We talk a lot but do we ever say anything?

  Notwithstanding any rearrangements about who flies what (which probably won't matter for the trip back), is the group okay with proceeding as outlined IC? (Fly back what needs to be flown, keep the hijackers secured on the Long Shot with some of us on guard, etc.)

  If so then we can probably scoot back to the planet and start working out what we'll actually get to keep from all this.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 2):

Sounds good to me. Although somewhere along the line we need to get Valeska on our team, yeah?

I would find a Low Berth more appropriate than an airlock.

Valeska joining the team is already in the works... you just haven't got to that point yet.

  I figured that Valeska joining would officially happen back at the starport or planetside.

  I didn't see any low berths on the ship's layout so I figured there weren't any. If it DOES have low berths then sure, go for those as prisoner transport (though we might have trouble if some or all of them fail to revive...)

None of the ships in play at this time have low berths.

  Since the launch can go in the Long Shot, so Walter and Sharik can help out with the hijackers' ship. Otherwise, It looks like we've covered everything there is to deal with, so... fly away home! (As much as Grendal is to us, anyway!)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:51, Tue 22 Dec 2015.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 8):

Given the legal difficulties in actually charging the hijackers with anything, maybe we should just tranq them again, put them on their own ship, and head back. I just have this annoying thought that they will try to charge us with assault, kidnapping and piracy if we actually take them and their ship anywhere.

I'm good with that, in fact, that's pretty much the way I've kinda played it anyways.

You have to keep in mind, with the resources we have been given (Very high+ tech exposed, military stuff, quick contracts, alot of leeway, Imperial assistance)...Think about that for a moment...There are powerful players/organizations/institutions involved on our side.

And, although I'm not the best lawyer, I bet you 1KCr that I can defeat any defense lawyer they can bring to bear...and if we win, we'll have a ship (talking about the Rockdancer), which we can keep and or trade in for X amount of ship shares towards something we really want.

Not to mention, I am fairly sure, my influence outweighs the defenses of claim-jumping potential pirates...and if it doesn't, well, what kind of an Imperial client state is Grendal? Get my point?

Anyways, that's the way I'm looking at it.

NOte: There's a couple of things I need to confirm with the GM before I say more....

  That ton of iridium would be worth 50K as "precious metals" - nice, but in the circumstances, nowhere near as valuable as the Long Shot itself appears to be. (Which again begs the question of why it's spending time as a mining ship if it's worth all this attention...)

  Kaengarr would agree with the above post by Darrel if it were brought up ICly - it's also a good reason to go to the trouble of hauling the hijackers back; the regular justice system may be the least of their worries. (Or ours, if we now 'know too much'.)

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 12):

In my case, I can't say more IC until some GM guidance.

  StarMaster, that estimate wasn't IC. :P  And I was going by the 'precious metals' value in the trade charts, with the amount magically jumping from one ton to five tons in your last two posts. ;)

Yes, I know it was OOC. At the same time, too much OOC stuff should be  handled in character. We seem to be playing fast and loose with the OOC thread.

Basically, what was the point of mentioning it if it wasn't IC? No one else would have known what you were thinking.


The estimate was one ton of pure iridium that would be extracted from the 5 tons of ore. The ship doesn't have an ore processor.

Not sure how much time I'll have to post between now and Saturday. I'll have some, I think, but suddenly have a lot of stuff on my schedule. Expected some, but it just seems to be that time of year! Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday.

Things should be back to normal for me on Saturday.

  Well, what *is* the stuff worth then? Obviously not standard per the chart, but I don't know enough about the setting (unlike the character) to make any guesses.

See, now that would be something you should do IC. Walter's the broker; you should ask him. Or Darrel is a noble, ask him.

  Erm... Kaengarr would probably have a good idea of what it's worth (given his background/skills), even if I don't. :P

Merry festivities to you all

I probably won't be posting again until after the weekend

Happy Holidays, everyone!  Best wishes from my family to yours, this holiday time.  I hope that you are all doing well and I look forward to RPing with you into the new year and beyond.

Merry Holidays to everyone!!

Merry Christmas!

So with the threat of be charged with piracy ourselves, do we take their ships or not, assuming its not locked down?

  Happy Holidays!

  And when we're all recovered from them: Kaengarr's view is that we're taking the ship back to the planet since it's material to the attempt at piracy by those four. If we get to keep it afterward  - and we have a good case for that, especially if said four end up send off to prison - that's a bonus.

  Plus, leaving it sitting there pretty much just invites someone else to come along and take it. :P

Post Ho-Ho-Ho...

We should definitely take the ship, in general, piracy and/or hijacking are dimly looked upon, and technically we are bringing pirates/hijackers to justice.

Given Darrel's influence, and the fairly high level of social firepower the group can bring to the table,, I'm all for taking the ship. IC, Pablo will back whatever his friends call as the play.

"Indy, grab the snake!"
"Stop calling it a snake!"
"Indy, grab the 'rope'!"


Stop saying 'take the ship'. Get it into your head that you are 'seizing the ship' as duly designated officers of the court.

That is some serious money.

Do we pool it for a ship or split ot among us (and maybe pool it later?)
And if it is the latter, do we split equally or with shares?

Of course this imo should also be discussed in character. I just want to get the general tendency.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 29):

If Pablo has a share coming, he'd want to at least have it in his own account, just so he can see that much money in it. After that, he'd be all about putting it into a group venture.

  Is that 3.8 each for the Long Shot crew or 3.8 split between the five? (It makes a big difference for Valeska!)

  As for the rest of us, even shares of the payoff is fair, and we can pool all/most of it accordingly. (~1.28 mcr each if there are 8 of us now.)

Valeska has already been covered.

I would assume at some point that the two crew members who might know Valeska would have seen and recognized her. undoubtedly conversations would have ensued.

In reply to Valeska Brandenberg (msg # 33):

On a twenty hour trip, yeah, definitely. Pablo knows she is a member of the Longshot's crew, anyway.

Sam would like some cash to spend - say 100K but the rest can go into a ships fund

How about 1 MCr each and the remainder stays in individual accounts? That keeps it fairly simple?

EDIT NOTE: I've been thinking, maybe it's best to have everyone get their payout individually, then we decide on a figure...I'm sure there are characters that are going to want a sizable chunk of Crs to buy personal gear.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:04, Tue 29 Dec 2015.

Going shopping does sound fun. I'd suggest heading to Outpost, though, if that is our plan. Its an Imperial Client State, low law, tech 14, and a naval base, which should help our nobility exert their influence and maybe mean there is surplus military gear on the market.

Its only got a population of 40k outside the base and a B starport, so markets beyond startown will probably be limited in scope.

On the plus side, with both a Naval base and the B starport, the startown should be fairly extensive and well used to outfitting ex-military and other adventurous folk.

  Putting 1 mcr each into the pot sounds reasonable. We can always chip in our remaining funds later if we need to.

  Heading to the naval base was our original plan IIRC, but we seem to be in local demand!

We've discussed several possible follow-up locations and Outpost was high on the list.

The Ship Ahoy thread was involved in that, along with, obviously, the ship possibilities, although a number of new options have presented themselves.

Concerning the pot, looking at prices for gear and whatnot, 100Kcr, doesn't really go that far...it's best to let the characters spend what they feel is necessary on personal stuff, then we can take a hard look at group finances.

Keep in mind, no matter what ship (and possibly cargo) we get, the initial outlay will be high.

Concerning Grendal, I have a feeling that the group is ready to move on.

1 MCr each in and the change to spend works for Sam, but I don't think everyone needs to do that if they don't want to. The more money in the pot, the less of a drain on funds the ship is each month.

So Sam will do the above, and I think everyone should just post how much they add to the pot from their share - and theres no need for it to be a set amount tho I suppose keeping the maths simple might help

I assume the 2nd M-Drive is a backup system?

Not really, but if you are wondering if the ship can fly with just one M-drive, yes. It was an SDB... it was meant to do heavy maneuvering in a system.

A quick note: I was looking at the fuel tonnage for the long shot...wouldn't it be 180 tons for the jump-3 600 Tons/.1 X3 ?

I thought the fuel tonnage was a bit low, too, but... Oops. Lost another decimal place again.

Let me think about this. Increasing that fuel tankage would seriously reduce the cargo space...

That's what I get for trying to number-crunch late at night.

The only other high-tonnage item was the mining drones, so I went back and looked over the rules again to see if I could tweak them some way.

As the rules state, it's a 'set' of mining drones, but they don't really explain what that means.

Two deck squares equates to a ton of ship. Since the 'set of mining drones' can mine 2d6 x 10 tons per day, and since I had 10 mining drones on the ship's deck plans, it wasn't much of a stretch to say that a 'set' is 10 mining drones. That makes it easy to calculate how much they can mine if one or more are damaged.

Also, the 10 tons of drones includes the miscellaneous spaces and equipment for handling them, which is taken up by the remote operations room.

So that put the mining drones down to 10 tons on the ship's stats list, and only 1,000,000Cr.


That let me up the fuel to 180 tons (like it should have been), but reduces the cargo space to 135 tons. That's dedicated cargo space, though. Generally, a unit of cargo is 1 ton, palletized or containerized, so it takes up 2 deck squares. That leaves a lot of extra room for putting cargo if you have to.

Seems to me that the repair drones are also mispriced (though their tonnage may be correct/appropriate).

If I read the table on page 111 of the Main Rulebook correctly, one set of repair drones (and I presume that the GM is trying to equip the Long Shot with three (3) sets) should weight 6 tons (600 x 0.01) and cost 1.2 MCr (0.2 MCr/ton x 6 tons).

So, the three sets should weigh 18 tons and cost 3.6 MCr (not 360 MCr as listed).

Pablo and Kaengarr noticed the same thing.


Repair drones are equated to the repair robots, which are defined as what I would think are repair drones anyway. Although listed as 'small', they give no size indicators. Small compared to a starship could still be rather large. I picture them about the size of R2D2, whether they are 'crab-shaped' or not.

In any case, since you don't buy a repair robot by the six-pack, there's no reason to think that repair drones are sold in 'sets' rather than individually.

These are Advanced Combat Repair Drones... lightly armored to keep from getting blown away too easily. Also, they are built to government/military specs.

Ah.  Sorry, I missed that exchange from Pablo and Kaengarr; mea culpa.

Those must be some pretty swanky repair drones; they are almost as expensive as everything else combined.  Sharik is going to want to get herself some of those...  Hmmm... actually, it sounds like we did get us some of those!  Sweet!

And what is the logic behind placing a 20-ton Launch (with Maneuver/1) on an Maneuver/3 ship?  Why not place a 30-ton ship's boat (with Maneuver/6) instead for 10 more tons of displacement and only 2 MCr more?  It would seem more practical...

The exchanges with Kaengarr and Pablo were in PMs.


Sharik can ask the designer why he didn't allow for a Ship's Boat rather than a Launch. Why does anybody drive a Prius when they can drive a Ferrari?

A Prius doesn't cost 90% of a Ferrari (a launch is 14MCr, while a ship's boat is 16MCr).  In the case of the Long Shot, the damned thing is already 700+ MCr, 2 MCr more is drop in the bucket.

