> On Thu, Oct 02, 2003 at 11:00:03PM -0700, The GZG Digest wrote:
> set _that_, and then scale up for a star, gas giants, etc. And
Also would be useful to remember the Lagrange 1 point (between the Earth and
Moon, or the Sun and the Earth, &cet.), where the local gravitational force is
essentially null. There would be a region around this point where the net
force would be beneath the threshold you specify. These points exist
throughout the solar system, and are in constant motion! Have fun... :-)
(No, I don't actually suggest that one keep a solar system simulator going at
all hours, but it would be possible to simulate the odd planetary assault,
made at an L1 point to catch the defending fleet napping; or a fast, targeted
raid by a numerically inferior attacker)
Cheers,
Michael
> Also would be useful to remember the Lagrange 1 point (between the
Good throught! Hadn't occurred to me at all--you win today's Sneaky
Player award.
What I'd intended to ask originally was "how far out do you feel the Jump
Limit should be from the Sun", meaning "how much of the system has to be on
the map for travelling through normal space" and looking for a response like
.5AU or 2.5 AU or 7 AU or whatever. I can calculate the finagle factor (ie I
can get Roger or Noam or someone to calculate it <grin>), I'm just looking for
opinions on where it should be.
***
What I'd intended to ask originally was "how far out do you feel the Jump
Limit should be from the Sun", meaning "how much of the system has to be on
the map for travelling through normal space" and looking for a response like
.5AU or 2.5 AU or 7 AU or whatever. I can calculate the finagle factor (ie I
can get Roger or Noam or someone to calculate it <grin>), I'm just looking for
opinions on where it should be.
***
While assuming strong variation between systems, my campaigns, mostly just
designs, assumed the entire system for some distance out, was non-FTL,
but I also assumed difference between tactical and strategic movement, similar
to the way BattleFleet Mars was run.
This would give defense pretty much the ability to meet anything 'incoming',
or to choose to leave...
You have to have certain other rules to make combat likely.
The_Beast
> On Fri, Oct 03, 2003 at 10:50:43AM -0400, laserlight@quixnet.net wrote:
:-)
> Good throught! Hadn't occurred to me at all--you win today's Sneaky
Well, the Lagrange points aren't exactly points of neutral gravity; they're
points of balance between gravity and centripetal force. (And
L1-L3 are "peak" points, i.e. something put there will drift away, where
L4-L5 are "troughs" and will correct small drifts.)
There is, for any pair of bodies, a point where the gravitational
attractions of the two cancel out - the ratio being that of the square
roots of the masses. For Earth-Sun, I make this about 260,000km from the
centre of Earth.
Whether this condition of space allows you to jump in or out is another
matter. My own inclination is that this sort of thing is what one's
aiming for when attempting a jump within the limit - a small patch of
space where conditions might be suitable. But it's small enough that it's
still very risky...
> Roger Burton West wrote:
:-)
> >
One additional note, Lagrange points are not "points" at all, but vast areas
(by vast I mean larger than Earth; I had the rough area for the L2 position
once but have forgotten it). Going off of FT specific and into a side note on
the real, the JWST (what the Next Generation Space telescope is now called)
will be put out at the L2 position. It won't stay in one place, but rather
will draw out lazy figure 8s. The L2 area is 4x the orbit of the Moon is to
Earth, in the opposite direction to that of the Sun (I have a rough scale jpg
that I put together earlier this spring that I've used for several poster
papers and presentations on another project I'm involved in; you
can see this jpg at: ftp://ftp.stsci.edu/tmp/kochte/earth_sun_L2.jpg)
Also, another note you'll want to maybe consider is that the Lagrange
"points", being a balanced area as Roger described above, will have collected
"debris" over time. Very likely nothing overly large (like
an Earth-killer asteroid), but enough to make a nuisance of itself for
small craft (and potentially affecting spaceships jumping in/out of
a system using the area?)
> There is, for any pair of bodies, a point where the gravitational
And at that distance you'll need to add in the effects of the Moon.
;-)
Mk