So Where Do the Express Boat Tenders Stay

[Spinward Flow]

The only routes are the ones marked. Which is why an early fluff item talks about establishing a new link - not necessary with your incorrect understanding.

Sigh.
I hand you the correct information on a platter ... and you drop it on the floor.

Look at the map.

Count the hexes.
Rhylanor is 10 parsecs away from Regina.
Tureded is 3 parsecs away from Rhylanor.
Tureded is 5 parsecs away from Dinomn and 7 parsecs away from Regina.

Tureded was a dumb idea for a shortcut across the Lanth subsector from Rhylanor to Regina.
Why? Because you can't Jump-4 from Tureded to Dinomn ... that's why!
You would have needed to make an extra jump between Tureded and Dinomn!

No, the smart play for the IISS would have been to establish a Scout Base in the Pirema system in orbit around 1 of the 2 gas giants there for easy/reliable refueling of XBoat operations without needing to bother the "natives" on Pirema (all 84 of them at TL=5 in 1105) AT ALL.
Pirema is 4 parsecs from Rhylanor and 4 parsecs from Dinomn.

Old route ... Regina to Rhylanor:
Regina -> Dinomn -> Ghandi -> Lanth -> D'Ganzio -> Ivendo -> Equus -> Rhylanor = 7 jumps

New route through Pirema ... Regina to Rhylanor:
Regina -> Dinomn -> Pirema -> Rhylanor = 3 jumps

So ... for the cost of establishing a single Scout Base to support IISS XBoat operations in the Pirema system, communication times between Regina and Rhylanor could have been cut by 57% ... but no ... the IISS was planning on building an XBoat "bridge to nowhere" with Tureded instead.

The alternative to upgrading Tureded for XBoat service would have been to establish an XBoat linkup from Regina to Inthe via Yori.
New route through Yori ... Regina to Rhylanor:
Regina -> Yori -> Inthe -> Risek -> Rhylanor = 4 jumps

Not quite as much of a reduction as using Pirema instead, but Yori has a much higher population and tech level to help sustain XBoat operations at Yori. So linking through Yori would be the "budget economics" way to bypass the "Klingon Hook" through Lanth ... while Pirema would have been the more strategic option that is 4 parsecs distant from Dinomn, Inthe, Risek, Rhylanor and Equus(!) ... truly a strategic hub link point across the Regina, Lanth and Rhylanor subsectors!

I told the Inspector General of the IISS Communications Office that the Tureded plan was going to be a hideous boondoggle of a failure ... but did they listen to me? NO THEY DID NOT! I swear the "fix" was in on that deal, and the higher ups were in on it! And what did I get for blowing the whistle on the scheme? A blade and a boot from the service!
Barmaid! Get me another glass of water! It's all I can afford on my Scout benefits package after they ran me out ...

 

[Fovean]

CT B3 ‘77:

This procedure is followed for most worlds within four hexes of each other; some worlds will obviously not have connecting space-lanes, and others will ob- viously have many. The nature of interstellar jumps is such that a jump-2 may be made over two connecting jump-1 links; by remembering this facet of star travel, it is possible to ignore some potential connections because they are already present through the use of shorted connecting lanes. This may well help in the creation of legible subsector maps.

So… we‘re stuck with GDW’s “space-lanes” which often make no sense when you look at them as the later development of“X-boat routes.”

The first paradigm argues for “use your imagination to explain this connection” while the second says “this connection exists, use your imagination to explain it.”

I prefer the old space-lanes and use them in my MgT universe. And IMTU, tenders and X-boats, such as they are, drop out of jump like any other ship - as close as possible to the safety of the Mainworld. Tenders are not tied to the local Scout bases IMTU. In fact, Scout bases and Naval bases are usually out in the nether regions of a given system.

EDIT: the comms cadence IMTU is once per week, or four times per month. Tender duty is where you go when you mess up, and X-boat pilots are either loners or accomplices to Tender crew shenanigans. Data and cargo transfers are automated of course…

 

[coliver988]

A big part of the X-Boat routes was also political (though going with that as more a retcon to explain things after the fact of semi-random generation). I'll stick with the routes are the ones that are marked. Not to say there are not unmarked routes as part of the GM's preserve and plot requirements, but that ends up in the MTU vs the OTU universes.