More to my point, most people that I know who can afford a Ferrari will often buy a Tesla Model S (P85-D level trim) instead...

The 10 tons extra of displacement for a ship's boat might be slightly more of an issue.  But only slightly, given that it is a 600 ton ship.

Happy New Year all.

If the repair drones are remaining as is, we need to agree among us *not* to just strip those puppiea off the Longshot, sell them for 150 MCr, or whatever deal our rather excellent business folk can manage, and either split up the proceeds and retire to life long wealth and luxury, or refit the Longshot to a little wee baby dreadnaught with cargo holds, heavily pay down our loan on the ship, or other mischief better minds than mine can devise for such a chunk of cash.

Though its also going to be exceptionally painful to make a loan payment on a ship whose cost is bloated by 350 MCr of assets that seem on the face of it to provide marginal and very occasional utility.

A lot of the pecularities of this ship can be explained with it being build as an SDS, which to my knowledge dont even have jump drives.

So whe the 2nd M-Drive is not a backup, what M-rating does the ship have 3 or 6?
You might also want to increase the fuel a bit more so that the ship would not be completely empty after a jump.

These things are being considered by the Elephants--it's being done at a Very High Level!

The SDB didn't have a jump-drive, but there was a jump-shuttle (essentially the rear end of the ship here) that could be docked with it in order to move it to another system if necessary. That's what the auxiliary bridge's function was; it was part of the jump-shuttle.


I think, though, that the revised stats will remain as is.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:48, Fri 01 Jan 2016.

  Pablo: I don't think we'll want to buy the Long Shot, all things considered.


  Should we kick the IC scene ahead to that TAS meeting? It'll be easier to cover all of this if everyone's in one spot.

Not to be a stickler...but, the ship would need maneuvering fuel (18 tons per 2 weeks)

I agree we should move to the TAS to start the ball rolling on our next task in IC.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Fri 01 Jan 2016.

  Since it wasn't explicitly stated, that IC post assumes that Darrel did put the call on hold so we can't be overheard!

LOL...

Keep in mind, although it seems like there are 2 different discussions going on, IE...Ship Ahoy and Recovering A Long Shot. Don't get confused.

We are actually in one location all together...

Look at it as 2 separate conversations going on at the same time.

Maybe we should merge them?

I always kinda assumed the Ship Ahoy thread was OOC.

Yeah, that.  Perhaps Valeska should move over to the Long Shot thread from the Ships Ahoy one...  Just brainstorming aloud...


It has always seemed a bit of a mix.  But the IC/OOC line has been blurred a couple of times in this game.

  I also figured that Ship Ahoy was OOC. What's going on there looks more like a questionnaire than a dialogue, too. ;)

Let me make sure that I understand this as I am reading Ms Blue's statement two ways.

1. We surrender our shares, make two payments of Cr441,266, the vessel is ours
2. We surrender our shares and then make payments for the next twenty years?

  Well, either we're REALLY supposed to take the Long Shot...

  ...or our new financial plan is to pay off the ship and flip it for the (less expensive) one we actually want. ;)

Ceruleanne was explaining why Casey only owed two payments on the ship. The bank would only finance it for her for 20 years because of how old the ship was.

The ship still has value, and while Casey doesn't need the credits now, she's reluctant to just give it up for nothing. The bank will refinance it for her for the ship shares you all have rather than any actual credits.

I also wanted to clarify?

We pay Casey Cr882,532, then....



That's how I understood it.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:18, Tue 12 Jan 2016.

  I read it as #1. The 20-year thing is talking about the previous captain.

So 1 then?

First of all, I don't run railroad games. If you don't want the Long Shot, that's fine. I've already thrown half-a-dozen ship options out there for you.

Second, you are all way too paranoid! I don't know what kind of insidious GMs you've all gamed with before, but I'm not normally like that. Now if this was a spy game, then, yeah, Conspiracy is the name of the game.

Third, most of this stuff you should be dealing with IC.


Fourth, yeah, #1 is the correct interpretation.

Sorry if I have been harping on the Long Shot so much, to me, it just seems like a perfect ship for our needs with the neat high grade stuff, but it also comes with a huge caveat, extremely overpriced repair drones.

Concerning those, well, it is a mystery about how that price came about, it might be something simple...Unfortunately, I have this bad habit of always trying to solve them, even if it's futile or unsolvable. ;-)

If this has become a disruption/distraction in IC or slowing the game down unnecessarily, then, I recommend we finish up the debate and vote on a ship that has been presented here or we move on to Outpost?

In reference to paranoia, yea, I think it is somewhat of an ingrained trait one develops, sometimes detrimentally. ;-(

I do agree that this ships do seem tailor made for us, especially with all the improvements like the powerful M-Drive with half the power requirement and the reduced J-Drive. Those things are hard to pass up.

  We're dealing with powerful interests that have secrets to keep. Paranoia is the natural outgrowth of that. ;)

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 71):

I am not paranoid!  I know that each and every one of you bastards is out to get me!   ^_^

If those repair drones were made by any military organization, and were supposed to be the next big thing, it could be just an extreme example of development bloat, ala the F-35 budget fiasco.

Of course they might be full AIs packing batttlesuit grade armor and hidden fusion guns along with their tool packs. At that price, they should at least be robots, not drones.

Just so I have this right...

Group funds are 17.3 Mcrs, is that correct?

As the new guy I assume I have no vote as I have no part of the multi million dollar pot the group is discussing. did I assume incorrectly?

As this is OOC I don't see why not. Even more so you if you got any ship shares during character creation.

So it looks to me its pretty much decided to get the Long Shot, even if only temporary.

  Since he's the captain and was the owner, is he able to fill us in on the high-tech extras? The super security subsystem, the force fields, and whatever else we didn't yet find?

How much money did we want to use for cargo speculation?

  As much as we can manage to fill the hold, I suspect!

To be honest, I first have to figure out how much money we (I) have left after all the big number transactions.

According to my rough calculations(?)
17.3 MCr.

- 883KCr (Cr882,532)

= 16,417,000 Crs

/8 mission group
Darrel Cromwell
Kaengarr Ruzokh
Kheaiftouaw
Pablo Esteban Ryzov
Samantha Kilgore
Sharik Kaagira
Vonon Ronkunu
Walter Zeller
Did I miss anyone?


=2,052,125 Crs per "old" crewmember.

Or, something to that effect.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:25, Sun 24 Jan 2016.

I have been looking, but I can't find the information concerning AcquireCorp Shares, value (Cr25.92 per share). Is that trade-able only on Grendal or is it a subsector/sector wide?

I agree with Kaengarr, the main point is getting as much of the the most profitable selling item at Outpost, and not worrying so much about cost, well, at least a reasonable cost.

Keep in mind, it is basically impossible given Walter's skills to not make some sort of profit.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Mon 25 Jan 2016.

Heading to Outpost empty would be a waste of time so I figure that I would start working on the cargo behind the scenes while the others check out the ship. I just did not want to show up with cargo requiring 10+Mcr if the group did not want to spend that kind of money.

Pablo would be willing to put 1.5 MCr of his share into speculative cargo.  Do we want to advertise for basic freight lots, too?

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 85):

Are you using the core book or Merchant Prince?

I have both but was thinking of just using the core book to keep things easier.

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 88):

Makes sense. There are some equipment items from the book that could come in handy, if we want to look at being a "jack of all trades" type of trouble shooters.

Armotec Crew Coat (TL10), Debris Scoop (TL7),Tow Cable (TL7),Forced Linkage Apparatus (TL7+),Salvage Suit (TL9) and of course the K-19 ‘Karp-Dog’ Assistance Drone (TL12). ;-)

I was thinking more in line with the Loading belt for 1 ton and 10kcr, no need to have people on the vessel unless needed.

As for the Armotec Crew Coat (TL10), Debris Scoop (TL7),Tow Cable (TL7),Forced Linkage Apparatus (TL7+),Salvage Suit (TL9) and K-19 ‘Karp-Dog’ Assistance Drone (TL12), I like the K-19, Salvage Suit  (get all the bells and whistles),and the armored coat (now we need to come up with a company logo...) Not sure about the scoops/tow cable/linkage as that would take up 11 tons of cargo space between the three of them.

(Also, in answer to you question on the other board, check out message 68 on this one)

  For those of us who don't own the whole Traveller library ;) could you describe what those things all do?

Here you go

Loading belt Tl7+ 3kcr conveyor belt that acts as if 10 people were moving cargo on the vessel, TL12 10 kcr acts as if there were 25 people.

Armotec Crew Coat gives protection 5 and has a one hour air supply 800 cr

Debris Scoop (TL7), scoops mounted on the vessel to make passes through a debris field and gather them. 10 kcr, 5 tons

Tow Cable (TL7), allows a vessel to tow an another one based on the size of the towed vessel 20kcr, 4 tons

Forced Linkage Apparatus (TL7+), allows docking with another vessel 2 tons 10kcr for the TL 12 version.

Salvage Suit (TL9) Heavy duty vacc suit for salvage operations.

K-19 ‘Karp-Dog’ Assistance Drone (TL12), scans for hazardous materials on board, records audio/video for 6 hours, can bite, play mode.

I must have spent $500+ on getting the books. ;-)

Eventually, I'll upload the books I have into my goggle drive and post a link.

Thanks for heads up concerning the Long Shot finances.

Yeah, I get the point about saving cargo space, if we do too much, we'll eventually be forced to carrying only really high priced items (if they are even available) to make any trip (without a mission plan) worthwhile.

I suppose the silver lining concerning re-reading the books, it reminded me about some things we should be doing (and should have been doing).

Training, given the time it takes, we should begin an in-house program.

LEARNING NEW SKILLS
The more skills a character possesses, the longer it takes him to learn a new skill. A character’s Skill Total is calculated by summing the levels of each skill (level zero skills count as zero). A character with Mechanic 1 and Gun Combat (slug pistols) 2 would have a Skill Total of 3.

To increase a skill, a character must train for a number of weeks equal to his current Skill Total plus the desired level of the skill. So, to advance from Pilot 2 to Pilot 3 with a current Skill Total of 3 would take (three, plus three) six weeks. A character may only train one skill in a given week.

  I figured right from the outset that skill training is in the "never going to happen" column given the pace of RPOL play and the in-game time requirements.

  I think most of us already have some form of armor and vacc suit and depending on where we go there might be higher-tech options available anyway.

  Most of the ship hardware sounds really situational, so as a generalist group they probably aren't worth the space they'll take up. We can always obtain one if we really need it for a specific situation.

  The K19 could be handy though. Just watch your wisecracks around the Vargr. ;)

So in another 24 weeks Sir Walter will be Broker-5 and feared by merchants in the sub sector.

Concerning the Longshot, how do we want to do the paperwork? I was thinking that we payout what we have earned so far and those with ship shares would form a shell corporation for the vessel (renting it out to the freight company). Charge 10% of the profit or 500kcr (whichever is less) per month and pay out 4% per share to those that contribute. as an example at 500kcr a month,

(21 shares that I am aware of + 4 for ship operations)
Darrel Cromwell 2 shares 40kcr @ month
Kaengarr Ruzokh 4 shares 80kcr @ month
Kheaiftouaw 1 share 20kcr @ month
Sharik Kaagira 4 shares 80kcr @ month
Vonon Ronkunu 6 shares 120kcr @ month
Walter Zeller 4 shares 80kcr @ month
Crew (players without a ship share), life support, maint, berthing fees 80kcr @ month

The freight company would be created with players getting a share for each 100 kcr they contribute.

