RE: [FT] questions

At 8:50 PM -0700 4/18/99, Ndege Diamond wrote:
>
>In "Classic" and MegaTraveller it was set at 100 planetary diamaters. 
It
>is a good bet that this was kept in the other itenerations of Traveller
as
>you would have to change a lot of the PSB that gives the game its
flavor.
>But as I don't have whatever came after MT (except for GURPS Trav, but
>that
>is basicaly "Classic" flavored) so I can't say for sure.

Traveller kept the 100-diameter limit all the way through the series
(counting GURPS Traveller, we're up to five edition). I think that's a
nice, round number that makes things interesting around gas giants. The
design factor to consider when setting a limit is the proportion of
satellites around the largest local body that will be outside the
limit.	A 50-au limit would put every (known) body in Sol system inside
the limit, while a 100-diameter limit can put some planets outside the
primary's limit.

>While the FTL boundary varies depending on what your PSB is and/or what
>movie or game you are using as your basis for space battles it really
>comes
>down to what makes a good battle in your opinion.  A FTL drive that can
be
>used in a low planitary orbit will make for different battles than one
>that
>has to drop into normal space at 50 AU due to it's fields reacting to
the
>solar wind or whatever.

The limit for ftl also makes a big difference in time spent in travel
between planets. The option to ftl to Jupiter  could take days or weeks
off of travel. The economics of the drive matter in this as well

>Ok, I will stop stating the obvious now.

The obvious usually needs to be stated at least once.

Michael Carter Llaneza
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1991-1950
Devolution is very real to me.

Whenever I hear the "Odd Couple" theme, I get this image of Dennis
Rodman borrowing Marge Schott's toothbrush.