HG2: Tigress Design: Volume of Components

[RainOfSteel]

Hmm, I wonder how the budget would have to be divided up?

It's tough to guess, since IMTU the Emperor draws on his wealth from the Imperial Family holding corporation to help run many peripheral operations of the Imperium (like research projects, and all manner of funding directed at improving the Imperium which must not officially be sourced from the Imperial Government).

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">IN 20-30?%
IB 20-30?%
IM/IA 10%
Intel 20%
Entltmnts 20-30?% *</pre>[/QUOTE]* Mostly retirement pay and other unavoidable obligations.

 

[Hal]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
What's wrong with the Depot in Deneb sector next door? It's only four jump4s away

Part of the issue isn't about the reaction forces having time to reach the trouble spot - but that the trouble spot has time to send the report. Consider the following:

Jump 2 scout trying to reach the depot (assuming that there were no jump 3 areas that stop a J2 scout!) would take 8 jumps to reach its destination. The BatRons take another 4 jumps. This is a total of 12 jumps - not including fleet readiness orders, staging, etc - and not including refueling times. So call it 12 weeks plus 8 days for refueling times if the jumping ships are in a hurry plus say, a week before it sails out of harbor. A total of nearly 14 to 15 weeks. 3 Months is 13 weeks, would you want to have to hold out for 3 months of enemy operations?

 

[Hal]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
Hmm, I wonder how the budget would have to be divided up?

It's tough to guess, since IMTU the Emperor draws on his wealth from the Imperial Family holding corporation to help run many peripheral operations of the Imperium (like research projects, and all manner of funding directed at improving the Imperium which must not officially be sourced from the Imperial Government).

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">IN 20-30?%
IB 20-30?%
IM/IA 10%
Intel 20%
Entltmnts 20-30?% *</pre>

* Mostly retirement pay and other unavoidable obligations. [/quote]Hey Chris? Keep in mind that the Income handed over to the Imperial Family counts against the Gross Domestic Product...

 

[mike wightman]

Word of the conflict would move through the jump 6 Naval Courier network wouldn't it ?

How else could Colonial reinforcements be available after 6 weeks and the regulars 4 weeks after that.

 

[mike wightman]

RainOfSteel, can I ask how you calculated the Spinward Marches budget?

 

[Hal]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Word of the conflict would move through the jump 6 Naval Courier network wouldn't it ?

How else could Colonial reinforcements be available after 6 weeks and the regulars 4 weeks after that.

To some small extent you could perhaps count on a J6 network. But Spinward Marches never did seem to have an official J-6 network. In fact, I see that a lot of things don't make sense in the Imperium when it comes to X-boats and the like. If time was such a major killer - why not have the fastest jump boats around and try to set it up that way. Any world that previously had access to certain information would find that in general, slower J2 ships brought them the same information at the same time as the J-4 ships or J3 ships or in some rare instances - J2 ships (if you look at the map for Jump durations that is). Take a look for instance at Garrincski at 2520. From there, you have a Jump 2 to Icetina, Jump 1 to Ivando, jump 4 to D'ganzio, jump 2 to Lanth, jump 4 to Glandi, Jump 4 to Dinomn. Had the Imperium been more interested in making that X-boat route more efficient, it could have gone from Icetina directly to Glandi in one jump. The information then could go from Glandi to Lanth in one jump, instead of the 3 jumps it takes to get to Lanth. This shaves off the time required and doesn't utilize any Jump 2 X-boats.

The other thing to keep in mind? Those ships that responded as part of the "random order" within the first few weeks had to have been responding not to the actual reports of an attack, but to the actual declaration of war. Those that arrived within 6 weeks were the closest that could arrive. Now had FFW actually given an order of battle rather than a random one that plays differently each game - we'd know how the "official" squadrons were supposed to be situated. As it stands, the closest thing we have to something like that is the REBELLION sourcebook - and how reliable is that?

 

[mike wightman]

Good point

However, Fighting Ships gives us the jump 6 400t Fleet Courier.

And since MT has been brought up, it explained that the Navy has maintained a jump 6 courier network which the proles don't even hear about.

Similarly in the CT Traveller Adventure we were introduced to the Imperiallines secret jump 6 courier service, again kept most secret.