Concerning the training, all valid points, but, there will be alot of abstract time spent (jump/transit time), and it will have the feeling of a real accomplishment when someone gains or improves a skill.

In reference to the personal gear from the Merchant Prince book, the only reason why I listed it, is because it's not covered in the CRB, nor the CSC. But you are right, anytime we hit somewhere high-tech or a specialized area (belter/scientists/military), we should keep our eyes open for things.

Same for the ship hardware, I was just looking at it from the standpoint, the more varied we have of upgrades, the more chance a mission profile will match our capabilities. Kinda of what I meant by a "Jack of All Trades" aspect.

"We have a salvage job"... We can do that.
"We have a mining job"... We can do that.
"We have a search and rescue job"... We can do that.
"We have a recon/research job"... We can do that.
"We have a humanitarian job"... We can do that.
"We have an extraction job"... We can do that.
"We have an insert a spy into a warzone delivering medicine to a wild animal refuge that is dealing with a plague of nano-bots controlled by a group of nymphomaniacs under the influence of a psionic warlord job"... We can do that. Well, maybe?

Get my point. ;-)

With a K-19, when someone says heel, everyone doesn't look in Kaengarr's direction.

Edit note: Walter's and my message were crossing I-space, will address his message shortly.

  Even though it would benefit Kaengarr to some degree, I'm not fond of the idea of linking individual income to the number of ship shares. Those generally aren't literal shares to begin with, and it's a stretch to link them to actual contribution.

I was putting on my dunce cap for a moment... ;-)

As much as I am very sure Walter's system makes complete sense, I am thinking a bit more simplistically minded....

I am in agreement that the Long Shot needs to be an asset of a Corporation formed by us, this provides a certain level of legal protections for both the ship and the individuals concerned.

Talking about ship shares in an abstract manner, for this ship, each share equals something like 5MCr+ per share...Ship shares represent contacts, credit rating, savings and favours owed that a character can put towards ownership of a space vessel.

The idea is achieving a happy medium balance taking into consideration, we are in a game world that tries to depend on realism.

With that confusing statement said...

Keeping in mind, for the moment, almost all the crewmembers are flush with cash, the only exception(?) being the newcomer, Gregory Jones. Darrel will front him the money to make all contributions as equal as possible.

Remember, keep it simple and fair, and as "realistic" as possible....

Everyone puts 1Mcr into the group fund. 10 Mcr.

That is the group's, corporation's and Walter's bank(initial purchasing sum), we leave it up to him to get the best deal on whatever cargo he thinks is worth it.

We go to Outpost, and sell the cargo.

Breakdown. Note, this is just the original buy/jump/sell...we'll figure out the details for future deals later.
All ship costs are deducted, or 1 Mcr.
then
25% of remainder is "corporation's money" IE establishing the group's funds
then
50% of remainder is divided into # of personal ship shares.
then
the remainder is divided into # of crewmembers.

I realize, it's not perfect, but, in layman terms, that looks ok to me?

Example...

We buy 10MCr worth of hockeypucks.
We sell the hockeypucks for 12MCr.
We give 1 MCr to cover ship expenses.
We give 2.75 Mcr to group fund
We give 202KCr per ship shares(21)
Each crew member gets 400Kcr.

Or something like that.

Edit note: I know the ship shares thing is abstract, and over time, unfair (not really in the real world), but we need to come up with a more judicious system, as the game progress.

And, there are probably large gaps in my logic, just trying to figure it out.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Mon 25 Jan 2016.

Heard from Valeska and she has two shares herself, so that would change my math so I have to rethink it.

How about

Pool the money that we have now (including the 3+ Mcr that Valeska has) and break into into two accounts of 10 Mcr each.

Account 1 The ship. Each player would have a share and once a year they would receive an agreed upon payout (percentage or flat amount) Those that contributed ship shares to purchase the vessel would have right to buy the share(s) of those that leave the ship. Money from sources other than cargo would go into this account, like a salvage op.

Account 2 Cargo. Net profit would be split up with 25% off the top going to the ship account, 50% would be divided into the players accounts, paid out each month (or quarter), the rest goes back into the cargo account.

As long as Pablo gets to buy some new toys eventually, he's good with leaving all the money in the group funds. To him its all like crazy huge amounts of caah anyway.

Ok, let's start with, this is the part nobody likes to talk about...the money (either cash, indirect, or whatever).

And, just as the real world deals with it, let's kick this problem down the road to be solved later.

We form the corporation(more ideas on this later), list the Long Shot as an asset.

Everyone puts in 1 MCr (10 MCr), we buy the cargo, and leave for Outpost.

How's that sound? I know it's imperfect, but, until we get an idea that makes sense to everyone, let's rock and roll out of here. ???

  The characters'll have a week or two to work out the details en route, so... yeah, let's just get some stuff and go. It's what Kaengarr would do!

What he said, Grrrr...Oh, sorry... ;-)

The problem with 'ship shares' is the use of the word 'shares' because it makes it sound like its the same things as a stock share. It isn't. What it really is is a 'price reduction'.

Without specifying what each 'ship price reduction', it essentially winds up being a discount. Every member of the group decides to cooperate to acquire a ship. What you bring to the negotiation is a way to reduce the selling price, not actually throwing credits at the banker.

Realistically, you'd have Agencies that were set up to 'cash in' on these price reductions... the favors, the non-monetary credit etc.


If you do it any other way, you risk one player feeling left out or even cheated simply because his dice rolling didn't go so well during character creation.



On another note, as I was reading over Darrel's reiteration of the skill advancement procedures, a couple of things occurred to me.

The first is a point about learning languages. In general, once you learn a second language, additional languages are easier to learn (with a few exceptions). Apparently it has something to do with training your brain to think a different way. That's why children raised in a bilingual environment have no problem learning both languages.

The second point is the American college degree program (don't really understand the British system). As some of you probably already know, you get a degree by earning a certain number of course credits. We insist on a broad spectrum education, so if, for instance, you want a math degree, most of your credits will be math courses, but you will probably also have to have some Humanities credits, some Science credits and Language credits.

What that results in is also having the Language credits and Science credits to qualify for a Humanities degree, with maybe only having to take one more course.

The third point is that universities are accepting Real Life Experiences in lieu of some credits. If you've had a job at a doctor's office for the past 6 years, that might equate to a certain number of credits in the Humanities.

The fourth point is that a lot of what you learn from one skill often crosses over into other skills. The more sophisticated a skill is, the more it's likely to get used in other skill applications.


Now, roll all that together, and the idea that the more skill ranks you have will make it harder to learn new skills/ranks is actually backwards thinking. The game is implying that you can fill your brain up! Yet, we know that we use only 10% of our brain.

So I'm rethinking the skill progression system.

To start with, the total number of skill ranks you have will have nothing to do with training, but I'm thinking it might be an upper limit based on your Int and Edu.

Studying/training can be done in 2 ways: focused or casual. Focused studying requires a number of weeks equal to the new rank you are studying for. So if you have 2 ranks in Sensors and are trying to raise it to Rank 3. It would require 3 weeks of Focused study, which is 10 hours per day. Casual study means you are trying to press yourself; you only spend 5 hours a day, so study time takes twice as long, or 6 weeks.

I'm also thinking that you could possibly study two skills at the same time, if one is physical and one is essentially mental. Really, Archery and Astrogation would hardly be using the same resources and ability.

Gaining a skill at Rank 0 should probably take 4 weeks.


Anyway, how does that sound? Do the study times seem a bit low?

  Blargh! Medical myth there!


  But the rest sounds fine. IIRC that's close to what the new version is/was doing vis a vis training, although I have no idea whether things got changed around in the final release.


  The only potential hitch is how to assess on-the-job style training. Taking everyone's favorite skill to pick on, if you're actually looking after passengers 10 hours/day during a trip then that should probably count toward Steward training even if you aren't doing any formal studying...

Couldn't have said it better, know that I understand it better. ;-)


Well, everyone with a 10% mind is always harping on those 15%ers....



There's a classic similar rule about that somewhere, Int+Edu = max skill level totals, or something like that...keep in mind the classics character creation tables were killers...if you survived at all, happy camper, survivor with skills, happy camper with cream and cherries on top.

I'll need some time to figure it out,and SM, excellent work.

Training is weird in Traveller. I am running a game in RL and struggling with it a bit. I can see the logic behind it, but not sure I agree with it totally

I think theres a couple of other points to bear in mind about it, though

1) Actually, if you Jump a lot, you get lots of training time, so progression can be quite quick
2) I think the Skills total = time to learn idea was to make it easier for characters with fewer skills to "catch up" skill levels with characters with more skills
3)Traveller tries to be hard science, so at the time the skills system would probably be based on what was known at the time.
4) In my understanding is that theres less of a limit on how much you can learn, the real limit is practical - its hard to practice skill regularly the more you have, to prevent skill fade - getting rusty

If you are having a limit then it might need to include physical stats, because eg melee, stealth etc are arguably more about your physical limits rather than mental

Not sure if that helps.

  I double-checked the beta book for the new version: the skill limit there is 3 x (Int + Edu) total skill ranks. None of them use other stats for their limit count, although Athletics uses Str/Dex/End instead of Edu for the actual training checks.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:08, Tue 26 Jan 2016.

Good point, Sam, about those with fewer skills being able to catch up. The 'reality', however, is that shouldn't happen, especially in the game, since each rank is supposed to represent years of training.

It should also be easier for some characters to learn certain skills than others. If your Intelligence is 6, for instance, are you really going to be able to learn Physics as easily as someone with an Intelligence of 12?


And, yes, I was thinking that Physical stats should come into play. First of all, there is something called 'muscle memory'... it's a real thing even if we don't really understand it yet. What immediately comes to mind is riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you don't ever quite forget how to do it. Even if you don't ride one for 20 years, you can still do it fairly well, and pick the rest up quickly enough once you start again.

And that's also one of those skills that has little to do with Intelligence in the first place. It's all Dexterity.


As for study time vs. travel time, if we use the old way, that could still be 20+ weeks, or essentially an entire year.

I much prefer the way that D&D explains it: you are constantly studying, practicing and  honing your skills, including developing new ones. That would really be what's going on in Traveller... especially if you already have a rank in a akill. For example, if you are trying to improve Slug-thrower Pistol skill, you read articles, books, instruction manuals, etc. when you have the time, and you may only hit the target range when you have the chance. But even that's like eating and going to the bathroom. Characters still have to do those things, but unless you want to specifically include those scenes in a story for some reason, we just assume it happens 'behind the curtain'.

Add to that 3D/virtual simulator programs for training, and even physical skills can be developed.


So, based on all these additional idea, I'm thinking that maybe there needs to be a base training period of from 1-4 weeks, then add in the rank time. This base training period would vary based on your overall ranks--the more overall ranks you have, the longer the base training period. This lets lower ranks catch up a bit. It also represents 'untraining' you in things that you already know.

