RE: Anti Grav......

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>I've always thought along the same lines, and originally the grav bits
in
>DSII and SGII were mainly for completeness and to keep it generic, as
some
>backgrounds that we anticipated people wanting to play in had very
>prominent antigrav (SW for one). [OK, grav crept into the "official"
>timeline, though I sometimes wished it hadn't... :)].

I'm OK with gravitics in games with a more Science Fantasy flavor, but
to my mind DS2 lends itself much more
to the 'Sweat stained Nemourlon Armor and rugged Combat rifle based on
the century-and-a-half old Kalashnikov action'
type of game. I also think that things like cold fusion,
room-temperature superconductivity, and magrep/ anti-grav would
utterly change the face of war as we imagine it. All depending on it's
price tag/ reliability of course.Traveller was the first SF game I
played, so gravitics are 'grandfathered' in, same with the Bellum
Stellari stuff...

>However, these reports (assuming they are correct - they weren't
published
>around the 1st of April by any chance, were they...?) certainly give
rise
>to some interesting thoughts. In game terms, I still tend towards
making
>grav tech expensive and even unreliable (as in needing lots of
high-tech
>support backup) simply as a mechanic for limiting its over-use on the
>tabletop. Grav is great for the units that REALLY need it
(rapid-response
>forces, first wave interface assaults etc) but is too costly to use in
>situations where a good old wheeled/tracked carrier will do instead.

Yep, makes sense to me. In the Campaign Universe I'm working on, most
planets within a given Interstellar Entity are given the basic MilSpec
on say, Howitzer Ammo and are given free reign from there. Just don't
let the Imperial Government Auditing Corps find out that those 155mm
Shells are actually 157mm.... By and large defenses are governed by the
ability of a planet to muster what it can. On one world, Horse-Mounted
Infantry is the standard High-Mobility force, on another troops tool
around in MHD powered GEV Armored Cars. On another Leg Infantry and
Towed Weapons are the norm. As long as the Interstellar Government can
find suitable ammo and replacements for their Federal 'Supermilitary'
they could care less. The job of the Planetary Forces is to buy time
while the 'Real' troops (the Imperials) get their act together, along
with protecting government interests and policing. If these folks are
actually modern fighting units, more the better.....

Later,

Gene
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