On 28/6/20 1:25 pm, Thomas Jones-Low wrote:
> This is brilliant. 
>
> The other thing to keep in mind is developing the Jump Drive is a
> difficult challenge. It’s only been done seven times in in the history
> of Charted Space. Based on the outcomes of the misjumps and a few
> other statements, the process of entering jump space is an unstable,
> chaotic one. You, the Astrogator and the computer system you are using
> need to know a number of factors to a high degree accuracy. 
>
> Factors would include the gravitational stress at the point on
> entrance ( the 100D limit), exit (same as before), the stability of
> the field generated for entrance, and any known potential masses along
> the flight path. 
>
> The use of unrefined fuel causes fluctuations in the power output of
> the BHHR, or in the density of the bubble. Which causes the jump field
> to fluctuate, and cause the misjumps. Scout and military ships avoid
> the problem simply by overbuilding the power systems and overcharging
> the hull grid. 
>
> In some cases the misjumps cause the field to collapse. In others the
> unstable wormhole leaps off in an unexpected direction through space
> time. The reason you can’t just repeat the misjump to extend the range
> of a normal jump is the initial conditions are not known with enough
> accuracy to safely replicate. And get them a little wrong, and you end
> up as a spray of quarks at the far end. 
>
> This is in fact the reason it’s so difficult to build a jump drive.
> The basic equations applied show the process won’t work. It’s not
> stable, and very dangerous. 
>
> There was a discussion earlier about aliens being amazed at the risks
> humans would take. Jump Drives are a version of that. No one who
> understands the jump space equations ever wants to fly in a ship, the
> margin for error is just too small.

> <snip undiluted awesomesauce>

Jeff, Thomas, Tom, Tim, and more-Learned-than-me (ie, everyone) Members
of the TML,

How does that scale up to higher-order drives?

Eg https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Hop_Drive - a Hop-N drive would seem to
cover up to 10N parsecs in a single week.  No idea whether it's
quantised to integral multiples of 10 pc or not.  I guess the misjump
distance would also be multiplied by 10?

If that orders-of-magnitude extrapolation holds up through
https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Jump_Drive , a Vault (x 10^5 pc) misjump
would _suck_.  Departing Terra for Andromeda, goof it, and end up in
ruddy Triangulum.

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