Reminds me of my time in the Air Force when I was sent to Leadership School. The first thing they do is give you a test to see what you know. The questions fell into 3 categories--stuff I already knew, stuff I knew but didn't know what the Air Force called them, and stuff I vaguely knew. That's what the 'untraining' is--learning how to do something for the new skill.


I'll work on this and make a new Notice post for Skill Progression. It'll also include Attribute improvement.

Perhaps incorporating that characters with those skills being able to speed up the training process...

Reading How to Win Friends and Influence People is great to learn the art of persuading, but what if you actually had Dale Carnegie there to teach you?

Uh...you'd be very good at seances? :)

Or really bad, if you could only summon Dale Carnegie...o_O

Though the conversation has progressed past this, it is likely worth noting that the scale of Classic Traveller (CT) skills and Mongoose Traveller (MgT) skills is slightly different.  CT skills are worth about 3 MgT skill ranks.  Well, between 2x - 4x, depending on the skill and the bonus each level gives, but 3x is about right; for example Jack of All Trades in CT at level 1 eliminates all untrained penalties, whereas in MgT that requires level 3 in JoAT.

So, any level limits that were house ruled in CT should likely be scaled appropriately as well (i.e. 2x(INT+EDU) in CT, should likely something like 5x or 6x).

I'm up for any system of advancement that GM wants to try.  Hopefully, it is not too much number crunching, but that said, I am not afraid of such - it simply is a hope that the new system isn't at odds with the rather abstract and simple set of mechanics that MgT tries to adhere to (the 2d6 vs TN 8+ thing).

Oh, and 'yay' to Attribute progression.  Definitely something that the MgT rule set lacked.

  I'll be away for the next day or so. Try not to get into any new catastrophes without me! ;)

Funny, I was working on the same thing there Darrell


                                                 Captain: Count Darrel Crowell
                                           ][
                            Senior Pilot/XO: Samantha Kilgore
                                           ][
                                  Navigator: Sharik Kaagira
                                           ][
           =============================================================
           ][                              ][                         ][
       Engineering                  Cargo operations         Gunnery/Security
           ][                              ][                         ][
       Kheaiftouaw                  Sir Walter Zeller        Pablo Esteban Ryzov
       Valeska Brandenberg          Gregory Jones            Vonon Ronkunu
                                                             Kaengarr Ruzokh

The other thought is to close out Cargo operations by moving Gregory to Engineering and Walter as an off shoot of the XO.

You beat me to it. ;-) The problem for me, I'm probably overthinking it...

I've been bouncing this around in my head, trying to find a happy medium between all the different circumstances the group will face, while at the same time factoring in skills/attributes.

This is a great starting point. And sort of follows along the lines of my thinking, in normal times...Ie us planetside...although I would get rid of the cargo, bump Walter to XO (admin/business(?)), create a Pilots' category (including a Small Craft).

Have a separate chart for positions, in ship to ship combat, example, Vonon would become Battle Captain or Operations officer...Darrel become Comms/Medic?

Get my point...see, I'm overthinking it again....;-)

How about this for day to day operations



                                     Captain: Count Darrel Cromwell
                                               ][
        Senior Pilot/XO: Samantha Kilgore  ---------- Merchant/AO: Sir Walter Zeller
                      ][                                       ][
     Navigator/Co-pilot: Sharik Kaagira               Assistant:Gregory Jones
                      ][
                      ][----------Ships Boat:Kaengarr Ruzokh
       ====================================
       ][                                ][
    Engineering                     Gunnery/Security
       ][                                ][
    Kheaiftouaw                     Pablo Esteban Ryzov
    Valeska Brandenberg             Vonon Ronkunu
                       

And in battle


                  Captain: Samantha Kilgore
                            ][
  Co-Pilot: Sharik Kaagira ==== Boarding Operations:Vonon Ronkunu
           ][                                ][
      Engineering                    Gunnery/Security
           ][                                ][
      Kheaiftouaw                    Pablo Esteban Ryzov
      Gregory Jones                  Kaengarr Ruzokh

Medic/Damage Control:Count Darrel Cromwell, Sir Walter Zeller, Valeska Brandenberg

Wow - hadn't thought about this that much, and wasn't really angling for a boss role, but still happy to do so aboard ship.

I had literally thought of just one person to call it in a given situation eg Engineering issues its Khea, Trading, Walter etc but I suppose that does actually lead to a chart like you have.

I think it will take a little time to fine tune, but I think having too many charts/options will make things complicated.

What I was wanting also was a way for someone to call it if eg Sam wanted to fly but Khea insisted on checking a ship over first (for example - not that that was going to arise). Its ok to be the person who calls it in your sphere, but what if spheres clash?

I think your charts are a very good start. But if Sam is going to be ships captain, her first skill train needs to be Tactics: Naval I think

Lets see, I placed you as the senior pilot since you are the only one with Pilot(Spacecraft)-2, Pablo gets the Gunnery job with Turrent-3, Darrell gets the Captains job since he is the noble/face, Sharik has the navigator spot with Astrogation-2...This also based on what the UPP's listed so the comments to Darrell is that while he has a program that will allow him to pilot a vessel, Walter looked over his certifications and there were none as a pilot.

As for a "boss" role, that would happen in battle as the command lines become very streamlined with only two modes, Fight(Boarding/gunnery) and Flight(Pilot/engineering) Darrell, Walter and Valeska will act as medics/damage control based on what is happening. They might also serve as a reserve if we get boarded but Walter is not very combat effective at this time (someone owes him training in laser rifle)



As XO, you could take it up with the Captain but if you were to ask Walter, he would lean towards making sure the vessel was safe before any flight tests. I would not have any problem with Kheaiftouaw grabbing you by the scruff of the neck and taking you down to engineering to have you fix something you broke(and with a 9 Strength it will not be that hard).

  This discussion now seems to be split across three threads and since someone was wondering: Kaengarr does not have any ranks of his own in Engineering ( - ), but he does have a class 1 Expert Program ( + ) in his computer, so he can effectively function as having Engineering 0. Good enough for routine work or for supporting someone else.

Sorry for my even slower rate of posting. I have been ill the last few days.

For the chain of command, as long as Khea is in Engineering and someone with a "female" skill set, even if artificial, is at or close to the top all is well.

  We probably don't need to be that hierarchical for day-to-day operations, and there are some significant skill-sets being overlooked in the current chart. Consider something like...



                                               Samantha (Captain)

                                                     ][
          =========================================================================================
          ][                                         ][                                          ][
    << Ship Ops >>                             << Security >>                               << Custom >>

    Samantha       (Pilot)                     Valeska  (Inspections)                       Walter   (Broker/Quartermaster)
    Kheaiftouaw    (Engineering)               Pablo    (Guard)                             Darrel   (Negotiations)
    Gregory Jones  (Comms/Sensors)             Vonon    (Guard)                             Kaengarr (Steward)
    Sharik Kaagira (Astrogation)


  Bear in mind that everyone won't be awake all the time (so we might want to consider who handles off-shifts) and that those whose 'official' job isn't currently relevant can be seconded to (or studying for) another one during that time.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:39, Fri 29 Jan 2016.

I've been going over the ship/personal combat section.

Given the skill sets and how they affect combat.

Ship to Ship

Battle Captain:Vonon. Tactics (naval)-1
Pilot:Samantha. (Spacecraft)-2
Turret-1 Gunner:Pablo. Gunnery (turret)-3
Turret-2 Gunner:Kaengarr.  Gunnery(Turret)-1
Sensors:Gregory.  Sensors-2
Chief Engineer:Khea  Engineer (Power)-1,Engineer (J-Drive)-1, Mechanic-1
2nd Engineer:Walter Engineer (J-Drive)-1, Mechanic-1
Medic:Darrel Medic-3

That leaves Sharik, Valeska as the fire brigade (and/or noncombat positions ie comms/computer), dealing with repairs and/or replacements if any principal position is incapacitated. Note: Depending on circumstances, some positions might be left unoccupied unless needed, example Darrel might be part of the back-up, until a medic is needed.

How's that look so far?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:13, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

This message was deleted by the player at 17:13, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

  In looking at the ship's software, it will (or at least can) do a decent job of handling several functions on its own, so those assignments are likely to be even more flexible.

  Someone (Valeska and/or Kaengarr?) probably ought to be designated to deal with any passengers/prisoners/live cargo/etc during a battle since they could all cause trouble in various ways.

Pablo is at heart a grunt, so he'd probably treat Kaengarr as Chief Gunner, no matter who holds a title. Given that this is a fairly loose hierarchy, it probably doesn't matter, but Darrel would likely realize that, when setting things up.

In reply to Pablo Esteban Ryzov (msg # 128):

Yep, the title isn't as important as the skill/attribute demanded by the position.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

I'm just thinking that given the Vargr's general quest for alpha status, it might matter in that sense.  Not saying that's foremost in Kaengarr's mind, but my sense is that Pablo grew up around Vargr, and is used, at least to a point, to being part of a "pack." Even it was eight year olds running around in the service corridors of an asteroid world, making trouble.

In reply to Pablo Esteban Ryzov (msg # 131):

Honestly, I hadn't even thought about that...in any case, I see what you mean...but like I said, no worries, I'm just looking at skills 1st and matching to titles...the titles can be changed as needed to smooth over "pack politics". ;-)

  As far as Vargr particulars it is likely to complicate things a bit if Vonon outranks him since their Charisma scores are the other way around, and for the same reason bit-parts aren't going to keep him happy for long. Still, there are possibilities, but maybe we can handle those in-character? (I did just post something toward this.)

Chief Thumb-Twiddler, that's funny... ;-) In some societies that a position of high esteem.

I suggest as our Vargr have roughly the same skillset we let them figure out their pecking order by themselves.
While Khea is not as liberal as she believes herself to be she is aware tgat aliens have different (or no) gender roles and the proposed command chain with a split between commercial and combat command does look a bit similar to an Aslan hierarchy.
And with her low Soc she doesn't have that high expectations.


I just noticed that Grendal only sells unrefined fuel so I assume that this is what the ship was filled with when we bought it (if it was filled at all)?
By the way, can we get a notice with the ships stats so that we don't have so search when we want to look something up?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 135):


If needs be we can just skim the ocean and process it ourselves.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

In reply to Darrel Cromwell (msg # 136):

If I remember right the Long Shot (do we want to keep that name?) has only very basic refining capacity and needs about 5 days to refine a full tank.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 137):

2 fuel processors (40 tons a day), since we're only using the maneuver drive, a few hours should give us enough to do a simple test flight(?)Or if the GM allows, we abstract time for a day and we're good to go.

That is of course, if we not filled already.

Note, edited the gunner titles...now just Turret-1 and Turret-2.

It does take a while to cover the 100 diameters to make a safe jump. We could take our time to have the fuel processors refine it (4.5 days) until we can take it to Outpost and get the changes done. The refined fuel is needed for a jump but not to maneuver. You could take it for a trip to the gas giant to get topped of and come back to Grendal in a few days. The cargo should be ready to pick up at that time and we can head out of the system.

