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Post by Rigil Kent on Mar 15, 2019 2:46:10 GMT -6
Evidently, insomnia is good for something.
First pass. Nothing is to scale here - I'm still trying to work out exactly how I want to do that so it at least has some proper distance trappings to it...
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 11:05:55 GMT -6
All right, computer guys. How do I create something like THIS for my star system that will allow me to track travel distances and the like? I don't necessarily want it to be an insane amount of book-keeping, but I would prefer to have something closer to Expanse (book) travel times...
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Post by Gigermann on May 22, 2019 11:10:05 GMT -6
Can probably spreadsheet it easier
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 11:13:14 GMT -6
That's BORING!
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Post by LabRat on May 22, 2019 11:24:40 GMT -6
That's BORING! Talk to N8. This seems like something he would squee over
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 11:33:46 GMT -6
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Just waiting for him to logon and see it. Ultimately, a spreadsheet would probably work fine, but it isn't visually appealing. I want to have something like this on the big screen so everyone can see/interact with it...
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Post by WxMAN on May 22, 2019 13:08:59 GMT -6
That website uses ActivePerl, which I am completely unfamiliar with, but I'm guessing a similar thing could use JavaScript, which I haven't technically used, but I'm familiar enough with similar languages that it wouldn't be too much to learn it (ActivePerl I could probably learn in a slightly longer time). So it's doable without too much effort and may even be 'fun' (for some people's warped perceptions as to what fun is, like mine).
As far as travel time, that all depends on how much you want to simulate (or if it is even worth simulating if you'll just be hand-waving travel time) and what the "rules" of the world are.
Currently, our rockets (save for a handful of exceptions for very low acceleration engines) do a short burn at the beginning to head to where the planet will be when they want to arrive, then flip around and do another short burn to match velocity/enter orbit when they arrive. In the Expanse (I believe) they have fusion engines which (essentially) burn continuously at ~1G (though it can burn harder). In that case you would burn half the trip, flip over and burn to slow down to match velocity/enter orbit. Other sci-fi settings allow for FTL travel in-system where you basically charge up a FTL drive, and pop over to another place in a snap. So FTL = super fast. Constant burn = slow. Two small burns = VERY slow.
Another thing to consider if planets orbit the star. This would make travel time quite variable depending on where in the orbits the planets are.
So those are the two biggest considerations that affects travel times (outside of the obvious of how far apart are the planets): Do planets orbit? How does inter-planetary travel work and how long and fast can ships accelerate without turning the meat popsicles inside into mush.
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Post by LabRat on May 22, 2019 13:14:12 GMT -6
^^ told you he would squee^^
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 13:35:48 GMT -6
That website uses ActivePerl, which I am completely unfamiliar with, but I'm guessing a similar thing could use JavaScript, which I haven't technically used, but I'm familiar enough with similar languages that it wouldn't be too much to learn it (ActivePerl I could probably learn in a slightly longer time). So it's doable without too much effort and may even be 'fun' (for some people's warped perceptions as to what fun is, like mine). I don't think I've even heard of ActivePerl before so ... I like how Utzig does it, with you plugging in the date, the starting "slot", the ending "slot" and the acceleration in G so it provides you with a general travel time. Obviously, that's a guesstimate since going to a moon around a gas giant may take slightly more or less time than just going to the gas giant itself, but it gives you a good idea about how much time is spent in transit. As stated ... elsewhere, using a pocket of Giger's S3M-verse. FTL is available, but this particular system is going to be more ... backward. Giger will have to comment, but I think it is fusion torch for all intents and purposes. I don't understand what you mean here. Or rather, I think I do but am not positive. If you change the date on Rhylanor here, you'll note the planetary orbits do change. Is that what you mean?
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Post by Gigermann on May 22, 2019 13:37:41 GMT -6
The utzig site is based on Traveller (reactionless thrusters) so it doesn't have delta-vee—just specify #G acceleration, and it assumes full burn both ways. It calculates planetary positions in their orbit at the specified date, and plots travel time accordingly.
Just saying that, I don't think it accounts for planetary movement during transit…
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 13:43:51 GMT -6
Just saying that, I don't think it accounts for planetary movement during transit… Huh. I hadn't considered that actually...
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Post by Gigermann on May 22, 2019 13:45:47 GMT -6
Also doesn't do moons
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 13:46:32 GMT -6
Yeah ... and that's going to be a big source of headache for me since Moros is mostly moon-based...