There is no "official" jump 6 network in the whole Imperium, but at least two secret ones

Knowledge is power

 

[BetterThanLife]

Jump 6 couriers or at worst Jump 4 Destroyers/Destroyer Escorts perhaps Jump 5 AHL cruisers in between. Probably, and in the case of MTU definitely, Naval bases maintain Jump6 Fleet COuriers to operate similar to the XBoat network. One ship jumps in and transmits, the base has several preprogrammed locations to get the message to so Naval Couriers and other Naval ships leave within the hour to their destinations. One route would be set up for least time trip to Depot/Deneb from the Marches. A second leg would be set up for least time trip to Depot/Corridor and a third would be setup for least time course to Core/Capital. (Using the "Secret" refueling point in the Reft.) Those three routes are not neccessarily the same even on the early part of the trip but are likely to be initiated from Mora. Based on everything that Mora is the communication hub and jump off point to the Marches.

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Word of the conflict would move through the jump 6 Naval Courier network wouldn't it ?

How else could Colonial reinforcements be available after 6 weeks and the regulars 4 weeks after that.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Hal:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
Hmm, I wonder how the budget would have to be divided up?

It's tough to guess, since IMTU the Emperor draws on his wealth from the Imperial Family holding corporation to help run many peripheral operations of the Imperium (like research projects, and all manner of funding directed at improving the Imperium which must not officially be sourced from the Imperial Government).

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">IN 20-30?%
IB 20-30?%
IM/IA 10%
Intel 20%
Entltmnts 20-30?% *</pre>

* Mostly retirement pay and other unavoidable obligations. [/quote]Hey Chris? Keep in mind that the Income handed over to the Imperial Family counts against the Gross Domestic Product... </font>[/QUOTE]Cleon I was the wealthiest man in Sylea, and Zhunastu Heavy Industries was his company. Obvious statements. After The Founding, Cleon I's corporate interested lived on under other names, but live on they did. 1100 years later, with the Imperial Hand over them the whole time, shielding them from virtually any investigation or, quite possibly, any meaningful regulation.

IMTU, Imperial Family means two things. The Hereditary Line of Cleon I, and the holding corporation of assests originally under Cleon I's control. That holding corporation is bigger than any one of the Megacorporations. However, it is operated differently from them, as well, in that the Emperor's have been known to remove profits from the company and use them on things of Imperial interest, most especially the IN and Intel forces. Of course, the opposite has happened a few times as well, when Imperial Budget funds were secretly channeled to the holding corporation to cover up errors. (Also IMTU, this has happned more rarely.)

As for the Emperor's Stipend . . . it is a part of the overall economy, just like any other chunk of money generated by the overall economy, it comes out of the GDP, so I'm not sure why it would be counted against it. Does the President of the US's salary count against the US GDP? I guess I don't understand. Can you detail that one a little more? It's certainly not a part of the Imperial Budget, if that's what you mean.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
RainOfSteel, can I ask how you calculated the Spinward Marches budget?

I used the GT:Far Trader GWP calculation exactly. Population * Per Capita Income.

However, since I used CT/T20, I did a very WAG (Wild A@@ Guess) conversion of the Base Per Capita Income table into CT/T20:Credits from GT:Credits. It was, basically, my best guess. I think my guesses make my values higher than other's figures. However, given what I'm finding out about IN budgetary needs, that's not a bad thing.

The data came from a nice Access 95 database over at Doug's World Software Page. I imported it into Access 2000.

There was only one table in it, pretty much a flat-file copy of an extended UWP.

The one drawback, it said it was a Classic Traveller database, but the allegiance codes were all MT. I had to alter allegiance codes en masse in several sectors in order to get things straightened out. The rimward border along the Vargr Extents is somewhat suspect in correct Allegiance coding, and I apologize about that (Maybe 100 worlds, tops, that have bad coding).

I added a table to support the Base Per Capita Income Table.

Then I created an SQL Query to list the GWP of every world with an Allegiance Code of "Im".

Then I created an SQL Query to list the MWC of each world that draws on the GWP query.

Then I ran MTU's taxation system percentages (a variant of Richard Aiken's system; He's an active member of the TML).

Basically, of the GWP of each Member World, the Imperium taxes 2%, and 4% during General War; this value is the Member World Contribution (MWC).

Of the MWC, the Member World's Noble (Marquis or Baron), keeps 66% to spend on defense and development locally, retains 1% as a Noble Stipend, and passes 33% on to the Subsector level.

