>So how many of you still run Traveller with actual human gunners, and how many just assume the whole thing is computerized to the point that they're no longer necessary?

IME, running with human gunners is just cheap compared to the costs of ship-computer programs, and robots that would do the job at a level that would quite likely be inferior. A gunner's salary is 2000 Cr/month - but a combat or servitor drone is somewhere in the 100k range. Fire control software is measured in megacredits. 

So yes, we're running with gunners, provided we have any spare staterooms.

(I sometimes suspect that the Imperium has a secret agency whose only purpose is to suppress robotics and computers research. So humans don't become obsolete.)

On 11 July 2016 at 22:31, Jim Vassilakos <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Traveller seems to have a lot of that.

Here's another one for you all: Fast Food?

Apparently a fully-automated fast food restaurant just opened in San Francisco (although I suspect there's still a human behind the scenes busily loading raw foodage into the various machines): http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/robot-restaurant-opens-in-san-francisco-10492720.html

So how many of you have fully-automated eateries in your Traveller campaigns?

And here's another: Trade

Some time back, I was contemplating running a standard merchant campaign (which, of course, I never got around to actually doing), and my idea was that clustered around the starport would be various brokerages where guys (and gals) would sit in offices coordinating the flow of goods from one place to another. After all, the merchant captain (or ship's business manager) wouldn't have time to go wheeling and dealing. They'd need somebody local to arrange for container contracts and whatnot. Of course, cultivating a good relationship with one or more brokers in every major port-of-call would be exceedingly important, and, of course, there would be many shysters in the business cutting themselves in for too large a percentage. Figuring out who you could trust would be an important part of doing business.

But then I thought to myself, "Wait a minute." All of this could be done more honestly and efficiently by expert systems. Under this scenario, upon entering a star system, a ship's computer would contact the starport's trade database, offering the services of it's cargo hold (and jump drive, and crew) to the highest bidder. Hence, it could be the computer telling the crew where their next destination is going to be and not the other way around. The whole process might be terribly complex, as the computer would know the exact dimensions and specifications of its cargo capacity, and so it could arrange a suite a cargos to most efficiently use the space, perhaps even writing out loading instructions (what goes in 1st, and where it goes, then what goes in 2nd, etc.). In fact, all that loading and unloading might be done entirely by robots. The captain's involvement in the whole affair might come down just just clicking the "OK" button.

So for those of you who've run campaigns involving interstellar trade, is it the first or the second scenario that most resembles your campaign universe?

And here's another one: Gunners

Given that cargo specialists could be replaced by computers, what about gunners? It seems to me that if there's anything a computer should be able do better than a human, it would be the accurate and efficient use of a weapon. The pilot ought to be able to just designate targets and let the computer figure out how to take them out. Not only would this save the cost of paying, housing, and feeding a gunner, but the ship would arguably end up winning more battles.

So how many of you still run Traveller with actual human gunners, and how many just assume the whole thing is computerized to the point that they're no longer necessary?

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