First Impressions from TNE

[Golan2072]

I've downloaded TNE from DTRPG when it was free; I'm now going to read through it seriously for the first time (I've read ittwice, but only in a very causual way) and post my comments here, as I did for T4.

Flavor text. Flavor text at the beginning of every chapter. I like that: it conveys the atmosphere and the "feel" of the milieu to the player in quite an efficient way. The flavor text I've read so far in TNE is of a good quality and is a welcome addition to Traveller (it was one of the things that the other editions lacked - in-character flavor text to make the universe somewhat more... Personal).

The introduction is very well written and draws the player in - and describes the PCs' place in the universe: "You’re different. You don’t much like the shape your ancestors left things in. And if you don’t like things, you do something about it." This gives the promise of the capability of PCs to make a difference in their surroundings - as I'll read on, I'll check and see if this promise holds true.

 

[kafka47]

Yes, I loved the atmosphere bits of TNE too. I would want to see every version of Traveller do the same. What I have been suggesting to a prospective game designer that I know. Have a general piece of fiction at the beginning of the sourcebook then continue along with the story at beginning of each chapter. Then using the those little chapter nuggets to illustrate different examples of play.

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE History Chapter

Once more, I'm impressed with the quality of writing in this section - very professional, yet quite emotional and personal. My impression so far (from reading pp.6-8 of TNE) is that this milieu is intended to provide a more 'emotional' approach to the universe, reaching to our hearts rather than to our sense of wonder (CT was about wonder, responsibility and couriosity - TNE seems to be about hope, dispair and determination). Not that I say that one approach is better than the other - its just different.

Generally speaking, this chapter is a very well-written overview of OTU history from the Ziru Sirka (sp?) to the release of the Virus.

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 1

Hmmm... So in TNE characters begin their careers at the age of 17 instead of 18 (p.14)? Why?

The attributes (the TNE term for characteristics) are different from the Traveller norm - three of them have the same names and, apparantly, function (Strength, Intelligence and Education); two have different names for similar functions (Agility and Constitution instead of Dexterity and Endurance) and one is totally new (Charisma instead of Social Standing - which is quite appropriate to the dynamic TNE setting).

There is an option in TNE for the Referee to allow the players to choose the number of career terms they choose; this option has always existed in Traveller, but only TNE and T4 gave it expression in the rulebook.

 

[Border Reiver]

Hmmm... So in TNE characters begin their careers at the age of 17 instead of 18 (p.14)? Why?

It follows the Twilight 2000 v2.0/v2.2 House Rules system. And due to the US development of this game, characters leave high school aged 17.

Charisma

again a T2K port over.

 

[epicenter00]

The atmosphere text for TNE was excellent. It's transferred over from Twilight: 2000 really worked well in that game and it worked just as well (or even better) in TNE.

TNE's effort towards emotion and faith was an admirable effort in many ways, and I think despite its flaws TNE is still one of my favorite iterations of Traveller because of it.

Too many games of Traveller lacked even wonder. Most games never even left the Third Imperium. They always stayed in the "frontier-ish" areas of the Imperium, leaving only when the mobs with the torches and pitchforks grew to be too large. They were clinical (some would say cynical) excercises in social engineering and terrorism. Most games in Traveller (especially CT) involved extra-legal activities, either working with some carte-blanche from the authorities, or being in it for yourself (or both).

I've lost count how many times I've run into Traveller players whose single greatest pride and joy was that their starship had the ability to boil planets, or how their characters were ruthless and amoral (not necessarily immoral, just amoral). Most "glorious" stories of Traveller players revolved around how they accidentally caused the deaths of thousands or how they stole this, that, or the other right from some heavily defended corporate lab or Imperial Research Station.

One of the things I think they were trying to get away from in TNE was this sort of moral bankruptcy. Instead TNE wanted to go for characters who were more heroic and to throw themselves into their passions instead of looking at the checkbook. I don't mean running around with a big "S" on your chest hero, but people driven by their conviction and dreams instead of grubbing around in the bowels of the Third Imperium and trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Such heroes would have to deal with the fallout of their actions for good or for ill (or often both).

