On 28 Mar 2016, at 19:03, Michael McKinney <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

> Well from what I understand of Traveller fuel requirements, yes energy is abundant,
> but cheap in regards to time and vulnerability is not accurate. Ships that use such
> engines routinely are fueling up at gas giants, and gas giants are a fighting/conflict
> point between powers in Traveller because they are the vital oil fields of space.

This isn't really true: at best it only applies to a few systems and then only if you use basic system generation and there's a war on.

Most systems have sufficient tech that all is needed is a hydrogen source, so the oceans, atmosphere or ice caps of the mainworld will provide sufficient portable fuel and the local star an abundance of additional energy. If there is a starport then an abundance of fuel is readily available.

It is only if you can't or won't pay for the fuel (eg no starport) that you need to worry about gas giants or the hydrographic percentage of the mainworld and in practice there will be many ice comets, ice giants, gas giants and ocean worlds in any system.

Now you could interdict all of those with SDBs but if you can't give a single Azanti High Lightning cruiser pause for thought, why bother? If you can, you aren't in a small Imperium.

Phil Kitching