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

On 13 Sep 98, at 10:31, tom.anderson@altavista.net wrote:

> 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.
> 

Actually, in my mind this makes the problem worse. If you don't 
need to go via routes between stars then there is no need during 
military campaign to bother attacking strategic gateway systems 
that 'guard' routes to your core systems. You just go straight there 
with your whole battlefleet bypassing anywhere else, and attack en-
masse. It becomes stone-paper-scissors.

If you need to go via routes, and can only manage 'jumps' (for 
instance) of a certain distance, then you get strategic bottlenecks, 
which are great for wargaming.

Also, habitable planets? What 'are' they useful for? Room for 
population, perhaps. Minerals? Hardly... once you get to earths 
asteroid belt you have enough of almost any mineral for the 
forseeable future, and it's nearby. Food production, perhaps. 
Research, undoubtably, but that probably isn't of strategic 
importance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard Slattery	     richard@mgkc.demon.co.uk
Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back
to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of
them. 
     H.L. Mencken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~