Choosing 4E Spaceship Propulsion

[gruundehn]

Seneschal, the A. Bertram Chandler drive system required that real time passed whie travelling. The plot of one story involved a ship where the forward and backward time rates were the same and the ship became trapped. So as the ship travelled forward in space there was a period of time that elapsed between the start and end of the voyage. The "backwards in time" rate was never mentioned that I recall so the time of a voyage was whatever was required by the plot I guess. Combat could not take place when a ship was under the drive since firing a weapon would affect the ship's mass and thus upset the drive.