Pulsar Nav and Convoy Ops

Pulsar Nav:
Hal, you've missed the fact that your triangle 
will give you a set distance from Pulsar 1, a set 
distance from Pulsar 2, set distance between 
them, and that locates you on a locus of points 
that in three space appears as a circle aligned 
perpendicular to the triangle side that goes 
from Pulsar 1 to Pulsar 2. 

Here's a visualization exercise. 

Cut a triangle of paper. Colour one vertex Red. 
This is You. One Yellow (P1), One Blue (P2). 
Holding the triangle steady by the yellow and 
blue vertices (not moving those two points), 
realize that you can then rotate Red vertex 
through 360 degrees. Without ever moving P1 
and P2, you can still be anywhere that the red 
vertex can reach. 

You need another pulsar or some other 
referent to help you fix the red vertex in 3-
space. 

Convoy Ops:

Glenn, coming out of jump would be vulnerable 
for a convoy. I'd say it might take (depends on 
convoy size) a few turns to regroup. BUT, the 
size of the dispersion area of the convoy 
relative to system size is alike to a grain of 
sand on a beach to the beach itself. To ambush 
someone in this state, you'd either have to have 
a mole in the convoy planning office to tell you 
the transition point (good reason to not have 
these planned in advance), a lucky lucky lucky 
cubed guess, limits (based on plane of the 
ecliptic of the system, warpspace physics that 
require warpoints, or some best-fuel efficient 
course) on where the ships were likely to come 
out, or so many pirate ships that you could fill 
the example sand beach with grains of sand. 

Without these constraints,  your odds of 
intercepting a convoy reforming after jump are 
slim and none. 

And there are going to be escorts.... (in fact, 
given most merchies move slow, fast fighters or 
long range fighters would be great for helping 
guide them in or protecting them during 
reformation - fast response along the primary 
threat axis). 

I think pirates of the GZGverse will use a lot of 
intel gathering and penetration of organizations 
involved in arranging shipping so as to get 
flightpaths etc. 

Of course, if you have warp points, then they 
are easy to attack, but easy for System Patrol 
to defend too. 

Tomb. 
---------------------------------------------
Thomas Barclay
Co-Creator of http://www.stargrunt.ca 
Stargrunt II and Dirtside II game site

Corruptisima republica plurimae leges. 
[The more corrupt a republic, the more laws.]
-- Tacitus