Spacecraft Sensor and Weapons Ranges?

[Mako]

I have the old CT rules, and was looking them over the other night, and noticed that a lot of the weapons ranges seem really short, e.g. 1,250 Kms, 25,000 kms, and 50,000 kms for many/most weapons.

Sensor detection for merchants was listed at 150,000 kms., with tracking out to 900,000 kms.. Ran across a thread though, mentioning a higher tech, improved commercial sensor with a range to 300,000 kms.

Military-grade ones, IIRC, are good to about 600k - 1.2 million kms. range.

I seem to recall ranges for perhaps a later edition being a lot longer than that, e.g. on the order of 300,000+ kms., and that 50,000 kms. was considered to be "short range", instead of 1,250 kms, so I'm wondering if the extended ranges are for later versions of Traveller, and/or if they are for higher tech levels of the vessels?

I'm primarily interested in the "Adventure class", small merchants, and smaller, naval vessels, like Patrol Cruisers, Close Escorts, Gunships, and SDBs.

It also appears that the weapons power of various armaments have increased considerably as well, for some variants too, especially for the larger, naval vessels that are probably best left to major fleet actions, like the Book 5 High Guard rules seem to have intended.

Is there a listing of the various Traveller rules variants, that shows which sensor and weapons ranges for spacecraft are used with them, or is there a changeover point, where the weapons ranges increased by about 1,000%?

I'm a bit confused on the subject, so any help people can provide, or links I should look at would be appreciated.

I tried doing a search, without much luck.

 

[aramis]

MegaTraveller, you pick the ranges from a (mostly) pseudo-log scale...

 

[mike wightman]

I'm not sure where you are getting your weapon ranges from in CT.

Under 81 edition a laser has an effective (no DM) range of 250,000km, it is -2 in the range 250,001km-500,000km and -5 at 500,000+km.

 

[kilemall]

MW has it right from a CT perspective, with the caveat that the CT computer/ship battle rules could render a -5 DM shot impossible, particularly with EVADE programs, pilot skill and/or Sand DMs.

SO depending on the interactions of computer investments, sand clouds, and pilot vs. gunnery skill, could be that the range limit was 0 km (Evade 5 can render an impossible hit even without range DMs), 250,000 km, or all the way out to 900,000 km.

50,000 km sounds like possibly someones' interpretation of plasma/fusion guns, which are 'short range', however you interpret that.

The other possibility is that you ran across an MgT discussion, in that system the ranges ARE much shorter, I think to give a cinematic/fast play appeal to the game, allow for missiles to hit in a dramatically useful timeframe, and possibly scratch the itch of people uncomfortable with the 100,000+ km shots.

 

[Mako]

Thanks for the replies.

I've found a couple of Quick Reference Sheets on-line, which are presumably for CT, and/or the earliest variants of Traveller, which have the smaller Adventure-class ships, and shorter ranges.

On that, the following weapons ranges are listed, which I found to be exceedingly short, even by modern day standards, especially the "close" and "short range" weapons:

Adjacent (presumably Boarding Action range) < 1 km.
Close 10 kms.
Short 1,250 kms.
Medium 10,000 kms.
Long 25,000 kms.
Very Long 50,000 kms.
Distant 50,000+ kms.

Some weapons are limited to only Short, Medium, or Long range, so can't be fired at all of the above distances. Those seem to be fairly consistent, regardless of the weapons ranges, relative to one another, though the actual distances they can fire seem to be about 10X - 25X greater than the above, depending upon the range category, e.g. on the order of 50,000 - 60,000 kms. for Short Range, to several Light Seconds, for the longer ranges, in the newer, updated Weapons Range Stats.

In the original CT book (Book 2), 150,000 kms. is the standard commercial sensor range. I've run across mention of 300,000 kms. for a higher tech, merchant sensor, on-line. 600,000 kms., IIRC, for military/naval sensors. All can track detected targets out to 900,000 kms..

Is there a GM, or Referee Aid/Guide, Quick Reference Sheet for T5, or other later, Traveller rules editions, for Spacecraft Combat, available on-line, for Sensor and Weapons ranges, etc.?

 

[kilemall]

Thanks for the replies.

I've found a couple of Quick Reference Sheets on-line, which are presumably for CT, and/or the earliest variants of Traveller, which have the smaller Adventure-class ships, and shorter ranges.

On that, the following weapons ranges are listed, which I found to be exceedingly short, even by modern day standards, especially the "close" and "short range" weapons:

Adjacent (presumably Boarding Action range) < 1 km.
Close 10 kms.
Short 1,250 kms.
Medium 10,000 kms.
Long 25,000 kms.
Very Long 50,000 kms.
Distant 50,000+ kms.

Some weapons are limited to only Short, Medium, or Long range, so can't be fired at all of the above distances. Those seem to be fairly consistent, regardless of the weapons ranges, relative to one another, though the actual distances they can fire seem to be about 10X - 25X greater than the above, depending upon the range category, e.g. on the order of 50,000 - 60,000 kms. for Short Range, to several Light Seconds, for the longer ranges, in the newer, updated Weapons Range Stats.

In the original CT book (Book 2), 150,000 kms. is the standard commercial sensor range. I've run across mention of 300,000 kms. for a higher tech, merchant sensor, on-line. 600,000 kms., IIRC, for military/naval sensors. All can track detected targets out to 900,000 kms..

Is there a GM, or Referee Aid/Guide, Quick Reference Sheet for T5, or other later, Traveller rules editions, for Spacecraft Combat, available on-line, for Sensor and Weapons ranges, etc.?

JG had the 1977 era ref shield.

I looked this up just now, that is NOT a CT document/page you ran across, it is a MgT1E range set.

Mongoose ship combat is on an entirely different time scale and range then CT, and is abstracted not mini/graph paper plotted. So they are not compatible, at all.