Date: Mon, 2 Jan 95 00:56:00 UTC From: gdw.support@genie.geis.com To: traveller@MPGN.COM Fire, Fusion, & Steel Errata 7 December 1994 This document compiles all changes, corrections, and clarifications to the 2nd printing of Fire, Fusion, & Steel (a.k.a. "Mk I, Mod 1"). Note that this includes the high-energy weapon upgrade presented as "Putting the Heat Back into Plasma" in Challenge #76. This also includes those portions of the Striker II design sequence upgrades that function as clarifications, but does not include the design sequence expansions from the Reformation Coalition Equipment Guide and Striker II. Owners of 1st printing FF&S (distinguished by the absence of "Mk I, Mod 1" on the credits page, and missing text on page 75) will first want to consult the "Fire, Fusion, & Steel First Printing to Second Printing Upgrade," available in Challenge #75. Modifications are laid out by page number in 2nd printing FF&S (Mk I, Mod 1), with a characterization of the type of change (Correction, Clarification, etc.). Changed material is set off _like this_ to make it easy to spot, and references to existing or previous material is often included within quotation marks "like this" to make it easier to spot the material that needs to be modified or replaced. Page 12 (Correction): On the Hull Form and Configuration table, the LM for Open Frame should be 4, not "3.5." (Correction): On the notes beneath that same table, the second paragraph of MVM should read: "Perform the same calculation, _then divide by hull material toughness_ to get the volume of that hull's internal structure stressed to 1G." Page 15 (Expansion): Change section "4. Place Surface Fixtures" as follows: "Surface fixtures include all antennae, radiators, external grapples, and hatches. Surface area devoted to slower-than-light maneuver drive (aft), jump drive (aft), _fuel scoops (anywhere),_ and lifters (ventral surfaces) should also be allocated. These systems do not have surface hit locations listed on the ship's damage table (these have their damage handled by internal damage in the same hit locations), but are allocated in this step to ensure that other systems are not improperly placed where these engineering systems should be. Divide the total hull surface area by 20 to determine the surface area of each hit location and allocate surface fixtures accordingly. _When allocating antenna surface area, use the full unfolded surface area for folding EMS antennae. If the available surface area is too small for this, allocate surface area for all non- antenna surface area consuming systems, and then allocate all remaining surface area to "Antenna." However, this remaining area must be at least equal to 10% of the unfolded surface area of the folding antenna, plus the surface area required by the other antennae installed aboard the craft. If this requirement cannot be met, the systems cannot be accommodated aboard the vessel."_ (Clarification): Change the sentence in section "5. Evaluate System Damage" as follows: "Systems can take 1 minor hit per 5 metric tonnes of mass _(round to the nearest whole number of minor hits,_ to a maximum of 4)@" Page 17 (Correction): On the armor volume increase per thickened face table at the bottom of the right column, the entry for Sides (both) should be _30%_, not "15%." Pages 17 and 23 (Clarification): In some cases, designating a turret as a small turret (and therefore requiring its components to take up 10 times their volume) results in the turret being larger than the maximum 10% of vehicle volume allowed for a small turret. However, when recalculating the turret's volume as a main turret (requiring its components to take up between 2 and 6 times their volume, depending on tech level), the turret then falls back below the 10% threshold and becomes classified as a small turret again. In such cases, treat the turret as a main turret (using the main turret volume multiplier), but this turret