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Re: (TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #1157

To: tft@brainiac.com
Subject: Re: (TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #1157
From: "maou_tsaou1@netzero.net" <maou_tsaou1@netzero.net>
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 06:18:22 GMT
Reply-to: tft@brainiac.com
Sender: tft-admin@brainiac.com

here's what the knife tried too block last week...

GOOD LUCK!

1228 BM-hexes per mile, or ~ 100 feet @ 1" per BM-hex.
698 BM-hexes for 1000 yard sniper team shot, or ~ 58 real world feet.
At sea level a 6 foot tall human can see about 2.5 miles, or over 3000 BM-hexes, or over 250 feet.
At about 3500 feet in height (over 800 hexes, or about 68ft) a Figure could see roughly 80 miles, or 98,240 BM-hexes, or over 1.5 miles real world measurement.

Squad Leader Close Combat CRT
Attacker ST vs. Defender ST = kill number
1 vs. 5+ = 2
1 vs. 4 = 3
1 vs. 2 = 4
1 vs. 1 = 5
3 vs. 2 = 6
2 vs. 1 = 7
3 vs. 1 = 8
4 vs. 1 = 9
6 vs. 1 = 10
8+ vs. 1 = 11

Advantage defender.
This is a touch strange...

One of the major problems I'm up against is that I'm asking this thing to serve multiple functions.
It has to scale both through immediate command and control and also through time and technology.
In other words, close combat should always be handled via the same system, regardless of the mechanical, chemical, or other technological/magical advantages brought into the fray.
That's general enough.
Then I want the thing to be open enough to allow different ideas about government/culture/business/organization to be expressed.
That's general on top of general, etc.

< watches The Scarlet Pimpernel >
(by Baroness Orcsy)

I intend to try and represent control as "Detachment".
In military jargon a Detachment is a smaller scale Unit broken off from a larger Unit.
Unit scale depends on how you choose too organize your force to begin with.
The farther detached a Unit is from a Figures immediate

< watches Things to Come >

Well, it's obvious that I ain't supposed to be kissed by the Muse tonight.

< sings Tuesday's Gone, 'cepten Jay does Today instead of Tues-day >

I've managed to "break" my head..., for a time.
Good for anyone trying too follow me, not as good to endure...
Jay's gaining another "level".
"Yes..., That was my name..."
I've learned that "writers block" is the time to pick the guitar back up (suddenly I can "strum" stuff while I'm hearing it!, 'Osark Mountain Daredevils' for an obvious one) or "Play" for a while rather trying to force what ain't happening.
A lack of commitments assuages this happy circumstance.

In my particular case I'm making a Wizards staff.
Literally.

I'm putting "runes" in "metal" into the thing.
First was ST in ancient Greek, inlayed in copper.
Second was DX in Phoenician, inlayed in silver.
Now I've got to hammer out this little earring into a kinda foil to inlay IQ in Egyptian Coptic letters in gold-leaf.

Working on the thing leads me to questions.

Does a wizards "staff" require green wood, or can ya make a staff outta a baseball bat?
Does the magic act on the wood's "blood?"
If so does it season the wood?

I believe I can demonstrate (demon is in a scary lot of words) that different "wood's" possess properties in and of themselves that are sufficient to justify some kind of "hickory breaks birch" scale.
And "case hardening" works on much wood too, (silly Mythbusters).
Knapping out "arrowheads" is, IMHO, a product of making larger "tools".
The "point" wasn't arrows, just using the refuge from a larger tool.
IMHO
A flint knapped arrow might be...
Uhhh, see the speech to the arrow what laid Smaug low.
The stone tells YOU what it wants to be.
Else if, I'm just sticking the end of this branch in the fire for awhile...

I've got a REALLY large fake gem imbedded in the thing, is it caret per STpt for batteries?
The Star of Africa is over 500 carats.
The Cullinan was over 3100 carats uncut.
Does this matter?
Finely cut and worth at least a terrino is almost no description at all.
Is it the facets?
Can't be, finely cut includes cabochon cuts.