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Post by WxMAN on May 22, 2019 14:30:33 GMT -6
I don't understand what you mean here. Or rather, I think I do but am not positive. Sorry. Let's take Earth and Mars and assume their orbits are circular and on the same orbital plane. When you could draw a straight line from Sun -> Earth -> Mars, then the distance between Mars & Earth is much smaller than when you could draw a straight line between Earth -> Sun -> Mars. So the minimum distance between the Earth and Mars is ~54.6 million km. The maximum distance is ~401 million km. So the time to travel from Earth -> Mars would vary wildly depending if it was only ~54.6 million km or ~401 million km because you have to travel ~8 times further depending on where the planets are in their orbits.
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Post by WxMAN on May 22, 2019 14:34:02 GMT -6
Just saying that, I don't think it accounts for planetary movement during transit… Yeah, that's the "fun" part of interplanetary travel... you "aim" to be where the planet/moon/whatever is going to be when you arrive - and it can be a huge distance of difference from where it is currently if you aren't traveling fast.
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 22, 2019 15:37:20 GMT -6
I don't understand what you mean here. Or rather, I think I do but am not positive. Sorry. Let's take Earth and Mars and assume their orbits are circular and on the same orbital plane. When you could draw a straight line from Sun -> Earth -> Mars, then the distance between Mars & Earth is much smaller than when you could draw a straight line between Earth -> Sun -> Mars. So the minimum distance between the Earth and Mars is ~54.6 million km. The maximum distance is ~401 million km. So the time to travel from Earth -> Mars would vary wildly depending if it was only ~54.6 million km or ~401 million km because you have to travel ~8 times further depending on where the planets are in their orbits. Right. Yes. In my mythical, theoretical doo-hickey that lets me plugin these variables, the planets move as well. I principally want to be able to automate this stuff so the game doesn't come to a complete stand-still as we figure out how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B (during which time plenty of things could happen.)
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Post by Rigil Kent on May 30, 2019 21:21:25 GMT -6
System OverviewThere are four major “factions” in Moros as of campaign start. Each faction has a stat for Economic Str (ECO), Military Strength (MIL), and Social Influence (SOC), ranging from 1 (non to minimal) to 4 (extremely powerful.) These factions are simple generalities and do not represent actual numbers, so an ECO score of 3 does not equal 3 million or 3 trillion or anything like; they’re simply representations to provide a rough estimate of relative power. The factions are: - House Asquith-Orlov - the ostensible rulers of the entire star system and the surrounding minor systems. This covers the entire government, not just the ruling family. ECO 1, MIL 2, SOC 4
- The Twelve Families - criminal syndicates who were once nobility. ECO 3, MIL 1, SOC 3
- The SpaceFarer’s Collective - economic consortium that rules the outer regions of the system and generally make life difficult for House Asquith-Orlov. ECO 4, MIL 2, SOC 1
- The Peaceforcers - external Peace-Keeping Force whose sole objective is to maintain the status quo & prevent a civil war. ECO 1, MIL 4, SOC 2
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Post by Rigil Kent on Jun 2, 2019 15:56:49 GMT -6
Making tweaks to the map... Attachments:
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Post by WxMAN on Jun 2, 2019 18:08:01 GMT -6
Making tweaks to the map... I will try to get some form a planetary travel thing done "soon". Though with Labrat finishing up in the next few weeks and CJ running NBA for an indeterminate amount of time - there are a few other personal things I need to get done first as my next few weeks are quite busy with anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Jun 2, 2019 18:31:05 GMT -6
Yeah, no worries. I'm reviewing stuffs myself ...
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Post by WxMAN on Jun 21, 2019 8:45:59 GMT -6
@rigil - remind me to discuss this with you tonight....
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Post by Rigil Kent on Jun 21, 2019 8:48:46 GMT -6
Hey, WxMAN, discuss this with me tonight.
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Post by Rigil Kent on Dec 15, 2019 8:53:53 GMT -6
So I shamelessly ripped this off from the Expanse RPG and filed the serial numbers off to fit the Moros system (so in terms of locations, Elpis=Venus; Lubyanka=Earth; Nyx=Mars; Lighthouse=Ceres; Oizys=Jupiter; and Erebus=Saturn) but I do have a question that I was wondering if one of the Mathy types could assist with. Presuming these are actual "averages", how does one calculate the general travel time (or communication time) between locations A & B in the belt? FREX, I'm at the Lighthouse (which again, is roughly located where Ceres is in the real solar system) and I need to go to location B (for whatever reason). Now if I'm travelling from Elpis to location B, that's easy - I can just use the average time from Elpis to the Lighthouse. It's just this other thing that I'm a little confused about... Attachments:
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