Jumping as a fleet?

[wordwildwebb]

Okay, maybe a dumb question (I hope so, 'cuz that means I'll get a quick answer) but I've always run Traveller at the Merc or Free Trader level, so I'll ask...

How does the time factor in jump space (1 week +/- 10%) affect fleet actions?

Does the fleet just drop out of jump over the course of up to 32 hours, then manuever into battle?

Can a fleet sync up so they "use the same plot" and come out at the same time?

I can accept that a staggered arrival in a system is still doable in an assault, as any system defenses would have transit time to intercept, but for an upcoming scenario I putting the party in the midst of a battle of the 5FW, and want to be consistent with canon. I dug through the LBBs, the reprint JTAS, a number of Challenge Issues, the Starship Operator's Manual, MT, T4, and T20 and did not see the answer, although I could have missed it...

Thanks!

 

[notagoodusername]

THB p344.

"Emergence can be synchronised by vessels sharing a common set of parameters and entering Jump at the same time..."

I also recall references in other products back to CT, but haven't got access to them at the moment.

Hope this helps,

Shane

 

[trader jim]

Well....i hope all these books i am looking at are correct....because i am going to try to Jump a Boarder with 118 ship Fleet...am going to try to do it "BY THE BOOK"......

 

[shield]

Theres a bit in the starship operators manual - the old man is remembering. His ship miss jumped during an assault and arrived in the correct system but a couple of days late. The Zho cut and ran assuming that the late arriving escort was the preliminary vessel of a 2nd Imperial Fleet.

This seems to imply that a fleet will arrive pretty much together - say over a period of 30 minutes or so (just guessing the time)

How does that sound

Cheers
Richard

 

[T. Foster]

In the Traveller Q&A column of The Traveller's Digest (or possibly its successor, the MegaTraveller Journal) this question came up and the answer given was that by spending extra time in advance coordinating the jump that the jump-exit uncertainty can be narrowed to +/-1% (rather than the usual +/-10%). If I get a chance (and remember) I'll try to provide the exact reference when I get home.

Note: although this was not a GDW product, DGP stressed repeatedly that all answers for Traveller Q&A were personally vetted by Marc Miller and should be treated as 100% Official. As always, YTUMV.

 

[T. Foster]

As promised, here's the relevant section from MTJ2, p. 24:

It appears from the rules about jump duration that ships which jump to the same destination will arrive at different times over a two day period. How then do you conduct a coordinated surprise attack on a star system if it takes a couple of days for all your ships to arrive? This has major implications for convoy, military, and other multi-ship operations. - C.B.

Good question! You have discovered what amounts to a "hole" in the rules - a hole that needs filled. These types of problems are the most fun to solve because we need to come up with an answer that does not conflict with prior Traveller material. (Contrary to what some of you may think, we haven't thought of all the implications of everything!) At any rate, after discussing this problem with Marc Miller, we offer the following solution.

When a group of starships know they have to arrive in unison, they elect to spend significantly more time at the start computing and sharing jump vector computations. This leads to a much more accurate jump exit at the other end, with the errot dropping significantly.

The formula in the Starship Operator's Manual for normal jumpspace exit is:

124 hrs + (2D x 6 hrs)
yielding a result of 136-196 hours
(that is, 5.7 to 8.2 days)

If double the jump preparation time is spent with all the affected ships in computer link via tight beam communication, use the following formula instead:

167 hours + (2D x 0.1 hr)
yielding a result of 167.2 - 168.2 hours.

Most ships will now arrive within minutes of each other, with the worst spread being up to 60 minutes apart (and this only happens in about 1 out of 20 jumps). Considering the vast distances found in a star system, starships arriving minutes apart would not spoil a surprise arrival.

Constant communication during the jump vector generate[sic] is essential for this to work, and double the normal vector generation time must be observed. But when getting there "on a dime" timewise is essential, then this technique is the key. Most civilian vessels don't need this level of schedule precision, so they don't bother. - Joe D. Fugate Sr.

 

[wordwildwebb]

As promised, here's the relevant section from MTJ2, p. 24:

Thanks all!!! That's what I had hoped to hear!