Hi, Rodge here.
Previously, from LA LAW. Uh, er, I mean Jerry Alexandratos
(Dec 31, 1993):
>But now, I feel that I need to burn some bandwith on story line. I
>think the reason that so many people concentrate on pocket empires is
>because they don't want the galaxy to be as drastically different as
>what GDW has made it. Think about it, the game centers around Star
>Vikings and the Wilds. My idea of Sci-Fi is not coming from some
>backwater world, where we all look like cavemen. And the RCES seems a
>little too military oriented for any to really like. But by
>concentrating on these campaigns, GDW changed the focus of game. Think
>about it, what type of character's do we usually play? And in what type
>of world do we try to adventure and come from? That's right, I bet that
>there are a lot of TL15 Han Solo's out there on this list. So, the only
>way to play these characters now is to either create pocket empire that
>kept a high TL, or come from the Regency. But the Regency has one
>problem. You can't get in, and if you find a way to get out of it, you
>can't get back into it without sacrificing your ship (perish the
>thought). So, pocket empires seem the only way to go.
My reply to that was:
:I strongly disagree with your claim about playing New Era in the Regency.
:Playing in the Regency is indeed a viable option, and for die-hard Imperium
:fans, offers the best environment for roleplaying in the New Era.
:
:As for venturing into the wilds from there, getting into and out of the
:Regency is not that hard. The border blockade is only 6 or 7 systems deep,
:and patrolling the deep space (empty hexes) between occupied systems is not
:only NOT easy, it is near impossible, meaning that by stockpiling fuel in deep
:space, you could easily cross back over into the Regency after leaving it. I
:assume black marketeers and pirates do it all the time. Even the Virus could
:use this method, which means that very strict contact protocols would have to
:be mandatory throughout the entire Regency.
Jerry, again:
>I don't recall saying that the Regency wasn't a viable option. If I
>did, then I'm sorry, I gave you the wrong impression. Hell, what am I
>saying, my campaign is starting out in the Regency.
>But, the impression that I get from reading Survival Margin, and the
>background of the Regency in the TNE rulebook is that this is definitely
>a *closed* system. I mean, the way everything is written, I get the
>impression that Norris has ships covering every literal inch of his
>border. Also, the problem that I forsee is venturing to Regency worlds.
>How is one suppossed to be able to land on them, if their ship doesn't
>pass inspection? Granted, a ship could start in the Regency, venture
>out into the Wilds, and then sneak back into the Regency, but that isn't
>the "closed" Regency that I'm talking about.
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Like I said previously, getting in and out of the Regency ain't that big 'a
deal.
If I'm not mistaken, the sensors on starships can only scan a few light
seconds at best in every direction. Even if sensors could "see" light MINUTES
away, it would take many thousands of ships to canvas the 3+ light years in a
single hex (there are 525,600 minutes in a year). And that's just with a
linear defense strung out across a 2-dimensional plane. If you take into
account the 3 dimensions of space, well, then your blockade would need to take
the shape of a planar grid, so square the previous number of ships needed.
And if you take into account that alerts must be sent by ship, then you need
more ships to man the front while the reporting ships travel to and fro.
Now, let's say our ships have super sensors that can detect up to light years
away. The data received is still only travelling at the speed of light and
will therefore be as old as the distance the data travelled. Any data on an
intruder received from over a few light days away would probably be useless
(as the vamp would likely be long gone by the time you even detected it, and
you wouldn't know where the detected intruder jumped in from, or where it
jumped out to).
And if by some magic, you've aquired sensors that can detect objects faster
than the speed of the light emitted or reflected by objects detected, then
you've just developed a non-starship FTL communications system, and have
blown the main underlying premise of the game (that there is no communication
faster than the mode of travel).
Inorder for any "blockade" of the Regency's space to work, extremely strict
protocols and quarantine procedures would need to be in effect throughout ALL
of Regency space, not just along its edges. A smart virus (I assume some of
them are much smarter than humans) could theoretically figure out what the
defenses of the Regency were, fly right in, sneak past or fool the guards, and
wreak havoc. (Hey, not a bad adventure idea!)
As for inspections, well, what if the vampire ship couldn't care less about
inspections? It might never land, but could still attack! You'd have a very
dangerous corsair on your hands. With properly orchestrated supply lines
(deep space fuel caches), a vampire ship would be hard to stop from getting
in, and once in would be hard to stop period. A vampire FLEET could be
devastating.
Then there are the "listening stations". If strategically located, such as
near gas giants to prevent vampire ship refuelling and near stars to prevent
solar re-energizing, ambush patrols could prevent blatant attempts to
cross-over into the Regency. But when you take into account the alternate
methods of refueling, such as taking water from ice asteroids or comets, or
transforming matter into energy with a black globe, point defense becomes
infeasible for protecting against these methods of entry, and you have the
problem of scale (the number of ships needed to canvas the area concerned
being to great) once again.
I assume the Regency has held up so well over the past 80 years because it has
been lucky enough not to be in the vicinity of the really dangerous virus
mutations, such as the "Empire Builders".
o o
\___/
Roger, Over and Out
Roger Sanger
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