FTL Systems

(Copied straight from .XML 'backup' file, needs formatting and corrections. ZM User (talk) 20:15, 22 April 2024 (PDT))

(This is a collation of three different 'theory' pages that all cover slightly different facets of the same idea. -ZM)

Faster Than Light Drive Types

   Several basic types of drives that allow travel "faster than light" or "FTL" have been imagined.  In many cases one of the races contacted by the Confederacy have actually developed them.

FTL Category I

FTL Category I is the most basic FTL system and is imposed by the basic structure of the Universe.

Like the Alderson Drive (from Jerry Pournelle's stories) or Wormholes (the Vorkosiverse from Lois McMaster Bujold), there are "tram lines" between stars. Not all stars have tramlines and the jump via these paths restricts the ability to travel.

This kind of drive technology exists but the economic realities undermined its use when FTL Category III drives become available.

So: Category I drives are implicit in the structure of the Universe and each entry point is fixed by the laws of physics and the exit point is likewise fixed.

Some drift over millennia happens.

FTL Category II

Category II FTL Drives are potentially the most useful for small military vessels but has been discarded by the Confederacy due to economies since this technology does not scale up for larger bulk freighters. The supraluminal communications network further reduces the need for this technology. (Look at how a bridge will kill a ferry system.)

This is closest to the "jump drive" of Asimov's "Foundation" series; the ship builds up a field that ties it to the exit point and jumps almost instantaneously.

With the right sensors, the exit point is able to be deduced by another ship because the exit point is chosen at the time of entry.

The jump can be initiated almost anywhere but an existing gravity field will impact the ability to choose an exit point.

The drive, as it evolved, is very small and not particularly energy-use intensive, which is fortunate, since none of the Confederacy races have ever found a way to scale it up to allow a ship more than 40 metres or so in diameter to make a jump. Another limit is the shortest jump distance-- approximately 2.3 light-years-- which reduces its utility in a tactical sense, but, then, humans will jump on this technology like sharks on a seal.

The small size of the field requires a vessel smaller than the critical mass for a Sa'arm "mind".

So, to recap:

Category II: Jump from almost anywhere, exit chosen at time of entry, almost instantaneous transit, size and mass restricted.

FTL Category III

FTL Category III are drives we are most used to from Star Trek and Babylon 5 (when the ships can open their own jump points).

This type of drive allows entry into hyperspace at "any" point (within limits due to gravitational fields) and, during the time transiting within hyperspace, can choose any destination reachable (again, limited by the gravitational fields at the exit point). Canon appears to be that you need AI-level management to do this, though. This is given as the reason why the Sa'arm use the same type of drive as the Confederacy but cannot get the same performance. They don't have AIs, they cannot use them if they get them, and thus can only use pre-calculated jumps.

One property of mass creates a volume, called the Hyperspace Exclusion Zone, or HEZ, surrounding a gravity well which a functioning drive cannot enter. Note that smaller ships with more advanced drives can get closer to the HEZ than larger ships with less advanced drives. Mistakes in navigation or calculation will lead to drive field trauma with results up to and including vessel destruction. The Confederacy deals with this by having AIs monitor mass detectors to calculate their safe operating radius from the well. Observation of Sa'arm ships with much the same drives show that without mass detectors or AIs to monitor them they can only make pre-calculated jumps to a safe position well clear of any well, then after enough navigation data has been gathered a smaller jump can be calculated to their target. This has major tactical implications to both invading and defending forces.

So, for Confederacy ships...

• Entry is not limited.
• Exit is no more limited... and can change en route.

For Sa'arm ships...

• Entry is not limited.
• Exit is pre-determined.

See Also

• FTL for basic information on FTL concepts

(Someday this will be a navigation template.  It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links.  Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))