  I'd imagine that the Long Shot's current fuel stock is mostly refined since it was out on operations and essentially parked on the asteroid. We'd just need to top up the bit that was used and refining it shouldn't take very long.

Good point there Kaengarr. I also just realized that there was 13 more tons of cargo space on the launch, so unless someone objects, I will fill it up.

  The occupants of Outpost will soon be thoroughly sick of fish at this rate... ;)


  Oh, don't forget to pick up the cargoes that Kaengarr had searched out earlier!
This message was last edited by the player at 19:30, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

I will be happy if they take the 5 tons of radioactives and 10 of robots at a very good price.

As Aslan I have to object to do something as lowly as trading livestock.
Also, better also stock some tons of spare parts. Just in case.

  Okay, now I'm curious. What's the Aslan objection to livestock?


  I just went back and dug up the list that Kaengarr had compiled:

  20 tons of fresh fish.
  20 tons of frozen fish.
  5 tons of sculptures. 5 more tons should be available in ~3 days if I've counted time right.
  2 tons of pharmaceuticals; more might be negotiated.
  2 tons of spices
  2 tons of gourmet foods.

  And one ton of beryllium spheres as freight (though I don't know where to).
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

Tending and transporting livestock is considered to be a very lowly occupation usually performed by outcasts (a job Khea had to do in the past) so in Kheas mind doing that would not leave a good first impression.

Generally Aslan prefer to hunt food,even of it is only a mock hunt (there is a small droid common on Aslan starships on which, eat is attached on and then let lose in the dining hall to hunt).
Nearly all Aslan eat only fresh meat (meaning the animals are put in a low berth and butchered on the ship). Frozen food is only for the very poor and no Aslan will touch syntethic meat.
And fish barely even counts a prey to be hunted, so its not a high quality food either.

That reminds me, if you want quality food during jump travel we need some low berths.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:00, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

Along with the sm4ell permeating the vessel for quite some time. Walter would be the first to tell someone to pound salt if the expected him to muck out the barn.(I do not plan on hauling livestock if there are items with a higher profit margin)

Note to self, make sure to have the crew list any dietary regimen.

  When it comes to daily meals... Kaengarr may have some ideas about that.

  Khea: we have another cultural point that might make for an interesting discussion between Kaengarr and Khea. Cultural Vargr generally regard herding as normal and acceptable. Meanwhile, hunters are regarded as weird because it involves spending a lot of time on your own.

Steaks, Wine and a good dessert work for Walter. He does mix a mean drink so you do not want him tending the bar if you are trying to stay sober.

(I can see the grunts lining up to start him on an exercise regimen, which might not be a bad idea given his physical stats, the worse of the bunch.)

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 151):


I second that. Some smooth brandy/bourbon...

With that said, we are going to have to bump up the ship's luxuries at some point.

  ...or you could rely on the services of a skilled Steward to make life bearable. Especially since he doesn't have anything else to do most of the time!

  Of course, there's the accompanying premise that only fools chance getting on the cook's bad side. Not that it would ever be an issue here, right? ;)

Since we do not plan on doing mining any time soon, we can free up ten tons be taking out the mining drones and even if each of us has their own stateroom, there are two extra to play with. (I think we should leaving the repair drones alone for the time being. Maybe they are that price as they also serve as boarding troops, something for someone with a good computer skill to check out)

Why does my mind have visions of Phules Company?

  I'm not familiar with that and the Wikipedia entry is pretty brief. Was there something there involving culinary anarchy?

It looks like it is decided who our Steward will be, unless you want the one who traditionally cooks only once a day ( with day meaning 36 hours) and does not touch any vegetables to cook.

As for our free staterooms, I am not totally opposed to taking on passengers. And of not Khea will not insist on a shrine considering she being an outcast. Putting an Autodoc into one of the free rooms would be an idea, even considering we already have a walking one.

  Okay, now I'm curious again: what's with the shrine and avoiding one?

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 153):

I can see it now..."Kaengarr, do you think you could fetch me a steak?" Loud growling and crashing. ;-)

  "Based on Terran canids that must mean he wants one that was flung onto the ground and covered in drool..."

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 158):

A shrine is a feature of all Aslan ships where the crew can honor their ancestors. But as Khea is sich a disgrace she doesn't necessarily want her ancesters to know.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:56, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 157):


I'm definitely going to be getting one for the medical bay, if there isn't one already.

Once we get to Outpost, Darrel is going to getting the best medical equipment that we can find, not just for the ship but personal things for the crew. Combat is deadly, but, with the right gear, chances of survival bump up considerably.

We might also want to add a post to keep track of what we have in the ships locker.

Most definitely. Without cluttering up the game too much, maybe adding a cargo manifest and a training program thread?

  Isn't the idea of the ship's locker that it's essentially abstract?

  A cargo manifest and prospective training schedule would certainly be good to have though.

  Err... what's the tech level of Outpost?

Out post is rated D so TL-13

Given what we are talking about adding to the ship. one of the staterooms might end becoming an armory.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 165):

I think Walter meant along the lines of "specialty" items.

Outpost based on the traveller map stuff. of course, the GM can change any of this.

http://travellermap.com/world?...%20Deep&hex=1926

  How much do we have left in the ship's fund at this point, and how much did we leave over as individual pocket change?

Outpost would be a good place to inquire about all the TL 14 devices we have found, if we want to make this public as it would make us a target for pirates. And we can refit weapons there.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 170):

A good point. As Outpost is a Imperial military system I should stock up on any Aslan items I want here. I wonder if I can get Aslan augmentations here.

As we want to be, among other things, troubleshooter we should discuss what kind of trouble we should be able to tackle and buy some equitment for those cases beforehand so that we do not need last minute purchases like with our last job. Thing like survival gear or B&E equipment, etc.

We likely should each make a personal shopping list (For Outpost, except for my Aslan stuff) and a group shopping list once we decided on how much money we have and what we need, probably in its own thread.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:31, Sat 30 Jan 2016.

Until Walter gets the final price on the cargo, hard to say what the "ship's fund" will end up being, but, it should be safe to assume everyone (at least the "old" group) personally has around 1 Mcr.

Jester's Company. ;-)

"Something wicked this way comes." Cool artwork and will work to scare away anyone that wanted a ride. (Maybe change the blue dingle-berries to gold so they look like coins?)

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 174):

Wish I could take claim for the artwork.
http://amtwiki.net/amtwiki/images/0/03/Smiley.jpg

I thought of it when you had mentioned Phule's Company...actually it took the old brain a day to remember if I had read that. ;-)

Of course, that's a large "mercenary" company, so it doesn't necessarily match something we would want to emulate, then again...

  If we're keeping the name "Long Shot" then I'm sure our logo could be some punning reference to that.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 176):

That's something I've been thinking about, if it's possible, it might be to our benefit to change that name, which I think might have some baggage attached to it.

  Well, when it comes to ship names in sci-fi, I'm partial to "The Merry Celestial". Because it's not an ill-omened reference of any kind... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste

That's like naming a ship the Floundering Titanic II....

I propose a proper Aslan name.

The venerable ship commanded by people who will skilfully solve your urgent problems

The clear and obvious choice of name for this ship is Frankenstein

Lol. I'm not even sure how to respond to that? ;-) I can imagine an Aslan fleet list.

I think changing names of the ship is a very good idea - not sure what baggage the previous name has, or interest it had attracted.

Might be a good idea to name it in a way that calls to mind our Company name - so maybe we should start with that?

I think a training thread would be good.

Can I also suggest that Captain is a job in itself (think Star Trek, Firefly), and if Sam's Piloting - you don't want your pilots attention divided if your actually heading into an asteroid field...

And as most crucial role for Captain is keeping the ship safe in a fight, the role should go accordingly to someone with Tactics: Naval I would suggest.

In reply to Samantha Kilgore (msg # 183):

I was thinking incorporating some of the Corsair aspects although not finding any specific "upgrades" packages. IE price/weight/etc. Sort of like a ship disguise kit(?)

The ship has several centrally controlled identification features which can alter the shape and configuration of the ship at a moment’s notice – fins retract and or extend, modules appear or disappear and radio emissions alter frequency and content. The ship’s transponders can be altered to identify the vessel as having any of a variety of missions and identities.

That would be very handy.

Although, we should have the Long Shot, tramp mining ship, as our normal configuration...more on this later in IC.

Obviously there will be times when we want people to know who we are, but, I imagine there will be many times when we don't.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:23, Mon 01 Feb 2016.

  How much capacity does all that take up?

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 185):

I've been looking for something like a ship disguise kit (upgrade), but can't find anything.

There might be something in one of the supplemental books, I'll keep looking.

Looking at the Corsair, it appears to be a function of the vessel as there is no weight/cost for the ability.

That's what I figured, I was just hoping there might be a ship add-on listed somewhere, but haven't found one.

But, I'm sure we're inventive enough to approximate the same thing.

  Registering it under a new name and having a fake transponder or two seems like a better option than trying to modify the ship like that. The hull is probably the only original part left, and if we start tampering with that, we could end up with a very high-tech pile of debris!

Unless something changes, it will amount to 8,905,000 credits for the 148 tons of cargo.

  Walter, you're buying this stuff without being too flashy about it, right? Otherwise we may end up needing those 'battlestations!' plans to get through the mob of pirates waiting for us on the way out of the system. ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:37, Mon 01 Feb 2016.

Put it this way, with a maneuver-6 vessel, there is not many things that we can not outrun. (although I am in favor of sticking more turrets on it when we can)

  Re: Sam's suggestion about the captain's job, take what I posted earlier for the non-combat setup and switch around...


                                               Vonon (Captain)

                                                     ][
          =========================================================================================
          ][                                         ][                                          ][
    << Ship Ops >>                             << Security >>                               << Custom >>

    Samantha       (Pilot)                     Valeska  (Inspections)                       Walter   (Broker/Quartermaster)
    Kheaiftouaw    (Engineering)               Pablo    (Marshal)                           Darrel   (Negotiations)
    Gregory Jones  (Comms/Sensors)                                                          Kaengarr (Steward)
    Sharik Kaagira (Astrogation)


  Again, allowing for the fact that people will be doing various secondary things and we'll have off-shifts where others take over, at least for always-needed jobs like the pilot and engineer.

  This'll still produce an odd dynamic between Kaengarr and Vonon, but since Kaengarr's likely to spend his during-travel time ensuring that everyone else has the things they need to do their jobs ('Steward' has its off-label uses!), the 'unofficial supervisor' approach that Vonon brought up earlier still works.

  Of course, this might mean that the captain is 'too male' for Khea...

As longs Vonon behaves like a proper male, meaning smiling and doing anything the females tell him to do and does not get the notion of deciding things on his own like my last captain all is well.

Considering the name, as you can see Khea has a very different idea how ships should be named (and has also a very different idea of aesthetics) it is unlikely that we will find a name that appeals to everyone. And as the distinct minority I leave name to you (if you can convince our two Vargr to accept a humaniti name).
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Mon 01 Feb 2016.

  Kaengarr isn't likely to be particular about the name. He's Gvegh, but he's familiar enough with outside cultures that they don't bother him too much.

