Re: FT3 DEVELOPMENT QUESTION: FTL

On Sun, Nov 1, 2015 at 12:11 PM, Roger Bell_West <roger@firedrake.org>
wrote:

> On Sun, Nov 01, 2015 at 05:49:57PM +0000, Jon Tuffley wrote:
> >Interestingly, the only series I am aware of that actually has more
than
> one type of FTL travel (as I recall, at least three different
methods?) is
> Brian Stableford's old "Hooded Swan" books - quite fun as I recall
them,
> though nowadays they would quite likely be categorised as "Young
Adult" SF….
>
> David Brin's Uplift series, especially Startide Rising, has quite a
> few.
>
> And of course "Web and Starship"...
>
> It's probably worth considering a framework like the Landis taxonomy
> (http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/fasterlight.php - "The
> Canonical List of StarDrives" is about half-way down).
>
> R
>
>
Charles Stross's Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise also featured more
than
one type of FTL. I know there were BSG style jump drives, and also
wormholes.

BTW, I love the idea of having different options for the FTL drive as
part
of the rules. I think the main difference would be in the proportion of
mass of each ship required, with maybe a small difference in total point
value, unless a particular type would have a significant impact on the
tactical level on the table. For example, fixed point jump
drives/wormholes/stargates would be pretty limiting because the ships
could
only move in/out at specific locations, while BSG styles jump drives, or
whooshy Star Trek warp would have a lot more flexibility.

The Tie Fighter computer games also introduced (I believe it was
introduced
there at least) the idea of the special systems that could affect other
ships ability to enter hyperspace and/or pull ships out of hyperspace.

Randy Wolfmeyer