Jump Drives

[klingsor]

I had an interesting idea for Traveller this morning. A good part of the mass of a jump drive are capacitors and possibly additions to the ships hull – the lanthanum grid so the actual jump drive may not be that big.

I must have had submarines lurking somewhere in my subconscious as it seemed logical to segregate the capacitors in a separate compartment to the rest of the engine room. I think one of the older Traveller books might have had figures for them to see whether this fits with cannon.

 

[whtknght]

I must have had submarines lurking somewhere in my subconscious as it seemed logical to segregate the capacitors in a separate compartment to the rest of the engine room. I think one of the older Traveller books might have had figures for them to see whether this fits with cannon.

LBB5 High Guard pg31
Talking about Black Globe Generators
"The capacitors contained in the ships jump drive may be used to store this energy; additional capacitors may also be purchased....at MCr 4.0 per ton..."

 

[GypsyComet]

Based on various bits around MGT and earlier editions, the argument can be made that the integral capacitors ARE the jump drive, so you probably want that kind of power throughput behind the Engineering bulkhead.

Tidbits:
-Vilani tradition of Jump Dimming.
-Installed Power Plant needing to match *both* other drives.
-Lanthanum coils and/or grid are represented as the field projector. Coils take up part of the stated displacement, while a grid does not; so what's left for the deckplan?

 

[klingsor]

Thanks.

What I was thinking of was a separate compartment that is kept locked, only the chief and the captain would have keys to it. Obviously I am drawing on the battery compartment of a diesel-electric submarine for inspiration.

It could be an odd size or shape as they only require access for checking and repairs though repairs always need more space than you actually have available and I could see the capacitors as being something that would need to be replaced – so you need enough space to manoeuvre them out and in. Which also brings up the need for a good sized hatch into engineering; one you do not need to open all that often. I don't like opening more holes in bulkheads than are necessary but this seems very desirable. Perhaps into the hold rather than directly outside the hull?

I would bury the capacitors as deep in the heart of the ship as I could but also as close to the power plant as possible - immediately forward of engineering perhaps.

.05% of the ships size so 1 ton for a 200 ton Far Trader. No separate compartment then on such a small ship. A pity, I rather liked the idea.

The idea that there was no actual jump drive as such had occurred to me as well, thus invalidating virtually every deck plan ever drawn for Traveller!