"Proper" orbital system maps

[Unseelie]

So, for a while, I've been messing around with sketches that take the static system maps of Sirius and invision them as regional cross sections of solar orbitals.

That is, I assume that asteroid fields and clouds orbit the suns, that stations go around, and that the places we see on our maps are not all of the system, simply cross sections built by scanns of the reasonably accessible via gate or hole or lane areas. Far away from those regions may still be deep asteroids, nebulae, or such, but not worth crossing the vast distances to find. The maps end up like this:

New London


Leeds


Newcastle


Cambridge


Omega3

I'll be making more as I can remember the shapes of systems..

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[Unseelie]

Something to notice is that most of these systems involve tradelanes that cross through the stars at some point, which indicates that in my extrapolated universe (which I am now using for all my rp, so there), there are periods of time when lanes are down because even at 240,000,000 m/c (my arbitrarily decided speed for tradelanes (which has time dilation of 1:1.6, incidentally)), flying through a sun is a bad idea.

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[Kaghuros]

Something to notice is that most of these systems involve tradelanes that cross through the stars at some point, which indicates that in my extrapolated universe (which I am now using for all my rp, so there), there are periods of time when lanes are down because even at 240,000,000 m/c (my arbitrarily decided speed for tradelanes (which has time dilation of 1:1.6, incidentally)), flying through a sun is a bad idea.

The last thing we need is for someone to Stargate themselves back to 1961.

[farmerman]

Can you fit some of them into elliptical orbits? Maybe that would provide for lanes that didn't burn ships.

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Faction info links: Samura Heavy Industries : LWB : Watchers

[Hielor]

The Freelancer systems were never designed with orbital mechanics in mind, and imposing orbital mechanics on the existing systems isn't likely to get you anything useful. How exactly would you keep trade lane rings in the correct locations all the time, as their targets orbit?

[Unseelie]

Katyn: not in the software I'm using yet...and, typicaly, the elipticals are still fairly close to circular unless its a wildly divergent object, such as some commets. I'm working on getting better shapes, though even if I do, some will still pass through suns

On the topic of movement, I surmise that tradelane rings are each on their own orbits, very carefully mapped/adjusted such that they maintain connection between the rotating points most of the time. This assumes that the distance between lanes is elastic, as it has to stretch and compress as the objects get further from one another..but other than that, there's nothing more complicated than basic rocket science involved in it.


I'm not reaaaly out to get anything useful, more, I'm continually fixing my suspension of disbelief by suspending more believable disbelieves.

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[farmerman]

Katyn: not in the software I'm using yet...and, typicaly, the elipticals are still fairly close to circular unless its a wildly divergent object, such as some commets. I'm working on getting better shapes, though even if I do, some will still pass through suns

There are some pretty weird systems out there though. While I would think New London wouldn't have especially odd orbits, given that it was chosen as a place to set up a population and if the planet was viciously frozen it probably wouldn't work as well, that may be the reason why some aren't overly populated. Omega-3, for instance. Maybe Sprague wasn't populated because of a highly eccentric orbit?

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Faction info links: Samura Heavy Industries : LWB : Watchers

[Unseelie]

I may consider that for some of the planets in Bretonia (not sprague, however, as we're actively getting ready to colonize the place)
The planet orbits haven't been shown. So far, the only rings there are nebulae or asteroid fields, and those objects are collections of many smaller objects on simmilar orbits, which doesn't really lend itself to much elipticalness I don't think.

Ross planetoid, for example, deserves a weird orbit...(cause planetoids are weird)
Many gates can have weird orbits, being as they are anchors to things not particularly in line with the reality of system gravity.


I would like to see something like a moon in a system occasionally...Maybe drop some into orbits of the Gas giants in Kusari..eh. May even go out on a limb and add things to systems because I can..but probably not

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[Hielor]

On the topic of movement, I surmise that tradelane rings are each on their own orbits, very carefully mapped/adjusted such that they maintain connection between the rotating points most of the time. This assumes that the distance between lanes is elastic, as it has to stretch and compress as the objects get further from one another..but other than that, there's nothing more complicated than basic rocket science involved in it.

"Basic rocket science" (really, basic orbital mechanics) makes it obvious that it's impossible to have disconnected objects in their own orbits such that they make a line between two other objects even a tiny minority of the time.

[dodike]

"Basic rocket science" (really, basic orbital mechanics) makes it obvious that it's impossible to have disconnected objects in their own orbits such that they make a line between two other objects even a tiny majority of the time.

I don't understand what you mean. Why is it required to have an object to make a line between two other objects?