On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 02:12:50PM -0800, C. Berry wrote:
>    This is the (re)opening salvo in the great "jump torpedo" debate.
>    Summary:
>    1) Realistically speaking, in a world where self-driving cars and the
>    like are happening at TL8, not only should biological sophonts not be
>    required as crew, they should be considered hazardous to the smooth
>    operation of a ship.
>    2) The Traveller esthetic is one which explicitly rejects pervasive AI,
>    transhumanism, and the like, so to keep the feel you have to ignore
>    (1).
>    3) Traveller canon has examples (e.g. "Leviathan", IIRC) of
>    jump-capable fully autonomous vessels, but these don't show up in other
>    places where they would seem a perfect fit (most notably, X-Boats). So
>    canon is at best a poor guide.
>

You can do what you want in your universe. In my opinion slavish
dedication to the canon rules doesn't necessarily make for a great
campaign. Having said that, you should carefully think through what
you want with an eye towards for unintended consequences. Were I you,
some questions I'd ask are:

     How will a self-piloting starship react in the face of a pirate
     attack?

     How will self-piloting starships affect trade between worlds?

--
Chris

      __o          "All I was trying to do was get home from work."
    _`\<,_           -Rosa Parks
___(*)/_(*)____.___o____..___..o...________ooO..._____________________
Christopher Sean Hilton                    [chris/at/vindaloo/dot/com]