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Misjumping into Lunion subsector

Hal

SOC-14 1K
As this thread title points out, the situation is that where a ship somehow ends up in the Lunion subsector from point of origin unknown. The idea here is to stimulate people's creative juices into solving a problem - to whit:

How does one potentially rescue survivors of a misjump when you don't even know that the misjump has occurred?

For purposes of this discussion, we are to presume that your "character personae" is that of someone with some level of authority, whether Star Port Authority, or Ducal Authority, or perhaps even military authority. Why? Because anyone that fields ships capable of star travel, runs the risk of potential misjumps. In Trillion Credit Squadron, even warships can misjump due to battle damage and end up in a region that is cut off from the Third Imperium. So, the next post will list the empty hexes, and distance to nearest star system. From there, lets see if we can put into place, some methodology for handling Mayday calls for help.
 
Empty Hexes by ID values/parsecs to nearest star system.

0102/1
0103/1
0104/1
0105/1
0106/1
0110/1

0201/1
0203/1
0207/1
0208/1
0209/1
0210/2

0301/2
0302/1
0303/1
0305/1
0306/1
0308/1
0309/2
0310/2

0401/2
0402/2
0403/1
0405/1
0406/1
0407/1
0408/1
0409/1
0410/2

0501/2
0502/2
0503/1
0506/1
0507/1
0510/1

0601/1
0602/1
0603/1
0604/1
0605/1
0607/1
0609/1
0610/2

0706/1
0708/1
0709/1
0710/2

0801/1
0802/1
0803/1
0804/1
0807/1
0808/2
0809/2
0810/1
 
Ok, those are the empty hexes along with their distances to nearest star system. Most of the scout ships have a jump-2 capability, which may permit their being used as a means of tending various functions in the empty hexes.

Let us assume the following:

Posters may use any technology that is available in any of the game system they care to specify, but must state in their first line:

Using CT

Or

Using MT

Or

Using T5

etc...

Come up with ways and means by which a star going civilization may make some efforts in which to rescue misjumped ships. Determine the general cost in material (if possible) along with perhaps the cost in manpower to implement these "lighthouse" style systems intended to HELP ships in distress.

It may end being, that the material cost for all of this is too expensive to implement, and starships that end up in empty hexes are truly consigned to extinction. I would hate to think that this is the case, but pragmatically speaking, it very well may be. Even if we use the idea that there are floating icebergs in space that can be harvested for fuel and what not - that still leaves the issue of whether or not a starship can find one in time, in sufficient quantity to permit a ship to jump again towards safety.

So, let us see what we can come up with shall we? :)
 
Using CT '77 edition go to the hex the jump message missile was sent from as a distress signal.

There is even the canon example of the Leviathan class merchant cruiser that carries them (A:4)

Using TNE 1248 go to the hex the jump message missile was sent from.

If you want a workable search an rescue paradigm then jump message missiles have to return IMHO. Otherwise it's going to take years for your emergency broadcast to get anywhere near a possible rescuer.

You have identified 42 possible hexes within jump 1 of a system - i.e. close enough for a scout/courier to do an empty hex jump and search around for a bit. The closest x-boat route could carry the general instruction to detached duty scouts to use their ships to go look in the nearest empty hex.

To get to the 2 hex systems you will need either a jump 4 ship or drop tanks/extra fuel on a lower rated ship. That means calling in the megacorps or military.

Either way a sweep of all those systems is going to take a long time.

Perhaps patrol cruisers and close escorts are routinely assigned empty hex sweeps to check for distress signals (or pirate activity)
 
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They relaxed the rules permitting anything under 100 dtons to enter jump space for TNE? Hmmmm. I wasn't aware of that!
 
They relaxed the rules permitting anything under 100 dtons to enter jump space for TNE? Hmmmm. I wasn't aware of that!

The TNE Jump missiles are inflatables, and about 5 Td when not inflated. Not something most ships would carry. Plus, they have to be fueled up prior to jump.
 
