[Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

A stutter-warp drive is my favorite. With 1,000 jumps per second, the distance jumped would be (e^(x)/1000) light-seconds per jump (for a speed of (e^(x)c), with 'x' being the warp factor. The FTL drive would allow teleporters to operate up to their warp rating without a roll required, but the teleporters could exceed the warp rating for one minute with a successful IQ, with a penalty equal to every 0.05 warp factor in excess of the rating.

For example, a Warp 5 engine could operate without any skill roll up to Warp 5 as long as it was amplifying the abilities of a teleporter. If the captain wanted to push the drive to Warp 5.5 though, the teleporter would need to make an IQ-10 roll every minute to sustain that speed. On a failure, the Warp drive would fail and require minor repairs. On a critical failure, the Warp drive would fail and require major repairs.

Um, just to clarify, most psychotronic devices are not directly amplifying the abilities of living psychics. They need people because (in this setting) interacting with their natural psionic fields helps them function, in sort of like the way a non-vacuum-rated mechanical or electromechanical device could still work in a vacuum, but would eventually malfunction and fail because of environmental factors. Some psi-tech will fail immediately after it has no natural psionic fields to interact with (or none of sufficient strength), some are more robust, and will fail in an hour or so (maybe longer, if the GM rolls really well on the Malf. numbers), and most are somewhere in-between.

EDIT: That said, a natural autoteleporter interfacing with the drive (preferably with the help of a psi-amp to increase the effective skill level) could certainly make it go faster on a good roll, just as a natural psychic healer with the right ability could improve the effectiveness of a psychotronic medical device.