Modified Jump Drives

Yeah. I just took Collectors out of MTU for just that reason. Collectors don't fit into Charted Space eventhough, the writers though otherwise. If Collectors exist and "exotic particles" can be stored, then almost no ships would need to carry jump fuel anymore. That basically destroys Charted Space as a setting as it has existed for decades.

Edit: Although as a thought exercise, I am re-envisioning Charted Space with zero jump fuel requirements. Basically J-5 vessels become the rule once you hit TL-14 as there is no longer a major penalty in loss of cargo capacity for having a high-jump ship. This would affect everyone though since particles could be sold to lower TL ships and civs as well.
The trouble with disallowing 'Collectors' is that it rules out using anti-matter (and similar 'fuel-less' techs) for jump and hop. Those problems are not noticeable until very high TLs, but creating them in the first place seems unnecessary. It might be easier to just rule that 'collectors' themselves do not work -- the 'exotic particles' do not exist as free-roaming things than can be harvested in enough quantity (before they decay) to be useful.

A serious limitation on the rift-crossing ability of collectors is the requirement to be close to a star to recharge, something that seems to have disappeared in the High Guard update. On the other hand, a pony-express relay system with collector-recharging stations would be amazing -- build your standard X-boat with the collector & drive as part of a break-away hull; arrive in-system, drop the expended drive, pick up a charged drive, and jump again.
 
On the other hand, a pony-express relay system with collector-recharging stations would be amazing -- build your standard X-boat with the collector & drive as part of a break-away hull; arrive in-system, drop the expended drive, pick up a charged drive, and jump again.
Oh, that's a cool idea. The tenders would just have a bunch herd of recharging collectors on a leash.
 
The trouble with disallowing 'Collectors' is that it rules out using anti-matter (and similar 'fuel-less' techs) for jump and hop. Those problems are not noticeable until very high TLs, but creating them in the first place seems unnecessary. It might be easier to just rule that 'collectors' themselves do not work -- the 'exotic particles' do not exist as free-roaming things than can be harvested in enough quantity (before they decay) to be useful.

A serious limitation on the rift-crossing ability of collectors is the requirement to be close to a star to recharge, something that seems to have disappeared in the High Guard update. On the other hand, a pony-express relay system with collector-recharging stations would be amazing -- build your standard X-boat with the collector & drive as part of a break-away hull; arrive in-system, drop the expended drive, pick up a charged drive, and jump again.
Why change out the whole Collector instead of just the storage device? Then the purchasers' ships wouldn't need Collectors or jump fuel tanks.
 
the 'exotic particles' do not exist as free-roaming things than can be harvested in enough quantity (before they decay) to be useful.
The "exotic jump particles" was a phrase I used many years ago during a discussion of CotI. My fanon made it to canon :)

I have never been asked to expand on the idea and thus there is a bit of a misunderstanding.

1. There are no particles, or waves, just fields that can display particle and wave like properties depending on how you observe them etc. QED->QCD->QFT-?

2. The jump field can store energy until it collapses and opens a hole into jump space, you can consider the excitations in the field as particles - thus the collector is gathering particles - or you can consider the wave like nature propagating through the jump field - in which case you can consider the canopy as acting like wave collector.

3. The accumulator is where the jump energy is stored until it undergoes the symmetry collapse that opens the rift to jump space.

The closest approximation is the sombrero potential diagram for the Higgs, with the symmetry breaking a form of tachyonic condensation.
 
The "exotic jump particles" was a phrase I used many years ago during a discussion of CotI. My fanon made it to canon :)

I have never been asked to expand on the idea and thus there is a bit of a misunderstanding.

1. There are no particles, or waves, just fields that can display particle and wave like properties depending on how you observe them etc. QED->QCD->QFT-?

2. The jump field can store energy until it collapses and opens a hole into jump space, you can consider the excitations in the field as particles - thus the collector is gathering particles - or you can consider the wave like nature propagating through the jump field - in which case you can consider the canopy as acting like wave collector.

