine programs. These are Maneuver (as opposed to Maneuver/Evade), Jump, Library, and Generate. I cheated and peeked ahead; there are a couple more. These are your basic ship-handling functions for out-of-combat stuff.

Maneuver and Jump are self-explanatory, although the Jump program requires a specific program for the jump distance needed. Library is basically your on-board Wikipedia. Generate is the program that takes care of flight plans to various destinations. If you don't have this program on-board, you can buy single-use flight plans (self-erasing cassettes, and man, that's old tech right there) for all worlds within jump range and for which space lanes exist. That's some tantalizing stuff there, but we won't learn about it until Book 3.

Next up, we finish the programs and move on to whatever is next.

Construction Project is Underway

I, as everyone who knows me knows, am utterly horrible when it comes to tools and building things. Tools are allergic to me; I've broken three screwdrivers in a single day, and even managed to dent a hammer. That's not easy to do, believe me. But I can do it. And so, the idea of taking on even a simple project isn't merely daunting; it's foolhardy.

Which is why I'm building a skating rink in our front yard. Because if you're going to be foolhardy, you might as well go big.

Speaking of big, this really is going to be quite the project. And, I'll freely admit, I'm cheating; I'm getting our eighteen-year-old son to do most of the work, because unlike me, he and tools are the best of friends. So, my wife bought the tarp on the weekend, I arranged for the wood, and Ashton picked it up this morning. When I got home from work, we got started.

We didn't get much done; it was getting dark. But we did cut the boards and we laid out the tarp, weighing it down with over 40 two-by-fours to keep it in place overnight. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to take a picture of it to post on the blog; while I'm at work, Ashton will begin assembling the frame for the rink. It's not going to be fancy, but it will hold a whole bunch of water and, eventually, ice. It's not a small rink; it's going to be about 28' x 58'. The tarp is 30' x 60', but we're going to be wrapping it around two-by-fours to make the rink waterproof.

I'm excited about it; I haven't skated much in the past few years, but having our very own rink? That's going to be fun. And it will give the kids a chance to learn to skate, as well. Honey Bunny is looking forward to it, as well; she used to play hockey herself, so it will be fun to lace on the skates and shoot some pucks. And yes, we brought a hockey net with us from Ontario, as well as lots of sticks and pucks. If we're going to stay in Canada, we're going to embrace it.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 31

Okay, so we're actually finishing page 30 tonight, with a couple of lines on Computer Programming (no pun intended). The ship's computer controls everything (except the people), and is useful for improving the weapons fire accuracy, defensive systems, maneuvering and jumping, and pretty much everything else on board. But since the computer is limited in how many programs it can run at once, it can't do it all at the same time.

So, how it works is simple enough: Each level of computer has a maximum storage and maximum processing capability. Level 1 is limited to 4 programs in storage and 2 running at once (hence why laser return fire isn't going to be happening too often with one of those ships). Level 7 can hold 50 and run 20 at a time. Since there are only 17 different programs available, Level-7 systems can actually run everything at once. Of course, they also cost 60 million Credits, so don't expect to see too many of them floating around.

Now, a ship can be carrying more than its maximum storage; a Level-1 might have six or seven programs, but it can only store four at a time, and run two at a time, cycling the other two in as needed. It turns out that the Level-1 can handle laser return fire, since it only needs targeting and return fire programs. It just isn't going to be moving around much.

The computer reprogramming phase is when programs can be switched in and out of storage. So, that Level-1 computer isn't going to be very flexible in combat; there just isn't enough storage to handle surprises like that on the fly. It takes the entire turn to change computer storage files, but there doesn't seem to be a limit as to how many can be changed at once.

And now, we get to learn about the computer programs. They are divided up into defensive, offensive, and routine programs. First up, the defensive programs. These are Maneuver/Evade, Auto/Evade, and ECM.

Maneuver/Evade has six versions, depending on the maneuvering drive. No, wait...the computer's level determines the program's version. So, you could have a maneuvering drive rated for 3, but the computer can't handle one that powerful, so it's got a 1 instead. I think. Or, it could be related to the program's size in storage; none of them go higher than 4. This is confusing. I'll have to read it more carefully.

Hmm...going back for a quick read of page 13, there's no indication that the computer's level limits the ship's programming capability, other than the storage limit itself. So, if you've got a Maneuver/Evade 4 in a Level-1 computer, it can't handle any other programs because M/E 4 takes up 4 units, leaving no room for the computer to do anything else. Okay, that's clear enough.

Getting back to it, M/E adds a DM based on the pilot's expertise. It's a fraction of the pilot's skill, basically. It's useful, depending on how good the pilot is. Auto/Evade is similar, but it's a straight-up -2 DM. ECM is quite handy when someone is shooting missiles at you; during the laser return fire phase, if there are any missiles in contact with the ship (and about to explode), ECM can destroy them first on a 7 or better. Well, that's useful.

But of course, the best defense is a good offense. Target, Predict, and Gunner Interact are mentioned on this page; there will be more on the next page, I'm sure. Target is straightforward; it runs all the turrets, and is required for shooting everything except anti-missile fire and boat launches.

Predict is basically a tracking program that anticipates where the opponent ship is going to be. Basically, you get to lead your target. With laser fire. Which is a beam of light, and thus travels at a speed of 186 game inches per second. Or, since a turn is ten minutes, 111,600 inches in a turn. It's unlikely that ships are going to be moving at speeds where this is a factor, or even remotely close to that far apart; 186 inches is 15 feet. Unless you're running combat at relativistic on a grid the size of a small state; 111,600 games inches is more than a mile and a half.

Just what kind of games were the guys at GDW running, anyway? I wish I'd been there.

Alright, Gunner Interact and we're done for today. This basically just adds the gunner's skill level as a positive DM to hit with lasers. While leading them with the Predict program. Do you really need both? Unless you're insanely far away from them (186 inches, perhaps?), I doubt it.

And that wraps this page up. Tomorrow, more computer programs.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 30

Okay, we've got Laser Return Fire next. Actually, we've got a table of DMs for laser fire (from the previous phase). The only way to get a positive DM is to use a 'Predict' program; the targeting program doesn't give a modifier, and a pulse laser gets a -1. For the defense, the Maneuver/Evade program and the Auto/Evade program are good, depending on which version of the Maneuver/Evade program you're using. At long range, there are negative modifiers as well (who's paying on a game board with ranges greater than 300"?), and finally sand is useful, giving a -3 per...HALF-INCH of obscuring sand?!! Half-inch? That's 500 miles!! 500 miles of sand!! How big are these canisters? Is this magic sand that expands when coming into contact with pure vacuum?

Okay, I know...enough about the sand. But seriously, 500 miles of sand? That's crazy.

Alright, back to the Laser Return Fire phase. You have to use a Return Fire program as well as a Target program to do this. So, does that mean that the Level-1 Computers can't do this? Because they are only good for two programs at a time. So, if you're flying the ship, that leaves one program left. I guess the moral is, don't get in a starship fight with a level-1 computer.

By the way, why do you need a 'return fire' program? Is this a program that literally calculates that the ship has just been fired upon, and therefore you can shoot back? The next line says that laser return fire can only be directed at an enemy ship which fired at you first. Okay, so I guess it does calculate that the ship has just been fired upon. Interesting. Seems a bit specific, but then, I'm used to current computers, not Traveller computers. Still, they should install a GUI on this or something, Even Windows 10 would be better; at least then the computer could multitask.

