All the various Traveller systems are good, but it's the world-building that makes them interesting. Most follow Classic Traveller; they have a very stable and semi-feudal interstellar Imperium as the backdrop.
Megatraveller is "The Decline and Fall of the Imperium" during a multi-sided civil war. Some people found it a depressing idea, but it did open up all sorts of scenarios . My group enjoyed fighting petty warlords, rescuing refugees, and setting up safe havens.
Traveller: the New Era is set several decades AFTER the fall of the Imperium and has a big problem with plausibility. The final collapse of the Imperium was brought about by a sort of AI rebellion. It has THE VIRUS which can add (evil and/or eccentric) Artificial Intelligence to any computer or robot. It gets worse. The simplest piece of electronics might secretly contain VIRUS "eggs" and could infect a more capable computer. The mechanism of producing AI was... not plausible. I suspect that most referees changed that particular part of the background.
However, TNE has one really important characteristic: TNE was wonderful for the gearheads. I spent far too much time playing with the supplement "Fire, Fusion and Steel"; it had rules for designing everything. I also recommend the 'Reformation Coalition Equipment Guide'.
Megatraveller is "The Decline and Fall of the Imperium" during a multi-sided civil war. Some people found it a depressing idea, but it did open up all sorts of scenarios . My group enjoyed fighting petty warlords, rescuing refugees, and setting up safe havens.
Traveller: the New Era is set several decades AFTER the fall of the Imperium and has a big problem with plausibility. The final collapse of the Imperium was brought about by a sort of AI rebellion. It has THE VIRUS which can add (evil and/or eccentric) Artificial Intelligence to any computer or robot. It gets worse. The simplest piece of electronics might secretly contain VIRUS "eggs" and could infect a more capable computer. The mechanism of producing AI was... not plausible. I suspect that most referees changed that particular part of the background.
However, TNE has one really important characteristic: TNE was wonderful for the gearheads. I spent far too much time playing with the supplement "Fire, Fusion and Steel"; it had rules for designing everything. I also recommend the 'Reformation Coalition Equipment Guide'.