3. The accumulator is where the jump energy is stored until it undergoes the symmetry collapse that opens the rift to jump space.

The closest approximation is the sombrero potential diagram for the Higgs, with the symmetry breaking a form of tachyonic condensation.
Once the "Collector" is full, do you have to jump right away, or can that be stored, and you jump whenever you wish?
 
It doesn't breakdown the collector to it and the storage device. It comes as a bundle, it seems.
Yeah -- otherwise the recharging station could just be a big collector and a Jump-gazillion capacitor; and the X-boat would just recharge the on-board capacitor from the recharging station capacitor (in moments, presumably). You might even have non-jump small-craft equipped with huge J-capacitors; they replenish stores on any X-boats that jump in, transfer charge from their capacitor to the X-boat, then return to the recharge station.

Sure, J-capacitors cost 3 MCr per dTon; but in the grand scheme that is pretty cheap. A Modular Cutter module could be fitted out to support up to 5800 dTons of J-1 ships or up to 644 dTons of J-6 ships.

[Edit: This would also be an interesting bit of Empire-building -- the government only licenses 'capacitor-only' civilian ships which must recharge at the recharge stations; and all the recharging stations are government owned. Military traffic always takes priority for charging; while some military ships carry fuel on board for independent operations, the bulk of them are capacitor-only 'Jump Capable Battle Riders' . /Edit]
 
Last edited:
Once the "Collector" is full, do you have to jump right away, or can that be stored, and you jump whenever you wish?
As per the Annic Nova you can store it until you want to use it. The Annic Nova can fully charge the accumulators for both of its jump drives and then use one of them to jump. The other can then be used for the next jump.
 
As per the Annic Nova you can store it until you want to use it. The Annic Nova can fully charge the accumulators for both of its jump drives and then use one of them to jump. The other can then be used for the next jump.
I love this for a universe, because it has some amazing worldbuilding possiblities, but for Charted Space, eventhough it is Canon, it just feels wrong.
 
I love this for a universe, because it has some amazing worldbuilding possiblities, but for Charted Space, eventhough it is Canon, it just feels wrong.

That's why, canonically, no one has any idea whatsoever how to build one. I find the idea that there's this highly desirable, potentially revolutionary technology out there, and yet no one has any idea how to make it to be very narratively satisfying.
You could have an entire Moby Dick-esque plot about someone obsessively pursuing the Annic Nova and in the end, inevitably, being destroyed by their own manic obsession.

But I fully agree it needs to be its own unique thing and that if it were in fact reverse-engineered and deployed widely it'd completely de-characterise Charted Space.
Which, incidently, is why I ignore that one Darian ship in the Deep Space Exploration set with extreme prejudice. 🙃
 
Looking at the collectors, there is one paragraph that is a bit funky.

"It takes a week of normal space travel to fully charge an accumulator and accumulators do not work in jump space, in an atmosphere or on a ship expending thrust."

So, a week of normal space travel but with no thrust. Doesn't sound all that "normal" and it's not really "travel" either. More like a ballistic course or just sitting somewhere in space. Adding normal space travel and then removing thrust means its anything but normal. Maybe a week in normal space would have been better.
 
Looking at the collectors, there is one paragraph that is a bit funky.

"It takes a week of normal space travel to fully charge an accumulator and accumulators do not work in jump space, in an atmosphere or on a ship expending thrust."

So, a week of normal space travel but with no thrust. Doesn't sound all that "normal" and it's not really "travel" either. More like a ballistic course or just sitting somewhere in space. Adding normal space travel and then removing thrust means its anything but normal. Maybe a week in normal space would have been better.
Accelerate towards your destination and the shut off your engines and coast the way there while refueling.

Edit: My guess is gravitic drives disperse the "exotic particles" so they can't be collected.
 
Accelerate towards your destination and the shut off your engines and coast the way there while refueling.

Edit: My guess is gravitic drives disperse the "exotic particles" so they can't be collected.
That works if you want to coast for a week. Forget loading cargo and the like.
 
Back
Top