Re: [GZG] How fast is FTL in GZGverse?

At 8:22 PM -0400 5/13/08, Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:
>Many many games have copied the jump point system invented by
>Dan Alderson for Niven & Pournelle's THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.
>N&P asked Alderson to design a FTL system that would allow
>starship combat to occur, and that is what the Alderson drive does.
>
>You see, the jump points are military choke points.
>http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3v.html#mote
>
>Without jump points, you need sensors with ludicrously huge
>ranges, or battles only occur with the mutual consent of both
>parties.  Not good for a starship combat game.

Jump points aren't necessary, just easy.

Well, you can have that FTL drives give off a 
VERY significant pulse that can be detected. How 
big and to what sort of information depends on 
sensors, but that means you have some 
approximation of where your opposition is.

Most naval battles occur not in open ocean, but 
in proximity to strategic locations that are 
defended or contested. Planets and orbits would 
be those sorts of points in a 3d Environment. 
Inside the system where you cannot FTL in/out 
would mean that you'd have to arrive far enough 
outside the system such that you don't have an 
accident with your FTL drive and allow enough 
time to shepherd (baaah!) your forces into a 
semblance of a formation then start your move in 
system to contest the system.

Orbits into/out of the system would be useful. 
You could have elements that are on fast runs 
through that would literally come on board at a 
point and then leave the board a turn later. 
they're there long enough either for a look or 
perhaps to try to get ordnance on a target or 
fixed installation.

One would have to have a larger system map and a 
method of moving targets round the system map 
(hexes?) allowing for a system of sensors to 
allow for trying to figure out what formations 
are what and where the real threats are. I worked 
up some framework rules for this but never really 
play tested it out as it'd be time consuming. 2 
tables, 1 for the strategic map of the system and 
1 for the individual battles that were as simple 
as a cutter or system defense ship getting popped 
and looked at close by the intruders OR as 
complicated as the two main bodies of ships 
coming into contact.

You could of course have a series of meeting 
engagements where formations slashed at each 
other at high speed and finally came to grips. 
It'd get interesting as battles like the 
Falklands where you had 1 larger engagement that 
broke down and spread out into multiple smaller 
engagements between different sets of vessels off 
of each "table".
-- 
--
Ryan Gill	       rmgill@SPAMmindspring.com
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'60 Daimler Ferret '42 Daimler Dingo '42 Humber MkIV (1/3)
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