Pak Protecters in GURPS

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

I'm reasonably certain that the Kzinti must have had some other form of STL propulsion besides the gravity polarizer.

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

What the Kzinti use is also referred to as an induced gravity drive and a gravity planer.

I think the Kzinti tech is best rationalized as an advanced version of the Pak tech. Which explains why humans were still stuck with torch ships until they bought the FTL drive off the Outsiders - it was even more incomprehensible, particularly when mostly melted by fusion drive.

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

But I think that the Kzinti don't necessarily need to not have reaction drives at all in order to learn the Kzinti Lesson. I think simple ignorance and hidebound-ness is probably sufficient - they had never used reaction drives that way, and so never thought of their potential. And their survey of human space wouldn't have tipped them off, because humans didn't use reaction drives that way either, at that point, and didn't think of them as weapons.

Did they scout human space? I had the impression they stumbled on the colony ship, and basically screamed and leaped - as is typical for Kzin. Certainly when they made Telepath pick the brains of the humans, they couldn't get anything that wasn't in their minds already. However, the idea that their exhaust was a navigational hazard with lethal consequences WOULD be in the minds of the crew, much as a car driver understands that hitting people with their car is lethal, even if they don't think of the car as a weapon. Telepath was in such miserable shape I don't think he could have made the mental leap of "... therefore they could point it at us" but I feel he was negligent for not mentioning "their backwash is totally murderous, don't fly there".