And of course, you need the Multi-Target program to shoot back at more than one target. Of course. Anti-missile fire happens now as well, if you've got the right programs running. Anti-missile fire doesn't require the Target program, though.

After this, it's the Ordnance Launch phase, so you can launch missiles, sand, and mini-ships. You nee launch and target programs for the first two; mini-ships can handle the launch without those. This is also the phase where previously-fired missiles and sand that have reached their targets take effect.

Interesting...you can launch the missile (or sand) now, but it doesn't actually move until your next movement phase. Which won't be until after the opponent has done their entire turn. And all ordnance stays on the ship's current vector, although I assume missiles can retarget as necessary.

Each launcher has an ammo rack of three missiles or canisters per turret. After they are used, it takes a full turn to reload one turret. If one gunner is handling three turrets, that's three turns of reloading for a full load. And of course, you can't shoot while you're reloading. Well, that will make things interesting. Do you settle for just one missile available, or take an extra turn to load another turret?

So, the ordnance hits the target in the movement phase, but doesn't take effect until this phase. That's some serious abstraction going on. Missiles don't explode on contact, and they don't actually move when first launched. When they do blow up, though, they do 1-6 hits based on a die roll. Each hit takes a DM of -4 on the hit type table (which I assume comes shortly).

Next up is Computer Programming, but the paragraph continues on the next page, so I'll do that page next time.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to Garrett Sprigg, our youngest! He's eight! How in the blue hell did that happen? It seems like it was only yesterday that he was seven. Time flies.

He's much like his older brother Ashton; they are both heavily into toy trains, especially (in Garrett's case) Thomas trains. He got a nice set tonight, and all three of the boys were upstairs playing with it. It's great to see them being brothers together.

We had a nice little birthday party for him here, just the five of us. It was great to see Garrett react when we lit the birthday candles and started singing Happy Birthday. He grinned from ear to ear; it was the first birthday that he's ever done that. He understood what we were doing! That is such a great feeling for parents of an autistic child. My wife was almost crying. He isn't quite there on how to blow out candles, but he was very enthusiastic about ripping open the presents. He got some Thomas, a puzzle book, a bag of chips all to himself, and a toy tractor. All in all, quite the haul for a brand-new eight-year-old.

When we first found out we were expecting him, I started writing a daily journal for him. I kept it faithfully for two and a half years, but I made the mistake of storing it on a single flash drive. One night, I left it on the dining room table; Raven, our black lab, ate it. I lost the whole thing.

I wish I had it; it would have been so amazing to be able to read that now, looking back on those early days when we didn't even know if our baby would be a boy or a girl. And I had the whole day of his birth written out, hour by hour. And now it's gone.

I couldn't go on writing the journal after that; losing those precious early years was too painful. I regret that, now; I wish I had continued it, even missing those first three years. It would have been a great record of his life, and the lives of the people around him. But, it is what it is. There's nothing I can do about it now. We have him, and we have the memories, and that will do.

Now, off to watching the boys play some more. Time to be a Dad.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 29

Alright! Now that we've done all those calculations, we get something to use them for. Those gravity bands are going to have an effect on ship vectors. Let's see if I got this right. "During the movement phase, lay out the vector of the ship to determine where it will move." Easy enough. "If the exact midpoint of the vector lies in a gravity band, a gravity vector will be added to the course vector to create a new vector." So far, so good. So, if the vector ends up being six inches long, check the three-inch point to see if it's in a gravity band.

"The length of this gravity vector is equal (in inches) to the strength of the gravity band in Gs." Alright, the closer you are the planet, the bigger the effect. Still makes sense. "Thus, a vector dictated by the 0.5 G band of a world is 1.0 inches long." Um, wait. Half a G would be half an inch, wouldn't it? Now I'm confused. I checked the errata file, but it's got nothing. This can go one of two ways. First, it's an error and needs to be changed to '0.5 inches long.' Second, the error is in the first sentence, and the word 'twice' is missing in "to TWICE the strength". Of course, the third option is that I'm just confused and I'm missing something obvious. Maybe someone who has more experience with the rules can explain it to me.

Regardless, the vector shifts by bringing the ship closer to the planet by modifying the vector the appropriate distance directly toward the planet (start from the initial vector's midpoint, then move it directly toward the planetary template center). So, it won't be a major shift, but the closer you get to the planet, the more it will be. That can make for some interesting scenarios, especially if a ship in the gravity gets its engines damaged or destroyed.

Laser Fire! Yeah! This is the second phase in the turn, and it's broken down into five sub-phases. First, pick the target. On an individual ship, turret lasers have to all fire at the same target. If you have multiple turrets, they still have to fire at the same target unless you've got a multi-target computer program running. Geez, Traveller computers just suck. The player does the targeting for all his ships, then moves to the second sub-phase.

In Sub-Phase Two, DMs are calculated for each ship; each ship will have one specific DM. These DMs usually come from computer programs, but damage and other issues can modify the DM as well. Now the targeted player does the same for his defensive DMs. Again, this is done per ship. Sand gets a mention again, because sand can apparently travel at starship speeds in space. Gotta love that sand.

Fourth, throw the dice. As in man-to-man combat, the goal is a modified roll of 8 or better. Each laser weapon makes its own roll. I'm reading that as double turrets get two rolls, one per weapon. Count up the total hits achieved.

Fifth, use the dice to determine hit locations on a table (which hasn't appeared yet), then mark the effects of the ship on the ship's data card. The effects of these hits will take effect before the defending player gets to shoot back, so the defending ships might not get to fire all their weapons (if some got damaged in this phase).

If the attacker wants to shift targets in the middle of the fight (the initial target was already destroyed by earlier fire in the phase) it's a -6 DM on top of any others. So, switching targets isn't likely to be a productive activity, depending on how good your modifiers already are.

Next up...we'll see.

It's December Already?!

I'm having a hard time fathoming that it's December 1st. On Prince Edward Island. And the temperature was in double digits today; I was practically sweating in the car on my way to work this morning.

I know, I know..."global warming." I don't care. I just know that while everyone keeps saying 'winter's coming,' it's sure taking its sweet time getting here. If I wanted that kind of a tease, I would have stayed in Ontario. I mean, sure, I wasn't all that excited about getting huge mounds of snow twice a day, but come on! This is a letdown!

Anyway, it's an important month, obviously; Christmas is just over three weeks away. We don't have our tree up yet, although the house is looking quite decorated. Honey Bunny and our teenager worked on it quite a bit yesterday. But without a tree, it's obviously not quite Christmas time.

It's funny; we've always made a habit of putting the tree up either right after the US Thanksgiving, or the 1st of December. Well, we're not near the US border anymore, so their Thanksgiving seems much more remote, and we were too busy today to get the tree up today. Maybe on the weekend.

