Of the various versions currently available, which do people feel is best? How is Mongoose's Traveller compared to others, for example?
RPGPundit
Rules wise Mongoose compares favorably to Classic Traveller. It got a bit more detail where it makes sense and it returns to being a scif-fi toolkit like Classic Traveller rather than rules for the 3rd Imperium setting.
If you like the flexibility and detail of GURPS then GURPS Travellers is a top notch line. Even if you don't there a lot of good info in their books about the 3rd Imperium.
MegaTraveller and Traveller New Era have more detailed rules than Mongoose/Classic.
The only edition to really stay away from is Traveller 4e.
I agree with estar's estimation on Mongoose Traveller and Classic Traveller. Both are very good and are comlplimentary to one another as game systems.
However, Megatraveller looks like a mess to me, except for the cinematic nugget system for designing and implementing adventures - that was so golden I use it in every game I run at some point.
Traveller 4 gets more of a bad rap than it deserves. It was a mess of editing, but was more playable than Traveller TNE, which was primarily a Godsend for gearheads and frustrated engineers.
GURPS Traveller shines in its background and details of setting while the actual implementation of GURPS rules can get a bit too complicated in actual play.
d20 Traveller is one of the best adaptations of the d20 OGL to a science fiction genre that I have seen. It is a pity that the publishing company QLI was run by a douchebag who ripped off his writers and artists.
I can't say anything about HERO Traveller because I have not played it.
Now, you really do not have to choose only one version. Classic Traveller, Megatraveller, and Traveller TNE are all available on CD-ROM. Each CD-ROM is the price of a current high-end hardbound game book. Since a large majority of the information in Traveller is compatable and portable across different versions, each one builds upon the next to form a vast library of information to draw upon.
The Traveller CD-ROMs can be found at the Far Future Enterprises website (http://www.farfuture.net/), along with some interesting free Traveller downloads.
EDIT: I should probably say that I prefer Mongoose Traveller supported by Classic Traveller to give a definitive answer.
For me, MegaTraveller, Mongoose Traveller, and T20 are the best for various reasons. And in fact, I use Mongoose Traveller for most stuff but graft on T20 ship building.
Mongoose Traveller has the best chargen, but I'm not too fond of shipbuilding and am really not fond of MongT High Guard. MongT High Guard scales much worse than even classic Traveller High Guard.
Mongoose Traveller mercenary is also sort of dumb other than chargen options. If you are going to be running military games with MongT, I recommend you pick up the Central Supply Catalog as your second purchase. It's the gear book that MongT mercenary should have been and wasn't.
T20 has the best ship building and ship combat. Some chargen stuff makes more sense than MT & CT, but chargen is painful.
MegaTraveller has the most robust, comprehensive, yet easy to use task systems, though Mongoose compares favorably and is plenty usable in that department. Chargen is fun but messy, and shipbuild is comprehensive and painful (not to mention, where most of the errata criticism actually lies.)
Classic Traveller probably has the best selection of adventures, but I find character generation, task handling, and combat are outclassed by its derivatives in various ways. As mentioned, it's High Guard book still stands out to me as one of the better shipbuilding and space combat systems of the series except perhaps for the much villified T20.
T4 had a nice, clean chargen system, but the task system was weak.
I'll pretty much echo the sentiments so far. Mongoose Traveller is pretty close to Classic Traveller, cleaned up and tweaked in a few places. You can't go wrong with either.
T5 is
I really like Mongoose Traveller. The core book is really all you need, the supplements just improve upon it. CT is good, but once you hit Book 4 and above, there is definite power creep.
My version is a heavily-houseruled Classic Traveller with bits of Mongoose Trav and Starter Trav thrown in. I even printed and assembled my own rulebooks for my group (mine are LWBs - Little White Books) using the FFE CD-ROMs as a base.
Thank you all for the advice, fellas.
Quote from: danbuter;420152CT is good, but once you hit Book 4 and above, there is definite power creep.
If you are going to use CT, I would recommend character generation using Book 1 and Supplement 4 (Citizens of the Imperium) only. You can currently have all you need in PDF format for $2 on RPGNow (this (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=80190&affiliate_id=72299) and this (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=80146&affiliate_id=72299)).