As StarMaster is likely still catching up with our posting spree of the weekend ( ;) ) I was compiling a (sadly not so small) shopping list in my scratch pad I noticed that there are some things in there which would only really make sense if the whole group had it, or I couldn't use but someone else in the group could use.

So to coordinate a bit, take an inventory of what we already have and to maybe offload some of my costs onto you guys here is what I think we definitely need Feel free to add things or disagree with something.

- We need toolkits for mechanic and all engineering areas except power (I already have that) so that I/we can actually repair those things.

- An autodoc (already mentioned)
- Drugs, especially medical slow (I assume the autodoc counts as medical facility?)
- Communicators (in case not everyone has one, maybe set a minimum standard and also have some laser ones)

As for the rest, it depends on the strategy of how we handle equipment. Do we spend money on stuff upfront which we might not even need or do we wait with such acquisitions until after accepting a job with the danger of not getting everything we need or having to pay exorbitant prices?
I mainly mean stuff like outdoor equipment (breathing masks for everyone, tents, etc) and also specialized software/tools like intrusion equipment and bugs.
Maybe even a vehicle if you want to spare the cargo space. Also, if you insist to continue to not kill people don't forget to restock the tranquillizer darts.

  Standard tools for maintaining the ship and doing minor repairs are probably assumed as part of the ship's locker, so we'd only need to buy them if we want to use them off-ship or they're specialized/higher-quality/etc sets.

  As for other stuff...

  Survival gear is good to have ahead of time since we might need it on short notice. (You KNOW we're going to crash/get stranded/etc at some point...)

  Likewise anything that we might need in a shipboard emergency: rescue bubbles/vacc suits/etc.

  High-TL things should be purchased in advance simply because the number of places where you can get them is limited.

  Other things can probably be picked up on an as-needed basis, or by whomever feels that they'll get regular use out of them. At least a couple of us are Expert Program collectors, for example.

If no one minds, can I put together a chandlery quote for stocking our ship's locker? I

  I'd have thought that starship lighting had progressed to a higher tech level than that...

Nice word...

  Darrel, are you pulling some strings to get that TL 13 stuff? The local level was only 10 IIRC. Or do we get to ignore that now because of our high-flying contacts like Ceruleanne?

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 201):

I'll explain in IC once everything is checked out, basically after everyone has a change to interact with the ship and we get a breather. Sort of a group meeting.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Tue 02 Feb 2016.

I will wait for the explanation then. Hopefully we will be done with the ship soon (or done enough to take a break).

Don't take it as criticism, but I don't like it if the GM makes things all too easy for the players by giving them everything. That leaves nothing to work for.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 203):

2 old sayings.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

There's never a gift that doesn't have a price attached, even if it's not cash.

But, in any case, these weren't gifts.

I'm holding off, waiting for the others to "catch up" with the faster posters, before I get too far along.

Even posting "Nods in agreement" works so that the rest of us know that you are still with us. If you disagree, say something!

The only problem with waiting till yet another group meeting to find out about Darrel's tech fairies is that if we can buy high tech stuff on Beowulf, even if our characters don't know it, us as players knowing it would let us go ahead and work out what our characters are wanting get to buy. If the tech fairies are Darrel-specific, than we can try to find other sources, or whatever, without a couple weeks or months of real time going by.

  It's (apparently) a nice ship, but I'm pretty sure there are others out there with better tech/performance/etc still. That aside, the game probably won't be all about the ship itself.

2 things to keep in mind, when it comes to in-game and RL, we have to find that happy medium. Just like the rest of you, I've experienced as a player/GM, something that takes less than 10 minutes in-game taking 2 weeks+ in RL...it's just the way it is...

And, also sometimes being a slow poster myself, if the faster folks keep posting and posting and posting (IC affecting things), eventually, you develop a feeling of being left behind, know what I mean?

So, there's no rush, I know there are times when I have sat in front of the computer willing for things to speed up, but, fair is fair...

Concerning the ship, it is a nice ship, but, it is really only a tool...albeit also our refuge and home when not otherwise engaged.

If there is one thing I have learned in gaming and RL, there is ALWAYS something or someone bigger and badder than yourself. ;-) The trick is staying out of its way.

Note: I'm editing my previous IC post, hopefully that will answer some questions.

I am just waiting to find out what Khea found in the inspection of the life support.

I do hope that the frozen fish comes with with their own freezing units, otherwise the jump might get a little unpleasant about 3 days in.
By the way, should all the nonlethal weapons we bought for the the attack on the dome be listed in the locker or is it personal equipment by now.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:35, Tue 02 Feb 2016.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 209):

Non-lethal stuff should be considered "group property" and listed in ships locker, unless otherwise indicated. Count Cromwell does take one of the trnq carbines...I'll try to find the full list later.

The fish, hhhmmm, I'm sure our ever inventive engineers can jury-rig a large scale freezer.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:45, Tue 02 Feb 2016.

  Unless it was used up or specifically mentioned as being kept, it's probably back where it came from by now. That means group/locker in most cases, but some things were character-to-character loans, like Walter's laser rifle.

  I realize that I'm less familiar with the system, but my interpretation of cargo is that it includes whatever minor bits you need to move it about - containers, coolers, shipping crates, packaging, etc - and/or that a ship's cargo hold provides the same, similar to the locker holding generic tools. That goes for everything, not just perishables.

  An earlier post asked whether we're going to stick to non-lethal methods. In the event that we do take prisoners at some point we can probably use the airlock trick again, but if it becomes routine then we could consider converting one of those staterooms into a brig and/or installing low berths.

  I don't know how all of the other characters feel, but Kaengarr isn't opposed to using lethal force. It's just that from his perspective this last mission presented us with enough reasons/unknowns to warrant trying to capture rather than kill.

  Depending on the job. "Wanted: Dead or In Pieces" probably won't have a nonlethal resolution. :)

LOL, you got me there. Imagine though, someone with that level of hatred, what if we were to delivery that target alive to their tender mercies?

Yes, all cargo that has some sort of special storage condition always comes with its own system for doing that. Frozen fish, for example, are in a freezer pallet that is powered (usually good for a year).


One of the cargo bays is also special handling, so it can become a freezer if necessary.

?Let's enough of the cold vacuum of space do its job? Curious?

Considering that during jump travel we are sitting in a bubble out of burning hydrogen that might not have the intended result.

  Which would you rather have on your conscience: straightforward execution or probable torture? ;)

Assuming that the better sensors come from rolling on the Old Ship table I dread what negative events StarMaster rolled.

Still, I am a bit concerned with the ease we got the, to be honest quite amazing ship as it breaks the rules in several places, and also our equipment and money. Or rather I fear that we are running out of meaningful rewards and personally I would have no problem with it being a lot more difficult not only to earn our living but also to acquire high TL and exotic items (that includes Aslan the closer we get to imperial space).

  What does Khea consider meaningful? If it was solely a matter of cash, every one of our characters could retire on the spot rather than continuing with this arrangement, and while better gear is handy, it won't solve everything by itself.

  The fact that this is an RPOL game also makes a difference: compared to tabletop play the pace of play-by-post is glacial and games also have a tendency to die suddenly, so it's generally better to have rapid 'progress' (by whatever means it's measured).

As this is a sci-fi setting surely the second one should be TANSTAAFL???

Belatedly posting about equipment - I am not so familiar with all the gizmos available, and still need to work out Sams personal shopping list, so if you think the group needs it NOW get it. If it just might be useful - maybe suggest it in the locker thread?

But perhaps we should put some dosh in a Ships Locker fund - that will help focus attention ? I know more book keeping - but tbh book-keeping is part of the game imo

Its probably only because I am used to more "firefly" like traveller games where money is scarce and a successful mission might mean an upgrade or two, either from the money or direct reward.
Also I was expecting a lot more problems to acquire high TL or Aslan items.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 222):

Khea, you shouldn't be surprised to find Aslan items/tech just about anywhere in Reavers Deep Sector.  It is a treaty established "neutral zone" between the Imperium and the Hierate -- there are both Human and Aslan settled worlds scattered all across it.  Reavers Deep Sector, as well as Dark Nebula Sector, to rimward, were the locations for the years of the Border Wars.

Also, according to some very old, non-canon sources, since the end of the Border Wars Aslan Mercenary units have been hired and used all over the place, by those who could afford them.

What is supposed to be scarce -- except, maybe within Imperial territory -- are Vargr.  According to those afore-mentioned non-canon sources, there are no Vargr settled worlds in The Deep (IMTU I added one; the result of a massive mis-jump by a "colony" ship).

And, as mentioned in the Vargr aliens supplement, a portion of the general Imperial population is what's (derogatorily) called "domestic" Vargr; Vargr who have become more culturally Imperial than Vargr.  Like my Vonon -- he's 5th generation "Imperial Vargr".  Therefore Vargr wouldn't be "unknown" within Imperial territory, but they would be few and far between this far from the Imperial/Vargr border.  Kaengarr, actually being from the Vargr Extents, is a pretty rare puppy in these parts.

So, to get back to the point, don't really think that Aslan are all that "exotic" in The Deep. Aslan are fairly common here, except in out-of-the-way places and backwoods planets.

I didn't expect Aslan items to be a total rarity, but finding them at a moments notice in a imperial client state (not the best place for an Aslan anyway) was in my opinion a bit too easy.

  There's an emporium of sorts on the planet that specializes in Aslan and Vargr gear. Presumably there's enough through-traffic to keep it going, and I suppose that if it deals in other cultural odds and ends (legally or otherwise) it might draw some human customers as well.

Since the subject has been brought up, I suppose I should explain my approach to the game. While dealing with minutia can be entertaining now and then (such as having to work to acquire Aslan gear), for the most part I consider that nitpicking details and don't insist on it in my games.

I don't see that as germane to the adventure. I prefer a broader scope, more space opera-like.

Maybe that'll help.

  Now you're tempting a horror movie sequence, Vonon...

In reference to ease, there's alot that goes on behind the scenes, or at least not in public. For instance, the items in the ship's locker, Count Cromwell thought about the different items we would likely need and talked to somebody who talked to somebody and it was arranged....so, the GM isn't just giving things away....

Kaengarr Ruzokh found out about the emporium.

My point, our characters should always be looking for ways to improve our circumstances, if we plan on becoming the top notch trouble-solvers of the universe, we first need to be our own internal top notch problem solvers.



Once we sell the cargo on Outpost, we'll have a better grasp of where we are at financially. In general, the old saying it takes money to make money...initially, we're going to have to probably keep a significant amount of credits in the cargo fund, this is the only way we're going to be able to afford the vitally important gear, both ship/personal, that will dramatically shift the odds of our successful carrying off of missions and of course, our survival.

Keep in mind, we had a windfall for sure, that doesn’t guarantee every mission/job/task, is going to payout like this, in fact, its best we prepare for a dry spell, that way we aren’t scrambling for cash when we really need it.

And don't forget, running a ship is expensive, ask Han Solo...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...illion-year-run.html


Ok, you got me, ???
This message was last edited by the player at 17:16, Thu 04 Feb 2016.

TANSTAAFL = There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...hing_as_a_free_lunch

EDIT:  One very popular usage prominent in Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:42, Thu 04 Feb 2016.