 

[jfetters]

A couple things:

Even though Charisma replaced Social Standing as part of the standard UPP, SS is still there and usable, especially if playing a Regency campaign.

I also agree about the emotion of TNE. It had a sense of urgency that I really hadn't seen before. Also agreed about the sense of "wonder" - there were only a handful of adventures in the CT and MT era that I think fall into that category (namely adventures 3 & 12), but I don't think TNE ever got to that place. I think that was definitely the intent with the metastory, had the RC/Regency meeting been allowed to happen and the Black Curtain opened, but there was precious little in TNE that gave a sense of wonder, IMO.

 

[Golan2072]

The archetypical CT character is a retired person, after decades of career, who goes out to "see the universe"; secondary goals such as money, guns and psionic institute come second. Look at Annic Nova, Shadows, Research Station Gamma, Twilight Peak, Secret of the Ancients... Sure, most such adventures had a "hook" of some kind (disable the laser preventing the ship from taking off, find the treasure etc), but most of the fun comes from exploring strange and interesting worlds, ships, situations and aliens. The universe isn't there to be changed by the PCs - it is there to be explored.

The avarage TNE character has a cause - and is political and, to a degree, passionate. Personal emotions such as hope, fear and dispair play a major role in this - it is a far more personal, intimate universe than CT. You could make a difference, and the game encourages you to do so, to pick sides, to get involved both emotionally and physically/politically.

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 2

The Regency sounds like a way to play the old CT-universe (with several small changes) in TNE... No Virus, no Collapse, sector-wide interstellar government...

Hmmm... Heavy Hiver influence behind the RC... I wonder where their hidden motives lay. I mean, sure, the obvious motive was economical (create a market and a source for goods), and defensive (the RC is far less of a threat to the Hivers than the corsairs of the Wilds), but I wonder what the hidden motives are - and Hivers ALWAYS have hidden motives

Flavor text. Flavor text everywhere. Good flavor text everywhere. Man, I wish every Traveller product would have so much flavor text in it! It also sets up the emotional side of the setting, of the fight to take back the stars, a hard fight, full of dispair and won by slim hopes.

I see that the Law Levels are still in CT flavor - that is, first and foremost expressed in the government's attitude towards gun ownership. VERY American

The new attributes are also different (based on the Twilight:2000 system after all), ranging from 1 to 11 (at the basic level) instead of 2 to 12. Assignment of the six scores to the six attributes by the player is also a good idea.

So, (p.19) now Education doesn't imply the knowledge itself, but the ability to aquire it? Interesting...

Homeworlds, especially homeworld gravities and TL, now affect the character's attributes (p.19) - a very good idea! CT should do this as well!

 

[Cymew]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:

I see that the Law Levels are still in CT flavor - that is, first and foremost expressed in the government's attitude towards gun ownership. VERY American

Very. It has always made it hard for me to understand what they meant. DGP did some good work here, but I didn't read it until after "Linkworlds" by QLI came out and gave me some examples on how you did it.


Homeworlds, especially homeworld gravities and TL, now affect the character's attributes (p.19) - a very good idea! CT should do this as well!

Probably a heritage from 2300AD. Nice idea.

 

[jfetters]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
The archetypical CT character is a retired person, after decades of career, who goes out to "see the universe"; secondary goals such as money, guns and psionic institute come second. Look at Annic Nova, Shadows, Research Station Gamma, Twilight Peak, Secret of the Ancients... Sure, most such adventures had a "hook" of some kind (disable the laser preventing the ship from taking off, find the treasure etc), but most of the fun comes from exploring strange and interesting worlds, ships, situations and aliens. The universe isn't there to be changed by the PCs - it is there to be explored.

The avarage TNE character has a cause - and is political and, to a degree, passionate. Personal emotions such as hope, fear and dispair play a major role in this - it is a far more personal, intimate universe than CT. You could make a difference, and the game encourages you to do so, to pick sides, to get involved both emotionally and physically/politically.

