On 7/28/17, Jeff Zeitlin <xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com> wrote:
>snipped<
> Proposed Rules: The "jump number" specifies how long the ship can be
> held in un-space. That is, if the drive is rated for J2 in that hull,
> it can hold the ship in un-space for two weeks. In the proposed
> design, there are no jump governors; it costs as much to flip the ship
> into un-space for one week as it does for three, provided that your
> JDrive is rated for J3 in that hull.
>
> So now you've flipped into un-space, and are just sitting there. Then,
> you push the button on the MDrive. And you start going. Your MDrive
> rating, in addition to defining your space acceleration, defines how
> far you can go in un-space, in parsecs-per-week. Your M2 drive takes
> you two parsecs in un-space in a week. If you have a J2 drive and stay
> in un-space for two weeks, that M2 drive will get you four parsecs.
>
> All other rules are more-or-less the same.
>
> Now, The Question: What are the political and economic ramifications
> of this drive vs. the standard drive?
Couple quick things come to mind:
*Speed becomes king in fleets - everything is held back by the slowest
m-drive required in the force. A J1 M6 will go as far as a J2 M3, but
gets there a lot quicker. At the top, you get a 36 parsec trip for a
J6 M6, at the expense of taking six weeks to get there.
*In fact, there is no reason to go above J1 in civilian vessels, since
fuel costs will remain the same over a long trip - and you get more
cargo space. Only the military and couriers will carry more fuel, or
higher jump drives.
Or they tandem jump with a high speed tanker.
*Marginal worlds can be skipped over in trade routes, since bumping up
your M-Drive (and your P-Plant) takes up far less space than bumping
up the J-Drive. This does, however, open a lot more room for tramp
freighters - with less need to find business at every port on the
main, the big guys leave entire carcasses for our starving vultures.
*Voids become less meaningful. A J1 M6 can hop the Claw easy, taking a
quick pit stop at Islands.
*Faster communication between systems. Think about it - why take a
week to go next door when I can rev my M-drive up to 6 and get there
in 26-31 hours (28.5 hours average). This means fairly close-knit
clusters (the old J6 maps strikes again!), since, hey, 2 week turn
around at such a low TL is pretty great.
*Seriously, it basically renders the higher jumps irrelevant. Make
them multipliers or something like that - that's where the real fun
starts, and it makes them just as desirable.