Re: [FT] Jump limits

>Continuing the quest for a Standardized FT Campaign System (for which
>I propose the name "Full Metal Admiral", by the way, although "Fleet
>Thrust" is a contender as well).
>
>Making the following assumptions:
>1) I have my stellar mass data correct;
>2) the jump limit is 22 light minutes for a G0 star (per
>Weber--Alderson drive gives you a jump distance much farther out);
>3) jump limit is based on gravity and thus varies by the square root
>of the mass--that is, I'm using 22 * (sqrt  starmass / sqrt G0mass )
>to find the distance;
>4) we are using Schoon's "1 hex = 1/3 AU" scale;
>then we come up with the following distances, in hexes, from the star
>to the jump limit (if you want to place your star in the center of a
>hex, remember to include the half-hex from the star to the border of
>the center hex).

There are some problems with assuming that stellar masses are directly
related to stellar types. In fact, there is no correlation at all. For
example, you can have an M0 star, but is it a dwarf, a giant, or a
supergiant star? Each will have a different mass value.

A more direct example: Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse) is an M2 star. But
it is *huge* and massive. It is ~20x the mass of the sun, and has a
volume of about 160 million times that of the sun (I am citing from an
out-dated copy of Burnham's Celestial Handbook because I just happen
to have it on hand :)  more accurate numbers can be found in more
recent publications, but these numbers work fine for purposes of this
example :) ). Conversely, an M1/M2 star like GL 229 is much smaller,
and subsequently far less massive and takes up less volume than the sun.
But it's basically the same spectral type as Betelgeuse (~M2).

Another example: the sun, a G0 star, is a dwarf star. It's assumed to
be an 'average' star. Rastaban, Beta Draconis, is a G2 star. It is a
supergiant, and out-masses the sun by A Lot (tm). (I don't have the
exact figure onhand). By basic spectral type they are not very
different.
Yet their masses (and volume, and luminosity) are radically so.

So, muddying the waters, you need to start clarifying whether a given
star is a dwarf, giant, or supergiant, along with the spectral type,
in order to determine your jump limits. I agree that if you're going
to have jump limits imposed that they should be as a function of mass,
but you cannot make a direct correlation to a star's spectral type.

So, what does this mean? More research for youuuu! :) :)  If you need
some reference materials or something, lemme know and I'll see what I
can dig up. 

Mk
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I'm not giving in to security under pressure,
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure,
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams -
Experience to extremes...experience to extremes....
					   Rush - "The Enemy Within"