Post by Carlos on Oct 9, 2012 23:01:22 GMT -6
Faster then Light travel is achieved through the use of Jump Points. They require a large amount of power. To the point that ships require batteries to effectively allow for a jump without bringing down all of the systems aboard the ship. Not to mention should power fail the jump point could collapse and destroy the vessel.
However there exist "neutral points" where interference is low, thus allowing a lower power consumption, but it's rare for systems to have more then two of these. There also exist "Wild points" which are shifting neutral points and these can only be mapped by observation of the "tides". And said tides change regularly so simply observing them during one session won't be useful for long.
Even with the high grade military reactors of Imperial Navy. They cannot jump more then twice. Having to charge batteries after they've been depleted. The reason for this is simply because the amount of space that would be needed to have a generator just for opening jump points is highly impractical. That doesn't mean it can't be done. In fact the Expedition Fleets being made up of larger ships then conventional size, can make jumps quicker then most.
It's also possible to keep a jump point open for other ships if you have enough power to maintain it open.
Traveling through a jump point takes you to second space. Where it is nearly impossible to navigate. That is why the use of beacons is important. Expedition fleets deploy beacons to increase the sphere of the Empire's beacon network. Second space is essentially "shorter" then normal space. So a distanced traveled in second space will bring you several times farther upon exiting into normal space.
Battles in second space do not go well for either side. The pressure there is greater then in normal space. If a ship were to wonder too far from the beacons or lose it's sensors it would become inexorably lost.
The accuracy of jumping from second space to normal space at a desired location is very poor. Though many attempt to calculate the location by comparing it to the position of the beacon. It only slightly improves accuracy. And jumping into unknown part of normal space can be dangerous.
However there exist "neutral points" where interference is low, thus allowing a lower power consumption, but it's rare for systems to have more then two of these. There also exist "Wild points" which are shifting neutral points and these can only be mapped by observation of the "tides". And said tides change regularly so simply observing them during one session won't be useful for long.
Even with the high grade military reactors of Imperial Navy. They cannot jump more then twice. Having to charge batteries after they've been depleted. The reason for this is simply because the amount of space that would be needed to have a generator just for opening jump points is highly impractical. That doesn't mean it can't be done. In fact the Expedition Fleets being made up of larger ships then conventional size, can make jumps quicker then most.
It's also possible to keep a jump point open for other ships if you have enough power to maintain it open.
Traveling through a jump point takes you to second space. Where it is nearly impossible to navigate. That is why the use of beacons is important. Expedition fleets deploy beacons to increase the sphere of the Empire's beacon network. Second space is essentially "shorter" then normal space. So a distanced traveled in second space will bring you several times farther upon exiting into normal space.
Battles in second space do not go well for either side. The pressure there is greater then in normal space. If a ship were to wonder too far from the beacons or lose it's sensors it would become inexorably lost.
The accuracy of jumping from second space to normal space at a desired location is very poor. Though many attempt to calculate the location by comparing it to the position of the beacon. It only slightly improves accuracy. And jumping into unknown part of normal space can be dangerous.