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Terran Trade Authority is to be resurrected

I think we're done here... do we all know each others positions now? Good. Just checked my mood ring and it's gone all weird colours... time to move on.
We've figured out what the Model T Ford is doing in the Sentinel picture - good news is it stays in, bad news is I can't tell you why!
 
Originally posted by Adrian Mann:
We've figured out what the Model T Ford is doing in the Sentinel picture - good news is it stays in, bad news is I can't tell you why!
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Time Travel experiments?

Crow
 
I'm going to be a little evil here. The Model T Ford is in the picture because, IIRC, it was originally artwork for 'When Worlds Collide'; the 'Sentinel' is a depiction of one of the two Arks lifting into space.

The book was set in the 1930s; hence the Model T Ford.

Richard
 
Originally posted by Bill Cameron:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Hatrax:
I've been nothing but polite. Note that none of my invective was directed at you, personally.
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Hatrax,

You do realize your post is stiil there for everyone to read? Let me quote it:

Sorry, but B.S.

That's polite?

Normal people who disagreed would then read my opinion and counter it, perhaps by explaining some of the details of WHY they don't like Chris Foss-style art and WHY they think that the designs are "un-realistic".
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'Normal' people huh? By way of explaining their preferences, 'normal' people would post something like TTA stuff looked silly or the sci-fi equivalent of leisure suits, mood rings, disco shoes, and mounds of blow-dried hair or I find functioning, rational, designs far more pleasing than deliberately 'whimsical' eye candy complete with oversized 'lobster claws' and tiger stripes. or They look stupid, they looked 'forced', they looked deliberately weird simply for weird's sake. or something like that, right?

Wait a minute... that's what I posted...

I said I didn't care for the art, I explained why, and I wished the re-release all the luck. I didn't expect my opinion to be held in awe, far from it. However, I didn't expect to have an art critic's quote thrown back at me, I didn't epect to be told my preferences are 'imperialism, pillage, arrogance and eunochoid science', or that they are 'Sorry, but B.S.', or anything else.

Good luck with TTA.

Bill </font>[/QUOTE]There, there. Time for your nap. ;) If the "BS" stung you that bad, then my apologies. Thank you again for your input and well-wishes.

For the rest of the audience: What sorts of concerns do you have, if any, about the TTA universe being expanded?
I'm also very interested in hearing individual stories of how you all adapted the TTA stuff for various campaigns, Traveller or otherwise.
 
Originally posted by Richard:
I'm going to be a little evil here. The Model T Ford is in the picture because, IIRC, it was originally artwork for 'When Worlds Collide'; the 'Sentinel' is a depiction of one of the two Arks lifting into space.

The book was set in the 1930s; hence the Model T Ford.

Richard
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I do believe you're right. I'm sure I've got a copy kicking around somewhere.
 
Originally posted by Hatrax:
For the rest of the audience: What sorts of concerns do you have, if any, about the TTA universe being expanded?

I'm also very interested in hearing individual stories of how you all adapted the TTA stuff for various campaigns, Traveller or otherwise. [/QB]
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Well I for one loved the stories and the background. Like um, someone else on this thread, I really dug the Unexplained Objects. I liked that the known universe was 'small' (a stark contrast to Traveller). Pretty much all we knew about were the nearest stars. One thing I definitely wouldn't like to see are those mysteries (and the ones in the Spacewreck book, which I presume you're including here) explained. I don't really want to know who made the hologram ship (UO#1), I don't want to know why Sirius' planet emits sounds at a load of frequencies, and so on.

The impression I get from the TTA universe is that it's nice and simple. Sure, it may be cliche, but there aren't any conspiracies and skullduggery and grim and gritty stuff going on in the background - it's just all straightforward. And I like that about it.
 
Re: Sentinel image

Bang on TempMal - "Sentinel Major - Edwin Balmer & Philip Wylie, 'When Worlds Collide', Sphere, 1975"

Got this from Philip Banks' excellent site, which notes where all the images in all 4 books were originally from. On other pages he has details of the publishing history of the books, an interview with Mr. Cowley, and lots of other interesting stuff.

http://www.khantazi.org/Rec/TTABooks/TTABooks.html
 
Cool. Though do we really need that Model T Ford? I mean, this is new art is being done for TTA, it's not something yoinked from "When Worlds Collide".

The big planet in the background makes sense given the original purpose of the image (i.e. it's Bellus) and even the lightning bolts make sense - a lot of early scifi artists seemed to think there'd be this big exchange of lightning bolts if planets approached eachother.

Problem is, that setup doesn't actually correspond to anything in the solar system. I always used to think that the picture showed Sentinels launching from Triton, and the big blue planet in the background was Neptune (the wispy atmosphere fits Triton too). That might make a little more sense, but the 1940s car definitely doesn't fit the scene.

