This example of a jump off calculation that I forgot about from Classic Traveller reminds me why CT is useless for actual gameplay but great for sitting down and getting lost in solo conflicts. Imagine trying to calculate this during a game! ...
I never had any problem with it, but I was always considered a bit of an oddity.
Morning Carlobrand,
Thanks for the reply and I goofed in my copy, paste, and modification of Example 1 for both Examples 2 and 3.
Actually I made a couple of errors in examples 2 and 3.
1. The first error in each example my Jump EP formula is I'm missing the Jump number representing the two turns of output
Example 2: Jump EP = 0.01 x 75,000 x 3 = 750 x = 4,500 EP
correction:
Jump EP = 0.01 x 75,000 x 3 = 750 x 3 = 2,250 EP
Required Power Plant Output EP for Jump = 2,250 x 2 = 4,500 EP
Example 2 the ship can jump at the end of 1 turn.
Example 3: Jump EP = 0.01 x 75,000 x 5 = 750 x = 7,500 EP
correction:
Jump EP = 0.01 x 75,000 x 5 = 750 x 5 = 3,750 EP
Required Power Plant Output EP for Jump = 3,750 x 2 = 7,500 EP
Example 3 the ship can jump at the end of 2 turns.
The second error was when I copied the numbers over I put them in the wrong lines.
My biggest error was not reviewing the post my normal three times before submitting. Of course I probably still would have goofed since I was yawning at the time.
Thanks for the catch and do I have Examples 2 and 3 squared away now?
Assuming the Power Plant-8, yeah.
They actually made it a good deal more complicated then it needed to be. Simplified: if your power plant rating is at least twice the desired jump range, you can jump in one turn. If your power plant rating is at least equal to your desired range, but less than twice the range, you jump in two turns. If it's less than the desired range, you aren't going to be able to jump that range. So your Power Plant-8 can manage anything up to a Jump-4 in one turn.
However, this decision is taken during the pre-combat decision step. You still have to survive the exchange of fire before the jump actually happens:
"A ship which breaks off by jumping must have a destination and enough fuel to get there. It must expend energy points equal to two turns output from a power plant whose number is equal to the jump being attempted (EP required =O.OlMJn). If it can do this in two turns, it jumps at the end of two turns. If it can do this in one turn or less, it jumps at the end of one turn
(in the pursuit step)."
So if you test your luck and try a jump-4 with your Power Plant-8, then the power plant takes a hit during the combat step, you could find yourself in the pursuit step with insufficient power plant to make the jump in one turn. You'd have to wait through another turn of battle accumulating power before you can jump out. If your power plant took another hit in that second turn and fell below a 4-rating, you'd no longer have power to make the jump-4: you'd have to scrub the jump and calculate a new destination within the limits of your remaining power plant.
Or you could have a long and vigorous argument with your opponent, saying that you managed to accumulate 7 units of power that round and need only 1 more unit to make the jump. The rules as worded support that interpretation, but that puts you in the very interesting position of managing a jump-4 on a power plant that is now rated below 4; for some folk, the mere thought of a power plant being rated below the jump that's being attempted gives them the heebie jeebies.
Another interesting argument, if your opponent won't buy that first argument and insists your power plant be at least rated to the desired jump range irrespective of the accumulated power, is whether you could use whatever power you'd managed to accumulate for the aborted jump that second turn (the first turn's power is lost), and apply it to make the shorter jump to the new destination at the end of the third turn, or whether you'd instead have to start from scratch.
Another interesting point: rules are quite clear that you have to accumulate power over two turns, no longer, and that the power can't be used for anything else. On the other hand, the thingies accumulating the power are capacitors, which are discussed in the section on black globes - where they are quite obviously capable of storing power for more than two turns and in fact cannot yield up their power except by "eliminating" it through the power plant. In fact, the ship can jump from power accumulated through the black globe over several turns, even though it could never do the same thing with power received from the power plant. Just one of those charming rules conflicts.
(Under the original rules, the Black Globe rules said extra power collected in the capacitors was channeled through the power plant and used by the ship in lieu of power from the power plant - even though the rules also said power drawn to the capacitors from the power plant could not be used for anything but jump. The current errata corrected this by declaring that the extra power isn't used by the ship: it's "eliminated" through the power plant - a stretch, but it prevents people from trying to rationalize that restriction away. We still have the problem of the capacitors being able to accumulate power for jump over several turns via the black globe but not via the power plant. Applying black globe power to jump was likely a bad idea.)
Means you might want to take other precautions.