And the Imperium was a result of a lot of social inertia, existing protocols and cultural norms that don't like change. Yes, going from Efate to Route would shave a week off, but that is simply not how things are done (in a snooty Vilani accented voice).

Now, if we went with Whatung's point to point system, that is what Spinward Flow seems to be saying, in which case we would not put up routes at all, just where the tenders or Scout stations where for handling XBoats. But I like routes: it gives more flexibility to playing in the universe. "Why yes, we can get that info there before the XBoat traffic. What's that worth to you?" is a big thing in the corporate world. And gives many, many player plot points for gaming (and remember: this is all for playing a game, not a simulation of how the universe should work)

 

[Spinward Flow]

EDIT: the comms cadence IMTU is once per week, or four times per month.

That works just fine when jump durations are exactly 168 hours/7 days with no variance whatsoever.
As soon as you add in variable jump durations (150-175 hours per LBB5) then you add some degree of "turbulence" into the tempo of operations. Point being that there will tend to be some "drift" from a perfect/precise 168 hour cycle schedule due to the variability of jump durations.

Tender duty is where you go when you mess up, and X-boat pilots are either loners or accomplices to Tender crew shenanigans. Data and cargo transfers are automated of course…

For the legacy TL=10 J4 XBoat and Tender designs, that was my impression of the service as well. Aside from the communication specialists, you get the feeling that everyone else aboard is a case of "not sending their best" from the IISS into the Network. The job is simple, yet hazardous (all space duty is inherently hazardous to varying degrees) and is something that Has To Be Done ... so just shovel bodies into the fire to keep the flames of empire burning.

Suffice it to say, the very idea of J4 XBoat and Tender duties being a "prestige posting" attracting the best and brightest of the IISS is laughable on its face. I'm sure there are some regions that are better to be assigned to than others, mainly due to ports of call available during granted leave from duties ... but the rest of the time crews are both overworked and bored out of their minds with the tedium of daily routine (and not enough people to talk to about it). Communications specialists may be the exception to this trend, since they are the core backbone of the Express Network system ... but even then, if there's only 1 aboard each Tender, they're going to wind up as burnt out loners too in a lot of cases.

Then again, the entire IISS is kind of set up for "loners" across the Exploration, Survey and Communications branches, so it's not like there isn't some degree of self-selection going on prior to recruiting and enlistment anyway.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Back to the OP, I think they basically do racetracks in space like air to air refueling aircraft do here on Earth. They have their own routes along the various breakout points and zoom over to them and service ships as they come in and go out with some time where they're replaced by a new tender and they scoot off the the base for refits and R&R.

I mean they're basically auxiliaries so they do a lot of station keeping.

 

[mike wightman]

Sigh.
I hand you the correct information on a platter ... and you drop it on the floor.

That's because your information is incorrect. You are misinterpreting the FFW rule and contradicting canon.

Try again

Oh - and there is another jump 5 xboat link in the original Spinward Marches, but I'm sure you already know that.

 

[Spinward Flow]

That's because your information is incorrect. You are misinterpreting the FFW rule and contradicting canon.

Try again

Actually ... let's try again.
Let's have a "race" ... your XBoat Network idea of routine operations versus my XBoat Network idea of routine operations.

The Rules:
Define a route from Trin/Trin/Spinward Marches to Jewell/Jewell/Spinward Marches for a communication carried by the XBoat network.
Specify each system along the route that the XBoat Network sends the communcation through by individual jumps.
Traveller Map link to the Spinward Marches.

Note that the actual distance between Trin/Trin/Spinward Marches and Jewell/Jewell/Spinward Marches is 40 parsecs, so even a straight line transit between these two points would require a minimum of 10J4 to complete the communication transit.

Since I'm the one issuing the challenge to you ... I'll give you the honor of defining the message route to be taken first.
After you have provided the details of your route, I will specify mine.

