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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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 Posted: 29-Jun-2006 19:50 Post subject: Pirate Points |
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So, I was reading up on Battletech in Wikipedia, specifically the section of Jumpships and such, and came across the small "entry" about Pirate Jump Points. I never understood exactly what they were. I knew they were points near a planet that had "comparable" lack of gravity to a star's Zenith and Nadir points, but I never really knew why.
Now, reading this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point I do understand. And I decided to come up with the following Tactical Uses of Pirate Points
L1 and L2 are the 2 most obvious pirate points for attacking or sneaking in. It places the jumpship right on top of the planet in question, allowing for a minimal amount of time in transit. The downside is that just outside of these points is a similar, easier to hold orbital halo that can be kept with minimal station keeping thurusters. Therefore these are the 2 most logical places for the planet to have its own artificial satalites, namely space stations or orbital defenses. They are even more likely to be the station holding area for the local space born defenses.
L3 Is on the exact opposite side of the star the planet is orbiting. This places it very far away from the planet, and not necessarily a great spot to attack from. It is a nice place to hide, though. The spot is far away enough from the planet that there probably won't be too many enemies waiting at this point. It would also be a good pirate point to use for, say, an attack on another planet on a different orbital plane. The window of opportunity is pretty small, depending on the orbit, but if timed correctly there is a good chance you can end up days away from the target as opposed to weeks.
L4 and L5 are interesting points of insertion. They are pretty far from the planet and may contain natural celestial bodies. In Earth's case, L4 and L5 have some dust. Jupiter has some asteroid clusters. If L4 and L5 are clear of large hazards, this would be an optimal entry point for an attack that wants to go unnoticed, but is not on a time table. They are far enough from the planet that there is not a likely chance of defenses or even direct senors. They are closer than the zenith and nadir points, and offer a "stealthier" entry into the system than L1 and L2.
I think that makes sense.
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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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| Posted: 29-Jun-2006 19:51 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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it's also interesting to point out that these spots are the locations for colonies in the Gundam series'. In case you didn't already know that.
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"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
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Location: Czech Republic
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| Posted: 30-Jun-2006 07:25 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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Older topic concerning the pirate points.
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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 30-Jun-2006 11:56 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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Indeed there is an older topic about a similar subject.
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Rarich
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 01-Jul-2006 11:24 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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I always considered Jumppoints and Pirate points this way:
Standard Jumpoints are maintained like airports in todays world. The jumpoint area is kept swept of debris that would be hazardous to jumpships and there is a control protocol universally accepted amongst spacers for safe distance and parking your ship.
Pirate points are like a Bushpilot/Air America landing strip. There may be junk in the Jump zone, most planets will have some sort of watch on pirate points that are regular like Lagrangian points and shoot arrivals to those points practically on sight.
The location of the Pirate Point would require DETAILED information on a system. The star's Gravity would limit how close into the system you could come, then the various planets and moons would add in their bit, A sizeable passing asteroid or comet may have enough effect...... Basically you would have to know enough details and what gravity differentials your jumpdrive can handle.
I would agree to a serious shortening of travel time, but that would depend on the system. Obviously jumping to a pirate point only has benefit to military or the folks that give the point its name.
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Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
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Location: Czech Republic
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| Posted: 02-Jul-2006 06:38 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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Actually the shock wave made by arriving JumpShip clears whole area, no small debris is present when the ship arrives
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Rudel Gurken
Allisters Light Thunder
Major
Joined: 15-Jun-2005 00:00
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Location: Germany
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| Posted: 02-Jul-2006 09:12 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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But maybe some bigger debris that the wave can´t handle and has to be converted to smaller debris by means of a PPC or such!
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mud
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 23-Jul-2002 00:00
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| Posted: 02-Jul-2006 12:18 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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I'd think a clear, stable, Legrange point would be of value to merchant traffic, and it would behoove systems to keep certain points near their planets clear (and carefully watched) for just this purpose. The difference between jumping in a day away from the planet or a month away could spell the difference between beating rivals to market or having to sell at a loss. In the case of food or water shipments, it could spell the difference between life and death.
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Rarich
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
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| Posted: 03-Jul-2006 02:34 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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Which is exactly why any planet wanting trade would have to have some sort of "traffic rules" so ships don't transfer too closely. A drop zone relatively free of debris that could hole jumpsails, and other "hospitality" functions would need to be in place.
I would not be surprised that a prime reason ships go missing in the periphery is a piece of junk jettisoned by an earlier jumpship wanders into an unmaintained transfer zone. The small debris can be bad if it junks the sail, large pieces, say a dead aerospace fighter that was killed on the right trajectory..........
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Sleeping Dragon
Draconis Combine
Tai-i
Joined: 06-Apr-2005 00:00
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Location: Czech Republic
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| Posted: 03-Jul-2006 04:39 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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Quote:
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On 2006-07-02 12:18, mud wrote:
I'd think a clear, stable, Legrange point would be of value to merchant traffic, and it would behoove systems to keep certain points near their planets clear (and carefully watched) for just this purpose. The difference between jumping in a day away from the planet or a month away could spell the difference between beating rivals to market or having to sell at a loss. In the case of food or water shipments, it could spell the difference between life and death.
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I think that it would depend on national mentality. Stainer and Marik points are probably going to be open, clanners would have their points neglected (or cleaned by solahma units) and Kuritan or Liao points are probably heavily neglected and most probably mined.
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Rogue Penetrator
Federated Suns
Sergeant
Joined: 12-May-2005 00:00
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| Posted: 16-Jul-2006 23:03 Post subject: RE: Pirate Points |
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Quote:
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On 2006-06-29 19:51, Talen wrote:
it's also interesting to point out that these spots are the locations for colonies in the Gundam series'. In case you didn't already know that.
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It's makes sense Pirate points are areas where gravity's strength is negated enough to make jumping safe.
In a lagrange point gravity is canceled out so it'a a perfect pirate point and a spacestation put there will remain in place without the use of thrusters which save fuel costs and makes it a great place to put space stations.
In on of the Wing Commander novels they mentioned that humanity was planning to put Gundam style colonies in the lagrange points until humanity discovered the jump drive.
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