Runabout fencing: two common (and sub-megacredit) smallcraft with extendable conveyor belts for loading/unloading cargo, use those belts and maneuver drives (set on low velocity/high agility) to try to tap the tip against the other craft first. Involves more whole-craft maneuvering than the normal kind of fencing, since the "hilt" is at a fixed point relative to the craft.
2) Mecha Fights
Started as a Vilani thing
Only because the Vlani had mechs first. Solomani can trace mech fights back to
2017 AD, and drone fights a decade or two before that.
That said, I made up a sport for another setting that had lots of standardized space stations, that would work in Traveller too - at least, in any area that had lots of worlds at least TL 9 in thee same area, that might engage in sporting contests with one another.
Powerball is a game conducted between two teams, each consisting of a mech pilot and 3-6 (depending on league) power-armored folk. Leagues define the limits of equipment, but generally, the mech is a two-legged, two-armed vehicle less than 10 tons with a single pilot, and the power armor is deliberately kept short of battle dress standards, though even the minimums give players serious armor and enhanced strength to encourage dramatic plays.
The play arena consists of a large room, 3 times as long as it is wide (exact size varies from league to league, but 120x40 meters is typical). It is usually about as tall as it is wide, though on space stations that rotate for gravity, the floor and roof can curve. The roof is technically optional, but purists will insist on one even in the middle of an outdoor sports complex with weather control granting it year-round mild sunny days. The floor is divided into 3 square areas: the home team's field, a pool, and the far team's field. Each field has a number of movable terrain features that its side's mech pilot can control (usually only when not doing anything else). Each side's mech may not leave its team's field; only the rest of the team may do so. The pool freezes and thaws in set patterns during the game (always perfectly symmetrical, and communicated to both sides before the game), giving ice that can be hopped or walked across (the power armor is usually too heavy to swim, and the balls - see below - deactivate if they touch the water; zhodani and solomani leagues prefer to just leave this area completely frozen during the game, while it is almost a cliche that aslan players try to splash their opponents to deactivate any balls they carry).
There are multiple balls - rugged spheres with lights and sensors - that start out loaded in each mech's rifle (the only weapon allowed, aside from the players and their armor). These rifles activate a ball for the mech's side when the ball is shot (the rifles are low power, and usually can not shoot more than 1/3 of the floor's length); players then catch their balls and try to touch them to the wall on the far side (throwing the ball against the wall is allowed, and is the most common way to score). Balls deactivate if they touch the ground, water, or any wall (including the far side wall, after scoring a point). Power armor touching or being touched by a ball activated by the other side paralyzes that armor for a few seconds (though the mech can grab, load, and shoot it, switching the ball's activation to its own side's).
One point is awarded each time a ball activated for your team touches the far wall. The objective is to score more points than the other team in the time allowed (which varies by league, but 15-30 minute halves - switching sides between each - is common in professional leagues).
o: :rofl:
