Xavier Onassiss

I've always found it odd that the forerunner aliens had such similar preference to ours when it came to habitable planets. ...and then conveniently went extinct. (or just plain disappeared.) For all we know, those all-powerful Xenolicious-Auld-Pharts might have created something completely different, like atmospheres of nitrous oxide wafting over oceans of lime jell-O. And moons of green Velveeta....

Depending on how far in the future it is, one or two (possibly more, what's the tech level) might have been terraformed. Other than that, my answer would be none. Although if you're including Terra, then the answer would be one. Unless....

True enough; all it takes to stop them is putting a good-sized planet in their path....

I've always wondered how the Eridani Accords would be enforced. Relativistic weapons are not only difficult (or impossible) to detect or stop; they can be hard to trace as well. And I'm wandering off-topic a bit here.... Hyperspace travel raises a similar problem with regards to first strike capabilities; it might even make things worse. Accelerating a projectile close to light speed takes a lot of time and energy, but opening a "jump gate" for your war fleet to emerge a kilometer above the enemy's capitol city could be a lot faster and easier. (Basically, it comes down to what universe you're in, and how careless the author is.) And again, in a setting where this sort of thing is possible, how would a treaty banning it be enforced? Better to come up with a good reason to explain why it's just not possible, period.

There are a couple of ways to deal with "in system" travel and FTL drives. Having a lower limit on distance traveled is one. Another is to go the route used in Traveller: the FTL drive won't work if it's too close to a planet/star. And the drives used in 2300AD work at sub-light speeds when they get close to a star/planet. You could also put a minimum "transit time" on hyperspace jumps, which would quite often make it faster to travel in normal space, if the ship has a good torch drive. I went with a variation on Traveller's method: FTL drives won't work within a certain distance of a planet or star, but this varies with ship size. Smaller vessels can operate their drives much closer in, while larger ones have to shut down their drives farther away. Multiple FTL drives in close proximity will also interfere with other: the larger the drives, the greater their zones of interference. Aside from that, I allowed FTL travel within a system. Using the drives I mentioned above, travel times range from 5 to 8 seconds per AU. (Followed by a lengthy shuttle ride from wherever your FTL drive shut down to your final destination....) The above guidelines yielded some interesting results: Small starships can emerge from hyperspace within striking distance of a planet's surface, but large ones can't. No "first strikes" by massive war fleets. A "first strike" mission can only have so many small starships; their FTL drives will interfere with each other. It's fairly easy to prevent "first strike" missions by parking one large ship with an FTL drive in low orbit over a potential target. Its FTL drive will bollix up the drive of any approaching strike ships. A large warship can't operate in close formation with other large warships; it needs to carry its own close escorts. (But there aren't any "fighters" in this setting; they're fairly large gunboats. Bulk cargo carriers and large passenger vessels can't reach the habitable zones of most systems; they must rely on deep-space way stations and FTL shuttles to transfer passengers and cargo to and from the system's main population center. The small-ish starships which Player Characters tend to operate can escape pursuit from larger vessels by jumping into the "shallows" of the system where the larger ships' FTL drives won't operate. Blockade runners, smugglers, etc. who are "just passing through" and wish to avoid being intercepted by system patrol vessels have very limited time. As soon as they emerge from hyperspace, the energy from their emergence (it's a highly visible signature) begins to propagate through local space, at 500 seconds (8.33 minutes) per AU. So the clock is ticking, and they have to re-calibrate their drive and transit out-system again before the interceptors spot it, or they've got a fight on their hands. (If the local squadrons have FTL, they'll reach the PCs' ship quickly once they spot them: 5 to 8 AU per second as stated above.) So I've gotten a lot of mileage out of in-system FTL in my campaign. Individual results may vary.