must be the only turret on that vehicle, and the vehicle is then classified as having a small turret for purposes of target type in the vehicle damage sequence. Page 18 (Clarification): In the second paragraph, modify the last two sentences as follows: "A moderate slope _multiplies_ the effective armor value of a face by _1.5._ A radical slope _multiplies_ the effective armor value of a face by 2." (Correction): In the notes beneath the Suspension table, the note headed "Kl" should instead be headed _Vol._ Pages 18 and 24 (Clarification): Large direct energy input lasers with trainable focal arrays may be designed for turret mounting in ground vehicles. When fitting these weapons to the vehicles, the laser's homopolar generator need not be placed in the turret, nor have its mass accounted for in the weapon stabilization calculations. Page 19 (Correction): In the last sentence of the first paragraph, the reference should be to Step _9,_ Crew, not "Step 8." Page 20 (Correction): The Cargo section should be labelled Step _10_, not "Step 11." Page 23 See "Pages 17 and 23," above. Page 24 See "Pages 18 and 24," above. Page 26 (Enhancement): Before calculating the G rating of a lift vehicle, first determine its density by dividing its loaded mass by its volume in displacement tons. If the result is less than 15.5, use the procedure as printed (i.e., divide thrust in tonnes by 10xhull displacement). If the result is 15.5 or greater, determine G rating by dividing the vehicle's thrust in tonnes by its loaded mass in tonnes. (Correction): The "Combat Move" section in the right hand column should be modified to read as follows: "Combat Move: The safe NOE combat movement of a grav vehicle (in 10-meter grid squares per combat turn) is equal to the vehicle's _safe_ NOE speed (in kilometers per hour) multiplied by 0.139@" Page 32 (Clarification): Under the Rotor Assemblies table, the "Wt" note should have the following addition: "Wt: Weight, in tonnes, per tonne of power plant _devoted to lift._" Page 33 (Addition): Under "Step 6: Crew and Passengers," helicopters which are equipped with ejection seats may only be equipped with advanced ejection seats. (Addition): Under "Step 6: Crew and Passengers," each crewmember or passenger carried has a mass of 0.1 tonnes. (Addition): Under "Step 7: Life Support," add the following clarification: _Although aircraft systems are calculated by mass, not volume, certain life support systems have their characteristics based on volume rather than weight alone. When calculating these systems, the volume basis is the total volume of all crew positions and passenger seats. Volume for these components is listed on the tables on pages 47 and 62._ Page 34 (Addition): Under the "Weight" subsection of "Rating Your Design", the total weight of all components should also include crew and passengers (0.1 tonne each) in addition to the other components listed. Page 35 (Correction): At the end of the second paragraph of the right column, delete the sentence, "Aircraft flying NOE have their agilities doubled." (Correction): In the size table at the bottom of the page, the range of displacement tonnage for a Small target should read _100_-999, not "199-999." Page 49 (Correction): On the Maser Communicators table, the volume of a tech level 15 30km maser should be _.001_, not ".002." Page 50 (Addition): Add the following note beneath the Radar tables: _Antenna Price (in MCr): Antenna area * 0.05_ Page 53 (Addition): Add the following note beneath the Area Jammers table: Antenna Size: Antenna size in square meters is equal to required power in megawatts divided by 50. Page 56 (Change): The mass of ERA should be _0.2_ tonnes per cubic meter, not "4." The price of ERA should be volume times _0.0007_, not "0.007." Page 57 (Addition): Modify the Nuclear Damper Design table to include Minimum MW and Minimum Volume columns as follows: TL MW Min MW Vol Min Vol MCr 12 0.0005 1.5 5 7.5 0.13 13 