Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > Traveller

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-22-2021, 05:54 PM   #1
madhopper50
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Jump Distance

Trying to get into Traveller and have a basic question. If "J1" ship moves one parsec and one hex in a subsector is one parsec, therefore a "J1" ship can only move one hex? Then somewhere I read about J1 & J2 Trade routes which allows for more than 1 hex jump?
madhopper50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-22-2021, 06:13 PM   #2
sjard
Stick in the Mud
 
sjard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Rural Utah
Default Re: Jump Distance

Jump drives are rated as J1 to J6. The number indicates how far they can travel in parsecs per jump. They can jump less than that, but it still takes the same amount of time and fuel.

Most ships have fairly low rated jump drives, the higher numbers being both newer and more expensive. (varies by era etc.)

So a J1 route (also called a Main) are made up of star systems that are only one parsec apart in a string. A J2 route is no more than 2 parsecs between star systems. There can be systems that are only one parsec apart along a J2 route.
__________________
MIB #1457
sjard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-22-2021, 06:33 PM   #3
madhopper50
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Re: Jump Distance

Quote:
Originally Posted by sjard View Post
Jump drives are rated as J1 to J6. The number indicates how far they can travel in parsecs per jump. They can jump less than that, but it still takes the same amount of time and fuel.

Most ships have fairly low rated jump drives, the higher numbers being both newer and more expensive. (varies by era etc.)

So a J1 route (also called a Main) are made up of star systems that are only one parsec apart in a string. A J2 route is no more than 2 parsecs between star systems. There can be systems that are only one parsec apart along a J2 route.
Thanks! So a J1 ship must carry enough fuel to jump to a star system greater than one parsec.
madhopper50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-22-2021, 08:14 PM   #4
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Jump Distance

Quote:
Originally Posted by madhopper50 View Post
Thanks! So a J1 ship must carry enough fuel to jump to a star system greater than one parsec.
A J1 ship _can_ carry fuel for multiple jumps at the usual speed of 1 parsec per week. Relatively few do. It's not an efficient use of the money invested in that ship.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-22-2021, 09:26 PM   #5
sjard
Stick in the Mud
 
sjard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Rural Utah
Default Re: Jump Distance

Quote:
Originally Posted by madhopper50 View Post
Thanks! So a J1 ship must carry enough fuel to jump to a star system greater than one parsec.
The only ways a J1 ship can travel to a system more than one parsec away are to:
A) Make one parsec jumps to systems in between, refueling at each system along the way (each system can only be one parsec apart with this method), or:
B) to mount extra fuel tanks (at the cost of cargo space), make a 1 parsec jump, refuel from that tank, and then make another 1 parsec jump to the destination. It is rarely viable to do this unless you have a lot of cargo space you don't mind wasting in this way.

Also keep in mind that no matter what the jump rating of your drive, it always takes roughly 1 week per jump. It doesn't matter if you have a J1 drive and only jump 2 AU within a system or the 1 parsec maximum that drive can jump. If you have a J6 drive, it still takes roughly one week to jump 6 parsecs, or one parsec, or anywhere in between.

So it can, long term, be far more viable to get a ship with J2.

So if you mount extra tanks in place of cargo, and you make 2 J1 jumps (most ships won't have enough cargo space for much more than one extra jump), it will take you roughly two weeks plus time to transfer fuel from the spare tanks to the main tanks.
__________________
MIB #1457
sjard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2021, 04:33 AM   #6
madhopper50
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Re: Jump Distance

Thanks for all the input. So basically a J1 ship isn't worth the bother if you can afford a J2 or better ship.
madhopper50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2021, 07:16 AM   #7
sjard
Stick in the Mud
 
sjard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Rural Utah
Default Re: Jump Distance

Quote:
Originally Posted by madhopper50 View Post
Thanks for all the input. So basically a J1 ship isn't worth the bother if you can afford a J2 or better ship.
It really depends on where you are. If using the Third Imperium setting, especially the Spinward Marches sector, there is a fairly large Main that lets a J1 ship travel (one parsec at a time) to... well... Here's what the Traveller wiki has to say about it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Traveller Wiki
The Spinward Main is an astrographic group of systems in the Spinward Marches Sector, each within jump-1 of another.

Together, this grouping forms a corridor of jump points that allows simple jump-1 ships to travel to fifteen of the sixteen subsectors within the Spinward Marches, and to 236 of the sector's 439 known worlds.
So in a setting like that, aside from it taking years to visit every system on that main, there are more than enough worlds to visit for a very long campaign.

A ship with a J2 drive would let you bypass more places, and visit almost every other world in the sector (there are a small number that would require J3 to get to). It would also let you get to worlds on opposite sides of the sector considerably faster than a J1 drive could, even if it's accessible by the J1 Main (J2 could let you skip across areas where the J1 would have to travel for many weeks to get to the same point, effectively taking a J2 shortcut)
__________________
MIB #1457

Last edited by sjard; 05-23-2021 at 07:19 AM.
sjard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-23-2021, 07:35 AM   #8
madhopper50
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Default Re: Jump Distance

Quote:
Originally Posted by sjard View Post
It really depends on where you are. If using the Third Imperium setting, especially the Spinward Marches sector, there is a fairly large Main that lets a J1 ship travel (one parsec at a time) to... well... Here's what the Traveller wiki has to say about it.



So in a setting like that, aside from it taking years to visit every system on that main, there are more than enough worlds to visit for a very long campaign.

A ship with a J2 drive would let you bypass more places, and visit almost every other world in the sector (there are a small number that would require J3 to get to). It would also let you get to worlds on opposite sides of the sector considerably faster than a J1 drive could, even if it's accessible by the J1 Main (J2 could let you skip across areas where the J1 would have to travel for many weeks to get to the same point, effectively taking a J2 shortcut)
Thanks! Just what I was looking for.
madhopper50 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-31-2021, 02:41 AM   #9
Toltrin
 
Toltrin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Oregon
Default Re: Jump Distance

For what it's worth I can jump 3 feet.
Anyways, What is the maximum jump distance for a 100 Scout without needing to refuel immediately at the destination?
Toltrin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-31-2021, 03:49 AM   #10
ericbsmith
 
ericbsmith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY, USA. Near the river Styx in the 5th Circle.
Default Re: Jump Distance

Quote:
Originally Posted by Toltrin View Post
Anyways, What is the maximum jump distance for a 100 Scout without needing to refuel immediately at the destination?
With few exceptions, all Traveller ships are designed to do one Jump at their maximum Jump rating. The 100-dTon Suliman-class Scout is rated for Jump 2, so it has enough fuel to make one 2-parsec Jump and will need to refuel. Or it could make two 1-parsec Jumps without refueling between them.

Some ships may put a collapsible fuel tank in the cargo hold, allowing it to make an extra jump. Others use external "drop" tanks, which allow them to jettison the tanks before they jump, conserving internal fuel for a second jump at the destination.

However, the normal procedure is to make a single jump consuming all internal fuel and then refuel at the destination. Most ships have at least a minimal fuel processor which will allow them to slowly refuel in a gas giant or from ice asteroids if they get stuck in a system without refueling infrastructure.
__________________
Eric B. Smith GURPS Data File Coordinator
GURPSLand
I shall pull the pin from this healing grenade and...
Kaboom-baya.

Last edited by ericbsmith; 05-31-2021 at 05:44 PM.
ericbsmith is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:40 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.