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Old 09-26-2013, 06:04 PM   #10
Agemegos
 
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
Default Re: Scope and format of world data sheets in SF

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff_wilson View Post
Sure, and you could break out the atmospheric and ground albedos where appropriate.

Ah, I think a planet-wide comparison or prevaling conditions could have a better name than "Climate". Terrestriality, or just, "Weather". Also, I believe typical daily variation ranges for seasonal extremes and medians would be more useful than single figures for orbital cardinal points.
Unfortunately annual and diurnal temperature variation, windiness, and storminess are things I find it difficult to come to grips with, and I'm positively afraid that if I calculate the boiling point of water it'll often come out below equatorial (or even average) surface temperature. The inclusion of a small number of tide-locked and orbitally-resonant inhabited worlds makes it tricky.

You would be more excited about the range of temperature from aphelion to perihelion if you lived on Toutatis. The GURPS Space system generator tosses large values for orbital eccentricity around like tinsel at Christmas, and takes no account of their effect on habitability.
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Last edited by Agemegos; 09-26-2013 at 06:19 PM.
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