Fw: [FT] Islamic Federation ships and request to Nyrath

-----Original Message-----
From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com>
To: Laserlight <laserlight@cwix.com>
Date: Friday, August 20, 1999 06:35 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: [FT] Islamic Federation ships

>> contrast this to the >tug-and-lighter setup, where your
tugs can
>spend> 100% of their uptime in
>> >action. that difference is almost certainly enough
>> to make tugs> >competitive.
>
>Ouch.	I hope you have two crews per tug. . . 100% of
uptime is a
>killer deployment schedule.
>
>>it's interesting that this breaks down for longer > trip
times - if
>you lay >over for a few days at either end of a journey of
a > few
>months, the gain >from a tug is far less. thus, short-haul
cargo >
>transport may be handled by> >(small) tugs, whereas
long-haul backbone
>traffic is > handled by (larg) >conventional freighters.
>
>The other question has to do with what percent of your
average journey
>requires FTL.	If you spend a day in FTL and then a week
burning
>conventionally on either end to get to the jump point
(Pournelle's
>Empire of Man series, where FTL between Anderson points is
>instantaneous, but slow within system, to the point that
instead of
>crossing a system it is sometimes more economical to FTL to
a different
>system, fly to another jump point, and FTL to a jump point
on the other
>side) then lighters make less sense.

(I'd have a station on each side of the FTL transit point.
Have non-FTL freighters carry stuff out to the station and
meet the tug; the tug leaves the station, pops through the
jump point, and then releases the freighter to go its own
way.  When you run a ferry service, you make the ferry's run
as short as possible--Laserlight)

>Other notes:
>
>Checked the latest and greatest starmap from the
Indispensible One.

(Nyrath, that's you)

>Wow.  Noticed three new nations--Rim Worlds Something,
Thousand
>Nations, and somebody else.  Do these have web pages?	If
so, where?
>Also, can I reserve a star for Uusi Soumi?  I figure it's a
nice star,
>but waaaay out in the boonies.  As far from ESU as
possible.
>
>Also, using the star data and the Gurps:Traveller First In
>system/planet generation (overall, less detailed but much
quicker than
>the TNE one, and about 3,000 miles closer to me) I did up
Free Ukraine.
> Tidelocked dirtball with no surface water and a
nitrogen/CO2/Argon
>atmosphere.  Inhabitants live just slightly Dark of the
equator
>(Tidelocked--North and South are meaningless.	It's Light
and Dark that
>matter).  No real resources, and about a million
inhabitants.  It's
>major economic value is that it's 4 light years from Sol,
and has no
>port inspections, so it's a haven for smugglers and "free
traders".
>
>John M. Atkinson