EVA While Using Stutterwarp?

[SpaceBadger]

This is a follow-up on the EVA While in Jump Space? thread that I started a few days ago in the Imperial Research Station subforum. Had lots of interesting discussion re jump space, but nobody really wanted to talk about stutterwarp, so I'll try again here.

I don't recall seeing answers to these questions in 2300AD rules. If someone can point me to a relevant rule I would appreciate it; if not, then I am interested in how different GMs would rule in their own 2300AD universes.

1) Is extra-vehicular activity possible while the ship is in stutterwarp? (Frex, can you get into a vac-suit, go out the airlock, and make repairs on the exterior of the ship?)

2) If yes, is there some bubble or area of space included in the stutterwarp effect, similar to the jump grid and jump bubble of jump drive?

3) If yes, what happens if you accidentally get outside that stutterwarp field? Just left behind while ship warps onward, or something more drastic?

4) If there is some bubble or area of space included in the stutterwarp effect, does it closely follow the outer skin of the ship, form a rough bubble shape around the ship, or what? How does that apply to ships that are dispersed structures w lots of modules connected by struts and passages?

Looking forward to your input on this, thanks!

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I ain't goin' out there! Ain't no way! And, you can't make me! It's in our contract! No EVA except docked or in orbit! Uh uh! No way! Send Bob, the Navigator - he's non-union.

 

[McPerth]

IIRC I've read somwhere than the Bayern failed in its first departure because, as someone left a line tying it to the space station the stutterwarp tried to affect all the space station and was overload.

If this is correct, that would hint that the stutterwarp effect is transmited by contact, and just being in contact with the ship (even htrough a line) will keep you on it.

If all said above is correct, I'd say that extra vehicular activity may be conducted while in stutterwarp, thoug I'd give some extra dangers, and , answering to your question 3, I'd say that when contact is brocken with the ship, so being left outside the stutterwarp effect, you're just bumped into space with the same relative speed you had when first entered in stutterwarp, as it happens to any ship when stops its stutterwarp.

My take is that, as while in stutterwarp you're just at intervals in "real universe", the rest of the time being in "microjumps", the part detached form the ship will be left at the first place in "real universe" the ship (and so the part) stops after losing contact.

 

[epicenter00]

McPerth is correct. The thing that immediately came to mind was the reference in the Bayern module that there was a major mishap with Bayern originally because there was a line connected from the Bayern to a station (of some sort) and the jump computer saw the entire thing (Bayern + line + station) as the thing it had to move and it overloaded the Stutterwarp system leading to the accident.

So you could leave the airlock while Stutterwarping about and clamber about the hull and make repairs, at least in theory.

In practice it's potentially really hazardous so people don't do it. You'd need to be recognized by the ship's Stutterwarp system as something that needs to be jumped with the ship or else you'd get left behind. I don't think anyone really wants to imagine being left behind light years from the nearest star.

For those who need to do it, an umbilical to the ship would be sufficient, or never letting go of the ship's hull, perhaps. So flying about near the ship in an EVA bug is probably right out.

It's my understanding of Stutterwarp is that it's scaled-up "electron tunneling" phenomenon. So there is no jump-space or warp space for Stutterwarp. One moment you're here and in the next you're there. There is no time interval between here and there. It's instantaneous since it's a kind of "probability travel" or fantasy universe style 'teleport.'* The time taken for Stutterwarp travel is the result of the tiny fractions of a second it takes for the computer to compute where to jump next, for the coil to recharge, or whatever. While the delay between each jump is very small (since a Stutterwarp cycles many, many times per second), they add up over a trip.



* In theory, because of electron tunneling is a probability thing, I guess if you want to play dark sci-fi horror you could have Stutterwarp accidents involving really odd stuff like multiple exact duplicates of the ship appearing or something...

 

[LemnOc]

In practice it's potentially really hazardous so people don't do it.

I think this is the reasonable answer. Unlike Jump drives, where you're floating in J-space for a week with little else to do besides maintenance, you can just turn the Jerome drive off while you're working outside the ship. There's no performance gain to working while moving at warp. Why risk death when you can just turn off the ignition?

 

[SpaceBadger]

I think this is the reasonable answer. Unlike Jump drives, where you're floating in J-space for a week with little else to do besides maintenance, you can just turn the Jerome drive off while you're working outside the ship. There's no performance gain to working while moving at warp. Why risk death when you can just turn off the ignition?