After both routes have been defined ... we'll both leave it up to the observers on these forums to decide which is the more likely route for a single communication from Trin/Trin/Spinward Marches to Jewell/Jewell/Spinward Marches to take across the sector as a part of the routine movement of communications by the XBoat Network in the Spinward Marches (and obviously elsewhere too).

Your move.

 

[whartung]

Let's have a "race"

But that's not what this is about.

I mean, obviously.

The IISS could have simply made every XBoat route the "fastest, best" jump route between any two points.

But how far is that taken? That technique takes a lot of boats.

You don't dedicate an XBoat to take the best path across the sector for a single message. I mean, you could. And, arguably, this is exactly what happens with the "secret" Imperial J6 system for Emperors Business.

But the XBoat system, as portrayed, is a combination Pony Express and Post Road system. The XBoats travel this route, and only this route, however well place or plotted. Meanwhile, ad hoc, perhaps routine, perhaps not, Courier ships connect the off route worlds to the main backbone.

Trade lanes are trade lanes after the fact. Trade lanes manifest themselves based on observation and traffic. You won't have a "Major" trade route with no traffic. The route doesn't make the traffic, the traffic makes the route. If there's little traffic, it's de facto not a "major" trade route. Trade routes appear organically based on the systems involved.

XBoats, however, were plotted. Someone(s), somewhere(s), sat in a room with a galactic map and started sticking pins and string on it to make the XBoat routes. They're arbitrary. Obviously inspired based on the actual systems, but, at some point, there are arbitrary decisions made.

XBoats are a store and forward system. You get the message inserted in to the flow, and it moves along at its own rate along the established routes. Including, yes, 7 jumps from Regina to Rhylanor.

The Powers That Be saw what you saw, how a different route would move messages in half the time, but they chose to not do that, for whatever reason. Momentum, graft, lazyness, who knows.

In the past, no matter what I may want, i couldn't keep my FedEx package out of Tennessee. I don't know if it's that way now, but at the time, ALL FedEx traffic was routed through Tennessee. Yet they still guaranteed overnight delivery, so what do I care.

Today, I can't seem to get a letter across town in less than a week with how messed up the USPS is.

Even more interesting, it seems the USPS is routing all of their mail through a single central hub here in Southern California. All of the mail is Postmarked from there, vs the local Post Office.

They key point being that the delivery mechanic is essentially opaque to the user. All I know is that if I were to send a message from Regina to Rhylanor, I would hope the clerk would say "Yea, that's going to take 8 weeks" at which point it's a "take or leave it" proposition. I'm sure I could pound on the desk decrying it should only take 4 weeks, wherefore the clerk can then mutter something under his breath about buying my own network of J4 ships and put the XBoat system out of business. "Share and Enjoy, sir!" as he puts up the "CLOSED" tent on his window and walks away.

I don't know how much it costs to send an XBoat message across systems. A few Cr I reckon. If you want to move it faster, find a low berth mail-cicle, pony up the few 1000Cr and have them deliver it.

 

[Spinward Flow]

You don't dedicate an XBoat to take the best path across the sector for a single message.

Reading comprehension for the win!

The Rules:
Define a route from Trin/Trin/Spinward Marches to Jewell/Jewell/Spinward Marches for a communication carried by the XBoat network.
Specify each system along the route that the XBoat Network sends the communcation through by individual jumps.

I have no idea why you think the "race" is to move a single XBoat from Trin to Jewell.
The Rules are explicitly stated to move a communication (not an XBoat, a communication) along the network from Trin to Jewell.

Obviously the "race" to move a communication across that distance is going to be a "baton relay" type of race.
So where are the "baton hand off points" along the route?

 

[whartung]

You're suggesting that the current XBoat route network is not efficient. I don't think anyone would disagree.

But there's no real point in making a "better" network save for an ATU. The "game" is dealing with the network that is in place. Designed using whatever opaque criteria the Powers That Be chose when they laid it out.

 

[Spinward Flow]

You're suggesting that the current XBoat route network is not efficient. I don't think anyone would disagree.

No.
That's not what I'm suggesting at all.

