CT Errata Compendium

[rancke]

Library Data (N-Z) errata

Library Data (N-Z), p. 7: "Legislation and enforcement are the prerogative of the Imperium, or of the sectors."

This contradicts the statement on p. 7 of LDAM:

"Interstellar government begins at the subsector level -- on one world designated the subsector capital. The ruling figure at the subsector capital is a high-ranking noble selected by higher levels of government. This duke has a free hand in government, and is subject only to broad guidelines from his superiors."

Being subject only to broad guidelines implies considerable executive, legislative, and judicial powers. If you have no legislative powers at all, you're subject to a lot more than broad guidelines from your superiors, as you will have to have your laws enacted by them. It becomes even worse if you have no powers of enforcement either. Indeed, I don't see how that could work at all.

I suggest that the line be amended to: "Legislation and enforcement are the prerogative of the Imperium, or of the subsectors."

This would make the sector duke the administrative coordinator of sector-wide activities (in addition to his duties as a subsector duke) rather than the ruler of the sector and fit well with the comment on p. 36 of LDNZ that "no special title is awarded to a sector duke", suggesting that he is not superior to his fellow dukes but only first among equals.

Alternatively, if you see the sector dukes as having a more powerful role, the line could be amended to: "Legislation and enforcement are the prerogative of the Imperium, or of the sectors and subsectors."


Hans

 

[Timerover51]

Don, do you do anything with the 76 Patrons Supplement? I picked up the Supplement Compendium in hard copy, and was looking through it and came across something odd in the first Mercenaries ticket.

It has 2,000 small arms, type not specified being smuggled onto a planet, but only 50,000 rounds of ammunition for said small arms. That averages out to only 25 rounds per weapon, which is not enough for even familiarization firing, much less training and then a revolution.

Given that this is supposed to be equipment for a revolution, albeit in Ticket 1 a failed one (called a set up), it would be safe to say that all of the small arms are not going to be the same, as 2000 identical weapons are going to be a bit hard to explain if they are being smuggled in in small lots. That will mean different calibers, and probably also included some submachine guns, pistols, sniper rifles, and some automatic weapons requiring large amounts of ammunition. If you want, I can check some of my manuals and figure out how much ammo would be reasonable in this type of situation.

 

[BlackBat242]

It looks to me like this is actually not an error.

If the goal is, as stated "The real purpose of the company, remember, is not to cause a successful rebellion, but an unsuccessful one.", then limiting the initial ammo issue provided is a reasonable action.

There should be promises of "more ammo later, this is all we could get through right now", most (or all) of the ammo should be expended in minimal familiarization training, then a new shipment of sealed ammo boxes should arrive barely before the scheduled start of the rebellion.

This "ammo" should be distributed as the rebels are heading out to their "jump-off" positions (or even after they are there), so that the first time they are opened and loaded into weapons would be minutes before the attack begins.

Only when they try to shoot the ammo during their attack should the rebels learn that it is all defective, leaving them to be easily pushed back and defeated by the security forces.

Giving them the defective ammo at the start of training would guarantee detection of the bad ammo well before the attack is to begin, and giving them too much good ammo for training would almost certainly see some hidden and kept by the rebels, which could allow more success than desired.

After all, if you have a few good rounds, then you can kill a couple of security goons and take their weapons & ammo - allowing you to obtain more good weapons and ammo the same way.

Since the intention is to create a false confidence in the rebels, the results of the limited familiarization firing should be rigged so that they all appear to have easily hit their targets, thus "You don't need more marksmanship training, as all of you are already great shots".

 

[Timerover51]

It looks to me like this is actually not an error.

If the goal is, as stated "The real purpose of the company, remember, is not to cause a successful rebellion, but an unsuccessful one.", then limiting the initial ammo issue provided is a reasonable action.

There should be promises of "more ammo later, this is all we could get through right now", most (or all) of the ammo should be expended in minimal familiarization training, then a new shipment of sealed ammo boxes should arrive barely before the scheduled start of the rebellion.

This "ammo" should be distributed as the rebels are heading out to their "jump-off" positions (or even after they are there), so that the first time they are opened and loaded into weapons would be minutes before the attack begins.

Only when they try to shoot the ammo during their attack should the rebels learn that it is all defective, leaving them to be easily pushed back and defeated by the security forces.

Giving them the defective ammo at the start of training would guarantee detection of the bad ammo well before the attack is to begin, and giving them too much good ammo for training would almost certainly see some hidden and kept by the rebels, which could allow more success than desired.

After all, if you have a few good rounds, then you can kill a couple of security goons and take their weapons & ammo - allowing you to obtain more good weapons and ammo the same way.

Since the intention is to create a false confidence in the rebels, the results of the limited familiarization firing should be rigged so that they all appear to have easily hit their targets, thus "You don't need more marksmanship training, as all of you are already great shots".

