All kidding aside ... I can easily believe that between 624 and 718 (Third Imperium) while the
Express Boat Network was initially being built out that there were only enough XBoats and Tenders available to the network for single jump round trips to single destinations.
So a location such as say ... Feri/Regina/Spinward Marches ... would have INITIALLY had XBoats departing from Feri exclusively to Boughene and Roup as the closest systems on the Network in (let's call it) 718 when the first phase of build out of the network was completed.
By 1105, just prior to the Fifth Frontier War, the
Express Boat Network would have been in operation for over 380 years(!) which is actually at least 7 generation cycles of 40 year starship lifetimes. In other words, the IISS would have had
plenty of time to review, revise and update operations above and beyond Initial Operational Capacity build out of the network.
So while the XBoats may have been limited to following the lines on the map EXACTLY as presented on the maps initially (in the 718-800 year time frame) while the network was first getting set up and the IISS Communications Office was building up its skills, expertise, operational procedures, procurement plans, sustainment paradigm, logistical tail, etc. etc. etc. ... once the network was up and running
and additional capacity continued to be added to the network after initial buildout ... that is when (later) I would expect the doctrine of "from here to there" routing for actual XBoats would have shifted from following the lines on the map EXACTLY AS SHOWN to be something more akin to "if both ends of up to Jump-4 are on the network, ignore the lines on the map and make the jump" so as to speed up the flow of communications across the ENTIRE
Express Boat Network throughout ALL of the Third Imperium (not just in the fringes like out in the Spinward Marches).
In other words, the capabilities of the network would have been built up in phases, where first you get initial operating capability so as to get ON the network at all ... but then once that is achieved, the building out of the infrastructure of Tenders and XBoats doesn't stop at the mere initial operating capability. With additional XBoats available along each "node" in the network, those additional XBoats can be dispatched more widely than just the immediate nearest neighbors on the map.
So while a world like Feri/Regina/Spinward Marches might have only had direct single jump links to Boughene and Roup when the initial network buildout was completed in 718 ... over time as additional XBoat capacity was brought online and worked into the system (over the next 380+ years!), Feri would have become capable of dispatching XBoats to
any other system on the Express Boat Network within 4 parsecs of Feri so as to bypass intervening systems and speed up communications along the entire network.
So in 718 ... Feri might have been only able to dispatch XBoats outbound to Boughene and Roup.
By 1105 ... Feri would have been capable of directly dispatching XBoats to Efate, Pixie, Boughene, Roup and Kinorb
in a single jump, because all of those systems are within 4 parsecs of Feri/Regina/Spinward Marches and all of them are on the network (just like Feri is).
Now if
@mike wightman and
@whartung want to advance the notion that after the initial buildout of the
Express Boat Network over 380+ years between 718 and 1105 has added NO CAPACITY TO THE NETWORK OF ANY KIND WHATSOVEVER after establishing initial operating capacity in 718 ... they can take that stance (and to date, they have). But it's pretty nonsensical to believe that the IISS Communications Office is somehow "stuck" in a time loop from over 380+ years ago with no way to get out of it. Even better yet, it makes no sense to believe that keeping the IISS Communications office "starved" of the resources needed to speed up the entire XBoat Network using already existing proven technology (that works!) that is already in mass volume production across the Third Imperium
for centuries is in any way in the "enlightened self interest" of the military, political or economic interests of the Third Imperium writ large when they have J4 XBoat capability at TL=10.
Or to put it another way ... if you can speed up XBoat transmission of communications by as much as an average of +1 parsec PER JUMP simply by adding more capacity of already existing starships to the network (no new designs required) enabling a revision in standard operating procedures thanks to improved capacity ... WHY WOULDN'T YOU?
Answer: traitors/saboteurs to the core mission (and competency) of the IISS Communications Office
And so far, in this thread, we've already had 2 of them unmask themselves.
Anyone else care to join them?
... EVER ...