In the meantime, though, we're still playing the waiting game as we wonder when the legendary PEI winter is going to land on us. I'm okay with it waiting a while longer, though. If I wanted to, I could just go dig more gardens in the back yard; the ground isn't frozen yet. If it's not snowing by the weekend, I might dig up another one just to save me time in the spring.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 28

We continue with planets and their gravitational effect on starship combat. This page starts off with a note that you're almost never going to have more than one planetary body on the map at once, since at the scales being used, nothing's going to get that close. On a game map, the Moon would be twenty feet from Earth. However, since turns are ten minutes long and ships can pull some very steady G's when accelerating, you might have to actually shift the planet template around on the map, just in case the ships in question decide to go elsewhere.

Further, the Sun (ours, not some other star) would be a 371-foot template to include its gravity well, and the innermost circle (representing the Sun itself) would be 70 feet in diameter. So, it's not likely that there will be combat happening around stars. Unless it's a white dwarf star, maybe. Although they still have a massive gravitational field, despite their tiny size. So, no star fights.

Asteroids can be included on the map as well, although they're just obstacles to go around; there's no gravity to worry about, even from the biggest ones. You can put about 36 asteroids in one square foot of game map, scattered around.

The rest of this page gives us stats for some 'standard' worlds (diameters ranging from 1 game inch to 10 inches), as well as the planets of the Solar System for comparison. And holy snot rockets, the gas giants will take up massive space on the game board. Jupiter will encompass over seven feet in diameter, just for the planet alone; its gravity field will extend out to almost twelve feet. So, not a lot of battling around gas giants, either. Although it might be interesting to play on a very large gameboard that can accommodate something Jupiter's size, and then have the fight around one of its moons. Because Jupiter's moons are big enough to have their own gravity; Ganymede is nearly as big as Mars.

Just for fun, I'm going to use official astronomical stats to calculate the numbers for the four main moons of Jupiter. It'll be good practice, too.

We start with Io, which has a D of 3.66 and an M of only 0.015. Well, that's not much, is it? Next is Europa, with a D of 3.12 and an M of 0.008. Tiny little thing, isn't it? Ganymede is the big boy, with a D of 5.26 and an M of 0.025. Finally, there's Callisto, with a D of 4.82 and M of 0.018. By comparison, Mercury is D of 3 and M of 0.05. Apparently, Jupiter's moons are somewhat...light. Maybe that's why they're moons and not planets. Heavy thinking, I know.

Alright, so there's not going to be much gravity, by the looks of things. But, we shall see. I'll start with Ganymede; if its numbers turn out to be negligible, I'm not going to keep going, since the rest are smaller. I will need its K number (density) as well, and that is 0.35, according to the numbers NASA has. I'll accept those as accurate.

So, there are four formulae; the first one is easy enough: R=D/2. Second is G=K(R/4). Third is M = G cubed. Wait...I have a formula to calculate that? Should have looked back a couple of pages first before doing 10 to the power of 24 calculations for mass numbers. Well, it will be interesting to see how close the formula gets to the actual. The fourth formula is the L formula, which is L = 4 * the square root of M/G.

So, entering the numbers for Ganymede in the handy spreadsheet I just put together, we get R = 2.63, G = 0.23, and M = 0.012. Not too far off from the calculation I did. Anyway, it turns out that even at the planet's surface, you're not going to get any significant gravitational effects, since Ganymede's G works out to less than 0.25. Oh, well. It was a fun little exercise.

The tables are a bit odd in one sense; M is supposed to be calculated from the third formula, but it's given in the tables for all the planets. K is needed for the formulas, but it isn't given. That's what threw me off earlier; I didn't remember the K, and the table doesn't give it to remind me. Oops.

So, that's it for tonight; another page done, and about twenty more to go in this book.

Movie Reviews: Recon (2020), Let Him Go (2020)

So, it's my wife's birthday tomorrow (she's 29 again!), and she wanted to watch some movies this weekend. We did a Cineplex free rental yesterday, and tonight we went to see a movie in the theatre together for the first time in a couple of years. Let's just say that the quality of the movies in the era of COVID-19 is not as good as I remember.

The first one we saw, the rental, was Recon, a movie about some soldiers in World War II in Italy. Actually, it's about these soldiers suffering from PTSD while they're still out in the field, and how their sergeant is a cold-blooded murderer and sends these four guys off on what is effectively a suicide mission to reconnoiter potential German forces up on a mountain.

Twenty-five years ago, that would have been a very exciting movie. Last night...not so much. It was boring, which is not normally a word associated with movies about World War II, especially when the movie takes place in the field. Relatively recent movies like Hacksaw Ridge, for example, tell a great story and wrap it in some intense action. Recon is also based on a true story, but it's not a story anyone really wants to hear or watch. As I said, it was boring. The lead spends most of his time being terrified over the death of an innocent. The other three soldiers are constantly bickering and fighting. In the Italian mountains. Where they have been told there are German troops. And snipers. Because the easiest way to avoid a sniper's notice is to keep up a constant chatter and argument while trudging up a forested mountain.

The movie ended in a very pointless way. There was no feeling of heroics, no feeling of accomplishment, just pointless death. And, as a bonus, you know how when you watch a movie based on true events they'll usually put in a few sentences at the end to let you know what happened in real life to the characters portrayed? Well, we got those sentences. In German, no translation. Say what? No thanks; and, to be honest, I didn't care enough about the character to look it up and find out what happened to him.

So, that was last night. Tonight, we watched Let Him Go, a Kevin Costner movie about two grandparents who want to bring their grandson home from his stepfather's evil family. And I use the word 'evil' deliberately; these people are messed up in the head something fierce. The boy's stepfather is abusive to both the boy and his mother, and things don't work out very well for pretty much anybody in the movie. The movie is set in Montana/North Dakota in 1964, so it's understandable that the bad guys didn't yet know the rule of 'don't piss off Kevin Costner'. The survivors drive away at the end, tearful and silent. It was...not a happy ending, to say the least.

I think what bothers me the most about both these movies is the nihilistic viewpoint. It's like the filmmakers in both cases wanted to show suffering and misery, with no real payoff at the end. I mean, sure, Costner kicks some impressive ass in the climactic sequence, but his character always felt like he was on a fool's crusade, as if nothing was going to matter anyway.

My wife liked it, but she has a thing for Kevin Costner, so that's a biased opinion. Again, the movie was boring. There was some suspense, and a very gruesome scene before the climax, but it dragged. Costner was the executive producer on this, so he should have known better and made the movie more interesting than that. At no time did I feel a compelling reason to keep watching. But, it was her birthday movie, so I stayed put. I didn't fall asleep, so that's something.

Movie pickings are slim these days, but man, there has got to be better options than what's being offered. Fortunately, there are. I'm appreciating my collection of older movies more and more as I see what's being shown in the theaters today. For good war movies, you can't go wrong with movies from the 1950s and 1960s. A lot of the people involved in making those movies were actually in the war, so they knew what they were doing. And, as a bonus, they don't curse four times in each sentence, so young ears aren't going to be upset. For parents, that's an important draw.

I wouldn't watch either of these movies ever again; I'd rather not even know they existed. Strong recommendation to avoid them both.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 27

Continuing on the discussion of planetary gravitational effects on starship combat, we learn (at the bottom of page 26) that R, D, L are measured in inches, which translate, as per starship movement, to 1,000 miles per inch. G (gravity) is measured as Earth gravity (one inch per ten-minute turn squared). K and M refer to density and mass, with 1.0 being the standard (Earth-sized).

