FTL
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For information on faster-than-light communications, see Supraluminal Communication.
Faster Than Light Travel Concepts
A slow/loaded freighter speed was 5 light years per day (150ly per month) and 10 per day for the same ship empty. This was for the Aurora class and maybe the bigger Star/Kilo class of pod ships. The warships were 20 to 25 per day with no particular classes named. That would be 600 to 750 light years per month. The 'human sphere of influence' was approximately 280 light-years in diameter.
As a guideline ships must be 240,000 miles from a 1G planet in order for the FTL drive to function normally, depending upon the size of the ship and the size of the hyperspace entry sphere. This limit is due to the Schwarzchild "radius of curvature" of space due to a gravity field (what exerts tidal forces). In effect, a tiny tidal force across the bubble under formation will keep the bubble from forming properly and hyperspace cannot be entered. (The bubble starts at maximum radius and squeezes down to slip the ship into hyperspace.)
Small ships and the HSIT can enter hyper more deeply within a gravity well.
Exit points are NOT under quite the same restriction since the bubble starts as a pin-point in normal space and expands as the ship "arrives". This is complicated should there be any matter at the point of arrival, though the Confederacy has long since built in an ability, from hyper, to keep a ship's bubble from impinging on enough matter to damage or destroy the ship.
Note that arriving WITHIN a ring system (like that of any of the Jovian planets in our system) will likely make a loud bang as the particles interpenetrate an arriving vessel. The HSIT does not include any such safety mechanisms.
Since the arrival safety mechanism requires the AI to do the work, the Sa'arm do not have such a capability. If they did they would need to have AIs that work for them... which, at this point, would require non-Sa'arm communication skills. A Sa'arm ship arriving in normal space can be destroyed by having enough dust at the coordinates of emergence.
Typical speeds in hyperspace is 150 ly/mo. Some ships are slower, some faster. The automated supraluminal drones can reach speeds of 1500 ly/mo.
As to what constitutes abnormal functionality of the FTL within a gravity well? This is something that I haven't investigated or thought about. An unexpected, although not necessarily random, destination seem plausible, though. It would depend upon the particular hyperdrive system used. The initial direction and maximum speed, however, may be something unexpected.
Note that various Confederacy races have developed assorted FTL Drive Systems and drive technologies. Each race has looked at their limitations and economies and chosen one that works best for their needs. As humans dust off these technologies a new set of innovations are due.
Detection of FTL Travel
Authors have mentioned a capability to detect the direction of travel of a ship that has entered FTL based on the initial vector of movement. That would give a rough idea of where a ship might be going.
Some stories mention a capability to detect that a ship in FTL travel has passed by, but that the signature degrades fairly quickly over time. The Chuck Hole by Thinking Horndog includes a vague description of an AI being able to detect an incoming Sa'arm ship before FTL emergence, but does not provide details on how that is accomplished or the sensitivity of Confederacy sensors, but suggests the detection window is only several hours before emergence.
See Also
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