Re: [GZG] [FT] Scale in the Tuffleyverse

[Samuel Penn <sam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sunday 21 January 2007 22:24, Roger Burton West wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 21, 2007 at 09:41:30PM +0000, Samuel Penn wrote:
> >On Sunday 21 January 2007 20:07, Laserlight wrote:
> >> Depends on what your thrust is. If 1mu = 1g/turn, the effective gravity
> >> well is avctually quite thin.
> >
> >The figures I used back when I worked it out had 8 thrust = 1g.
>
> You can set any two of the three parameters: MU size, turn length, and
> acceleration level. (Many listers have settled on 1 thrust = 1 g for
> convenience.) Once you do that, the third parameter falls out
> automatically. There's a longer explanation at
>
> http://lists.firedrake.org/gzg/200308/msg00415.html
>
> but I think the most popular scale has generally been 1MU=1000km,
> 1 thrust=1 g, and one turn = a little over five minutes.

The problem I have with 1T=1g is that you remove pretty much all
need for aerodynamics and planets become far less of an interesting
problem. Why have specialised landing shuttles, when pretty much
any ship with 2g+ acceleration can hover above and land on a planet
with ease. No more having to orbit a planet and only being able
to supply limited ortillery support - just hover directly above
the battlefield for as long as you like.


btw, first space game I designed (before I found FT and switched
to that) got acceleration correct - you only moved half your
acceleration in the turn it was applied. Book keeping is zero,
since the rule is applied immediately you accelerate.

Your acceleration also changed throughout the battle, since as
you used up reaction mass, your ship got less massive and
acceleration increased. All the maths was at design time so that
book keeping was minimal.

-- 
Be seeing you,                         http://www.glendale.org.uk
Sam.                        Mail/IM (Jabber): sam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
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