Supposing that SOP involves sending scouts into "empty" parsecs to search for lost ships, each one of those parsecs is what, 18 point something cubic light-years? Chances are nobody's going to receive any distress calls in those big wide areas until it's years too late. Good enough for salvage maybe, and getting a ship back to its investors. Not so good for saving crew lives.

Supposing that empty hexes are seeded with emergency buoys (perhaps fuel tanks with locator beacons?) again, that's an awful big haystack to hide a needle in.

"Bad news is we've misjumped. Good news is that we're reading a locator beacon. Bad news is that it's transmitting from a light year away, and we have life support for five days. Shall we just shoot ourselves now, Captain?"

So yeah: Unless your TU allows jump torpedoes, or unless your ship packs a carried jumpship, a misjumped ship is S.O.L.. Failing that, the only useful measures against misjump are preventative: Maintain engines well, never jump within 100D, never use unrefined fuel (unless you've got a purifier).
 
Supposing that SOP involves sending scouts into "empty" parsecs to search for lost ships, each one of those parsecs is what, 18 point something cubic light-years? Chances are nobody's going to receive any distress calls in those big wide areas until it's years too late. Good enough for salvage maybe, and getting a ship back to its investors. Not so good for saving crew lives.

Supposing that empty hexes are seeded with emergency buoys (perhaps fuel tanks with locator beacons?) again, that's an awful big haystack to hide a needle in.

"Bad news is we've misjumped. Good news is that we're reading a locator beacon. Bad news is that it's transmitting from a light year away, and we have life support for five days. Shall we just shoot ourselves now, Captain?"

So yeah: Unless your TU allows jump torpedoes, or unless your ship packs a carried jumpship, a misjumped ship is S.O.L.. Failing that, the only useful measures against misjump are preventative: Maintain engines well, never jump within 100D, never use unrefined fuel (unless you've got a purifier).

This is why I'm trying to think within the rules as written, but think outside of the box. If the rules as written permit low berths to function for upwards of 6 months, then we may have the ability to look at SOME solution.

Also remember, a radio receiver at precisely the center of any given deep space hex, will receive a signal that is upwards of 1.63 light years in distance from any of its internal space. The problem here, is to see if there is a way to cut that distance down, and how to maintain some sort of emergency response system. If the minimum capabilities require that a scout ship check a given "buoy" every month on the month, and it takes 1.63 years before a signal reaches any given "buoy", then in theory, we're going to need something to the tune of about 1 week jump space for the scout, one week back, refuel, then another week to find the missing ship in jump space based upon data collected by the buoy earlier on. That's just a quick off the cuff thought. Also note, that the location within a deep space hex for a misjump is still uncertain (ie, up to the GM to determine). The closer to the center of the deep space hex a ship misjumps to, the sooner it reaches the buoy with radio signals.

With 55 deep space hexes in Lunion alone, we're looking at a hefty outlay in buoy systems, plus manpower. Of those that are out there, 13 are 2 parsecs away from the home world. This would require ships that have J4 in order to service.

Now, the real question that arises to my mind at this point, is whether or not those 2 parsec locations are worth servicing, and whether or not maintaining watch on some 42 stations is worth the time and material to maintain. Jump missiles for commercial J1 or J2 ships aren't likely to be worth looking into for the simple reason that the fuel required to send those missiles out are going to be more useful for jumping the ship itself - and will take up cargo capacity otherwise required for commercial activity.

Now, for the other issue? Ships that misjump, broadcast their location (if nothing else, via transponder perhaps?) can at least be recovered by salvage crews even if the passengers can't be rescued. The biggest question then becomes one of whether or not it is worth the effort in time and material to recover derelicts. Are there OTHER benefits to having a systematic grid of radio receivers strung out one per hex, maintenance by the scout team?

Bear in mind - misjumps do not just occur for civilian craft, but also for military craft. One would hope that military craft have some protocol for handling all of this! Perhaps standard military protocol requires that all military craft never utilize their entire jump fuel capability in the event of a misjump, and require that at least 1 jump's worth of fuel be held in reserve on the off chance that the ships misjump into a region that is only 1 parsec away from a major system.
 
