Need Help on "Semi-Hard" Classic SF Spaceship Design

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

It seems like you just need a design switch that takes s suitable drive type and multiplies delta V by 10x or something per tank.

That's one of the switches. Also having a Fusion Torch Drive which gives improved G and delta-v but which isn't as energetic as the Super Cosmic version.

I'll also have to brush off the Traveller 100-d Limit rule, which makes hyperspace travel impossible within 100 diameters of a large gravity well.

It fits well with the setting, since there are multiple references to having to avoid gravity wells when plotting hyperspace courses.

My points of reference are:

Ships need to travel some distance away from a planet or space station to enter hyperspace.

Ships appear to need to accelerate to some fraction of light speed to enter hyperspace.

Ships retain velocity, but not vector, when they emerge from hyperspace and need to decelerate if they're close to their destination.

For safety and to avoid overshooting, ships jump just a bit short of their destination.

Short range hyperspace jumps are tricky. It's easy to end up far from where you intended. At some point, it's simpler and faster to use sublight maneuver drives.