That lower-capability version might be the civilian version. The military grade would have the better capabilities. This would be either through legality (civilian settings are restricted) or through access/expense of repair materials.
I.e. in normal situations, the civilian grade model is good enough. In really bad situations, the military version is needed. For most PCs, those really bad situations hardly ever happen (time-on-target multi-dozen Tsar-Bomba pumped X-Ray or Gamma ray lasers for example)
I'd see 3 models:
1) civilian grade - 30 kkm range aimed ND, used to deal with 1-2 missiles at 1 hex away
2) Guard version - 15 kkm range spherical ND, used to protect a specific location against nukes - effectively treat it as a targeting penalty for nuclear warheads only
3) Military version - 30 kkm range spherical ND
#3 will be much more expensive/maintenance hungry than #1.
Todd Kes
--- On Tue, 6/26/12, wrote:
> Now that two of you say it, that
> sounds right. I recall thinking that its
> hands were tied by about an order of magnitude compared to
> what it should
> have been, but we never issued a fix. It should have behaved
> like an area
> screen, but instead was written up so you had to shoot it at
> things one at
> a time, which was not at all the way it had been in High
> Guard.
>
> > As the official rules stand, the ND is the worst piece
> of starship
> > hardware available. It is outperformed by the laser in
> every way.
> > The fix Antony mentions are discussed here
> > http://www.travellerfreeport.com/houserules/51-improving-tne-nuclear-dampers.html
> > --
> > Roger Malmstein
> > www.travellerfreeport.com