Each Subsector keeps 66% of the Member World Subsector Contributions (MWSuC) for itself, 1% for the Subsector Noble Stipend, and passes on 33% to the Sector.

Each Sector keeps 66% of the Subsector Contributions for itself, 1% for the Sector Noble Stipend, and passes on 33% to the Imperial level. I'm debating on whether to give .2 to .5 of a percentage point from each Sector's 66% share to the Archduke of the Domain of that Sector (in order to allow the Archdukes sufficient funds beyond the personal to avoid embarrassing the rest of the aristocracy with improvished major nobles hanging around).

Then I created several SQL Queries to assemble the values found in the MWC query. One to list all world's values for a Subsector. One to list the summary of a Subsector. One to list all Subsector summaries in a Sector. One to list the Sector summary. One to list the Sector Summary for all Sectors with "Im" Allegiance Code worlds. One to list the Imperial summary.

I get the Spinward Marches figure out the Sector Summary. The specific queries (that is, the ones that list values for a specific Sector or Subsector) are all "parameterized", and so I just type in whatever Sector or Subsector name I want (into the correct query, of course), and out pops the values for that region of space.

If you don't have MS Access 95 or later, the website above has an Excel 97 spreadsheet copy of the info. With work, a free SQL database could be located and installed (Firebird, Mimer-SQL, etc.), and a simple database and table could be created. Some ODBC work could import the Excel 97 data into that new database, were you could work the data in whatever manner you choose.


In case it may be of interest, the results for the Imperium are:

</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">SectorName ImperialBudget Worlds % of Total Budget % of Total Worlds
Hinterworlds Cr257,282,784 2 0.00001205% 0.02272469%
Empty Quarter Cr2,750,582,732,740 134 0.12887121% 1.52255426%
Trojan Reaches Cr4,250,613,777,959 24 0.19915117% 0.27269628%
Glimmerdrift Reaches Cr7,771,035,342,682 42 0.36409113% 0.47721850%
Reft Cr9,066,874,871,961 38 0.42480423% 0.43176912%
Spinward Marches Cr20,809,666,622,299 272 0.97498141% 3.09055789%
Corridor Cr27,891,099,627,312 267 1.30676305% 3.03374617%
Zarushagar Cr29,537,394,019,581 481 1.38389579% 5.46528804%
Reavers Deep Cr31,246,132,802,561 65 1.46395418% 0.73855244%
Diaspora Cr33,759,407,574,461 328 1.58170697% 3.72684922%
Verge Cr35,591,018,202,632 222 1.66752219% 2.52244063%
Magyar Cr44,136,508,587,169 132 2.06789835% 1.49982956%
Ley Cr48,359,710,678,244 316 2.26576521% 3.59050108%
Delphi Cr52,696,873,126,330 293 2.46897139% 3.32916714%
Alpha Crucis Cr54,253,792,864,735 78 2.54191671% 0.88626292%
Antares Cr62,039,263,793,251 465 2.90668417% 5.28349051%
Fornast Cr71,618,788,782,416 517 3.35550726% 5.87433246%
Gushemege Cr72,674,552,114,430 528 3.40497223% 5.99931826%
Deneb Cr73,194,085,058,765 326 3.42931356% 3.70412453%
Core Cr121,918,592,450,938 545 5.71217035% 6.19247813%
Lishun Cr127,454,085,098,731 601 5.97152109% 6.82876946%
Vland Cr136,578,711,075,284 486 6.39903109% 5.52209976%
Daibei Cr142,787,286,095,065 430 6.68991731% 4.88580843%
Dagudashaag Cr143,163,067,082,980 559 6.70752352% 6.35155096%
Ilelish Cr173,135,740,758,740 450 8.11181318% 5.11305533%
Old Expanses Cr189,772,522,791,421 401 8.89128521% 4.55630042%
Massilia Cr195,387,775,965,971 519 9.15437291% 5.89705715%
Solomani Rim Cr222,520,047,447,435 280 10.42558310% 3.18145665%
Grand Total Cr2,134,365,486,628,880 8801 100.00000000% 100.00000000%</pre>[/QUOTE]Note that the Imperial Budget column lists Sector Contributions to the Imperial level, not Sector Budgets.


And of course, lazy b@tt that I am, I still haven't added Trade Classification modifiers in.

