DISCLAIMER (sp?): This thread is intended for discussion of TNE-based "MTU" variants (not my main TU, to which I dedicate far more time than this) and for certain "what if" speculations. It does not intend to challange or insult TNE:1248 (which I'll probably buy once it'll be out, depending on my economic situation at the time). It isn't TNE:1248 and would probably take a different road from it. ALSO, IT IS NOT, I REPEAT, NOT INTENDED FOR FLAME WARRING. IT IS NOT AN ARGUMENT ABOUT WHAT TNE CANNON IS BUT ABOUT WHAT IT COULD BE.
Now that we've got over that bit, I am messing around with a variant on the TNE background (to be played with CT rules, probably) for the case I'll end up running OTU games (sorta of). I wish to make human stupidity, human hubris, human pride, and human economies as the main source of the Fall; stagnation, social contradictions and conflicts of interests lay the groundwork for the Rebellion's transformation into the Final War. I see the tragedy of the Third Imperium as that of rulers who could not see much further than the ends of their noses and pockets, of the masses decieved, manipulated, blinded and put to sleep by a stagnant, complacent system, of a Short Night which was not inevitable - the writing was on the wall, and it was human blindness, combined with a rotten human society, that failed to heed the warning. Dulinor was a little less shhort-sighted; but nevertheless he failed to understand that what was needed was a revolution and not a few reforms, that the dying body of the Third Imperium could not be saved by the mere replacement of its head.
I also wish the former Imperium to be more than a constant plain of greyish devastation, speckled with many sickly TEDs. Yes, devastation is an integral part of the setting. Yes, TEDs will exist in my variant as well. But what I wish to change is the uniformity of this devastation, to make it more akin to the original spirit of Traveller, where radically different conditions exist on different worlds, where the devastation, desolation and TED government type are not a uniform blanket put over the entire space that was the Imperium. If you have Survival Margin, look at page 48: See how devastated the former Imperium was already in 1125. TNE cannon transforms this much further to the extent that almost everything is desolated Wilds; I wish to keep it closer to that map, with tiny pockets of light (small safe areas) still remain in the dark Night, with deep frontiers radiating from them into the Wilds, and with a wider variety of worlds even in the Wilds - after all, not everything suffered the same damage from the Black War.
For that purpose, I seek to tone down the Virus. I thiught about eliminating it completely, and leaving the Final War and the following economic collapse as the sole reason for the Short Night, but I still see potential in the Virus; I think it was overused and overdone in TNE cannon.
So I seek to make it spread in a slower pace and over a smaller region, encompassing what TNE considers to be the Black Curtain and a little more as a "high infastation" zone, a circle of the eight surrounding sectors as a "moderate-to-low infastation" zone, and the rest of known space to have a very low rate of intection. I might be using an earlier-date variant of Kafka47's Fourth Imperium as the main source of "vampire fleets", rather than having them roaming as a menace all over space; evolution and countermeasures would've probably weeded out most Virus strains, leaving a dominant strain combined with the remains of Lucan's Imperium, as well as a few much rarer strains.
My question is: How such a scenario could be justified? One possible answer is to limit the Virus to communications only, rather than to all kinds of energy emissions; making it a high-tech (proto- or ful-AI) self-replicating software virus rather than a physical Cymbaline (sp?) chip might also help. Another explanation is an earlier leak of information about the Project, allowing the various power centers time to prepare counter-measures.
Now that we've got over that bit, I am messing around with a variant on the TNE background (to be played with CT rules, probably) for the case I'll end up running OTU games (sorta of). I wish to make human stupidity, human hubris, human pride, and human economies as the main source of the Fall; stagnation, social contradictions and conflicts of interests lay the groundwork for the Rebellion's transformation into the Final War. I see the tragedy of the Third Imperium as that of rulers who could not see much further than the ends of their noses and pockets, of the masses decieved, manipulated, blinded and put to sleep by a stagnant, complacent system, of a Short Night which was not inevitable - the writing was on the wall, and it was human blindness, combined with a rotten human society, that failed to heed the warning. Dulinor was a little less shhort-sighted; but nevertheless he failed to understand that what was needed was a revolution and not a few reforms, that the dying body of the Third Imperium could not be saved by the mere replacement of its head.
I also wish the former Imperium to be more than a constant plain of greyish devastation, speckled with many sickly TEDs. Yes, devastation is an integral part of the setting. Yes, TEDs will exist in my variant as well. But what I wish to change is the uniformity of this devastation, to make it more akin to the original spirit of Traveller, where radically different conditions exist on different worlds, where the devastation, desolation and TED government type are not a uniform blanket put over the entire space that was the Imperium. If you have Survival Margin, look at page 48: See how devastated the former Imperium was already in 1125. TNE cannon transforms this much further to the extent that almost everything is desolated Wilds; I wish to keep it closer to that map, with tiny pockets of light (small safe areas) still remain in the dark Night, with deep frontiers radiating from them into the Wilds, and with a wider variety of worlds even in the Wilds - after all, not everything suffered the same damage from the Black War.
For that purpose, I seek to tone down the Virus. I thiught about eliminating it completely, and leaving the Final War and the following economic collapse as the sole reason for the Short Night, but I still see potential in the Virus; I think it was overused and overdone in TNE cannon.
So I seek to make it spread in a slower pace and over a smaller region, encompassing what TNE considers to be the Black Curtain and a little more as a "high infastation" zone, a circle of the eight surrounding sectors as a "moderate-to-low infastation" zone, and the rest of known space to have a very low rate of intection. I might be using an earlier-date variant of Kafka47's Fourth Imperium as the main source of "vampire fleets", rather than having them roaming as a menace all over space; evolution and countermeasures would've probably weeded out most Virus strains, leaving a dominant strain combined with the remains of Lucan's Imperium, as well as a few much rarer strains.
My question is: How such a scenario could be justified? One possible answer is to limit the Virus to communications only, rather than to all kinds of energy emissions; making it a high-tech (proto- or ful-AI) self-replicating software virus rather than a physical Cymbaline (sp?) chip might also help. Another explanation is an earlier leak of information about the Project, allowing the various power centers time to prepare counter-measures.
