Humor in Traveller

[BlackBat242]

Hmm... those numbers look interesting.

The Gazelle class "close escorts" in Supp 7 list a jump capability (with the dismountable tanks) of J4... (J5 in LHyd mode).

It seems that Marc, et al got the numbers switched, as those numbers make more sense* if H20 was 70.8 kg/m^3 and LHyd was 111.1 kg/m^3.

*actually, if water had the lower H-density, then that J4 (water) would be J6 (LHyd), as the ratio is 1.569:1.



So we must reverse it, and consider water as the best storage mode... regardless of the efficiencies of the other forms, as the "waste product" of Oxygen can also be used in the life-support system.


That throws a lot of wrenches into the game system, as "unrefined fuel skimmed from gas giants" becomes far less effective... you only get 2/3 the range from that in your Scout than you would if you used water. o:

Hmmm... how would the "purification plant" turn the gaseous hydrogen etc into water? Also a problem.


Handwavium it is!!! :toast:

 

[aramis]

Actually, O2 is a far more dangerous thing to have. You want your surplus Oxygen tied up in other stuff if you have the energy to crack it out.

It's far more dangerous when it leaks, since it has a low threshold for danger (400 millibars or more PPO2 is toxic... and has much increased risk of fire... and even an extra 100 millibars can cause long term issues... with corrosion rates)

Plus O2 is readily cracked from the surpluses of water that will ensue from bringing food aboard...

 

[aramis]

BB: Plenty of hydrogen and oxygen compounds in a GG. if it took only a few minutes, I'd say, yeah, it's just grab and pack... but it takes hours. So, I suspect that there is some filtration inherent in scoops.

Me, I presume mixed water, methane, amonia, and H2 in the tanks.

BTW, Oxygen as a byproduct is FAR more dangerous... it's extremely corrosive, and defines flamability by its very presence...

H2 is well known, and aside from being bleeping cold, readily handled. Leaks will be most dangerous for their cryogenic effects.

O2, however, becomes dangerous in concentrations far wider than H2. Plus, loading food will already be bringing more moisture than is needed into the system; craking waste water for O2 suplementation is likely. BTW, you can also collect and crack CO2... so Oxygen is going to be rather cheap.

 

[Icosahedron]

Water would be a good choice for fuel storage provided it could be cracked at a sufficient rate to use it in real time, and assuming use of anti-gravity and jump drives, which both ignore Newton's second law. However, it is fourteen times heavier than LHyd, and has only 1.5 times the energy density, so if your proposed purpose makes significant use of F=ma, it may not be such a good idea - ground/atmospheric vehicles, for example.

 

[Agemegos]

BTW, Oxygen as a byproduct is FAR more dangerous... it's extremely corrosive, and defines flamability by its very presence...

So you vent it to space.

 

[Agemegos]

Hmmm... how would the "purification plant" turn the gaseous hydrogen etc into water? Also a problem.


Handwavium it is!!! :toast:

Bah! You give up too easily.

What you do is fill your tanks with powdered lithium nitride. Take on board hydrogen, separate it from any compounds it is in, and then pump it into the tanks. The hydrogen will react with the lithium nitride to produce lithium azide and lithium hydride, storing 146 kg of hydrogen per cubic metre. This is a crystalline solid, stable at room temperature and one atmosphere, so it doesn't need insulation or pressure containment. When you want your hydrogen back, you heat the tank to 271 C and the mixture breaks down to lithium nitride and hydrogen gas again. Run the hydrogen off and leave the lithium nitride in the tank: it is a crystalline solid stable at room temperature.

Just be careful to keep all traces of water and organic solvents out of the tanks.

 

[aramis]

So you vent it to space.

Assuming, of course, that one can get rid of stuff in jumpspace.

If, for example, the jump buble requires 100mbar to be penetrated, you'll wind up with breathable atmosphere being retained. If, instead, it requires 250mbar, or about 4 PSI, you'll be running the risk of fire.

If, as MT's SSOM (from DGP) implies, th barrier is in fact at 0 bar to penetrate, then yes, you can vent it freely.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Oooh! I'm going to have to remember that one, Agemegos!

 

[far-trader]

Assuming, of course, that one can get rid of stuff in jumpspace.

If, for example, the jump buble requires 100mbar to be penetrated, you'll wind up with breathable atmosphere being retained. If, instead, it requires 250mbar, or about 4 PSI, you'll be running the risk of fire.

