Far Trader

[phavoc]

This also gives you the nice option of having ideal 'jump lanes' that people come in on and leave out of when traveling to and from any two given systems, so you have a lot better chance of meeting up with someone. Although that does leave you zooming past each other at pretty ridiculous rates of speed...

I came up with a house rule/idea that provided large blocks of space for arriving and departing ships at the 100D limit. Every planet within range had a set area at the destination where it's traffic was supposed to show up, and every ship that jumped got a different numbered 'slot'. And in between each arrival zone were traffic zones to allow ships to proceed to the planet without crossing a zone. Departure as much easier, as all the work was on the arrival side. For safety reasons ships would enter jump with zero velocity, and I wasn't using Millers' rule about retaining velocity (not fully at least... if you jumped at 1G, you come back in at 1G, but without all your banked acceleration) nor the idea that different systems imparted different velocities on a jumping ship. It makes it too messy to deal with.

And enterprising ref's don't need no stinkin rules to make things more interesting for PC's coming out of jumpspace!!! bwhahahahahahahaha!!

"That also means that anyone observing you can (Navigation, Routine 10-60 seconds) guess which world you're jumping towards, given the listed jump rating of your ship's class and the known velocities of all neighboring worlds."

I think it was in the Ship Operation Manual that said jump course is determined by the distortion of the jump field, essentially you're 'tilting' the ship in the direction of the destination. Sensors might be able to ascertain a ships course by observing shifts in the target's field. Definitely a sensor check and difficult because you don't hear pursuers regularly accomplishing this tactic so it's either a lot of luck or great skill (Very Difficult or even Formidable).

And it also talked about being able to see the ships lanthanum jump grid start to energize prior to jumping (which isn't quite the case anymore). It's easy enough to predict the system the other guy is jumping into, but you really don't know if he's heading for the main planet, a gas giant, or even just the other side of your current system. It was always a guess for the most part. I think I recall reading something where it was possible to get a emergence locii IF you were lucky and fast enough and close enough. Don't recall where though.

 

[allanimal]

"That also means that anyone observing you can (Naviigation, Routine 10-60 seconds) guess which world you're jumping towards, given the listed jump rating of your ship's class and the known velocities of all neighboring worlds."

...

Vector and speed matching between launch point and destination with any special destination course deviations should be considered part of the Navigation check for Jumping. ...

You mean astrogation checks, right? Because navigation checks are unrelated to jump travel.

 

[Reynard]

You are right, I originally used 'astrogation' but thought I remembered seeing people using 'navigation' and didn't think to recheck the book at the moment. Then again, we often refer to space vessel activities as 'naval' rather than 'astral'.

 

[Condottiere]

Astronavigation is more of an art, rather than a science, otherwise there'd be no excuse for misjumps.

 

[Reynard]

Seriously?! Calculating the exit location very precisely between two destinations parsecs apart using very detailed astrogation data, the finest navigational computers and well trained professionals to regularly hit the mark with the assistance of top notch engineers... calling their work an art is another word for luck and that's an insult.

 

[-Daniel-]

Seriously?! Calculating the exit location very precisely between two destinations parsecs apart using very detailed astrogation data, the finest navigational computers and well trained professionals to regularly hit the mark with the assistance of top notch engineers... calling their work an art is another word for luck and that's an insult.

When they all do their job right and you have a miss jump, then it is not bad luck, it is a screw up by the professionals. That might be how you want to see the fluff, I elect to see it as they all do their best, but it isn't an exact science. The idea that the jump routes need constant refinement just feels right to me. :mrgreen:

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

Jumpspace is not a precise thing. It has a percentage of error when humans are involved. Do people drive cars exactly in the center of their lane always?

 

[MongooseMatt]

When they all do their job right and you have a miss jump, then it is not bad luck, it is a screw up by the professionals.

This sounds like my players. When a misjump occurs, they find the most important thing to do is determine who is to blame

 

[Reynard]

"Do people drive cars exactly in the center of their lane always?"

Now that's a maneuver drive example, not jumpspace. A jumpspace example would be having all the data for a airplane flight through a powerful storm to land precisely on the landing strip just outside the storm with only one shot of fuel.

 

[-Daniel-]

When they all do their job right and you have a miss jump, then it is not bad luck, it is a screw up by the professionals.

This sounds like my players. When a misjump occurs, they find the most important thing to do is determine who is to blame

Finger pointing is a time honored tradition in many RPGs. :mrgreen:

 

[Condottiere]

God doesn't roll the dice, we do.

Everyone can screw up, but misjumps can literally be life and death issues, and astronavigators will give reasonably leeway for such things as dark matter that doesn't come up in the algorithms.

At least, experienced ones do.

 

[hdan]

October version - lookin' good, but FUEL should say "Four weeks operation, one Jump-2", not "Jump-1".