message 0561

• "Starchase": Rules discussion
• 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: Tue, 21 Sep 1993 11:33:14 +0200 (MET DST)

> >From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
> 
> 	1) You are getting too convoluted. Formula and special forms
maybe :-(
> 
> 	2) We're talking Union here. Where's the Political Agenda?
> 	Given the general level of psycological awareness and engineering
[...]
> 				Jo Grant

Agenda: "The different Union stations have to cooperate, each of them
         has import and export requirements that supplement each other."
I don't think the game simulates the development of Union/Alliance, 
it shows the "current" trade relations.
Onno
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
> >Subject: CherryhList/ More thoughts on Jumpdrives
> >Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 8:37:28 BST
> 
> 	Jump drive does not, in and of itself, form a propulsion system.
> Instead we can interpret "boosting" and "dumping" as just that. The
> jump drive magnifies the effect of whatever propulsion system.
> 	This can happen in one of two ways: (1) modifying the inertia
> of the ship or (2) modifying the effectiveness of the, say by changing
> the mass. We can look at each of these in the three described uses of it:
> (A) pulsing the vanes up or down, (B) jumping between stars, and
> (C) destroying starstations :-).
> 	2.A) We can postulate that the vanes affect the preformance of
> the normal maneuver drives. The easiest way I can think of this is if,
> say, it could magically reduce the mass of the ship. Depending on the
> vane-to-mass ratio we might get a ship down to a fraction of its original
> mass.

That is wrong, since the drive is capable of changing speed in an instant,
not over the time of an engine burn.
> 	2.B) Similarly to the above when the J-drive is fully activated
> we can reduce the ship's mass effectively to zero (or maybe negative?).
> This allows the Einstinian barrier to be breached and trans-light
> velocities achieved.

I think negative mass is nonsense. If you can't go below zero, there is
no reason why hunters outrun merchanters, since each of them would have
zero mass. BTW, isn't lightspeed the limit even for zero-mass objects?

> 	Alternatively it could be a requirement that it boosts inertia
> in the direction in which the drive is aligned. when docked at station
> the overal momentumn is not aligned with the drive. In such a case the
> consequent instabilities could rip the station apart.

Not only the alignment is necessary, a certain speed is necessary to
maintain a "hyperspace bubble". The Hani said so when they were prepared
to blow the station up.

> 	3.B) We can therorise that the jump field does not have a uniform
> effect in mass reduction but that over the size of a ship the differences
> are not relevant. But over the size of a station if the nearest part
> is, say 1% of normal mass and the far par, say 5% than you will have
> severe structual instability. Espicially if your M-drive cuts in with
> a big kick.

Again, when the station was about to blow, the described effect was unlike
any structural failure.
> 
> 	For either (A) or (B) riderships are just ships with very good
> M-drives but only enough J-drive to perform (1).
> 	Upon examination it seems there is more textual support for
> theory (A), although personally I prefer (B). Can anyone remember other
> passages with support or undermine either?
> 
> 			Jo Grant
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin@maths.tcd.ie>
> >Subject: CherryhList/ Dragging things into jump
> >Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 8:37:53 BST
> 
> 	Lets say we have a ship as the object in the centre. Nearby
[..] 
> 	It this model it looks like species like t'ca and knnn have
> mastered the ability to change their vector while "beneath the surface".
> 
> 			Jo Grant
That is the best explanation I've heard so far. The hani always talked about
flying deep into the well to do this or that ...
Onno