We then get the calculations for Earth itself as a demonstration. It's R is 4, G and M are 1 (since that's the baseline), but the numbers are explained in the formulae. Fair enough. L, on the other hand, is the complicated one. The drawing at the top of the page is helpful, showing four concentric circles. The inner one is Earth itself, with a radius of 4 inches. The calculations for L give us 8.0 for 0.25 G, 5.7 for .5 G, and 4.6 for .75 G.

So, what does all this mean? Well, the template for Earth ends up being sixteen inches across. This is Earth's gravity well (which means it extends 8,000 miles above the surface). Then you color the inner circle to represent the actual planet. After that, add the relevant information, including the planet's name. On this diagram, we have the following:

Earth (or Terra); E8679725; D = 8, R = 4, G = 1, M = 1, K = 1

So, what's that 'E' thing in the second part? That may the 'interesting data' mentioned in the text, but it's not explained. Then again, considering how character notation happens (46A839, for example), this might be our first indication of how planets are classified in this game. But there's no information on it whatsoever, so all I can do at this point is speculate. The numbers could mean absolutely anything.

 And that's it; two pages of math and geometry, and we're still not ready to actually fight. Next up...who knows?

Winter Wonderland

It has begun...a PEI winter storm hit us today. It's not a huge amount; maybe two or three inches by morning. Still, it's not even December yet, so we're ahead of where we would have expected to be back in Ontario. Of course, I get an alert on my phone today that tomorrow it's going to be 41° F around here, or about 5° C, so the snow shouldn't stick around for too long. But, it was nice to walk the dogs in the blowing snow. And believe me, around here, it blows a lot.

I had a spot of good news today with regard to school. Once again, the university is offering courses online that would normally be in-class only. Thanks to COVID, the distance students can now get some of the good courses. I'm thrilled; I wasn't looking forward to having to take a course in North American Gender History just to qualify for my degree. Or the History of Food. No, I get the good stuff: Medieval Europe, with castles and such. Perfect for a fantasy writer, yes? I can also take courses on the Soviet 'experiment,' or modern British history. Not as awesome as medieval stuff, but still...not bad. I just wish the Crusades course had made it. That would have been...the Holy Grail, so to speak.

Seriously, the online offerings were pretty lame. I'm not exaggerating about the course on the History of Food. Oh, and naturally there are courses on the history of pandemics. Subtlety, thy name is not University Courses. Frankly, I'm surprised they're offering it; having done some studying on pandemics (the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu), the COVID thing doesn't really match up. They might get people to think that this COVID thing is a tad overblown. That would be fun to see.

Our middle son has made the school basketball team, so he's having lots of fun with that. I know, I know...why is he in school? We're homeschooling, right? We hate public education! What's going on?

Well, when you move to an island two thousand kilometers away with no family or friends nearby, it's tough for a kid who is very outgoing and social to make friends out in the country where there aren't any kids around. So, we agreed to let him attend school on condition that he still does his homeschooling work. That way, at least we know he'll get an education. But I doubt it will last; public schools aren't going to be much different no matter where you go.

Anyway, he made the team, so that's a bonus for him. He's not having trouble making friends, which is good. He's the exact opposite of me when it comes to social situations.

Well, it's another brief entry tonight. But, I'm excited about the courses that are available to me, so I'm going to take this opportunity to remind you that I have a couple of fantasy books already published. Check out Arrival, the first book in the Chronicles of Meterra series. It's got lots of medieval stuff in it. And it's available either as an ebook or as a paperback. Go ahead, take a look. You won't be disappointed.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 26

More about movement. Vectors can only be changed in the movement phase, including gravitational effects. Acceleration is limited by the ship's M-drive, which means 2 inches per G of acceleration. So, a standard Free Trader (1G) can't change its vector by more than 2 inches in a single phase. Of course, you can constantly accelerate, which will get your vector speed pretty high in a hurry.

Ah, but there's a catch: your vector acceleration can't exceed the M-drive's size rating. I wonder why that is; it's not like there's anything in space to slow you down, so in theory, you can accelerate to near-relativistic speeds before mass increases to the point where you can't produce enough thrust to move any faster. But it would take a long, long time to get to that point, far longer than a typical space battle, even for the ship with the best engine possible (such as a 200-ton ship with a level-F M-drive, which has a max accel of 6Gs). Now...what is the ship's M-drive size rating? I'm going back to the engine pages, but it's not clear. Unless I'm reading the whole thing wrong, which is certainly possible. Old-school games are good for that.

Let's try that again. The text reads, "The total acceleration in a turn in inches may not exceed the size rating of the M-drive." Okay, now it looks a bit different. In a single movement phase, you can't accelerate than your ship's size rating. So, the 200-ton ship with an F M-drive can accelerate as many as twelve inches in a movement phase, but no more. Okay, that makes more sense. Except that it's just reiterating what the last paragraph of the text was saying. No wonder it was confusing. There's no practical limit to the length of the new vector (which would be the total accumulated acceleration). Got it. Oh, and if the ship's engine is damaged, the accel drops to whatever the new letter allows. So, if that Type-F drive gets knocked down to a Type-C drive, then you're limited to the 3G acceleration, or 6 inches of velocity increase per turn.

Good, so it looks like we've got the basics of starship movement down pat. Now...planets and how they can mess up your ship.

Planets get their own character sheet/data card. It's a lot less complex than the starship data card, but this one has math. Be afraid. Oh, wait...we're sci-fi geeks. Math is our thing.

Holy...okay, so at this point there's no way to actually calculate these formulas, since we haven't got any data on any planets yet. And that doesn't arrive until Book 3. But, to do these formulas, we need to know the planet's diameter and density. The four formulas are R (Radius) = D (diameter)/2; G (gravity?) = K (density?) times R/4, or one-quarter of the planet's radius; M = G cubed, and L = 4 times the square root of M/G. For the fourth one, though, you use multiple values of G to get a series of numbers, stopping when you're used the same 'G' you got in the second formula.

I told you this was going to get complex. After you've got the 'L' formulas done, you get to draw circles with a compass and ruler to show how far the planet's gravity extends in concentric, expanding circles around the planet. Got all that?

The last sentence on the page continues on page 27, so I'll go to that one next time.

He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay...

Well, there was some quality father-son time today out in the bush part of our farm. Our oldest and I went out to cut down a few trees to clear a path so we can walk (or drive) into the bush more than fifteen feet. It was hard work, but it was fun. It's good to spend time together like that, especially since he and I have so little in common to begin with.

The windstorms around here are truly nuts. We haven't had one for a couple of weeks, but they do some serious damage when they show up. One of the trees we chopped into pieces was already torn in half from the wind. The wood was rotted in the middle, sure, but still. This wasn't a skinny tree, it was about eighteen inches in diameter. And the wind tore the entire top right off. I'm just glad our house is still standing.

We ended up taking our four trees today, including the broken one. It was a good day's work, and we had enough space that we could go looking for the maple trees we were told grow in our bush. Sure enough, we found some. This is very exciting news, since it means we're going to have the chance to do something really cool: tap the trees and make our own, homemade maple syrup. I can't wait.

While we were wandering in the bush, we discovered something truly impressive: An entire tree torn out of the ground, roots and all. It was a birch tree, and judging from the fungus that was growing all over the trunk, it probably came down some time in the summer of 2019. But I have to say, that was quite the sight to see. There was a flat disk about ten feet in diameter at the base of the trunk, the birch tree's roots. I really should have taken a picture; it's hard to imagine it without seeing it. This disk was only a foot or so thick, but it held the entire birch tree's trunk five feet in the air.

