Re: [OFFICIAL] Colony lists? (was:Re: Locations of Stars etc.)

Jon/GZG queried:
(snip star list)

> 1) What do we want? ("We" being the list membership, as a particularly
> enthusiastic cross-section of FT/DS/SG players). A star map/colony
list
> that is as close to known astronomical data as possible

YES!  Stick to the Real Thing.	("What's the matter, God didn't do a
good
enough job for you?")
 
> 2) Of those people who use the "official" background, or a minor
> modification of it, do you actually WANT to see it
> defined in this sort of detail, or left loose (as we have done so far)
to
> allow more freedom to come up with your own colonies, campaigns etc.?

Astrographically, I think the ideal is to define where the Major Powers
are, and note other places as controlled by "a minor power" ("Tau Ceti's
habitable world has five colonies, including three NAC provinces."  You
could put in anyone as the other two).	That leaves room for people who
want to tinker (a la John's Byzantines), while providing enough detail
for
a general consensus.  As far as the timeline is concerned, again I'd say
sketch in the broad outline ("FSE/NSL and allies fought from 2283-2301")
and don't fill in the exact dates of campaigns.  If there is an Official
Map (tm) then it'll be easy to see where the campaigns are going to be,
but
you can fight them on your own.
 
> For gameplay purposes it is probably better to keep endurance
relatively
> short, even for military ships, to prevent bypassing of large chunks
of
> territory - if layovers have to be fairly frequent then it becomes
more
> tactically necessary to hold star systems rather than  just detour
round
> them.

Agree.	I'd use Alderson Points, myself, but anything that limits
strategic
maneuverability helps the defense and makes it possible to hold
territory
instead of having an all-attack MAD policy.  Think: if you can reach any
of
five enemy star systems from each of your five, and you both have 1000
points to put into a fleet, then you either smash his 200pt flotilla at
each place or you have an 80% chance of taking an undefended system (and
destroying it, since you can't hold onto it either); meanwhile, he does
the
same to you.