I pretty much agree with that statement. To my mind, the most engaging adventures are the ones that either get the characters involved in some of the big events of the universe, so that they do make a difference, or ones like Secret of the Ancients (or Bayern from 2300AD) that provide hidden knowledge that can really never be made public.

So, yes, the majority of the TNE adventures were definitely "personal," but nothing ever got to the level of "significant change" to the universe with the exception of the Vampire Fleets book. And then GDW closed its doors so the ultimate payoff from that conclusion was never realized.

Flavor text. Flavor text everywhere. Good flavor text everywhere. Man, I wish every Traveller product would have so much flavor text in it! It also sets up the emotional side of the setting, of the fight to take back the stars, a hard fight, full of dispair and won by slim hopes.

One of the best parts of TNE...

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 3

Attributes avarage now at 6 instead of 7 - good to keep in mind... And i see that the CT "Expanded Hexadecimal" system is still in place.

Psionics is written in the UPP? Interesting... I've always felt that, in most cultures, it was a "hidden attribute" that wasn't present in the initial CharGen. Oh, and there is BOTH a Charisma attribute AND a Social Standing attribute? Hmmm... I wonder how Vargr get handled...

So most people have Psionics of 0, rather than a 2D-generated number? Or is it only the apparent PSI-strength, with training giving the true number?

 

[jfetters]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 3

...

So most people have Psionics of 0, rather than a 2D-generated number? Or is it only the apparent PSI-strength, with training giving the true number?

Keep reading... Psionics itself is handled in the latter third of the book.

Keep these coming, Employee, I like hearing your take on this!

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 4

Why are the Aslan and Vargr laungages now called "Aslan and Vargr?" I recall them having specific names (the most common Vargr one was called Gveh IIRC). Its seems quite anthropocentric (or solomanicentric) that, while the Terrans have a specific name for their language, the languages of the other races have the same name as the races - a very common Sci-Fi mistake (same goes to homeworld names).

The flavor text on p.21 describes Nobility quite well (people "line up to help" the Noble), but also the apparantly more egalitarian "new wind" of the new polities, shown in the way the narrator puts the word "Noble" in quotation marks and in her somewhat cynical reference to table manners and unequal treatment. An Imperial citizen before the Fall would have taken these things - especially the privilegues of Nobility - for granted. Change is in the air, I see...

Yep, I as right about the change in society - "The nobility system no longer survives in the areas controlled by the Reformation Coalition, as it is regarded as the flawed system of self-interest that corrupted and doomed the Imperium to the Collapse." (p.21).

That said, the explanation of Imperial Nobility is quite thorough and detailed - and far better than the laconic CT or T4 description.
The list of Honorifics on p.22 is also quite useful.

Background Skills are handled in quite an elegant fashion: Choose any four skills from a table, at "level 2" (I'll have to read on to see what that means in TNE; in CT it'd mean quite alot of training), limited by homeworld (e.g. a character from as very high-law-level homeworld would be unable to get Srchery that way). Gives much choice, but still allows homeworld flavor. A very good system IMHO.

The Skill-0 rules are still very familiar in form and the homeworld-dependant ones are quite rational, similar to my older approach to such skills in CT (my current CT approach for zero-level skills is to give any character EDU/2 - rounded down - zero-level skills chosen by the player).

I knida like the career approach - no enlistment/reenlistment/survival rolls, only homeworld and attribute prequisits, mix-N-match the ones you want (education, work, military service); rolls allow for comission, promision, special futies and so on. Seems quite elegant and easy to use.

The reduction in the number of skills recieved per term as the character ages is somwhat realistic (younger people usually learn more quickly, plus when you're experienced there is much more things for you to learn and learn easily, when you are a master of your trade there are few things you don't know, and these are hard to find and learn). It also gives some balance between young and old characters to compensate for the lack of survival or re-enlistment rolls.

Comission in the Medicine career makes the character a Doctor - I like that idea. Sure, my CT system has a mEdical Schools, but on the frontier, the rules are somewhat different, you know...

