RE: cm scale

On Mon, 24 Nov 1997, Samuel Penn wrote:

> I'd go the other way, and say speed caps are more ridiculous
> than area caps. If you're playing on a limitless area (a
> moving table, changing scales, or a really big hall), then
> I can't see much reason for needing speed caps.

In case you missed it, let me refresh our collective memories how this 
little debate started: I had found out that fast ships tend to fly off 
the table really fast if they want to capitalize their speed advantage. 
Moving the table is

- Often impossible, as Brian Bell generously pointed out
- A pain in the butt I do not enjoy in the least

I already tried changing to cm-scale, which our group disliked (hence
the 
subject of this post) and list members already refused to pay for a new 
gaming room, so...

Given the two remaining choices, I still think speed caps are more 
realistic.
 
> I'd say both are unwanted limitations, but since we normally
> have to play with the first, keeping all the capping there
> makes more sense.

It's certainly a lot less fuss, if your players with the fast ships
don't 
mind being tactically castrated.

> > "Sorry, you just can't fly past Pluto without FTL."
> 
> "Sorry, you just can't fly faster than 30km/s or the giant
> space hamster will eat you."

This isn't really a fair comparison. FT doesn't have a stated scale (I'm

going to ignore the rambling in MT, as I'm willing to bet a unit of
local 
currency that Jon never really calculated what all he said implies), we 
don't know if a speed of 1 is 10km/s or 0.1c or whatever.

Pluto, OTOH, is a point in space. I think it is safe to say that
whatever 
the scale in FT is supposed be, flying past a planet is not out of the 
question.

There *is* a speed cap as far as we understand physics: c. And should
we conquer that limit, that's what the FTL drive is there for. However, 
we haven't found a limit to space yet.

To arrive at a compromise, actually I do think an area limit could work.

It just shouldn't be tied to an artificial concept like the table -- it 
should be tied to sensor ranges. I.e. if you fly significantly past 
maximum sensor ranges from all opposing ships, it is reasonable to break

off the engagement.

However, the max. sensor range of 54" (?) would require a table far 
larger than what I have.

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