We also got a good lesson in how nature takes care of dead things like trees. We stepped on some very old, moss-covered logs...and went right through them. They were so soft from rotting that it was like stepping on dirt. That was some seriously old wood.

We are going to plant some trees to replace the ones we took down; these ones were already dead or close enough to it. There's a lot of that in our bush, so we're going to slowly start pruning out the dead wood and planting some new stuff in there. Too bad we don't have a fireplace in the house; we could heat it for twenty or more years from just a fraction of the bush back there.

We're still waiting for winter to hit, though; we had a bit of snow the other night, but nothing that lasted. It's actually been decently warm (for a Maritime November) so far, with only a couple of days where the temperature dipped below zero. I'm sure we'll get a good dose of it soon, but for now, we're just chilling. So to speak.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 25

We're back, with a final paragraph on data cards (aka, starship character sheets). They are actually for any ships involved in the conflict, whether they have jump drives or not. The same format is used, but some things are left blank depending on the ship's capabilities. Well, that makes sense.

So, we jump straight into starship combat movement. We're talking M-drive movement, not J-drive movement, which just takes the ship out of the fight entirely. M-drives are for local travel, and use vectors. So, don't expect to see Star Wars-style combats with snub-nose fighters acting like World War II Spitfires. The vector in this case is simple the direction and distance the ship moves. The direction is listed in degrees (of a circle) instead of with directions such as east or west (which are meaningless in space anyway). The ship's velocity and direction of travel make up the vector, as follows: 6 inches at 90°, or 4½ inches at 277°, which are the two examples in the book. Good luck going to exactly 277° with your ruler, though. For tracking vectors on the playing surface, the book recommends using string, soft wire, or even chalk, depending on the surface.

The vector determines the next turn's travel, assuming it's not changed by the ship's captain...or by any nearby gravitational sources. Yes, we'll get to those effects soon; I'm looking forward to it.

There are two figures shown for how vector movement works. It's a bit complicated, but a bit of basic geometry will help. You basically take the initial vector (let's say 3 inches at 90°), and add the new acceleration to it. If you're just going in the same direction, (vector 2 is 1 inch at 90°), then you just put them together, and the new vector is 4 inches, 90°. That part's easy. It's the next part that is going to get tricky. Basically, starship piloting in this game is going to require you go back to your high school math. You put the initial vector (again, for example, 3 inches at 90°, and put the next vector at the end of it (in the example case, it's 3 inches at 180°). Then you make a triangle with a third line from the starting point of vector 1 to the endpoint of vector 2, and that's the actual vector you travel (and your vector for the next movement turn).

The book stresses that you don't actually need to do math; just mark the vectors on the playing surface and connecting them. Yeah, but we're gaming geeks. Math is our thing.

The thing I like about this system is that, while it's more complex than just going in a new direction, it's far more realistic for space combat. I know, I know...'realism' and 'old school gaming' aren't really compatible. But in this case, it works. You can't just stop on a dime and reverse direction in space; there's nothing to push back against. You want to turn around? Turn your ship around and thrust in the other direction. It's going to take a while, and the guy shooting at your tailpipe is going to have an easier shot, so if playing chicken with his missiles isn't your thing, do something different.

Alright, so that's the initial part of figuring out starship combat. I'm liking where it's going. Let's see what happens next.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 24

Okay, so before our horrendously-expensive starships can start blowing each other up, they need 'data cards.' Or, if you prefer, a character sheet for the ship. This page is all about how to prepare this data card in a standard format to make it easy to write up a ship's statistics. Well, I suppose it's got to be done. Let's see how this works.

First, name the ship. Easy enough. Make a list of the ship's basic sections, one through six, and include their capabilities or values. The Maneuvering drive is first, followed by the Jump drive, then the power plant, then the fuel tank, the cargo hold, and the bridge. It's interesting that they are all to be done in that specific order. And I'm sure it's a total coincidence that there are exactly six sections, which just happen to correspond to the number of sides on a Traveller die.

After that, list the turrets, including their weapons. Remember, a turret can have up to three weapons. The weapons are listed with single letters; B for beam laser, P for pulse laser, M for missile launcher, and...S for Beach Blanket Bingo. Then you add the expertise of the weapon's assigned gunner, as well as how many missiles are in the launch racks.

On the right-hand side of the card, list the computer's information, including whatever programs are carried on board. Note that it doesn't say 'stored,' since the computer can only handle so many programs at a time, so some of them are sitting on memory tapes or compact discs, waiting to be uploaded. Man, computer tech has to be the absolute worst part of Traveller. But then, how would they have known in 1977 that within 40 years we would be light-years ahead in terms of computer tech? Anyway, leave room by the computer programs to mark which ones are actually in use at any particular time. Use a pencil.

Next we get an example card for a 'typical Type S Scout'. Because this was 1977, they used index cards. Now, of course, we use spreadsheets and database programs for this kind of thing. This card is a good example of the issues with computer programs: The computer is a Model-1, which means it can only store four programs at a time and run two. That's rough in a firefight. But the list of programs is more than four; it's ten. So, while you can ignore some of them in a fight, such as the jump programs and the library, that still leaves seven to work with: Target, Return Fire, Launch, Predict-1, Navigation (probably skippable in battle as well), Auto/Evade and Anti-Missile programs. Remember, you can store four of these at once, and run only two. So if you've got the Auto-Evade going, you're going to have to choose between targeting an enemy ship, or launching those counter-missiles at the incoming firepower. And that's if you've got them both programmed at the time.

Alright, so now we have our ship's character record sheet. Hopefully we'll see what we do with this next time.

Here Comes Winter...

We're supposed to get snow tonight. Only a couple of inches, but still. It's mid-November, which back in southwestern Ontario means snow is still a month away, if not more. It's not snowing yet, as I type this, but the night is still young. Well, it hasn't reached middle age yet, at least.

I've probably mentioned this before, but it is absolutely beautiful out here. At night, with a clear sky, you wouldn't believe how many stars you can see. When I would walk the dogs at night in Wallaceburg, I would see some of the stars; the Big Dipper, Polaris, Cassiopeia, Orion (depending on the season). Easy to spot, easy to recognize. But out here? The Dipper is there, easy enough to see, but Cassiopeia and Orion are tougher to spot; there are a lot more stars visible in their vicinity, the ones that aren't bright enough to be seen when there are streetlights nearby. Well, there aren't any street lights around here, so not only do I see a crap-ton more stars, I can also see the ribbon of the Milky Way high above. It's an amazing and beautiful sight. I even saw a shooting star tonight.

Our middle son is trying out for basketball; he's got a tough road ahead, since it's a school of Grades 7-9, and he's in seventh. But if he wants it bad enough, he'll get it. He's got quite a bit of athletic talent, so I think he'll do well. I'd still rather have him at home, but he needs friends. He's not weird, like his dad.

Not a long entry tonight; I've got an exam tomorrow to prepare for. And writing, of course. Always writing. I might not write another Anne of Green Gables, but I'm going to do my part to increase the available literature out there.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 23

Ah, here we go...the turn sequence. Let us see how starship combat works in Traveller.