Sounds like this is solved.

Note entirely. A jump missile of 100 dtons volume after inflation, still requires 10 dtons of fuel for a jump-1 jump. The jump drive itself will require 2% of the 100 dton volume, and the other 3dtons of the 5dtons I'm not familiar with as to what is involved. :(
 
How does one potentially rescue survivors of a misjump when you don't even know that the misjump has occurred?
Is this a trick question? If you don't know there has been a misjump why would one be rescuing survivors? Is psionics involved? Your having dreams at night where someone is whispering "rescue me"?
 
It's worth noting that the MT minimum misjump chance could be eliminated with one simple house rule: eliminate the "If the task roll is exactly 2 (disregarding DMs), a fumble mishap occurs." from RM p. 14, and make it "If the task roll fails and the dice, disregarding DMs, totaled 2, a mishap occurs"
That way, 1 in 36 jumps fails, but only those not being cautious can misjump by accident.

It's a good house rule for MT, anyway. (mishaps are too common due to the natural 2 rule.)
 
...Come up with ways and means by which a star going civilization may make some efforts in which to rescue misjumped ships. ...

Given the volume of space involved, might be easiest to have the affected ship fend for itself:

Using any system, a ship of significant size (say 2,000Dt+) carries a jump-capable 100dT ... uh, longboat? I've been calling them ketches. They run and fetch help for the ship in distress.

Using CT, and borrowing on the idea for the Supplement 9 Jump-ship's jump field cables, you can design a module for a 50dT cutter that contains a bridge extension, jump drive, fuel, cabin and a jump mesh with spars that can be extended to make the boat fill out to 100 dTons. That way, any craft capable of carrying a 50dT cutter can carry a jump-capable emergency "ship" capable of making a jump-1 to go get help.

Is this a trick question? If you don't know there has been a misjump why would one be rescuing survivors? Is psionics involved? Your having dreams at night where someone is whispering "rescue me"?

Wasn't there an adventure where a rogue Imperial scientist was experimenting with interstellar-range psionic communications?
 
Is this a trick question? If you don't know there has been a misjump why would one be rescuing survivors? Is psionics involved? Your having dreams at night where someone is whispering "rescue me"?

For the 82nd trip marred as usual by boredom at the seemingly unrewarding task of tending buoys, Scout 2nd class Mardinii checked buoy #Lu789-K. Upon being queried by the scout's specially keyed transmission, Mardinii sat up straight as the computer dumped its data into the scout's memory banks.

"Mayday, Mayday. This is the Credit Dew's captain Blackwell. We've misjumped enroute from La Belle in the Lanth subsector. We've been enroute <zipsqueal ship's vector data> for the last 5 days. We're shutting down life support and maintaining minimal power until rescued. All crew have been interned in their emergency low berths until help can arrive. We exited jump space 1104-211 at 1342 Empire Standard Time. Please help. Mayday, Mayday. This is the Credit Dew's captain Blackwell. We've..."

Mardinii checked the time stamps on the messages, queried Buoy #Lu790-K located some 4 light hours away. Between the two buoys, Mardanii hoped to triangulate the location of the ship Credit Dew. Reviewing protocol, Mardanii plotted a return jump to Adabicci as he waited for the buoy's answer, some roughly 7.5 hours away - 4 light hours to, and 4 light hours back. Whistling a tune as he fed in the information to the navigation plot, he narrowed down the estimated position of the errant Credit Dew based upon the zipsqueal content he received from the mayday. After getting the same information from the other buoy, but also getting a vector on the radio transmission, along with the continuous looped broadcasts, Mardanii knew he had a VERY good chance of zeroing in on the Credit Dew. Taking care not to mess up his jump plot - Mardanii completed his checks, verified his trajectory of his scout ship, and engaged the jump drive back to Adabicci - knowing full well that their long wait for help was finally being met.

