Just to give some examples of where this Jump-5/6 capability would make a marked difference in the
Spinward Marches sector, consider these new routes that would open up with a J6 XBoat upgrade:
Regina/Regina to Lysen/Jewell:
1J6 instead of 1J3 plus 2J4 (1 v 3)
Regina/Regina to Inthe/Regina:
1J5 instead of 3J2 plus 2J3 plus 4J4 (1 v 9)
Lanth/Lanth to Frenzie/Vilis:
1J6 instead of 3J4 (1 v 3)
Lanth/Lanth to Garda-Vilis/Vilis:
1J6 instead of 3J4 plus 1J2 (1 v 4)
Lanth/Lanth to Adabicci/Lunion:
1J6 instead of 2J2 plus 2J3 plus 2J4 (1 v 6)
D'Ganzio/Lanth to Lunion/Lunion:
1J5 instead of 1J2 plus 1J3 plus 2J4 (1 v 4)
Tenalphi/Lunion to Caladbolg/Sword Worlds:
1J5 instead of 1J3 plus 1J4 (1 v 2)
Strouden/Lunion to Glisten/Glisten:
1J5 plus
1J6 instead of 1J2 plus 2J3 plus 1J4 (2 v 4)
Fosey/Mora to Mora/Mora:
1J5 instead of 3J4 (1 v 3)
So I think you can see, even in a place like the Spinward Marches, the increase in communication speeds just in these examples can be anywhere from 2-
8(!) weeks of reductions in travel times using a mix of Jump-5 and Jump-6 routing through the sector.
Park a Scout Base at Echiste/Lanth and run an XBoat shortcut from Rhylanor to Regina that is only 2 jump 5(!) … instead of needing to go "the long way round" through Lanth (a 7 week trip!).
Perhaps the trifecta of all XBoat link ups that I can see would be turning Vanejen/Rhylanor/Spinward Marches into a "triple point" connector at merely jump 5 from Rhylanor/Rhylanor, Mora/Mora AND Magash/Sabine in the neighboring
Deneb Sector.
I mean, talk about hitting the "location, location, location!" jackpot as a crossroads in a more capable Express Boat Service! THREE subsector capitals, all within 2 Jump-5 of each other through Vanejen? No wonder the Zhodani took word of these developments as an impetus to start the Fifth Frontier War (not the only reason, granted, but one of the reasons for doing so).
So with all of those cases for logistical improvement in the existing network, as well as "idiot proofing" the procedures for how to handle the L-Hyd Drop Tank support tail in a way that disperses the demand for production of those tanks
away from necessarily being concentrated into only the routes where they will need to be used (thereby spreading the logistical burden of them more widely and hopefully a bit more "evenly" around the network) yielding a relatively firm design for How To Do It™ in a TL=15 package … it's time to move on to thinking about how to (best) support such a network of 100 ton J6 XBoats with Tenders that are better suited for their (newer) needs than the older TL=10 legacy Tenders.
So first and foremost, TL=15 XBoats will need to be supported by TL=15 Tenders … that's just the way the cookie empire crumbles, I'm afraid. The tooling available in the TL=10 legacy Tenders just simply isn't going to be fit for purpose on TL=15 XBoats, so if you upgrade the tech level in the XBoats, the Tenders need to move with that upgrade in order to keep pace so as to fulfill their supporting role properly.
However, where the TL=10 Tenders were dealing with 100 ton J4 XBoats, the new TL=15 Tenders are going to be dealing with (effectively) 110 ton J6 XBoats, since a lot of them will be retaining their L-Hyd Drop Tanks through jump if they don't need to go 6 parsecs in one jump. Obviously any new TL=15 Tender that can dock a 110 ton J6 XBoat will be able to do the same for a legacy 100 ton J4 XBoat (at a slight loss in hangar volume efficiency that is so minuscule as to almost be a non-issue in operational terms).
