Re: [FT]SML question

Allan Goodall wrote:

> On Sat, 16 Jun 2001 11:04:34 -0400, Richard and Emily Bell
> <rlbell@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
> > Due to the inherent inaccurracies of the jump, the tug must announce
> >its presence, so the stingboats can find it.  Once the interceptors
detect the
> >tug, the interceptors jump directly there.
>
> Unless I'm missing something, why is the tug unable to jump to the
stingboats
> (because of inaccuracies during the jump) but the interceptors can
jump on the
> tug without the same inaccuracies?

The tug has just jumped to the rally point, it will be some time before
it is
capable of jumping again.

>
>
> I wouldn't do this, anyway. I would have a pre-arranged drop off point
picked
> out. The tug would FTL to that point. If it misses the point due to
jump
> inaccuracies, it would move  in real space to that point. The
stingboats would
> go to that point in space for pick up, probably via an indirect route,
if
> possible.

This still does not handle the problem of the stingboats being followed,
and even
restricted to real space, if the interceptor outperforms the stingboat,
it will
reach the tug first.  The tug will probably announce its presence
anyways, because,
if it badly misses the rally point, the stingboats would rather not
announce the
rally point's location by stopping to wait.

> > (one
> >unanswered die of beam fire will take a long time to destroy a horde
of
> >stingboats, but the interceptor has all day).
>
> Well, not really. At FT's de facto scale, even a thrust 4 vessel can
cross the
> distance from the Earth to the moon in 4 hours. If FTL ships don't
have an
> accuracy of greater than 500,000 km, then your FTL interceptors have a
big
> problem.

The accuracy is probably a function of how accurately the navigator
knows two
things, where the ship is, and where it desires to go.	There will also
be an
absolute error of some sort.  Insystem, the relative errors must not be
too great,
or jumps of a light-year, or more, are a real problem.	The locals can
set up a
SSPS satellite system to give them nearly exact positioning info.  If
military GPS
is good for one part in a million, a solar system position system is
good for
within thousands of kilometers.  The absolute inaccuracy is comes from
the nature
of jump engines, but if a thrust 4 can go from the Earth to the moon in
4 hours, it
takes the thrust 10 vessel less than two.

    I was also responding to an article that said that the stingboats
were dropped
a few days travel from the target (should be at least a few light-hours
distant).
To prevent the tug from being attacked before it jumps to safety, it
drops the
stingboats several AU away from the target (an AU is only sixteen
light-minutes,
approximately), so the interceptors are either sniping at the tug, or
spending all
day sniping at stingboats.