Re: Galaxy PBeM - cargo calc question

From: dagibbs@qnx.com (David Gibbs)

Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000

In article <19970720155200.LAA01076@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
PanzerPete <panzerpete@aol.com> wrote:
>I am making an extensive and complete set of computerized Galaxy PBeM game
>tools for general ftp.  I have a question about the calculation of mass
>for ships either loaded or empty of cargo.  According to the standard
>galaxy rules my calculations agree with the examples given in the rules.
>But I still have some doubts since the rules are known to have some
>errors.

Firstly, a ship's mass (for speed and weapons) is:
  D+W+S+C+cargo_carried.

>Making the simplifying assumptions that all tech levels are equal to 1.0
>and a ship has only one attack, then as I understand it a ship's mass when
>NOT loaded with cargo is:
>
>#1 Unloaded mass = D + W + S + C

In this case, cargo_carried = 0, and this falls out nicely from the above.

>where D = drive, W = weapon size, S = shield size, C = cargo size in the
>ship design.
>
>A ship's mass when loaded with cargo is:
>
>#2 Loaded mass = D + W + S + C + [C + (C^2)/10]

This is ONLY true if the ship is carrying the maximum amount of cargo
it could carry.

The formula (C + (C^2)/10) is the maximum cargo a ship can carry.
If the ship is not fully loaded, then the value for cargo_carried
may be less than this.

>Equation #2, above, (again, assuming all tech levels = 1.0 and the ship
>has one attack) gives me the correct speeds and "amount of cargo carried"
>according to the examples given in the standard galaxy rules.  But it
>seems to me that in the  above equation #2 C is being added in twice.  The
>rules say that the expression in the [] is the "amount of cargo a ship can
>carry" and everything else (i.e., D + W + S + C) is the mass of the ship
>excluding carried cargo.  Is this correct or is C being added in once too
>many times?

No, you are not adding it more times than you should, that is the proper
value for the mass of a fully loaded ship.  What happens is you added it
once for the mass of (say) the "cargo holds" and once for the mass of the
cargo itself.  But, really, the (C+C*C/10) should be counted as one expression,
call it H.

-David
--
-David Gibbs
dagibbs@qnx.com

References

Galaxy PBeM - cargo calc question
panzerpete@aol.com (PanzerPete)
Sun, 20 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000