Now one of the missions that Tenders are given in service is to ferry additional XBoats into areas that need them … and I look at the legacy TL=10 Tenders and wonder exactly HOW those older ships were intended to accomplish that? The old ships had 150 tons of fuel and could jump 1 parsec per week while consuming 100 tons of jump fuel (and 2.5 tons of power plant fuel per week from LBB2.81 onwards). In order for a legacy Tender to cross 4 parsecs to arrive on station in a distant system further down the network, it would need to have 410 tons of fuel and 4 weeks just to get there empty (so better to have 420 tons fueled up before you start!) … which can be done if you load the hangar bay with fuel instead of XBoats I suppose, but then the Tender isn't carrying the XBoats to the new system. Of course, I can't think of a good reason to send XBoats to a new duty location
inside a Tender instead of just having the XBoats use their Jump-4 drives to get there on their own from the last link in the network chain as a part of their ordinary duty rotations through the network. But my point here is that you have to completely convert the legacy Tenders into a fuel barge just in order to get them to ferry themselves(!) across 4 parsecs in 4 weeks and then once they arrive at their destination system you have to convert them back(!) into being Tenders that are supplied to recover and replenish J4 XBoats on their route assignment. Basically an arduous logistical monstrosity that could take 4-8 weeks to get a legacy Tender on station in a new system 4 parsecs away in 4 weeks. It
can be done … but it is by no means a pretty sight to manage the logistics for the ferry mission.
So that was one of the first things I wanted to "fix" with a J6 Tender design, the capacity to ferry both the Tender itself AND new J6 XBoats to a new station posting that could be up to 4 parsecs distant without needing to refuel along the way.
The new J6 Tenders carry 220 tons of internal fuel tankage, which is enough to jump 2 parsecs in a single week, so halfway across a 4 parsec gap. The Tender both can and operationally speaking should have (because it will need them for this) three J6 Express Boats secured in the hangars during the trip. Those three J6 Xboats will each have 56 tons of internal fuel tankage as well as an additional 10 tons of L-Hyd Drop Tanks attached to them, giving them each a fuel capacity of 66 tons of fuel while in their hangars. That means that those three J6 XBoats will have a combined fuel capacity of 198 tons, which is 2 tons short of the 200 tons of fuel needed to make a second jump of 2 parsecs after the first in order to complete the 4 parsec ferry mission bringing J6 XBoats to a new star system. After breaking out of jump at the destination, the Tender simply needs to refuel (gas giant, ocean, starport, spaceport) and purify any unrefined fuel before transferring fuel into the XBoats so the XBoats can begin outbound operations from the new duty station. After fueling the XBoats in the hangar, the Tender will need to refuel itself again so as to be ready for Tender service duties of recovering and refueling incoming XBoats.
In other words, a 4 parsecs in 2 weeks ferry deployment of a J6 Tender loaded with three J6 XBoats to a new duty station is a far less complex undertaking and requires no special logistical measures or conversions, resulting in a much quicker activation to ready status after arrival in the destination star system (basically just 2 refueling cycles is enough to begin normal operations).
If no J6 XBoats are available for a 4 parsec ferry assignment by a J6 Tender, then three J4 XBoats can be carried, which will have a combined internal fuel capacity of 120 tons. There is sufficient spare volume in the XBoat hangars for 3 L-Hyd Drop Tanks to be set up and fueled prior to departure, increasing the hangar bay fuel potential to 150 combined tons. Beyond this, there is a 68 ton capacity collapsible fuel tank in the cargo hold which can be filled with 50 tons of fuel for the ferry mission … and that's all you need. You have 220 tons of fuel in the internal tanks, and another 200 combined tons of fuel capacity that can be pumped into the main tanks after the first jump in order to make the second, allowing the J6 Tender to cross 4 parsecs in 2 weeks while carrying a full load of (in this case) J4 Xboats. After arriving in the destination system, the J6 Tender will of course need to refuel (twice), in order to refill its own fuel tanks as well as the fuel tanks of the embarked J4 XBoats, after which it can begin XBoat service operations immediately. However, since a portion of the cargo hold needed to be devoted to fuel for the ferry mission, the cargo hold will have a reduced supply of replenishment materials for arriving XBoats and thus the J6 Tender will need to rotate out of operational service more rapidly for restocking of consumables in the cargo hold, but that isn't an immediate concern upon arrival.
And speaking of the collapsible fuel tank for the cargo hold, I added that specifically as a "flex" feature for capacity. The way I envision things, at first the cargo hold will be stuffed with everything needed to support operations long(er) term so a Tender can remain on station, only needing to refuel, for months at a time without needing to return to base for consumable supplies. However, those supplies in the cargo hold are consumed over time, first and foremost being the L-Hyd Drop Tanks needing to be replaced, but also food and life support supplies as well as parts and spares and so on. This means that the amount of cargo in the hold will start out being "full" and then slowly dwindle over time as the Tender services and replenishes XBoats while on assigned station. This in turn means that the tempo of needing to refuel after dispatching outbound XBoats actually goes down over time (can dispatch 4 instead of 3 before needing to refuel), as the balance of the contents of their cargo hold changes from consumables to additional fuel reserves over time.