Ah, so there ARE re-enlistment ("continuation") rolls in TNE (p.26), it's just that the referee can, instead, just set the number of terms available to each character according to the desired background.

Rolls to avoid incarceration... Prison careers! I love that. Great idea!

Taking "secondary activities" (i.e. 1 skill per term which you could choose as you please) is another great idea.

 

[jfetters]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 4


The flavor text on p.21 describes Nobility quite well (people "line up to help" the Noble), but also the apparantly more egalitarian "new wind" of the new polities, shown in the way the narrator puts the word "Noble" in quotation marks and in her somewhat cynical reference to table manners and unequal treatment. An Imperial citizen before the Fall would have taken these things - especially the privilegues of Nobility - for granted. Change is in the air, I see...

Yep, I as right about the change in society - "The nobility system no longer survives in the areas controlled by the Reformation Coalition, as it is regarded as the flawed system of self-interest that corrupted and doomed the Imperium to the Collapse." (p.21).

That said, the explanation of Imperial Nobility is quite thorough and detailed - and far better than the laconic CT or T4 description.
The list of Honorifics on p.22 is also quite useful.

This is all keeping in mind that the TNE rules were also intended to support adventuring in the Regency which still definitely had nobles. Not that many of them could do a whole hell of a lot.

Background Skills are handled in quite an elegant fashion: Choose any four skills from a table, at "level 2" (I'll have to read on to see what that means in TNE; in CT it'd mean quite alot of training), limited by homeworld (e.g. a character from as very high-law-level homeworld would be unable to get Srchery that way). Gives much choice, but still allows homeworld flavor. A very good system IMHO.

This is one of the best parts of the system, in my opinion - it lets you take a "green" 17 year old and in the right setting/adventure can give the character a fighting chance.

Specific comments snipped...

Taking "secondary activities" (i.e. 1 skill per term which you could choose as you please) is another great idea.

Don't know if you ever played Dark Conspiracy, but the chargen was almost identical to that (with the obvious exception of the space-oriented careers). Once you get past the "this is really different from CT/MT" angle, its a very nice system.

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE Character Generation System, Part 5

Hmmm... Skills are now limited by the character's homeworld, which is realistic and creates very detailed and logical character backgrounds, but it adds another layer of complexity to the CharGen system.

I see that dice other than the venerable D6 are introduced, and I have mixed feelings about these. On one hand, different dice allow different probabilities, but on the other hand, complexity is increased, and this also means that the Referee and Players will need to buy non-standard dice (not a problem in the USA, but in my own backwater country [Israel] this could be a headache, probably compelling the group to purchase dice online, which makes things expensive).

Contacts seem like a great addition - similar to a very good Shadowrun concept, but with simpler and more Traveller-style game mechanics.

Aging seems quite similar to CT, but with different mechanics - what is that D20 doing here?!

Anagathics are far more limited in TNE than in CT; now they start making problem after the age of 60 (tumors, cysts, psychological degredation). A good balancing effect, I agree, but a part of the sci-fi "atmosphere" of long-term anagathics use (seen in many of Larry Niven's novels) is somewhat diminished.

There are hit locations in TNE, yes? With different Hit Capacity per body part? Detailed maybe even realistic, but it probably complicates stuff (I'll know that for sure once I'll get to the Combat section).

Hmmm... Character weight is based on attributes (increased by Strength, reduced by Agility) - semi-realistic, but I'd like the players to have more choice in this field.

Carrying Capacity ("Load" in TNE terms) is now based on Strength AND Constitution - and the maximum normal load is calculated as 3x(STR+CON), so the avarage character (STR 6, CON 6) could carry 36kg without being overburdened - quite much more than the avarage CT character (STR 7, and Carrying Capacity being STRx2, so only 14kg). Which is more realistic?

Strength affects Unarmed Combat damage in TNE - but why not Melee Weapon (cutlass etc) damage?

Initiative is interesting but strange - I don't know yet how this number works, but it's a random numer influenced only by one thing - a character's career - with civilians recieving 1D6/2 initiative and military personnel 1D6 initiative.

