Being a fan of astronomy I took data I have on stars near the Sun, compared it to the Jump Drives used in Traveller, and found the following:
A. Jump-1 engines would be useless in near-Solar space. They could not even reach Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, which lies 1.31 parsecs away.
B. Jump-2 engines could only reach Alpha Centauri (1.35 parsecs from the Sun) or Barnard's Star (1.81 parsecs distant). Furthermore, they could not reach anywhere beyond Alpha Centauri and only very limited destinations beyond Barnard's Star.
C. Jump-3 engines could not reach Tau Ceti (3.61 parsecs), Epsilon Eridani (3.31 parsecs), Procyon (3.51 parsecs), 61 Cygni (3.38 parsecs), or Epsilon Indi (3.44 parsecs) in one jump, and could only reach 5 star systems from the Sun (Gliese 65A and B [2.72 parsecs], Wolf 359 [2.35 parsecs], Lalande 21185 [2.52 parsecs], Sirius A and B [2.65 parsecs], and Ross 154 [2.9 parsecs]).
Merchant ships travelling from Earth would need at least Jump-3 engines before they could be useful. These figures are based on standard Traveller rules and assume that a ship is carrying enough fuel for only one jump. The impracticality of fuelling stations in deep space is discussed in the T20 Traveller's Handbook. FYI, here is a partial list of the potential destinations achievable by the two lowest power Jump Drives:
Jump 1: Nowhere
Jump 2: Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star
From Alpha Centauri--Nowhere
From Barnard's Star--Ross 154
From Ross 154--Gliese 628 and Epsilon Indi
From Gliese 628--36 Ophiuchi
From 36 Ophiuchi--Gliese 664 (essentially a companion star of 36 Ophiuchi A and B), Gliese 667, Gliese 674, and Gliese 682.
From Gliese 667--Gliese 618, Gliese 666
From Gliese 674--Luyten 205-128
From Epsilon Indi--Lacaille 9352, Lacaille 8760, Gliese 832
As is clearly evident, the area of space traversable with a Jump-2 drive in the Solar Neighborhood is rather limited. With each jump taking a week (more or less), the worlds a far trader could visit would be equally limited. Incidentally, only four of these systems (Alpha Centauri, 36 Ophiuchi, Gliese 666 and Gliese 667) have stars that could be suitable for life as we know it.
A. Jump-1 engines would be useless in near-Solar space. They could not even reach Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, which lies 1.31 parsecs away.
B. Jump-2 engines could only reach Alpha Centauri (1.35 parsecs from the Sun) or Barnard's Star (1.81 parsecs distant). Furthermore, they could not reach anywhere beyond Alpha Centauri and only very limited destinations beyond Barnard's Star.
C. Jump-3 engines could not reach Tau Ceti (3.61 parsecs), Epsilon Eridani (3.31 parsecs), Procyon (3.51 parsecs), 61 Cygni (3.38 parsecs), or Epsilon Indi (3.44 parsecs) in one jump, and could only reach 5 star systems from the Sun (Gliese 65A and B [2.72 parsecs], Wolf 359 [2.35 parsecs], Lalande 21185 [2.52 parsecs], Sirius A and B [2.65 parsecs], and Ross 154 [2.9 parsecs]).
Merchant ships travelling from Earth would need at least Jump-3 engines before they could be useful. These figures are based on standard Traveller rules and assume that a ship is carrying enough fuel for only one jump. The impracticality of fuelling stations in deep space is discussed in the T20 Traveller's Handbook. FYI, here is a partial list of the potential destinations achievable by the two lowest power Jump Drives:
Jump 1: Nowhere
Jump 2: Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star
From Alpha Centauri--Nowhere
From Barnard's Star--Ross 154
From Ross 154--Gliese 628 and Epsilon Indi
From Gliese 628--36 Ophiuchi
From 36 Ophiuchi--Gliese 664 (essentially a companion star of 36 Ophiuchi A and B), Gliese 667, Gliese 674, and Gliese 682.
From Gliese 667--Gliese 618, Gliese 666
From Gliese 674--Luyten 205-128
From Epsilon Indi--Lacaille 9352, Lacaille 8760, Gliese 832
As is clearly evident, the area of space traversable with a Jump-2 drive in the Solar Neighborhood is rather limited. With each jump taking a week (more or less), the worlds a far trader could visit would be equally limited. Incidentally, only four of these systems (Alpha Centauri, 36 Ophiuchi, Gliese 666 and Gliese 667) have stars that could be suitable for life as we know it.