One, i doubt very much if any revolutionary group is going to stage a revolt depending on a last-minute delivery of ammunition just prior to the revolt, and also go in without testing it in advance. Would you trust ammunition that you just got from someone who you cannot nail immediately if they pull a fast one?

Second, how do you think the mercenary company is going to react when they discover that the ammo is bad, and that they are the fall guys?

Third, is the group supplying the bad ammo going to stay bought and actually supply bad ammo? If they help the revolution to succeed, they will be in very well with the new planetary government, and get all sorts of cool, and highly profitable, trade agreements with the successful revolutionaries.

You are going to have to have some automatic weapons in the mix, or your revolutionaries are going to get really suspicious of you. Familiarization fire with an automatic weapon, all by itself, is going to cost you a minimum of 100, and more likely 400 to 500 rounds per weapon. Two thousand small arms should equate to at least 200 automatic weapons in the form of light machine guns, with one light machine gun per 10 man squad. Add a submachine gun for the squad leader, and you have 400 automatic weapons. There goes your 50,000 rounds really quick, without any rifle firing at all.

Lastly, how sure is the recruited mercenary company going to be that they are not being set up to be wiped out by a combination of very angry revolutionaries and company security with such a small amount of ammunition? When weapons do not fire, who are the revolutionaries going to be looking for, with great interest and lots of rope?

Personally, if I were the head of the mercenary company, I would work really hard at making sure the revolution is successful, as I would not have a lot of trust in the company man setting the whole thing up.

 

[aramis]

One, i doubt very much if any revolutionary group is going to stage a revolt depending on a last-minute delivery of ammunition just prior to the revolt, and also go in without testing it in advance. Would you trust ammunition that you just got from someone who you cannot nail immediately if they pull a fast one?

Second, how do you think the mercenary company is going to react when they discover that the ammo is bad, and that they are the fall guys?

Third, is the group supplying the bad ammo going to stay bought and actually supply bad ammo? If they help the revolution to succeed, they will be in very well with the new planetary government, and get all sorts of cool, and highly profitable, trade agreements with the successful revolutionaries.

You are going to have to have some automatic weapons in the mix, or your revolutionaries are going to get really suspicious of you. Familiarization fire with an automatic weapon, all by itself, is going to cost you a minimum of 100, and more likely 400 to 500 rounds per weapon. Two thousand small arms should equate to at least 200 automatic weapons in the form of light machine guns, with one light machine gun per 10 man squad. Add a submachine gun for the squad leader, and you have 400 automatic weapons. There goes your 50,000 rounds really quick, without any rifle firing at all.

Lastly, how sure is the recruited mercenary company going to be that they are not being set up to be wiped out by a combination of very angry revolutionaries and company security with such a small amount of ammunition? When weapons do not fire, who are the revolutionaries going to be looking for, with great interest and lots of rope?

Personally, if I were the head of the mercenary company, I would work really hard at making sure the revolution is successful, as I would not have a lot of trust in the company man setting the whole thing up.

You grossly overestimate the competence of the average insurrection. The reason most (last figure I recall was 95% or more) fail is that they are not militarily competent.

Even the semi-competent often cannot afford to test scarce ammunition; many rely upon initial surprise raids to scavenge weapons and ammunition.

I'd suggest Paul Avrich, Russian Rebels as a good historical study on the subject matter. Most rebel groups have only a couple percent who are militarily competent.

 

[Timerover51]

Just curious. Have either of you read the scenario in 76 Patrons lately, and also the one that follows? Also, if you go with just the information in the book, the revolutionaries are supposed to believe that a fully equipped mercenary company, that no one is apparently paying, has suddenly been smuggled to their planet and is begging to help them in a revolution. Is not someone going to smell a very very large and stinky rat somewhere?

The question was addressed to Don for his input, and I am awaiting his response. I believe that he is in charge of errata?

 

[rancke]

The question was addressed to Don for his input, and I am awaiting his response. I believe that he is in charge of errata?

Certainly he is. And if you browse this thread, you'll note that people often chip in if they have something relevant to say in an effort to help him figure out his reply.


Hans

 

[DonM]

Errata is something I have fun with in Traveller. I gather and review it for Marc, and I find when I am ill and depressed that it helps me recover faster.

My family thinks this may be evidence that I need professional help. They may be correct.

:rofl:

I have a LOT of errata to review.

 

[Timerover51]

Errata is something I have fun with in Traveller. I gather and review it for Marc, and I find when I am ill and depressed that it helps me recover faster.

My family thinks this may be evidence that I need professional help. They may be correct.

:rofl:

I have a LOT of errata to review.

Hmm, finding that working on Traveller helps when ill and depressed and finding that it helps sounds perfectly normal to me.

