[Spaceships] Where are the Capacitors?

[capnq]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

A simpler solution would be to invent a new category of ships, separate from the one that can be built with the core Spaceships rules. This category is the short-occupancy ship, created according to modified parameters, but gifted with more efficient energy systems (since they are batteries or capacitors, rather than reactors) and needing to connect with a mothership or space port very often. Perhaps every 8 hours.

That isn't a "solution" at all, if you're trying to design a FTL-drive ship that takes days or weeks to cross interstellar distances.

My theroretical "first steps to space" campaign involves a prototype jump drive that requires a lot of power dumped into it all at once to trigger the jump. The ship I designed (with the GURPS Space 1st ed. rules, IIRC) Jumps .2 light-years in 2 seconds, then needs over 16 minutes to recharge the capacitors. The ship's maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri will take nearly six days, if nothing goes wrong.