Stutter Jumping

[Cranerat]

I had experimental, military jump drives that could oscillate the jump drive and program. This coupled with a large computer running the best navigation program available would allow jump capable craft to start a jump within 10 planetary diameters, navigate to a safe spot in system and jump normally. The faster the oscillations the "slower" the ship would go, but would put more strain on ships electrical systems for burn outs.

This concept would allow a military craft (civilian craft if players got one) to strafe another craft invisibly with a high defense adjustment. Since the craft was entering and exiting jump space so quickly it could rarely be seen or detected by sensors and you can't hit what isn't there.

I also used ruls such that the lower the tech level of the drives and repair facilities used to upkeep this technology, the easier it was for a failure or a miss-jump. This gave me lots of additional adventures just having "GREEDY" players try to keep the drives functoning.

 

[GypsyComet]

Note that this changes the Imperium considerably unless severely limited. Are you playing in the Third Imperium setting?

 

[Simon Jester]

Originally posted by Cranerat:
I had experimental, military jump drives that could oscillate the jump drive and program. This coupled with a large computer running the best navigation program available would allow jump capable craft to start a jump within 10 planetary diameters, navigate to a safe spot in system and jump normally. The faster the oscillations the "slower" the ship would go, but would put more strain on ships electrical systems for burn outs.

This concept would allow a military craft (civilian craft if players got one) to strafe another craft invisibly with a high defense adjustment. Since the craft was entering and exiting jump space so quickly it could rarely be seen or detected by sensors and you can't hit what isn't there.

I also used ruls such that the lower the tech level of the drives and repair facilities used to upkeep this technology, the easier it was for a failure or a miss-jump. This gave me lots of additional adventures just having "GREEDY" players try to keep the drives functoning.

I would argue that if "it could rarely be seen or detected by sensors and you can't hit what isn't there." it wouldn't be able to do anything to other ships either. If it's in jumpspace so much that it can't be detected, it's not in realspace enough to actually do anyhting but move. True, it makes for one HELL of a great blockade-runner and smuggling ship, but I wouldn't allow it any combat effects. On second thought, I'd allow it, but with limitations: If you want to shoot, you have to allow the enemy a chance to shoot back, if for no longer time than it takes for your ship to lauch a missile or fire off a round or two from the laser turrets.

It would also be a real fuel-hog, say 1% of the standard amount of fuel consumed by that jump engine at it's highest rating per diameter moved. I say diameter moved, because the jump engine has to be gravity-sensitive (otherwise, why have a 100-dia limit in the first place) and it makes the bookkeeping a good bit easier if a whole lot less realistic. I'm a bit of a gearhead, but sometimes the number-crunching can go a bit far.

Just my two centicreds,
Simon Jester

 

[N.I.C.E. Labs]

Since jump safety is a function of the gravity well, perhaps an alternative might be to have some massive anti-grav projectors on the ship (aka the interdictors in Star Wars) for the purposes of cancelling out the local effects of the gravity well. They'd have to be big and rather specialized so I suggest 1000 tons of grav equipment per jump number of the ship. This of course means it'd be only on capital ships, but jumping in close to a system is something a military strike vessel would do, not a merchant.
To make it balanced it would also be that such an equipped ship couldn't provide the benefit for others. It can only carry enough to provide negation for itself. (add the jump numbers of all ships together for the amount of grav equipment needed).
Of course it does make an interesting idea for a rapid deployment system for jumping OUT. Picture at a naval base or huge merchant depo, a space station that is equipped with generators....enough to handle a fleet. A fleet could mobilize in hours instead of days.