Sunday, December 29, 2013

Reference Material page

Decided to add another page specifically for Reference Material.
Will likely be dedicated to stuff that is not game rule specific, but rather to things that are just nice to know, or useful to have on hand to help the game (or the creation process) along.

first up is my most used reference material.
Silhouette and Speed Reference

and because i just did a post about it...
Range Band Reference.

Range Bands

I thought "a lot of people must have a hard time estimating distances, i know it happens at my table a lot."  I should get a better feel for the reality of the Range categories in this game. If for no other reason than just to have as a helpful reference.

I cracked open my book and a spreadsheet. I figured i would start by outlining the most clearly defined real measurements. I didn't get far before i realized i was going to have to make a couple of assumptions to get more than just a few 'clearly defined' measurements.
My relevant assumptions were as follows.
A few = 3 (a pretty standard assumption i think)
Several = 6 (smack dab in the middle of a few and a dozen)
I went back to my task of seeing what i could gleam from the book.
numbers with an "a" in front like "a6000" means i used one of my assumptions. Where no clear number was indicated and no assumption was really possible i left a question mark.
LITERAL (sort of) INTERPRETATION

range band
Description
~ distance


Personal Scale
Engaged
Close enough to interact person to person. Close enough to reach out and touch it.
0
?
m
Personal Scale
Short Range
up to several meters between targets. Can talk comfortably without raising voices.
?
a6
m
Personal Scale
Medium Range
up to several dozen meters away. Need to talk loudly to hear each other.
?
a72
m
Personal Scale
Long Range
further than a few dozen meters. Must yell loudly to hear each other.
>36
?
m
Personal Scale
Extreme range
cant hear each other even shouting.
?
?
m






Planetary scale
Close range
slightly further than extreme range in personal. Up to several km.
?
a6
km
Planetary scale
Short Range
up to roughly several dozen km
6
a72
km
Planetary scale
Medium Range
something is within medium range if it is within roughly fifty km. long enough that only the most powerful artillery can reach it
?
<51
km
Planetary scale
Long Range
anywhere from a hundred to two hundred km away. Engagements never happen at this distance.
51
<201
km
Planetary scale
Extreme range
athe far edge of a vehicles scanners. Weapons can not hope to reach.
?
?
km






Space Scale
Close range
uncomfortably close for capital ships. Dogfight range.
?
?
km
Space Scale
Short Range
just out of dogfighting range. Uncomfortably close for capital ships.
?
?
km
Space Scale
Medium Range
Up to a few hundred Km.
?
300
km
Space Scale
Long Range
up to several thousand km
301
a6000
km
Space Scale
Extreme range
beyond most weapon ranges.
a60001
?
km

as you can see... the book was not very helpful in regards to real numbers (it's ok.. it's supposed to be narrative!)

so, this didn't seem like it would be much help in giving people a better way to estimate range bands.
I did some looking into real life distances for; line of sight, voice travel, 'modern' dogfights, artillery weapons and some other things. I used some of this information to help estimate some more distances. After i had filled in some more numbers i did some comparing of ranges across the different scales. I tried to leave all the 'hard' numbers from the book as they were. Then i filled them out in a way that made as much sense as i could manage.

So for those who have a hard time Estimating distances or really don't understand the range bands.
I present to you, my best effort at giving you some hard numbers to use as a guide when determining range.
approximate Range band distances

range band
Description
from
to

Personal Scale
Engaged
Close enough to interact person to person. Close enough to reach out and touch it.
0
1
m
Personal Scale
Short Range
up to several meters between targets. Can talk comfortably without raising voices.
2
6
m
Personal Scale
Medium Range
up to several dozen meters away. Need to talk loudly to hear each other.
7
60
m
Personal Scale
Long Range
further than a few dozen meters. Must yell loudly to hear each other.
61
300
m
Personal Scale
Extreme range
cant hear each other even shouting.
301
780
m






Planetary scale
Close range
slightly further than extreme range in personal. Up to several km.
0
5
km
Planetary scale
Short Range
up to roughly several dozen km
6
24
km
Planetary scale
Medium Range
something is within medium range if it is within roughly fifty km. long enough that only the most powerful artillery can reach it
25
50
km
Planetary scale
Long Range
anywhere from a hundred to two hundred km away. Engagements never happen at this distance.
51
200
km
Planetary scale
Extreme range
athe far edge of a vehicles scanners. Weapons can not hope to reach.
201
350
km






Space Scale
Close range
uncomfortably close for capital ships. Dogfight range.
0
30
km
Space Scale
Short Range
just out of dogfighting range. Uncomfortably close for capital ships.
31
100
km
Space Scale
Medium Range
Up to a few hundred Km.
101
300
km
Space Scale
Long Range
up to several thousand km
301
6000
km
Space Scale
Extreme range
beyond most weapon ranges.
6001
12000
km