  You can also look at it this way: one good ship is our first step. One good fleet will be our second. :)

Did we actually bottom this - sorry if I missed it. Tried searching and this is the last message I could find - unless it jumped threads?

Finally getting round to buying kit so need to know how much Sam has, and how much has been assumed to be put into Ships Funds. If that figures right (2,052,125 Crs) Sam needs about 150k of it to go shopping. The rest can be put in the ship funds.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 226):

No worries.
I just kinda had a different idea about traveller games and I confess I usually enjoy some nitpicking details as I think they bring life into settings.

And I am sure there are lots of challenges ahead.

Yes, that was the reward for retrieving the Long Shot.


The 'agreement' was that everyone would put 1 MCr into the ship's funds, if I recall.

I believe that was so. Pablo would kick in 500,000cr more for a total 0f 1.5 MCr unless that's goona screw up bookkeeping.

He only really needs to locate a suit of combat armor, and maybe convince somebody to go computer and software shopping with him, and all that can wait till Outpost. He's already well armed, and has enough gear to haul around, otherwise.

In reply to Samantha Kilgore (msg # 231):

16,417,000
- 8,905,000 for cargo (1 MCr. apiece was devoted to possible cargo purchases.)

So, you can easily spend 150 KCr.

  For those who have the new edition's core book, and since the final version has been out for a couple of weeks now, how do you feel about it and the changes?

To be honest I hadn't had the chance to go through it in depth. I do like that there is now more to power management of ships than just having the correct sized generator. But I do not know how it will turn out in game.

I also like that basic passage is now a thing. I always felt that it was weird that there was nothing between low berth and medium passage.

Oh, and it is interesting that the Aslan art is now going away from "anthro lion" again to "alien that might look a bit lionlike at a distance".
This message was last edited by the player at 22:40, Sat 06 Feb 2016.

I find it mixed, in some ways.

In skills, for example, they reduced the variety of gun combat specialties to three, which I like, given how much time it takes to get a traveller skill level, but for some reason left drive skill with half a dozen specialties, some rather obscure. Were it me, I'd have gone with three specializations for Drive, being archaic for animal drawn wagons, maybe just anything pre-tech 5, ground for cars, trucks and tanks, and lift effect for hovercraft and ground hugging grav vehicles.

The bane and boon rules are okay, but since they also left in most of the DRMs, I'm unsure what the point was supposed to be. It might work better in play than it looks in the book.

I agree with Khea on liking the energy point system for spaceships.

Is it possible to get snub SMGs patterned after Aslan machine pistols? Or at least adapted for Aslan use? Ideally they'd feed the same ammo mix as standard human designs.

I don't remember off the top of my head if Vargr need specific weapon adaptations, but if so, the same question applies.

  AFAIK the only differences with Vargr-made weaponry are aesthetic. Vargr are also smaller than humans, but probably not enough to make a meaningful difference.

  Kaengarr might find weapons with significant recoil to be challenging though since, despite everyone thinking of him as a 'tough', he's not particularly strong.

  Something I was wondering along those lines though: are there any energy pistols beyond the laser and stunner found in the core book? Compared to all of the other categories the selection seems rather small.

Still lasers, but at least somewhat different lasers...

Gauntlet, Laser (TL 10): Effectively a laser pistol mounted to the
back of a shielded gauntlet, the gauntlet laser is powered by a
backpack energy source (Cr. 1,100, 2 kg) fed to it by a cable that is
usually tethered around the arm. Although not much different than
a normal laser pistol, the gauntlet allows for the wearer to have an
open hand while still armed with a potent weapon.

Rng: Pistol Dmg: 3d6 Mag: 125 No AF Cost: 2,250cr Mass: 4kg Ammo cost: 1,100cr

Pistol, Laser, Advanced (TL 11): At higher Tech Levels it becomes
possible to focus a laser beam in a much shorter distance, allowing
a far more effective laser pistol to be created. The weapon is still
dependent on a bulky belt power pack, which costs Cr. 350 and
weighs 2 kg and is good for 100 shots.

Pistol 3d6+3 100 No 3,000 3 350


Pistol, Laser, Catridge (TL 13) Advanced laser weapon fed by one-use cartridges rather than external powerpack, the cartridge laser pistol uses a 14 rnd. magazine (loaded cost: 55cr, 0.5kg) inserted in the handgrip.

Pistol 4d6 14 No 2,500 2.5 55


Personal Defence Laser (TL 13): A lightweight laser weapon fed by
one-use cartridges rather than an external powerpack, the personal
defence laser (PDL) uses a 25-round extended magazine (loaded
cost Cr. 100, 1 kg) inserted in the handgrip. Ammunition is identical
to that used by the cartridge laser pistol. The PDL is capable of fully automatic fire or single shots and is carried as a sidearm by some
personnel. Being somewhat more bulky than a pistol, the PDL has
room for a heavy-duty cooling system and can use autofire.

Pistol 4d6+1 25 4 2,500 3 100

  The laser gauntlet sounds interesting, though I wonder if there's a higher-TL variant since it's 10 by default? I'd assume that it can be made to work along with or as part of various types of armor.

  Otherwise, the Personal Defense one sounds like the way to go if we're aiming for firepower. Will have to wait for Outpost though!

There isn't one defined in the CSC, but were it me I'd charge you 3000 cr for one that is configured like the gauntlet laser but otherwise had the cartidge laser's stats. That's just off the top of my head, and obviously its not my call, just a quick suggestion.

Honestly, being selfish here, the Mongoose game has only been out a short time, and when it did come out, it was a flurry of material...many books, in other words alot of money...and for those of us...ehhh, that bought into the system, I'll be damned before I want to "switch" to a new system.

  Are you seeing compatibility issues between the two? It's hard for me to gauge this since I'm only looking at the core books and don't even have comprehensive knowledge of those.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:03, Mon 08 Feb 2016.

The abilities and skills are the same although there were some removals (battle dress got merged with vacc suit), banes and boons can simply be added in game, equipment prices vary heavily and there will be some transitioning pains as the characters coming from the old system are much poorer.

Ships not in the core book also have to be adjusted manually so that the power works out, but I do not know how much of an issue that will be.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 245):

No. Just being pre-judgmental without any basis in fact.

Being that classic traveller had been neglected until really traveller Mongoose, then throw in a curveball.... I am surely biased, so, other than any logical and reasonable argument I have, no worries! NOTE: I still refuse to play any AD&D other than 1st edition, so, there you go... ;-)

  Khea: If characters coming from the old version are poorer, that should help to address your concern that we're too rich? :)   I did see some other skill consolidations, and Athletics definitely covers swimming in that version. (This was a big question at the start of the game, IIRC.)

  Darrel: From what I've seen it's essentially the same system at its foundation, at least as far as characters and things like worlds and trade are concerned, so it should all be cross-compatible unless there's something major I've overlooked. Since they did get changed more substantially, the ship and vehicle stuff might be more of an issue although my impression is that the 1E ship mechanics could be used with the 2E system.

  Well, at least we can get some comedy out of that 'easy to misinterpret in text' moment...

  So... in any game system, has anyone ever had secret/hidden/unexplained ship computer components where it turned out to be a good thing? Or are we all justified in our paranoia? ;)

The Computer is your friend ;)

  While there's plenty of in-character confusion, the plan as I understand it is to shut both computer systems down, check to see whether this also shuts down the 'hidden' parts of the main one, then see how well each of the computers handles things when running on its own. All of this is for the sake of knowing whether we can run with just the backup computer until we get to Outpost?

My question is: did they actually label all the pictures of weapons in the book? Or are we still left guessing what each one is?

  In the 2E core? Yes. They're presented like an old-style catalog page with each one's picture, name, short description, and price (which is also listed in the stats, not just there).

  Other items have variants of this going on.

  Wasn't Vonon checking out the drones? Haven't seen anything about what he found though.

  Vonon, are those four names a reference to something?

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 256):

May-y-y-y-y-y-be.... ^_^

  I can't see him pulling the name of a former Canadian Prime Minister out of a hat at random, so they must be something else...

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 258):

All 4 are names of "literary" wolves (well, one of them is from a TV show...)

  Now that I've looked them up on Wikipedia...

  Well, I wonder how Kaengarr will take that if/when he finds out.

Sharik, that was a brilliant idea about checking the components, even if someone was smart about 'doctoring' paperwork, the components themselves would be hard labeled.

And, as a sidenote...I was just in a funk for a little bit and decided to re-watch Firefly...man, that was like a great tonic for the science fiction blues!!!

Apologies for my lack of posting, but I've been sick this past week. It was bad enough Monday that I should have gone to the ER, according to my doctor, but by the time I saw my doctor, it had mostly passed. However, it did take its toll on me. My brain's been a brick and my body feels like it got run over by a herd of elephants.

I honestly didn't expect it to last the whole week, but then my car broke down on the highway on Friday on the way back from the doctor, dragging it out further.

My brain finally came back on-line yesterday, but body is still sore. I should start getting caught up on my posting later today.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 263):

Get better! Watch firefly...that helps the creative juices flowing. ;-)

In reply to Darrel Cromwell (msg # 262):

For me Firefly is the typical Traveller campaign.

Concur, however, the last 2 years have seen a few really good series come out...The Expanse, Dark Matter, and Killjoys come to mind.

Hope your better GM

  I haven't seen Firefly yet, but I keep hearing about it. Some day, when I have the free time...

I still miss something like Babylon 5.

Lets wait how the new Star Trek series will be. Hopefully it won't be JJ Trek.

Babylon 5 was awesome!!

New Trek series is being helmed by Bryan Fuller and will be set in the Original Universe.

No other details have been released yet. After the pilot, though, it will only be available on CBS All Access subscription service.

Most likely it will be set in Post-Voyager era.

  I don't know what happened at the end of Voyager since I quit watching sometime in the second season, but I understand that the final episode(s) made some changes to the 'core' setting along the way?

  Looks like the (original, not 2E) main rulebook just got an update. They've added and changed a bunch of the art, and the layout has shuffled a bit accordingly, but I don't know if there are any text/rules changes.

Ya'll are missing out if you haven't been watching The Expanse... check it out!

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 272):

There was some time travelling involved but from the future to the present, so the past has not been changed.

  I'm not sure how many of the characters would know that about the names, but I'll edit accordingly. The rest of Kaengarr's line of thought holds up regardless.

  Okay, I figure I'd better clarify two things:

  These alternate transponder registrations are all current or reasonably so?

  None of them were corroborated by the Long Shot's own history/records?

Not sure where the layout is for the Long Shot. Any chance for setting up an area for maps and such?

  The "Game Map" at the top of the page has it. Choose 'main game map' on the pulldown.

Thank you

Yes, the registrations are all current. The ships were all registered about 20 years ago.


There are... gaps in the Long Shot's records... just periods of inactivity, repairs, getting restocked, etc.

Vonon, not sure if that was the answer you wanted.

  Is Khea really going to be chasing a mouse around the ship? I'm sure that won't draw any askance looks, not at all...

