My Quixotic Positions

[robject]

The holy war topics adjust the IMTU code. For now, it's just a list of holy war topics by which I've decided to bore everyone by exposing my narrow, Quixotic views.


an++ The ANNIC NOVA is canon. Its drives are standard, its collector is unique or high-tech and relies on something from stars that can't be provided by a power plant.

au-- Automating starships can't be reliably done at TL15. There are sanity issues to work out.

cpu-- Computers should be smaller.

dt Drop tanks will be effectively within 100D of the ship when it jumps (see Jump masking).

f -- Fighters are ineffective against capital ships at TL15.

fs-- Foreven sector should be regenerated and canonised.

ih Ihatei invasions - canon is fine / don't care.

inf Information distribution speeds - canon is fine.

jf Jump fuel is burned by the powerplant all at once, which fires up the jump drive.

j Jump itself - canon is fine.

jm Jump masking - 100D is 100D from the largest volume. The bigger volume always wins. The loser suffers a misjump or catastrophe.

jt- Jump torpedoes don't exist. Not much, anyway.

nc-- Near-C rocks are adequately defended against. How, I can't say.

pi Piracy - canon is fine.

pp Power plant - canon is fine. Power plants able to power jump drives are relatively leaky.

ssi-- Small-ship Imperium - no, thanks.

tv-- Traffic volume in the Imperium - light.

vi Virus - I guess it's okay.

xb X-boat route - works for me.



ls Life support costs - canon is fine.

n-- Naval budgets - are very small.

tr Trade system - canon is fine.


uwp+ UWP generation - canon is fine. Providing optional modifiers might be nice.

 

[rancke]

The ANNIC NOVA is canon. Its drives are standard, its collector is unique or high-tech and relies on something from stars that can't be provided by a power plant.

The description of ANNIC NOVA in JTAS#1 gets a few things wrong, but not much. Its ability to jump without fuel stems from an Ancient artifact that is essentially a fuel hose into a pocket universe with millions of tons of fuel.

Automating starships can't be reliably done at TL15. There are sanity issues to work out.

I'm still not sure what the controversy is. Is it about staffing a starship with robots?

Computers should be smaller.

Computers ARE smaller. The tonnage includes workstation space and beverage cup holders and whatnot.

Drop tanks will be effectively within 100D of the ship when it jumps (see Jump masking).

Drop tanks work perfectly well unless you screw up. They were invented a few decades ago and were slowly spreading from the core to the borders. By 1105 drop tank jump liners were connecting Mora to Rhylanor. The Thrimkhana Brilliance disaster gave drop tank liners a really bad name in the Spinward Marches (much like the name the Hindenburg disaster gave zeppelins) and halted further development, but they're still in use further in.

Fighters are ineffective against capital ships at TL15.

Whatever.

Foreven sector should be regenerated and canonized.

Good luck getting Marc Miller to agree to that. If you do, I have some suggestions...

Ihatei invasions - canon is fine / don't care.

Either the canoninal description of Aslan society is wrong or ihatei are far too few and weak to invade anything bigger than a medium-sized world by force. One or the other.

Information distribution speeds - canon is fine.

Canonical information on the subject is self-contradictory. Not fine at all.

Jump fuel is burned by the powerplant all at once, which fires up the jump drive.

The entire amount of jump fuel is used up before the jump takes place.

Jump itself - canon is fine.

Who says it isn't?

Jump masking - 100D is 100D from the largest volume. The bigger volume always wins. The loser suffers a misjump or catastrophe.

The 100 D rule is a simplification, but it's good enough for role-playing.

Jump torpedoes don't exist. Not much, anyway.

Jump torpedoes are possible but real expensive and have a 3% loss rate, enough to make them unsuitable for message networks but a reasonable bet for distress messages.

Near-C rocks are adequately defended against. How, I can't say.

Either that or people just don't use them .

Piracy - canon is fine.

Canonical information about piracy is self-contradictory, but they're fun, so let's ignore that.

Power plant fuel - canon is fine. Power plants able to power jump drives are relatively leaky.

CT canon is ridiculous. T4 canon is best.

Small-ship Imperium - no, thanks.

Agreed.

Traffic volume in the Imperium - light.

Yes, light. Something like what Far Trader establishes is about right.

Virus - I guess it's okay.

Sure.

X-boat route - works for me.

As an obsolete, irrelevant boondoggle, sure. The real work is done by jump-6 Navy couriers.

Life support costs - canon is fine.

Only fine if you ignore the logical ramifications. If you don't, realistic rules are much better.

Naval budgets - are very small.

Small for the Imperium, large for pocket empires surrounded by unfriendly rivals.

Trade system - canon is fine.

Workable for tramp merchants (though the one in ISW is probably better) but a disaster if applied to established companies.

UWP generation - canon is fine. Providing optional modifiers might be nice.

UWP generation would be fine if they were vetted afterwards. As it is, retconning is absolutely necessary if you want a self-consistent background.


Hans

 

[robject]

(Hans' replies, including quixotic content, snipped)

Quixotic.

I'll have to find a short Vilani phrase to carry the meaning better.

 

[rancke]

(Hans' replies, including quixotic content, snipped)

Quixotic.

What can I say, Robert? You're one of the reasonable ones. There's a chance of getting you to budge an inch with sufficiently cogent arguments. And you're fun to argue with.



Hans

 

[robject]

What can I say, Robert? You're one of the reasonable ones. There's a chance of getting you to budge an inch with sufficiently cogent arguments. And you're fun to argue with.

Hans

LOL! I am here to amuse.

I didn't realize I could budge... well I'm still a holy grognard. If I'm one of the reasonable ones, then heaven help Traveller.

 

[daryen]

LOL! I am here to amuse.

I didn't realize I could budge... well I'm still a holy grognard. If I'm one of the reasonable ones, then heaven help Traveller.

Yes, Robert, you are indeed one of the reasonable ones. Heck, you were even willing to fein interest when I talked about what I was doing with Spinward States (which is done and out, BTW).

On the ihatei issue, one of the major things I did was try to make the history fit together. In doing so, I made a definite "recast" of the whole "ihatei invasion" nonsense. (I didn't change any events, though I did portray them in a different light.)

So, I do agree with Hans. The Aslan as written are not able to support the ihatei as written. I chose to go back to the original descriptions of the ihatei and use that instead.

 

[robject]

Yes, Robert, you are indeed one of the reasonable ones. Heck, you were even willing to feign interest when I talked about what I was doing with Spinward States (which is done and out, BTW).

On the ihatei issue, one of the major things I did was try to make the history fit together. In doing so, I made a definite "recast" of the whole "ihatei invasion" nonsense. (I didn't change any events, though I did portray them in a different light.)

So, I do agree with Hans. The Aslan as written are not able to support the ihatei as written. I chose to go back to the original descriptions of the ihatei and use that instead.

Thanks Mike. No need to be modest: a lot of your material serves three simultaneous purposes - it's interesting, it's worthy background material, and it hands us plot hooks on platters.

And, I forgot what a good Archivist you are. I'll try to re-file your name under "Ihatei retcons" in the bookmarks of my brain.