That was the decision I made with my own setting. I settled on a region roughly 50 light years across (with a few outliers) and FTL drives with limited speeds and ranges. The "FTL1.0" had a range of 8 light years, and an effective speed of 64c. (Slightly over 1 light year per week.) Its available routes strongly resembled those of the old "2300AD" star map, which featured an arbitrary 7.7 light year limit. The FTL1.0 was an obsolete drive, replaced by the FTL2.0 model, with a 9 light year range and a speed of 81c, which opened up a lot more routes between nearby stars. At the time my campaign begins, state-of-the-art spacecraft are equipped with the shiny new FTL3.0, with a 10 light year range and a top speed of 100c. But very few new star drives are being built in the aftermath of Terra's destruction.... I've play-tested the above extensively: travel times for starships at 90 to 100c tend to be 3 to 6 weeks between star systems, with 4 to 5 weeks being most typical. Having an upper limit on the starships' range is important: it makes every system along the way significant. In my setting, it's necessary to re-calibrate the star drive near a large mass between transits. Whatever rationale you use, if you want interstellar space to feel like an ocean, it helps if every single island is important. Another key point to consider: has the same star drive always been in use? I created several maps, starting with the old, short-range drive, and observed how the routes changed as technology advanced and the longer-range drives made new connections available. This established which star systems had the oldest settlements, which ones had ports which were no longer in use and had become "backwaters", and which ones had seen recent surges in traffic, and thus were experiencing an economic boom. Keeping your campaign within a relatively small volume of space makes this process much easier, of course.

My taxes are done. And the checks might not bounce!

Quote #1: from a friend of a friend... "She was getting weird so I woke up next to someone else." Quote #2: conversation with Awesome Gamer Girl... Me: "Saki and vodka, sweetheart?" Her: "Hey, they're both clear!"

I roll to misbehave!

Awesome Gamer Girl: "I'm kind of a walking dress code violation." Xavier Onassis: "Well, those dress codes were kind of asking for it!"

OTOH, he might know exactly what he's doing when he adds an extra workday into that calculation....

What base is he using?

Daylight savings time sucks. My not-girlfriend is cranky. (Nothing in particular, just generally down.) This forum's software "upgrade" is driving me up the wall. I just spend $500 on a new ignition system (the whole shebang: coil, plugs, wires, etc) for the Xavier Onassis-mobile. That's money I could have used for a badly-needed new set of tires. The old tires do NOT look good at all. I owe state and federal taxes; no refund this year. I'm running behind on work, as well as my writing. My efforts to assemble a gaming group in Evansville, Indiana have once again failed miserably. "Old school" gamers bug the crap out of me. And some guy came in for a job interview at my office yesterday with a big ugly "SS" tattoo on his neck. Other than that, everything's just spiffy.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Re: "Neat" Pictures Found on Deviant Art... needs to be written up for Star Hero!

Re: The cranky thread Yeah, I'm in the line of fire for that, too. But the local "prognosticators" (I like that word, it sounds almost filthy) are basically just throwing up their hands in frustration on this one. They don't know if it'll be snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, or a mix of all four. I predict whatever is least convenient. I'm supposed to take my car to the mechanic tomorrow morning, then find a ride back to work somehow. Oh yeah, work... that doesn't look good either! Got an indoor project lined up at the office if the weather turns too nasty for field work, but that's gonna suck too.

Re: World Building Elements That would be the Helium Whales.

Re: Combat Armor that requires having a skill. Another option which may or may not be useful to you: In my campaign, the "skill" for using armor is Penalty Skill Levels. Wearing armor imposes penalties to DCV due to its bulk, anywhere from -1 to -3, and a character skilled in the use of armor will have PSLs to mitigate the penalty.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Re: Musings on Random Musings Hmmm... maybe that was a bit of understatement on my part. You think?

Re: A Thread for Random Musings So, Hagel's nomination got filibustered. There was an opportunity to change the filibuster rules, but Reid decided it wasn't necessary. Now it looks to me like Harry Reid is kind of an idiot.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread Hope you both find a better work situation soon, guys. My "not-girlfriend" is going slightly crazy working two jobs to make ends meet. The second job is actually pretty easy, but they recently let someone go without replacing them, and her manager doesn't seem to grok the concept of a "day off" so she often ends up working seven days a week for several weeks straight. It's really getting her down, and I'm the one who ends up dealing with the fallout. And I'm just plain swamped with work, writing, acting as caretaker for two empty houses, and keeping "not my girlfriend" from going nuts.

Re: The cranky thread I hope you're feeling better soon, SatinKitty.