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VB6 Aurora > VB6 Mechanics
Change for v6.00
Steve Walmsley:
I am going to put all the various posts covering rule changes for v5.70 in this thread so it will be easier for players to figure out what will be in the new version.
Updates to the Sol System #1
I've updated the Sol system, adding the dwarf planets and correcting the density, gravity, mass and escape velocity for all the major moons.
The new dwarf planets added are Ceres, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Orcus, Quaoar and Sedna. As they have such long orbital periods I have used their current distance from the Sun rather than their average distance. Pluto is also now classed as a dwarf planet. Those planets and any planets that used to be listed as "Chunks" will now be listed as dwarf planets in the F9 view. I considered adding the moons for the new dwarf planets but the data on them is extremely limited so I haven't for the moment. I'll probably come back and tackle that at some point though.
There were some significant mistakes in the physical data for many of the existing moons. In fact, some were so wrong I can't imagine where I got the original information. I have used the Wikipaedia entry for each moon to source the updated information. This will result in some changes in terms of possible colonization as Titan's gravity has dropped considerably.
After Mars/Mercury at 0.38g, the highest gravity can be found on:
Io: 0.183
Luna: 0.165
Ganymede: 0.146
Titan: 0.140
Europa: 0.134
Callisto: 0.126
Eris: 0.084
Triton: 0.079
Pluto: 0.067
Haumea: 0.044
Sedna: 0.043
Makemake: 0.041
Titania: 0.039
Quaoar: 0.038
Oberon: 0.035
To make life a little more interesting, I am going to widen the range of racial gravity tolerances possible for a new race. A random race will have from 50% to 90%. Humans will start with 90%, which makes the Moon, Titan and the Galilean moons all possible colony sites and will widen human options in other systems. I've also halved the "Genome Sequence: Base Gravity" research costs.
In the past the mean surface temperature of the Earth in Aurora has been 22C. I've now changed it to the correct value of 14C. I've also increased the base human temperature range from 22C to 24C, giving a range of -10C to 38C, which seems reasonable in terms of the environments in which humans live in Earth. -10C might be a little on the chilly side but we can survive reasonably well without space-age infrastructure to assist.
Finally, I have updated the Known System data in Aurora with the work I did for Newtonian Aurora. There are now 4250 Known Systems in the database, including all known systems within 100 LY of Sol.
Steve Walmsley:
Updates to the Sol System #2
Another change. It turns out that planets have been orbiting in the wrong direction all this time :)
They should orbit anti-clockwise (counter-clockwise for the US) but until now they have been orbiting clockwise - oops!
As Aurora Lagrange points are at the L5 location, they will still be following planets in their orbit but the change in orbital direction for v5.70 means they will be on the other side of the planet from where they are now (i.e clockwise from planetary location rather than anti-clockwise).
Steve Walmsley:
Updates to the Sol System #3
Another Sol Update. Long ago, I created the existing Sol - Mars asteroid belt in the current Sol system by generating systems until I got a suitable asteroid belt at the right distance and then transplanting it into the Sol system in the database. Saved all the entry of asteroid data :)
However, now I am on a Update Sol campaign I decided to got for something a little better. I removed the 179 Mars - Jupiter asteroids from the DB and replaced them with over 300 actual asteroids from Sol, with the correct names, sizes, distances and physical data (gravity, escape velocity, etc.). Within these 300+ new asteroids are regular Mars - Jupiter main belt asteroids, a number of Jupiter trojans (which occupy the area around the L4 and L5 lagrange points of Jupiter, some near-Earth asteroids, such as Apophis, Apollo, Cruithne, etc., a few Neptune trojans and several Centaurs located between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. This makes the inner Sol system a much more interesting place.
I've spent the last two evenings entering asteroids on to a spreadsheet before importing them into Access. A serious sign of uber-geekness is that I actually enjoyed tracking down all the data :). Now I need to recharge my enthusiasm batteries before tackling the outer system objects and perhaps some real comets for Sol instead of the random ones.
Here are a couple of screenshots. The first shows the main belt, near-Earth and Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The second shows the Centaurs and the Neptune Trojans
Steve Walmsley:
Updates to the Sol System #4
I am planning to separate Trojans from regular asteroids. They will orbit with the planets rather than with the asteroids.
At the moment, the planets, moons and asteroids in the Sol system are always at the same point in their orbit at the start of every game. From v5.70 onwards, every body in the Sol system will be assigned a random point in its orbit at the start of each new Sol-based campaign. This means every game will be unique in terms of the Sol system starting layout.
Steve Walmsley:
Updates to the Sol System #5
More Asteroids!
I have removed the Kuiper belt (185 random objects) from the existing Sol System and replaced it with a further 161 real-life asteroids. These break down as one hundred and thirty-five Trans-Neptunian objects (TNO), eighteen more Jupiter Trojans, two more Neptune Trojans, the three known Mars Trojans, the single Earth Trojan and two more Centaurs.
Some of the TNOs have high eccentricity orbits and for the moment Aurora only supports circular orbits. Of course, this doesn't make a lot of difference in game terms because some of these eccentric orbits are thousands of years and in a normal game's timescales the body would only cover a tiny fraction of that orbit. Therefore, where I can find information on the current distance of an object, I have created a circular orbit at that distance. Where I can't find that information, I have created a circular orbit based on its semi-major axis.
Because the orbits of the new dwarf planets can be close together and are in the midst of the asteroid belts, I have made them a separate category in terms of turning off orbit paths, names, etc..
The first screenshot shows the outer system with the updated outer asteroids. Dwarf Planet orbital paths are turned off. Note Pluto in the inner edge of the belt at about 11 o'clock. The second screenshot shows the increased number of Jupiter Trojans and the extra few inner system asteroids. Note that because the new random bearing changes that Jupiter is starting in a different point of its orbit. The bearings of the Trojan asteroids will also be randomised within a 20 degree section of arc with the midpoint in the L4 and L5 lagrange points of their parent planet (depending on whether they are L4 or L5 Trojans). In reality the Trojans cover about 26 degrees of arc but there are a lot more asteroids in reality too. The Trojans (and all other bodies) will still retain their exact orbital distances even though the bearing are randomised
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