L. Marcus Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign . . . Oooo! That BamBam's site, what a find! I'm def'nightly stealing those designs . . . And the Cold Navy ships are just the coolest designs for Space Opera out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bygoneyrs Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Hey if you like, have a look at the ships from Babylon 5 A Call to Arms: http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=553 There are alot of cool gaming minatures there! Penn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign OK, you can get something useful at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/MPEph/MPEph.html This can give you asteroid positions. Type the asteroid names of interest in the first box (Ceres, Vesta, Pallas). Looks like the format it wants for the start date is yyyy mm dd.ddd, so for you e.g. 2076 07 04 would work for you (that's July 4, 2076). For output you want the "heliocentric position vector" or perhaps the "heliocentric position/velocity vector". That gives you X, Y, and Z numbers. The units are in AUs, and (0,0,0) is the solar system barycenter (the Sun, for our game purposes). The X-axis points out toward the vernal equinox of Earth's orbit, and the Y-Axis toward RA 6 hours. The Z-axis is toward the north ecliptic pole. There's some very sketchy description at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~rfisher/Ephemerides/ephem_use.html and http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~rfisher/Ephemerides/ephem_descr.html and it looks like the "JPL ephemeris" those last two pages are discussing is on the Web at http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Suggestion: take a look around at some of the conjecture going on about the possibility of complex life on Europa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign . . . Hey! Our life is plenty complex without US interference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign This site has a good orrery: Solar System Live Edit: Click on solar system and set the date to Sep 12, 2076. That's the position of the planets when the shooting begins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Okay, I'm redoing the travel time between planets. Taking Cancer's advice, I'll use the formula acceleration = thrust/mass. Should I use the formula time = [2*distance/acceleration]^1/2 to find the travel time? Note: I've decided to go with gas core reactor core rockets, which have higher thrust and delta-v than the VASIMR drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Here's a rough timeline of the campaign: 2010: ISS completed; Orion spacecraft replaces the Space Shuttle 2015: Project Orion enables US ships to return to the moon 2017: Joint Russian-Chinese venture to the moon 2020: Lunar outposts completed; first use of VASIMR drive; rail guns become practical 2023: First space stations on L4 and L5 begin construction 2025: First space tug becomes operational 2028: First manned mission to Mars 2032: Several national and international outposts founded on Mars 2037: Military coup in Russia returns the Communist Party to power 2041: Asteroid mining becomes practical 2042: Gas core reactor rockets become practical 2048: Preliminary mission to Jovian moons 2050: Space stations orbiting Mercury and Venus completed 2053: Preliminary mission to Titan 2064: Space elevator in the Pacific Ocean becomes operational 2067: Western and Eastern natiions begin colonizing the moons of Jupiter and Saturn without notifying one another 2068: Territorial dispute over the moons begins; all involved nations agree to share the territories for now 2070: Russia and China arm their colonies on L4 2072: USA begins building military spacecraft in L5 2074: Mining accident on Ceres; sabotage is suspected and fingers are pointed 2076: Unexplained destruction of a Chinese spacecraft and the American space station where it was docking. Chinese and US ships investigate independently; a skirmish ensues. War is declared on September 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorPse Posted October 7, 2007 Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Re: robots and androids.... Check out Android World. Robots are not only becoming more human-like in appearance, but are increasingly able to simulate emotions. Hey, nice link! And nice thread tkd... clearly you have spent some serious time on this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Thanks CorPse. I have been working on this for about a year and a half now. It started as a standard space opera, then the science got progressively harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 7, 2007 Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Ever read the manga Planetes? It's about as hard as manga gets, and the designs are really nice. It's even set in the same period as your campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign I've heard about the manga, but I haven't been able to find it yet. I'll keep looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign The animé is said to be good, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Okay' date=' I'm redoing the travel time between planets. Taking Cancer's advice, I'll use the formula acceleration = thrust/mass. Should I use the formula time = [2*distance/acceleration']^1/2 to find the travel time? Note: I've decided to go with gas core reactor core rockets, which have higher thrust and delta-v than the VASIMR drive. That time estimate is as good as any other. You might stick in an irreducible floor value of half a day for things that are really close. Doing realistic orbital mechanics solutions for the travel time is More Work Than You Want . Letting the travel times vary as the planets move is probably all the realism you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign FWIW, the L2 point is technically unstable, but with an active spacecraft, you can stay there more or less indefinitely. It is becoming the location of choice for deep space science missions (see, e.g., here). The problem with L4 & L5 is that because they are stable, there's a population of naturally-accumulating space junk around each. This is a hazard (because "around" is literal; stuff "orbits" through the point) not only is there enhanced collision danger, but that population of accumulated junk makes for a cloud of trash in which stealthy/disguised warheads etc. can "hide". You could make an active reminder of this a feature of your campaign, of course. L2, being unstable, lacks that "Bermuda Triangle" sort of tendency to accumulate trash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign . . . The protagonists of Planetes are ordital debris collectors -- space garbage men. