Okay, I'm relatively new to this list and I suspect it's been discussed
before, but I'd like to visit the issue of Time and Distance scale in FT...and
yes, I know the books don't actually give one.
I look at the canon FT universe as rather medium-tech I suppose
(compared to most popular science fiction media depictions) and therefore
assume relatively short weapon range, which leads to the following:
6 minutes per turn 100 km per MU
This gives a game speed to real speed correlation of 1 MU/turn = 1000
km/h
This means that SL missiles of the normal sort have a range of 30,000 km (24
MU + 6 MU) and Beam-3 batteries have a range of 36,000 km.
This also means that Thrust-1 is 7.72 m/s2, or about 0.75G (I'm doing
some
serious rounding here, so please forgive me), Thrust-2 is 1.5G, -4 is
3G, -8
is 6G. Which to me "feels" about right for vessels and their crews assuming no
inertial dampers or some artificial gravity generation. BUT...
In MT, you need to have Thrust-4 and Streamlining; or Thrust-6 and
Partial
Streamlining; or Thrust-8 in order to land on a planet-which leads to
the
assumption that Thrust-8 is just over 1G. If that is the case, maybe
the thrusters on canon ships are "low tech" versus those in most science
fiction stories (well, space operas anyway). UNLESS we assume some PSB about
reduced thruster abilities in either atmosphere or well within gravity wells
or is there something else I've missed?
Robert
PS--I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and an unforgettable
(only in the best ways) New Year.
> I look at the canon FT universe as rather medium-tech I suppose
The usual assumption is T = 15min (to tie in with one Dirtside turn) and D =
1000km (because it's neat).
To the best of my knowledge, I was first to propose the T = 7.5 min, D=
1000km, which also fits 2 to 1 with DS2 and lets you assume 1 thrust point = 1
gee.
Keith Watt, whose site you should memorize if you want realistic numbers, says
D = 80km (or 40km is you distribute acceleration over a turn as Real physics
as opposed to Full Thrust physics) and he goes into all the reasons why:
www.exodusproject.com.
> On Wed, 22 Dec 1999, Laserlight wrote:
> >I look at the canon FT universe as rather medium-tech I suppose
this is indeed the hallowed consensus scale, based on what feels right.
i have heard it suggested that the rules for orbits in MT can be used to
deduce a scale, but i know little about this.
> To the best of my knowledge, I was first to propose the T = 7.5 min,
i'm not entirely sure that's the case.
1 mu = 1000 km = 1e6 m
1 tu = 7.5 min = 450 s
speed 1 = 1 mu / tu
= 1e6 m / 450 s
dv = a * dt
a = dv / dt
= (1e6 / 450) / 450
=~ 5 m/s^2
under these assumptions, one thrust point is 5 m/s^2, which is about
half a gee.
unless, of course (a) you're using a more sophisticated analysis of motion
than i am (b) i've forgotten a factor of two, which i am prone to doing.
incidentally, with 1 tu = 15 min, you get 1 th = 1.2 m/s^2; if you use 1
tu = 16 min 40 s (ie 1000s), you get 1 th = 1.0 m/s^2.
i'd add that this all assumes continuous thrust over the turn, which is not
how it works in FT, as you will tell from the fact that if you go from
a standing start to a speed of 1 mu/tu in a turn, you cover 1 mu doing
it; this indicates that all the acceleration happens at the very start of the
turn. this leads to a model of thrust where the engine makes a short, powerful
burn for a few seconds, following which the ship coasts for
several minutes. if 1 turn is 16m40s, and if 1m40 (100 s, one-tenth of
the turn) is spent burning, then 1 th = 1 gee *while the drives are on*.
> Keith Watt, whose site you should memorize if you want realistic
more precisely:
http://www.exodusproject.com/FTExodus.htm
the reasoning is based on the thrust you can get from a DT fusion engine,
alongside fuel consumption constraints; realism, you know the deal. i don't
hold with it myself:).
tom
In a message dated 12/22/99 6:22:14 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> laserlight@quixnet.net writes:
> The usual assumption is T = 15min (to tie in with one Dirtside turn)
Okay, but this actually makes the MT rule saying that partially aerodynamic
hulls require Thrust-6 (and fully aerodynbamic require Thrust-4) to make
a
landing on an earth-like world make even less sense. Unless we (or
someone) come up with appropriate PSB.
Personally, I like smaller size for MU (80-100 km).
I have thought about running a "low-tech" Full Thrust game, with each
side limited to the number of pushes (thrusts) they can expend due to fuel
requirements and using vector rules. Hmmm....
Rob