Re: FT Combo: Super Carriers and FTL

At 12:56 PM 10/26/98 -0500, you wrote:

>Then, on Sun, 25 Oct 1998 23:40:41 -0500 John Crimmins 
><johncrim@voicenet.com> wrote:
>
>This will depend on certain basic assumptions that underlie your 
>universe. If I've understood you correctly (bearing in mind that I know

>nothing about GW's warpspace, and am quite happy to keep it that way), 
>the FTL systems that you have mentioned seem to effectively be 
>teleporters (as is the GZG T-K drive), i.e., the ship pops from one 
>location to another without traversing the intervening distance, rather

>than having to travel from here to there a la Star Trek warp drive. 
>Other teleporter-type FTL methods from various SF sources include:

GW warpsapce works kind of like B5 Hyperspace.	But it tends to be much
less attractive.  And a lot more expensive.

>-- Telesthetic travel, from SPI's StarForce

This is one that I am unfamiliar with.	How does it work?

>-- Hyperspace jumps as described by Isaac Asimov
>-- StarGates, as used in the first season of the Buck Rogers TV series
>-- Phase shift, from the Dorsai books
>
[Much Very Useful Snippage--thanks]

>So, the big question for your campaign is, how many of these kinds of 
>FTL will you allow? As I said, it's my impression that the drives that 
>you have included so far are teleporters, so you may want to restrict 
>FTL to that kind of movement for the campaign. Whatever you choose, it 
>generally boils down to what sort of equipment does a ship need to 
>carry, and what, if anything, is also needed (e.g., jumpgates of 
>whatever kind) to go FTL? That's up to you.
>
>Phil

As matters currently stand, I have three Major races with FTL--Terrans,
Imperials, and the Hegemony (which uses biotech).  The fourth, the Old
Ones, travels directly from world to world, not bothering with
starships.
I know how the Terrans and Imperials get around--Gates and Warpspace,
respectively--but I have not yet settled on anything for the Hegemony.

Of the minor races, I have one (the Uruk) that does not have FTL, but
travels in massive fleets of rickety generation ships.	They attack in
quantity, rather than with quality, and are not going to play a large
part.
 I have another three races to deal with, though.  I'm giving one the
Alderson drive, one the standard Full Thrust jump drive, and the other
is
still undetermined.  It's largely going to be a flavor thing, as tech
will
be different from race to race, but different kinds of FTL can have a
mjor
effect upon a campaign. If you CAN jump your ships into planetary orbit,
it
will give you an advantage over those who cannot.

John X Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com
  "...is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
They control information.  Don't ever piss one off."
  --Spider Robinson, The Callahan Touch.