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign The animé is said to be good' date=' too.[/quote'] I have it. I really like the anime and if the manga is anything like the anime it will be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Thanks for the link, Cancer. I heard L2 was going to be the location of WMAP; I'm thinking of making the observatory there its successor. It will have booster rockets that will be used when its orbit needs to be stabilized. This would also be the case for the L1 station and the ill-fated L3 colony. How much space debris is there in the L4 and L5 locations? I'm looking at the Kordylewski clouds entry on Wikipedia; perhaps there is a crew that clears out the debris (something from Planetes?). And the debris may indeed be hiding some nukes or other defenses. As for the search for life on Europa, Enceladus, etc. The search continues, and there will be teams of scientists involved in those places looking for clues. Maybe something will be found; for now it's out of the scope of my campaign. However, it's a great idea for the continuation/sequel of the campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign For the sake of convenience, I decided spacecraft engines could provide a thrust equal to 1% of the spacecraft's total mass. gives me these times: Earth to Mercury: 49.6 days Earth to Venus: 33.3 days Earth to Mars: 45.8 days Earth to Ceres: 84.3 days Earth to Jupiter: 129.8 days Earth to Saturn: 185.2 days Trips to the moon, L4 and L5 would require less thrust, but such a trip would take only 2-3 hours. I'll post the other travel times between other planets later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manfalcon54 Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign I have a quick question, I just got back in to champions and I have the 5th editon book. problem is I can not find the table to adjust point vaules for PA or PL. do you know what page it is on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Thanks for the link' date=' Cancer. I heard L2 was going to be the location of WMAP; I'm thinking of making the observatory there its successor. It will have booster rockets that will be used when its orbit needs to be stabilized. This would also be the case for the L1 station and the ill-fated L3 colony. How much space debris is there in the L4 and L5 locations? I'm looking at the Kordylewski clouds entry on Wikipedia; perhaps there is a crew that clears out the debris (something from Planetes?). And the debris may indeed be hiding some nukes or other defenses. As for the search for life on Europa, Enceladus, etc. The search continues, and there will be teams of scientists involved in those places looking for clues. Maybe something will be found; for now it's out of the scope of my campaign. However, it's a great idea for the continuation/sequel of the campaign. I'll look into the question about how much debris is at L4/L5. I think that in Earth's case people have recognized that it's going to be out there, but I'm not aware of any identified objects. Now, given that stuff does accumulate there, you could use that part of space as the place where whatever billion-year-old extrasolar McGuffin Machine that you might feel like introducing into your campaign is likely to be found. For Jupiter, there's a population of largish asteroids (the Trojans) at its L4 & L5. Those guys will be kilometers in size. More than that I don't know at this point. EDIT: There's been something in Scientific American in the last couple years about spacecraft in L2 and other "unstable" orbits. I'll see if I can find that more precisely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Found one paper of a direct imaging survey of the area around L4 & L5. They didn't find anything. Their limits are such that this means nothing 175 meters in diameter or larger if it's S-type, that is, silicaceous rock-type stuff, or 350 meters or larger if it's C-type (carbonaceous, a type of primitive rock we don't have on earth any more). C-type is substantially darker, so the limit on brightness means more "room" for a dark thing to remain undetected. Heh. Only marginally related, but this looks interesting; it's from a forecast of the next fifty years, made in 1986. EDIT: The total number of L4 Trojans with radii ≥1 km is of order 1.6 × 10^5, and their combined mass (dominated by the largest objects) is ∼10^-4 MEarth. That's talking about Jupiter's Trojans, not Earth's. That's from a more powerful survey than the one I found mentioned above looking for Earth-Trojans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Thanks fo the help, Cancer. I did place a colony on one of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. I can always add more as the cmpaign progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Maybe I missed it, but how are you dealing with fuel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign . . . By siphoning a cop-car when they're not looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.