Tarsus, 100 Diameters

Hi all,

Just a quick note, working on the principal that the less time my head spends
outside my bunker, the less chance it has of being hit by spurious flak.

TARSUS
Someone wanted to know which character cards went in the Tarsus (CT) adv:
Shark Resteff, Ganidiirsi hault-Reitan, Renard Ruche, Gaz Donnerkindt,
Tali Calcidor, Stashu Nagoya, Sten Commarre, Trow Backet,
Larin Imuspress, Dr. Amun Shimullu, Orinde Windhoek, Anicia Pantabreve.
Personally, I'd use different names... :)
100 DIAMETERS: LOSS OF ENERGY
As already explained on TML, No, jump drives don't need a gravity well to
expend their energy after a jump. There are reasons why high speed or FTL
drives might require gravity fields to speed/slow them (sling-shotting, etc.)
but this is not the case in Traveller (ooops, opportunity to get jumped on
here, so I'd better add: in my opinion, in my universe, at the current
instant in time, subject to review... phew... that was close!)
100 DIAMETERS: EXCEEDING HABITABLE ZONE FOR A STAR
1) Not all inhabited worlds are in the habitable zone. This is a possibility
for explaining why outer worlds are inhabited when they seem to have no
other redeeming feature.
2) Why keep beyond 100 diameters? Well, in my world, opinion, instant, etc.
gravity wells disrupt jump-fields and can 'pull' ships off-course. I retain
the 100-sun diameter limit for inter-system jumps on the principal that
when travelling several light-years 'through' the Nth dimension, you can't
afford to have your nav calculations affected by such gravity; it's bad
enough that the whole universe is expanding, planets move around suns, etc.
let alone putting another factor in. So for a big star the party's ship
arrives at the edge of the system to make sure they arrive approximately
where they expected, and not in the middle of a planet or sun.
Now, in-system jumps... travelling a few AUs is so much less distance than
inter-system that gravity can be allowed for a bit - you don't have to rely
on old nav charts - you're in system, you can scan around and see exactly
where you are, where the planets and sun are, and even map or calculate the
gravity variations across the local system. Now you're ready to do an in-
system jump which can go within the sun's 100 diameters but still ought to
stay outside 100 diameters of planets and the like - fluctuations in the
gravity 'contour map' may still pull you off line, so you want to keep clear
of planets, just for safety (i.e. star law 287312 dictates...)
In my game (personal opinion at this instant, etc.) you can activate a
jump drive anywhere you like, even on a planet's surface... Of course that
doesn't mean you'll arrive where you wanted... and in the latter case you'd
better be hovering, or most of your landing gear's outside the jump field...

Humble, humble, humble. That's to make up for not prostrating myself
elsewhere in this article. Everything I said in this and ALL previous
articles is my personal opinion, has always been stated as such and can be
substantiated as such in a court of law.
Any comments? Good! Complaints? May you be plagued by Jehovah's
Wit... oops can't use them... by the Morm... no, still religious...
ah, by Taxmen... no there's bound to be one out there listening at this
very minute... got it! Plagued by ants... Uh oh, here come the ant-liberation
and equal rights group...
Crack! pHIZ! Ratatatata. Sound the alarms! We're under fire! Man the bunkers!

Yours, retiring to a safe distance...

Andy
Commander Lilly, PITS (Political Intelligence Team, Scout)
Nothing I say or do in any way reflects the views of my very kind and
generous employers.