Very Confused on Jump Fuel and distance

What happens if I need to Jump 3 parsecs away and there are blank spaces in between, and I have a Jump 1 or 2, 200 ton free trader? Am I just denied that jump, are there supposed to be unexplored Gas Giants in the blank spaces between systems? I tried plotting a route from Candory, in the Five Sisters Subsector, to Karin with a Jump2 Drive and it says no route on Travellermap.com. So how would you ever get out of Candory and Andor?
 
There are VERY RARE [as in 'obscenely stupid rare'] situations where there are rogue planets or uncharted comet in the blank hexes. However, a parsec is HUGE and most merchant sensor suites are pretty basic, so the odds of you finding that highly unlikely rogue body are somewhere between zilch, nil, and nada. It's like trying to find something in a pitch black warehouse with a dim chemlite as your only light source. What's more, if your tanks are empty you only hope is look for a rogue body and pray it has something that can be processed into hydrogen on it. A rocky body with no ice on it is just as bad as finding nothing at all. And in the very likely event that you don't find anything, well, you're dead. You can open the hatches and die quick or spend two weeks for your power plant fuel to run out, but either way you're going to die suffocating in the cold.

So what do you do in a situation like that?
- You can go around. Plot a course that'll eventually get you there that isn't in a straight line - if there is one. And there isn't one from Andor or Candory to anywhere.
- You can install cargo tanks. Cargo tanks are temporary fuel tanks that take up cargo space. You jump as far as your drive lets you, transfer fuel from the temporary cargo tanks to the main fuel tanks, and then jump again.

In no case will any amount of fuel propel your ship farther than the drive rating. If you have a ship a J-1 drive, you will have to jump 3 times to cover that distance, which will take up ALL the cargo space on a Type A Free Trader and most of the cargo space on a Type A2 Far Trader. And even then you'll arrive at a system with a Naval Base on it and the Navy has Red Zoned both Andory and Candory, so they're going to inspect your ship from the bolts to the paint job and ask very pointed questions about why you were in a Quarantined system to begin with. If you've got a pass to go to either Red Zone, you're fine. But if you don't things will go poorly for you.
 
Thank you for your help. So, J-1 Drives are pretty crappy and looks like most Trader ships are Jump 1. Really puts a limit on where you can go as an independent crew.
 
Thank you for your help. So, J-1 Drives are pretty crappy and looks like most Trader ships are Jump 1. Really puts a limit on where you can go as an independent crew.
Yep. It’s supposed to motivate your crew to do risky but lucrative jobs so you can graduate to a J-2 or better ship.
 
Thank you for your help. So, J-1 Drives are pretty crappy and looks like most Trader ships are Jump 1. Really puts a limit on where you can go as an independent crew.
A large swath of the Spinward Marches Sector can be accessed via J-1 ships. It was designed that way.
The alleged Droyne homeworld? Not so much. They're in the middle of the Collace Rift. Plus they are interdicted, so unless your characters are Droyne, Imperial Navy or Imperial Scouts, they should not be there.
If the PTB's want the characters to expand outside that little circuit, I would suggest they book your J1 ship passage as cargo on a larger ship. Use 150% of ship's tonnage for the space you take up for space and cost. The standard freight tables would probably be appropriate. Consider it part of the starting debt/second mortgage on the ship. A jump 3 to the sisters or Wonstar gets them access to at least a piece of 12 Subsectors.
 
What happens if I need to Jump 3 parsecs away and there are blank spaces in between, and I have a Jump 1 or 2, 200 ton free trader? Am I just denied that jump, are there supposed to be unexplored Gas Giants in the blank spaces between systems? I tried plotting a route from Candory, in the Five Sisters Subsector, to Karin with a Jump2 Drive and it says no route on Travellermap.com. So how would you ever get out of Candory and Andor?
You’d have to either get in a jump-3 ship to cross the gap, or obtain some drop tanks (disposable tanks that drop off after you engage the jump drive) coupled with collapsible fuel tanks in your cargo hold. You’d make the first jump using the tanks, the second perhaps with the fuel contained in the collapsible tanks, and finally use the fuel in your actual tanks, taking about three weeks for the three consecutive jumps.

That said, there aren’t likely to be a lot of jump-1 ships on Andor and Candory. Those worlds are interdicted. Hence the red zone circles around them.

Jump drives aren’t “crappy.” They’re the theme of the game. You have to plot a course from star to star based on the limitations of your jump drive. If you only have a jump-1 drive, you generally stick to jump-1 mains. There are a lot of these, so it’s not that limiting.
 
