Computer Model and Jumps

[creativehum]

I'm sure this has been covered here before, but my Google-Fu has failed me.

The rules state:

"Model number also indicates the largest
jump which the computer can control."

A Type S has a Mode/1bis. But can Jump-2. Do bis mode;s get am extra jump value?

Also: On the sample ship listing index card in every edition of CT, the Type S is listed as having a Model/1. I assume this is a typo from the '77 edition that has been carried over into each of the printings?

Thanks!

 

[BlackBat242]

Yes - the "bis" is the designation for an "uprated" computer that acts as if it were one number higher for purposes of what it can control, etc.

 

[creativehum]

Thanks!

 

[mike wightman]

I see you are delving into the darkside - the 81 revision

An interesting addendum - if you have HG1 the computers in there can have bis version for every model.

 

[Redcap]

Heh. Darkside revisions (NO! DON'T GO THERE ALREADY!!! :rofl indeed

On any given ship, the power plant number must at least equal the jump number or the maneuver number, whichever is higher. Unlike maneuver or jump drives, power plants can achieve numbers higher than six. Theoretically, a power plant number may reach as high as 50; practically, it should rarely go higher than 35.

Let's not forget the confusion caused by the fib (Fibre-Optic Back-up) versions as well, which still have to be the same rating or better than the jump capability, but which add resistance against "radiation", which I read to mean gamma/EMP bursts!

...Model 1 is the standard computer model; Model 1/fib is the same computer with a fibre optic back-up system to resist radiation damage; Model 1/bis is an improved version of the standard model with greater program handling capability.

...and a few lines further on...

The bis models (Ibis and 2bis) allow are capable of controlling a jump one higher than their model numbers; Ibis is capable of controlling jump-2.
Models bis and fib show a letter in parenthesis after the model number. This
letter is the Universal Ship Profile code for the computer. Thus, the USP code for a Model 5/fib is E.

While it is fairly clear on careful reading, if you skim through the rules without really taking it all on board, you can really mess up the entire design process.

In short: Nit-picking heavily (I write creative fiction for a hobby, and believe me, my proof readers are evil when it comes to clear writing!), it probably could have been written better (It's not an engineering manual, it's a game!), but still does the job

 

[creativehum]

I see you are delving into the darkside - the 81 revision l.

Hi Mike,
I know you're joking. Buy I'm no 1977 edition purist. I use the 1981 edition as my baseline (it does clean up some stuff from the '77 edition). The key for me is picking and choosing between the two editions to find the most useful elements to retain the original spirit of play using ant revisions that are clearer or make play run more smoothly (those minus modifiers to damage rolls in 1977 were nothing but depressing!)

Note, this is the exact opposite of trying to cram every CT product together and trying to make sense of them as a whole.

Edited to add: The dark side, I suppose, would be me editing together the text from 1977, 1981, and The Traveller Book (The Combat Procedure list is clear for the first time in TTB), and formatting it was my Traveller: Out of the Box edition.

 

[mike wightman]

I know what you mean

There is a lot in the 81 revision to like - cleaned up character generation, simplified damage dice, revised drive table.

But why they cut stuff from the 77 edition is still a mystery

 

[Redcap]

... would be me editing together the text from 1977, 1981, and The Traveller Book (The Combat Procedure list is clear for the first time in TTB), and formatting it was my Traveller: Out of the Box edition.

Traveller: Out of my box edition.

There, fixed it for you

(Grinning, ducking, and running)

 

[salochin999]

"Model number also indicates the largest
jump which the computer can control."

Never noticed that.

 

[creativehum]

Never noticed that.

It wasn't in the 1977 edition. Got added in 1981.

 

[creativehum]

Traveller: Out of my box edition.

There, fixed it for you

Without doubt there would be editorial decisions that would make it my version of the "Out of the Box" game.

 

[Redcap]

I don't doubt it! I'd likely be homicidally irritable after such a mammoth task o: Levity aside, how far along did you get?

 

[creativehum]

I don't doubt it! I'd likely be homicidally irritable after such a mammoth task o: Levity aside, how far along did you get?

Oh, no, no. That's just an idea that popped into my head this afternoon.

I really can't justify taking the time to do it.

But, that said, it would be fun to do. Having thought a lot of this through, it really would be simply cutting or pasting those elements of text that I think work best together and support the kind of play I want.

The problem is, I wouldn't stop there. I love how lots of elements of the game interlock in interesting ways to produce interesting effects. But this stuff is never explained and gets buried in paragraphs of text far apart from each other. I'd want to start making it clearer... and that way lies madness.

Also, I'm knee deep running a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game right now that is going gangbusters. All this Traveller stuff is me doing stealth prep for a game that might take place in the future. If I do create the Out of the Box rules set, it will be some time in the future.

 

[Redcap]

You realise that, like me, people will wind up calling it the out of my box edition, right? You'll have to set up a games company to market it too, to go with it, and that'll have to be called "Diced Daftness"

Oh, awright, I'll get me coat

 

[salochin999]

It wasn't in the 1977 edition. Got added in 1981.

I think that's the one I've got - the one without the trade tables. I think I must have read it, remembered what I thought I'd read and only ever looked back at the tables - not the things I'd thought I'd memorized. There's a been a bunch of things like that since reading these threads.

Rejigging the TL of the computers would be a simple way to limit jump if you wanted it to be lower than the drive table (for example I like early exploration to be limited to J1 as it can make for interesting geography).

edit

maybe something lost in translation in the comments above: "out of my box" is a UK expression for crazy / drunk

 

[creativehum]

maybe something lost in translation in the comments above: "out of my box" is a UK expression for crazy / drunk

Thank you! Did not know that.

 

[BlackBat242]

I didn't either - not directly.

But since Ameringlish has the phrases "out of my skull/out of my head" for temporary insanity/extreme intoxication, and the skull is often referred to by 'Muricuns" as "the brain-box"... the connection is there.

 

[Redcap]

OT: "Out of your box"

Heh, yeah, sorry about that, I tend to follow the meaning of so many American slang phrases, I tend to forget that others don't tend to follow the British ones - my bad on that!

"Out of my/your/their box"

Ph. British English.
Person is clearly out of his mind, drunk, and/or insane for even contemplating let alone actually attempting the event/effort/technique (etc.) at the centre of the situation.

e.g.
"Are you out of your box, Fred? The wall's twenty feet high, there are no handholds, and it's covered in anti-climb-paint! NO way will you be able to climb it!"

Hope the above helps

 

[SanDragon]

Bad things are known to happen when someone says, "Here. Hold my beer."

 

[warwizard]

In the US "I played it out of the box" when referring to a rules set would mean totally un-modified, no house rules or errata, err official changes, yeah that.

So the Americans would read Traveller: out of the box to be the most basic edition or the first published version. not some crazy never to be attempted rule mash up.