My new Jump range rules

[sideranautae]

As mentioned in another post I changed how JD's work. This makes higher rated drives have meaning when jumping shorter distances too. I took parts of this from other house rules posted around in different places.

Any feedback on how this would change other existing Trav paradigms would be interesting to detail.

 

[Matt Wilson]

Kind of a neat hybrid of the original jump drive and a warp/hyperspace drive.

The obvious implication to me is that jump-1 ships have a lot more utility, and you could probably build cheaper long-distance freighters. If your setting has a core-and-colonies kind of setup, it would be less expensive to send out big machinery and stuff by using the slow jump-1 freighters. A jump-3 freighter would be a bit like paying for air freight instead of ocean, although not quite as extreme.

It means a TL-A world can build fleets that can go anywhere, too, and they won't be stuck on however many stars are on that main.

It also makes a difference in how neighbor planets communicate with each other, assuming you're at least TL 11 (or whatever your house rules establish as Jump-2). In addition to an X-boat system, you can establish fast courier ships that branch off from the X-boat hubs and do fast 1-hex jumps to the systems of note.

 

[sideranautae]

The obvious implication to me is that jump-1 ships have a lot more utility, and you could probably build cheaper long-distance freighters. If your setting has a core-and-colonies kind of setup, it would be less expensive to send out big machinery and stuff by using the slow jump-1 freighters. A jump-3 freighter would be a bit like paying for air freight instead of ocean, although not quite as extreme.

Yes, true. It would create more types of freight service with pricing differences. I do the J-D's TL A = J1 ... TL F = J6. Good point on the J1's. 4 parsecs max (for 20% fuel load) is a game changer. Both meanings of the phrase.