What I'm proposing is an examination of alternative "modes" of operation, in which the technology and personnel remain exactly the same ... the only difference in how the system "works" is to tweak the standard operating procedures used. The idea is to determine if something as simple as a change in standard procedure can effect an improvement in the communications network AS IT EXISTS as shown on the maps (and quantify exactly how much of an improvement is involved in that change in standard operational procedure).

Rather than just assuming I know what I'm talking about I am prepared to demonstrate using a concrete example that involves "solving" the Traveling Salesman Problem between Trin and Jewell along the Express Network in the 1105 Spinward Marches (a well known map location).

Sometimes you have to SHOW a thing before people BELIEVE a thing ... kind of like dealing with wet paint (and even then, some people still won't believe when they've got wet paint on their hand).

Tell a man that there are 300 billion stars in the sky and they'll believe you.
Tell that same man that a park bench has wet paint on it and they'll have to touch it to be sure.



So ... the challenge has been issued.
I am confident I know the answer to the challenge.
Any takers besides @mike wightman and @whartung ...?

 

[mike wightman]

There is no try again.
Your mind is FIRMLY closed.
No matter what I say ... your mind will remain closed ... because you will not accept the possibility that you have made an error of judgement.
This has been made abundantly clear in your replies on this matter.

Lol, and since when has your mind been open to the idea you may be wrong.

I usually assume people involved in these discussions when they bring up rules such as FFW know them well enough that I don't have to quote them.

But here it is:

Admirals are able to travel from system
to system using the xboat routes printed on the stellar display
During the xboat movement step of the movement phase, an
admiral may be moved from one system to another along the
xboat route. This move may be up to jump-4 in length, and
thus intermediary systems along the jump can be bypassed.
Example: An Imperial admiral at Pixie (hex 2307) may use the
xboat network to be moved to Feri (hex 2409), without having
to stop at Roughened (hex 2308).

Put plainly - they have to follow the printed lines, ie stick to the xboat routes marked and go no further than 4 parsecs.

So your interpretation is wrong. Canon has many sources explaining the xboat routes and it agrees that you have to follow the lines.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Wow ... you quote the answer and ... let's just say you missed the point.
Here ... let me help you.

This move may be up to jump-4 in length, and thus intermediary systems along the jump can be bypassed.

Waiting patiently for comprehension to ... land ... impact ... sink in ...?

Here ... have a map that would be relevant to the Fifth Frontier War game map.

Feri is Jump-4 away from Kinorb.
Per the rule cited above (by you AND me), an XBoat can jump directly from Kinorb to Feri while bypassing the intermediary systems along the route, which would be Pixie and Boughene, as explicitly stated in the cited rule.

Roup is Jump-4 away from Efate.
Per the rule cited above (by you AND me), an XBoat can jump directly from Efate to Roup while bypassing the intermediary systems along the route, which would be Boughene and Feri, as explicitly stated in the cited rule.

Do I (still) need to go on?

The only way that what you're saying makes any sense whatsoever is if the Kinorb to Feri transit by XBoat is required to follow a Kinorb to Pixie to Boughene to Feri routing, but can skip over Pixie because (and I'm trying to highlight the thinking you're holding onto with a death grip here) ... the XBoat has to spend 3 parsecs getting to Pixie before spending another 1 parsec to get to Boughene, which is the jump-4 allocation. That means that Pixie can be skipped, but Boughene cannot be skipped, because if you trace the XBoat route lines, Boughene is 4 hexes away from Kinorb ... except that Boughene is only 3 hexes away from Kinorb (look at the map provided above).

Same deal with the Efate to Roup transit by XBoat. You're saying that an XBoat can jump spending 2 parsecs moving from Efate to Boughene, plus another 2 parsecs to move from Boughene to Feri, which is the jump-4 allocation. That means that Boughene can be skipped, but Feri cannot be skipped, because if you trace the XBoat route lines, Feri is 4 hexes away from Efate ... except that Feri is only 3 hexes away from Efate (look at the map provided).

I'm simply saying that Feri is 4 parsecs away from Kinorb, so a Jump-4 XBoat can go directly from Kinorb to Feri in a single jump-4 while bypassing the intermediary systems along the route, which would be Pixie and Boughene, as explicitly stated in the cited rule.

