 November 19, 2013 - 6:18am | So... intercom's are a thing on a ship. Like... why? wouldn't everybody use there chronocoms? Or do you think there is a reason Chronocoms don't get used like Star Trek communicators? I was wondering if the ship's hull might interefer with the signal but you would think they would just build that into the ship (as in some sort of voice over IP style addition to the computer network). Granted our game came out before the rise of the cell phone. Why in star trek TOS did they rarely use communicators instead of the ship intercom system? I'm thinking it was just the culture of the time the show was being produced. My possible explanations are... they work but dialing a Chronocom takes liek 10 - 30 seconds and the default for intercom terminals is when you hit the button it sends your voice message to the bridge. Maybe come areas of the ship do interfear with a chronocom signal (like nearer the engines) or my last reason might be that they could build voice over IP style tech into the ship but they just choose to not do it on older/smaller UPF ships but customs ships and maybe newer destroyers might have that sort of thing. Any other thoughts? When I run my "Big Ship" game for my players I'm certain this will come up. ----------------------------------------------- |
November 25, 2013 - 2:25pm | They can easily establish geosyncronous orbit if they want to. But again you'd have the radio issue. Both geostationary orbits (which is more likely what you'd want rather than geosycronous) and geosyncronous orbits are really high up, between 25-80 thousand kilometers depending of the mass of the planet and it's rotation rate. So your radiophone with only 1 thousand km range isn't going to reach that high, it only gets into low earth orbit (LEO) ranges and in that case you will have blackout periods unless you have multiple comm satellites as has been mentioned. Hmm, good to know. Good info to know when describing thier radio limitations. I'll go google the "why" geostationary (which is yes what I meant) is so high. ----------------------------------------------- |
November 25, 2013 - 2:26pm | Good Info TerlObar. I'll go google the "Why" behind the height requirement of Geostationary orbits. And yes that is what I meant. ----------------------------------------------- |
 November 25, 2013 - 4:59pm | The why is easy enough. For it to be geosynchronous (geostationary is just a special case) the orbital period of the satellite has to match the rotation rate of the planet. The orbital period is directly related to the mass of the planet and inversely related to the radius (actually, I believe it is radius squared) of the orbit. I don't have the exact math handy off the top of my head but I believe the Wikipedia page on geosynchronous orbits does have it. In LEO, orbital periods are on the order of hours. You have to go much further to get longer orbits. For example, the satellite mission I work on (Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope), which orbits in LEO at about 560 km altitude, has an orbital period of ~95 minutes, much shorter than the 24 hours needed to be geosynchronous. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 November 25, 2013 - 6:05pm | The probes are not just ship type - research or assault scout but, also organization. If the Frontier Expeditionary Force goes out and finds Liberty and Saurian systems, those ships (Frigate and Assault Scouts) would most likely carry probes. As for a torpedo launcher...I would think that it would be larger to accomodate the nuclear payload (size ??). The atmoprobe would be more high-tech and specific and probably smaller (size 3 meters). By contrast, a landing drone would be larger than a torpedo launcher could accomodate. It's the size of a air car. As for using a probe casing for a person...just put them in power armor with and strap them in. Good point though - NICE! Armored and Dangerous (Dragon) (Assault Transports)...Along with the shuttles, each transport carries numerous one-man reentry capsules for orbital drops by powered-armor troops.... Prior to an orbital drop, powered-armor soldiers are encased in individual capsules. A capsule consists of several layers, two of which contain parachutes and one which contains retrorockets. As the capsule enters the atmosphere, the layers burn away, protecting the soldier inside. With the combined use of the parachutes, retro-rockets, and the powered armor?s boot jets, the capsule is able to make a safe and gradual descent. |
 November 25, 2013 - 8:16pm | Not every ship carries power armor ;) No this ride is just for the desperate. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 25, 2013 - 9:50pm | Discovered a problem with my not wanting them to use chronocoms on ship. The robots I made for the ship all require computer link. So I better let them us chronocoms if they want. ----------------------------------------------- |
November 26, 2013 - 5:37am | Discovered a problem with my not wanting them to use chronocoms on ship. The robots I made for the ship all require computer link. So I better let them us chronocoms if they want. I would recommend having to types of com networks wireless and wired- both are present and both have their uses. from a rpg game standpoint having the wireless coms is good because in a sci fi setting you are more likely to have the party split up and not all in the same room as is typical for fantasy. What do you do then? Enforce a no meta gaming between the players since their characters cant talk to each other the players cant communicate at the table? The player are going to talk at the table and on a certain level even the best player cant help but meta game (I hate watching a player do something stupid with his character to prove that he isn't meta gaming). So having wireless coms really works to your advantage game play wise. Allow the PCs to communicate, at least within the range of the com device they are using. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