NOTE: This presumes GURPS TRAVELLER, where Low Berths have approximately 17 years duration based upon RTG power generation. Note too, that in GURPS, there is no "operational limits based upon fuel, as GURPS fusion powerplants last 200 years on a single fuel cache.
 
The idea here folks, is that we aren't discussing IMMEDIATE rescue per se, but looking for ways in which a rescue MIGHT be attempted assuming that these "buoys" are feasible, and worth maintaining. If not feasible - then a misjumped ship is DOOMED. <shrug>
 
It would be better to spend money on developing more reliable Jump drives and/or making sure they are well maintained than investing in a rescue system to cover the edge cases.
 
There could be a place in some TU where people feel a life is worth any investment. My view of the Imperium is that they would not be so proactive but perhaps it's because I never analyzed the misjump (and survive) statistics for the game system I use since the folks I game with regard misjumps as something left more up to the GM than a die roll.

Boom, ship destroyed or misjumping and being months off course derailing a carefully planned adventure and campaign were not something to be left to the dice.

I guess if misjumps were common enough there is a lot of credits in ships and cargo and possible rewards floating about somewhere. Something perhaps salvagers get into. If it's common enough then military ships are getting lost too and that would be of concern to the government not just in cost to replace the ship and crew but retrieving the tech and secrets that they wouldn't want to get into the wrong hands.

How about the logistics of retrieving top secret gear from a ship that doesn't survive a misjump and you don't know where the debris field is or have any beacons to help locate it?
 
It would be better to spend money on developing more reliable Jump drives and/or making sure they are well maintained than investing in a rescue system to cover the edge cases.

Agreed - which might be where the Imperial research credits are going, maybe. All I know however, is that with the rules as written in each of the versions of Traveller - misjumps are with us to stay. That having been said, many GM's seem to believe that it isn't an issue, and thus, it IS NOT AN ISSUE by virtue of GM decree.

The fun part is - is role playing in any GAME universe, be it fantasy, historical fiction, modern day cinema style games, or Sci-Fi. Each game universe has certain aspects to it that is decreed to be "this is how it works". How players interact with the foundations of any game universe is half the fun.
 
There could be a place in some TU where people feel a life is worth any investment. My view of the Imperium is that they would not be so proactive but perhaps it's because I never analyzed the misjump (and survive) statistics for the game system I use since the folks I game with regard misjumps as something left more up to the GM than a die roll.

Boom, ship destroyed or misjumping and being months off course derailing a carefully planned adventure and campaign were not something to be left to the dice.

I guess if misjumps were common enough there is a lot of credits in ships and cargo and possible rewards floating about somewhere. Something perhaps salvagers get into. If it's common enough then military ships are getting lost too and that would be of concern to the government not just in cost to replace the ship and crew but retrieving the tech and secrets that they wouldn't want to get into the wrong hands.

How about the logistics of retrieving top secret gear from a ship that doesn't survive a misjump and you don't know where the debris field is or have any beacons to help locate it?

In that case, the problem becomes MAJOR in scope - much akin to finding a needle in a HUGE haystack! There is no way to determine in which direction a misjump takes a ship, let alone how far. Hell, I've been pointing out, that the level of Navigation for plotting a course through jump space has NO effect on Jumping, let alone how accurate the jump arrives at its plotted point in the classic Traveller rules, or pretty much any of the rules I am familiar with. The slight error by distance in MT stems from firing up the jump drives, not by mistake of navigation (where I believe it should be a function of). Now, for MTU, I can fix that, but that's a house rule. For the OTU, that is a whole different story.
 
It would be better to accept that low berths can function for centuries and let ships get back to civilization on their own power. Even if you have to handwave power supply for low berths. Perhaps they're powered by a process that cannot supply more than a trickle of power, enough to keep a low berth ticking but useless for any serious power demand (Possibly something to do with the Subspace Heat Sink ;)).

Or perhaps fusion power plants are actually reasonably efficient, as some Traveller versions have it.

That said, sensor arrays in star systems that can detect distress calls from a couple of light years away seems a reasonable enough investment.


Hans
 
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