interstellar drive idea

[Neophyte42]

I'm doing some campaign planning and my FTL interstellar drive idea doesn't exactly fit into any of the categories given in Space. A ship needs both STL and FTL drives. The STL drive is used to approach c, then the FTL drive "pops" the ship above c, analogous to the way negative temperatures are sometimes achieved in physics labs. The ship remains in real space the whole time.

The closer to c the FTL drives can get, the less energy needed to get over the c barrier, but there will also be a slower speed above c than the ship not getting as close to c while STL, but using a bigger FTL inversion drive.

Once above c, the ship can keep traveling in a straight line in space indefinitely. The FTL inversion drive is a capacitor based system, and they are designed to have enough power to perform two inversions before needing recharge time (one to get above c, the other to return to STL).

Is such a system described in any other GURPS sourcebooks?

I'm still working out some of the implications of this drive system and will appreciate other thoughts and ideas.

Thanks!

[Diomedes]

How is the ship functionally in real space (i.e., how does it interact with people and ships outside it)?

I would classify your drive as either a hyperdrive or a warpdrive.

[jacobmuller]

Spaceships relates common ideas for how FTL works and its costs but, in your campaign, the precise description/method is decided by you.

eg Your FTL fits the Warp/ Superwarp description. Fast STL ships can enter FTL with Warp; slow STL ships need Superwarp or multiple warp engines.
You decide: the real cost; fuel needed/not; the cut-off for fast/slow STL; the speed of FTL; how it feels; how sensors work/not; how dangerous it is; etc ad infinit...