game scale

At 03:29 PM 2/16/97 -0500, you wrote:
>At 10:09 PM 2/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>In message
<Pine.BSI.3.95.970214031122.21174A-100000@buffnet7.buffnet.net>
>you wrote:
>>
>>>   What I would like to see happen overall, in echo of the previous
poster
>>> who asked about extending the landing duration timeperiod, is that
each
>>> turn be given a reasonable time duration, and that each inch is
given a
>>> reasonable distance.
>>
>>Okay, totally pig-headed reasoning follows. You have been warned!
>>
>>
>>Well, since planet templates are suggested to be 12" across, this
>>suggests 1"=1000km (approximately). This seems to give reasonable
>>weapon ranges (IMO).
>>
>>We can use the planet rules to work out the length of turns as
>>well. A ship in orbit around an Earth-like planet has an orbital
>>period of roughly 12 turns - at an orbital radius of 12,000km
>>(measured from the centre of the planet).
>>
>>This is approximately twice the height of a low Earth orbit,
>>which has a period of 90 minutes. Using a^3 = P^2 (Keplar's
>>Laws of orbital motion - 'a' is radius, P is period), we get
>>an orbital period of about 255 minutes. 255 divided by 12
>>turns gives a 21 minute turn.
>>
>>Of course, since the rules on planets and orbits were probably
>>chosen with absolutely no regard to realism, the above is nothing
>>more than a very good example of GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).
>>Anyone who is interested in using this btw, better check the
>>arithmatic, since I'm currently half asleep.
>>
>
>I don't have a problem with 21 minute turns.  Reason: if one assumes
that
>the turns are 21 minutes, then the laser fire rules indicate that there
are
>more than one shots being fired per "beam weapon" mount.  The reasoning
for
>allowing more "hits" per beam weapon mount as the ships get closer is
that
>the odds of hitting go up with a closer target - thus, the reasoning is
good
>enough to indicate that the "range" doesn't change, but the frequency
of
>hits do (nicely simulated by using more dice for hits as the range
closes).
>
>  Where this might break down is the scattergun rules for mass
projectiles...
>
>Hal
>
>

For anyone interested, Starfire uses a scale of 93,000 miles (about
150,000KM) per tactical hex, and a turn length of 30 seconds.  This
makes a
speed 1 ship travel at about 1.7 % the speed of light.	The Starfire
tactical hex is about half a light second across.

In the example above, light would cover 378,000 inches in one 21 minute
turn. That makes a speed 1 ship travel at about 0.00026 % the speed of
light.

Donald Hosford
--
Registered ICC User
check out http://www.usefulware.com