T5 0.9 Errata Thread

[dalthor]

Page 288 - Pod costs

Per table 04-B, Pod costs, they are listed in MCr according to the table header.

This should actually be KCr.

It looks like the upper header line to include the cost and "Total" markers need to be shifted right to properly line up with the appropriate columns.

 

[dlazaro]

Page 477, The Low Lottery

Page 477, The Low Lottery

The text refers to “low passengers who will survive the trip” but I haven’t found any description in the book about how to handle Low Passage survivality in starship trips.

 

[dalthor]

General: Tech level stage effects

Tech level stage effects can affect both the size and the cost of systems.

There are a couple of ways to look at the calculations. Lets use an M-drive C as an example. It weighs 5 tons, and costs MCr 2 per ton.

A standard M-drive C therefore weighs 5 tons, and costs MCr 10.

Now lets look at an ultimate M-drive C. Cost is tripled and size is 1/4 that of the standard. Which is calculated first, the size or the cost? Lets look at both.

Method 1: Calculate cost first, then adjust size: Cost is MCr 10 x 3, or MCr 30; size is 5/4 tons, or 1.25 tons.

Method 2: Calculate size first, then cost: Size = 5/4, or 1.25 tons, and cost is tons x 2, tripled, i.e. 1.25 x 2 x 3, or MCr 7.5

Both methods give the same final tonnage, but look at the cost difference!

Using the second method, the ultimate drive is cheaper than the original standard version, which makes the most sense to me – cost is per ton. You determine tons first, then do the cost.

So, which method is correct in T5?

 

[MichaelSTee]

Trade classes on pages 410, 492, 493

The Trade classifications charts on pages 410, 492, and 493 are inconsistent.
For Fl worlds: p410,492 says Hyd 123456789A; p493 says Hyd 123456
For He worlds: p410,492 says Siz 3456789ABC; p493 says Siz 3456789A
For Ic worlds: p410,492 says Hyd 123456789A; p493 says Hyd 012
For Oc worlds: p410 says Siz ABCDEF; p492 says Siz ABC; p493 says Siz A
For Oc worlds: p410,492 says Atm 3456789ABC; p493 says Atm 23456789ABC
also: bottom of p410, 493: inset space after "discretion" (to fix "discretionof")

 

[MichaelSTee]

Page 709
Left column, 2nd paragraph: "are not shown" should be inside the parenthesis.
The Outer Oort Cloud: change text to "...the Outer Oort Cloud is a spherical..." (removing "; it").
The next paragraph: change "fo" to "of".
Right column, in 3 places: change "consist" to "consists", as 'System' is singular.
Outer System, second paragraph: change "planets in suborbit" to "it may have planets in the suborbits shown".
Outer System, third paragraph: change "probably" to "probable".
Remote System, second paragraph: change "planets in suborbit" to "it may have planets in the suborbits shown".

 

[MichaelSTee]

Page 508 edits

First paragraph in header: insert "is" into this: "...It not routinely available..."
Planetbuster Bombs 27: insert "into" between "planets" and "myriad"
Grey Goo 23: mispelled word: entiure, should be entire

Second paragraph in header: recommend adding a comma after "itself"

 

[MichaelSTee]

page 509 edits

left column, first line: remove first instance of the word "a"
Pocket Universes 31: misspelled word: realtive should be relative.
Right column, Reality Engineering 28: last sentence is copied from previous paragraph; either remove or re-write.

 

[DonM]

Marked for Marc discussion.

 

[dalthor]

Vehicle maker and ACS grav drives - multiple pages

I tried to find descriptions and definitions of the different drive types for vehicle maker, and really found nothing useful in the section. Apparently there are assumptions made that the reader has an idea what the drives are, and how they work.

In the ACS section, the drives are described, but mention NOTHING about any vehicle types other than ACS ships. Assuming the same definitions apply to both the vehicle and the ACS rules, the descriptions should probably be moved elsewhere.

Reading thru the BBB, T5.09 page 245, in Vehicle maker, states

Grav. The vehicle moves using the Gravitic or G-Drive. This includes flyers and small craft among other things -- see page 246.

Later, T5.09 page 295 lists the minimum tonnage of a size-A G-Drive as 9 (nine) tons. This is in the Adventure Class Ships (ACS) portion, for ship design.

Finally, T5.09, page 675, in the subunits of the ton table, I found the quote

For example: the smallest G-Drive is 0.25 tons; often labelled a 1-cube drive

The current T5.09 errata documents reads --

Page 295, 11 Starship Drives, Drive Tons (omission): Minimum tonnages are missing. Add note to bottom of table, “No drive can be smaller than the ‘A’ drive of its class, even after modifications like Stage Effects.”

This has some potentially serious implications for small craft such as shuttles, cutters, pinnaces, and the like.

Is there truly a "vehicle-sized" G-drive, smaller than 9 tons?

If so, what is the difference between a vehicle maker G-drive and an ACS G-drive?

Actually, once maneuver drives (M-Drives) become available, are grav drives pretty much gone by the wayside? Especially considering the minimum M-drive is TWO tons, and is an improved G-drive?

Next, looking at the T5.09 small craft listing on page 265, under the SPEED column, it REALLY adds to the confusion, because those speeds seem to have NO RELATION I CAN FIND between hull size and drive type; yet by default it'll be a grav drive, as noted on pages 245 and 246. I think hull size SHOULD be a factor in speed calculations. Also, the speeds listed here don't seem to conform to SPEED table 07 on page 255.