I braided a wrist strap of leather from my first Elk hide I ever tanned, so no "Drop Weapon" for Jay.
Is it really THAT simple?

Scheze! I just figured ya can smelt iron outta peat.
How dumb am I? Cepten I've never been in peat country.
Yet..., south is "rubbing" elbows, Jay needs...
< sings >
Elbow room, elbow room...
Ergo Jay flees the crowd and finds the cold.
Regardless of what ya think of Jay, he can walk areas that are free of ice for the very first time in North America, as far as Caucasians care anyway.
Who knows what a "strike" is?
When walking across elevation at right angles, you're listening for the earth to whisper at you; "Look here, what's this?"
Prospecting is fun!
I found a run of pumice (good abrasive) that was coarsely peppered with magnetite.
Jay has Iron.
No flint for Jay, (sad) but obsidian is available, as well as Granite and Basalt, and Yew wood.
And walking around on top of the World let's me descend upon such resources if'n I deem it necessary.
Jay can do without chalk and flint.

< "The English think 100 miles is a long distance. Americans think 100 years is a long time." >
And in India, "Every two miles the water changes, and every three miles the dialect."

< Nottinghamshire is a neighbouring county to Yorkshire, but I suspect that counties means more in Europe than they do in USA, even if the physical areas are similar. >

This is astute Mr. N.
The "State" I live in is a VERY interesting example here.
Oregon has examples of most of the major geological features on the planet.
The actual population lives along an "L" shape that extends up the Columbia river, and down the coast.
The "high desert" counties in the southeast get HUGE.
I'm thinking it's got something to do with Production from my peon pov, or taxes from a "I'm better than you" view.

< Up until recently (1900's) there were distinct ethnic features of the residents of neighbouring counties.e.g. Essex men were Saxons, Suffolk men were Angles. We're more mixed these days. >

I grew up in south Louisiana.
I could make a similar analogy about my culture.
I went through "bussing", this big racial issue that went down when I was a kid.
I've grown to think this is an effect of population growth as much as anything else, though longing for the "good old days" is there as well.
We're more mixed these days too, but it's really NEAT to hear another perspective like this.
IMHO anyway...

< Grimsby is across the Humber in Lincolnshire (Terra Incognita). >
LOL!
NO KIDDING!
I don't know much about the Trent or the Ouse, but I DO know what you mean about the bridge Sir!
River crossing is a MAJOR problem in travel.
When Jay started following the Elk, he learned the solution.

< Gods' I've caught Jayitis! >

I'm SO sorry!
I had no idea it was contagious.
LOL
It's not SOOO bad.
At least it hasn't been fatal too Jay yet, just debilitating.

A "Job" interview with Jay is something I'd like to be a fly on the wall for.

< Very nice :) Back when I used to do a morning jazz show on the local FM station, I used a bit of the Smothers Brothers "Boil that Cabbage Down" routine as a promo. >

HEY Joe!
I'm gonna hold you to that beer promise, but where am I to stable the horses?
That's a LONG ride and the baby's are gonna need a little space.
What's the grass like around you sir?
I've NEVER been there, ergo I've NO idea.
...
I found this years Christmas song on "Curb Your Tongue Knave", YOU sir know the one!

So here's where it gets spookie!

< The cutie on the cover of "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" was pregnant when she did that shoot. >

So my friend is Howie Karpe, (had to ask permission first), his pop was a Disney artist, he knows Tom and Dick, he knew HARPO Marx!
Just a font of information.
Well it turns out that the "good stuff" went to a fella in Astoria that runs a "swap shop" called the 'Mall-ternative'.
Well guess who used to date the girl in question?
< The cutie on the cover of "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" was pregnant when she did that shoot. >
Ergo, the man buys every copy of said album for the cover alone.
So Jay's got no copy.
The rumor is that it's his kid.
Honest Injun Joe, I hitched my wagon to this stuff and the Synchronicity is AMAZING!
It's a small world when you're interested in similar stuff I guess.

