Re: Space Geography

On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 8:44 AM, Damond Walker <damosan@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Wouldn't the type of ftl be an important first step in determining if
> a threat vessel could ghost its way into the system?
>
> A fixed gate type of system (worm holes or giant man-made warp gates)
> would probably imply a large active/passive sensor suite along with a
> large government presence to conduct "safety inspections" or collect
> tarrafs or protection of the gate.
>

Crap -- meant spellcheck vs. send.  Oh well.

If FTL speed isn't completely constant or controllable (as in one
setting that shall not be named) then it becomes more dangerous to
plan deep system emergence and the sentient types in that setting go
out of their way to emerge far from celestial bodies.  The nutter
types (green skins) will not worry about this too much.  Even in that
setting the "fact of" arrival is generally automatically and quickly
known.	Detection of the vessels in system can be hit or miss
depending on the needs of the particular author.

If the FTL system requires the building of a special "field" then you
can bet these will be detected especially if this build up is
partnered with a visible light show.  I would assume that opposite is
true also.

In systems where FTL has some hard limitation (such as Traveller:2300)
major trade routes will have outposts strung out along them.  These
will have some sort of notional government presence and will also
probably be littered with sensors.

In systems where FTL is tied to the physical speed of the vessel
there's going to have to be some kind of breaking burn which will be
detectable.

I guess what I'm trying to say (in a rather long winded fashion) is
that in a setting where space flight and FTL are readily available I
can't think of a situation where home systems won't be seeded with
active and passive sensor suites to detect the arrival and departure
of vessels.  The trick will be emerging close enough to the target
system so that the defenders have no time to prepare/respond
appropriately.

Having said that I think it's more important to determine the type of
FTL used in the setting before you can determine the feasibility of a
ship arriving in system and ghosting its way towards the target
planet.  Though I guess one could emerge out of "warp" outside of the
local solar system and play a game of lawn darts to then silently
drift into the system but even that has issues and assumes zero
emissions, masking from optics, etc...

We haven't started talking about clandestine entry into the system ala
attack craft disguised as civilian traffic or civilian mother ships
hauling attack craft.  Even with that I'd assume in-system traffic
controllers would say "Hey that bulk carrier just split into five
objects..."

D.