[Baron Munchausen]

The speed you calculate for crossing a solar system (system map) is the average though. Ships have to accelerate and then slow down when they get close to their destination even if their destination is other ships. Combat is assumed to occur at similar speeds. Assuming that the SE system map is about the size of our own solar system (the orbit of Pluto) and a 'turn' is similar to our month in length gives an average speed of a few percent of the speed of light. Not bad, really. ONE percent of the speed of light is 1860 miles per second -- many, many times faster than anything humans have ever launched to date. So, what if these ships just kept on accelerating for a long time instead of slowing down again? It seems reasonable to assume that they could get close to the speed of light. Certainly much closer than anything we are currently able to build. So you could conceivably have travel between nearby stars in a few years of game time. Not too unmanageable.

[ August 03, 2004, 20:39: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]