Clear the Flight Decks!
Flyers: Members of the Close Orbit and Airspace Control Command (the air force) of a world. The description text includes this suggestion:
“Each character is assumed to have undergone the mustering-out procedure, although the Referee may elect to use them as if they are still employed in some form of flight activity.”
I know these days we're all about Unmanned and Remotely Piloted vehicles. In the Far Future, however, it is contrary to the spirit of Adventure to let the drones do all the work. Strap into your cockpit and let's examine this career choice.
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Unless you have a copy of Striker, Classic Traveller gives you very little direction on how to employ aircraft, especially combat aircraft, in adventures.
The MegaTraveller supplement COACC has design tables for aircraft at several tech levels, and these can be easily back-converted into Classic.
In the OTU and in my Church and Empire setting, there are many worlds with the right atmosphere & tech level combinations for aircraft to be a common mode of transportation. Having Travellers familiar with aircraft operation can be very handy.
Career figures
Enlistment is set at 6+, not a high bar. The STR & DEX mods are not difficult to get. Survival is 5+. This throw is comparable to the other COTI careers. The DEX DM comes in at 8+. This is one of the easiest Survival DMs to get.
Commission and Promotion are modified by EDU 6+/8+. Again, not difficult to achieve. Easiest DMs of all the COTI careers. Combine reasonable safety and high probability of promotion and the Flyers is a career you should stay in.
It seems reasonable to me for a Flyer to go for 5 or 6 terms. Having said that, the 40 example Flyers average only 3.8 terms, despite two 7-terms and one 8-term Flyers.
Reenlistment is 6+, which is higher than most of the COTI services. Still not a difficult throw.
Skills!
Skill offerings are a grab bag.
physical characteristic improvements
Aircraft, 1 slot on the first Advanced Education table
Vehicle, 3 slots (see below)
fighting skills: Brawling, Gun Combat. Why not also allow Heavy Weapons?
Vacc suit – which makes sense in combination with another skill, below
social skills: Carousing, Gambling, Admin, Leader
technical skills: Mechanical, Electronics, Computer, JoT, Gravitics*
To my surprise, this career offers Pilot skill! Flyers can learn how to handle the Big Ships. I had not ever noticed that inclusion before.
In TTB: aircraft are a cascade option for the Vehicle skill. So why should the Flyer service not allow aircraft as a cascade from Vehicle?
Why does this Service so limit the access to aircraft pilot training? By comparison the Doctors career has SIX skill slots for Medical, and the Hunter career has four slots for Hunting. Also that one slot is not on the restrictive Advanced Education table. Any Flyer, commissioned or not can pick it up. Odd.
*I think that the Gravitics skill is overly specialized – it is the repair skill for contra-grav vehicles. Skip it and just use Mechanical or Electronics. Furthermore, the Vehicle skill description states that the skill can be employed in “repairing and maintaining a vehicle”. As a skill gravitics is redundant.
I note that there is no Parachute skill either. Again, not needed. That is addressed in JTAS # 19 in the Ship's Locker segment. Anyone can parachute, but some careers and skills will make for more 'familiarity', and thus success. The Flyer career certainly should have advantages when it comes to knowing how to jump out of a (perfectly good) airplane.
Looking over the 40 examples of Flyers, I see a decent spread of mostly technical skills. A few Flyers have skill-3 in Aircraft, and one had skill-4. Beyond that it was all skill-1 in a handful of skills.
The Swag!
What benefits do Flyers get? No airplanes. Boo. Passages, EDU or SOC boost, and travel vouchers. Nothing interesting.
Funds are also not impressive. It stands to reason that they get less than Doctors or Diplomats. A Flyer might come out with enough to pay for an ATV, but not for even the least expensive airplane.
Why can't a Flyer muster out with an aircraft, like Scouts can get a scout/courier?
Conclusion
It seems unlikely you'll get a Douglas Bader or Pete Mitchell going through the Flyer career. But you may get lucky!
As I have argued before, huge piles of skills are not necessary for successful adventuring. It's really in how you play the character you end up with.
Create a Flyer character today!
Leave a comment with your favorite high-flying pilot from fantastic fiction
Image Credit: Pixabay
second image: Pixabay
Excellent analysis as always. As for why no aircraft on mustering out: maybe because the MO tables are oriented towards "items useful to traveller adventures", and an aircraft might bind a PC to a single world?
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