0.0003 0.9 8 7.2 0.3 14 0.0002 0.6 10 6 0.67 15 0.0001 0.3 11 3.3 1.5 16 0.00008 0.24 13 3.12 2 18 0.00006 0.18 16 2.88 4 20 0.00003 0.09 18 1.62 6 Add the following notes beneath the table: Min MW: Minimum power requirement for a damper at this tech level, in MW Min Vol: Minimum allowable volume of a damper at this tech level, in cubic meters Page 62 (Addition): At the end of the first (incomplete) paragraph, replace the last sentence, "Docking rings allow no maintenance or repair." with the following passage: _A docking ring may only accommodate craft of one specific displacement (in tons) and one specific hull form and configuration (e.g., a 10-ton streamlined cylinder or a 30-ton unstreamlined wedge), designated during the design sequence. Airframe configurations may not be accommodated in docking rings. Docking rings allow not maintenance or repair tasks, but do not prevent maintenance hours from being spent._ Page 63 (Addition): The first two sentences of the Chemical Power Plants section were accidentally deleted. Add them before the first existing sentence: _"The first steam power plants burned wood to heat water in an enclosed boiler. As the water boiled, the steam was contained under pressure and used to turn reciprocating pistons that turn a drive shaft."_ Page 67 (Change): Under the Explosive Power Generation table, the "Mass" note should be changed to read, "The mass of the cartridge, in tonnes, is equal to its volume in cubic meters multiplied by _4_," not "8." Page 70 (Change): On the Self-Contained Thrusters table, the FC value for EAPlaC should be changed to _0.3_ from "0.225." Page 88 (Clarification): The last sentence above the Sights and Rangefinders table should be modified to read: "When a weapon equipped with a point-defense computer fires at _a_ ballistic projectile, the projectile's _target movement difficulty modifier (from the table of the same name on TNE page 294)_ is halved@" (Correction): Under "Indirect Fire Control," delete the sentence: "Indirect fire sights on mortars have half the weight and cost of those for CPR guns." In fact, simple indirect fire sights are already automatically included on mortars (see page 109). Page 94 (Clarification): In the right hand column, all references to "penetration" should, of course, be to "penetration _rating."_ Page 97 (Clarification): The last sentence of the "Cassette" section should be modified as follows: "The price of an empty cassette is equal to the price of a single round of _ball_ ammunition for the weapon multiplied by 500." Page 103 (Clarification): In the right-hand column, the second sentence of section "3. Receiver Price" should be modified as follows: "If capable of selective _or multi-selective_ fire (one _or more_ automatic rate), multiply price by 1.2." Page 110 (Correction): The formula for computing the direct fire range of a mass driver is wrong. Replace the second paragraph of the "1. Direct Fire Range" subsection with the following: "Short direct fire range in meters for a mass drive gun firing a kinetic penetrator round is equal to _five times the sum of its bore size in centimeters plus one-twentieth its muzzle velocity in meters per second plus 20. SR = 5 [B + (Vö20) + 20]"_ Page 121 (Change): Under section "D. Range," change the last two paragraphs to read as follows: "Short direct fire range in meters for a plasma gun is _100 times the square root of its pulse energy in megajoules._ Short direct fire range in meters for a fusion gun is _150 times the square root of its pulse energy in megajoules."