[Spaceships] Magsail acceleration question

[acrosome]

Does the acceleration of a magsail vary by the distance from a star according to the inverse square law, as does a lightsail? Logically it seems that it should, but the RAW in Spaceships doesn't seem to imply that.

If it doesn't, why not?

[Anthony]

Because the sail effect becomes larger or smaller depending on the solar wind, actual scaling is slower than inverse square.

[acrosome]

How does it scale, then?

Why not have the sail at maximum size all the time?

[Langy]

Originally Posted by acrosome

How does it scale, then?

Why not have the sail at maximum size all the time?

The scale is close enough to 'doesn't scale at all' that it doesn't matter, given the granularity of Spaceships.

The sail's size depends upon various conditions, but the long and short of it is that the sail is always at maximum size - the maximum size simply changes as you get closer (it contracts) or further away (it expands) from the star.

[lexington]

That's... weird. I'm can't seem to find any mention of that.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by lexington

That's... weird. I'm can't seem to find any mention of that.

Because it is a property of what a magsail is and gets way more detailed than spaceships is setup to handle. See here for a more in-depth explanation. Or the pdf here or here.