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+---- Thread: In-System Movement (/showthread.php?tid=173)
In-System Movement - JonO - 04-19-2011
It's an unfortunate fact of Rim-life that F-t-L travel puts great stress on the bodies of your crew and even worse stress on their minds. After a jump they are incapable of any coherent thought for a least a few hours. We simulate this by always making an interstellar jump immediately end a player's turn. Any time he had not used is deposited in his time bank, and his time bank cannot be withdrawn from until the following stardate (which begins at 4:00 a.m. Universal Time (AKA Greenwich Mean Time.) Of course there are activities he can engage in since they take no time - like pulling a Purser's Report (full or partial inventory.) or retiring to his ready room and calling the many status reports available to him there. The one no-time-charge activity he cannot indulge in is making another jump.
The Vu-Screen he'll see once the jump is finished looks something like this. Note that time available has been reduced to zero, and the jump icon is disabled.
Something else he can do without time-charge is run a system-scan that will provide minimal details about every planet in the system. The scan can be looked at on line, presented in a more printable format, or downloaded as either an html or text document. We'll probably also provide it as an excel sheet before we go live.
System Scan for C0-781-VI
The first planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit A. This is a very small planet with a very low pressure, nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, and no seas. It has 2 moons and a lithosphere of boiling lava and small semi-continents.
The second planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit B. This is a small planet with a high normal pressure, nitrogen/methane atmosphere, and no seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere of boiling lava and small semi-continents.
The third planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit C. This is a large planet with a normal pressure, nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, and water-based seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is made up of a few continents surrounded by vast seas of salt-water.
The fourth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit D. This is an extremely large planet with a very high pressure, nitrogen/CO2 atmosphere, and toxically contaminated H2O seas. It has 0 moons, a ring, and a lithosphere made up of a few continents. This planet is inhabited.
The fifth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit E. This is a large planet with a normal pressure, nitrogen/CO2 atmosphere, and liquid hydrocarbon seas. It has 2 moons and a lithosphere made up of a few continents. This planet is inhabited.
The sixth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit F. This is a very small planet with a extremely low pressure, nitrogen/CO2 atmosphere, and toxically contaminated H2O seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is mostly icy.
The seventh planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit G. This is a large planet with a somewhat low pressure, ammonia/methane atmosphere, and liquid methane seas. It has 3 moons and a lithosphere that is covered in ice.
The eighth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit H. This is an extremely small planet with a extremely low pressure, almost non-existent atmosphere, and liquid ammonia seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is covered in ice.
The ninth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit I. This is a very small planet with a extremely low pressure, helium/ammonia/methane atmosphere, and no seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is covered in ice.
The tenth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit J. This is an extremely small planet with a extremely low pressure, almost non-existent atmosphere, and no seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is covered in ice.
The eleventh planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit K. This is a small planet with a low normal pressure, ammonia/methane atmosphere, and no seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is covered in ice.
The twelfth planet revolves around this yellow dwarf in orbit L. This is an extremely small planet with a extremely low pressure, almost non-existent atmosphere, and no seas. It has 0 moons and a lithosphere that is covered in ice.
The next step is to order in-system movement. System Engines all operate in the same manner: they heat reaction mass to put it under pressure and then expel it out of the ship in the opposite direction from the one they wish to go. All engines can use water as reaction mass - which means they can get refills on any planet containing large bodies of H2O. Advanced engines can also use pure hydrogen which provides more thrust.
To do this, the captain uses a reconfigured mult-i-pod to select the orbit, the planet, and (if there is one) the starbase he wishes to move to. To make life easy for him, if he clicks on the orbit letter, that letter is filled in as the target. If he clicks on the planet above the letter, the take-orbit box is checked and the Planet letter is filled in. The drop-down will contain the names of all uncloaked starbases orbiting the chosen planet.
Once he orders the ship to move to an orbit, a brief display of planets whizzing by appears in the Vu-Screen and then it displays a screen something like this, depending on what sort of objects occupy the orbit.