Maybe a better tribute would be to update the car to a futuristic looking vehicle and have that being sent flying through the air, it might work better as an in-joke there. ;)


BTW, the text calls these ships "Sentinel Majors", implying that there are "Sentinel Minors" - got any ideas about those?

And any chance you can show us the models you used for the ships from a variety of angles? I'm kinda curious about what you've done with the shape of the Cyclops and Banshee.
 
We've worked out a way that the Model T can be there which fits in in a sorta TTA way, if that makes any sense. Well, well see - it's only one layer in a Photoshop doc, so click and it comes and goes. I couldn't justify the lightning in the TTA world though.

If memory serves, only one in 5 Sentinels were manned - these being the Sentinel Majors. I guess the remaining unmanned ones were Plain Vanilla Sentinels.

The ships are all done all the way round. Though it's taken plenty of guesswork in some cases, I think that they look 'coherent' if you know what I mean. I'll be doing some other views of the ships as time allows. Mind you, the original artists didn't have the benefit of 3d models when they painted them, so translating from the 2d to 3d has been quite challenging in some cases, just to make the ships 'add up'.
 
Hot Damn...i remember them now. I remember the excitement of seeing Angus McKie's illustrations, attemping in my own prepubescant way to imitate them.

Help....I can feel a nostalgia overload coming on.
 
It’s not a Model T.

It does look like one but I am sure it is really a depressurized payload transport. Very sophisticated fuel cell technology, with remote guidance. Its open frame design does make it look like a Model T at this range with the heat distortion I will admit that. ;)
 
Originally posted by Adrian Mann:
If memory serves, only one in 5 Sentinels were manned - these being the Sentinel Majors. I guess the remaining unmanned ones were Plain Vanilla Sentinels.
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If you look at the text (I presume you can access the book), it seems to imply that the Sentinels were the second line of defence, the Sentinel Majors are the ones described in the book, and that the unmanned ones are still Sentinel Majors. Of course, it could just be its name and I could be wrong in implying that there's a 'Minor' variant anyway ;)

All this talk has got me wondering if I could do a Mule in lightwave now...
 
a question: can you give us a hint as to how you're going to fill in the history of the proxima wars? i've always wondered how a group of star systems about 4.3 ly apart can have a war lasting 20 years. :D
 
If you look at the text (I presume you can access the book), it seems to imply that the Sentinels were the second line of defence, the Sentinel Majors are the ones described in the book, and that the unmanned ones are still Sentinel Majors. Of course, it could just be its name and I could be wrong in implying that there's a 'Minor' variant anyway ;)
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Funny that this should come up... in a section I've written for the new edition of the book, I mention the Sentinel Minor... Whether it survives the editing phase or not remains to be seen. I guess Adrian and I are going to have to hash this out... ;)
 
Well I for one loved the stories and the background. Like um, someone else on this thread, I really dug the Unexplained Objects. I liked that the known universe was 'small' (a stark contrast to Traveller). Pretty much all we knew about were the nearest stars. One thing I definitely wouldn't like to see are those mysteries (and the ones in the Spacewreck book, which I presume you're including here) explained. I don't really want to know who made the hologram ship (UO#1), I don't want to know why Sirius' planet emits sounds at a load of frequencies, and so on.

The impression I get from the TTA universe is that it's nice and simple. Sure, it may be cliche, but there aren't any conspiracies and skullduggery and grim and gritty stuff going on in the background - it's just all straightforward. And I like that about it.
Click to expand...
It seems a lot of folks loved the unexplained objects... me, too! Don't worry, they will remain mysterious. Our goal with this project is to expand the universe in logical places, building off of the scraps of information that Cowley gave. The Alphans and Proximans, for instance, are not described anywhere (besides a reference to one being larger than the other)... kind of a big gap there. The history is being kept as intact as possible (just moving everything up 100 years), but expounded upon a bit more. The corporations are being fleshed out. But the stuff that makes the TTA fun- the feeling that we have only scratched the surface of the vastness of space- will definitely be preserved.

As for the "straightforward" aspect... if there were no skullduggery, it would be a pretty boring game, no? ;) The best way to put it is that the focus is on the individual, not the "race". Unlike certain TV series, the aliens here are individuals, with distinct "races" (as we talk about race here and now), distinct thought patterns, political affiliations, etc. In other words, Alphans and Proximans are not "predictable", any more than people you meet on the street are predictable, except in a general sense. In other words, "good guy" and "bad guy" depends on what your point of view is... and from there, as in real life, the conflict... and adventure... will spring.
 
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