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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 9290830" data-attributes="member: 6779310">Mongoose has a different task system than any prior edition, two different construction systems (one per edition) for Adventure Class ships, and two different Battle Class Ship systems. The two Mongoose editions have different skill lists from any prior editions and from each other.Character gen is also significantly different in the details than any non-mongoose edition.Many Traveller GMs are not sensitive to system mechanics, and find it "compatible" with Classic and Mega; from my point of view that's a grand delusion, in that what they're actually doing is converting on the fly. It doesn't even use the same levels of difficulty labels as any prior Traveller.Any design done under MGT isn't a legal design under any other version; that's a general truth of Traveller in general - no two editions design sequences match.CT had 4 published and one unpublished design system. Those being Bk2-77, Bk5-79, Bk5-80, Bk2-81. The unpublished seems to have been an early draft of '79. Both Book 2 systems are very close, but the drive performance table is different between the two, and neither is forumlaic (but both are almost formulaic). Both Bk 5's switch to percentage based designs, and allow much larger ships, but some differences in weapon sizes, and massive differences in how the ratings are calculated. Both also grandfather in CT-77 drives... Several published ships clearly were built with the unpublished system, as they incorporated items not in Bk2, but were published before 1980, and have systems not introduced mechanically until then.MT (MegaTraveller) is ratings compatible with CT Bk5-80...  but the design sequence itself isn't.TNE is derived from MT, but is significantly different, and has a much different ruleset, and the combat ratings are incompatible.T4 used the same design sequences as TNE, but changed the combat ratings... at least in FF&S. The corebook had a badly done subset thereof. And a fan done (but officially approved) different subset of it.T20 used the Bk5-80 rules as a baseline, changed the computer rules, added a number of new options... but remains combat ratings compatible with Bk5-80, and thus also with MT.Mongoose 1st is based upon book 2-77, but also includes a few items from Bk5-79...Mongoose 1st High Guard is clearly grounded in Bk5-79, with similar major flaws.Mongoose 2nd core is closer to  Bk5-80... but not quite the same.T5 is entirely a new design sequence with hints of CT-bk5-80 and Bk2-81...GT has its own, GURPS Vehicles derived, design system.CT had no formal task system. Combat had a standard 2d6+mods for 8+... with mods from two tables minimum, 3 if any conditions applied. Plus a ±1 for attribute, specific numbers by weapon..MT had 5 labeled difficulty  labels. 2d6+Asset1+asset2 for TN+, TN by label. ATNE also had the same five labels, but a different mode - 1d20 ≤ (Stat+Skill)×DiffMultT4 used the same 5 labels, plus a 6th, but used (diff)d6 ≤ (Stat+Skill)T5 uses the same labels as T4, but allows difficulties to exceed the hardest label.T20 provided d20 TN's for the MT labels.GT was pure GURPS.Mongoose uses 7 labels, and they don't match the MT/TNE/T4 ones.So... as with most Traveller editions, lots of handwavium and converting on the fly has been a standard operating procedure.And then there's Cepheus - early versions were (per the author) taking the MGT 1E SRD and making it more like CT...For the rules sensitive, excepting CT77/CT81 and maybe MT, each edition is a wholly new game, and Mongoose is no different on that score.For the rules-don't-matter crowd, it's generally "close enough" to CT and MT for ready conversion on the fly... I'm definitely NOT one of those.Oh, and in Char gen? Only Mongoose has up-or-out in character gen - they combined the promotion and retention rolls into one, which no other edition did.</blockquote>

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