Jump Into Empty Hexes, Y/N?

[pendragonman]

...SNIP...

If you can show a bank a plan that will allow you to service the loan, you should be able to secure a loan... a good deal easier than a PC-type free trader captain can get financing for the plan "I'll jump round the subsector and pick up stuff the corporations miss".


Hans

Heh, no doubt. Great point.

 

[DaveChase]

I'm out of it for a little while and everyone gets delusions of granduer

OK, I came back to read thoughts on Jump into empty hexes and
other than the title, I think I am in the wrong thread.

I liked all the tangets but, (sigh)

Well thats the life of a forum thread.

Dave Chase

 

[Dr_Skull]

Just to get back to the original thread topic.

If you cannot jump into an empty hex, then the Terrans would not have made contact with the Vilani at Barnards, since there's no 1-hex star system from Terra and if I recall correctly they made contact almost immediately after discovering Jump-1 tech.

 

[far-trader]

Just to get back to the original thread topic.

If you cannot jump into an empty hex, then the Terrans would not have made contact with the Vilani at Barnards, since there's no 1-hex star system from Terra and if I recall correctly they made contact almost immediately after discovering Jump-1 tech.

Ah, but I think they used a deep space object as a midway calibration point didn't they? Or was that some retconning? Can't recall now.

 

[aramis]

Retconning to match GTIW.

 

[Gadrin]

IMTU, I'm sticking to the notion that you need some sort of mass to home in on to get out of jump. (Thanks, C.J. Cherryh!) It helps rationalize a lot of "worlds" that are popping up in WorldGen; no pop or low pop, but a decent port in place - there's nothing that's an inherent draw at all. Except - there's sufficient mass, a star, even a large enough rock, to focus on and come out of jump; maybe some iceballs out there to turn into fuel. So a port develops, just a little waystation in the dark, a place where ships meet. And when they get there, they trade, if they can. It's expensive to jump with nothing to show for it. There won't be enough cargo going around to ship in or out of a place like that, but a handful of Free Traders clustered around a barren rock will be ready to make deals. Some of these places will even be able to develop decent port facilities, in time.



Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that jumping into the dark is *impossible* - just that you've got either have an absolutely crackerjack navigator spending a huge amount of time scanning the dark trying to find a telltale occlusion that somehow hasn't got on the charts. (maybe roll 15+ per week of nonstop observation, + nav skill, + number of months spent looking - IF the Referee decides there's something to be found there)

snipped for briefness...

well this also might be a handy spot for "jump torpedoes" to make another entrance < buzzer > < boo, hiss > as to make sure instead of risking their necks they send a robot to make the jump; then wait the 3.25 years for a signal to make it back. however this sounds like the purview of the IISS or a mega-corp since it's gotta cost big CR.

but I do like this idea, and just say that most ship cap's aren't explorers but follow-the-leader types save for the Keith's Caledon Ventures. I'd say it's a nice way (or at least provides a lead-in) to a campaign that features/allows this type of transport as dangerous but not impossible.

 

[Plankowner]

I used a similar idea when I GM'd. I LIKED the idea of Mass Precipitation, it made the map more interesting and made the Mains REALLY important.

I required a planet sized mass (hence the Size 1 minimum for a "mainworld"). If the mainworld size was "0" then you had to use the star's Jump Shadow and potentially travel a long way to the "mainworld" asteroid.

I also was inspired by CJ Cherryh's ideas for interstellar travel. BUT, instead of having the ships emerge from Jumpspace at close to the speed of light, I made them emerge with a relative velocity of ZERO relative to the object that pulled them out. Made the calculations for travel times much easier that way.

So, a ship could not be used to "block" another ship from jumping, it took something the size of a planet (Size 1) or larger.

Ships trying to find Jump Points (dead stars or Rogue planets) etc, ran a HIGH risk of loss, but HUGE potential profits if they could find a new Jump Route.

In Cherryh's Chanur series she even goes into this a bit with a Jump Point location preventing one race from becoming a client of another one and a psionic (for lack of a better Traveller term) that was able to find new Jump Points.

Why do Scouts have such a high mortality rate? They map/survey new Jump Points. THAT is why a 100 ton Scout ship is so common, why risk a larger ship when you have such a high chance of loosing it during exploration.

I used the idea that if you missed your target for any reason, once your Jump Bubble dispursed, you were exposed to unfiltered Hyperspace and your ship disintegrated. MisJumps were not understood very well.