First of all, the 'intruder' goes first. He moves his ship(s), according to the movement and gravity rules. Ah, so gravity can become an issue in starship fighting. I like that. While he's moving his ships, any missiles and sand previously fired move as well. So, missiles take time to reach their targets. So does...sand? This again? How fast does this sand move, anyway? I mean, even just one hex on the board is a thousand miles in ten minutes. Fast math: that works out to 1.67 miles PER SECOND. That is some insanely fast sand. That's faster than the escape velocity on the moon (1.47 miles/second). You could shoot this sand from the surface of the moon and hit something IN ORBIT. That's insane!

Okay, enough with the sand. Next, the 'intruder' gets to shoot lasers. But not missiles; those come later. After that, though, the 'native' gets to shoot back, if he has a 'return fire' program running. But he can only return fire against ships that shot at him. So, no retaliating against that transport behind the attacking ships; wait for your own turn to do that. Oh, you can also do anti-missile firing if there are any of them on their way to kill you, too.

After all the lasers have been fired, it's time for the ordnance. Missiles (and sand) can be launched at enemy targets or...on specific missions? How exactly does a missile have a specific mission, other than 'blow up when you run into that solid moving object'? Talk about Mission Impossible; this missile will self-destruct in ten seconds. Oh, lifeboats and other ship's vehicles can launch at this phase. Well, at least they can have specific missions. And previously-fired ordinance that has contacted enemy ships finally get to explode. But not until after the lasers go first. You can even shoot anti-missile missiles (counter-missiles?) in this phase...if you've got the right computer program running.

Finally, the intruder gets to reprogram his computer for something else. Put in a new magnetic tape, I suppose. Yeah, I'm old; I remember when computers used taped cassettes to load programs. It's a joke, okay? Old farts like me will get it.

After the intruder is done swapping out any computer programs, the native side gets to do the same things: Move, laser fire, intruder counter-laser fire, ordnance launch, and reprogram. Nothing unusual or special here.  The interesting part to me, though, is the notion that the computer can only handle a few tasks at a time. Looking back, a lot of ship's computers are only going to be able to run a few programs; the maximum is 20 on a level-7 computer. That's not that many; the laptop I'm typing on right now is running about fifty different programs, most of them in the background. Five open windows. Boy, did computer technology ever outpace sci-fi role-playing games.

Finally, after both sides have moved and fired (and reprogrammed), everything else moves. Planets, and worlds. Um, what's the difference between a planet and a world? I do like that they actually do move; planets have some serious velocity. Earth moves at just under 30 km/second, or almost 19 miles a second. So the sand probably won't catch up to it. I'm just saying. Anyway, at that speed, in ten minutes Earth would move eleven hexes. And it already takes up a huge number of hexes anyway. So, that's going to make for an interesting addition to space combat near a planet. Remember, gravity affects ships in these rules. I'm not sure how yet, but I'm pretty sure we'll find out soon enough.

Well, that was an informative page. Let's see what happens when we start breaking down these phases on the next page.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 22

 And...we're back! We learned how to spend ungodly amounts of money to build these ships...now let's learn how to blow them up! That's right, it's everyone's favorite sci-fi topic...starship combat!

Pardon me while I crank up some appropriate music on YouTube...

So, the rules we are about to be given cover pretty much any space combat situation, whether it's a simple merchant ship trying to escape pirates, or squadrons of imperial starships clashing. Cool. Let's see what we've got.

First, the basics. Time is measured in ten-minute increments. Combat is portrayed on a hexagonal surface, with one hex equaling 1,000 miles. So, planets are probably going to take up lots of space on the board. Watch where you're flying. Thrust is measured using the ship's maneuverability drive, and velocity changes at a rate of 2 inches per G of accel. So, this is going to be pretty abstract, which makes sense; speed of play is more important than ultra-realistic accuracy. Cinematic combat is the key; nobody complained about TIE Fighters exploding in space, right?

So, we get the first part of the Turn Sequence here. Generally, a space battle will have only two sides. Of course, if you want to make it a three-way or even four-way fight, go right ahead; I'm sure the Turn Sequence will be flexible enough. If not...wing it! That's what old-school games are all about, anyway!

The book is going to use the terms 'intruder' and 'native' for the combatants. That seems...rather politically correct, frankly. 'Attacker' and 'defender' would work fine, too. It's a weird choice of terms. Anyway, the turn sequence is going to be rather rigid, apparently. There are separate phases for firing lasers and for firing missiles. Interesting. I wonder what we'll see next.

Well, the music stopped, which is fine, since the page is done as well. Time to move on to the next page.

Time Marches On

Well, that week went by fast...I probably need to be a little more punctual in doing these blog posts.

So, we're still waiting for winter to arrive. I'm looking forward to the kids' reactions when they realize just how much snow we can expect out here. I remember from when I was kid how much snow shows up in the Maritimes, but for them, it's going to be a whole new experience.

I mean, we weren't exactly living in Texas or Florida before; the kids know what snow is, they saw some every year. But southwestern Ontario doesn't get all that much snow, especially compared to out here. Southwestern Ontario gets the ironic nickname of 'Canada's Banana Belt,' but it really does have a much milder climate than here. Major snowstorms were infrequent at best. When they did hit, they were nasty. But they were rare.

I'm going to videotape their reactions when they wake up that morning.

Our oldest isn't a kid anymore; he's eighteen now. That was a big week for him. Now he's officially old enough to do the job he's been doing since we moved here. Congratulations, Ashton!

One of the fun things about moving into an old house is the exploring. My wife was ready to head out to Summerside to buy some Christmas lights and decorations for the house when Ashton went up to the attic, which we haven't been in yet. It's not hard to find, and there are stairs leading up to it; we just never took the time. Well, he saved Mom a trip; we found a ton of Christmas decorations and other stuff up there. Including a very old, very fat Oxford Dictionary. This sucker is massive. It was published in 1957, and it's the 'Shorter Oxford Dictionary'. It's over 2500 pages long. The front cover is taped on. Fortunately, it was in a plastic bag, so it didn't get moldy or ruined in the attic after however long it was up there. That is a sweet treasure to find.

It's a short entry tonight, but at least there is one. I'm avoiding the more controversial topics of the day (the U.S. election, the continuing saga of COVID) because I'd rather talk about more interesting things, like writing. It's almost time for another Cameron Vail mystery to appear. I should be done soon; I haven't been able to work on it as much as I wanted to due to school assignments and a new job, but it's coming along. The plot's all there; it's just a matter of getting it done. I expect it will be available on Amazon by the end of the month. Hopefully sooner.

In the meantime, if you'd like to refresh your memory on who Cameron Vail is, check out his first adventure, Final Exam, available on Amazon right now.

Blowin' in the Wind

One of the many things I don't remember about PEI is the wind. Seriously, these winds are crazy. We've had more high-speed windy days in five weeks than I remember in five years back in Ontario. I'm talking winds that are exceeding the posted speed limits. And we live on a highway. Tomorrow we have a father-son project to work on: Putting the siding back on the garage after the weekend winds blew it off to the ground. Not to mention cleaning up the latest bunch of branches torn off the trees in the front yard.