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by Hal:
To some small extent you could perhaps count on a J6 network. But Spinward Marches never did seem to have an official J-6 network. In fact, I see that a lot of things don't make sense in the Imperium when it comes to X-boats and the like. If time was such a major killer - why not have the fastest jump boats around and try to set it up that way.

On the meta-level the answer is that the jump-4 X-boats are an early idea that got overtaken by later development of the universe.

However, the fun in the game is to try to make sense of such strange circumstances. My take on the jump-4 X-boat network is this: At the time it was created, jump-4 had been state-of-the-art for some time. When jump-5 came around, the Navy got hold of it first and the Imperial bureaucracy began using navy couriers to send reports and orders back and forth. There were thus no massive pressure for udgrading the X-boat network and some vested interests (like the X-boat manufacturers) who wanted it kept as it was. The same thing happened again when jump-6 came along. Thus Imperial business is conducted by the jump-6 'NavyNet' and it's only the civilian X-boat network that remains at jump-4. (Even there the X-boat network IMTU has jump-6 boats along selected backbone routes).


Hans

 

[rancke]

There seems to some sort of conventions of war in operation between the Zhodani and the Imperium. Whether formal or informal and just what they are we don''t know. The Zhodani and the Imperium exchanged prisoners during the war, which certainly isn't a 21st Century convention. The Zhodani also delivered a declaration of war to the Duke of Regina. It is possible that the convention that made them do this also required them to deliver a declaration of war to the Duchess of Mora. (We do know that the failure to declare war before they attacked Lanth was one of the things that incensed the Imperials against the Sword Worlds).

If Delphine got a declaration of war on 187-1107, she'd be four weeks ahead of any message from Regina. It's true that it would be a tactically unwise thing for the Zhodani to do, but maybe the conventions of war left them no choice?


Hans

Hans

 

[Hal]

In response to Rainofsteel's question regarding what I meant about the emperor's cut coming from the GDP...

The economic activity of any given corportion is considered to be part and parcel of the world's GDP. A megacorporation spread over many worlds still has to do business on the worlds that it touches upon.
As for the Stock? Question for you - how does the Emperor get any money from his stocks? Does he sell his stock? Does he get dividends? Not all stock pays out dividends. Until he sells his stock, he's not going to realize any appreciation of value from his 2%.

You can look at the issue one of two ways. You can treat the earnings of a Megacorporation as a separate entity - but deduct that earning from the worlds that the megacorporation is earning its income from - or you can treat the megacorporation as one of many factors that determine what any given world's GDP is and subsume the earnings of the corp in the world itself.

Ex: Megacorp Gaashniiticc Electronics LLC does business in 5 subsectors and over 35 worlds. On average, its business is such that it accounts for 3% of any one world's GDP. You can either separate out the earnings of GE LLC from each world outright, or you can leave all of GE LLC's earning as part of each world's GDP calculated - and subsume GE's earnings in each of the worlds (ie, you don't care if GE accounted for 3% of a world's GDP or not).

I'm not sure I'm explaining it any better than when I first said it

I guess the best way to say it is that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. Any given GDP is made up of a multitude of "parts". GE might be only a small fraction on one world, but a large fraction on another world. But when you utilize the Per Capita Income for the worlds involved - it is a blanket statement that doesn't decide that 12% of the GDP was from the agricultural sector, 48% from the industrial sector, 10% from the materials and extraction sector and the last 30% from the service sector...

 

[Hal]

Chris? For what it is worth, the general result of adding in your trade modifiers to your budget will be to lower the general per capita income rather than raise it. Every desert world, every Non-industrial world, along with every poor and/or asteroid world - and there are a LOT of those - will drop things down by 20%.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Hal:
In response to Rainofsteel's question regarding what I meant about the emperor's cut coming from the GDP...

The economic activity of any given corportion is considered to be part and parcel of the world's GDP. A megacorporation spread over many worlds still has to do business on the worlds that it touches upon.

I think I understand what you mean now.

All corporate earnings, including Megacorporate earnings (of which MTUs Imperial Family holding corporation is an unofficial member, and the largest one, too), are a part of each world's GDP.