I'm also simply saying that Roup is 4 parsecs away from Efate, so a Jump-4 XBoat can go directly from Efate to Roup in a single jump-4 while bypassing the intermediary systems along the route, which would be Boughene and Feri, as explicitly stated in the cited rule.

I mean ... here's what I said in the first place citing the rule you linked to (emphasis added for clarity).

So the decision was made (WAY back when) to simplify the way the lines appear on the maps, while simultaneously having an understanding that the XBoats can jump FROM any network system TO any other system on the network that is within 4 parsecs. Incidentally, this "from any to any within 4 parsecs" rule is explicitly stated (with example and typo for it!) on page 12 of the Fifth Frontier War wargame box set. The specific example used is moving an Admiral (so, a passenger) via XBoat from Pixie to Feri directly without needing to route through Boughene (the typo calls the system Roughened, an early example of auto correct getting a little too aggressive?).

If the XBoat Network can do that for transporting an Admiral ... it can do it as a matter of everyday standard operating procedure for (data only) x-mail forwarding along the network.

Still waiting for your honorable response to the Trin to Jewell via Express Network routing challenge.

 

[mike wightman]

Right there is your error, you are taking the second part and ignoring the first. The rule clearly states you have to follow the lines drawn on the map.

Feri and Kinorb are jump 4 as the crow flies, but an xboat has to stay on the xboat lines which is a total distance of 6 parsecs so can't be done in one trip.

I really don't understand why you can not accept this.

The bit you seem to be blanking out is:

using the xboat routes printed on the stellar display

You can only move along the lines, but you can miss out intermediary systems providing they are along the line. So Kinorb to Boughene is allowed in one week - missing out Pixie.

 

[robject]

You can actually see such things on the Traveller Map.
They're called Scout Bases.

Actually xboat stations are specifically mentioned, separate from scout bases, for the purposes of xboat route support. (Imperial Encyclopedia, p46, originally from Library Data N-Z, p31).

Xboat Station: Facility for handling Xboats at a star system. At each system served by the Xboat network, an express boat station is maintained to handle the message traffic and to manage incoming and outgoing Xboats.

Usually located near the edge of a star system, the station picks up messages beamed to it by incorning Xboats and relays the data to the local world for delivery. Messages destined for worlds farther down the line are transmitted to a waiting Xboat which then jumps for the next world in the network.

The Xboat station contains receiving and retransmission equipment; refueling and support facilities for the local staff and waiting crew are also provided. The Xboat station maintains a local office on the system’s major world for the acceptance of Xboat messages, as well as to handle delivery of the messages to addresses on the world.

Implicitly, stations are assumed to exist at every terminal along the xboat route in Supplement 07, p8:

The express boat (also called an xboat) is a small, fast ship filled with a pilot compartment, message data banks, and jump drives. The fit is so tight that there is no room even for maneuver drives. Each is capable of jump-4 (four parsecs per week); it jumps, relays its messages to the station on arrival, and then waits to be picked up by a tender, to be refuelled and sent on its way with a new load of messages. The local station, meanwhile, accepts messages, encodes them, and transmits them to a tender at the edges of the stellar system. Messages brought by the arriving xboat and intended for further down the line are consolidated with the new data and all are sent on to another xboat already fuelled and standing ready to leave.

 

[robject]

Clarification: Xboats are (mostly*) Jump-4, but Xboat Tenders are only Jump-1. (Supplement 07, p11).


* The original Tenalphi-Strouden oddity in Lunion subsector suggests a Jump-5 courier might have existed (before the retcon).

 

[robject]

I think you're (a) putting the Admiral on an Xboat, which won't happen, and (b) generalizing what the navy does versus the normal point-to-point behavior of the Xboat network.

The reason they can use the Xboat terminals is because the Xboat Stations are there for refueling. In wartime, Scout facilities are militarized -- Xboat Stations, Scout Bases, and Way Stations.

Incidentally, this "from any to any within 4 parsecs" rule is explicitly stated (with example and typo for it!) on page 12 of the Fifth Frontier War wargame box set. The specific example used is moving an Admiral (so, a passenger) via XBoat from Pixie to Feri directly without needing to route through Boughene (the typo calls the system Roughened, an early example of auto correct getting a little too aggressive?).

