Landgrab of Focaline (0207 Aramis/Spinward Marches)

[kaladorn]

No entry to go with it yet.

I'm working on the physical data (yes, by hand, since the system is complex - mainworld orbiting
a gas giant (1 of 4), 2 planetoid belts, and a
binary companion). Doing the temperature tables
and the stress factors is fun... and calculating
100D limits ought to be interesting.

(Side note: Why has no one created a simple top-down display program that displays all the planets in their orbits (with eccentricity), includes the ability to set a starting point and track the positions over time, and project the 100D (or other arbitrary grav or tidal force options)? Then you could visually resolve any questions of masking of jump points, etc. by knowing the date!)

My plan is to have the site ready for viewing
along about mid August. I need to figure out how to get a CC2 isocahedron template working to finish the map up nicely. And do a system map.

And then, on to Inthe (0810 Regina/Spinward Marches)
to which I'm also laying claim, since it seems
to be languishing (and my character group are
currently operating there!).

I did run into some WBH questions though:

I was calculating a gas giant(M=1050 T, Dia=240K km (150 UWP))'s affect as a stress factor on a satellite orbiting in orbit 7 or 8.....
-- and I discovered WBH does not explain how to calculate the S term where the planet you are determining for is a satellite of a gas giant or other body - the central star isn't likely to play a big part, and the satellite *is* likely to be affected by proximity to the planet it is orbiting. My answer of M/(dist/400K) gave me a pretty darn big answer. like 93 or something - that's a lot of stress. Anyone have any idea of how to evaluate the stress factor for a satellite correctly?

Also, in the same vein:
Using G= M x (64 / r^2) for the gas giant (see above - UWP 150, M=1050 T) gave 1050 x 64/(150^2) = something like 4.13, which seemed a darned low surface gravity - I was thinking it should be on the order of 100s of Gs. Whatup? Anyone have a clue?

Those are the two main bugaboos so far.

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Dunno about the Seismic Stress Factor (it's a largely meaningless number anyway - no link to anything real), but the surrface gravity of a gas giant sounds right. It's more massive than Earth, but it's also a lot BIGGER. Jupiter's gravity at the cloudtops is only about 2.5g.

Now, Brown Dwarfs and M type stars have ridiculously high surface gravities - tens to hundreds of times that at Earth's surface, because they have a hell of a lot more mass packed into a space about the size of Jupiter.

 

[Jame]

Aaaah, another landgrabber! Welcome to the club, can't wait to see your writeup!

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by Evil Dr Ganymede:
Dunno about the Seismic Stress Factor (it's a largely meaningless number anyway - no link to anything real), but the surrface gravity of a gas giant sounds right. It's more massive than Earth, but it's also a lot BIGGER. Jupiter's gravity at the cloudtops is only about 2.5g.

Well dip me in fuzz and call me a Vargr! I didn't know that (didn't look either... *doh!*).

Okay, so the forumla works.

As to the S factor, IIRC (or maybe not) it has something to do with world mapping (is it the number of volcanoes? or something)?

Work is progressing okay so far.... I've got the system itself (main planets, stars) generated, placed and I've generated one of the GG and both planetoid belts. I've generated two worlds so far (one an inner planet, one a satellite of one of the GG). I have a whack more satellite generation to do and 3 more GG to finish.

Then we have to worry about the real details - planet maps, history, cultural attitudes, etc.

Anyone have any idea when the Marches was first explored? Were there humans there ahead of the Imperial Survey (or first appearance, which might predate the Survey)? When would most of the sector have first been occupied by people? (Just to give me some ballparks for my history).

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
As to the S factor, IIRC (or maybe not) it has something to do with world mapping (is it the number of volcanoes? or something)?

Something like that, supposedly. Though IIRC (I don't have my WBH here, it's a few thousand km away

) it didn't really produce any meaningful results - you're probably better off ignoring it completely and just winging the volcanoes and tectonic plates and stuff.

I mean, sure, Io is covered with active volcanoes and it's horribly tidally flexed so it has a high stress factor... but if you look at Venus, that's also covered with volcanoes (some of which are very likely to be active), and that's NOT under any significant tidal stresses. So having active volcanoes and tectonics doesn't necessarily require high tidal stress.

Either way, I think the seismic stress factor is a bit TOO much of an abstraction to be actually any use at all. It certainly wasn't based on any real physics, IIRC.

Anyone have any idea when the Marches was first explored? Were there humans there ahead of the Imperial Survey (or first appearance, which might predate the Survey)? When would most of the sector have first been occupied by people? (Just to give me some ballparks for my history).

Aren't there some minor human races in the Spinward Marches sector? If so, they'll have been there for considerably longer than the First Survey

 

[kaladorn]

Earliest info I have is Sword Worlder forefathers leaving Terra in -420 and first Imperial presence somewhere between 50 and 70 IY when the Imperium first arrives at Mora.

But I have no idea if the Sword Worlders were the first ones out there. Seems to me (as a matter of fact) that the Zho empire was stable about -1000, so some wandering Zho might have visited the marches in that time frame.

I think I'll posit some Terrans leaving Earth around -400 to -350 range... following on the Sword Worlders tails, so to speak. It also justifies some of the conventions I wish to use for names and traditions....