Re: [FT universe] was [URL] New Star and Campaign Maps

> This is something I've been giving some thought about.. how big is 
> the (human) explored area?

> However, my feeling is that the long of the short of it is.... probes 
> and explorations ships could have gone a LONG way... perhaps a 
> few hundred ly.

> Which makes me take a step back... this is unmanageable if you 
> actually want to map the FT 'universe' for a campaign game

well, bear in mind that only a small fraction of the discovered systems
will have habitable planets (even with terraforming, you need a planet
where the solar input is not more than (say) twice or less than half of
earth normal, and where gravity is within, say 15% of earth g. these
will be few and far between.

if you use the hyperspace model in the GZG timeline (which is described
in some detail in MT), then jumps are not necessarily between stars (as
they are in, eg, 'The Mote in God's Eye'), and ships will simply make
jumps in a straight line from start to destination until they get there
(well, it won't be a straight line really, as GZG hyperdrive has
uncertainty in it; well, you can't blame them really, they're only a
two-man outfit :-).

thus, the vast majority of stars can be ignored. only inhabited systems
are important (where 'inhabited' includes mining camps and naval
outposts). this should simplify the problem somewhat.

Tom

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