I mean, I realize that we're very close to open water; six kilometers or so to the east, maybe fifteen to the west. And the Gulf of St. Lawrence is very wide open. But the winds aren't coming from the Gulf; they're coming from the west, from the Northumberland Strait. Which means they're coming off of New Brunswick. Where the heck does New Brunswick get that kind of wind from? It's hilly, even approaching mountainous in parts. How are we getting gale-force winds so often?

I went out to the closer garage the other day. Thanks to the wind shear, I aimed for the second garage and got to the one I wanted to go to. Hey, it works for pilots.

We still haven't gotten snow, although I hear Charlottetown's already had a couple of inches, and that's only an hour away from here. But it's coming. I'm looking forward to it, for some bizarre reason. My whole intent in moving in the first place was to get away from the damn snow. Instead, I brought my family to a winter wonderland. I think I'm most looking forward to the boys' reactions to the anticipated levels of snow. Back in southwestern Ontario, we could expect a couple of feet of snow in total in a heavy year. Here, we're expecting over nine feet.

It's too bad we don't have a fireplace in the house; we certainly have access to enough wood to heat the house for the rest of my life. Maybe we'll install one at some point. There's something about the idea of curling up on the couch in front of the fireplace on a winter's day. It's...primeval, in a way.

Well, I'm going to batten down the hatches in case we get another windstorm tonight. Especially if it's accompanied by those white flakes. Keep reading, and don't forget to look me up on Amazon.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 21

Well, so much for combat. First, we get a checklist on how to design a starship. Basically, it just reiterates everything in point form from the starship design section. So, to recap:

First, a hull, by size.

Second, the Engineering Section, including drives and power plant.

Third, the Bridge, including the computer and fire control equipment.

Fourth, Life support. That's a pretty important one. But the low-passage berths are in this section. And they suck.

Fifth, Fuel tank.

Sixth, Weapons. Hardpoints, turrets, and armaments.

Seventh, any ship's boats.

Eighth, streamlining, if you want it.

Ninth, Cargo capacity; whatever you haven't used yet.

Tenth, the naval architect's fee. He gets 1% of the total cost of the ship. Damn; that's a truly spectacular amount of money for a good-sized ship. Building a scout ship earns you 320,000 credits. For the bigger ships, the fee is in the millions. Screw adventuring; my next character is going to be a starship designer.

Finally, the construction time, which is based on the ship's hull size. The dinky scout ships take ten months to build; at a thousand tons, you're looking at two and a half years. So, plan ahead.

Well, that was an easy page. Moving along, maybe we'll get starship combat next.

So Much to Do...

Seriously, this island is tiny. I mean, compared to Ontario? Or Quebec? Or even Michigan. It's minute. It's small. It's...full of stuff to do. Even now, in COVID-time, there's lots to do, if you know where to go.

We went to Slemon Park near Summerside yesterday; there's a little outdoor aircraft museum honoring the old military base. There are three planes parked there: A Voodoo, an Argus, and a Tracker. The Voodoo was the RCAF's interceptor; it's the plane I remember my father flying when he was in the Air Force. The Argus was an anti-submarine patrol plane, carrying 15 crew and enough fuel to fly for a thousand miles and stay on station for eight hours before returning. That's a lot of diesel. The Tracker was a mini-Argus, basically, with only four crew that flew off aircraft carriers. Here's a Voodoo; I thought it was the coolest plane in existence when I was a kid.

Well, we spoke with Dad while we were there, and it turns out that my father actually flew in the Voodoo and the Argus that are parked here in Summerside. Those actual planes! He recognized their ID numbers on the fuselage; that's quite the pile of awesome right there. My son was giddy about it while he was talking with Grandpa, asking him all sorts of questions.

We also went to Jacques Cartier Provincial Park, which it turns out is a campground. It's closed for the season (and for COVID, most likely), but we went in anyway. We had to walk, since the driveway was chained off. But it was worth it. We stood where Cartier stood 486 years ago when he first set foot on the island, the first European to ever do so. I mean, that's historical. Literally. There's a statue commemorating the landing; here's Tanner standing beside it.

I bought a map at a bookstore in Charlottetown last weekend; we're highlighting the places we visit while we're here. And there are a LOT of places to visit. Seriously, there's enough to do here that we could spend the rest of our lives on this island and not run out of things to do and places to visit. It's crazy. But, it's going to be awesome.

There's one other thing to mention about our stop at the park: This picture.

If you look closely, you'll see that this is a man-made structure. Or at least, what's left of one. It's not very big; as you can see in the first one, it's probably not more than eight feet in length, and three or four feet wide. I have no clue what it might have been, but I'm sure there's a fascinating story there. And if there isn't, I'll make one up.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, pages 19-20

Back with more standard ships from the Traveller universe. There are five more here: The Free Trader (Type A), Subsidized Merchant (Types R & M), the Yacht (Type Y), and the Cruiser (Type C). Remember, these are the discounted 'off-the-shelf' ships.

First up, the Free Trader. If I recall correctly, this is the ship a Merchant can earn from mustering out. Let's see what it's got. It's a type-200 hull, so twice as big as the Scout ship. Ten staterooms, including four for the crew, and twenty death-traps...sorry, I mean 'low-passage berths.' Just like the Scout, it's got Type A everything, but its bigger size limits it to 1 G of accel and a jump distance of 1. But it holds lots of cargo; 82 tons of it, along with 30 tons of fuel. It comes equipped with two empty hardpoints, with two tons of fire control space held in reserve. The computer is the basic one, and it can land on planets. Oh, and it costs just over 37 million credits. 

So, it's bigger and slower than a Scoutship. Well, that makes sense; scouts are supposed to be faster than lumbering merchant types. If you want to fight with it, you'll have to put weapons in the hardpoints, at your own expense. Well, hopefully your character mustered out with a lot of cash. And the Gambling skill.

Next up are the Subsidized Merchant ships; two of them are described. The Type R is twice the size of a Free Trader, with 13 staterooms (five for crew) and only nine sucker-beds. It's got C-type plant and drives, which still limit it to accel and jumps of 1. It carries 200 tons of cargo and 50 tons of fuel, comes with two hardpoints and a lifeboat, and can land. It's still got the crappy computer, though. Oh, and it tops nine figures at 100,035,000 credits. Even a forty-year mortgage isn't going to help pay for this sucker.

The Type M is even bigger, three times the size of a Free Trader. 30 staterooms, including nine for the crew, and a whopping 80 passenger death-traps take up lots of space. But it's got a D power plant and maneuvering drive, along with a J-level jump drive, so it can travel. Only 1G of acceleration, but a nice jump distance of 3. It even has a decent computer (level 3), but only has a cargo capacity of 124 tons. It carries 190 tons of fuel! Seriously, when your massive merchant ship only has 150% of the space of a Free Trader, your ship sucks. Sure, it's got three hardpoints, but come on. It isn't even atmosphere friendly. And it costs nearly 220 million credits.

So, the Free Trader actually has the best value of the three merchant ships. That's pretty sad. The Type-M costs almost six times as much as the Free Trader, and doesn't carry enough cargo to make up that cost difference. The only thing it has going for it is that it can go further in a single jump. The Type R is actually not too bad, carrying a decent cargo capacity, but still, it's almost three times as expensive and doesn't go any further on a jump than the Free Trader. All in all, the Free Trader looks to be the best option.

