Post reply

Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.

Note: this post will not display until it's been approved by a moderator.

Name:
Email:
Subject:
Message icon:

shortcuts: hit alt+s to submit/post or alt+p to preview

Please read the rules before you post!


Topic Summary

Posted by: Alsadius
« on: April 14, 2020, 03:49:00 PM »

Quote from: Steve Walmsley on April 14, 2020, 02:57:08 PM
Quote from: Alsadius on April 14, 2020, 01:17:19 PM
Sounds like it shouldn't be considered tidal-locked for game purposes, then.

I was aware of the 3/2 resonance but in this case I decided game play was more important than strict reality :)

Next you're going to tell me that we won't be sending a few million people there to mine duranium by the year 2030 :P

(Fair enough - probably fun to have one tide-locked option in Sol)
Posted by: Steve Walmsley
« on: April 14, 2020, 02:57:08 PM »

Quote from: Alsadius on April 14, 2020, 01:17:19 PM
Sounds like it shouldn't be considered tidal-locked for game purposes, then.

I was aware of the 3/2 resonance but in this case I decided game play was more important than strict reality :)
Posted by: Alsadius
« on: April 14, 2020, 01:17:19 PM »

Sounds like it shouldn't be considered tidal-locked for game purposes, then.
Posted by: alex_brunius
« on: April 14, 2020, 07:17:21 AM »

Should Mercury really receive a 3.21 colony cost due to being tidally locked?

Reading up on it on wikipedia I find the following information:
"Not every case of tidal locking involves synchronous rotation.[3] With Mercury, for example, this tidally locked planet completes three rotations for every two revolutions around the Sun, a 3:2 spin–orbit resonance."

"Having almost no atmosphere to retain heat, it has surface temperatures that vary diurnally more than on any other planet in the Solar System, ranging from 100 K (-173 °C; -280 °F) at night to 700 K (427 °C; 800 °F) during the day across the equatorial regions."


This does sound a bit contradictory to me considering the following was the motivation to reducing Colony Cost on Tide-locked worlds:
"Tide-locked worlds (one side always facing the star) have only 20% of normal capacity (after taking into account surface area and water). This is to simulate that the population will be living in a narrow band between the light and dark hemispheres of the planet. To compensate, these worlds also have an 80% reduction in the colony cost factor for temperature (as they are living in the temperate band)."