Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered
Answer: FTL is capable of huge jumps at a time, but the more you take in distance, the more you loose in accuracy -- you can cross the galaxy in five jumps, but once you're there it takes five MORE jumps to actually get close to your target. Each jump takes quite a bit of time
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I've been wondering how this would work exactly- in-universe and rolling the dice.
So, to be clear, you're saying that a jump of say 20,000 ly (1/5th of the way across the galaxy) might have a "deviation bubble" of being maybe 40% off course, then closing in on your destination involves some 1,000 ly jumps which are off by 30%, 100 ly jumps off by 20%, then 10 ly jumps off by 10%? Hopefully you can see I'm using the exponent as the lead digit in the percentage, to get a narrowing-in effect.
- Are those numbers too harsh?
- How would Navigation rolls, time spent plotting courses on the nav-comp, quality bonuses for good equipment and star charts or high quality engines affect the jumps?
- Do longer jumps also use more fuel, energy, or other expendables (hyperspace ablative shielding, perhaps)?
- Why does each jump take time- is it plotting navigation, charging the capacitors or shaping a hole through space-time? Does the prep time depend on distance?
- Are longer jumps possible with any starship, or only long range classes? In Spaceships shipbuilding, you could say each extra drive module sends you x10 distance: 1 drive- 10 ly; 2- 100 ly; 3- 1000 ly...
- Would you be able to work in the Speed/Range table?
- What effect does this lead to for free traders? Most would prefer reliable short-range hops, but they would go further for more lucrative markets, maybe.
I'm asking ericthered because it was his idea, but anyone can answer.