The original quote has to be from 1982 or earlier, because that's the date it appears in Library Data: N-Z.
Consolidation Thread: Xboats in a System
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Spinward Flow
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The often quoted (but apparently, not entirely accurate) figure of 11,000 star systems in the Third Imperium (pre-shattering) makes for a decent starting point.
Although the Express Network "touches" only a superminority fraction of the star systems in the Third Imperium (since most star systems are not "on" the Network), it then becomes a relatively straightforward question of ... what should be the ratio of XBoats in service to the number of star systems within the border of the Third Imperium?
- 1:1 = 11,000 total
- 2:1 = 22,000 total
- 3:1 = 33,000 total
- ... more?
Well, maybe not YOU ... but I'm reasonably certain that there are going to be other people who would find an 8+ hour round trip between inbound XBoat, transmit to mainworld, send reply from mainworld, load reply onto another outbound XBoat to be "less responsive than it could be" just by virtue of the tyranny of distance (between Neptune and Terra).
If you're viewing the Express Network as more of a "postal service" with what amount to "once a day deliveries" (let alone, once per week!) ... a 4 hours one-way lag time isn't that much of a problem. If you're expecting multiple inbound/outbound cycles per day, a transmission delay lag of that magnitude starts getting harder to defend. And then there's that time to dispatch standard that was cited near the beginning of this thread:
An excessively long distance uplink, resulting in network lag of 3+ hours will necessarily cause a certain amount of temporal displacement friction in the network within individual star systems.
Th thing is, if the Express Network runs on more of a "pass the baton" style of operation (XBoat comes in, dispatches need to be going out to other star systems in less than 4 hours as a reaction to that arrival), that's rapidly going to wind up desynchronizing handoffs due to the 150-175 hour duration of jumps (LBB5.80, p17).
It's hard to keep trains "running on time" when they could appear "at any time during a calendar day" (so to speak).
Condottiere
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Express Boats may be the largest class for starships, in Chartered Space.
In fact, I'm surprised that decommissioned Express Boats aren't reutilized.
In fact, I'm surprised that decommissioned Express Boats aren't reutilized.
mike wightman
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You don't wait, you put the new data on the next boat.
mike wightman
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They wrote new material for the Library Data books, they didn't just recycle previous Library Data, wasn't there a JTAS article about the xboats...
mike wightman
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JTAS 6: 1980
"A ship makes its jump, relays its messages to the station immediately upon arrival by means of a high-speed, tight-beam radio transmission, and then waits to be picked up and towed into the xboat station by a specially built xboat tender, where it will be refueled, refitted, and prepared for its jump to the next destination."
"Xboat Stations: An xboat station is usually located near the edge of a system, where it can pick up the information beamed to it from incoming xboats with the smallest possible delay. The station contains receiving and rebroadcast equipment, to receive the xboats transmissions and send them in turn to other xboats and to the populated world(s) of the system. An xboat station contains facilities for refueling and repair of the xboats and their tenders, as well as quarters for the pilots and the staff of the station."
A quicj note, I do not think your model of an xboat jumping backwards and forwards between two worlds is correct. I believe individual xboats jump down the xboat routes because eventually they have to end up at:
"Way Stations: Major overhaul of xboats is done at way stations, located along the xboat network. Way stations are equipped to perform drive overhauls and other maintenance operations beyond the abilities of the smaller xboat stations. One way station is provided for every eight to ten xboat stations."
Also they jump to each world on the route in turn, or the average speed would be jump 4 not the jump 2.something message speed quoted for Capital to Regina... and I am ignoring that canonically the core sector had jump 6 xboats by 1105, JTAS 2 TAS News)
"A ship makes its jump, relays its messages to the station immediately upon arrival by means of a high-speed, tight-beam radio transmission, and then waits to be picked up and towed into the xboat station by a specially built xboat tender, where it will be refueled, refitted, and prepared for its jump to the next destination."
"Xboat Stations: An xboat station is usually located near the edge of a system, where it can pick up the information beamed to it from incoming xboats with the smallest possible delay. The station contains receiving and rebroadcast equipment, to receive the xboats transmissions and send them in turn to other xboats and to the populated world(s) of the system. An xboat station contains facilities for refueling and repair of the xboats and their tenders, as well as quarters for the pilots and the staff of the station."
A quicj note, I do not think your model of an xboat jumping backwards and forwards between two worlds is correct. I believe individual xboats jump down the xboat routes because eventually they have to end up at:
"Way Stations: Major overhaul of xboats is done at way stations, located along the xboat network. Way stations are equipped to perform drive overhauls and other maintenance operations beyond the abilities of the smaller xboat stations. One way station is provided for every eight to ten xboat stations."
Also they jump to each world on the route in turn, or the average speed would be jump 4 not the jump 2.something message speed quoted for Capital to Regina... and I am ignoring that canonically the core sector had jump 6 xboats by 1105, JTAS 2 TAS News)
That's also how I see it, lots of fast small craft acting as a chain of supply, carrying crew, fuel, supplies and physical mail to and from the various worlds and orbital stations in the system to the distant Tender. You could even have chains of small craft zipping around between the Tenders and X-boats as well, with the Tender acting as a sort of semi mobile space base. It would only need to dock with x-boats for occasional major repairs, with basic between jump servicing and supply being performed by small craft. Artists like Riftroamer have done art of Cutters painted in Imperial colours and they seem perfect for the job, being so adaptable.
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Condottiere
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In theory, the Scout Service could have a single hundred tonne hull, and used that for all roles suitable for that tonnage, and fit the mission requisite equipment within.
Whether for four parsec message delivery, or last mile orbital connector.
Whether for four parsec message delivery, or last mile orbital connector.
kilemall
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Heh imagine getting an xboat for your scout benefit.
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