Scout/Courier Jump-2

[Signal]

Hi folks,

I'm just getting ready for my first campaign (Classic, using the Traveller Book) in a long, long time. Traveller was the very first RPG I ever played back in 1981 and I've been a regular player for many years.

I'm enjoying reading through the rules again and it's only now I notice somethign that strikes me as a little odd.

The Scout ship can make a Jump-2 and has the necessary fule to do so, the rules and descriptions back up the claim. But, the ship only has a 1/bis computer which restricts it to Jump-1...

Am I missing something? What gives?

Cheers

 

[far-trader]

A small rule, page 14 in Book 2, under the "A. Bridge" section. Bis model computers are counted as 1 level higher for jump support. So a model/1bis is equal to a model/2 for jump support, permitting jump 2. And a model/2bis is equal to a model/3 permitting jump 3.

Oh, and welcome back aboard Signal

 

[ShapeShifter]

When I started learning CT rules about 2-3 years ago, that very point about "bis" screwed me up too. I'm glad I wasn't the only one scratching my head over that.

 

[Signal]

Fantastic folks, thanks so much for the speedy response!

Can't wait to kick off my new game!

 

[Signal]

Folks, one more quick question - computer related.

My 1-bis computer can handle 4 'points' worth of programmes - what do I do with all the other programmes I need?

The example ship data card (in the starship combat section) displays many more programmes than the ship in question could hold in storage and CPU so my question is what happens to the programmes required for operation not currently in CPU or storage and what steps are required to delete/remove current programmes and install the required ones?

Cheers

 

[far-trader]

Actually that Ship Data Card is wrong The type S has a model/1bis which has CPU=4 and Storage=0.

Per page 38 of Book 2 you swap them in and out physically* during the Computer Reprogramming phase of your turn (step E page 31), subject to a maximum load of 4 program slots at a time.

If you had a computer with Storage then you have access to any programs in storage at any point in your turn, subject to the maximum simultaneous load of the CPU.

I can work up an example if that's not clear enough.

* They are originally thought to be cartridges or cassettes (not tapes though, think solid state), currently I describe them as blades in MTU. Imagine one of the crew running from their battle station (unless you have a dedicated Computer Operator as part of the crew) to the computer and pulling the blades not needed, putting them into the handy (physical) storage (a series of shelves), removing the blades needed from the shelves, and inserting them into the computer slots. Sort of like all those Star Trek scenes where someone "reconfigures" the computer by swapping those plastic cards around. But bigger maybe, though I'm back to thinking them about that size. I actually picture each blade as being the thickness described by the program size. A Jump 1 (1 slot) program blade is half as thick as a Jump 2 (2 slot) program blade and so on. Inserting the Jump 2 blade into the computer requires 2 empty adjacent blade slots and fills them. If I had to say how big they are, my sense of them is pocket size (maybe 8cm wide by 12cm tall and 2cm thick per program point plus a divider between points of 1cm). Makes some of the bigger programs more like boxes than blades. Same goes for the pre-programmed (self erasing) "Jump Tapes" you can get instead of using a Generate program. Makes the smaller ones (like PCs will have) convenient to carry, and easy to pickpocket :devil:

For more complicated and customizable fun you could imagine the blades are all identical, and the bigger programs are multiple blades. So the Jump 2 program is two blades that have to be inserted together (though not necessarily adjacent) to function. You might even allow that Blade A is Jump 1 and adding Blade B with it is Jump 2.

 

[dragonlady]

I actually like to visualize the type of crystals that are seen on the various ancient ships on Stargate universe. Different crystals store different programs and your computer only has so many slots.

Much more dramatic than little usb drives don't you think?

 

[Signal]

Thanks very much folks you've put that concern to bed nicely. At this stage I don't imagine ship to ship battles figureing in the early campaign but one of my players is bound to ask.

 

[aramis]

Having had a roommate with a backplane computer in the past, I, too, use the programs as insertable cartridges.

The physical carts were, IMTU, 20cm x10cm, with a slot spacing of 2cm... so a 1 slot program was 20x10x1.8cm, and a 4 slot was 20x10x7.8cm...

I always figured about 550-pin one-way connectors per slot.

 

[Leitz]

I always figured about 550-pin one-way connectors per slot.

Nyah, too easy to mess up. One bent pin in a combat situation and you're toast. Besides, most of the space would be for making it handleable, not actually required. Same as for a modern CPU chip. The actual chip is pretty small compared to the module it's in.

If Traveller computers are similar to modern ones, then you have levels of storage. That seems to fit what I know of T-comps; they can hold X amount and you have about X*5 you'd like it to hold.

When a computer accesses a plugged in program it copies it in from the module, however that's defined, into a lower level of memory. A hard drive is one level; lots of space but slow. RAM is another level; faster but it costs a good bit more per size unit. L1 and L2 are even faster, and cost expotentially more than RAM.

Storage of the modules should be fairly simple and cheap. A system that requires you to physically swap them out is going to be fraught with failure. However, you might have to logically swap them out. Figure an 8 slot encasement with a backplane. You can tell the computer to access and load the Jump-2 software. The computer has an internal map that shows the J2 software is in Sensor Comp slots 4 and 5. It loads the software, and does it's thing, and then hands the results to the main Bridge Comp.

That way you have stuff stored and you're not trying to relocate things with delicate pins while taking damage or running atmospheric turbulence.

Make sense?

L

 

[Signal]

Having had a roommate with a backplane computer in the past, I, too, use the programs as insertable cartridges.

The physical carts were, IMTU, 20cm x10cm, with a slot spacing of 2cm... so a 1 slot program was 20x10x1.8cm, and a 4 slot was 20x10x7.8cm...

I always figured about 550-pin one-way connectors per slot.

My Traveller is kind of 'retro' sci-fi so this fits in nicely. Excellent!

 

[aramis]

No, leitz, you are not making sense. I suspect you're not grasping the terms properly.

Then-current connectors were 108 pin edge connectors (they still are called pin, even tho they are not physically pins), and a dual or triple edge with finer contacts (ISA was pretty sloppy) could easily hit 550 "pins".

As for logical vs hard, the install bay is sum of storage and active. in the case of a model 1, it has 6 slots, and can drive 2 of them at one time, while the 1/bis has four always hot slots. you can have additional carts lying about above that, but they require phyiscally swapping out carts. Not something you WANT to do in the heat of combat...