_ (Change): Under section "E. Damage Value," change the formula to read _30_ times the square root of E, rather than "11.5." Page 122 (Change): Replace the second and third paragraphs (both single sentences) on the page with the following single paragraph: "Plasma and fusion weapons have a penetration rating of 1-2-10." (Change): Change the first five lines of the Price Multiplier table to read as follows: Component Plasma Fusion Firing Unit 600* 1000* Support Hardware 600* 1000* Gyro-Compensator* 600 600 Inertial Compensator* 1000 1000 Recoil Cradle 25 25 (Correction): "Empty magazines cost _Cr10_ per kilogram, rounding fractions up," not "Cr1". (Clarification): Under "K. Recoil," make the following addition to the "Ww" note: "Ww: Weight, in kilograms, of weapon (loaded). _When a recoil compensator is fitted, Ww includes the weight of the backpack. When no recoil compensator is fitted, Ww does not include the backpack."_ Page 144 (Correction): The volume of a tech level 11-12 500-kiloton warhead should be _.388,_ not ".4." Page 145 (Addition): Add the following note beneath the Homing guidance table: _Range: Maximum short range of the guidance system. This can be reduced if the missile's propellant limits it to a lower range._ (Addition): Add information to the Smart Warheads Sensor table as follows: TL Type Mass Cr Memory Range Seeker Range 7 Visual 1 200 _8_ _40_ 7 Infrared 1 2000 _4_ _20_ 8 Imaging Radar 1 10,000 _8_ _40_ _Memory Range: The maximum short range of a target memory missile equipped with this sensor. This can be reduced if the missile's propellant limits it to a lower range._ _Seeker Range: The maximum short range of a target seeker missile equipped with this sensor. This can be reduced if the missile's propellant limits it to a lower range._ Page 146 (Correction): Under section "B. Atmospheric Rockets and Missiles," make the following change to the last sentence in subsection "9. Range": "For homing, _target memory, and target seeker_ missiles, short range is _equal to this maximum range or the listed short range of the guidance system, whichever is lower."_ (Addition): Under section "C. Space Missiles," add the following sentence to the end of subsection "9. Determine Max Gs per Turn": _Round all fractions down for final G rating._ (Addition): For both atmospheric and space rockets and missiles, the armor value of the missile's airframe skin is dependent upon fuel type and tech level. Fuel Type TL 5-6 TL 7 TL 8+ Liquid Fuel 0.5 1 2 Solid Fuel 1 2 3 Page 147 (Addition): On the Receiver Length table, the LV Semiautomatic is also used for RAM Semiautomatic and the LV Automatic is also used for RAM Automatic. Page 149 (Addition): Under Tac Missile Launchers, the volume of a tube launcher is equal to 4 times missile volume. The volume of the magazine of a magazine launcher is equal to the volume of the missiles contained in it. Note that tac missiles have a volume in liters equal to their mass in kilograms. Page 150 (Correction): At the end of the first paragraph, delete the reference to the designator's effective range being equal to its medium (twice short) range. Designator tasks are rolled using the designator's listed short, medium, long, and extreme ranges, as discussed on TNE page 278. Therefore, in the second paragraph, the TL-7 laser designator simply has a short range of 3 kilometers, and no "useful range." (Addition): Under "Direct Fire Rocket Launchers" add the following passage to the end of subsection "E. Range": _Unguided rockets are inherently inaccurate at long ranges. The short and medium range bands for direct fire rockets are calculated normally. However, direct fire rockets have no long or extreme range bands, so may not be fired in direct fire mode at longer than medium range._ Page 151 (Addition): Under "Space Missile Launchers," add the following sentence to the end of the fifth paragraph: _"The mass of a mechanical reloader in tonnes is equal to its volume in cubic meters times 0.5."