I was rereading Asimovs Foundation Novel, it seems it would make an excellent Traveller setting. The Jump Drives a little different:
A fission reactor would allow jumps of 10 to 60 parsecs in distance.
A fusion reactor would allow jumps of 100 to 600 parsecs.
The area around Terminus would count as a rift for Traveller purposes with paths of stars that allow for 1 to 6 parsec jumps along certain routes.
The people of Terminus have access to fission reactors so some of their starships can make jumps of tens of parsecs, the trouble is, they would need to refuel their reactors and get rid of the nuclear waste, the second is easy in space but the first is harder as it requires processed uranium as much of the perifery has lost nuclear power, processed Uranium may be hard to find.
Then there is fusion, the fusion reactors of the Foundation are huge, it isn't mentioned in the book, but it most be if fusion is available since otherwise the people of Terminus would have too much of an advantage over its neighbors and wouldn't worry about them. Captial ships would have fusion generators, these are the ships that are used for traveling across the galaxy. Smaller ships can do it in smaller jumps, but it would take longer.
One could, but apparently one doesn't, because later in the book when Salvor Hardin talks to Pirenne:
If the jump drive could really traverse the Galaxy in two neighboring instants of time, it would be impossible for Terminus to be cut off. Apparently in theory its possible to do this, but in practice, it would require tremendous amounts of energy to travel galaxy spanning distances in one jump, so therefore travel occurs in smaller jumps, say 1 to 6 parsecs. Later on we find out that Anacreon has no nuclear power, much less fusion, their starships are chemically powered. Put all this together and we have the modifications we need for the Traveller Jump Drive to operate in the Foundation Universe. First the Jump fuels requirements in tonnage stays the same for a given jump, but the jump fuel is different, instead of using hydrogen as a jump fuel, the jump drives uses the same tonnage in the form of hydrogen and oxygen in separate tanks. The hydrogen and oxygen are run through the jumpdrive's fuel cell and the energy is stored in capacitors for instantaneous release to initiate the jump. As soon as the jump starts, the starship is there, 1 to 6 parsecs away. The same rules apply for distances from gravitational bodies. Lets say it also takes about 1 hour for the fuel cells to run all the hydrogen and oxygen through itself to build up the necessary charge for the jump. That means every hour, the starship can make another jump into hyperspace provided it has the necessary separated hydrogen and oxygen. The starship ends up with water when it uses up all of its fuel. The starship could then dive toward the sun and use solar collectors to separate the water back into hydrogen and oxygen for further jumps, this might take a day. Of particular interest would be the giant stars for travelling long distances as these shed alot of light, so you don't have to go too deep into their gravitational wells to get their energy. Gas giants lose their strategic importance since you can only obtain free hydrogen from them, the oxygen would have to be obtained by separation from other chemicals, but it is easier to get it by recycling the water from previous jumps made.
A fission reactor would allow jumps of 10 to 60 parsecs in distance.
A fusion reactor would allow jumps of 100 to 600 parsecs.
The area around Terminus would count as a rift for Traveller purposes with paths of stars that allow for 1 to 6 parsec jumps along certain routes.
The people of Terminus have access to fission reactors so some of their starships can make jumps of tens of parsecs, the trouble is, they would need to refuel their reactors and get rid of the nuclear waste, the second is easy in space but the first is harder as it requires processed uranium as much of the perifery has lost nuclear power, processed Uranium may be hard to find.
Then there is fusion, the fusion reactors of the Foundation are huge, it isn't mentioned in the book, but it most be if fusion is available since otherwise the people of Terminus would have too much of an advantage over its neighbors and wouldn't worry about them. Captial ships would have fusion generators, these are the ships that are used for traveling across the galaxy. Smaller ships can do it in smaller jumps, but it would take longer.
