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　　从位于巴伐利亚中心的英戈尔斯塔特出发，这里是奥迪的总部，眼前的“五颜六色”的RS系列运动轿车随你可选，目的地是近百公里以外的慕尼黑。一段美妙的旅程，不仅仅因为有不限速的高速公路不仅仅有类似凡尔赛宫的奇妙王宫，更因为你可以感受到奥迪顶尖运动轿车RS系列所带来的那种驾驶的非凡感觉，撒野？不，这绝对是享受。
腾讯汽车德国试驾全新奥迪RS4
如果你想体验奥迪的RS系列车型，那一定要到它的总部位于英戈尔斯塔特的总部，这里拥有你几乎关心的所有车型，当然本次我就有幸驾驶奥迪RS全系进行一次期待已久的长途之旅，对于德国领土面积来说这样的旅途已经十分美妙，尽管进入冬季，但拥有RS的陪伴都会让这一切变得更加惬意，而本次的主角自然也是全新RS4。　　在德国不限速的高速公路上可以找到很多实力派高手，这里几乎涵盖了绝大多数的名贵物种，我是幸运的，与RS4的亲密接触包括了高速、国道、山路以及乡间小路，这是一部怎么样的车？趋于享受的我更在乎的是4.2升V8发动机带来的动力以及那美妙可控的排气浪声。没有驾驶技术去保障，恐怕你无法体会到RS所带来的那种随心所欲事实在这100公里的路上它的表现足以成为本次我德国之行最大的亮点之一。
德国奥迪RS4 测试
测试地点德国测试时间
测试地点天气
市场零售价――
RS4外形：作为最新一代的RS系列产品，RS4整合了目前最为突显运动性能车的一切元素，其休旅车的外形更是有所区别。
RS4内饰：一切以运动为主宰，你可以找到许多赛车的元素，包括内饰风格、赛车座椅以及手感极佳的专属方向盘
RS4动力操控：德国的高速和国道很好的检验了这台可以很疯狂的RS4，它的稳定性以及动力表现都十分出色。
回到RS系列，RS是Racing Sport（运动化赛车）的简称，也是奥迪高性能车型的代表作。奥迪第一款RS车型就是1994年推出的RS2 Avant，当时以奥迪A4的前身--奥迪80为蓝本进行开发的。发展至今，奥迪的RS产品阵营计划中，量产车型几乎已覆盖RS1-RS6。甚至有媒体报道，RS7/RS8也在奥迪计划中。下面我们来详细解读一下这些车型……
RS技术要点
RS车型序列及技术解析
高性能轿跑系列
RS4—第三代车型秋季将推出
?第三代RS4上市时间：2012年秋季；?海外售价约7万多欧元；?竞争车型：宝马M3、奔驰C63 AMGRS4采用V8发动机，动力为331千瓦/450马力，百公里加速需4.7秒，最高时速可达250公里/小时。旅行版最高时速可达280
RS6—动力组合尚留悬念
?第二代车型已停产，最新版未发布；?测试谍照曝光，动力组合留悬念；?竞争车型：宝马M5、奔驰E63 AMG等有坊间传闻称新一代RS6将继续采用上一代车型的5.0升V10双涡轮增压发动机，最大功率580马力，最大扭矩达到650牛?米
RS7—更高性能的追求
?预计会在2013年上半年登场；?或将使用全新4.0升V8增压发动机；?竞争车型：奔驰CLS AMG、宝马M6等奥迪A7采用了新的铝合金底盘设计，因此车身重量会低于RS6，因此在加速性能和操控能力方面将有一定的提升，目前预计RS7的0-100公里/小时加速在4.5秒左右
RS3—紧凑级高性能车
?2009法兰克福展出，2011年发售；?搭载2.5L 5缸涡轮增压发动机；?挑战宝马M1，或9月份引入中国。在紧凑级车型奥迪A3上推出的高性能版本--RS3 Sportback，这也是奥迪这个尺寸级别中性能最强的车型，对应2.5升的TFSI发动机，百公里加速4.6秒
RS5—北京车展曾亮相
?曾在2012年北京车展首发亮相；?日引入中国；?竞争车型：宝马M3、奔驰C63 AMG2012款RS5采用了奥迪最新的家族式前脸造型，同时在内饰设计也进行了小幅改动和升级，不过该车的动力系统并没有发生变化
RS1—预谋中的小钢炮
?动力小钢炮或在今年推出；?对手指向MINI，售价或在3万欧元；?会配置电控的4Motion四驱系统。RS1不会放弃对四驱的支持，RS1同RS3一样会配置电控的4Motion四驱系统（但还是称之为Quttro），有效提升操控性和稳定性，最高车速突破225公里/小时
Coupe 跑车
?国内上市：日；?4.2FSI V8自然吸气发动机；?车型指导价为119.8万元。动力性能是RS车最大的看点，改款奥迪RS5并没有采用奥迪车系目前主打的涡轮增压动力，而是搭载了一台4.2FSI V8自然吸气发动机
RS7 四门Coupe谍照
?直面奔驰换代CLS AMG、宝马M6；?4.0升V8增压发动机；?预计会在2013年上半年登场。奥迪对于RS7的开发非常重视，因为在这个价位上拥有多种高性能车型，奔驰的换代CLS AMG、宝马全新的M6都已经登场
?RS4旅行版：2012年3月；?搭载4.2升V8发动机；?0-100km/h加速时间为4.7秒。奥迪RS4旅行版已在2012年3月的日内瓦车展首发亮相，新车除了采用全新奥迪家族式造型外，还将搭载4.2升V8发动机，并将会率先在欧洲市场上市
RS2旅行版-RS系列的鼻祖
?1994年推出 原型车为奥迪80；?标配Quattro，百公里加速4.8秒；?奥迪与保时捷合作打造。RS2 Avant的基础构件来自于大众的B4平台，但是后期组装、调校则是在保时捷著名的Rossle-Bau厂内手工完成。RS2仅旅行版公开销售，四门轿车版未公开销售
RS历史及经典车型回顾
1983年 奥迪sport quattro1985年 奥迪Sport quattro S11990年 奥迪S2(B3)诞生1993年 奥迪RS2 Avant (B4)1992年 奥迪推出S4(C4)1999年 奥迪推出S8 (D2)1999年 推出A级运动型车S32002年 奥迪推出RS6 (C5)2007年 奥迪推出S52010年 奥迪推出RS52011年 奥迪推出S72012年 RS5首发亮相北京2012年 RS5引进中国
国内上市：8月31日国内售价：119.8万
国内上市：--海外售价：约7万欧元起国内上市：--海外售价：约5万欧元起
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Tabletop Game / Traveller
Cover of the first Mongoose edition, showing a logo very close to that of the original.This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone... Mayday, Mayday...We are under attack... Main drive is gone...Turret number one not responding... Mayday...Losing cabin pressure fast calling anyone... Please help...This is Free Trader Beowulf... ...mayday...The cover of the original Traveller box set.Free Trader Beowulf... Come in, Free Trader Beowulf... Can you hear me? Come in, Free Trader Beowulf... ... hang in there, Beowulf, help is on the way!"The cover of
Traveller, nearly 20 years later.Traveller was one of the earliest published
systems, originally designed by Marc Miller and first published by
(GDW) in 1977. Forty years later, it still has a rabid pack of followers, despite the fact that GDW closed down in 1996. The publishing license has passed through a number of hands since then.Traveller was probably the first game of its kind to divorce the concept of skills from that of occupation or class. Characters did not enter the campaign rather, they had careers during which character development occurred. This was generally perceived as giving the game a more "three-dimensional" feel. While there were some assumptions about the campaign world, an interstellar setting called "the Spinward Marches", little actual information was initially provided, leaving the campaign world to the
fertile imagination. The system wasn't static, the release of supplements and of subsequent editions of the system, brought more detailed character generation, task systems, rules for skill improvement, and additional skills and rules for them. But Traveller isn't a role-playing system, because you can play
Traveller, which is a different system entirely.Traveller eventually came to describe an interstellar community of sorts, focused on a "Third Imperium", of which the original Spinward Marches was merely a small frontier area. Published and well-regarded science fiction was a major source of inspiration for aliens and their societies, and for various aspects of technology. A broad history was mapped out, and cultural differences were developed and illustrated. This led to a background in many ways richer than that of previous role-playing settings, yet without significantly limiting the referee. Again, the setting wasn' every release of Traveller or Traveller supplements brought new information to light. But Traveller isn't a role-playing setting, though, because you can play Traveller in a setting that is unrecognizable in comparison to what's in published material.As with any RPG, Traveller can be an opportunity to develop characters, their likes, dislikes, habits, idiosyncrasies, motivations, and so on. The events of any particular session can be part of a grand story arc throughout the campaign, or not, if the players and referee choose not to play that way. The Traveller Supplements, over time, described a very-large-stroke history of the "Third Imperium", but the real story was in the gameplay and gamemaster's hands.There have been many editions, most of which are available in .pdf format from Far Future Enterprises:&&&& Editions& Classic Traveller (1977-86): The original. Then just called Traveller but it has since acquired the "Classic" qualifier to distinguish it from the later editions. It has also been called the
