Re: Astrogation was Re: (TFT) Navagation

[Jay Carlisle <maou.tsaou@gmail.com>]

> (navIgation not navAgation BTW)

Not with my accent it isn't!
lol

Hi Peter!

That's what I've been thinking.
I seem to recall Slipstick Libby and the Senior using the method you
describe quite some time back now.
In this setup I'd guess the unobtainium would be a pretty boss
computer system like Star Trek has.
Even then I'd expect some strong limits to this, especially if star
travel involves 'hyperspace jumps' or similar methods (Gates).
Miss your expected arrival point by too much into an unknown region
and you might be there a long time looking for the proper matches.
But that's just a guess.
Gay Deceiver could mark points across alternate realities, which is
right up a Mnorens alley, but as far as I'm concerned for now THAT is
some kind of spell.
What I'm particularly fishing for here is if there are other
speculative methods for star travel navigation that I'm missing.
Off the top of my head...
How about some kind of sensor that's "tuned" to the super-massive
black hole at most spiral galactic centers?
I can barely build a planet right now, that won't win any awards for
its fjords, and certainly am not interested in constructing elliptical
or irregular galaxies at the moment...
Ergo, I assume that most of the star travel will be in the galactic
plane which goes a long way toward simplifying things as well.
On top of that I treat the galactic bulge as roughly equivalent to the
sun in the resources and spells necessary to "mess" with.
I'm not sure which takes more unobtainium to build, the sensor or the computer.
I do know that I don't want to get caught in the Star Trek gaff of
under-speculation.
In a TV programe a "replicator" may just be a plot device but give a
RPG'er access to one and it's a toy.
It's best not to hand a RPG'er a toy without having the rules of how
it works worked out, Asimov-robotics-like, ahead of time.
That's why I'm more afraid of the unobtainium computer that can match
star positions after a 180 degree trip around the galactic plane than
I am of the unobtainium sensor that can orient to the galactic center.
Assuming the whole idea of a actual "super-massive black hole" sensor
is viable at all.
My guess is it could scale-down to use the star in a solar system in a
similar manner.
On the other end of things, the only vague idea I have for travel
twixt actual galaxies is maybe something like a "string" extending
from the poles of the "quasar" where the speed of light is
considerably "faster".
If galaxies are part of larger scale structures and the alignment is
favorable with the "wall" or whatever then I might be able to pull
something from my neathers.
Following the "string" to another galaxy is pretty much dead reckoning
I'd reckon.
One way trip I'd suppose though...
...
Let's not think what a "unobtainium computer that can match star
positions after a 180 degree trip around the galactic plane" like a
GPS device would could also do.
I'll go up against Followers and Business Sense any day!
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