If the XBoat Network can do that for transporting an Admiral ... it can do it as a matter of everyday standard operating procedure for (data only) x-mail forwarding along the network.

Oh, that's how you read it. In other words, the Admiral's Rule can be generalized to Xboat traffic as well.
In fact, the text doesn't say the Admiral is moved "via Xboat". They use the network -- they would not use Xboats for carrying Admirals.

FFW, bottom of p12.

Xboat Movement: Admirals are able to travel from system to system using the xboat routes printed on the stellar display. An admiral may use only a friendly xboat network: the xboat networks in Zhodani and Sword Worlds space are friendly to the forces controlled by the Zhodani player, and the xboat network in Imperial space is friendly to the forces of the Imperial player.

During the xboat movement step of the movement phase, an admiral may be moved from one system to another along the xboat route. This move may be up to jump-4 in length, and thus intermediary systems along the jump can be bypassed. Example: An Imperial admiral at Pixie (hex 2307) may use the xboat network to be moved to Feri (hex 2409), without having to stop at Roughened (hex 2308).

That's a good catch, but I don't think you can generalize the behavior of an Admiral with that of the normal Xboat network.

It strikes me that the Admiral is NOT riding ON AN XBOAT, either: he's going to be on a Fleet Courier (Supplement 09, p20).

 

[robject]

As far as the Xboat network being a "pony express" model, I only have allegories, but I think it makes a good case.

A. TEXTUAL CLUES

First, they're referred to as "routes", which usually means there are scheduled stops between terminals.

Back to Supplement 07, page 8:

Like the arteries and veins of a body, the express boat network binds the Imperium together by providing worlds with a constant flow of information and communications for official, commercial, and private purposes.

Only suggestive. Also:

The entire network operates like the pony express

Clearly invokes the pony express, which I think is the strongest suggestion I can find. This is from the original article in JTAS (uh... number 6 maybe? Page 11). The pony express is actually not just an in-game analogy but an actual SETTING analogy:

The xboat service emblem (above) was taken from a history of Terra by Professor Dinimbue of the University ofSylea.Theprofessorfoundrecordsof an organization called the Pony Express, but her knowledge of old anglic was not complete enough to equate the word pony with the Terran horse. The profes- sor translated the word as poni, a beast of burden used on several worlds of the Sylean Federation.

Now to The Traveller Book, p148:

The Xboat Network: Like the body, with its network of veins and arteries, the lmperium is permeated by a network of xboat routes, or links, devoted entirely to the carriage of messages for official, commercial, and private purposes.

Note that "links" is used synonymously with "routes". Not conclusive but suggestive.



B. STRUCTURAL CLUES

Second, there is the structure itself. If the network were intended to be a "star" network, then I would expect it to have a clear spoke-hub representation, rather than a link-and-branch network.

But more accurately, it really looks like a subway route, with terminals at the edges, and a few little circuits. The circuits are actually quite telling, as they evoke a route with multiple stops.

Taken the opposite way: if it were intended to be a set of terminals with no clear route, then the obvious (a) small circuits and (b) subway-like routes would actually CONFUSE a viewer into thinking it is in fact a kind of pony express / bus route.


For example, Ffudn. https://travellermap.com/?p=-91.747!45.702!7.8&options=57599&ew=1310&qz=1

Why bother drawing lines to Bendor and Edenelt, and not replacing them with a single line to Squanine?

Same goes for Magash. If Xboat routes are "not really routes", then you only need one line (to Bahadur), but there are three. https://travellermap.com/?p=-80.239!63.702!7.65&options=57599&ew=1310&qz=1



C. THE GAME

The answer is in Traveller itself: propagation times along the Xboat are intentionally non-optimal, because it is possible for news to travel faster than the Xboat network -- and yet the Xboat network is not slow, so the news won't stay fresh for long. This news can be a plot hook, and the delay can be an obstacle.