Next up, the Yacht. This is my favorite ship so far, because it doesn't try to kill its own passengers with those stupid low-passage berths. It has 16 staterooms (four for crew), two of which have been joined to make an owner's suite. It's the size of the Free Trader, with the same engine and power configuration, so 1 G acceleration and a jump of 1. Another basic computer, and only 13 tons of cargo space. But it comes with three vehicles: A ship's boat, an air/raft, and an ATV. One hardpoint, 39 tons of fuel space, and four unallocated tons for whatever the owner feels like installing later. It clocks in at just under 60 million credits. Not a bad ship, considering.

Finally, there's the Cruiser. The biggest of the standard ships at 800 tons, it's 'quasi-military'. So, privateers, then? Pirates are cool. Space pirates are cooler. Mercenaries would work, too. But pirates rule. Everyone knows that.25 staterooms for the 45 crew and officers, and no low berths. It's definitely a fighting ship, with type-M drives and plants (good for jump-3 and 3 Gs). It's also got a level-5 computer, 8 tons of fire-control equipment allocation, and 8 hardpoints with triple turrets (but no weapons, so you can customize the mix). Tons of fuel (288 of them), with some of that available for refueling the parasite ships. Those are two pinnaces, two ATVs, and an Air/Raft. This beauty is available for the special price of only 419,670,000 credits.

It's a spiffy ship, no question; the customizable weapons mean the Referee can do a different mix for various planetary navies, pirate ships, or mercenary companies. It could even be a way of telling who's currently wanting your intrepid crew dead; maybe the Arconites use mostly laser weapons, but the Stellar Skill crew like blowing things up with missiles.

The Cruiser bled over to page 20, which is only half full anyway, so I'll do a double-page entry today. The next part is 'Customer Designed Ships'. We get a few additional notes on what goes into customizing ships, and the highest hull size possible is the type-5,000. Considering the prices for the standard ships, I can't imagine anyone other than a system government being able to afford a ship that size. And even then, just one of them. An interstellar empire would be able to do it, but other than that...

Power plants and drives are restricted to certain hull sizes, depending on the power of the plant or drive. Non-starships only cost half as much as jumpships, but you can't upgrade a non-starship with a jump drive later.

So, that's it for building a starship. Maybe next, we'll learn how to blow up these expensive toys, yes? We shall see...

You're Doing What?

My wife didn't quite realize just how serious I was about changing our lifestyle when we moved out here. Or, at least, my own. I've never, EVER been an outdoors kind of person. It's just not my thing, never was. No, I was always inside, reading a book or playing a game, never doing the outside thing. Well, I did play sports as a kid, but that's different; that was fun. Doing outdoor stuff that's work? Even mowing the lawn was a nightmare. I was a city boy, not a back-to-nature kid.

Well, well, times have definitely changed.

See, I was serious about the whole idea of becoming as self-sustaining as we could on this little hobby farm. That means we're going to have to grow the food ourselves. It saves a lot of money at the grocery stores, which are higher-priced here on the Island. But still...that means getting down in the grubby dirt and doing actual manual labor.

And I'm enjoying it.

Don't get me wrong; I'm still writing, still doing the sci-fi/fantasy thing, still enjoying the benefits of modern life. But there's a whole new world out there, and as crazy as it sounds, I like it. I never understood the appeal of gardening until now. And all I've done is dig two small garden beds for her, one of which has twenty-nine garlic bulbs that will hopefully sprout in the spring, currently covered in straw to protect them. And I didn't just use a roto-tiller; I used a spade and a pitchfork and dug down deep.

The dogs love it out here, since they have their own private dog park in the back to play in. The kids love it as well. And my wife and I are really getting into the spirit of country living. It's very, very different from the city, or even the small town we lived in before coming here. It's...peaceful. The stars come out at night, and there are a hell of a lot more of them in the sky when we're away from the street lights.

But the part that blew my wife away was that my older son and I actually built a simple but effective composting tumbler together. That's right, a homemade composter. And it works very simply: You put the composting ingredients in, then seal the lid and just roll it around the yard a couple of times to tumble the compost. She can't believe I'm actually doing that. I really should have taken a picture of it; it was a fun project for Ashton and I.

So, I'm going all-out on this new way of living. Those who knew me before probably don't believe it. Heck, I'm not sure I believe it myself at this point. But, it is what it is; I'm running a hobby farm, so it's time to make it real.

Let's Read: Traveller, 1977 Edition, Starships, page 18

And we're back, talking about 'Expendables.' No, not a Sly Stallone movie. These are the things that get used up, or break, on starships. Thus, they need to be purchased separately. For our expendable items, we have missiles, sand, and repair parts.

One thing that isn't specified is whether you get an initial payload of the missiles or sand when you install them. It would seem likely, but then, maybe not. Looks like it's a...Dun-Dun-Dun!...Referee Call. For myself, I would say that yes, you get a full rack of either missiles or sand when you install the weapon turret. Others might disagree, and that's totally okay.

So, missiles in Traveller are homing missiles. Radar-guided or heat-seeking, it's not clear. Again, a Referee Decision. It probably doesn't really matter, anyway. All that matters is that they cost a mere 5,000 Cr to replace. That's your bog-standard missile; other types are mentioned (like jump missiles for messenger duty), but details are up to the referee. Again. Man, there's a lot of thinking in these old-school games, isn't there? How are people supposed to play without everything spelled out in micro-minute detail?!

Sand for the sandcasters is next. Oh, but this isn't just plain sand, because that won't work. This is a special composition that includes prismatic crystals and ablative particles, which will thus deflect lasers and...inflict minor damage on ships that it touches?! Where did that come from? More details forthcoming, perhaps? Maybe in the part on ship combat; it wasn't mentioned earlier. This 'sand' is pre-packed and weighs 50 kg, costing a paltry 400 Cr to purchase. Alright, then.

Our third expendable is repair parts. This one doesn't include the basic spare parts kept on board the ship; there are emergency materials in the ship's stores for temporary repairs. The cost of repair parts depends on how much the component cost in the first place. To get the repair cost, roll two dice and multiply the total by 10%. That's how much of the original price it will cost to replace the part. And yes, that means the repair might cost more than replacing the entire component would. Boy, does that sound familiar. Fix that fridge? The labor costs alone are more than the cost of buying a new one. Traveller really was ahead of its time.

There's a -2 DM if the ship's crew is making the repair, which means it might cost nothing at all. Well, that's helpful. Of course, the crew has to actually know how to repair the components to get the bonus. Well, there's always a catch.

And that's it for the expendables; now, we get an introduction to the 'standard' starship designs. These designs costs 10% less to build thanks to their standardization. We begin with...the scout. Or courier. It's as small as a starship can get, with a type-100 hull and A-level plant and drives. It has four staterooms, which can be double-occupied for crew (not passengers). It carries an air/raft and has three tons of cargo space and tank space for 40 tons of fuel. There's a double turret on the single hardpoint, but there are no weapons. A Model/1 computer with basic software completes the package. All this for the low, low price of 32,490,000 credits. Geez. And that's as basic a ship as you can get. It's got 2Gs of acceleration and can do a jump-2, but still. I suppose this is the ship the Scout career can earn. Well, it's better than nothing.

Next up...we'll find out next time. On to the next page!