Re: FT3 DEVELOPMENT QUESTION: FTL

On 4 Nov 2015, at 00:37, Robert N Bryett <rbryett@gmail.com> wrote:

> Another universe where this is very much so is that depicted in the
“Antares Trilogy” (http://www.scifi-az.com/antares2.htm) by Michael
McCollum (which is worth reading BTW). In that universe, multiple ships
could jump at the same time, but quantum “scattering” during the
jump meant that their arrival positions could not be controlled
precisely, making formation-keeping in jump essentially impossible.
> 
> An interesting question is “do your jump-points move relative to the
planets etc. in their solar-systems, and if so by how much?” even in
the outer solar-system, orbital velocities are high (Neptune’s average
is 5.43km/s) so if the jump-point is somehow “fixed” relative to
that orbit, minefields, space-ships, orbital fortresses etc. would have
to accelerate constantly to maintain station. This might impact on the
practicality of a “close defence” of jump points.
> 
> In the “Mote” novels, Alderson jumps took place between points of
"equipotential thermonuclear flux”, and it seemed to be suggested that
these points were somehow in fixed locations in their solar-systems,
which in turn would imply that they were in motion relative to anything
in orbit, and vice-versa.

Expanding a little on Moscoe's "Jump Universe" books, there is a neat
little bit of PSB to explain why the jump points appear to "wander
about"…… the "linked" points between two or more systems are in
effect THE SAME POINT, and are orbiting around BOTH (or all!) the stars
they connect….. thus to the observer in one system, the motion of a
given jump point doesn't appear to follow any rules because it is moving
in response to the stars at both ends! The most "stable" points are
those which have the least movement, and have been heavily studied and
analysed to predict whatever relative movement they do have; the
unstable/unsurveyed ones seem to leap about quite randomly due to the
much wider difference in relative motion between the orbits at both
ends….. all this is highly implausible, of course, but it does serve
as rather a nice narrative (and possibly gameable?) trick…..

Jon (GZG)

> 
> 
>> On 4 Nov 2015, at 02:45, Randy Wolfmeyer <rwwolfme@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I use something similar in my gaming universe. Originally I used
stable point-to-point wormholes (usually placed in orbit at the trojan
points of gas giants for stable orbits), but I found, as many others
have before me, that it leads to severe choke points. The big battles
are going to be fought at the wormholes, and it basically turns into
space based siege warfare because if you can control the wormholes, you
control all access.
>