[Loser]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Having the asteroids go in a ring around the star is more realistic than just a "belt" in a random sector.

I had always thought each sector represented it's own orbit or orbital group, that the two-dimensional system grid represented not the two-dimensional plane of a stellar system but various, different, and necessarily undefined aspects of the paths of moving bodies within that system. I believe something like this is the only way to look at that sector grid and apply the word 'realistic' to it.

This is far more reasonable, really, than any 'realistic' alternative. Despite the number-crunching power each of us represent (we play this game, after all) I doubt more than a score of individuals on this board are capable of plotting a useful orbit in a measly three-body system. I'd venture one of that twenty may think of plotting that orbit as an enjoyable pastime, maybe.

This seems to be supported by the way a one-sector asteroid-object brazenly is labeled a 'belt'. Storms, I'd suspect, would also spread themselves out along an orbital path, rather than holding together, body-like.

FQM is one of my Favorites. I just think the application the word 'realistic' to this portion of this is subject to dispute.