 

[dalthor]

Page 317 - Targeting

The Targeting section reads

Targetting
Mark locations to allow attacker targetting: Hot Spots, Center of Ship, Firing Weapons, and Operating Sensors:

In two places, targeting should only have one T. Also, remove the : after the word Sensors.

 

[Daddicus]

64: Rogue exploit

See page 64. Rogues choose one Controlling Characteristic for their career. If the rogue is lucky and gets an 11 or higher in any characteristic, then the only way for him to fail any roll is with a natural 12. This makes it by far the most lucrative profession. I had one rogue who went 4 terms and left with millions of credits, 7 ship shares, and a bunch of other goodies.

In another thread, we discussed it for a while, and we agreed that this needs to be fixed. Some suggestions appear in that thread.

One in particular is to cap success rolls for Rogues at 10, regardless of target numbers. Also, I thought the modifier for terms should be negative rather than positive. A lucky thief with even a 9 or 10 in a characteristic can become unstoppable with a lucky term or two.

Since that thread, I came up with another idea: The thief randomly rolls which of the 6 characteristics becomes the CC, rather than choosing it. This partially alleviates the problem.

 

[David Johansen]

On page 217 in Gun Maker, we are told that the heavy and light burdens are not available for lasers though they are for very light and very heavy. I strongly suspect the prohibition should be on magnum and snub.

 

[Reban]

Combat: The Observer Process

There are three different descriptions for the ranges used in adjusting the fall of shot in The Observer Process

1.Forward Observer Skill p.130
The skill description makes it "Flux times 100 meters".

2. BTSD Damage Chart p.190
The note at the bottom of the grid says: "Numbers shown are Range Band Numbers."

3. Artillery and Ortillery p.192
The Observer Method says: "Deviation Scale. Indirect Fire weapons deviate in units of 50 meters. This may keep the hits in the same Range Band, or may move it to another Range Band."

Suggestion
Standardize the description to the BTSD Damage Chart description and use "Range Band Numbers" rather than reference meters as all the "Military Explosions" from pp.193-195 use the same range band system which makes it quick and easy to understand if the first round fired does any damage.

Note that neither the calculation "Flux times 100 meters" or Flux times 50 meters equal exactly the standard Range Band ranges and need interpretation before a Ref or Player can say where the shot landed. Using the Flux = Range Band is abstract but fast.

 

[Garnfellow]

Economic Extensions

Page 411, Economic Extensions:

"The minimum value for Resources, Labor, and Infrastructure is 0." As Resources are generated by 2d6 (+ GG and Belts if TL is 8+), the minimum value is actually 2. Should read ""The minimum value for Resources is 2, while the minimum value for Labor and Infrastructure is 0."

The Infrastructure table is confusing and contradictory. I would recommend re-writing as so:

Pop 0 = 0
Pop 123 = 1
Pop 456 = 1d6 + { Ix }
Pop 7+ = 2d6 + { Ix }

Note there is something weird with low-pop worlds. Because Importance can be negative, even high-population worlds with Class D starports and TL 8 could theoretically end up with an Infrastructure of 0, lower than any world with only a 100 people. That . . . does not seem right. I would recommend having the Infrastructure of worlds of Pop 123 = { Ix }, like this:

Pop 0 = 0
Pop 123 = { Ix }
Pop 456 = 1d6 + { Ix }
Pop 7+ = 2d6 + { Ix }

Worlds with Pop 0 should automatically have an Efficiency of -5. This is consistent with the T5SS data on Traveller Map.

 

[Garnfellow]

Cultural Extensions

Page 411, Cultural Extensions.

Should have a note to the effect that Pop 0 worlds automatically have Homogeneity, Acceptance, Strangeness, and Symbols scores of 0. This is consistent with the T5SS data on Traveller Map.

 

[Garnfellow]

Trade Classifications

Page 410, Trade Classifications

Both Military Rule "Mr" and Reserve "Re" codes are listed under "Secondary" codes, implying they are non-mainworlds. The note under terminology on page 491 explicitly says that "Military Rule. The non-Mainworld is ruled by the military from a nearby world."

However, in actual usage these codes are applied to plenty of mainworlds in the T5SS. See Solomani Rim for examples of the former and Spinward Marches for examples of the latter.

These are both very useful codes for mainworlds and secondary worlds alike. Recommend moving these codes down to the rest of the political groupings, and amending the text on 491 to remove the reference to "non-mainworlds."

 

[Garnfellow]

Page 412, "Z Travel Zones."

The chart reads

Da if (pop 0-6 or Gov+LL).
Pz if not (pop 0-6 or Gov+LL).

I get the population piece, but I don't quite understand the "or Gov+LL" bit.

 

[Garnfellow]

Number of Worlds in Regina

The example on page 406 calculates 14 worlds in the system, while the UWP on 407 lists only 8, which is consistent with the T5SS data on Traveller Map.

 

[Reban]

More GunMaker

GunMaker Table 07: Options p.219

X Sensor Acquisition and Tracking contains the caveat "Used with Type: Guns only."

There isn't actually a category "Guns".


Suggestion: Either change it to "Artillery" or remove it or make it "Not Long guns and handguns".

 

[DonM]

Marked for Marc.