because of the printing format and minimalist covers used.note& The line began as a rather generic sci-fi system, and added detail to the setting as it went. Several other game companies also produced materials for the line under license, including note&, Gamelords, Judges Guild, Paranoia Press, and even . MegaTraveller (1987-92): An update to the original rule system, complete with a controversial
shift involving the assassination of the Emperor and collapse of the
into civil war, called "The Rebellion". MegaTraveller was mostly created by Digest Group Publicationsnote& rather than GDW itself. Incompatible production methods between the two companies produced a lot of typos in this version. Despite the production problems and the controversial Rebellion it was successful. Digest Group's own supplements to the line, produced under license, are still quite renowned among Traveller fans for their quality, though rights issues when Digest Group folded in the mid '90s mean they have
by Far Future Enterprises and they aren't likely to be. Traveller: The New Era (1993-95): A
take on the original setting, with options for almost-original flavour and an entirely new system.note& Some
were present as well, mostly dealing with how tech worked in the Third Imperium. Although it certainly has its fans, the final destruction of the Third Imperium in this version's
was what . The timeline was continued after the end of the GDW game line with Traveller 1248, a series of systemless sourcebooks by Comstar Games, but are now
since Comstar lost the licence. Marc Miller's Traveller aka Traveller 4 (1996-98): The first edition of the game after GDW folded, overseen by original Traveller creator Marc Miller, who retained rights to the game after the end of GDW. Set in "Milieu 0" - the beginning of the Third Imperium. Miller has admitted it was something of a "rushed" product, and it was not successful. Pocket Empires, however, is still quite highly regarded by players interested in the economics of the setting, which as trading is often a major part of the game isn't as esoteric a concern as it may seem.The financing deal Miller struck to produce T4 left him in debt, and he turned to licensing Traveller to other game companies. These versions were adaptations of the setting using the core mechanics of other RPG systems:
Traveller (): by . , complete with a timeline reboot in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to
The last book in the line, Interstellar Wars, released in 2006, presented the initial contact between Earth and the First Imperium from the
for the first time. This was a well-produced version, with several of the same people who worked on the original Traveller, and was quite popular in its time. Although as with the other licensed versions no new materials were created for the line after Mongoose Traveller was released in 2008, the GURPS license was still technically active until the end of 2015, when Steve Jackson games allowed it to expire. Traveller 20 (): The inevitable
version, by Quick Link Interactive/RPG Realms Publishing. The preferred setting was in the Domain of Gateway in year 990, approximately 100 years before Classic Traveller. The license was terminated when Mongoose Traveller was released. Traveller
(): Again, . Produced under license by Comstar Games using the 5th edition of the Hero system. It shared the classic Traveller setting. As with T20, the Comstar license terminated when Mongoose Traveller was released.A more traditional (mechanically speaking) follow up came next: Mongoose Traveller (2008-present): An updated version of Classic Traveller incorporating some of the later innovations of the line, published by, well, Mongoose Publishing. Mongoose has made the basic system available on an "open-license" basis, and has also adapted several of their licensed properties to use the Traveller rule set. A Traveller version of
was released in 2009 to mixed reviews, along with
in the same year. Later adaptations have included , , and a version of . Mongoose Traveller is not the official name: it's sold simply as Traveller. This line is probably the most active and mo a second edition featuring numerous rules tweaks and an all-new, full-color layout was released in 2016.Miller himself continued to work on the game, however, and finally released: Traveller 5 (2013-present): By Far Future Enterprises, Miller's holding company for Traveller properties. Released in 2013 after a lengthy development process, this version consists of a massive (759 pages) core rulebook that resembles a large toolbox with lots of systems for building characters, vehicles, ships, planets, etc. but little in the way of setting information and no metaplot. Something of a throwback to the original version then. The system uses a further development of the Traveller 4 game mechanics but is considerably more complex. It has been modestly received, with many fans describing it as a "good sourcebook for use with Mongoose Traveller."
