Re: small ships

On Tue, Feb 26, 2002 at 09:45:41PM -0500, Glenn M Wilson wrote:
>That raises the problem - how does one provide escorts for a convoy of
>merchants jumping into a system?  They by definition arrive scattered
>based on the PSB mechanics of FT jump technology.  Arrival might be the
>most vulnerable time for non-combat ships.

I'm inclined to assume that FB1 p44 penultimate para applies - everybody
gathers at an out-system rendezvous point before making the final jump
in-system.

The location of that point would have to be a closely-guarded secret - I
suspect, generated randomly by the convoy leader and shared with the
other ships just before the first jump. Anyone else who knew it could
lie in wait for the arriving ships and pick them off one by one.

Finding ships in interstellar space is sufficiently impossible that it's
not going to happen unless information leaks in this way.