Over on COTI there has been a very, ah, interesting thread regarding use of lifeboats. Once of the arguments against the need for lifeboats is that a ship is only hours away from the 100D diameter, and it would always be safer to remain sheltered aboard the ship then evacuate in a lifeboat (which by that logic would forever be unnecessary).
The lifeboat issue aside, the reasoning against them, i.e. the 100D issue, got me thinking. Pretty much every ship you see designs for or deckplans for shows it equipped with jump drives. Which leads one to think "oh, ships in Traveller only need M-drives to get in/out to the 100D limit."
Granted, if your destination is more than 7 days away in normal space its faster to use a jump drive. But there are times when that's not practical (you course takes you through the sun or gas giant) or not economical (slow freighters hauling rocks don't need the fastest of M-drives).
How many of you have intra-system traffic where the jump drives don't come into play? Is it THAT uncommon for ships to never travel for long periods in normal space? Or do you simply ignore these things during your sessions?
The lifeboat issue aside, the reasoning against them, i.e. the 100D issue, got me thinking. Pretty much every ship you see designs for or deckplans for shows it equipped with jump drives. Which leads one to think "oh, ships in Traveller only need M-drives to get in/out to the 100D limit."
Granted, if your destination is more than 7 days away in normal space its faster to use a jump drive. But there are times when that's not practical (you course takes you through the sun or gas giant) or not economical (slow freighters hauling rocks don't need the fastest of M-drives).
How many of you have intra-system traffic where the jump drives don't come into play? Is it THAT uncommon for ships to never travel for long periods in normal space? Or do you simply ignore these things during your sessions?