Holy Bovine said:
Some questions - Did they include any Prestige Classes in the main rulebook? (or do the 4 'service' classes fill this role?)
Yes, there are 3 -- big game hunter, ace pilot, and TAS field reporter. I've already thought of a few I want to add that would make it feel a bit more like the old rules... commando and military officer.
How does weapon damage stack up against characters 'stamina' and 'lifeblood' points - ie can a hero take a bazooka blast and walk away?
Unarmored? Not likely. A human character has lifeblood equal to their con score. I don't see a bazooka per se, but for example, a HEAP grenade does 4d6 and a frag grenade does 6d6. So the averages frag grenade does 21 points of damage. This all goes to lifeblood AND stamina if you don't have armor. You will likely be mortrally wounded if you are not wearing armor regardless of level in this system.
What kinds of weaponry are detailed? I always though it was 'different' that Traveller stuck with standard bullet-based weaponry for the most part. Have they included laser guns without the need for huge power packs? 
Pretty much what you are used to. Laser weapons, etc., require big power packs... though once you get to fusion weapons and the like, it tends to be worth it.
Any details on starships re: combat/construction? I remember the old Book 5 : High Guard that almost took a math degree to figure out starship construction - lol!
Still reading through that section -- overall pretty similar to high guard, though it does have standardized components like the old book 1-3 stuff. FWIW, I never thought high guard was that hard. Try MegaTraveller's striker-derived sequence sometime. Anyways, I'll probably post more about this this weekend.
Is there a 'monster' section for critters? Any examples?
There are not fully fleshed out monster, no. There is a section on animal encounters that lets you randomly generate creatures for encounters by the world type. Much like CT, you roll the tpye of creature randomly, and chararacteristics like world gravity and atmosphere helps determine its size and other characteristics. Creature size and type determines it base stats (which are assigned a dice range by size) and attack types, as well as several possible special attack and quality types. A sample encounter table with simplified creature statistics is provided for Regina.