 

[rnadams2]

Possible errata for AM 8 Darrians

Referencing Aslan character generation, characteristics are specified to be:

"Strength (2D), Dexterity (2D-1), Endurance (2D), Intelligence (2D), Education (2D), Social Level (2D)"​

on pp. 27 and 28, and:

"Strength (2D), Dexterity (2D -1), Endurance (2D), Intelligence (2D), Education (2D +1), and Social Standing (2D)"​

on p. 45, but AM1 Aslan lists them as:

"strength (2D+1), dexterity (2D-1), endurance (2D+1), intelligence (2D), education (2D), and social level (2D)."​

 

[Matt123]

Hey Don,

An errata suggestion relating to CT rounding. A short survey on this thread found at least three different interpretations (Supplement Four, Aramis and madams2) of how to handle per n (x/n).round_up or (x/n).round_down with regards to Bk2 crew requirements and for example hard point calculations.

I'll suggest that a consistent interpretation may be to errata that "per n" is (x/n).round_up, so fractions count; then creating exceptions for those cases where (x/n).round_down and ignoring fractions is the case. You have already adopted this approach in the errata for the calculation of ship hard points.

 

[hdan]

TTB Errata?

Page 78, second paragraph, last sentence: Throw dexterity or greater to put on a vacc suit...

Should likely be "Throw dexterity or less to put on a vacc suit..."

 

[DonM]

Hi Don,

I hope I'm not being pedantic or stating the obvious with this, but, this correction also applies to The Traveller Book and Starter Traveller "Charts & Tables"

My copy of The Traveller Book, page 94, shows the modifier for Atm 8+ as +2. Also the same modifier on Starter Traveller C&T page 18. But on Book 3 '81 page 33, the modifier for Atm 8+ is +1, which is incorrect.

So the correction does NOT apply to either TTB or Starter.

Unless there's printings out there I'm not aware of?

 

[DonM]

I'm in the middle of playing catchup. However, the fixes to HGS are not yet ready, so I'm NOT taking Book 2 or Book 5 ship design errata at the moment, because I don't trust the verification.

If your errata suggestions are to do with the design rules, rather than a specific design, that's fine, but the upcoming CT errata update (1.2) will not add errata for designs because I'm lazy... :CoW:

So really, that means there isn't much.

Sorry Tom and others who have proposed design changes, but I prefer using a tool that allows all of us to reliably recreate designs.

 

[DonM]

Referencing Aslan character generation, characteristics are specified to be:

"Strength (2D), Dexterity (2D-1), Endurance (2D), Intelligence (2D), Education (2D), Social Level (2D)"​

on pp. 27 and 28, and:

"Strength (2D), Dexterity (2D -1), Endurance (2D), Intelligence (2D), Education (2D +1), and Social Standing (2D)"​

on p. 45, but AM1 Aslan lists them as:

"strength (2D+1), dexterity (2D-1), endurance (2D+1), intelligence (2D), education (2D), and social level (2D)."​

Aslan is correct. New errata for Darrians noted.

 

[DonM]

Page 78, second paragraph, last sentence: Throw dexterity or greater to put on a vacc suit...

Should likely be "Throw dexterity or less to put on a vacc suit..."

Yes, and tracked down for Starter and '81...

 

[DonM]

Certainly he is. And if you browse this thread, you'll note that people often chip in if they have something relevant to say in an effort to help him figure out his reply.


Hans

I should note I'm very thankful for the assistance.

 

[DonM]

Hey Don,

An errata suggestion relating to CT rounding. A short survey on this thread found at least three different interpretations (Supplement Four, Aramis and madams2) of how to handle per n (x/n).round_up or (x/n).round_down with regards to Bk2 crew requirements and for example hard point calculations.

I'll suggest that a consistent interpretation may be to errata that "per n" is (x/n).round_up, so fractions count; then creating exceptions for those cases where (x/n).round_down and ignoring fractions is the case. You have already adopted this approach in the errata for the calculation of ship hard points.

Unfortunately, the Ancients were inconsistent in this approach, and I try to follow their usages when appropriate. At some point I'd love to have that as an overall errata item, but not yet...

 

[DonM]

A clarification: does this mean that type B stars cannot be generated in these three sizes (leaving them only to size Ia, Ib, II, and the dwarfs), or simply that they cannot have orbitals?

Simply that they cannot have orbitals. And I've bugged the Ancients on Scouts errata often, and unfortunately, I don't get why answers too much anymore... :rant:

 

[DonM]

Book 8 Robot...

The Book 8 Robots errata is on hold. I do think it's all valid, but it needs some specific focus.

Could you start a specific to Book 8 thread on your items? I'd like to see more input, since it probably impacts the MT Robots designs as well...