How did Armies (and Navies also) on the move communicate with each other at all prior to radio? In areas where telegraph has been torn down or worse doesn't exist at all (the open seas)?
By messenger.
Speed of light communications changed all of that, however.
Voyager 1 and 2 effectively have 0G maneuver, but they can still "scout" the interstellar medium and report data via light speed communications. Faster probes are a convenience for getting into position to record scouting/exploration data more quickly, but higher maneuvering power is not an absolute requirement in order to reach those locations (at all), nor will higher maneuvering power "hasten" those communications (faster than light) once transmissions begin for downlink.
A.Each Jumps one parsec (hex) out.
B.Take a look as long as protocol or situation allows
C.Jump back
With J-2 , you only need stay as long as it takes to plot the jump back.
For that mission profile, you only need J1 and 2 parsecs of jump fuel, not J2.
Oh and your "quick look" into a neighboring parsec (hex) takes 2+ weeks to complete while your fleet is "parked" and surrendering the initiative during the wait for the scouting mission to complete.
Because of how jump works in Traveller, fleet movements quickly devolve into "turn based" gaming strategies involving week long intervals between "turns" taken (see: Fifth Frontier War board game, among others).
Putting a bigger maneuver drive into a scout won't reduce the jump interval (150-175 hours).
Putting a bigger jump drive into a scout won't reduce the jump interval either (J5 drive can transit 1 parsec in 30-35 hours instead of 150-175).
My point being that because of how jump works in Traveller, in the context of fleet movements information and intelligence crossing interstellar distances has "freshness dates" attached to it, which can become "stale" and out of date after relatively few jumps. More powerful (and therefore, more expensive) drives will not alter that calculus of keeping reports "fresher for longer" ... the bigger drives don't "preserve" the data gathered for longer spans of time.
A bigger jump drive just means you can transit farther (more parsecs) in 1 week with your dispatch report(s) through jump.
A bigger maneuver drive just means you can transit more interplanetary distance in a given span of time before jumping.
Neither of those attributes are "necessary" for bog standard peacetime scout exploration and survey work.
Both of them become more valuable during wartime, but wars (even
Frontier Wars) do not last that long. If you look at the Imperial Calendar.
- First Frontier War: 589-604 = 15 years
- Second Frontier War: 615-620 = 5 years (modern IISS founded in 624)
- Third Frontier War: 979-986 = 7 years
- Fourth Frontier War: 1082-1084 = 2 years
- Fifth Frontier War: 1107-1110 = 3 years
- 32 years / 600 years = 5.33%
So in the Spinward Marches alone, ~94.67% of the time over 600 years (510-1110 specifically) could be considered peacetime, between the Third Imperium and the Zhodani Consulate.
My point being that fleet on fleet naval combat during wartime conditions is relatively rare. Fleet on fleet action is the responsibility of the IN to deal with, not the IISS. Consequently, the IN is built to standards intended to fight during those "5% years" when there is hot war going on ... while the IISS is organized to standards intended to be sustainable during the "95% years" when there are not open hostilities going on between fleets.
During those "95% years" of peacetime, I question the need for high drive performance in scout/courier starships operated by the IISS.
J6/M2 Fleet Couriers (LBB S9, p20) operated by the IN are a different mission set for a different client (IN vs IISS) and are consequently built to a very different standard.
When war comes ... Scout/Couriers are pressed into wartime service (as are subsidized merchant ships, go figure...) to support the war effort ... but they aren't built from the outset with a hot war/combat operational mission profile from the start. They're support/auxiliaries at best, not primary assets.
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