The funds I've been speaking of the whole time are the taxes substracted out of each world's GWP. The Emperor's Stipend is one chunck of those taxes. After all taxes, each corporation gets its earnings, which is some other fraction of that world's GWP. One of those companies is the Imperial Family holding corporation. It's total earnings are a part of the Imperial Combined GDP, however, it's a different part of that GDP than the Noble Stipend that reaches the Emperor's pocket through tax channels.

MTUs Imperium usually only takes 2% of GWPs in my system, and that the 13+1 Megacorporations probably deal in a very large fraction of the rest. I'll toss a figure out of nowhere into play, say, 50% of Imperial Combined GDP? If, as my own statement goes, that the Imperial Family is the largest Megacorporation, then it gets the largest single part of that value. Say, 10% of that figure, or 5% of the Imperial Combined GDP. Therefore the combined economic activity of the Imperial Family holding corporation would then be larger than the Imperial Government itself!

Originally posted by Hal:
As for the Stock? Question for you - how does the Emperor get any money from his stocks? Does he sell his stock? Does he get dividends? Not all stock pays out dividends. Until he sells his stock, he's not going to realize any appreciation of value from his 2%.

All IMTU:

The Imperial Family holding corporation does more than just own stock. It has major activities in every endeavor of industrial prodution and service sector activity, basically your average million tentacled Megacorp. It has huge sales and big profits.

The stock the Emperor owns in each Imperial LIC, is owned through the Imperial Family holding company, however, by 1100, the Imperial Family owns a lot more than 2% in many of the Megacorps (a Library Supplement mentions this). And since Megacorps definitely grant dividends, the Emperor earns a lot from that.

The Emperor owns far more than just stock. There are many, many types of financial instruments to hold. We've got many more just today, I can't even imagine what sort of financial instruments will be available by TL-15!

The amount of money coming out of the Imperial Family holding corporation each year would probably boggle the mind. (See above.)

Originally posted by Hal:
You can look at the issue one of two ways. You can treat the earnings of a Megacorporation as a separate entity - but deduct that earning from the worlds that the megacorporation is earning its income from - or you can treat the megacorporation as one of many factors that determine what any given world's GDP is and subsume the earnings of the corp in the world itself.

Ex: Megacorp Gaashniiticc Electronics LLC does business in 5 subsectors and over 35 worlds. On average, its business is such that it accounts for 3% of any one world's GDP. You can either separate out the earnings of GE LLC from each world outright, or you can leave all of GE LLC's earning as part of each world's GDP calculated - and subsume GE's earnings in each of the worlds (ie, you don't care if GE accounted for 3% of a world's GDP or not).

I'm not sure I'm explaining it any better than when I first said it

I guess the best way to say it is that the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. Any given GDP is made up of a multitude of "parts". GE might be only a small fraction on one world, but a large fraction on another world. But when you utilize the Per Capita Income for the worlds involved - it is a blanket statement that doesn't decide that 12% of the GDP was from the agricultural sector, 48% from the industrial sector, 10% from the materials and extraction sector and the last 30% from the service sector...

 

[RainOfSteel]

I'll get around to adding them in, I promise!

No, stay back! Keep that PGMP-12 away! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[Hal]

Before I forget Chris?

The original striker rules for Per capita income were: TL-4 x 2000. Maybe that will help?

 

[RainOfSteel]

What I need to do is some research into Per Capita Incomes in order to match it with mid 1970s rates. Or something like that.

I've found one source, but it lists approx. $8612 as PCI for 1976, and a 1992 PCI of $25,106. Now, AFAICT, we've been at TL-8 for a while. That's a heck of a PCI variation for TL-8. And we're higher than that, now. I think I remember seeing in the CIA World Fact Book, something like 32,000 or 33,000 for 2003, I'll have to go back and check.

GT has the GT:TL-8 PCI @ GT:Cr2290. That's almost 4 times less the PCI in 1976. And a lot less than the PCI today.

I've also located a soure that argues that PCI is useless in the modern US, and that a "Weighted Average" should be used. That gives much higher numbers, numbers that more or less fit in with my memories of actual people's salaries over the last 30 years, so I'm giving heavy thought to using that, instead.

About.com Economics GDP Article

Would someone take a look at this? Is this garbage or accurate?

