12-08-2016, 06:18 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
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Some things can be carried more conveniently. Correspondence games are more feasible. There is no need for notation any more. As far as the things the PC is interested in, one of his problems will be information flooding. In the game ap Star Trader by comparison intelligence is the most precious commodity-one should never neglect a chance to pick it up. But it comes in manageable chunks and it is usually fairly easy to separate the useful from the indifferent. In Traveller there is plenty of information to be had but no way to separate it. Much like the twenty-first century in fact except much of the information is old. Intelligence Analysis skill will be at a premium. It will affect the style somewhat. The Traveller equiv of Internet Cafes will be all over the place and there will presumably be several arranged to cater to different markets. These will specialize in providing a pleasant venue from which to sit down and surf. One can have a, "You all met at an inn" experience there. Indeed the solid space meeting with a patron will not be replaced, it will just be adjusted. But "Inns you all meet at" won't be eliminated, because many people have reasons of their own to be their even when they could be surfing from their stateroom. Easy access to food and drink, company of strangers, annonymity(the two are actually reinforcing; it can be quite pleasant to spend time among people you never met who won't ask anything more of you then to be orderly). Of course these can be had online, even the condiments can be had takeout. But many will prefer a central location. Other possibilities include the chance of being recruited by a patron one hasn't met. This would work for an espionage themed game. Random encounters are not expended. They are simply tweaked.
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12-08-2016, 06:48 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
The biggest information issue in Traveller isn't really one of electronics or even signal delay time, it's an assumption you can lack much more basic stuff that that.
Stuff that you should be able to look up in a hardcopy encyclopedia and decade old copy of the equivalent of the Statesman's Yearbook you bought on the subsector capital a few years ago is treated as if it was information you can't know. Arriving to find the UPP is years out of date, or that your cargo is complete junk because the local industries have started making in export volumes, or leveled up a TL, since the last commercial intelligence you have, or that something ordinary people do all the time is a capital offence against the local majority religion is nonsensical really. The people living on the world one jump away, you know the one you were just on, certainly knew that already, and somebody would been willing to sell you a guidebook. Fundamentally I think it *is* a source story issue, but it's one still common to science fiction rather than a period artifact. Information is available as if the places you want to know about are 18th century frontiers or barely contacting tribes, because that's the model for a lot of sf, not even like they were even civilized commercial ports in the 18th century, let alone anything more modern or better documented.
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-- MA Lloyd Last edited by malloyd; 12-08-2016 at 07:16 PM. |
12-08-2016, 08:00 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
You also have to allow for whether a given world has indeed rigged an information infrastructure. If you are going to trade for googly tusks with the nomads of planet x you might find that they have a working internet(miniaturization has reached the point where nomadism is not incompatible with taking advantage of that), but you might not depending on how much trouble was gone to by the planetary bigwigs. If all there is is a Scout Base and some natives, it may be that you still have to scramble for information.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
12-09-2016, 10:32 AM | #14 | |||||
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: near Seattle WA USA
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
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12-09-2016, 12:25 PM | #15 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
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I'm belaboring the point because I think understanding information as an implicit rewards system is important to comprehending how Traveller played. I'm willing to be wrong, however. What skills were you thinking of? * Legal skill is an edge case: it does serve some useful functions, but is not primarily described in those terms. |
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12-10-2016, 04:30 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
Disregarding transhumanism, are there any other things that show Traveller is sort of older-fashioned scifi from a modern perspective?
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12-10-2016, 05:30 PM | #17 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
Perhaps the amount of emphasis placed on trading in physical commodities rather than intellectual property or intangible financial instruments?
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Fred Brackin |
12-10-2016, 07:41 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
Well wouldn't some worlds possibly not have the ability to create certain physical commodities? It's not like every world would have a factory that could build everything for example. Sometimes people have to order stuff from outside.
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12-10-2016, 08:00 PM | #19 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
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Only if they're dirt poor, few in number, and/or culturally restricted from industrial methods would they content themselves with constant trade. We're probably within a tech level or at most two before it at least becomes possible to make nearly anything on site, nationally, with sufficient power and elements. Traveller tech may require resources unavailable on otherwise habitable planets, but that's not quite what I think we're discussing. I could be wrong, of course.
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12-10-2016, 08:04 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Traveller and modern electronics
Luxury has always been one of the most important cargos on long range trade. It often doesn't become luxury unless it's from a long way away. Who says pepper is better then whateverwort, or tea is better then apple juice or china silk is better then leather?
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