Are they common ? (anyone can do it!)
That's classified. Official Imperial navigation theory says they are theoretically possible but they are rare and unstable "virtual jump points." You may be able to get in but they may disappear before you can get out. The very act of jumping into them could cause them to shift. That's the official word anyway.
It is a capital offense to fail to report to Imperial authorities the presence of such jump points or to publically disclose them. People say you get a hefty reward for finding these, but often a memroy wipe as well, so who knows.
Rumor and unsanctioned research says they are more common and stable than the official line.
It is also known that one can almost always jump to the gravitaional focus of a star, usuallly about 500 AU out. In fact, IMTU, it was early space probes sent to the gravitational focus of Sol (to observe the Kzin threat at Alpha Centauri) that acquired anomolous data that led to the discovery of jump drive.
Jumping to a gravitational focus is usually restricited, there are few if any legitimate civilian reasons to do so besides science
Do you assign a specific skill level to be able to execute jumping to one ?
Oh yes. It is a major navigational task to plot where they are so one can emerge correctly. IMTU a normal star takes decades of observation before the information is suffiently accurate to plot a non-suicide jump, otherwise scouts could explore the galaxy in a few decades.
Astrological charts and information, even from primitive societies, is very valuable in helping to get accurate jump coordinates. The Navy has the best data and it is said they publish slightly inaccurate commercial charts to prevent enemies from making coordinated jumps.
IMTU the Imperial Navy can make coordinated jumps, multiple ships arriving at the same point at the same time (or at least within minutes of each other). This can be done with up to 6 ships or so and is a top secret and difficult manuever (Nav 5+).
Do you require a significant amount of prep to be able to execute the maneuver? (not just let's do it!)
Once the coordinates are know it doens't take any longer than a normal jump, but you may want to make sure everthing is tuned perfectly as there are bad modifiers to trying it.
That's classified. Official Imperial navigation theory says they are theoretically possible but they are rare and unstable "virtual jump points." You may be able to get in but they may disappear before you can get out. The very act of jumping into them could cause them to shift. That's the official word anyway.
It is a capital offense to fail to report to Imperial authorities the presence of such jump points or to publically disclose them. People say you get a hefty reward for finding these, but often a memroy wipe as well, so who knows.
Rumor and unsanctioned research says they are more common and stable than the official line.
It is also known that one can almost always jump to the gravitaional focus of a star, usuallly about 500 AU out. In fact, IMTU, it was early space probes sent to the gravitational focus of Sol (to observe the Kzin threat at Alpha Centauri) that acquired anomolous data that led to the discovery of jump drive.
Jumping to a gravitational focus is usually restricited, there are few if any legitimate civilian reasons to do so besides science
Do you assign a specific skill level to be able to execute jumping to one ?
Oh yes. It is a major navigational task to plot where they are so one can emerge correctly. IMTU a normal star takes decades of observation before the information is suffiently accurate to plot a non-suicide jump, otherwise scouts could explore the galaxy in a few decades.
Astrological charts and information, even from primitive societies, is very valuable in helping to get accurate jump coordinates. The Navy has the best data and it is said they publish slightly inaccurate commercial charts to prevent enemies from making coordinated jumps.IMTU the Imperial Navy can make coordinated jumps, multiple ships arriving at the same point at the same time (or at least within minutes of each other). This can be done with up to 6 ships or so and is a top secret and difficult manuever (Nav 5+).
Do you require a significant amount of prep to be able to execute the maneuver? (not just let's do it!)
Once the coordinates are know it doens't take any longer than a normal jump, but you may want to make sure everthing is tuned perfectly as there are bad modifiers to trying it.
