"What-we-have heah -- is ah failyah -- to communicate."
GunMaker doesn't tell you how to design the Classic Traveller guns. It is just one big toolkit. So how do we get results that resemble CT? Results that are usable?
The big panic buttons are the Pistol and the Carbine. If you just pick "Pistol" or "Carbine", you get underpowered weapons. So the system is not holding our hands... much like the way Fire, Fusion, and Steel works, in fact, except for three things:
(1) there's less that can go wrong
(2) it tends to be clearer to divine what went wrong
(3) simpler math makes it easier to backtrack when you don't get what you want (corollary to #2)
So the newbie will build the plain-jane Pistol-5, and get a relatively useless firearm. Or worse, build a Body Pistol, which is completely useless. GunMaker is not self-promoting.
So what are our alternatives?
1. Build the Standard Pistol. "Standard" refers to manufacture and general use. This produces a TL6 pistol which can overcome very light armor, and can quickly incapacitate an unarmed person.
2. Build the Standard Heavy Pistol. For 330 grams more, you get a TL6 pistol that inflicts 3D damage.
Now, the system is clearly not holding anyone's hand. While the math is simple, the system is complex, and takes some time to see how the descriptors interact. Additionally, the low-end of the tech scale is not terribly accurate or useful -- it's hard to create low TL firearms. Obviously the system is geared towards the middle tech levels, to the detriment of TL5 and lower.
I believe a statement along those lines would be sufficient to forewarn users.
me said:GunMaker is clearly not holding anyone's hand. While the math is simple, the system is complex, and it takes some effort to see how the descriptors interact. Additionally, the low-end of the tech scale is not terribly accurate or useful -- it's hard to create low TL firearms. Obviously the system is geared towards the middle tech levels; TL5 and below tend to be under-powered, while TL17 and above tend to be under-represented.
GunMaker doesn't tell you how to design the Classic Traveller guns. It is just one big toolkit. So how do we get results that resemble CT? Results that are usable?
The big panic buttons are the Pistol and the Carbine. If you just pick "Pistol" or "Carbine", you get underpowered weapons. So the system is not holding our hands... much like the way Fire, Fusion, and Steel works, in fact, except for three things:
(1) there's less that can go wrong
(2) it tends to be clearer to divine what went wrong
(3) simpler math makes it easier to backtrack when you don't get what you want (corollary to #2)
So the newbie will build the plain-jane Pistol-5, and get a relatively useless firearm. Or worse, build a Body Pistol, which is completely useless. GunMaker is not self-promoting.
So what are our alternatives?
1. Build the Standard Pistol. "Standard" refers to manufacture and general use. This produces a TL6 pistol which can overcome very light armor, and can quickly incapacitate an unarmed person.
2. Build the Standard Heavy Pistol. For 330 grams more, you get a TL6 pistol that inflicts 3D damage.
Now, the system is clearly not holding anyone's hand. While the math is simple, the system is complex, and takes some time to see how the descriptors interact. Additionally, the low-end of the tech scale is not terribly accurate or useful -- it's hard to create low TL firearms. Obviously the system is geared towards the middle tech levels, to the detriment of TL5 and lower.
I believe a statement along those lines would be sufficient to forewarn users.
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