It's also non-optimal, potentially, because it represents the interstellar pecking order. Since news is money, you don't want your position on the Xboat route to be further demoted due to someone jumping ahead of you. I only suggest this, because SOC is a primary characteristic of Traveller characters, and if social stratification is baked into characters -- and the Third Imperium -- it's a reasonable bet it's going to be reflected in the implementation of Imperial Government communication routes.



D. AND IMPORTANT WORLDS

Regardless of all that, it seems a no-brainer that rich/technic worlds are going to have their own couriers jumping ahead to gather news early.

However, that's not an argument against the above; on the contrary, it's yet another plot hook / complication handed to the referee on a platter.

 

[whartung]

Not sure what the exercise is, but...

Trin, Katarulu, Nexine, Palique, Maitz, Fornice, Carey, Capon, Resten, Fosey, Icetina, Ivendo, D'Ganzio, Lanth, Ghandi, Dinomn, Regina, Roup, Feri, Boughene, Efate, Lysen, Jewell

During the xboat movement step of the movement phase, an admiral may be moved from one system to another along the xboat route. This move may be up to jump-4 in length, and thus intermediary systems along the jump can be bypassed. Example: An Imperial admiral at Pixie (hex 2307) may use the xboat network to be moved to Feri (hex 2409), without having to stop at Roughened (hex 2308).

The stand out here is that the Admiral does not have to follow the XBoat route literally.

(The FFW map is not the Spinward Marches map, Feri is 2005 in the SW map, not 2409, and there's a OCR error, it's Boughene, not Roughened.)

The XBoat route is Pixie to Boughene (Roughened) to Feri.

The example is stating that the Admiral can jump straight to Feri, skipping Boughene. This suggests that he can jump to any system ON THE XBOAT ROUTE that's within J4 of where he starts. Which suggests he can jump from Feri to Efate directly as both are on the route, and Efate is within J4 of Feri, even though by XBoat route he would have to bounce off of Boughene.

But it should be noted, that this is Admiral movement as part of a MECHANIC for a board game. Just because Admirals can move this way, doesn't mean it extrapolates to how the XBoat system operates in the TU at large.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Right there is your error, you are taking the second part and ignoring the first. The rule clearly states you have to follow the lines drawn on the map.

Feri and Kinorb are jump 4 as the crow flies, but an xboat has to stay on the xboat lines which is a total distance of 6 parsecs so can't be done in one trip.

That's it. I'm giving up on you.
According to you, you need to jump-4 in order to transit 3 hexes because of how lines are drawn on a map.

The fact that you can't recognize how utterly ridiculous that notion is ... let's just say that only proves my point even more forcefully.
The lines drawn on the map indicate which systems are ON THE NETWORK.
The lines drawn on the map do NOT indicate the pathing through jump space that must be taken.

I've tried to be polite, patient and understanding while explaining what ought to be a simple and obvious answer to a straightforward question. I've even used maps and explicit examples. At this point, I feel like I've gone above and beyond to be clear and obvious ... and you still refuse to accept what is placed in front of you.

I can't help you.

I really don't understand why you can not accept this.

Right back at'cha.

I've given you concrete examples ... and you still can't realize what you're doing wrong.

You can only move along the lines, but you can miss out intermediary systems providing they are along the line. So Kinorb to Boughene is allowed in one week - missing out Pixie.

So with a Jump-4 XBoat you can only do a Jump-3.
With more men like you the Zhodani will win the Fifth Frontier War.

* The original Tenalphi-Strouden oddity in Lunion subsector suggests a Jump-5 courier might have existed (before the retcon).

That's basically a misprint errata.
Besides, it's been corrected on the Traveller Map site already.

That's a good catch, but I don't think you can generalize the behavior of an Admiral with that of the normal Xboat network.

It strikes me that the Admiral is NOT riding ON AN XBOAT, either: he's going to be on a Fleet Courier (Supplement 09, p31).

Please ... now you're being insulting.
If an Admiral was aboard a Fleet Courier, they wouldn't be limited to Jump-4 and they wouldn't be limited to the Express Network.

Besides, the rule in question is explicitly labeled XBoat Movement.
Kind of presupposes that Admirals can be passengers on actual J4 XBoats (which have 2 staterooms, so 1 passenger is possible on an XBoat).