Developments from the larger Science Fiction Universe

[kafka47]

Most of the talk on the T5 boards and assorted Traveller boards have been to discuss how dated Traveller is. If you could implement three changes to the Traveller Universe keeping in mind the Mission Statement of Traveller. What would you import from the larger SF universe without destroying the fabric of what has gone on before.

Here folks is your chance to influence the setting not the mechanic. Keep it civil.

 

[robject]

Hmm. Bringing back some of the variety from TNE would be easy and helpful: cybernetics and jumpgates are both nice.

I don't know if I'd want that in the CT OTU, so let me start over.

One. An alien nemesis or two and a smaller Imperium. Put the human race in a struggle for survival.

Two. A polyglot of aliens, and fewer human-dominated empires. Ensuring that alien races can be imported into the game from external sources in a consistent way.

Three. Ooops, sorry, that's a mechanic.

Um, three. I'd make more inhospitable worlds, and very few worlds with water.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

I'm not sure what is meant by "outdated" when discussing the "Science-Fiction Adventure in the Far Future"!

Aside from that, what is in the "larger SF universe" borders on fantasy rather than hard science, even though Traveller includes rules on Psionics.

My adventures tend towards hard science-fiction, with a very few gimmicks thrown in, like gravity control, faster-than-light travel, and and experimental laser pistol or two.

I avoid things like divergeant timelines, time travel, psionics, ghosts and the supernatural, and any life form made of something other than normal matter (and I'm especially prejudiced against the possibility of non-carbon based life).

So, what if...

Setting changes:

... an Ancient installation on a rogue planet thaws out, releasing a threat that's very much like Saberhagen's Berserkers (NOT Roddenberry's Borg). Only these are re-awakened leftovers from the Grandfather wars, and Grandfather is off on a holiday for the next millenium or so...

... The Empire only seems benevolent, with silent, sinister agents making people disappear for no apparent reason ("Two by two, hands of blue.")...

... Jump space rendered people incapable of producing offspring. Of course, at J-1 it would take 30 years or so for the effects to appear, but by then it could be blamed on old age or anagathic use. The truth is that once J-6 technology becomes more prevalent, people start losing their reproductive abilities in 5 years or less! Cloning becomes fashionable...

... Another Humaniti race is discovered. Refer to previous posts on the Imperial Stellar Socialist Republic (ISSR) for details, comrade...

I'll think of more when I'm not supposed to be working.



-KR-

 

[Spinward Scout]

Three things? Let's see:

1) Make computer systems vague so as not to look 'dated' as you said. Side by side with that are cybernetics and robotics, which are beginning to come into the mainstream here in the 21st century.

2) Extrapolate the physics from current 21st century quantum physics: Zero-Point Energy or Mental Manifestations through Quantum Effects (see the Princeton Research).

3) Make JumpSpace not boring as bloody hell. Introduce new technologies like my JumpComm FTL communications I posted a while back (oh god, heresy!), a JumpGovernor that allows the ship to get to Jump-36, or a JumpMitigator that reduces the travel time by a factor of 60 (you're still looking at crossing the Imperium in a good month or so).

Just my 0.02Cr

Dameon

 

[parmasson]

Cybernetics/computers/robots
This is a dead horse, I shall not beat it anymore.
[edit] ignore this ^ wrong suggestion this is mechanic

More minor alien species within the Imperium
Weird and bizarre things not of earth. Loads of em’

3-D space.
This is the only major thing that really bugs me. I understand the need for it in past but computer technology is becoming nearly universal. Keep everything else and disregard the other two suggestions but please make an option for a 3D universe. Please….
[edit] 3D space will keep the Imperium from being “surrounded” a frequent complaint.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Yeah, it does feel sometimes that the Imperium has no place to go. Easy pickins for a coalition/alliance/gangup that wants the territory.

 

[Spud]

What I would most want is bigger ships; not like big ship/small ship universe, but ships with more space in them. 200 dtons is ridiculously small. If we are going to import food via jumps, we need a _lot_ more cargo per jump drive. Picture the Nostromo and Sulaco. Ships so big the crews rattle around. Freighters that are way bigger than most Navy vessels. Even the Serenity has room for basket(?) -ball in the hold.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Serenity is 2400 tons according to the RPG book. But the interior layout is only the size of 2 or 3 houses, which would be less than 1000 tons in the Traveller 'Verse. But yeah, a bigger Scout ship would be great!

 

[GypsyComet]

Current regulation Basketball only requires your cargo hold be about 18 meters wide by 30 meters long or so (that's with a little wiggle room). A whopping 40 tons of cargo space. Maybe twice that to get good vertical clearance.

The Serenity isn't anywhere close to 2400 Traveller displacement tons. Closer to the 300 to 400 tons range.

Go pace out the dimensions of a Sulieman in your yard, or in the street. Center the Air/raft hanger over your car, for reference.

---

Making ships more efficient (on a revenue-vs-cost basis) would require jiggering the entire economic model. Since the current model is already hard to define, any changes are sure to be unpredictable. That said, I like the "big soft merchants and small nasty military" model. The trick is finding the economic model to support it at both macro and micro-economic levels.

Making computers more "vague" happened in HG: no more specific programs or dated descriptions of how you had to load and unload them; just a minimum computer size to run your hull and jump drive...

Cybernetics, flakey AI: Put down FF&S and look at the *rest* of TNE...

Nanotech destroys the setting as we know it. If that doesn't trouble you, go for it.

