I was running some new players (new to Trav not RPG's) through a little game recently just to give them a feel for the mechanics. I gave them an armed Scout as a ship. They wanted to try some intra-system pirating (after finding out that it is impossible to accurately predict exact jump in locations for ships). They placed themselves half way between two populated planets about as far distant as Earth is from Jupiter.
What they discovered was that even a ship with just a 1G M-drive travels SO fast at midpoint that it covers ~100,000km in 30 seconds. Making an attack almost impossible. They cannot "hang out" at either planet waiting for ships as they would be too conspicuous.
It's fun watching these guys figure this stuff out and come up with solutions. They understood "space combat" and stuff from watching Star Wars and what not.
What they discovered was that even a ship with just a 1G M-drive travels SO fast at midpoint that it covers ~100,000km in 30 seconds. Making an attack almost impossible. They cannot "hang out" at either planet waiting for ships as they would be too conspicuous.
It's fun watching these guys figure this stuff out and come up with solutions. They understood "space combat" and stuff from watching Star Wars and what not.