Question about Jumping

[travchao999]

Jumping with ships, not like, personally jumping.

Anyway, something that seems ambiguously worded, is if higher class jump drives (jump-4, for instance), were able to jump less than their rated parsecs, like 2 parsecs instead of 4, or maybe a jump-1 jumping .5 parsec. Another question I had, which is kinda minor and more covered in perhaps some fiction I haven't read yet, is if people feel anything when they jump. If I had to guess, I would say no, or maybe like slight discomfort when the bubble passes through them. Speaking of which, when the bubble's inflating, isn't there points where a person on the ship could be in both spaces at once?

Also, what happens to unprotected life forms in space? I remember reading that they die horrifically, but that seems to be all that is said.


Thanks as usual for helping out a new Referee

 

[sideranautae]

Jumping with ships, not like, personally jumping.

Anyway, something that seems ambiguously worded, is if higher class jump drives (jump-4, for instance), were able to jump less than their rated parsecs, like 2 parsecs instead of 4, or maybe a jump-1 jumping .5 parsec.

The JD rating is the Maximum distance that can be jumped.

 

[AndrewW]

Yes, a jump-4 drive could perform a jump of 1, 2, 3, or 4. And would only use the fuel up for a jump of that distance. So if you had the fuel for a jump-4 it could make 2 jump-2's.

 

[travchao999]

Yes, a jump-4 drive could perform a jump of 1, 2, 3, or 4. And would only use the fuel up for a jump of that distance. So if you had the fuel for a jump-4 it could make 2 jump-2's.

But can it do fractional jumps, is another question.

Also, so I'm assuming that drives are much like automobile engines; a supercharged hyperfast engine can still do lower speeds, but not everyone has a hyperfast engine because of the cost and the size.

 

[sideranautae]

But can it do fractional jumps, is another question.

Yes

 

[travchao999]

But can it do fractional jumps, is another question.

Yes

Huh, okay, because the wording of the main rulebook makes it sound like the jump class you do is how far the jump can take you in a week, but I guess if the quantum levels exist for fractional jumps, it works.

Anyway, anybody got any of the other answers?

 

[sideranautae]

But can it do fractional jumps, is another question.

Yes

Huh, okay, because the wording of the main rulebook makes it sound like the jump class you do is how far the jump can take you in a week, but I guess if the quantum levels exist for fractional jumps, it works.

ALL jumps take the same amount of time. Whether Jumping literally 1 inch or, 1 parsec.

 

[travchao999]

Huh, okay, because the wording of the main rulebook makes it sound like the jump class you do is how far the jump can take you in a week, but I guess if the quantum levels exist for fractional jumps, it works.

ALL jumps take the same amount of time. Whether Jumping literally 1 inch or, 1 parsec.

What I meant by that is that it sounded like when you jump, you go into jump space for a week, and then you emerge n parsecs away, and that you couldn't set it for less parsecs, that's just how it works, its attuned to a specific quantum level or whatever, but it makes just as much sense that there's quantum levels for every possible parsec distance that you can do, as long as its below your max.

 

[Reynard]

Each jump drive can make jumps up to their rating just like maneuver drives can move up to their rating in Gs. I hate to think one would need a drive for each jump level!! AAAAH!

 

[sideranautae]

What I meant by that is that it sounded like when you jump, you go into jump space for a week, and then you emerge n parsecs away, and that you couldn't set it for less parsecs, that's just how it works,

Hmm, I've never read that part of the rules.

 

[travchao999]

What I meant by that is that it sounded like when you jump, you go into jump space for a week, and then you emerge n parsecs away, and that you couldn't set it for less parsecs, that's just how it works,

Hmm, I've never read that part of the rules.

But I mean, it seems like I was mistaken. It did seem really limiting that you would only be able to go at one "speed", and it makes more sense otherwise. What makes less sense, is why you can't pop the bubble half way through the week to pop back in half way to the supposed destination, since it's been established that you can get pulled out of jump by gravity. I kinda just figure that jump bubble collapsing prematurely caused bad things to happen. Also, here's the exact wording of the rulebook that made me think like I did:

"A Jump carries the vessel a number of parsecs equal to the Jump number." (141)

 

[sideranautae]

"A Jump carries the vessel a number of parsecs equal to the Jump number." (141)

Read the sentence immediately after the one you quoted.

 

[travchao999]

"A Jump carries the vessel a number of parsecs equal to the Jump number." (141)

Read the sentence immediately after the one you quoted.

Says less than one parsecs are possible, but it doesn't say when its possible. I mean, yeah, it just depends on how you read it, and I just read it as kind of ambiguous, which is why I asked.

 

[locarno24]

And yes, people unprotected in Jump Space die horribly.

