Re: Background questions

Schoon puts in:

>>	An alternative would be say that each jumps is say a lightyear
and that
>>each ship has fuel for so many jumps. You could then get real tricky
and
>>say that the amount of fuel for each jump is dependent on the mass of
the
>>ships thus you need those escorts to raid and patrol. Just a thought.
>
>[snip]
>
>I agree that lightyears is a better standard than parsecs. I would
think
>that the amount of fuel used would be dependent of the MASS of the
drive.

Actually, piping in here for a second, a parsec is more of an accepted
standard
in measuring distances in the astronomical community. Now granted, it
doesn't
translate into lightyears very easily (3.2615 ly to the parsec), but
then
again, astronomical units (AUs), another standard of measure, don't
translate
into miles/kilometers real easily, either. :-/

As for John's dilemma, it really depends on what limitations of
resources you
are willing to work with. As one other person noted (who it was JUST
slipped
my mind :( ), you could set up refueling stations along the way. Real
bummer,
though, if the enemy finds them and blows 'em away...  My take would be
to
bolster civilian liners to 3-4 parsecs per jump. Military ships going
1.5x to
2x the distance of Civie Ships. Otherwise you'll run the risk of
restricting
your paths of travel to *exceedingly* narrow corridors, and some stars
then
may easily be out of reach entirely (not all stars have planets - gas
giants
or otherwise - around 'em; of course I *am* speaking speculatively here,
just
as speculatively as one would to claim planets around many/all stars :) 
give
'us' 10-15 years and we may have a better feel for how many planets
could be
in existence around other stars...).

One of the many Marks,

Mk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
All that is gold does not glitter,
     all those who wander are not lost.

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