Mustering Out is different in TNE from any other version of Traveller: each career gives you a certain amount of money per cash, which could be saved or used for equipment purchases. Ship Ownership is recieved using a very interesting system of adding togather DMs - representing "shares" - to generate a good throw for the group.

The number of carrers is truely huge - they make for very interesting character backgrounds, but might cause character generation to take some time, especially when minmaxers are involved.

The flavor text on each career is great too - it helps the player build her own character's personal history and get the 'feel' of the career and the setting.

NPC motivations using playing-cards: I love this idea! The system works by drawing two standard playing cards from a deck, with each card type representing one personality motivation (i.e. greedy, just, loving, brutal and so on); the higher card gives the major motivation, the lower card the minor motivation.

All in all, the chapter is choke full of role-playing advices and reminders that encourage the referee and the players to use their imagination and their story-telling skills to their fullest. Lots of flavour-text, too!

The simplified NPC templates are a great idea - and they predate Shadowrun 4th Edition's "Grunts" (an equivalent system) by 13 years!

The description of aliens is very good, fluid and inspiring - up to and includiong that box in p.67 about Hiver Manipulations, which teaches the Referee how to play Hiver NPCs (don't do the job yourself, manipulate others to do so

).

 

[Badbru]

I've also used those "NPC" Motivation cards for for players too. Usually it is the very first thing we do when rolling up a new char. I generally don't make them binding, especially if the player in question has a good idea and direction for their character, however they have come in usefull in situations when the players have a choice of skills to take or career path to follow. They can look to their motivations and explain/justify a certain choice. Also usefull during play when faced with a difficult decission...

 

[Golan2072]

Comments about the TNE New Era Chapter, Part 1

As in the rest of TNE, the writing in this chapter is of exceptional quality, and is very good in transmitting the thematic and emotional contents of the setting to the reader. One paragraph on p.73 sums up the spirit of the setting very well:

The New Era is populated with people who will not let history end with the world their predecessors left to them. They know that there is better history to come, history so brilliant that it will overcome the bitterness and horror of all that has gone before. They know this because they are going to make it happen, starting here, and starting now.

And, more percisely:

it’s not going to stay that way for one minute longer. The past is prologue. The future starts now.

The Virus seems like a huge turn in the way the OTU works: in the CT/MT/T4 eras, computers are pushed into the background, usually underestimated (even when compared to the measly late-TL7 development we see around us IRL); in TNE, computers are pushed to the foreground, but in a negative way: they could be "possessed" by a technological demon, an AI. Even the very existance of an AI in normal TLs (i.e. TL15-) is quite revolutionary to Traveller, with AIs pushed in LBB8 to ultratech levels which exist only in Ancient artifacts.

Hmmm... So the AI virus is the result of natural evolution rather than an Imperial breakthrough? Typically Vilani, I say, to improve the power of the Imperial computers in a quantitative way (more memory, faster processing, faster communications etc) but not in a qualitative way (to the AI level), and prevent this quantitative change from transforming into a qualitative change in such a degree of conservatism that they had to find AIs in nature.

It is also poetic justice that the Imperium, who brutalized the biochip lifeforms and "mindraped" them in order to create a weapon, were slainby their own weapon.

But, anyhow, the virus is quite a welcome event - it has a great sci-fi flavor; however, I have a certain feeling that it is being overused in tne TNE universe, replacing the uniformity of the old "Golden Age" Imperium with the grey uniformity of absolute ruin. A middle ground, then is to be sought; the Virus has to be toned down, but not removed. This was my conclusion from my previous, cursory reading of TNE, and my second reading only reaffirms my conclusion.

Virus Evolution - this is an interesting part of the chapter. This is pure sci-fi, perhaps somewhat obscured by Traveller's need to bring the AIs from 'nature' (due to the problem of conservativism in the field of computer technology) - but still, administered well, this could touch several great sci-fi themes, from frankenstien, through HAL and SHODAN, to post-Human evolution.

And many strains of the Virus mean that the Virus could be a very varied, multifaced and unpredictable villian - or even, in some cases, ally. Administered at the right dosage, the many Virus strains could create many interesting adventures without growing dull and repeatative.

