Quote from: blakkieI've got a bad feeling they've written themselves into a corner...hope next season's script doesn't include a shark and waterskis.  The fake nuke is

Spoiler

when Apollo does that wacky "tech magic" with that coil thingy in the cargo hold of Colonial 1 and Cmdr Adama thinks Lee's been killed....also I got the impression that BSG is suppose to be a very long way from Colonial 1 at that point so even having BSG being able to "see" this all happen felt very wrong.

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Yeah, see my above post I edited after guessing what you meant. hey, like I said, raiders had an animal level of intelligence, the EMP may have fooled them, or maybe it even predetonated their nukes and killed them instead.

Oh, yeah, I forgot mecha.

I hate mecha.

I can't think of a single reason why anyone would build one, since it's screamingly obvious to me that they have zero military utility when compared to other types of combat unit.

I've never played BattleTech, but I'd be willing to bet that, say, $10 billion worth of mecha would be utterly defeated by $10 billion worth of tanks and missile launchers at the same tech level.

Quote from: balzacqOh, yeah, I forgot mecha.

I hate mecha.

I can't think of a single reason why anyone would build one, since it's screamingly obvious to me that they have zero military utility when compared to other types of combat unit.

Dude, they look cool.  In some stories, that's all it takes.

Quote from: jgantsI see the use for it - I just think it sucks.  I don't like suffering through boring courier missions for months on end until I finally get to the cool stuff.

By which I do not necesarily mean space opera combat fests.  I would be equally happy with intergalactic tales of intrigue or scientific exploration.

Dude, that's not a problem with the premise, that's a problem with the GM being shit.

Smack him about the face and head a few dozen times with a copy of the Han Solo Trilogy book until he gets it.

Quote from: J ArcaneSmack him about the face and head a few dozen times with a copy of the Han Solo Trilogy book until he gets it.

I've only read one of those, am reading a second, and they RAWK.  Like, "Fonzie Leaves Town" kinda rawk.

Mecha are cool for mecha games, I would never use them in a traveller game. Mecha are pretty much a Sci-Fi genera of their own.

Quote from: RockViperMecha are cool for mecha games, I would never use them in a traveller game. Mecha are pretty much a Sci-Fi genera of their own.

There you go.  I was just about to agree that I hate mecha, then I realised that I don't mind mecha when they're confined to their own corner of the playground and don't mix with the other children.

!i!

I put these guys in a V&V game once:

Well, I think that small mecha, like battlesuits or even heavy gears, might work.

30-40' hight stuff, forget it.

Another thing I could do without is "fate" or "chosen ones" who are "chosen" by some invisible force to decide the fate of the galaxy.

Andromeda was ruined by that shit.

Quote from: John MorrowHow far (nit-picky) do you go with this, and does it extend to the life on those planets?  Does this objection also include moons that couldn't exist (e.g., more than one large one, inside the Roche limit, etc.).

I guess you can say I'm pretty nitpicky. The more I pick up about planetary physics, the less tolerant I am of liberties taken. I'm funny in that my main attraction to SF is exploring a system that might really be out there.

I'm not going to whip out my calculator and check to see if a moon is too close, but obvious things draw my attention will irritate me:

• Small worlds with breathable (or any) atmospheres. There is a pretty sharp lower limit on the mass of a world that will retain an Earth-type mix of gases for any time. Unfortunately, the default Traveller world generation system flubs this one badly. To satisfy myself without reworking lots of world stats, I re-defined Traveller's UPP size digit to be a measure of eighths of Earth mass instead of Earth diameters. This actually works pretty slick and gets in the ballpark for what sorts of atmospheres would really be possible.
• Large (or any) planets around a large star. Did you know that observations show that large stars spin faster than smaller ones? This implies to us that there was not a significant accretion disk for these stars to form sizable star systems from. So systems with dozens of habitable worlds around Rigel a la the Demon Princes books, aren't really practical. At best, there may be some captures bodies.
• Even if there are some worlds in such a system, oxygen bearing worlds are unlikely without extraordinary circumstances. As you may know, large stars burn brighter... and quicker. What you may not realize is that it's much quicker, so much so that the star would burn through it's life cycle before the world could evolve into an oxygen-bearing one.
• Habitable planets in a system with a white dwarf. Unless the white dwarf is an extremely remote companion, the outgassing of the star as it becomes a white dwarf would strip worlds of their atmospheres.

QuoteWhat, in particular bothers you about this?  Technically, Firefly/Serenity take place in one system, as does Starhunter & Starhunter 2300, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Total Recall, etc.  Does it bother you there or just in your RPGs?

I just see more possibilities where I can picture multiple habitable worlds. The Serenity thing bugs me for multiple reasons. I see a pretty finite limit on what terraforming can do, and don't see sneaking around the same solar system undetected and out of radio contact as the Serenity often appears to do.

I find it makes the show more watchable to me if I picture it really taking place in some close cluster of stars or something.

QuoteI just see more possibilities where I can picture multiple habitable worlds. The Serenity thing bugs me for multiple reasons. I see a pretty finite limit on what terraforming can do, and don't see sneaking around the same solar system undetected and out of radio contact as the Serenity often appears to do.

I find it makes the show more watchable to me if I picture it really taking place in some close cluster of stars or something.

You know, I honestly think the series makes a lot more sense if you look at it as multiple systems in relatively close proximity, just because there isn't much sense to the worlds' closeness to each other, excepting that somehow, almost all of them but one have pretty healthy amounts of sunlight.

You ever notice that?  I realize it's partly to keep in the whole "space western" theme, but it seems like every world they go to, save that one frozen rock, has a lot of sun exposure.  

There's no way that'd really happen in a single system scenario, unless they're all somehow in Earth orbit, which means a planet in Earth's rough position relative to the sun, with a hell of a lot of moons.  Which isn't really possible, at least as I understand the nature of how star systems form.

I don't know if 'energy beings' are possible or not, but I could do with fewer 'energy beings" in my SF.

Likewise, corporeal creatures that 'feed on energy" are on the implausible thing. Yes, yes we know that plants can in a way feed on sunlight, yes yes, but that's a long way from feeding on other forms of energy, or absorbing electricity, radiation, etc.

I dislike uncontentious claims of moral superiority without good arguments supporting them (the "space elf" syndrome). I also dislike the "Planet of Hats", where every member of an intelligent species has certain personality traits. I hate legitimate prophecies in a world without magic, which another poster brought up first, though that's not confined to sci-fi. And I dislike licensed properties.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!I can roll with a lot of stuff in SF, but I'm not into psionics in my Trav games.  Just not my thing.

I really don't like cross-license pollination.  Keep your goddamned Klingons outta my Star Wars game or I swear I will punch you in the ass.

Er, you can have Kling- uh, Klengons in my Encounter Critical game, though, becuse DUH.

DR R.,
 As someone that used to be VERY involved with TREK fandom I agree with what you're saying. I hate "universe -mixing" (or license-pollution, as you put it)
One of the reasons I enjoy the TRAVELLER universe is because there is no connection to a movie or TV series. Also  no damn subspace radio or B5-style "hyperelink". I like intersteller communication being as slow as the fastest starship.

- E.W.C.