Wierder aliens: A point of constant contention is just where on the "Hard SF-to-Pulp" axis Traveller really is. How wierd the aliens are is really a side effect of that position. I'll note that the T4 aliens were very cartoony, and some of the G:T aliens as well, pretty much by force. If you want wierd, go there. The default races can be played either way, and that is their strength.

 

[mike wightman]

My three changes to the OTU:

1] Keep the Imperium as an oppressive, corrupt, remote government.

2]Make 2300AD the official history of the OTU.

3]Make the Imperium smaller so that the alien empires become a factor in play.

 

[Maladominus]

Originally posted by kafka47:
Most of the talk on the T5 boards and assorted Traveller boards have been to discuss how dated Traveller is. If you could implement three changes to the Traveller Universe keeping in mind the Mission Statement of Traveller. What would you import from the larger SF universe without destroying the fabric of what has gone on before.

Here folks is your chance to influence the setting not the mechanic. Keep it civil.

Yes. Allow a few of the Star Wars or Star Trekkie technologies at Imperial Tech Levels like 14 or 15. This means allow tractor beams by TL14 or TL15, and maybe early use of transporters (beam me up Scottie) at TL15.

Right now, these technologies are placed at like TL17+ or higher, which means they are never accessible to any of the players that play in a canon setting.

 

[jfetters]

Dameon hit the nail on the head for me - either reduce the time spent in jumpspace, reduce the size of the empire or make ships faster than J-6.

One of the gripes I have always had with Traveller is the fact that characters age a LOT just by virtue of going from place to place when they do little more than twiddle thumbs for a week at a time while in jumpspace.

 

[GypsyComet]

Tractors and Repulsors have both been within Imperial TL in one edition or other.

Transporters are way too much of a wildcard to allow in PC hands as understood technology. They are also one of the major causes of the derision many hold for Star Trek pseudo-science. Got a plot hole you can't solve? Use the transporter, that'll take care of it!

 

[robject]

Originally posted by Heretic Keklas Rekobah:

Setting changes:

... an Ancient installation on a rogue planet thaws out, releasing a threat that's very much like Saberhagen's Berserkers (NOT Roddenberry's Borg). Only these are re-awakened leftovers from the Grandfather wars, and Grandfather is off on a holiday for the next millenium or so...

... The Empire only seems benevolent, with silent, sinister agents making people disappear for no apparent reason ("Two by two, hands of blue.")...

Huh. I've done both of these before. Very satisfying.

3D space would be nice.

Barring that, square subsectors and sectors.

Ah, and grafting in 2300's background would also be nice.

 

[Pickles]

1) Leave Sol out of it. "Earth? Just a myth, you don't actually believe in that do you?"

2) No benevolent government. "Government is all about control. Who wants to be controlled?"

3) Small ships. "You want to take on that mercenary cruiser? What are you, crazy? It's got eight turrets!"

Originally posted by robject:
Barring that, square subsectors and sectors.

The future is hexagonal (but that's mechanics, not setting, slapped wrists all 'round).

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Maladominus, I will line up with the others against transporter technology. Its bad enough the Zho's can do it with psionics. (I don't have a problem with many of the other psionics, but teleport has always snapped my disbeleif suspenders - and hard!)

Jim, how about the time spent in j-space is negligible to the crew, but it takes a week of outside time? I have heard of a few folks trying that homebrew approach.

Bromgrev, I like the idea of no Sol around. It takes out all the politics of "Why is SolSec so fascist?", etc.

 

[jfetters]

Originally posted by Fritz88:

Jim, how about the time spent in j-space is negligible to the crew, but it takes a week of outside time? I have heard of a few folks trying that homebrew approach.

Hmmm...Interesting. Relativistic speeds mixed in with Jumpspace... The only downside that I can see to that is tracking two different timespans - that of the "real world" and that of the characters' percecptions.

Bromgrev, I like the idea of no Sol around. It takes out all the politics of "Why is SolSec so fascist?", etc.

It also gets rid of the tourist trap.

 

[parmasson]

The future is hexagonal (but that's mechanics, not setting, slapped wrists all 'round).

[quickly removes wrist on a roll of 8+]
Not so fast . . .it is both. The “setting” is where the action takes place. A 2D world is a setting. The mapping mechanic is also 2D and I would respectfully submit that the 2D setting does not do the TU justice and that changing the setting to a 3D universe would solve many plot problems while adding another dimension (literally) to gameplay. If you wanted to keep the 2D mapping for a 3D universe you could, that is pure mechanic.

 

[Black Globe Generator]

Originally posted by Jim Fetters:
One of the gripes I have always had with Traveller is the fact that characters age a LOT just by virtue of going from place to place when they do little more than twiddle thumbs for a week at a time while in jumpspace.

(Emphasis added.)

Really? That week in jump space is where I tend to introduce rumors and patrons, by way of the passengers.

It's also a great "closed universe" for some adventures, such as mysteries or dangerous stowaways, akin to being trapped on an island with a homicidal maniac.

As far as the original question, AI appears IMTU a bit earlier than the TL table might suggest - I include a continuum between avatars, AI, and sentient machines, with the latter occurring beyond TL 15. I've also 'brewed in some cybertech and nanotech. Any or all of these could be added to the official TU in ways that keep the flavor of the original, IMHO.

 

[Pickles]

I have dim memories of a report in New Scientist a few years age, dealing with teleportation. IIRC (and I probably don't), someone managed to teleport one characteristic of an atom. I wonder if there's more to this old trick of avoiding costly spaceship-landing special effects.

I'm intrigued by the idea of time differential in jump space, a bit like relativistic travel - could be interesting ...