 

[Hal]

Something to consider regards to PCI and statistics...

lies, lies, & more lies

Ok, joking aside, It seems as if the exchange rate for Imperial Credits to US dollars is about $3 US = 1 CrImp. At least, that is what I keep hearing from others

If you want to use real life data - you need to account for that. Secondly, you notice, they often phrase things as "In 1980 Dollars" or they pick some sort of standard. The reason for this is that if you can purchase a loaf of bread for 1% of your weekly income in 1980, and in 1990, it still takes 1% of your weekly income to purchase bread - it doesn't really matter how much you're earning in actual Dollars - your buying power remains the same. However, if you can purchase bread with only .08% of your weekly income - you've made a gain by 20% relative to the original cost of the bread. Using STRAIGHT comparisons is going to steer you down a path where you shake your head saying "This ain't right, its not even in the same ballpark as right!".

I'm all for houserules and system development by guys who strongly disagree with any given rule or rule set. I'm also of the mindset that says "If its close enough for government work, then I can more or less live with it". I know darned well for instance, that I can't possibly account for every item within a division of infantry in the Imperial space region. But I can at least come up with a ballpark figure. Once I can do that, I can at least start to buy things in "blocks" rather than having to build those damned blocks!

That is what I hope GURPS 3I will do, or GURPS IMPERIAL NAVY (if they ever come out). Maybe Hunter will sit down and say "ok, it won't be GURPS Specific, but hell, if Hal wants it, how many others might BUY such a product if I created it for T20?
I don't want to spend 3 years researching all this shit, conclude that there is insufficient data, and have to make it up whole clothe from my imagination. If I do that, I will constantly hear "In Hal's Traveller Universe" not "hmmm, that makes sense - good enough for OTU". We all know that OTU becomes IMTU in the hands of each GM anyhow. Dammit though - the authors working with Marc Miller should be producing shit rather than arguing it with the fans!!!

 

[BetterThanLife]

Every item in a division? In what kind of division? Imperial Marine, Imperial Army, Colonial, Modern US equivalent, Pre collaspe Soviet equivalent? What is the division's mission? What is the expected environment the division is supposed to operate in? What is the Division's expected opposition. A division is a big thing, designed to operate independently for extended periods of time. (The lowest echelon that is designed to be able to do so.) It is also generally heavily task oriented. For example the US 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) was tasked with being a Counterstrike division deployed in Europe to Germany on short notice and was actually organized for that task as an Armor Division.

The highest echelon where organization is fairly standard is the Batalion. These units are basically the building blocks of a division. (Though in some cases the Company is the building blocks.) Now mission dependent factors may cause even Batalions to be task organized but they are virtually never deployed as independent formations. Regiments (With the exception of the US ACR) are rarely designed for independent operations. Brigades are designed for independent operations of a limited duration. (Except for the US 6 Cavalary Combat Brigade (Air Combat) which isn't really designed for independent operation for any length of time without secure bases and FAARPS.)

If you will base things on the Soviet Model (Actually the most rigid organization and designed for offensive operations.) You can get a full list of all the equipment in each unit up to and including theatre level if you get the FM 100-2 series available via the Freedom of information act from the US Army. (FM100-2-3 giving you the entire list of what belongs in each level all the way up.) You can tehn convert to whatever tech level you are designing your army around and you have your list. That works well for mech Infantry and Armor units.

For Imperial Marines I prefer using the TO&E from Heinlein's Starship Troopers. (The book not the movie.)

Originally posted by Hal:
Something to consider regards to PCI and statistics...

lies, lies, & more lies


I'm all for houserules and system development by guys who strongly disagree with any given rule or rule set. I'm also of the mindset that says "If its close enough for government work, then I can more or less live with it". I know darned well for instance, that I can't possibly account for every item within a division of infantry in the Imperial space region. But I can at least come up with a ballpark figure. Once I can do that, I can at least start to buy things in "blocks" rather than having to build those damned blocks!

That is what I hope GURPS 3I will do, or GURPS IMPERIAL NAVY (if they ever come out). Maybe Hunter will sit down and say "ok, it won't be GURPS Specific, but hell, if Hal wants it, how many others might BUY such a product if I created it for T20?
I don't want to spend 3 years researching all this shit, conclude that there is insufficient data, and have to make it up whole clothe from my imagination. If I do that, I will constantly hear "In Hal's Traveller Universe" not "hmmm, that makes sense - good enough for OTU". We all know that OTU becomes IMTU in the hands of each GM anyhow. Dammit though - the authors working with Marc Miller should be producing shit rather than arguing it with the fans!!!