_ Page 152 (Clarification): The Capacity of the wingtip launch rail should be understood to be "100kg _worth of_ missiles or rockets." Page 153 (Correction and Addition): On the Sandcasters table, the Beam Reduction of the TL-8 sandcaster should be 1D6*5, not "1D6*6." Beneath the table, add the note that all listed sandcasters mass 50 tonnes and draw 1 MW of power. (Corrections): The masses and prices on the Nuclear Dampers table should be changed as follows: TL Description Mass Price Power 12 Damper Barbette _76.2_ _2.05_ 15 13 Damper Barbette _73.2_ _2.8_ 9 14 Damper Barbette _60.8_ _4.06_ 6 15 Damper Turret _33.5_ _4.53_ 3 (Corrections and Addition): On the Space Missiles table, delete the line for the TL-8 missile; there is no such weapon. The G- Turns for the TL-12 semi-independent missile should be _9/9_, not "8/8," and for the TL-14 semi-independent missile should be _7/7_, not "8/8." All missiles on the table have an armor value of 3. The semi- independent missiles have an endurance of 10 hours; after this time they behave as normal controlled missiles. Pages 155-156 (Correction): All references to "7x46mm" ammunition should read _7x30mm._ Page 156 (Change): Because of the high energy weapons upgrade, the details of the TL-13 plasma cradle gun have changed as follows: Under Specifications: Cartridge Mass: (.0036*_4_=) _.0144_ tonnes (_14.4_ kg) Under Weapon Design, Mass: Autoloader: (30*_14.4_=) _432_ kg TOTAL: _832_ kg Under Weapon Design, Range: Short Range: (_3.46_*_100_=) _346, round to 350_ Medium Range: (_350_*2=) 700 Long Range: (_350_*4=) 1400 Extreme Range: (_350_*8=) 2800 Under Weapon Design, Damage Value: Damage: (_30_*3.46=) _103.92 (104)_ Under Weapon Design, Penetration: Value: _104-104-52-10_ Under Weapon Design, Price: Firing Unit: (48*_600_=) Cr_28,800_ Support Hardware: (72*_600_=) Cr _43,200_ Autoloader: (_432_*10=) Cr_4320_ TOTAL: Cr_200,320_ Under Weapon Design, Volume: Autoloader: (.432_*_1=) _.432_ TOTAL: _.772_ cubic meters Page 157 (Changes): These changes are also necessary because of the high energy weapon upgrade. Under "Step 6 -- Weaponry," the 12-Mj Plasma Cradle Gun has a volume of _1.544,_ a mass of _0.832_, and a price of _200,320_, and 400xPPC have a mass of _5.76_. Under "Step 9 -- Cargo," volume should be _16.576_ and mass should be _4.144_. Page 158 (Changes): On the Design Recapitulation table, the changes noted above for page 157 must be made, resulting in the following changes to the total: Mass is _25.5356_ tonnes unloaded and _36.6236_ tonnes loaded, and Price is _1,713,739.7._ The charts below will allow owners of Traveller: The New Era Smash & Grab, and the Reformation Coalition Equipment Guide to update the values for previously published high energy weapons -Weight-- --Price---- Weapon TL Pulse Ammo Empty Ldd BP Mag Wpn Ammo 4.3cm Plasma Rifle 12 0.6 4.3 PPC 2.4 15.65 4.8 10 4320 15/211 4.7cm Plasma Rifle 13 0.8 4.7 PPC 3.22 36.2 4.8 20 4800 20/539 4.7cm fusion rifle 14 1.2 4.7 PFC 4.8 37.8 4.8 20 9600 9.6/331 4.1cm Fus Rif/comp 14 0.8 4.1 PFC 3.2 12.9 6.4 8 10,880 6.4/98 4.7cm Fus Rif/comp 14 1.2 4.7 PFC 4.8 19.4 9.6 8 24,000 9.6/147 5.1cm Fus Rif/comp 14 1.5 5.1 PFC 3 21.2 6 8 15,000 12/183 10cm plasma bazooka 10 2.88 10 PFC 34.6 45 -- 1i 20,736 518.4 4cm Fus Rif (Droy) 15 0.75 4.0 PFC 1.7 12.74 3 10 9500 6/111 Weapon ROF DAM C-B Pen Rtg Pen Val Blk Mag Recoil Range 4.3cm Plas 12 SA1 23 --- 1-2-10 23-23-12-2 5 10 11 80 4.7cm Plas 13 SA1 27 1-5 1-2-10 27-27-14-3 5 20 8 90 4.7cm Fus 14 SA1 33 1-5 1-2-10 33-33-17-3 5 20 8 160 4.1cm Fus 14c SA1 27 1-5 1-2-10 27-27-14-3 4 8 5 90 4.7cm Fus 14c SA1 33 1-5 1-2-10 33-33-17-3 5 8 5 160 5.1cm Fus 15c SA1 37 1-5 1-2-10 37-37-19-4 3 8 4 180 10cm Pla baz SS 51 3-5 1-2-10 51-51-26-5 5 1i --- 170 4cm Fus (D) SA1 26 1-5 1-2-10 26-26-13-3 2 100 5 130 125-Mj Fusion SA2 335 112-35 1-2-10 335-335-168-34 --- 300 --- 1680 4.75-Mj Plasma SA1 65 4-5 1-2-10 65-65-33-7 --- 300 --- 220 14-Mj Plasma 1/2 112 13-15 1-2-10 112-112-56-11 --- 300 --- 370 12-Mj Plasma SA1 104 11-15 1-2-10 104-104-52-10 --- 400 --- 350 76-Mj Plasma SA5 262 69-25 1-2-10 262-262-131-26 --- 100 --- 1310 2-Mj Plasma SA1 42 2-5 1-2-10 42-42-21-4 --- 200 --- 140 125-Mj Fusion Intrepid 4.75-Mj Plasma Mongoose 14-Mj Plasma Ferret 12-Mj Plasma Pyrrhus 76-Mj Plasma Victrix 2-Mj Plasma G-Carrier