Tailkinker's RPG Site

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====== Jump Drive ======

Perhaps experiments led to a means of tunneling through real space.  Perhaps an accident was later exploited.  Or perhaps a natural phenomenon, such as collapsed stars or wormholes, allow a ship to instantly move from one point to another.

Jump drives don't just ignore the laws of physics;  they violate them brutally and without remorse.  Through some form of super-science, they allow a starship to instantly teleport from one place to another.  Typically, there are a stack of limitations on this, such as where they can depart from, how frequently they can jump, and---most commonly---how much power or fuel is required.

Remember that the choice of power or fuel to run your jump drive is up to the setting, and will be set by your Game Master!

===== Size =====

Compared to other FTL systems, jump drives are commonly quite small.  For every tonne of ship that can be moved via jump, the jump drive will weigh 3 kilograms.  It occupies one cubic meter per every 750 tonnes it can transit, but this space requirement is halved if the jump drive is located entirely externally. Mind you, external jump drive like this cannot be worked on from inside the ship. You have to land the ship, or go EVA, in order to fix it.

Jump drives are moderately expensive, at \[ce]60 per tonne of capacity.

===== Power =====

Since a jump drive performs its job instantaneously, it requires quite a bit of power all at once---3.2 gigawatt-seconds for every tonne of ship!  You will want to install a capacitor to deliver that kind of power;  no single powerplant can possibly match it!

===== Fuel =====

If an exotic "jump fuel" is desired, rather than a power requirement, the jump drive will need to drink 50 kilograms of it for every tonne of ship it transits.  Obviously, few ships will carry more than a few jumps worth of fuel, and routes will be carefully planned to include the chance to refuel.

===== Jump Distance =====

//"If it works, it could have us at Earth in a matter of seconds. Now, the calculations are incredibly complex. If we're off even by a fraction…it could be very bad." -- Dr. Radek Zelenka, **Stargate: Atlantis**//

The standard jump distance of four parsecs per jump is reasonable.  An important consideration, however, is how frequently you can jump.  If you must jump from specific points, and those points are a large distance apart, you'll need to fly the ship between them.  If a jump drive requires "cool-down", that should be specified by the setting.  Otherwise, a jump-capable starship that relies on jump fuel might be able to make five or six jumps in quick succession.  This isn't a bad thing, since it will suck its fuel tanks dry doing so, but they are points that must be considered by your Game Master, so that you can consider them when designing your ship.