If it is a route that is frequently used by ships with insufficient jump capability mankind would most likely install a fuel depot on the way.
 
1. You have several options, most see to have been mentioned.

2. While you could attach external fuel tanks, if they don't drop off, it will affect performance.

3. However, the most practical would appear to be fuel/cargo holds, where you can hold either fuel or cargo, requiring only a cleanup for reuse as either function, probably a fuel processor, since the simplest would be pumping in water.
 
You’d have to either get in a jump-3 ship to cross the gap, or obtain some drop tanks (disposable tanks that drop off after you engage the jump drive) coupled with collapsible fuel tanks in your cargo hold. You’d make the first jump using the tanks, the second perhaps with the fuel contained in the collapsible tanks, and finally use the fuel in your actual tanks, taking about three weeks for the three consecutive jumps.
Quite, just carry the needed fuel with you. High Guard has solutions for you.

You have options such as:
Demountable tanks (in the cargo hold),
Collapsible tanks (in the cargo hold),
Drop tanks (outside the hull),
Fuel Cargo Containers (a type of cargo hold).


Drop tanks does change the total size of the ship, hence drive performance, so does not work all that well for a Free Trader as both jump and manoeuvre drives are reduced to rating 0 while carrying the tanks.
 
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There may be deep-space depots on major routes that will see frequent J-1 traffic but have a gap that requires J-2 to cross.

Andor and Candory would not be covered by that, but a nearby example would be Froin <-> Wonderay; the neighboring starports would have the jump data to get you there. You'll still have to pay for the refueling, of course.
 
Keep in mind that, while J-1 and J-2 are somewhat limiting in terms of where you can go (though not as limiting as you appear to think), they actually allow profitable or close to profitable ships. PCs with J-3 or better ships can exist, but they better be independently wealthy or get paid A LOT for their adventuring, because there's no way you'll make the ship come close to paying for itself.

Jump drives and no FTL communications replicates a certain style of sci fi and gameplay that not everyone is familiar with, since its not how its done in the big media franchises (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc). It creates a lot of situations and adventure possibilities because of those restrictions, but, obviously, it makes other things less difficult or even impossible.
 
@Vormaerin 's point is well taken.

Merchant ships don't make money on performance [high G speed or Jump numbers]. They make money/mortgage payment on hauling cargo. The Type A series is a masterpiece of mercantile engineering... getting the most cargo moved with the lowest operation costs... and, in doing so, provides a valuable service to worlds that almost never see a Tukera vessel. These ships provide mail, shipping, and passenger service to worlds that would otherwise go totally unserved AND they provide an outlet for the independent spacer types who want to be their own boss.
With Type A/A2s in service literally EVERYBODY wins something out of the deal.
 
Costs tend to be linear in Traveller.

In theory, if you can keep engineering volume down to thirty five tonnes, you'd need only one engineer, and one pilot.

There's all sorts of ways to cut corners for starship operations, but engineering is the big ticket item(s) that you really can't.
 
You would never normally be able to get a Jump 1 ship there as they are Jump 3 worlds. Not only that but because they are only Class C Starports and only TL 8/9 worlds they would not be able to build a Jump 1 Starship either.

So really you should have started your campaign on a world connected by lots of Jump 1 routes, which usually would be a major trade route.

To get around this issue you could hire a fuel tender to get you over the Jump 3 distance. And you would need to come up with some sensible reason for a Jump 1 ship being on those worlds to start with. The only thing I can think of is a misjump put it there as misjumps can create much longer jumps than usual.
 
Or any J-1 ships there were brought in as cargo (likely on a subsidized basis) to serve any local markets/routes. But that wouldn't be profitable for most individual operators - startup costs would represent an almost insurmountable burden.
 
Trading space for time.

You're unlikely to misjump, all things being equal, in a monojumper.

So if you're not in a hurry, you can take your time to get to your three parsec distant destination.
 
Another solution to your problem, if you are referee, would be to create a service with custom jump ships which clamp onto a smaller ship and make the J-3 in one week. Maybe some J-3 haulers hangout at one end or the other and make X amount per ton to haul ships across the gap and back. Would a potentially lucrative gig for a crew as once there you might need to hire the service a second time to get back.
 
Another solution to your problem, if you are referee, would be to create a service with custom jump ships which clamp onto a smaller ship and make the J-3 in one week. Maybe some J-3 haulers hangout at one end or the other and make X amount per ton to haul ships across the gap and back. Would a potentially lucrative gig for a crew as once there you might need to hire the service a second time to get back.
I'm going to use this in my campaign. Great suggestion!
 
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