message 0544

• "Starchase": Rules discussion
• "Starchase" - a children's game? (warships, azi as merchandise)
• How do the spaceship drives work? And what about the underlying 'Jump mechanics'?

>From: Onno Meyer <Onno.Meyer@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de>
>Subject: cherryhlist
>Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1993 10:59:10 +0200 (MET DST)

> >From: goldman@orac.cray.com (Goldman of Chaos -- postmaster CRI-US)
> 
> Then I got bored last night.  Here are some sample production values
> 
> f = food
> 	1F = s, 2m, m+a, 2b, b+a
> 	2F = 1F+l, 1F+a
>
I don't like your system. With your rules, the production capacity
of a station seems unlimited, given sufficient raw materials.

I'd suggest:

Basic goods are biomass and raw materials. Biomass are algae or plants
or whatever, and raw materials are ore, chemicals or sheet metal.

Biomass can be turned into more biomass using raw materials and
labour. Biomass is also produced by planets "free" of cost.
Raw material is extracted from mines using labour or created
from recycling stuff using labour. Mining is more efficient, and
or there is a mass loss while recycling.

Biomass can be turned into food using labour. Raw materials can
be turned into parts using labour. Food and parts are consumed
by the stations at a constant rate, otherwise the station won't
work. A working station produces recycleable(sp?) waste. 

A key ressource is labour. It is provided by a station "for free",
can't be stored and may be increased by consuming luxuries.
These luxuries are produced from food or parts using a lot of
labour.

I dislike the use of azi as a ressource/trade good more and more.
If they are part of the game, they should be produced by Cyteen at
a constant rate "for free", and should increase the labour pool of
a station where they're working, but they would consume food and 
parts every turn, wether they work or not. You can't order them 
now and get them delivered next year, they're living beings and
not a ordinary cargo lot.
 
> Here are some proposed production values for the various stations.
> Note that the stations are setup so that they will all be able to
> survive.
> 
>     			    production
>     			     per turn
>     			f  s  l  m  r  b  a
> 
> Earth Station		-  -  1  -  -  4  -
Just a moment - Earth station stands for the whole solar system,
doesn't it? Just as Pell includes it's mines and the world.
Isn't that a little low?
> Pell			-  -  1  1  -  3  -
> Viking Station	-  -  -  3  -  -  -
> Mariner Station	-  -  -  3  -  -  -
> Russell Station	-  -  -  1  1  -  -
> Pan Paris Station	-  -  -  2  2  -  -
> Paradise Station	-  -  -  2  3  -  -
> Wyatt's Star		-  -  -  2  1  -  -
> Esperance Station	-  -  -  1  3  -  -
> Cyteen Station	-  -  1  1  -  2  1
> Voyager Station	-  -  -  3  -  -  -
> Fargone Station	-  1  -  1  -  -  -
> Beta Station		-  -  -  3  -  -  -
Didn't Beta fail, or do I mix something up?
> Alpha Base		-  -  -  2  -  -  -
> Glory			-  -  -  1  -  -  -
> Bryant's		-  -  -  2  -  -  -
> Galileo Station	-  -  -  1  -  -  -
> Olympus Station	-  -  -  1  -  -  -
> Eldorado		-  -  1  1  -  -  -
> 
> 
> Other info:  Stations all start with 1 turn's worth of production and
> 1D4 units of food.
> 
In the worst case, they would have one turn to get new food. I don't like
that.
> 
> Matt
> 
Onno
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> It is the carrier that does "this move", not the rider - they are still
> attached at this point.
>
This time you're right. However, there was a discussion some time ago
that said that a rider without this drive would be a joke and no 
warship. Even if there is no direct quote that shows a rider with this
pulse-drive, riders are described doing things they couldn't do without.
For example, in DS riders patrol the fringes of the system, yet they
come home to change crews every shift.
 
> Btw, it seems that the carrier can go from a low speed to .332c with
> just one pulse.
>
Possible - those carriers are real monsters.
 
> Heikki

Onno Meyer