Traveller provides examples of the following tropes (roll 1d6 to select folder):&&&&open/close all folders& &&&&1:
0 - D& : All of the maps of the Imperium and its sectors are flat. Some fans suggest that this is because the maps are
maps. : the K'kree, toward any creature anywhere that can be classified as a carnivore. : The extruded monofilament swords created on the TL 16 world Vincennes. : The New Era supplement Vampire Fleets, adventure "Promise". In the Downbelow beneath Star City the sewer tunnels are up to 4 meters high and wide. : Hivers abandon their newborn larvae into the wild and treat them as vermin, even fumigating their ships for them periodically. But when they reach a certain point in development they're allowed to join society. : SORAG agents created using the supplement SORAG: Handbook of Organization and Equipment could be given this quality. : One of the best in . The limitations of the jump drive mean that the Imperium is very hands-off, leaving plenty of room for odd societies to interact with, local wars to fight, lost civilizations to explore, pirates, and just about anything else the
can think of. : The Long Night was
for the first two Imperiums, and The New Era was
for the third. : Virus from The New Era is a combination of this and . Virus isn't A.I. in the convention it's more like an extremely opportunistic, intelligent parasite that can convert anything with a computer in it into an intelligent life form with an obsession to "" The crapshoot aspect is that it was designed to self-destruct a short time after being introduced into an enemy computer network and going on its rampage, but some strains of Virus after it was released mutated and lost the "suicide" drive while keeping the homicidal behavior. Oops. : 's Classic supplement Action Aboard: Adventures on the King Richard and Challenge magazine #32 adventure "A World On Its Own''. : K'kree perfumers just to start with. Aslan epics and stylized weapons seem to go over well too. Some of the minor races have their own artistic traditions which are liked by humans. : An evolved form of English is a popular language.
by the wide spreading of Solomani culture. : Strongly averted. Most of the inhabited planets in the Imperium are actually quite a bit less hospitable than Earth. : The Third Imperium allows planetary wars so long as they don't spill off-world or use nukes, and the Trade Wars listed below. : Nearly everything in Traveller can have an alternate interpretation - by design.
The Imperium itself can be viewed as a peaceful and benevolent
that lets its worlds largely govern themselves or as an oppressive, tyrannical
that cares only about the taxes it receives, or anywhere in between. Even in the same interpretation, a world's treatment is entirely based on the whims and competence of the local lords, meaning to one world the Imperium is an oppressive force that terrorizes their population in order to , while to another they're just the guys who maintain the starport and provide all kinds of goodies for just another percentage of taxes. The Zhodani are also especially open to this. The Imperium plays up their , , and the repeated wars they've fought with them. The Consulate itself plays up their efficient government, universal health care (mental as well as physical), and military strength. And of course, they're often considered a promised land by individuals who develop , since they're the only nation in charted space where psionics are not anathema. :
Traveller presented a timeline where Strephen was not assassinated. : The various alien species use different bases. The Aslan use Base 8, the Hivers use Base 16, and the Droyne use Base 6. Most of the various Human Aliens, as well as the Vargr, use Base 10. : PGMP/FGMP (Plasma/Fusion Gun, Man Portable), laser carbine/rifles and flamethrowers. : The Amphibious Ground Car (AKA the "Mudpuppy") in the Classic supplement SORAG by Paranoia Press. : Later editions of the game are all set earlier than The New Era, and most of them are set earlier than MegaTraveller. Some of them much, much earlier. : The Ancients, the Pre-maghiz Darrians, the first two Imperiums before the Long Night. All sorts of sources of
are available. The Darrians have a whole fleet of starships that had been discovered at a hidden cache. : The Darrians got a little too carried away with their scientific ability. The result was the destruction of their society and the death of nearly everyone on their homeworld. : Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". Two alien monsters are used against the , an amphibious killer and a small but poisonous animal. : The K'kree are a
of these, prepared to
: The K'kree would like to believe that K'kree are incapable of ever eating meat. The Hivers used this belief and their skills in manipulation to win their war, and to keep the peace between the two ever since. : Both the Long Night and the Rebellion resulted in light Class X-3s, with the fall of interstellar civilization in each case. The Ancients also apparently had a Class X-3, warring themselves into extinction hundreds of thousands of years before any other race had the jump drive. The Darrians caused their own Class 3 on Darrian. : The Traveller News Service during the later part of the MegaTraveller line and in the New Era supplement Survival Margin is basically a chronicle of the destruction of the Third Imperium. The last few entries are frantic warnings to disconnect all computers from the network, with the entries getting increasingly garbled and finally deteriorating to gibberish computer characters as the TNS servers are taken over by Virus. : The Nexines, an offshoot of humanity that were genetically engineered for underwater mining. : Classic Book 4 Mercenary. Several new weapons could not be used at Close or Short range (from 0 to 5 meters away), such as the various PGMP's and FGMP's. There was no reason given for this. : Classic supplement Alien Module 8 - Darrians: Secret of the Star Trigger. When the Darrians were first brought to their new planet they lived inside large hollowed out trees. : The Imperial Marines have a thing for cutlasses, as they don't ricochet in cramped spaceship corridors and hit sensitive equipment like bullets. : 6 turns up quite a lot in Traveller - jump drives go up to 6, maneuver drives go up to 6, there are 6 major races, and let's not even get started on the Droyne. It might have something to do with most versions of the game using only six-sided dice. : Ubiquitous throughout the setting. : A failed survival roll during character creation in the later editions of the game might give you one of these instead of outright killing you. : In the supplement Aliens of the Rim: Hivers and Ithklur. During a military campaign between the herbivorous K'Kree and the Ithklur, the fighting became so bitter that each side started performing atrocities on the other, including the K'Kree eating dead Ithklur bodies. During the Hiver-K'kree war the Hivers manipulated a few K'kree colonies into this to bring an end to the conflict (the K'kree navy sterilized the worlds in question). : The essence of Vargr political philosophy. : The typical example is the classic grubby back-of-beyond . Glisten however is an urbane and civilized place. : Classic Double Adventure 2 Mission on Mithril/Across the Bright Face. One of the special pieces of equipment available to the
is a Return Mirror. Normally used in laser surveying, in an emergency it can be used to reflect an incoming laser beam back at its source, possibly destroying it. : The
Independent Medical Treatment Center in the Classic supplement Merchants and Merchandise by Paranoia Press. : The Classic game Azhanti High Lightning, Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma and Judges Guild adventure Darthanon Queen. The kitchens/galleys in these products have fully automated food preparation equipment.
The grav belt had its
equipment and power supply in a backpack. The New Era sourcebook Vampire Fleets. The Fer de lance anti-Virus system and its battery power source are stored in a backpack. : In the MegaTraveller setting Emperor Strephon tried to prove that he really hadn't been assassinated, but by the time he produced any credible evidence nobody cared anymore. : Most sourcebooks are for developing this. They can make very good reading on their own without actually playing for those who actually like devouring data, fictional or otherwise. The
provides very "realistic" detail. : Before the Rebellion Lucan was this to his twin brother Varian, at least as far as the Imperial succession was concerned. : most notably the . : The IISS is not only known for its success in exploration, spycraft, and daring-do (and sometimes ), but for being at the pinnacle of scientific achievement. Furthermore many scouts take package courses (offered as a job perk) along boring voyages to educate themselves and graduate as great poets or scholars after their studies. : The Bwaps' . : Archduke Norris. : The Emperor Strephon suffered from these after his family and his double were killed and the Imperium he had sworn to protect descended into
because they thought he had been assassinated. : The Aslan are a partial example. They have the social and political structure of a tribal society but are technologically advanced. : Several examples, most notably the Tigress battleship which can only be described as a mini-. The Azhanti High Lightning is the other iconic example. : The larger capital ships tend to mount hundreds and hundreds of laser turrets that let them do this, though they are mostly intended to shoot down enemy missiles. : In
Traveller: Interstellar Wars, the Vilani Imperium was deliberately organized to make the Emperor this. The idea was that there would be less volatility if everything was slowed down. : The Darrians are a genuinely peaceful race that makes heroes of its artists and scientists. They also claim to be able to create solar flares on demand, which they use as a deterrent against their more warlike neighbors the Sword Worlds. : The FGMP-15 (Fusion Gun, Man Portable). It includes a gravitic compensator so you could theoretically carry and fire it unarmored. If you can survive the radiation it releases all over the place when fired, that is. The earlier PGMP (Plasma Gun) all but requires
to be fired by a human without high-level augmentation. : The Hivers are all hermaphrodites, and transfer reproductive material with an act called "shaking hands" that only takes a few moments. Hiver culture and genetic uniformity is maintained by "embassies" which travel throughout Federation space and breed with the locals. Hivers are near-constantly dropping new larval Hivers wherever they go, and larval Hivers are considered minor pests until they have grown a few years. If there are no local predators on a Hiver planet that can eat larval Hivers, they import them, and they regularly fumigate their ships to kill the larva if they are going to land on non-Hiver worlds.
