boggo2300
Cosmic Mongoose
if thats how it worked there wouldn't be jump nets, only cargo nets
Drop Tanks... Back From the Dead?
- Thread starter Ol'Weedy
- Start date
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
Cargo nets are something else (for catching cargo dropped by another ship).
Jump nets are divided between the TL10 version that allows you to carry cargo outside the ship through jump space and the TL 8 version (at a third the price) which DOES NOT allow that but only is of use while using your sublight propulsion. Why would you pay 3 times the price for the TL 10 version if it didn't do anything better than the TL 8 version? (Page 53 HG 2022)
Docking Clamps, External Cargo Mounts and Jump Nets are installed options whose specific purpose is to bring the attachments along through jump. Just holding on to the hull isn't likely to end well.
Tow Cables prevent jumping. So do Interplanetary Jump Nets (stupid name for a non-Jump cargo net). Breaching tubes break as soon as someone moves, so I can't see them holding on. High Guard doesn't say anything about Forced Linkage Apparatus being able to bring a ship along, but for me it makes sense to use the Tow Cable rule for those.
Tow Cables prevent jumping. So do Interplanetary Jump Nets (stupid name for a non-Jump cargo net). Breaching tubes break as soon as someone moves, so I can't see them holding on. High Guard doesn't say anything about Forced Linkage Apparatus being able to bring a ship along, but for me it makes sense to use the Tow Cable rule for those.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
I call them J-Net and M-Net to distinguish between the types (and it is shorter).
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
You have to recall that jump nets are a legacy from the lanthanum grid era.
Anything within a jump bubble comes along, which means, you could use a butterfly net, and a can of Coke.
Anything within a jump bubble comes along, which means, you could use a butterfly net, and a can of Coke.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
Not according to CURRENT High Guard rules.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
A lot happens to be copy paste.
Even if you follow it RAW, it doesn't make sense, within the context of a jump bubble.
Which it happens to be within.
Now, as an extension of the jump bubble, maybe.
A jump net consists of special field cables attached to the rear of a ship that extend the vessel’s jump field to include additional cargo contained within the net.
How wide is a jump field?
Apparently, I think, according to Tee/Five, very.
Also, consider any number of other things that can be docked externally, would need to be covered by the jump net,
Even if you follow it RAW, it doesn't make sense, within the context of a jump bubble.
Which it happens to be within.
Now, as an extension of the jump bubble, maybe.
A jump net consists of special field cables attached to the rear of a ship that extend the vessel’s jump field to include additional cargo contained within the net.
How wide is a jump field?
Apparently, I think, according to Tee/Five, very.
Also, consider any number of other things that can be docked externally, would need to be covered by the jump net,
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Imagine a tiny ship that is almost all jump drive and fuel that takes a much larger ship into jumpspace with its single Type V docking clamp. I’m half tempted to make the smallest ship that could jump a million-ton Warmonger along the main and back to a repair base.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Which was the concept for the jump shuttle.
There was also one example, I think, described like a spider, sitting on a huge external cargo rack.
There was also one example, I think, described like a spider, sitting on a huge external cargo rack.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
A breakaway hull containing the J-Drive and relying on fuel from the "host" vessel. It carries its own fuel to jump independently at the highest Jump level available but when attached will jump at lower levels (J1 or J2 likely) depending on the size of the host vessel.
If you operate lots of ships and standardize the breakaway hull connections this could be used to pick up and return a ship with a defunct J-Drive for the drive to be replaced/overhauled. The ships attached to could be of varying sizes. Might not be economical though as the breakaway hull connections are not cheap.
On the other hand the smaller ship could be used like a Jump tug moving barges. Jump in with a barge, drop it pick up the new barge (with the onboard fuel) and Jump away quickly. Jump every week. More likely to be economical as the J-Drive is (almost) always in use, rarely sitting at a berth.
As far as jump fields go, I get the impression the interface is seriously turbulent. Just being in the zone without being very securely attached to the ship with the J-Drive sounds like a recipe for disaster. Like being on a kayak near a big submarine. You might get sucked down with it if you're close enough, but it's not going to stay that way for long.
And I'd not have thought rapid breakaway connections would be worth it aside from some combat purposes. Undocking from a clamp only takes 3 rounds for a ship under 2000 tons (18 minutes) and larger ships take at most 6 rounds (36 minutes). The tug will need longer than that for regular turnaround - astrogation plot, drive checks, etc.
Some tugs might also sport a beefy M-Drive to move their payload to port quicker than the carried ship can manage on its own. Even providing a net thrust of 2 to a ship that's thrust 1 on its own would be a service. Unless the carried ship has better legs or they both have better performance when separated, I'd think that would be the usual deal - both ships want to get to the port asap, so it's usually better to undock there, all other things being equal. But designs will vary.
And I'd not have thought rapid breakaway connections would be worth it aside from some combat purposes. Undocking from a clamp only takes 3 rounds for a ship under 2000 tons (18 minutes) and larger ships take at most 6 rounds (36 minutes). The tug will need longer than that for regular turnaround - astrogation plot, drive checks, etc.
Some tugs might also sport a beefy M-Drive to move their payload to port quicker than the carried ship can manage on its own. Even providing a net thrust of 2 to a ship that's thrust 1 on its own would be a service. Unless the carried ship has better legs or they both have better performance when separated, I'd think that would be the usual deal - both ships want to get to the port asap, so it's usually better to undock there, all other things being equal. But designs will vary.
Last edited:
boggo2300
Cosmic Mongoose
jump bubbles are what make no sense. Stupidest thing in the game I can think of.
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Cosmic Mongoose
M-Drive tugs are better left in busy ports where that expensive M-Drive gets lots of exercise to justify the cost.
Your Free Trader using the M-Drive a couple of days a month aren't getting bang for the buck. Of course maybe that is why the ships have such longevity the two most expensive/complex units are also the ones used the lowest percentage of the time. The third item (hull) is also the most robust.
For a M-Drive ferry to be justified it would need to get the ship to port significantly faster than the ship could manage on its own, AND for that time saving to be worth paying for. The usual "week in port", "week in jump" cycle would not usually justify it, but you can certainly come up with bulk transport scenarios where it might.
One issue is the same as why you have X-Boat tenders - you can't completely predict just where an incoming ship will jump in to.
Assuming the port tug and the ship both have M-Drives, they will usually need to spend some time to intercept each other, at which point it's often going to be quicker for the ship to just travel to the port under its own steam.
One issue is the same as why you have X-Boat tenders - you can't completely predict just where an incoming ship will jump in to.
Assuming the port tug and the ship both have M-Drives, they will usually need to spend some time to intercept each other, at which point it's often going to be quicker for the ship to just travel to the port under its own steam.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
No they are not.
They are first mentioned in CT S:9, long before DGP invented the lanthanum hull grid.
The jump net uses cables to extend the jump field, lanthanum is only ever, mentioned in the drive coils in CT.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
And how did starships slice through jumpspace in prehistoric times?
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
The logical extension is a breakaway jump drive, a break away cargo/passenger section, breakaway fuel tanks. If they are breakaway and drop tanks are reusable then the fuel tanks breakaway before jump and get clear, if not you have the passenger/cargo breakaway and the fuel breakaway in the vicinity of the arriving jump ship, and when it arrive swap out the hulls. And we are back to LASH...
a jump drive not jumping is wasting money
a maneuver drive not maneuvering is wasting money
an empty fuel tank is wasting money
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
They didn't, Grandfather invented jump technology.
boggo2300
Cosmic Mongoose
well he also invented it in pre-historic times for us...
