We spent quite a bit of time discussing the tradeoffs of a star topology with relatively short stubs vs. daisy chain with termination at each end. Many of the things discussed in this thread (robustness, stub length, reflections, risk of single point of failure, etc.) were brought up.
In the end we decided to stick with CAN as it was spec'ed to be - daisy chain, twisted pair, terminated at the ends. Can you get away with stubs several inches long? Probably. Can you get away with loosely twisted or even untwisted pair? Probably. Is it recommended? No. Should you chance it? I dunno - how much of a learning experience do you want?