If, as MT's SSOM (from DGP) implies, th barrier is in fact at 0 bar to penetrate, then yes, you can vent it freely.

And if as implied in some places anything contacting the jump barrier is subject to being violently annihilated then venting anything while in jump space runs a serious risk of severe to catastrophic damage to the ship, including collapsing the jump bubble and destroying everything. Even simply altering the pressure of the jump bubble too much could be dangerous.

 

[Agemegos]

Assuming, of course, that one can get rid of stuff in jumpspace.

Well, if you wanted to use water (rather than lithium azide/lithium hydride, which is better in the important ways) you could have a water tank, a hydrogen tank good for one jump, and a processing unit. Start with both tanks full, and make your first jump. Then take half a tank of water, split it, vent the oxygen to normal space, and use the hydrogen to refill the hydrogen tank. Make a second jump, then split the remaining water, vent the oxygen into normal space again, and make your third jump. Gets you three jumps instead of two. Or with two water tanks you get five jumps instead of three. And so forth.

But the lithium nitride trick is better.

 

[ThunderChilde]

Back to the Humour

Got two from Gm'sTU.

Marine is taking aim at a armoured car that has the rest of the party underfire, he knows it is a highyield missile of some sort we took from smuglers earlier that day. He fires, the missile deviates and locks on one of the local megacows(6 tonner). When it goes off, it reveals itself to a micronuke. The running gags were along the like of "Mooo!?!", and "After I get out from under the stone wall, if the Impies aren't jumping around like jack rabbits I'm goona put my boot up someones ass and snap it off at the ankle, that was a *^&&$%^# of rads dammit.:rofl:

In that TU , 25% of all missjumps involved the 20 meters nearest the J-drive going for a walk.o:
We had an engineer that was unhappy with the current, death defying plan, so he arrainged this for a covert missjump, to look like an accident. GM told him he had to be right there to use the on unit controls to bypass any of the controllers or displays. We were having a hard time keeping a straight face as the rest of the crew. That Gm was of the"need a '70 foot run of line there? Sure here you go" as the char ran for the cliff type. So we missjumped, the first officer turned to the Captain and said "It's gone McCready, it's Gone" The Captains answer was a muted"What?, what's gone, why aren't we in Jumpspace?" "It's Gone", "What's Gone? Call engineering." "The back half of the ship McCready, it's gone" "What?" The captain NEVER made any alertness type checks, ever. He rolled three times to see if he noticed the boards, and couldn't, the look on the engineers face was priceless.:rofl:

 

[Brillig]

Ungadaar the Mighty is a Vargr, and the demo expert.

Sven is a Zhodanii, unskilled in Demo, and must, directed by Ungadaar the Mighty (over the comm link), dismantle the bomb set to detonate the drives of the landing shuttle.

Ungadaar (a little testy, and authoritarian), directs Sven to 'just cut the red wire, stupid Zo' - which Sven dutifully does, detonating the bomb - sadly Vargr are color blind.

Quoth Ungadaar, ''Well, I had to tell him Something - he might have done something STUPID without my help.''

I accused him of bearing a grudge over the 16 OZ incident.

 

[fiat_knox]

I just noticed that The Travellers have a Facebook entry.

I somehow find the thought of friending Dinalt or Gavin ... disturbing.

I've been thinking of all the times when humour has appeared in my Traveller games.

...


...


Nope. Nothing's coming to mind ...

 

[Easterner9504]

Battle

After Scout crew engaged in combat with 6 Aslan got ourselves loaded down with wounded ans scarred, on Aslan no effect. Advised would engage Aslan and negotiate their withdrawal in return for me releasing Aslan PoW's. Ships cook saw things differently.

5 minutes later I comm'd the extraction boat's civvie we had rescued.

Comm

"Eve, Mason completed negotiations, they were tough, but the Aslan all agreed to lie down dead. Tell the prisoners they are free to go. Tell Hil sorry Kti can't fight him, but if he gets better he'll drop in here in a couple of days, if he's still around. Oh and tell him there are two air rafts and supplies in town. He can fetch them any time. Then tell Doc petal to the metal, Rhedd needs fixin.'"


Note pedal mutated over the centuries!!!!

 

[rancke]

Bigoted joke

Heard in a starport bar, just before the big fight.

"Feller says, I once knew a Vargr who'd gotten his snout cut off by a laser beam. Second feller says, a Vargr with no nose! How did he smell? First feller says, Terrible! Those Vargr are FILTHY!!"


Hans