A suggestion

[Sackett]

I for one have an almost non-existent knowledge of physics that is capable of piecemealing so much information together.
Would it be possible, and free of copy-right infringement, for some of the hard-line science folks to come up with some essays for us neanderthals and place them in a separate forum?
Stuff like "All there is to know about Jump Drives - Theory and Practice" or stuff of that nature.
The novice is trying to absorb soooo much and having it scattered in 3 dozen or so books doesn't help.

 

[Andrew M]

In the first instance I would encourage you to check out your local library. They should have plenty of physics schoolbooks and other layman's texts. You won't get too much on relativity or quantum mechanics, but you shouldn't need that much.

Other people can say more about jump-drives, but essentially they ain't science. They are fictional and how they work varies from game-system to game system. The basics are this. They take 7 days to get to their destination. While you are in transit your ship is in some sort of meta-physical bubble. To avoid headaches, don't leave the ship or open the curtains. Just follow the game rules for jumps and don't look for a rational explanation. If you want to do wierder stuff that that, like sending the ship back in time or into a pocket universe, the laws of physics can not stop you.

 

[saundby]

You might also start where a lot of us got our start--good early "hard" SF like Clarke and Asimov. More fun to read, and they incorporate the SFnal applications of the tech.

Most of the non-physics stuff is arm-waving (FTL--Faster Than Light--tech), but it's interesting arm-waving that at least tries to be in line with known physics, rather than descending into complete metaphysics (like, say, ESP-driven FTL.)

Also, they both wrote a fair bit of non-fiction which is good reading, too.

Going later in the SF timeline, Niven and Pournelle are also good sources for science mixed with story. Robert L. Forward's got the science going, but his stories are somewhat less compelling.

I'm sure I'm missing some others, but then that's the value of a community like this. What I forget, other parts of our hive mind will recall.

 

[Sackett]

Yes. I am familiar

I have enjoyed many hours reading the sfore-mentioned author's works.
What I was intending but failing to convey, was not so much real-life science, but the game mechanics of how such things go together in canon Traveller.
I suppose I should just wait till I can finally gather all the materials.
Thanks anyway.

 

[Icosahedron]

Try the Traveller wiki:

http://traveller.wikia.com/

I haven't looked, but it may contain the stuff you're looking for.

Alternatively, if you have a specific question, just ask away here and someone will provide an answer. Probably many someones will provide conflicting answers, but at the end of the day Traveller is just a game - and the game creators weren't physicists either.

In Your Traveller Universe, things work the way you say they do.

You don't have to stick to canon. Pay lip-service to it without being constrained by it and you'll have a happier game.