The "in-character" writeups on p.77 are simply great!

Strain XB "God" - S.H.O.D.A.N of 'semi-natural' origions. Who is S.H.O.D.A.N? 'She' is the villian of the computer game System Shock, which came out in the same year as TNE (1993) - a 'rogue' AI who took over a space station, developed a god-complex and started converting the crew into cyborgs of her own creation, not to mention serious biogengineering of local plant and animal life. The CDROM version of that game, which came out in 1995, included excellent voice-acting, and S.H.O.D.A.N sounded EXACTLY how a Virus who hooks himself up to a speech synthesizer (sp?) would sound.

"the yawning annihilation of life, society and civilization across most of inhabited space." (p.80) is exactly what I am trying to tone down a bit - yes, many world would still be yawning gaps of pure death, but others should not. Variety is a key to successful campaigns - and the Virus should be toned down a little. In a thread dedicated to the discussion of this matter, the combination of two main 'tools' are, in my opinion, the best solution to limiting the Virus without eliminating it:

1) Having the entire X-Boat network effectively destroyed by 1130 (reasonable when considering the Black War and the lack of adaquate starports in the Hard Times).

2) Limiting the Virus to the infection of systems of sufficient processing power - Model/3 computers (or better), TL7+ planetary networks, and robots with INT5+ AND atleast 10% Parralel CPUs. The limit on planetary network TLs will reduce the effects even more, as many world would have been reduced to TL6- (and to no network capabilities) due to the effects of the Black War and the Hard Times.

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Employee 2-4601:
Hmmm... So the AI virus is the result of natural evolution rather than an Imperial breakthrough?

2-4601,

Not exactly. It's impossible to accurately apply biological terms to Virus. As with time travel, our current languages just don't have the vocabulary to deal with the issue.

(BTW, I've enjoyed readiong you First Impression threads very much.)

First, the Imperium has AIs. Aybee Wan Owen is one and others are hinted at. Cultural and, in some locations, legal restrictions limit their use and creation. Limited AIs or expert systems are used while 'global' AIs like AB-101 seem rare.

Second, Virus is a result of both natural evolution, directed evolution, and technological advances.

Virus' distant ancestors are 'natural' or 'biological' chips on Cymbeline/Solomani Rim. The chips that evolved on Cymbeline hadn't developed sentience and most likely wouldn't have if their enviroment hadn't been changed in the form of a crashlanded Terran Confederation cruiser. The natural Cymbeline chips had been using the low quality silicates available in the Cymbeline uplands. The cruiser's CPU cores, which ruptured or broke open, provided the chips with higher quality materials and those materials allowed a small number of Cymbeline chips to achieve sentience.

After the events of Signal GK in 1110 (and most likely even before), the Imperium began studying the Cymbeline chips. They 'bred' those chips in a manner similar to how we breed domesticated animals for certain traits. They also tinkered with them directly in much the same manner we're beginning to tinker with DNA, they performed 'cybernetic geneering' of a sort.

What they created first from the 'natural' chips was the transponder system that allowed Virus to spread so rapidly. What they tried to create next was a way to 'weaponize' that transponder system. They failed there because they couldn't control the lifeform's evolution once it was released.

Now, Lucan wanted war winning, super weapons weapons and Lucan didn't want to hear about failures. However, it should be remembered that Lucan did not release Virus. It, or a prototype, had been there since Strephon's reign and Lucan didn't release it for over 7 years. The Imperium shattered, factions appeared, sectors fell away, aliens invaded, and Lucan did not deploy Virus through all of it.

Releasing Virus was Dulinor's act. Dulinor attacked the research station, even diverting the course of his Coronation Fleet to do so. Lucan used the Virus Project as bait, luring Dulinor's fleet away from Capital and forcing it to fight battles that would do little to put Dulinor on the Throne. Lucan owned the box Virus was in, Dulinor was the one who opened that box.