Traveller Double Adventure The Chamax Plague/Horde: The Chamax have two sensory abilities humans don't have. First, they can detect radio waves and use triangulation to determine their point of origin. Second, they have a limited ability to detect life, which they use to search for food. Hivers have infrared "eyes" on their "head" tentacle. : The Droyne have three sexes: Male, female, and enabler, the enablers being required to give off scent during a mating session. Droyne also are casted in the manner of social insects and each caste has only one sex. Droyne language focuses more on caste then on sex as that is more important in their psychological framework. : Classic Traveller, Paranoia Press supplement Merchants and Merchandise Merchandise section. The Canolta XA-1 camera was made by the camera company Canolta Photographics (the Japanese camera company
c.f. "Only from the mind of Minolta"). The LHeP9(Or) Series 12/136 computer system entry said that the manufacturer Delta Research sold programs for it through a subsidiary, Interworld Business Machines (AKA IBM, International Business Machines). : The IISS (Imperial Interstellar Scout Service), which explored beyond the borders of the third Imperium. : Several of the adventure seeds in the Classic Supplement 6 76 Patrons involve
who are arrested and imprisoned by the local authorities and offered their freedom if they'll do a job for the government. : There is some question whether the Zhodani proles are this, or whether they are genuinely happy. : Sometimes the sourcebooks talk to the reader as if he was a person inside the Traveller Verse reading a database while at other times they sound like they are talking to the reader as if he was a twenty-first century RPG geek. : One of the mercenary tickets (scenarios) in Mercenary is to act as bodyguards to the leaders of the planet Jokotre while they make a pilgrimage to the shrines in the holy lands. : Cleon III (Cleon I's great-great-great-great-grandson, first Zhunastu to rule since Cleon II abdicated) was known for resolving disputes within his cabinet by shooting vocal opponents. A year after his ascension the Moot had him assassinated. Three hundred years after Cleon III, Cleon IV claimed the throne as a distant relation of the original Cleon. He murdered the Empress Nicholle and kept the Moot at bay with threats of violence and blackmail until they finally had him assassinated by his successor - after 80 years of rule. During the Rebellion Lucan became this after Strephon's assassination put him on the throne. TNS news reports show a number of temper-tantrums and even have him killing one of his noble critics personally. Eventually his faction used scorched earth warfare and tried to develop super-weapons, which lead to the creation of Virus and the final destruction of the Imperium. : "Double Adventure 1: Death Station". A chemical disaster occurred aboard an orbiting science ship, killing most of the crew and reducing the remainder to madness. The survivors stowed the remains of the dead crew in a locker and have been snacking on them. : Classic Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma. The animal care, janitorial and security robots can't climb stairs because their movement systems won't allow it. They have to use the station elevator instead. : It's practically the name of the game. It might be considered a little less casual than many other settings, since it takes two years or more to get from one end of the Imperium to another with a fast ship. : The Aslan are race of lionlike creatures. Their name is also a
to . : Classic Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma. One room in the station has a
of a rippling waterfall on one wall. Behind the
is a room containing a security station. : The Federation of Arden : Universal among Aslan and common among other races notably humans. : Regrown limbs and basic prosthetics cost the same and have practically the difference is thematic. Megatraveller Journal #3, "Worldguide: Vincennes". On the Tech Level 16 world of Vincennes, cloning of injured and damaged organs and limbs is commonplace. : Political intrigue is constantly going on and often a theme in printed adventures. : Whether or not your average player group can use their ship to drop hyper-accelerated rocks on planets that annoy them is a common subject of discussion among fans. The Third Imperium has its own term for this trope: "Deadfall Ordance". That alone says something. : Darrians and Vilani. Subverted in the Vilani case. They knew how to be ruthless but not how to fight. : This was apparently Lucan's problem. He may not have been that stable before he became Emperor, but nobody cared when he was fourth in line. : One of the crew specialties in GURPS Traveller: Starships. : Double Adventure 3 "Death Station" has a small mining camp on the planet Gadden. : Virus again. The way that Virus is contagious is a sticking point for many of its critics. : Averted: assorted slugthrowers are still in use even at tech level 15. : Just pick your favorite. : The adventure The Argon Gambit. Part of Grant's plan is to have the
arrested by the local police after they've broken into Kashkanun's villa and stolen some documents. The police don't have enough evidence to get a search warrant for the villa, but if the documents are seized in the course of an arrest they will become valid evidence. : Trade Wars, particularly in frontier regions. In a zig-zag even the biggest corporations don't do this very often. War is expensive. But it happens often enough to make life interesting for the PCs. : These show up quite often in the printed adventures. : In Traveller - The New Era, one of the side effects of infestation by the Virus was a corruption of information transmission, such as Traveller News Service bulletins in Traveller products being replaced by random characters. One of the signs that the Virus had been defeated was Traveller News Service bulletins becoming partially and then fully readable again. : There's no faster-than-light communication other than sending a ship. The IISS maintains a mail system throughout the Imperium. : The Type-S scoutship can be operated by one scout. So can the X-boat. Bigger ships need more crew, with many Imperial warships carrying spare
crew members to thaw out when necessary. : The Vilani Imperium. The ruling caste of the Third Imperium as well. : A large part of the cause of the Interstellar Wars seems to have been a disagreement over whether
or just an . : The First Imperium had been decaying when the Terran Confederation conquered it and became the Second Imperium, the Second Imperium couldn't handle their new territory and quickly lapsed into The Long Night. 1700 years into the Long Night Cleon Zhunastu turned the Sylean Federation into the Third Imperium, which falls a millennium later after Strephon's assassination. The New Era setting has hints that a Fourth Imperium will eventually be established. : In some ways what The New Era tried to be. It was produced in , after all. : Hand computers. : Traveller is often compared to the , largely because there is no communication faster than a ship. : Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society magazine #14 adventure "Aces & Eights". A set of playing cards (two aces, two eights and the joker), will, when put in an X-ray machine, create a map to the location of a 20 million credit treasure. The money was the payroll of the 1188th "Aces and Eights" Lift Infantry Brigade. The man with the cards is killed by the bad guys and the cards stolen, and the PCs must retrieve them. : In The New Era supplement Survival Margin, a man leaves a message for his descendants.
