I've read your ATU's bits of history about the hyperdrive and such and I'm wondering, how has the addition of hyperdrive changed your setting's history?
Because my Sector is well to the Rimward of the OTU Solomani Sphere, the setting history for the OTU does not have a lot of affect on it. As the star systems are further apart, 3 to 4 parsecs in not unusual, the initial Terran expansion was toward the Core, rather than the Rim. With my initial hyperdrive ships traveling at one parsec a month, they were better for long-range exploring rather than faster communication with the Jump Drive ships. The major difference would be that the surplus Hyperdrive One ships became quite cheap compared to Jump Drive ships and allowed smaller groups to head out, in this case towards the Rim. As the fuel requirements in my ATU for hyperdrive are considerably less, a given hull size will carry a lot more, albeit slower. My power plant fuel requirements are also considerably lower, being based on what the fusion of deuterium will supply in terms of energy, so a cubic meter of heavy water goes a long way. I am assuming two bursts of expansion. One with the development of the hyperdrive and the second with the conquest of Terra by the Imperium. Hyperdrive-2, capable of a parsec a week, helped to fuel the second wave of expansion.
Basically, the whole idea for the Outrim Sector is to get away from the restrictions of the OTU and Imperium. For the most part, planetary populations are going to be smaller as well. Some of them are splinter groups from splinter groups. I put my Sector to the Rimward of the Ahriman Sector on the Traveller Map. That would put the Solomani Rim Sector well over 120 parsecs away.
Is it like, because of there being both hyperdrive & jump drive, that the current era in your ATU is quite different from OTU's canon? Like was Earths destiny in your ATU pretty different?
Basically, I am going with that it is not that much different, simply because of the time and effort required to work up a long back story. As my area is so far to the Rimward, the Imperium is to a degree a legend or at least viewed as being of no consequence. This means that the current era of the Imperium is not that big a factor. As I am basing this on the Cepheus Engine and Classic Traveller, I am not worrying about the entire Rebellion, Virus, and Imperium collapse issues. I am putting this at roughly 1100 Imperium dating, and leaving it at that.
I saw some mention of Asian and Hivers and such so is it like the aliens are the same but the overall setting is quite a bit different?
I have the Aslan included to give my Space Vikings someone to raid without causing too many problems with the humans in the sector. I view the Aslan as genetically modified Terran lions, initially chosen by the Ancients for their apparent social society, without full consideration of the pure carnivore food requirements, the territorial imperative, or the actual interaction of male lions over pride control. Essentially, an experiment that did not work out. I also have the Aslan population per planet as fairly low, because of the carnivorous meat requirement. I figure 2 to 3 Aslan per square mile of total world land surface as a dense population. I do not think that the game fully understands what a large carnivore requires in terms of space for food animals.
As for other aliens, I do not think that the Hivers are involved, as again, they are a very long way away. I do have Droyne present, but keeping a very low profile, as they are working with a few of Grandfather’s great-grandchildren who saw how things were progressing and got out before the major war started, and also that Grandfather was not aware of. I do have ruins of the Norton Bald Space rovers, along with Terran flora and fauna that they picked up along the way. I am still debating some “lost colonies” of Terrans that they might have planted. The Krell were around, and also scattered Terran flora and fauna about, especially aquatic creatures that fascinated them a lot, as their planet was quite arid. There are more ruins out there, just not sure yet who left them, or if that can be told. Again, think of the classic Norton books of the Solar Queen series, and some of her other books. Then there is also the leakage from other universes to deal with, and one planet with Bermuda Triangle colonists, if you could call them that. Note too that the leakage to other universes works both ways. A ship might find itself in a D & D universe, or Piper’s universe, or visiting John Carter’s Barsoom.
What are ship weapons & defenses, and personal weapons & defenses - for militaries and such - like in your ATU considering how much Piper's work has influenced you?
Piper was writing before the laser became a major thing, so I am including that to a degree. I am not using Andre Norton’s sleep rods or blaster, even though the sleep rod would be handy to have. There are no personal energy weapons, especially of the plasma or fusion variety. Laser target designators are available, but no personal laser weapons. Space ships do carry fairly large lasers for anti-missile work and close-range fighting. Ship missiles are not small, and normally are going to have nuclear warheads if used by the military. Ranges are going to be a lot shorter, along with detection ranges. While I am not a radar expert, I do have a fair understanding of what radar detection requires in terms of volume of space scanned in a given amount of time. Therefore, active detection ranges run into the hundreds to low thousand of miles, not light-seconds. Passive bearings on an actively radiating ship are not a problem, and by careful maneuvering, range may be established, but it takes time. I just am not that much a fan of space combat, however. One of my big problems with space combat is no one seems to consider the issue of debris from destroyed ships. It they are in orbit, landing and takeoffs from the planet become a big question as are you hit with masses of orbiting debris. In open space, that stuff is traveling at very high rates of speeds in who knows what direction. Essentially, space combat makes space travel a lot more hazardous, even if you are not being shot at. If someone decides that it too restrictive and uses the whole range of space weaponry, that is their option. I share Gary Gygax’s view that rules are guidelines, not commandments written in stone. I knew Gary, and he was never a fan of rigid rules.
For personal weaponry, it is your standard slug throwers, but with a bit more range of damage from them, along with the option of what I view as heavy hunting rifles. In the current rules, neither the Cepheus Engine nor Classic Traveller, is there provision for something like a .600 Nitro Express or a .577 Martini-Henry cartridge, both capable of doing massive damage to a human target with a solid hit. I actually prefer the combat system used by Don Featherstone in his Skirmish Wargaming book, as a single die roll covers hitting the target and the damage done. I do need to come up with a table or system for animal damage. I do have contra-gravity equipment, but it is expensive, so what would be viewed as old-fashioned internal combustion and steam-powered vehicles are still in wide use. Some planets simply will not allow the import of equipment that they cannot either maintain themselves.
