Re: (TFT) world on a "standard" (?) table map...

["Jay Carlisle" <Jay_Carlisle@charter.net>]

Car Wars / encumbrance stuff.
(1) kilonewton = 224.809 pounds

Cat 797 empty weight 560,000 pounds.
Max load app. 375 tons.
3,400 horsepower (moves its own weight + ~375 tons @ over 1 foot per minuet)

Antonov AN 225 Worlds largest working airplane
Specifications
Type: Heavy Transport
Power plants: Six ZMKB Progress Lotarev D-18T turbofans with 229.50kN 
(~560,000 pounds) of thrust each
Max take-Off Weight: 600,000kg
Max Payload (internal or external): 250,000kg - 275, 000kg? (~560,000 
pounds)
Wingspan: 88.4m
Length: 84m
Speed: 800km/h
Height: 18.1m
Cargo Hold: Length: 35.97m; Width: 6.4m; Height: 4.39m
Range with Max Payload: 4,500km
Range with Max Fuel: 15,400km
Crew: 7
This is a one of a kind airplane. Originally built to haul the Russian space 
shuttle it can now be rented out to haul huge loads. This is now the biggest 
transport plane in the world as of January 2003.


So anyhoo.

I've been working with small islands for campaigns for quite some time now.

A big problem has been boats.

Not only do I simply not know much about 'em, they are somewhat the 
antithesis of what I try to do with the limits of a small island.
A ship is much more limited than a habitable island in resources but an 
island can't move to the resources it wants/needs.

So I ran into a wonderful sailing ship reference in the form of "In the 
Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick.
This thing is chock full of great data on topics like ship performance, 
cargos and capacities, crew routine and requirements, etc.
Being the story of the Essex that was struck by a whale in the Pacific it 
also provides some info from a fantasy attack scenario by a sea monster or 
what have you.
Nantucket is another little island much like Easter.
Those nut jobs on the Essex got hit at just about 120 degrees west of 
Greenwich almost on the equator.
That's the left-middle vertice of hex H1 as described below.

Fixed hexes on Earth using a flat map.

Divide the globe into quarters for numbering purposes using the equator and 
the meridian of Greenwich.
Use a grid described by 15 degrees of longitude and latitude per "square" to 
describe Square-hexes of 16 squares in area.
Each square is 3 degrees 45 minuets per side.
1 degree of longitude at the equator is ~112 km and is about equal to one 
degree of latitude.
Distortion toward the poles is a issue east to west, (at 75 degrees latitude 
1 degree of longitude is less than 29 km east to west) but for plotting long 
voyages, large weather effects, natural disasters, radar and satellite 
coverage, supply lines and other logistical considerations this, etc. serves 
well and allows me to use a map of Earth for detailed examples like "the 
ship left Nantucket (hex E4) on August 12th, 1819 by way of Corvo in the 
Azores (hex C3) and arrived in the Cape Verde Islands (hex B2) about a month 
later" which just by counting 15 degree squares will tell you that this is 
about 4 hexes at this scale covered in about 4 weeks time, or 1 hex per week 
or about half a square per day.

Hex A1 has its bottom right vertice fixed at 0 degrees n/s by 0 degrees e/w 
placing the majority of it in the northwest quarter.
Its bottom left vertice is at 0 degrees n/s by 11 degrees 15 minuets west.
Its middle left vertice is at 7 degrees 30 minuets north by 3 degrees 45 
minuets east, with its middle right vertice at 7 degrees 30 minuets north by 
15 degrees west.
Its upper right vertice is at 15 degrees north by 0 degrees e/w and its 
upper left vertice lies at 15 degrees north by 11 degrees 15 minuets west.

Northwest quarter - Hex-columns A thru L numbered 1 to 6 running from the 
equator to the north pole.

Northeast quarter - Hex-columns M thru X numbered 7 to 12 running from the 
north pole to the equator.

Southeast quarter - Hex-columns M thru X numbered 13 to 18 running from the 
equator to the south pole.

Southwest quarter - Hex-columns A thru L numbered 19 to 24 running from the 
south pole to the equator.

If drawn on a globe hex-columns A thru L are one half of hex-columns M thru 
X with A meeting M at the poles, B meeting N and so on.
A1 is the heads to M12's tails and so on.
This numbering seems to be easier to read on a flat map I think.
This sets up an odd situation at the poles with the hexes numbered 6 and 7 
(18, 19 south) comprising the north pole from 75 to 90 degrees latitude and 
hexes numbered 5 and 6 (17, 18 south) describing 75 degrees latitude.
I fudge here by calling 4 hex-columns @ 75 degrees a pole hex-side, with the 
full pole hex comprised of the 24 hex-columns @ 75 lat.
4 square-hexes are 16 squares across.
At 75 degrees latitude 1 degree of longitude works out to about 28.9 km in 
east, west distance.
At 3.75 degrees per square, 16 squares are 60 degrees.
60 degrees long at 75 degrees lat is about 1734 km making each pole hex-side 
roughly 15 degrees at the equator.
So for the most part hexes 6 and 7, and 18 and 19 are mainly describing 
where on the polar hex-side a party is entering the polar hex from.

The Essex was rammed November 20th 1820 a tad over 13 months after she left 
Nantucket at a location about 14 square-hexes away over her estimated path 
by distance using this scale.

This covers the globe in 228 hexes plus the 2 larger pole hexes at about 30 
hexes in area each.
12 * 24 = 288

A larger scale hex 5 square-hexes in diameter (centered on a single 
square-hex) can be drawn using 25 square-hexes and making no division 
smaller than a half-hex.

"A7."
"Miss (north pole). G4."
"HIT! You sank most of Manitoba Canada effecting all the way down to St 
Paul."

So does anybody wanna figure the Antonovs' range in Square Degree hexes 
(SD-hexes) fully loaded?

Also don't forget that this works for any sphere.

Don't hate me because I think beautiful... hate me because I think better 
than you.
I've got 4 cheeks and I use them all! 
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