/ : Early versions of the character generation system frequently killed player characters before play began. Was
of later printings and editions up to the Mongoose edition, where it was re-instituted as an optional mechanic. : The Imperial Marines like to drop their troops in pods from orbit. : Repulsors literally deflect incoming missiles, but are useless against energy weapons. Other forcefield-type shields include nuclear dampers and the (nearly) impenetrable black globe generator. Otherwise, perhaps surprisingly, absent. : Ranging the spectrum from the merely curious to the absolutely shocking. Yes, it is perfectly possible to roleplay
. : There are lots of these in the Spinward Marches left over from wars through the centuries. The planet Entrope is notable for this. These are often under heavy guard because illegal weapons can be found there. : During the Rebellion Emperor Strephon crossed over after he realized giving up his claim to the throne wouldn't save his followers. Several other claimants to the throne also gave up when they saw how the Rebellion was destroying the Imperium. : And any variation thereof. In undeveloped places you will find several examples of these. Once or twice they will end up as sample characters or characters in sidestories. This is the Sword Worlder's second
to accompany . : Prince Varian's dream of the Final War and the virus, among many others in
Traveller. /: Players of Interstellar Wars who know the background will know that the Terrans eventually win, but four hundred years later galactic civilization collapses completely anyway. : The Kinunir, an early adventure, uses these for the marines. : There are a number of ways to do this. Aslan prefer dueling with claws. When a human duels Aslan-fashion, he wears an artificial claw (called an Ayloi) on his hand. : Adventures that involve exploring derelict spacecraft, asteroid bases etc. are essentially dungeon-crawls in a science-fiction context. Examples from Classic Traveller include some of the earliest adventures for the line, like The Kinunir, Research Station Gamma, and the double adventure Shadows/Annic Nova which features a dungeon crawl through ruins and a dungeon crawl through a starship. : The Droyne, before Grandfather saved them by introducing the casting ritual - though he caused the problem in the first place - see
below. Those Droyne who didn't embrace the caste system ended up degenerating into barely sapient primitives known as Chirpers.&&&&
2 : E - H& : Averted. Earth is in fact on the extreme rimward edge of the Imperium. It is the center of the Solomani sphere, however. : The Zhodani had one of these during the Fifth Frontier War : Grandfather. Some alien races come close to this as well. : The new Empathic Healing psionic power in the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #5 article "Special Psionic Powers". : The Solomani Confederation and Zhodani Consulate have elements of this, and Lucan's Imperium fits the trope to a T. : The Black Globe. : The sample campaign 100 parsecs which is about
of a band of Sword Worlders to the far reaches of space. Also the original journey of exiled soldiers through Aslan territory to found the Sword Worlds. Recent T5 material is teasing something called , a galaxy-spanning epic with the fate of the entire Universe at stake, set several centuries after the 'classic' Traveller era. : Classic Traveller, Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #12 Amber Zone article "Royal Hunt". Hamir, the trusted royal adviser of the Potentate of the planet Krajraha, is plotting with the corporation Nusku Trade LIC to assassinate the Potentate (and the
guarding him). : Emperor Cleon created the Imperium by a labyrinthine arrangement of evil and manipulative schemes. And it produced peace, civilization, and prosperity for thousands of years. He read the
no doubt. That explains it. : Campaign The Traveller Adventure. In the adventure "Inselberg", the March Harrier sets down on the planet Lewis to pick up the PCs after they complete their mission. If the PCs are late arriving the March Harrier's crew must give an excuse for the ship to stay longer, such as a breakdown of the ship's engines. : The Imperial Nobility acts as a glue to keep the Imperium together. In effect rather than being an ethnic empire (I.E. the Roman empire, etc), it is a caste-based empire and the nobility is the central cadre. Not only that, a state the size of the Imperium could not possibly find high command by merit alone as everyone would die before getting to high enough position, hence there has to be a caste system. The Zhodani are more grotesque. It is a caste of psionics which means that among the rights of the ruling caste is access into the minds of the commoners. The rulers of course after all, one must have limits. As for the aliens,
have several physically different castes and the K'kree divide themselves into servants, merchants, and nobles. : The game goes into this with several cultures, as described in the appropriate sourcebook. : Between humans and aliens, different human subspecies, and in some cases natives of different planets. Heck, sometimes natives within different planets too. The K'kree are the worst in this regard. They think all carnivore races are a plague to be extinguished or at least brutally reeducated into veganism. The Sword Worlders think every Darian is an
and Darians think Sword Worlders are a . A cynic might say both are right. Some Vilani and Solomani still hate each other thousands of years after the Intersteller Wars. This is not universal however. Every race that claims to have invented jump drive separately is a major race. The rest are minor races. There is a curious dispute over that with regard to Aslan whom some Solomani claimed to have "stolen" (whatever that means) jump drive from them. They're right - the Aslan reverse-engineered their drive from a crashed Solomani ship, but the Aslan aren't about to be labeled a minor race. : The Vilani have one. See the trope page for details. : The Zhodani Consulate extensively uses psionic abilities in its government and military. They test children for psionic aptitude and train those with a significant level of power. : Worlds have maps, of course, but the scale of the setting can only be appreciated by viewing the online . Check out the Zhodani Core E they've gotten all the way to the edge of the uninhabitable regions of the Core! : Of course, though it is considerably slower than many other forms (see
below). : The Third Imperium, despite its name and , is as written closer to this than to . Some of its successor states, such as the Regency and the Reformation Coalition in the New Era, also fit here. Others
The Terran Confederation from the volume Interstellar Wars would probably be
too, despite its expansionist tendencies. : In the setting, FTL communication is only by ships using Jump Drive, which takes a week to reach a destination ranging from one to six parsecs away. With the Imperium being hundreds of parsecs across, it would literally take months or even up to a year or more for information to travel from one end to another, or from the capitol to the fringes. This necessitates a decentralized government, with a large amount of autonomy granted to the local powers. A feudal system is what you would end up with no matter what you chose to call the Imperium's lords. As a side note, the Aslan are a Tribal Future. : The Hearthfire is a sacred symbol to Sword Worlders. Soldiers and police "guard the hearthfires" and
"tend the hearthfires". : The Imperial Interstellar Scout Service has done this so many times that it has standard procedures for it. : most starship weapons did incremental damage and could wear down an opponent over time. Spinal mount weapons (either a particle accelerator or a meson gun) ran the length of the ship and could . : Classic Traveller: The
magazine #116 article "Aim and Burn" has several types of flamethrowers, each with their fuel supply in backpack tanks. On any penetrating hit from behind the tanks could explode, which would not only kill the user but cover a large area with burning fuel. The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #3 article "Advanced Powered Battle Armor". The armor has a built-in flamer (flamethrower) with a fuel tank on the back of the suit. If the tank is hit there's an 8% chance the tank will explode, disabling the suit and killing the wearer. : The Aslan. In early depictions, the writers took great pains to emphasize that they were only vaguely leonine in appearance. Unfortunately, the idea of them being