I suspect that if she gets the urge to chase down a snack, she'd do it somewhere fairly private, like engineering, or the cargo hold. But that would be up to her. :)

I'm creating a mental picture of our average day in space....Like a bad episode of Lost in Space.;-)

On a related note to the Aslan-friendly materials. I figure Pablo is working from general knowledge gained by computer searches, and life experience serving both with and against Aslan mercenaries or ihatei. Basically, he's trying to cover all the crew bases in a general fashion, in the belief that everybody will be buying personal gear to their own taste as well.

Next step, space suits!

  Y'know, he COULD just ask Khea about it. Or someone who is used to dealing with varied sophonts as passengers. If modern-day searches are any example, both are far less likely to troll him. :)

  On the other hand, part of me is now morbidly curious as to what Pablo's searches will tell him to requisition for Kaengarr and Vonon...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:18, Thu 25 Feb 2016.

robot cats?

Robo-squirrels!

Why would Khea go somewhere private to eat? Meals are community affairs after all and using mousebots is not weird at all (among Aslan).
And some of you could use some exercise.

But using a Khyeseir for pre butchered meat is kinda a waste, so they will likely be reserved for times when Khea can butcher animals on the ship.
That reminds me, can we get some low berths for emergencies (and freezing live animals)?

By the way, why so many guns?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Thu 25 Feb 2016.

Fair points all.

On the guns, I can only say this is Pablo...if one gun is good, three are better. He is  thinking in marine terms, where its always best to have extra weapons and equipment, since grunts are notorious for breaking (or losing) things.

At least he included tranq rounds :)

  We should probably be packing training rounds as well as live ammo. Y'know, for those who need to learn how to point and click with the things.

  Instead of the Mousebot, we could incorporate Khea's hunting into Walter's physical training regimen. He has the food, she has to catch him. Should be able to earn some credits into the bargain by uploading videos afterward.


  Food-wise, in general it's probably safe to assume that Kaengarr is taking care of general acquisitions and supply, including species-specific stuff. That's one of his self-designated jobs now. And we have the galley for storing it - no "steak with a hint of spilled gunpowder" on this ship!
This message was last edited by the player at 01:27, Fri 26 Feb 2016.

Hum, lets just say no. I am sure that the rec room has a weight bench along with a treadmill.

I guess we might want to label where everyone is sleeping on the ship.

On the Med bay side
7 Captain
10A
10B
10C
10D
10E
10F

Galley Side
10G
10H
10I Sir Walter
10J Khealftouaw
10K

Suggest that the security guys take 10F/10K since it by the ships locker and Kaengarr you might want 10G so you are next to the galley.

  The room that you've assigned Khea is directly between a hatch on one side, the rec room on the other, and straight across from the medical bay and elevator. I'm sure she's going to have a wonderful time of those 18-hour naps with all the noise...

  And yes, Kaengarr will take room G. Not because it's next to the galley and he expects to be in there all the time (he's not just the cook, y'know!), but because if he's NOT in the galley it should be perfectly quiet in there. No accounting for the neighbors on the other side and across though.

  Mind you, the captain's quarters would be better, if only so he has room to keep all of his Steward-related miscellany.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Fri 26 Feb 2016.

Maybe we could turn the Captains stateroom into a ships office. That way if Walter needs to conduct business with somebody on board, he would have a place to do it.

Or if Darrell needed face time with one of his contacts, or any number of uses people might find for such a private space. Our resident security expert or spies might also find it useful at times.

  I like that idea: not just as an office but also as a proper briefing room and maybe someplace to keep any curios we want to put on display.

  It'd be more comfortable than standing around on the bridge and classier than using the mess when we need a formal gathering, at least.

Yeah ships office gets a thumbs up from me too.

Sam would like 10 A - so shes near the bridge

Darrel should be near the medbay, no particular preference where.

Ship's office is a good idea, but, having it next to the bridge, not so sure about that...An option, we convert one of the staterooms to a Briefing Room....which is the same size as stateroom, probably wouldn't cost too much

Briefing Room: A specialised briefing room is useful on mercenary cruisers and other adventuring ships, where teams can discuss plans or meet with clients privately. A briefing room gives a +1 DM to Tactics (military tactics) checks made when planning missions on board ship.

Fancy...

Reference to personal weapons purchase, although we aren't a large mercenary company, an armoury might be worth it.

Armoury: Ships carrying a large number of marines or soldiers can benefit from an armoury, a specialised weapons store. An armoury can only be accessed by those with the correct codes (usually the ship’s senior officers and security team) and contains a wide variety of weapons. In game terms, an armoury has enough snub pistols for the crew, enough accelerator or gauss rifles for any marines, and a selection of other military equipment like grenades, combat drug packs, combat armour and communications equipment. A general armoury for a spacecraft costs MCr 0.5 and takes up 2 tons of space.


Most definitely.

I'm thinking that when we get to Outpost, we'll check out our options and finances, ultimately those will be the deciding factors. One thing, although this ship is designed to plug and play (for easy of repair/upgrading/etc), there is still a time element for these things to happen.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:31, Tue 01 Mar 2016.

Quick tech ? if we are able to outfit the ship, does the GM have a program to change the internal layout?

Well, I drew the ship floorplans in Paint, still have it and the file, so, yes, I can change it.

  Is there anything else we absolutely need to resolve before leaving? There are various side trips and such going on but those are mostly background and unlikely to meaningfully impact the trip itself.

Once the food arrives, Darrel is good to go.

Concerning the test flight, if the ship works and we don't blow up, perhaps we just go ahead and jump to Outpost, unless that would screw anybody up somehow.

As there is probably not enough time for surgery getting the remaining toolkits would be enough. (5*1000 Cr.)

What surgery?

Yea, I second that question?

Nothing big, just Claw Coating (putting a polymer layer over the Aslan dewclaw to allow its use in hostile environment) and Edging (Embedding monofilament in the claw).

The latter one might be a bit uncommon for females, but its not that many people in humaniti space care (or even know this) and a little bit melee power will not hurt.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:13, Wed 02 Mar 2016.

  Who will be doing the surgery? Just the autodoc? Not sure what its skill equivalent would be.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 307):

Is this something you want done aboard ship or is there a specialist involved?

  By the looks of it, some of us can manage a whopping +2 DM for Medic checks. Probably not enough for this job.

I can do +3, and depending on the autodoc, maybe more?

I would prefer that claw modification is performed by someone who has claws. So I will wait till we get to a planet which has this service available for Aslan. That probably won't be Outpost, considering it is a Imperial military base to defend against Aslans, but maybe the next one.

Are we there yet?

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 312):

Khea, I wouldn't be too sure that Outpost may not have what you want.  It's a Class B Starport, and...

"...Though the world has little to offer the casual visitor, it is a major stopping-point for commercial vessels. Outpost has excellent port facilities, few restrictions on trade or conduct and is a crossroads where information, goods and equipment of many kinds are obtainable..."

Even though the place is an Imperial Client, that definition would make me think that there might be some Aslan presence, there.

In reply to Vonon Ronkunu (msg # 314):

We will see.

Considering this entry
"Some controversy surrounds the naval base on Outpost, however, as It is maintained in violation of the treaty which ended the Aslan Border Wars between the Imperium and various pirate clans. In that treaty, the territories of Reavers' Deep between the two interstellar cultures were made a neutral region, under no one's control. In establishing the base at Outpost, the Imperium made use of a loophole which allowed ground to be leased from client planets or states by the two empires for the purpose of protecting those clients."

I wouldn't be surprised if Aslan wouldn't be all that well received (potential spies on the military base) and thus no facilities which would perform purely combat focused enhancements on them would be available.

  Two of us qualify there... ;)



  Re: the military base - unless Khea is trying to skulk about the place with no plausible reason to visit I doubt they'd jump to the conclusion that she's a spy, especially considering that she's in the company of reputable Imperial sorts like Darrel. Likewise, I could see there being an issue if Khea was trying to obtain high powered weaponry in quantity, but sharper claws probably won't be seen as a military matter either.

Only by someone who has never been in close combat with an Aslan unit. Without those modifications, the dewclaws are pretty much a non-issue in TL9+ military combat. But since almost any Aslan going off to fight has those mods...well, I'd be at least concerned enough to investigate any information about Aslani getting warclaws installed nearby.

  If Khea was part of an Aslan unit, sure - she's with the rest of us though, and we don't look much like Aslan mercenaries!


  Besides, by the sound of it, Valeska is the one the intel types ought to be interested in... ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Thu 03 Mar 2016.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 318):

I dunno Khea.  Outpost might be an Imperial Client, but it is not part of the Imperium (yet).

What I take from the Treaty is that all of the sector between the Hierate and the Imperium is "neutral" territory -- so unless the residents of Outpost, themselves, try to keep the Aslan away, I'm guessing that there will be an Aslan presence of some sort in the system.  Anything from a simple courier ship in orbit "watching those sneaky Imperials", to a trading factor, to possibly a Consulate or an Embassy. The Treaty says the Aslan have as much right to be in that system as any Imperial, so I expect to find them there.

  Tangent: Valeska, Sharik, and Gregory have been rather quiet. Are they still with us?

I am still here.  Sorry for my extended silence; I would like to beg for everyone's forgiveness and apologize for my silence during the last week or so.  RL has thrown me for a loop as I have only just returned from a whirlwind, three day trip to visit the dying patriarch of my mother's family.  My maternal grandfather helped to raise me and it was a difficult trip on a number of levels, having only been recently (just over a week ago) been informed that his failing health (he'd been diagnosed with congestive heart failure due to a leaky value which was considered inoperable due to his advanced age) had reached a critical stage.

I, like most of my family, has been cloistered and a bit of a basket case for the past couple of days.  Needless to say, it has severely curtailed my RPoL time and my creative juices.

However, now that I am back home, I will endeavor to get back into the swing of things (though it may take a day or two).  I will forewarn everyone, however, that it is very likely in the near term that I will again have to travel (this time likely for a funeral).  When that happens, I will try to be better about giving everyone a heads-up and not simply disappearing like I did this time.

Sharik's player is fine with moving on, and trying to jump to Outpost (woo hoo, Astrogation rolls here we come...:D).  Assume she's been busy trying to trace stuff with Darrel, I guess.  Her primary engineering skill is with electronics (so, presumably, hardware) and less with software.  I'll see if I can't post something IC soon.

Sorry to hear that Sharik. Obviously RPOL is less of a priority in those situations, so we understand

My condolences, Sharik. At least you knew your grandfather. I never knew mine.

Yes, RL has its way of tearing us away from gaming, no matter how small our gaming niche is. Take care of the important things. The way this game has been going, it's likely to be 6 months real time before the ship actually lifts off!

We'll still be here when you can find your way back.

I have benefited many times throughout those difficult patches in life that we all suffer from by reading President Lincoln.

It is with deep grief that I learn of the death of your kind and brave Father; and, especially, that it is affecting your young heart beyond what is common in such cases. In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares. The older have learned to ever expect it. I am anxious to afford some alleviation of your present distress. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You can not now realize that you will ever feel better. Is not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have had experience enough to know what I say; and you need only to believe it, to feel better at once. The memory of your dear Father, instead of an agony, will yet be a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before.

Please present my kind regards to your afflicted mother.

Your sincere friend
A. Lincoln