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Old 07-09-2012, 10:34 AM   #1
Solascout
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
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Default Infinite Worlds Coordinates

So you have coordinates from Homeworld to Johnson's Rome (I'm assuming everything is in the same quantum here. No projectors required.) You also have coordinates from Homeworld to say Caravan 2. If you jump to Johnson's Rome can you use your original Coordinates to jump to Caravan 2 or do they need to be re-computed based on your current location?

Second question: Since these are all parallel worlds, do you use 'our' world coordinates for location and just add a parallel coordinate to Lat & Long.? Does this question get much use in most Infinite Worlds games?

Thanks for any thoughts and methods you use.

David.
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Old 07-09-2012, 11:07 AM   #2
wellspring
 
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

Check out page B530.

Short answer: you need a different jump program for each.

Every jump requires the coordinates of both the origin and the destination universes, plus that of the geographic location you'll be jumping from. Armed with those three pieces of information, you can calculate a parachronic course (this requires about a week of supercomputer time).

So the coordinates for a universe are not the same as the course you plot to that universe (they're necessary but not sufficient). Without the coordinates, you can't calculate a course at all.

Going from White Star's port in Mykonos on Johnson's Rome to the equivalent location in Homeline requires a jump course. Change any of these three variables (origin universe, destination universe, physical location), and you need a new jump program (courses and jump programs are, as far as I can tell, the same). Even with a jump program, you need several minutes to fine-tune the course before jumping.

The book is vague on whether you use the same program to jump in both directions (or whether jump programs are sold in pairs). My ruling is that if you want to go from Homeline to Johnson's Rome, that's one program, and the return voyage is another, for a total of $1000 if it's a standard location.

Incidentally, this is important if you're in a mobile conveyor. Your 1967 Corvette might have a conveyor built in, but if its jump courses run out of a back yard in Tampa, then you can't make jumps down at the gas station or in the parking lot at Disney. So you can have chase scenes with conveyors-- the players might be racing to their jump points.

On your second question, no, the question of the formatting or numeric values of the coordinates has never come up. I suppose that with the geographic portion, at least, a computer can translate to our own system of longitude and latitude. In practice, unless you're hauling a supercomputer around, calculating jump courses won't usually happen in-game.
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Old 07-09-2012, 12:47 PM   #3
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

Quote:
Originally Posted by wellspring View Post
On your second question, no, the question of the formatting or numeric values of the coordinates has never come up. I suppose that with the geographic portion, at least, a computer can translate to our own system of longitude and latitude. In practice, unless you're hauling a supercomputer around, calculating jump courses won't usually happen in-game.
Although if someone made it easier, I can't think of a better use for a Mathematics roll.
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Old 07-09-2012, 01:48 PM   #4
ericthered
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

while we're at it, a couple more questions:

1) how close does a mobile conveyor need to be to the original point, and does motion need to be taken into account?

2) is there equipment to sense a course a conveyor took, and does it work on jumpers? If so, you can do things like send a jumper to your destination, and then follow.

As for the Mathmatics roll, If you want to have someone who is truly talented, make them a jumper who can only jump in the conveyors, but has an innate feel for the quanta and can do the calculations very quickly.

Also, how good of a computer can you get from caliph?
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:07 PM   #5
Snaps
 
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

In past games Ive had a player who wanted to beableto do jump coordinates in his head. (He was playing a Data likeAndroid).

what kinds of advantages would this require?
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:12 PM   #6
Rocket Man
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaps View Post
In past games Ive had a player who wanted to beableto do jump coordinates in his head. (He was playing a Data likeAndroid).

what kinds of advantages would this require?
If we're only taking advantages and not skills, I'd say Lightning Calculator and Mathematical Ability. However, you'd also likely need a pretty high level of whatever skill the GM deemed appropriate,whether it be Parachronic Physics or the non-canonical Navigation (Cross-Dimensional).
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:18 PM   #7
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaps View Post
In past games Ive had a player who wanted to beableto do jump coordinates in his head. (He was playing a Data likeAndroid).

what kinds of advantages would this require?
Intuitive Mathematician [5] (for the built-in "calculator"); Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10] (to hold the various coordinates); ETS [45] and/or Compartmentalized Mind [50] (for extra computing speed). Unfortunately, there aren't any guidelines for just how fast ETS lets someone think, so I can't really comment on how long the calculations would take.

The alternative, of course, is Accessory: Small Computer [1], which is definitely appropriate in UT games where most characters would have easy access to processing power. Of course, this is a far less powerful machine than normally required for parachronic calculations, so would take much longer if working from scratch. It might at best be able to make those last-minute corrections in hours instead of minutes.
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:52 PM   #8
wellspring
 
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Man View Post
If we're only taking advantages and not skills, I'd say Lightning Calculator and Mathematical Ability. However, you'd also likely need a pretty high level of whatever skill the GM deemed appropriate,whether it be Parachronic Physics or the non-canonical Navigation (Cross-Dimensional).
I'd say Intuitive Mathematician plus the appropriate parachronic skill. By the terms of the advantage, you're faster than a computer. The GM might assign a base time for you, probably with the dramatic goal of having you take a hefty penalty for taking less time when you're in hot pursuit or something. It's a cinematic advantage, clearly.

If you want intuitive mathematician with the limitation that it only works for parachronics, or if there will be a lot of jumping around in your game, then I'd STRONGLY suggest requiring an Unusual Background. Calculate the cost that taking Jumper with a Gadget limitation to get a ballpark on how much this should cost.

One iron-clad rule I'd never leave out is that if they don't know the coordinates of the worlds involved, they can't try to divine them out of thin air.
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Old 07-09-2012, 04:54 PM   #9
wellspring
 
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

Actually, re-reading the post, I see your player is playing an android. Sorry, I was thinking this was some kind of savant talent.

He'll have "accessory: computer" already. So the complexity of that computer should tell you how long it will take to calculate jump coordinates. The capability should come free with that computer-- but keep in mind that unless his TL is WAY above TL8, it'll take prohibitively long to calculate jump courses.
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Old 07-09-2012, 05:28 PM   #10
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Default Re: Infinite Worlds Coordinates

I always assumed that the geographic coordinates had a default setting of "Right Here", which lets them jump within quanta, but to use a projector, they have to be at certain pre-defined points.

As for what you need to calculate a path:
Full para-chronic coords for departure dimension
Full para-chronic coords for target dimension
partial coords for any para-chronic weirdness along the path, like quantum sargassos, or Thesis-1.
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