was a bit too enduring for its own good, so by the time Mongoose Traveller rolled around, most depictions tended toward the simple "bipedal lion" look. : The Imperial Palace. : The Intersteller Wars which went on for two hundred years before the Terrans conquered the Vilani. The frontier wars between the Imperium and the Zho which are still going on (in the
version). : The Darrians' . : Admiral Manuel Albadawi, leader of the Terran fleet in the decisive part of the conquest of the First Imperium. Lucky dice rolls can give players a retired general or admiral as a character, too. : the
to Traveller acts as this. Traveller can easily be used as Fan-fic as well as RPGs and manages remarkable development while retaining flexibility. : The transition between MegaTraveller and The New Era reveals that the Rebellion was only the beginning. The Hard Times supplement for MegaTraveller relesed late in the line included rules for reducing the population and technology ratings of worlds in the war zones of the Rebellion. : The New Era supplement The Regency Sourcebook. The planet Enaaka's ecosystem includes tall, tree-like mushrooms. : Bordering on , except for Earth still being in the picture. : Both played straight and averted. The population of the Imperium is mostly a mixture of two human races that are now essentially the same race, but other human races maintain their own empires on its borders. There are also small Solomani ethnic splinter cultures like the Sword Worlders, who are very Icelandic. : The maintenance robots in Classic Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma. : Double Adventure 1 "Shadows". The PCs must investigate a pyramid to free their spaceship from a death trap. Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society #13, adventure "Thought Waves". The PCs are trapped inside an underwater alien pyramid that's actually an ancient spacecraft. : Cleon is a combination of this and . He is the closest example of the classic model. Albadawi is this in the sense that he is in fact conquering. He is however doing that as a servant of the Terran Confederation rather than on his own, and it is just a function of his being a . : One of the sample campaigns in the volume Interstellar Wars is a generational saga called Legacy of War. The characters are not given and creating them is left to the GM and players. : The Third Imperium. : The Annic Nova, among others. : The Imperial credit in Classic Traveller. This ended in MegaTraveller after the Empire collapsed. TNE, set after the fall of the Empire, explicitly claims that the Imperial Credit is still the principle currency. The explanation: well, there sure are a lot of 'em lying about. Averted as well as played straight. The Imperium is strong enough to justify having a large influence on currency. But other worlds often mint their own. : The Azhanti are a
that are rewarded by
according to the challenges they seek out and overcome. Naturally there are other
but these have a religion centered on seeking glory. : In Classic Traveller Double Adventure 6 Divine Intervention and MegaTraveller supplement Vilani and Vargr: The Coreward Races. : Brubeck's, a high prestige bar that advertises itself as a nostalgic throwback to the -style bar. There are also the Altikrigarnir soldier's clubs where veterans of both the Sword Worlds and of Aslan clans in Darrian service visit , presumably to congratulate
they both are. : The Imperium is generally viewed favorably, but this is a government that grew largely through conquest and isn't afraid to put down rebellions hard. : The IISS. It is an exploration and intelligence arm of the Third Imperium. Loosely similar to a combination of
and the . Other analogies can be thought of. : Takes place in the
of the Classic Adventure 3 Twilight's Peak. : A major theme of the game is that there are very few clear-cut "good guys" and "bad guys", just people who may do good and bad things. : One of the ways the Imperium expanded. : Averted, but many of the different
can interbreed, with the inhabitants of the Third Imperium being largely a mixture of Vilani (humans from Vland) and Solomani (humans from Earth). Most of the Darrians are actually a mixture of the original Darrian race and Solomani humans as well.
The Third Imperium is more a straightforward Empire (albeit a semi-benevolent one), but still has elements of this including taking time to flatter substates for ideological and policy reasons. The Sylean Federation went from that into the Third Imperium under Emperor Cleon I, by utilizing the methods of a . : In one sourcebook, a story is told of some uplifted sapient dolphins who helped bring to light a scandal involving the secret enslavement of an intelligent species by a megacorporation. : A typical NPC has a good chance of being this. : Traveller itself. This is easily underestimated because RPGs are a pop-art. However the detail of this setting is even more than that of
and the flexibility is greater. : This is a popular background for games. There are a large number of
available for hire. : A hologram of a waterfall in Classic Adventure 2 Research Station Gamma and food in Classic Adventure 3 Twilight's Peak. : Classic Traveller, Double Adventure he Chamax Plague/Horde. In the , the alien population of a planet was close to being wiped out by a
species called the Chamax. They decided their only chance was to build a fleet of
to carry all of the remaining aliens to other star systems. : The Aslan Fteirle code. : Vargr. "Uplifted" wolves who act like, well, wolves. : A possible attack form for alien animals. In the Darthanon Queen adventure the randomly created Dyson monster could have it. : Mentioned in several Classic supplements, the
adventure Energy Curve and the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #2 article "The Bestiary". : Many varieties, all of which are descended from humans transplanted from Earth by the , apart from the Solomani who are descended from the humans left on Earth, i.e. us. : Both averted and played straight. In the backstory, the Vilani were first in many technological developments (especially the jump drive), but advanced extremely slowly compared to the Solomani, who were ahead of them in some areas when first contact occurred and within 200 years had outpaced them in everything. It's a cultural thing, though, as both races are biologically humans. A few thousand years later the Third Imperium, a mixture of the Vilani and Solomani, is more technologically advanced than all of its neighbors except possibly the Hivers. That includes two neighbors, the Solomani and Zhodani, who are both biologically human. So Imperial humans have in fact advanced more swiftly than the other races. : One item of jewelry called Denuli gems is exceedingly rare and harvesting them is banned in the Imperium. The reason? It turns out that they are the eggs of . : Vargr view humans this way especially Zhodani (which are regarded that way by other humans). Humans can build large abstract societies which attract
from their members, whereas Vargr have trouble giving loyalty to anything but a . As a result humans sometimes appear to Vargr the way a
appears to humans. : Humans are the only species to rule multiple empires, not counting the Vargr's chronic inability to hold a government together. : All three Imperiums were/are ruled by humans. : Most of the known 'verse is dominated by the three major races of humans (Solomani, Vilani, and Zhodani). The Ancients apparently felt that
too, as they transplanted them throughout known space. : The Solomani have long had a far greater martial reputation than the other two major human races and the Third Imperium's military traditions are largely Solomani. To the extent that 57th-century Imperial Marines aren't that different in culture and ethos from the 20th-century US Marine Corps and Royal Marines, especially in TNE. The Solomani are really the top predators of the Traveller universe. The Vilani and Zho are less warlike and their collectivism is crippling. Vargr are on the other extreme too chaotic, and Aslan too clannish. Vargr make good pirates but bad soldiers and while Aslan have a lot of individually skilled warriors they are limited in their capacity to systemitize warfare. This is speaking of Solomani military tradition rather than the Solomani as a race. The Solomani and Vilani are by the time of the Third Imperium so interbred that the difference is more of identity rather than race. Neither of these marry Zhodani very often as the Psi thing leaves them out on their own, effectively alien and more alien to other humans than Aslan or Vargr. All that said, non-Terran humans usually are no wusses themselves, even if not at the T and a number are . In Traveller you really do not want to get on Humaniti's bad side. : Low berths: a low-cost way to see the galaxy, but not without danger. The crews and passengers of passenger ships sometimes play "the low lottery" - a Cr 10 bet on how many low berth passengers will survive the trip. If the winner doesn't survive the Captain of the ship gets the money. : Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #19 Amber Zone "Pride of the Lion". An anti-alien bigot captures a group of Aslan and organizes a hunt, with the Aslan as the quarry. : Ships can go into jumpspace and not come out. Or come out at
