> I'd love to hear your viewpoint on this issue. What were the critics
> missing?
Maybe nothing, maybe they're right about the exhaust speed.
As I said, HEPlaR performance was established by the requirement to see
meaningful movement on a hex grid that functioned with the established
laser ranges published in CT and MT. We did start out by looking at more
realistic movement, but if we kept established laser ranges, the game
would have been dumb, the equivalent of microbes moving around inside the
drop of water on a microscope slide with people firing at them from across
the room. So if we reduced laser range to make it proportional to movement
ability, then you've got combat taking place at very short ranges, which
not only violates what has been published by Traveller all along, but
makes the fire control solution trivial, and it is impossible to miss. So
again the game becomes ridiculous: a bunch of ships crawl toward each
other and never miss once. Again, a major change in the game dynamics. In
order to keep the feel of Traveller we had to have a game whose "ground
scale" preserved established laser ranges in order to allow you to evade
and miss, and thereby keep the feel of the game, and be able to move
meaningful distances in the game's time scale. It's as simple as that.
And here comes there part where I am not responding to you, Jake, I am
responding to the straw man of the criticism itself. So put on your
seatbelts, or look away.
If the solution violates someone's sensibilities, well, duh. Lasers don't
really work at that range, and any movement system which allows you to
move at that speed doesn't exist anyway. Did these critics have problems
with the previous editions of Traveller that had ships moving at those
rates? Why not? Because it was called bull$#!tium, unobtanium, handwavium
reactionless Magic Drive (BUHRMD)? What's the difference? It was
impossible before and it's still impossible, what do people want? We are
doing nothing different than what was done in the previous editions of
Traveller, we just hung a different name on it because Frank didn't want
reactionless drives, and adding reaction mass gave a really nice tactical
planning feel to the game. I think it was a nice touch tactically, and the
change in the name of the Magic Drive is ultimately a distinction without
a difference, because the speeds are the same, it's only the phony name
that has changed.
You pick your BS and you move on. It's science FICTION, and it's a GAME.
Either you want to play the game or you don't. Either you do the willing
suspension of disbelief or you make up a house rule to protect your tender
sensibilities that, "Well, I believe jump drive is possible, I believe
psionics is possible, I believe antigrav is possible, I believe that the
Ancients invented the Vargr, I believe that putting the full memories and
personalities of a person into a clone is possible, but BY GOD, I draw the
line at this maneuver drive." Whatever, man. At some point your hobby is
no longer playing the game, it's nit-picking the game. And at what point
did the label "Science FICTION roleplaying GAME" not warn you away?
There are lots of ways to "play" Traveller, and unfortunately one of them
is sitting around saying, "it's not realistic, I refuse to play it." Well,
then, don't play it. How many times do I have to say, "DUH!"
You make what mental accomodations with the game you need to enjoy it, or
God forbid, have to be the stupid sap that agreed to try to write it.
Those, roughly, would likely be my reactions, if I were to think about
them. :-)
Dave
> missing?
Maybe nothing, maybe they're right about the exhaust speed.
As I said, HEPlaR performance was established by the requirement to see
meaningful movement on a hex grid that functioned with the established
laser ranges published in CT and MT. We did start out by looking at more
realistic movement, but if we kept established laser ranges, the game
would have been dumb, the equivalent of microbes moving around inside the
drop of water on a microscope slide with people firing at them from across
the room. So if we reduced laser range to make it proportional to movement
ability, then you've got combat taking place at very short ranges, which
not only violates what has been published by Traveller all along, but
makes the fire control solution trivial, and it is impossible to miss. So
again the game becomes ridiculous: a bunch of ships crawl toward each
other and never miss once. Again, a major change in the game dynamics. In
order to keep the feel of Traveller we had to have a game whose "ground
scale" preserved established laser ranges in order to allow you to evade
and miss, and thereby keep the feel of the game, and be able to move
meaningful distances in the game's time scale. It's as simple as that.
And here comes there part where I am not responding to you, Jake, I am
responding to the straw man of the criticism itself. So put on your
seatbelts, or look away.
If the solution violates someone's sensibilities, well, duh. Lasers don't
really work at that range, and any movement system which allows you to
move at that speed doesn't exist anyway. Did these critics have problems
with the previous editions of Traveller that had ships moving at those
rates? Why not? Because it was called bull$#!tium, unobtanium, handwavium
reactionless Magic Drive (BUHRMD)? What's the difference? It was
impossible before and it's still impossible, what do people want? We are
doing nothing different than what was done in the previous editions of
Traveller, we just hung a different name on it because Frank didn't want
reactionless drives, and adding reaction mass gave a really nice tactical
planning feel to the game. I think it was a nice touch tactically, and the
change in the name of the Magic Drive is ultimately a distinction without
a difference, because the speeds are the same, it's only the phony name
that has changed.
You pick your BS and you move on. It's science FICTION, and it's a GAME.
Either you want to play the game or you don't. Either you do the willing
suspension of disbelief or you make up a house rule to protect your tender
sensibilities that, "Well, I believe jump drive is possible, I believe
psionics is possible, I believe antigrav is possible, I believe that the
Ancients invented the Vargr, I believe that putting the full memories and
personalities of a person into a clone is possible, but BY GOD, I draw the
line at this maneuver drive." Whatever, man. At some point your hobby is
no longer playing the game, it's nit-picking the game. And at what point
did the label "Science FICTION roleplaying GAME" not warn you away?
There are lots of ways to "play" Traveller, and unfortunately one of them
is sitting around saying, "it's not realistic, I refuse to play it." Well,
then, don't play it. How many times do I have to say, "DUH!"
You make what mental accomodations with the game you need to enjoy it, or
God forbid, have to be the stupid sap that agreed to try to write it.
Those, roughly, would likely be my reactions, if I were to think about
them. :-)
Dave