One aspect of Virus that makes it so very hard to 'grok' is that it is 'situationally sentient'. Virus' sentience depends on its 'environment' and not on it's DNA. I've explored this and other aspects of Virus in many threads and posts both here and on the TML so there is no need to recap any of it. Virus is so very strange, it's alive but it doesn't behave like how we believe living things should. It's a real stretch trying to understand Virus on a basic level and over the years I've had a great deal of fun doing so.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Bill Cameron:
(BTW, I've enjoyed readiong you First Impression threads very much.)

Thanks!

First, the Imperium has AIs. Aybee Wan Owen is one and others are hinted at. Cultural and, in some locations, legal restrictions limit their use and creation. Limited AIs or expert systems are used while 'global' AIs like AB-101 seem rare.

Sure, there are a few AIs here and there, but, as you said, full AIs were couriosities [sp?], novelities, not a fact of everyday life. The Imperium feared AIs, and thus limited them, to a lesser degree by law and to a greater degree by conservatism (IMHO one of the most central cultural traits of the Imperium, and, you could say, of the wat non-TNE versions of Traveller look at computers).

Virus' distant ancestors are 'natural' or 'biological' chips on Cymbeline/Solomani Rim. The chips that evolved on Cymbeline hadn't developed sentience and most likely wouldn't have if their enviroment hadn't been changed in the form of a crashlanded Terran Confederation cruiser. The natural Cymbeline chips had been using the low quality silicates available in the Cymbeline uplands. The cruiser's CPU cores, which ruptured or broke open, provided the chips with higher quality materials and those materials allowed a small number of Cymbeline chips to achieve sentience.

After the events of Signal GK in 1110 (and most likely even before), the Imperium began studying the Cymbeline chips. They 'bred' those chips in a manner similar to how we breed domesticated animals for certain traits. They also tinkered with them directly in much the same manner we're beginning to tinker with DNA, they performed 'cybernetic geneering' of a sort.

What they created first from the 'natural' chips was the transponder system that allowed Virus to spread so rapidly. What they tried to create next was a way to 'weaponize' that transponder system. They failed there because they couldn't control the lifeform's evolution once it was released.

Now, Lucan wanted war winning, super weapons weapons and Lucan didn't want to hear about failures. However, it should be remembered that Lucan did not release Virus. It, or a prototype, had been there since Strephon's reign and Lucan didn't release it for over 7 years. The Imperium shattered, factions appeared, sectors fell away, aliens invaded, and Lucan did not deploy Virus through all of it.

Releasing Virus was Dulinor's act. Dulinor attacked the research station, even diverting the course of his Coronation Fleet to do so. Lucan used the Virus Project as bait, luring Dulinor's fleet away from Capital and forcing it to fight battles that would do little to put Dulinor on the Throne. Lucan owned the box Virus was in, Dulinor was the one who opened that box.

I see that I must re-read Survival Margin. You see, by a fluke of my used-book-buying luck, I had Survival Margin BEFORE I had the TNE main book (I bought anything Traveller I could get for cheap second-hand from people I know; some people would sell old book for real cheap). So the only TNE book I had for the last few years (up to the DTRPG release) was Survival Margine; noe I have the main book as well. I'm now looking for Fire, Fusion and Steel and World Tamer's Handbook (and is willing to barter deckplan work for them). Once I'll finish my read-N-comment of the main TNE book, I'll do one for Survival Margin, I promise.

One aspect of Virus that makes it so very hard to 'grok' is that it is 'situationally sentient'. Virus' sentience depends on its 'environment' and not on it's DNA. I've explored this and other aspects of Virus in many threads and posts both here and on the TML so there is no need to recap any of it. Virus is so very strange, it's alive but it doesn't behave like how we believe living things should. It's a real stretch trying to understand Virus on a basic level and over the years I've had a great deal of fun doing so.

That is one of the main reasons why I've changed my mind about the Virus - it is a very good piece of sci-fi, a very good basis for strange and interesting stories. And remember that while the more common strains are homicidal, not ALL strains are - some (especially the Mother and Hobbyist strains) could even serve as weird patrons for the PCs or even VERY STRANGE bedfellows.