or hundreds of years later, with only a week passing aboard ship, or vice versa. Naturally enough, spacers have all kinds of superstitions regarding jumpspace. In most editions, close exposure to jumpspace (usually resulting from battle damage to the hull and the grid that forms the "jump bubble" of normal space around the ship) and its? different laws of physics can cause insanity and other bad effects in sophonts. : Jump routes are limited mainly by the presence of fuel stops. As most ships can only jump one parsec at a time that means that most traffic follows places where the stars are one parsec apart. A ship equipped for the purpose can obtain fuel at a gas giant without landing in port. It is still necessary to be in-system.&&&& 3: I - L& : World names in the setting include Louzy, Asmodeus, Entrope, Frenzie, Skull, and Torment - and that's just in the Spinward Marches, the most detailed sector. Other sectors have worlds like Exile, Doom, Hell, Dusty Death, or just plain Death. : The Smallarms System in the Classic supplement SORAG by Paranoia Press. The Coalition Multipurpose Weapon System in The New Era supplement Smash and Grab.
Classic edition. In Adventure 13 Signal GK, the
will encounter a naturally occurring silicon computer chip that has become intelligent. The New Era had some sort of vaguely explained Virus that could turn ANY sufficiently advanced computer into an AI, usually . : Free Traders. Who are constantly in a desperate struggle to survive by their wits, on the frontier. A Free Trader centered game is one of the most popular because of its flexibility and the ease with which a small number of characters can fit in. It can have recognizable similarities to
in some ways, but it is set in an even more complex universe. While the
variety described above is a favorite possibility, there are several types of
that can be imagined. : The Vilani prejudice against technical advance was the result of a deliberate decision made long ago. When one realizes that they already had an
of thousands of worlds and enough technology to give men the power of , one can understand. After all, they had plenty of wealth and power, there might actually be some things that
and their biggest threat was
as they had already eliminated all outside threats. This actually worked for awhile. Unfortunately the Vilani ran into folk from an
who saw no need to play by their rules? : The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #19 article "Parachutes" has complete rules for using parachutes. : The Hivers eat rather messily, and they tend to enjoy what humans would regard as extremely fragrant food. : Subverted in an event in Classic Supplement 2 Animal Encounters. : Classic was one of the few games where your character could die before you even get out of character creation. More recent editions, understandably, make it optional (Mongoose Traveller calls it "Iron Man" rules). : Many of the weapons used aren't that much different from ours. It is
that a supersonic lead slug kills you just as dead at tech level 15 as at tech level 7. Space combat is the exception, as conventional projectiles are trivially easy to dodge at the distances and speeds involved. : The little-used "Right of Assassination", established after
allows a high noble to personally slay the emperor and claim the Iridium Throne, with Moot approval. Archduke Dulinor's attempt to take the throne this way without prior Moot approval led to the Rebellion/Final War of MegaTraveller/The New Era and eventually . : Trang spray in Double Adventure 3 Death Station and standard knockout gas in Adventure 8 Prison Planet. : Twilight's Peak. While traveling on the world of Fulacin, the adventurers can find an octagonal structure with a light in the window. If they encounter it at night, the light will lead them to the building. : The Luugiir in Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #18, the Oegongong in Challenge magazine #27 and the muqath in FASA's Rescue on Galatea. : The computer game Traveller Megatraveller 2: Quest of the Ancients had an large number of sidequests, including
and hunting wanted criminals for the bounty money. : Anagathics, frequently banned or controlled. Require monthly doses or the character is forced to make an aging roll. : The Island subsectors in the great Rift were these before a misjump by an Imperial cruiser brought them jump technology. : Loads. Apart from artifacts of the
there are any number of other lost races who left strange artifacts. The Darrians still have some reaaally nice toys from their first interstellar civilization but they can barely maintain them, let alone build more. They have figured out how to
again, though. : In the supplement The Traveller Adventure, adventure "Kidnapped on Aramanx". The villains who kidnapped Lisa Fireaux demand that Gvoudzon deliver the ransom so they can kidnap him as well.&&&& 4: M - P& : Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society #23 Amber Zone "The Birthday Plot" and The MegaTraveller Journal #3, adventure "Rapid Repo". : The Terrans employed missile boats during the Interstellar Wars that were basically mobile missile launch platforms. Most Vilani warships in the same conflict used missiles as their main armament. : Forbidden in the Imperium but sometimes done underground. It is not said what slaves can do that machines can't (other than
of course). In the Sword Worlds capital crimes are sometimes punished with enslavement. For a little more insight into the Imperium's stance: Slavery is heavily punished, 99 out of 100 times. That last time (namely on a planet in the Spinward Marches) dismantling the slavery system that evolved on the planet would have caused more misery and death than leaving it in place, and so the Imperium allowed it, but under very heavy supervision to ensure that abuses didn't happen. : TNE gave player characters a ridiculously high number of
relative to the damage of even the heavier weapons in the setting. When you can survive a direct hit from an , it's time for . : This is the
, to the extent that "manipulator" is the most exalted title in their society and conspiracy theories about their activities reach the level of in-universe . : Commerce in the Imperium is dominated by these. They are probably best used as opposition, but the players can have a
experience trying to run one. : The Zhodani are noted for making extensive use of warbots in their armies. Hivers use lots of drones in space combat as well, since Hivers themselves find combat unpleasant. : Most starports. : The Third Imperium, and to an extent the First and Second Imperiums as well, were founded and maintained by Merchant Princes. While the ruling class often went into more traditionally "princely" occupations like military service (especially with the Second Imperium), the role of the Merchant Princes always remained an important one. : The Fifth Frontier War for Classic Traveller, the ongoing Rebellion for MegaTraveller, and the "Empress Wave" for The New Era (though it never got very far). Later editions don't have much of a metaplot, really. : Most of the editions except the GURPS version use the Metric system. : Most notably Ihaiti (landless Aslan). Land is a biological obsession to Aslan males, and being landless makes for loss of status. Thus Ihaiti fleets are always travelling and have a reputation for not worrying about who is in the way. Often though they make a peaceful arrangement with a planet's inhabitants. Many planets have room to spare, and some are eager to have a
as allies to keep away their neighbors. : Due to the limitations of the Jump Drive, only a tiny portion of the Milky Way has been explored by the end of the Third Imperium, and other galaxies are far, far out of reach. Even the Zhodani core expeditions, which they have been sending periodically for the past five thousand years, have yet to reach the core of the galaxy. : One option, though often held to be difficult to arrange for an RPG, given the strict hierarchies of a military system.
