I agree that likely is 'the nature of the beast'... yet.... if the jump drive can be a black box just judged by its external function (not internal logic or mechanics), then so can a game product or book be judged similarly (by the output, not the causes)... ;0) 

Agreed, but this makes it incumbent upon us to clearly understand that "external function."

For example, jump drive wasn't "designed" primarily to make ~actual~ spacecraft move from one (two-dimensional) solar system to another; it was ~designed~ to create a certain sort of ~game play~. To me, this means our ~post hoc~ efforts to understand "how jump drive--or any other sci-fi macguffin in Traveller--works" should be focused on how it works for ~game play~ rather than (primarily) on how it works in terms of "science" or "engineering."

Sure, that makes our efforts more difficult. I (like to believe I) know a bit more about "engineering" than I know about what the designer of some particular element of Traveller--and the collection of folks who have since added to or modified it along the way--"had in her head" about the intended effect upon ~game play~. More poignantly, an emphasis upon "engineering" seems to provide a more concrete way to distinguish between "my" impression of "how it works" and "your" impression which might be a bit different. It's easier to argue that my interpretation is "better engineered" than your interpretation than it is to argue that it "better supports game play."

But it doesn't seem to me like that's the most appropriate or fruitful approach toward better ~game play~.

The macguffin works the way it needs to work to facilitate the sort of ~game play~ intended by the designers. Subsequent takes on the macguffin should also "work" in this way. Oftentimes, especially in (the two-dimensional macro-universe of) Traveller, this might end up being rather "unscientific" (but perhaps still quite "science-fictional").

This also means that "how it works" IMTU might be ~different~ from "how it works" in yours, because the respective ~game play~ is different. Thus, before we can talk about "how it works" we may need to spend some time talking about the intended ~game play~ the macguffin is meant to facilitate.

Sure, it can be fun to look at some bit of Traveller technology from an "engineering" perspective but in an important way that's sort of like using your Martian Metals 15-mm "Zhodani Strike Force" miniatures as replacement pawns for your chess set (or vice versa). . . .

Oh, BTW, big fan of Victoria!

Big fan of Ottawa too--at least time time of year. ;)

Cheers,

David