Craige--
> It seemed to me when I was playing a lot of BT during my early to mid
> twenties, that BT tech level was universally lower than high stellar
> tech in Trav. I don't have the BT books any longer (having sold them
> on in a hugh ebay sale many years ago) but from memory BT seemed to
> range from about TL 9-11 in comparative Traveller terms.
That was sort of my sense of it as well. Would you say that applies to the
old governing tech that they can't maintain anymore, or only to the tech
they can keep up now? I think the difference between those two is mostly
just a handwave, but I'm not as familiar with it as you probably are.
> WHen I tried to build a BT robot in traveller a long tie ago using MT
> rules it ended up being about 30-40 meters tall and with greatly
> improved sensors and weaponry cf the original BT mechs. I probably
> still have it here somewhere...
Traveller has always been very serious about sensors and weapons ranges.
Makes it inherently less cinematic than other games (BT) or universes
(Star Trek, Star Wars), but arguably more "realistic."
> I remember one Mechwarrior game in BT in which two Clan mech pilots
> were on patrol in two Mat Cats. One Mad Cat had PPCs and SRM 6s. The
> other one had Large Lasers and LRM15s and was low on ammo. THey had
> just finished a battle with an inner sphere lance light lance which
> was a no contest. However one of the Mat Cats had some armor damage.
> So the pilot was trying to fix it "in the field'. The Mad Cat on watch
> detected two squads of elementals in battle suits incoming. He had
> about four rounds to finish his repairs and on the last round possible
> he finished attaching the new armor and jumped into his cockpit and
> fired two SRM6s turning the 6 angry elementals into just so much
> smoking molten battle casualties. THat made us smile.
Which is an excellent reminder that, all of the endless discussions about
comparative tech aside, what is really important about any of these games
is the game experience. A sufficiently clean system that allows you to
figure out those actions quickly, roleplay and roll-play them, and get an
exciting result.
Dave
> It seemed to me when I was playing a lot of BT during my early to mid
> twenties, that BT tech level was universally lower than high stellar
> tech in Trav. I don't have the BT books any longer (having sold them
> on in a hugh ebay sale many years ago) but from memory BT seemed to
> range from about TL 9-11 in comparative Traveller terms.
That was sort of my sense of it as well. Would you say that applies to the
old governing tech that they can't maintain anymore, or only to the tech
they can keep up now? I think the difference between those two is mostly
just a handwave, but I'm not as familiar with it as you probably are.
> WHen I tried to build a BT robot in traveller a long tie ago using MT
> rules it ended up being about 30-40 meters tall and with greatly
> improved sensors and weaponry cf the original BT mechs. I probably
> still have it here somewhere...
Traveller has always been very serious about sensors and weapons ranges.
Makes it inherently less cinematic than other games (BT) or universes
(Star Trek, Star Wars), but arguably more "realistic."
> I remember one Mechwarrior game in BT in which two Clan mech pilots
> were on patrol in two Mat Cats. One Mad Cat had PPCs and SRM 6s. The
> other one had Large Lasers and LRM15s and was low on ammo. THey had
> just finished a battle with an inner sphere lance light lance which
> was a no contest. However one of the Mat Cats had some armor damage.
> So the pilot was trying to fix it "in the field'. The Mad Cat on watch
> detected two squads of elementals in battle suits incoming. He had
> about four rounds to finish his repairs and on the last round possible
> he finished attaching the new armor and jumped into his cockpit and
> fired two SRM6s turning the 6 angry elementals into just so much
> smoking molten battle casualties. THat made us smile.
Which is an excellent reminder that, all of the endless discussions about
comparative tech aside, what is really important about any of these games
is the game experience. A sufficiently clean system that allows you to
figure out those actions quickly, roleplay and roll-play them, and get an
exciting result.
Dave