Jump drive cycle time

[kevinknight]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that you have to give a jump drive time to 'cool down' before you can jump again even if you already have enough fuel and the course laid in. Is that right, and if so, where is this discussed?

Thanks.

 

[Arkathan]

Fluff text. Maintenance after a jump.
Now, since the jump drive is only powered during jump-space entry in MGT2, IMTU I allow the characters to do that maintenance during the week in jump space.

 

[Ol'Weedy]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that you have to give a jump drive time to 'cool down' before you can jump again even if you already have enough fuel and the course laid in. Is that right, and if so, where is this discussed?

Thanks.

You might be melding 2300's stutter-warp de-rad into the j-drive.
I know my brain does that a lot with related stuff I read decades ago. Or minutes ago come to think of it.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

CT High Guard 1980, p17:

Because of the delicacy of jump drives, most ships perform maintenance operations on their drives after every jump. It is possible for a ship to make another jump almost immediately (within an hour) after returning to normal space, but standard procedures call for at least a 16 hour wait to allow cursory drive checks and some recharging.

 

[CordwainerFish]

In my head, taking a navigational fix after jump is at least as important, due to jump variance. A heavily trafficked system like Regina or Terra will have navigational aids which make that trivial, but in a backwater system you'll want to pull out an ephemeris and the ship's scopes. If you're deliberately jumping into an empty hex you'd darned well better take as precise a fix as you can, because your uncertainty of your location will feed into the difficulty of the next jump...

 

[ottarrus]

I do it somewhat differently than @Arkathan .
IMTU, the Jump drive uses most of it's fuel requirement to get you into JumpSpace. However, the drive is still running the entire trip as it maintains a bubble of Newtonian space around the hull of the ship. This bubble is thin... no more than a couple of feet [0.6 meters] between the hull and bubble wall. And exposure to raw Jump Space is a Very Bad Thing for Travellers.
Therefore, when the ship does transit into real-space after a Jump, the crew does need to do maintenance and tuning. This is usually fine because the astrogator is using that same time to fix their bearings and calculate the next Jump.

 

[kevinknight]

CT High Guard 1980, p17:

Thank you, that's what I was trying to pull up from the fathomless depths of my memory...

 

[CordwainerFish]

Another thought I'm toying with is, once jump is initiated the J-drive itself is no longer active in any way (because I do not like a ship being lost with all hands because a 15¢ part failed), and the jump bubble is maintained by a resonance in the hull grid. When the ship returns to normal space and physics resumes ordinary service, it is no longer possible for that resonance to exist and it just goes *poof*. I still need to account for early ships which had no hull grid, and thus had to be spherical and were a pain to get on the correct jump vector...

 

[Arkathan]

I do it somewhat differently than @Arkathan .
IMTU, the Jump drive uses most of it's fuel requirement to get you into JumpSpace. However, the drive is still running the entire trip as it maintains a bubble of Newtonian space around the hull of the ship. This bubble is thin... no more than a couple of feet [0.6 meters] between the hull and bubble wall. And exposure to raw Jump Space is a Very Bad Thing for Travellers.
Therefore, when the ship does transit into real-space after a Jump, the crew does need to do maintenance and tuning. This is usually fine because the astrogator is using that same time to fix their bearings and calculate the next Jump.

That is how I handled it in CT, WAY back in the day.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Between the end of the FFW and the events of the Rebellion there was an interesting adventure seed appearing in TAS News articles:

REGINA/REGINA (0310 A788899 A) Date: 102 1112
¶ A dispatch from Terra/Sol (0207 A867A69 F) dated 121-1111 reads: "The
first known victim to survive direct exposure to hyperspace arrived at Terra
today, suffering from what medical experts are calling 'Hyperspace sickness'.
Naval commander Ansel Churner, an engineering officer on his way to
retirement on Prometheus, is being held in strict quarantine until specialists can
determine the specific effects the exposure will have. Doctors working on the
case are quoted as saying that preliminary tests indicate that Cdr. Churner is in
good condition, but is not mobile".
¶ "Three members of the engineering department on the Tyrol, a Rome, Inc.
luxury liner were killed. Circumstances of their deaths have not been released
at this time".
¶ Admiralty spokesmen at Regina refused to comment on the dispatch.

Hmm, so jump space is referred to as hyperspace in setting...

REGINA/REGINA (0310 A788899 A) Date: 140 1112
¶ A dispatch from Terra/Sol (0207 A867A69-F) dated 130-1111 reads: "The
Starship Accident Inspection Team (SAIT) of Australia Down Starport has been
officially relieved of its duties in the inspection of the Tyrol, a Rome Inc. luxury
liner which suffered mysterious damage while in hyperspace en route to this
world. The Naval Attache to Terra, Captain Winston of Duncanhood, Earl of
Lardher, officially relieved the SAIT and replaced them with his own team of
specialists, including a number of civilian representatives from the Beta
Draconis Industries. Heavy security measures, including marine guards, have
been implemented, and all access to the Tyrol has been cut off to observers.
¶ Meanwhile medical specialists at the Demosthenes Naval Hospital have
confirmed the gradual recovery of Commander Churner from the almost total
loss of equilibrium he suffered as a result of exposure to hyperspace."
REGINA/REGINA (0310 A788899 A) Date: 142 1112
¶ A dispatch from Terra/Sol (0207 A867A69-F) dated 132-1111 reads: "The
remains of the three engineering crew who were killed in the mysterious
mishap on board the Tyrol were identified today as First Mate Jerrance Willan
of Hell/Sol, Second Mate Elizabeth Maeer of Prometheus, and Cargo Specialist
Albaret Michaelsson of Terra/Sol. Their remains are being held pending the
conclusion of medical investigation, after which they will be released to their
families."

Just when it is getting interesting...
The military are taking over the investigation...
The ship is an object of concern...
The survivor is recovering, but is not part of the military investigation security procedures...
A mysterious organisation is involved with the military "including a number of civilian representatives from the Beta
Draconis Industries"
The dead bodies are objects of concern...

There should be enough there to write you own scenarios...

 

[Condottiere]

This would only be an issue if the initial attempt at jumping is aborted.

And even then, if you already charged the capacitors, it would be more maintaining that charge, while the astrogator, assuming the starship is moving, might need to tweak his calculations.