Hop and Skip Drives

[GypsyComet]

Once they were described as "Standard" in the CT: HG'80 update moving forward, all references to them mechanically disappeared. No mention of them in CT'81: Book 2 though it is clear from the rules that they are assumed to be incorporated. No mention in MT because there was no further mention in CT, thought in the DGP version of SOM for MT they are mentioned in the section describing how the Jump Drive works, but merely as the system that distributes power to the Zuchai Crystals in a particular pattern during the charging sequence.

Some of us old Charted Space history wonks consider the 77 edition to represent the ooold Vilani hardware, as implied in very early sources: Jump takes every bit of energy the ship can muster until the needed level is reached, and they weren't really good at calculating that threshold in advance. Thus the "necessity that became a tradition" of Jump Dimming and the CT77 mechanic of using all your jump fuel regardless of actual jump distance. It is worth noting that ancient Vilani history seems to suggest that they had jump before they had fusion. That sounds terrifying.

HG80 and CT81 are then seen as a reflection of later eras, when that had all been ironed out.

since MgT2 does not follow canon

Canon is slippery even without that caveat

 

[WHULorigan]

Some of us old Charted Space history wonks consider the 77 edition to represent the ooold Vilani hardware, as implied in very early sources: . . .

That's an interesting interpretation I have never heard before. I think I am going to steal that.

 

[Geir]

Canon is a slippery target and I just gave cannon the 'Inaccurate' trait, so what does that say?

 

[Arkathan]

Canon is a slippery target and I just gave cannon the 'Inaccurate' trait, so what does that say?

Scatter dice.

 

[Condottiere]

That could be fun, if applied to power requirements.

Or annoying.

You randomize fuel consumption and energy input every time the jump drive activates.

That could be before they invent the jump governor and install jump capacitors.

 

[GypsyComet]

That could be fun, if applied to power requirements.

Or annoying.

You randomize fuel consumption and energy input every time the jump drive activates.

That could be before they invent the jump governor and install jump capacitors.

The Vilani had thousands of years at J1, so the Jump Governor is not even needed until they determine the need to jump across some of their J2 gaps, or even later when J2 comes along.

 

[Condottiere]

I had a go at seeing if I could eliminate the jump governor for monojump drives.

Couldn't figure it out for Mongoose.

I think it was supposedly one tonne and a megastarbux.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The Vilani had thousands of years at J1, so the Jump Governor is not even needed until they determine the need to jump across some of their J2 gaps, or even later when J2 comes along.

The jump governor is a bit of a curiosity...

"Jump Governor: It is possible to procure a jump governor for ships produced according to Book 2. It allows such a ship to utilize fuel more efficiently; instead of consuming all fuel when performing a jump, regardless of jump number, the ship will consume fuel equal to 0.1MJn, where Jn is the actual jump number used, rather than the maximum jump number available. Available at any industrial world with tech level 10 or higher. Cost: Cr300,000. Mass: 1 ton. Ships produced according to this book already have the jump governor as part of their drives."

TL10... the jump 2 drive isn't discovered until TL11...

 

[WHULorigan]

The jump governor is a bit of a curiosity...

"Jump Governor: It is possible to procure a jump governor for ships produced according to Book 2. It allows such a ship to utilize fuel more efficiently; instead of consuming all fuel when performing a jump, regardless of jump number, the ship will consume fuel equal to 0.1MJn, where Jn is the actual jump number used, rather than the maximum jump number available. Available at any industrial world with tech level 10 or higher. Cost: Cr300,000. Mass: 1 ton. Ships produced according to this book already have the jump governor as part of their drives."

TL10... the jump 2 drive isn't discovered until TL11...

It means that historically the technology to do it is possible at TL10, but there was no perceived need for it until TL11 (unless, of course, it is to apportion fuel for multiple J-1 transits; but that seems odd to me - I would think the governor had to do with regulation based on the maximum Jn of the Drive, not the size of the fuel tank).

 

[Sigtrygg]

Does it mean that at TL10 you can use fractions of your fuel for less than 1pc jumps?

 

[WHULorigan]

Does it mean that at TL10 you can use fractions of your fuel for less than 1pc jumps?

Canonically per RAW I do not think so. But I would definitely use it as a House Rule . . .

 

[Condottiere]

You could install two separate ten percenter fuel tanks.

 

[phavoc]

The jump governor is a bit of a curiosity...

"Jump Governor: It is possible to procure a jump governor for ships produced according to Book 2. It allows such a ship to utilize fuel more efficiently; instead of consuming all fuel when performing a jump, regardless of jump number, the ship will consume fuel equal to 0.1MJn, where Jn is the actual jump number used, rather than the maximum jump number available. Available at any industrial world with tech level 10 or higher. Cost: Cr300,000. Mass: 1 ton. Ships produced according to this book already have the jump governor as part of their drives."

TL10... the jump 2 drive isn't discovered until TL11...

Wouldn't be more effecient to simply close the fuel tank valve on the half of the jump fuel tank you are planning on not using? Then with no fuel flow it couldn't be drained?

That's not directed at you Sigtrygg, it's directed at the person who thought it up without thinking too clearly about what it really means, and how easily it is to sidestep with basic engineering. If you can control a valve, you have a jump governor.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I think it is a subtle paradigm shift in how they meant jump drive and jump fuel to be used.

In 77 all the fuel you have for the engine is used regardless of jump distance. So a jump 3 engine is going to use 30% (hull displacement) fuel regardless of distance jumped. Any attempt to use less fuel to jump a shorter distance fails because the engine requires that 30%.

For some reason they decided that a jump 3 drive can also function as a jump 2 engine or a jump 1 engine but only with a governor.

So it is not just a matter of reducing fuel available to the engine.

 

[Condottiere]

If that rule still prevailed, multiple examples of factor/one drives ganged together, and just activate enough for the distance required.

 

[Sigtrygg]

You were not allowed to "gang them together"

 

[Condottiere]

As I recall, in the latter half of the alphabet drive table, that occurred.

So presumably, that can be reciprocated in the former, as well.

 

[Sigtrygg]

It didn't, your recall is faulty.
'77 LBB:2...
"The drives and power plants table lists the 24 different types of maneuver drives, jump drives, and power plants available, as well as their costs (in millions of credits) and their mass displacements (in tons). Only one of each may be installed in the engineering section, and the sum of the mass displacements of all three may not exceed the mass displacement of the engineering section of the hull."

 

[Condottiere]

I saw that table somewhere.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Not in CT; T5, MgT1e, some CE product perhaps?

I can't find anything in 81 edition that prevents you installing more than one drive of a type, it doesn't say either way.