Dear Folks -

Phil wrote:
" BTW, just how did a TL8 Imp mech div beat the crap out of aTL8 Zho mech
div? Did the Zho's promise not to use psionics?"

They would have had a few embedded psis (Zhodani officers) but probably not
enough to tip the battle.

Their serious psionic forces would have been deployed elsewhere - probably
Efate - to spearhead the primary attacks on the Imperium, not a minor brush
war on Esalin. Even then, Imperial forces of TL 12+ are hardened against
psionics, so they are useful but not as overwhelming as portrayed in
Imperial tri-dee entertainment programs. ;-)  ;-)

>It's why I think incl that sort of 'magic' in a sci-fi product was such a
big mistake.

See:

- The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester, 1953)
- Star Rangers (Andre Norton, 1953)
- The Vulcans of Star Trek (1966)
- Gil of the A.R.M in Death by Ecstasy and other novels (Larry Niven, 1968+)
- Earl Boen as Selmar, the psychic alien in "Cosmic Whizz Kid" (Buck Rogers
TV series, 1980)

...for a bunch of reasons why psionics is an accepted s-f trope.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
David "Hyphen" Jaques-Watson ..at.. Beowulf Down (Tavonni/Vilis/SM 1520)
http://www.tip.net.au/~davidjw                    xxxxxx@pcug.org.au
"I file things in historical order, with a hashing algorithm of gravity"