Very good point, but OTOH this is Traveller we are talking about, so you can pretty much guarantee that at some point in some game there is going to be some PC wanting to go outside the hull while the ship is in stutterwarp!

Thanks to all of you for the helpful answers!

 

[McPerth]

I think this is the reasonable answer. Unlike Jump drives, where you're floating in J-space for a week with little else to do besides maintenance, you can just turn the Jerome drive off while you're working outside the ship. There's no performance gain to working while moving at warp. Why risk death when you can just turn off the ignition?

Because you're shadowing a Kaffer ship and you need to repair a sensor, just to give you the first example I can think about. If you stop your stutterwarp, you'll loss the shadowed ship, as you will if you cannot repair the sensor...

 

[LemnOc]

Because you're shadowing a Kaffer ship and you need to repair a sensor, just to give you the first example I can think about. If you stop your stutterwarp, you'll loss the shadowed ship, as you will if you cannot repair the sensor...

A couple of thoughts here:

1. Aren't operating stutterwarp drives detectable at a distance? You can flick them on and off as a communication device, so I assumed there was some telltale "rumble" that would make it hard to shadow another ship at warp. Too, I've thought there was positional uncertainty about the quantum tunneling drive that would likewise make shadowing difficult.

2. Wouldn't a good designer make most vital components on a ship repairable from the inside, like a submarine? Seems like EVA would be mostly for hull breaches, clinging critters, etc. I suppose a sensor dish might qualify as something that needs to be aligned after it is bent.

 

[epicenter00]

2. Wouldn't a good designer make most vital components on a ship repairable from the inside, like a submarine? Seems like EVA would be mostly for hull breaches, clinging critters, etc. I suppose a sensor dish might qualify as something that needs to be aligned after it is bent.

This is what I'd think.

I mean, let's face it. Okay, the AE-35 antenna is damaged and needs to be repaired. Would you go outside of the ship in a spacesuit? Or would you seal off the area under the antenna then just take a blowtorch and cut the hull under the antenna and pull it inside the ship to look at it?

I know what I'd do.

Of course, in 2300 nobody really minds robots. So it's entirely likely that a ship might carry a remote robot to do tasks like this.

 

[PFVA63]

Hi,

I can imagine that there could always be issues where a ship may be damaged or malfunctioning but trying to make a get away where an emergency repair might be needed without stopping the ship.

In particular possibilities might include battle damage or debris preventing a spin habitat or retractable array from fully retracting etc, which may greatly impact your cross section (if I am remembering correctly). Stuff like this may not be easily accessible from the interior or by cutting a hole in the ship, I'd suspect.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

epicenter00, PFVA63, those things would be the extraordinary circumstances, though. Normal procedure would be to stop and take the time to EVA and conduct repairs. You can't really design your antennas to be repairable from inside - any spot in the hull where they would retract in and you could work on them in isolation (an airlock) would require LOTS of space inside your ship that could be much more efficiently used for other stuff (life support, cargo, living space, fuel, etc.).

 

[PFVA63]

Hi,

Yeah, I would suspect that any attempt to EVA while using stutterwarp would likely be because of an emergency, but it does seem like something like that might be a situation where someone might possibly consider doing something like that.

 

[McPerth]

A couple of thoughts here:

1. Aren't operating stutterwarp drives detectable at a distance? You can flick them on and off as a communication device, so I assumed there was some telltale "rumble" that would make it hard to shadow another ship at warp. Too, I've thought there was positional uncertainty about the quantum tunneling drive that would likewise make shadowing difficult.

IIRC what The Lone Wolf (Challenge #33) and Three Blind Mice (Challenge # 37)campaigns told about naval doctrine, the stutterwarp can be detected at a good distance with gravity sensors, but at what distance would a stutterwarp ship going FTL be if you lose half an hour by repairing an antena?

2. Wouldn't a good designer make most vital components on a ship repairable from the inside, like a submarine? Seems like EVA would be mostly for hull breaches, clinging critters, etc. I suppose a sensor dish might qualify as something that needs to be aligned after it is bent.

As Fritz says, don't believe all antenae may be repaired from inside, as they could protude quite a little from the ship, and interior space is at premium. In any case, my knowledge about the subject is quite low, so I'll trust other's oppinions.