[GZG] Space Terrain

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Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu
http://lists.csua.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lOkay, let's give
this its own thread.

As to Asteroids: I know the real ones are thin. However, for all that,
at
pretty much every Con I attend, there's a game with large, dangerous
asteroids. So my reference in the prior thread to 'asteroid racers' was
from
popular usage, rather than realistic space simulation. You could
substitute
'racers who race around buoys and such' (there was a stargate SG-1
episode
in the late seasons that focused around a spaceship race that included a
close run around the sun and navigating a field of armed range-capable
mines).

So, asteroids should probably really be: Not present on the game table
in
numbers or a small hull scrubbbing effect that persists throughout the
game.

Nebula: Indy brings them up, but my understanding was they were not very
dense either - not much real risk or damage unlike how they got
portrayed in
Wrath of Khan. Aren't they pretty diffuse in real life?

Rings: Indy mentioned rings. What's a realistic estimation of ring
densities? How often do you see asteroids big enough to feature as an FT
obstacle in a ring system? What sort of on-map separation would be at
all
close to reality?

Planets can be done, moons can be done (though I doubt both on the same
board without an MU of at least 10K km). Gravity can be very cool
(Can-Am I
at ECC had a nice planet and some awesome gravity and proved that I have
done Titan's Turn....). How small of an entity could reasonably generate
FT
visible gravitational effects? The moon should be 3" at 1000 km per MU
according to the link I just visited that was posted in the other
discussion. How much smaller can you get? (Yes, this is a density
function,
but how small and dense could you get for a moon or small planetoid?)

Black Hole: What sorts of gravitation would  you get from a black hole?
Could one be put on an FT map and have any part of the map be playable
by FT
fleets at 1000 km/mu or 10000 km/mu?

Pulsar: In SFB, a pulsar used to emanate damaging waves your shields
helped
thin out. Is this at all reasonable? Could a reasonable bit of space
terrain
be done with some mechanic like this?

Sphereworld or Ringworld: Planet plus? Could make one of these the
subject
of an attack or boarding.

Minefield: How best to represent this in FT terms? Contact mines? X-ray
laser mines pumped by a bomb? Something else?

Stargate/Jumpgate: Could constitute 'space terrain' for navigation
purposes
and also have other effects (possible gravity effects even) when
activated.

Nav buoys: Possible objective. Or useful during races as markers.

Gas giant atmospheres: Are these viable? How deep? What sort of impact
would
flying through one or trying to hide in one have? They used to feature a
lot
in Traveller for fuel skimming and ambushes. How reasonable is any of
that?

Death Star/Giant Station: Big enough to be its own terrain, massive as a
small moon, should probably have had its own gravity?

Any others I missed?

-- 
http://ante-aurorum-tenebrae.blogspot.com/
http://www.stargrunt.ca

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy
from
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