campaigns are more popular than campaigns centered on regular armed forces, though these remain an option. : the Zhodani embrace this art, the Imperials outlaw it. Given the considerable advantages it gives in competition for power arguably a ruling class must either do one or the other. : The Darrians are a
that has scientists, scholars, or artists as its heroes instead of warriors. They are also some of the toughest in the Spinward Marches. : At the
level. The jump drive, artificial gravity, reactionless thrusters, and psionic powers are usually handled fairly realistically. Some of the things the Ancients could do, however, are on the
level. : In Double Adventure 5 The Chamax Plague, one of the
who accompanies the
on their mission is Cal Yotisk. The referee is encouraged to use him as the first victim of the alien Chamax to show the
what they're up against. : On the other hand, the Zhodani might be doing this as well. : There is currently a Kickstarter campaign to fund one. And it is AWESOME. Take a look: : The Aslan are divided into many different clans with their own parochial customs, though they do have an underlying shared culture and language. The Vargr have no rhyme or reason to their organization. Just about every variety of culture or government system can be found somewhere in the Vargr Extents. The Vargr are also notably multi-lingual. The Third Imperium is also very diverse, with a variety of different government and cultural types. You can easily find small rural anarchies one parsec over from oppressive urban dictatorships, or even on the same planet. Some of the alien cultures work actively towards promoting a homogenous culture in the space they control, such as the Hivers with their embassies, the Zhodani with their psionic ruling caste, and the K'Kree with their religious quest for a carnivore-free universe. : Classic Traveller has Administration (dealing with bureaucracies), Bribery, Carousing (being sociable, mingling), Instruction (teaching), Interrogation, Leadership (controlling groups), Liaison (Administration plus Streetwise), Recruiting (hiring personnel) and Streetwise (dealing with the lower classes, workers and the underworld). : Starships can travel from 1 to 6 parsecs per week by traveling
in discrete jumps. A starship with a Jump-1 drive jumps 1 parsec at a time, taking 6 weeks to travel the distance a Jump-6 ship can go in one week, and so on. : Imperial Marines are trained in both firearms and the cutlass, probably because it's useful to have a weapon that won't puncture a starship's hull during boarding actions. Aslan warriors often are equally proficient with firearms or bladed weapons, and K'kree warriors like to use pole-arms as well as modern weapons. : All of the planets have names (of course) and sometimes we get to hear the story behind the name. : The Solomani Confederation, with its doctrine that , is usually portrayed this way. An
Traveller supplement Rim of Fire
this into ethnic nationalism, not racism. The old portrayal of the Confederation it was easy to tell
: The Ancients left all sorts of
lying around when they bit the dust. Lost Technology is actually
in Traveler, as having loads of high-tech weaponry and even a few super-weapons lying around charted space hasn't do When they visited their moon for the first time, the Zhodani found a genetically-tailored bacteriological weapon was waiting for them left over from the Ancient war (apparently it had been dropped on their moon by mistake). It caused the fall of their civilization and killed two-thirds of them within about 10 years, and completely wiped out their homeworld's Droyne population. The Vilani civilization couldn't get started until the constantly-fighting Ancient juggernaut war machines finally ran down, about 200,000 years after the war ended. Aeons later, they have an instinctual fear of anything unfamiliar, to the point that they refuse to develop any technologies without spending multiple generations testing it. This even applied to ideological developments, resulting in a draconian bureaucracy that would send a North Korean planner into screaming fits - and this refusal to adapt to unforeseeable events enabled Earth to conquer them over the course of a century of repeated wars. The Darrians were given an Eden-like world where the only serious challenge would be overpopulation. To their credit they eventually created a civilization that didn't decline into cannibalistic, genocidal warfare - after hundreds of cycles of rapid overpopulation and warfare that lasted for a hundred thousand years after the Ancients had exterminated themselves in their own genocidal war. The Ancients bred the Dryone into castes to make them better servitors, but left them without the ability to select a caste without direction from their masters. After the Ancients wiped themselves out the Droyne almost went extinct as well, until they developed coyns and began using them in the casting ritual to select the caste of a maturing Droyne. Grandfather only realized that he had made the Droyne a
long after the Last War, and he "fixed" his mistake by giving them the coyns. : A possibility with the Wafer Jack augmentation though not much is made of it. : In the video game adaptation. : In Imperial territory, most starports are a section on the planet administered directly by the Imperial government, and not subject to the laws of the surrounding nation. Just outside the boundary fence on most worlds is a "startown", often an ill-kept area in which . : In Interstellar Wars the Vilani don't bother making a real effort to subjugate the Terrans because they are "just another barbarian tribe". By the time they learn differently, it is the Vilani who are being subjugated. : This was the general attitude of the Vilani Imperium after they decided they had expanded enough, thank you very much. : Nuclear dampers are TL 12 starship defenses that reduce the damage from nuclear missiles and fusion guns. Apparently by suppressing nuclear weak force. : Some of the worlds in the Imperium have just a six-digit number as a name. All of the worlds in the Imperium can also be designated by which hexagon they occupy on their sector map. : You can do better in the Imperial Navy if you have a higher Social Status characteristic. : Averted. The Third Imperium is the main
but there are other states that play that role. For instance the Sword Worlds Confederation is
Traveller volume Sword Worlds and The Terran Confederation was definitely a Federation long before The Imperium. Even the states that most resemble
have "Federation-like" aspects to them. : The Hivers. Any Hiver can reproduce with any other Hiver, and they're very matter-of-fact about it. "Romance" is one of the alien concepts that Hivers have trouble understanding. : A PGMP or FGMP can, the rules note that technically any firearm can, but it's only at those levels of firepower that it's worth keeping track of. : During the Interstellar Wars (and as seen in the board game Imperium), the Vilani Empire focused on long-ranged but less-accurate missiles as the primary weapons of their ships. Terran ships focused on short-range but more powerful beam lasers. The deliberate exception to this rule were the Terran missile boats, which were cheap and small ships designed to provide missile cover fire while their other ships closed in to beam range.
The original Interstellar Wars, between the Vilani who were careful, venerable, but something of control freaks and the Solomani (Terrans) who were innovative, freedom-loving but rather reckless. The Solomani won but couldn't figure out how to run the empire they just conquered. This brought about
which lasted until the rise of the Thi