Player characters being player characters, it is entirely likely that they will somehow end up outside a starship during a Jump. They die. Horribly. A merciful Referee might rule that a character standing on the outside of a ship as it Jumps is stranded in normal space but otherwise healthy. Opening the airlocks while in a Jump bubble is suicidal.

Exactly how, we don't know. It's probably because of Quantum - i.e. uncertain death.

 

[Reynard]

The purpose for the astrogation roll is plotting a course optimal to a jump flight with no chance to cross a gravity well, if that's the case. Your chance for misjump normally is affected by gravity well before jump while you astrogate away from similar wells at exit. I'm still not sure where people come up with the notion a ship is affected while in jumpspace as that space or spaces, as its been said each jump space, is a separate universe.

The only reason a ship would ever drop out of jump is a catastrophic failure of one or more systems on board or some or some extreme emergency that would call for such. Exceedingly rare as you had not planned the exit point. You may plot a rough course that ends within a star system but the precise exit point could be considered extraordinary.

The jump bubble is the field that holds and protects a ship in the alien universe. I believe the hydrogen is an important medium whose specific properties conduct the energy uniformly. The field has an outer edge plus that one meter inner edge creating a sphere with a bubble at the center. It's that boiling energy that is dangerous to all living things. Why anyone would chance such a known hazard is as stupid as walking into a reactor core. I'd say the meter 'safe zone' is for story plot when you MUST go out to perform a necessary task at risk. There's also been past references to mental and physical illness when exposed to the proximity to the field showing there a minor amount of radiation bleed of that unusual energy.

 

[sideranautae]

I'm still not sure where people come up with the notion a ship is affected while in jumpspace as that space or spaces, as its been said each jump space, is a separate universe.

The only reason a ship would ever drop out of jump is a catastrophic failure of one or more systems on board or some or some extreme emergency that would call for such.

They come up with that notion as it is stated in the rules:

JUMP TRAVEL CRB: "Gravity can cause a Jump bubble to collapse prematurely, bringing a ship back into normal space early (so if a ship tried to Jump from Earth to Mars when the Sun was between the two, the vessel would fall out of Jump space as soon as it came within one hundred diameters of the Sun."

 

[travchao999]

I'm still not sure where people come up with the notion a ship is affected while in jumpspace as that space or spaces, as its been said each jump space, is a separate universe.

The only reason a ship would ever drop out of jump is a catastrophic failure of one or more systems on board or some or some extreme emergency that would call for such.

They come up with that notion as it is stated in the rules:

JUMP TRAVEL CRB: "Gravity can cause a Jump bubble to collapse prematurely, bringing a ship back into normal space early (so if a ship tried to Jump from Earth to Mars when the Sun was between the two, the vessel would fall out of Jump space as soon as it came within one hundred diameters of the Sun."

And it kinda makes sense if you think about it, as the bubble is essentially a pocket universe, as in, its nested inside of the normal space, so while objects like ships can pass through that pocket around the normal space, gravity, being the elementary force that it is, can warp the space outside the pocket, which can cause the pocket itself to warp, ultimately destabilizing the bubble and popping it, which I'm assuming being yanked out of the universe like that, unnaturally (without the universe naturally dying itself), is very bad for the ship.

 

[sideranautae]

which I'm assuming being yanked out of the universe like that, unnaturally (without the universe naturally dying itself), is very bad for the ship.

Getting pulled out because of a gravity well is harmless. That is considered a natural reentry. I guess an "unnatural" termination would be something like turning off the J-drive mid jump. Would probably result in a roll on a misjump table.

 

[dragoner]

And it kinda makes sense if you think about it, as the bubble is essentially a pocket universe ...

Yes, I use the sort of "pocket universe" idea as well, using ideas such as False Vacuum, which has some nice graphics as well (player's love graphics):

 

[travchao999]

which I'm assuming being yanked out of the universe like that, unnaturally (without the universe naturally dying itself), is very bad for the ship.

Getting pulled out because of a gravity well is harmless. That is considered a natural reentry. I guess an "unnatural" termination would be something like turning off the J-drive mid jump. Would probably result in a roll on a misjump table.

So then, lets say you want to go from earth to mars, and you have to go around the sun (just using this example since its in the book as an example of getting pulled out of jump), why wouldn't people just do this: instead of making a jump to the side of the sun, and then a straight (ish) jump to mars, which would take two weeks, roughly, you could plot your jump for more parsecs than you need to, but have the jump path take you just enough in the 100 diameter range to pop the bubble (after say a half-week of travel), and then going back outside the 100 diameter range, and then jumping straight (ish) to mars, but again putting in for more parsecs than you need, having mars' gravity pull you out (taking another half week of travel). This way, you have gamed the system to only take a week, and you can do this with any scenario, but point being, you can make jumps in half the time, any distance.