I'll be hooking up the "good" VCR's this weekend...

I've learned to let the world give me what I require in it's own time, not mine, but entertainment like Mesir Jones is an exception.
That man is a panacea for my woes, and a judicial application of CJ goes a LONG ways.
IMHO
To engage an audience like that...
I used to dream of the power; now-a-days I dread the responsibility.
I know that sounds silly coming from the likes of me, but there it is.

Body relative measures ain't force relative measures.
When have we gotten better at measuring force?

NASA craters Mars over trade issues, (I want the fraction) so I suppose I can't expect people to actually see what I'm talking about.
Complication protects status.
If you're "better than me" then you probably feel that you need to "protect" that.
Advantage Jay.

Stupid assumption that "defense" trumps "offence".

See CHESS!

What is a "Tempo"?

Sports Science gave a figure for a bicycle kick of 1800 degrees of rotation per second, or 5 complete rotations in a second.
This is a full rotation in 0.2 seconds and a quarter rotation in about 0.05 seconds.
Proportionally, the legs are about half a Figures total height (4 heads) and for a 6 foot tall hero the legs are about 3 feet in length.
Arms are about 2 and a quarter feet long (3 heads).
9/12th of 3 is about 3.75 rotations per second, or 1350 degrees per second.
This is about 0.27 seconds per rotation, or 90 degrees in 0.07 seconds.
I would call this "Figure generated leverage", indicating that additional "technique" can be applied to generate additional "force".

If your getting paid to play, you've got time to devote to a "Set Pieces" Talent.
If you are responsible for growing your own food as well as the nobles, you're probably lucky to have time to weave a Cuirass, tan a shield, and learn how to march forward in a Phalanx.

Legs proportionally have about twice the muscle mass of arms.
Does this need to be accounted for or is this covered via a Talents technique?
My current feelings are that this is important from basic HTH type considerations.
A number of ST vs. ST conflicts involve issues of leverage.
For example, in a U.S. football line-play situation, not only is a speed of reaction involved, but also the force of the reaction.
>From a TFT point of view the purpose of blocking is to add a hex to the pass rushers path.
The fraction of a second that this extra steep adds to the time it takes for the rusher to reach the passer is often the difference between success or failure.
Conditioning plays a role here as well, allowing Figures who are fitter to generally exert a larger amount of force per maneuver, and to do so over a larger number of maneuvers over the course of a contest or time.

A football/soccer-ball is about 2 feet in circumference and weighs a pound. (a baseball is about a third of this in diameter and weight)
Guinness lists the fastest kick in 2004 at 80.1mph, or ~117.5fps.
Defining 1 point of ST as the force required to move 5.5 lbs. 1 foot in one second, we can say that 1pt. ST would move a 1 pound soccer-ball 5.5fps, suggesting that 117fps would be roughly a maximum effect for a Figure with a ST of about 21 points.
This assumes that "Set Piece" Talent mentioned before, just like a Nolan Ryan 110mph fastball comes in at about 160fps, or just under 30 ST, assuming applied Pitching form and mound, allowing a Figure to put more effort into the throw than without these "force multipliers".
We seem to be messing with air pressure at this point.
Skiers, Skydivers, Cyclists, etc. all seem to hit this barrier at roughly this point, further increases in fps come from tech/magic or other "boosts", often represented with equipment requirements as well as time constraints for training, etc.

"So long as hand tools were the only way of manufacturing, the corporation and the labor union alike were impossible. When technology advanced to the point of developing a half-million dollar machine for producing a ten cent item (1953 dollars), both become necessary. This interaction of technology and social pattern works both ways, of course. The invention of the machine to produce zippers (at 10 cents) is dependent on the social custom of wearing complex clothing."
- John W. Campbell, Jr.