Re: Traveller and jump drive malfunction
- From: mcv <mcvmcv@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 19 Apr 2007 09:08:04 GMT
Bent C Dalager <bcd@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <878xcpkupq.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
_Interstellar Wars_, p. 171. The section "Jump Mishaps" describes the
categories of failure as "No Jump" (failure to execute the jump),
"Misexit" (failure to plot the course correctly), and "Misjump"
(malfunction of the drive). The latter two include a die roll to
further determine the result.
A Misexit causes the ship to spend a week in jumpspace then
precipitate from jump somewhere between the origin and destination
point, e.g. turning up at the wrong planet in the destination system.
Are you saying that an in-jump drive malfunction is to be treated the
same way as a "Misexit"?
If a misexit is a failure to plot the course directly, then that's not
the same thing as a jump drive malfunction. So what would happen?
I sometimes get the impression that there's roughly two lines of thinking
here: according to one (the most canonical, I think), the jump drive is
busy doing the same stuff throughout the entire jump trip, which means
that a jump drive malfunction during the trip can be any kind of misjump.
A no jump or failed jump sounds a bit unlikely, though. Whether a misexit
is an option depends entirely on how the GM decides jump space works. (And
remember: jump space is crazy, badly understood stuff, so basically it
can do anything the GM wants). I don't think a jump can possibly take less
than a week, though, so I don't think a drive malfunction should lead to
an earlier exit.
The other line of thinking is that the jumpdrive does all its important
stuff to put the ship on the right course, right at the start of the jump,
and during the rest of the trip, it just keeps the jump buble intact, or
possibly not even that. That means that any kind of misjump is determined
at the start of the jump, and sabotage doesn't change the course in any
way. If the jump drive is actively maintaining the jump space bubble
around the ship, a drive failure during the trip can mean that the ship
is crushed or swallowed by jump space.
What happens to ships crushed or swallowed by jump space? It's anyone's
guess. I don't think anyone has ever met a sane, confirmed survivor.
I believe I once read a plot hook that involved a ship from the ISW
period suddenly appearing from jump space in 3rd Imperium Spinward
Marches, so perhaps something like that (appearing in a completely
different time) could be the result of a disaster in mid jump. Maybe
the crew didn't age a single day, maybe everybody is dead, maybe
everybody is insane. Maybe horrible extradimensional creatures have
eaten everybody, or at least their souls.
Basically, disasters in jump space are a license for the GM to inflict
whatever weirdness he chooses. Could be a simple misjump, could be a
jump to the distant past of the Andromeda galaxy.
The situation I am thinking of is when the drive fails (due to bad
maintenance perhaps, or deliberate sabotage) several hours into the
jump. With the drive no longer operational, I would have expected the
protective bubble around the ship to start deteriorating and prompt a
speedy return to normal space (or else messy assimilation into
otherspace). Of course, it is possible that the protective bubble is
there to stay and the jump drive is no longer strictly necessary once
the jump has been started (unless you care where you end up).
Well, yeah, that basically sums up all the options. Do whatever you
think is most appropriate. I doubt the canon is conclusive about this,
although I'm sure the game mechanics suggest not killing the entire crew
right away.
A Misjump can result in a "No Jump", a "Failed Jump" (spend a week in
jumpspace then emerge at the starting point), or a "Misdirected Jump"
(spend a week in jumpspace then emerge anywhere the GM chooses, even
much further than the nominal jump rating of the drive).
I am not thinking of a Misjump, but rather unforeseen happenings
during a jump that was otherwise proceeding to plan. (Of course, there
might be no difference between the two, in which case it would help to
have that established.)
My immediate thought was that when exiting jumpspace for whatever
reason, you would have to emerge near some large object since the book
seems to imply that "near a large object" is the only place you can
ever hope to plot a jump.
I thought misjumps can leave a crew stranded in deep space without any
large objects anywhere.
If it is possible to misjump into empty
space, then I can see this being used in a sort of hit-and-miss
approach to exploration across Jump-x gaps, where x is greater than
your best jump drives.
I once read a suggestion for an advanced Traveller setting where people
figured out how to force a predictable misjump in order to travel enormous
distances. My rule is that jump space is too dangerous and unpredictable
for this kind of tampering. And for your kind of hit-and-miss exploration,
realise that every miss can mean a lost starship. It's a very expensive
way to explore.
mcv.
--
Science is not the be-all and end-all of human existence. It's a tool.
A very powerful tool, but not the only tool. And if only that which
could be verified scientifically was considered real, then nearly all
of human experience would be not-real. -- Zachriel
.
- References:
- Traveller and jump drive malfunction
- From: Bent C Dalager
- Re: Traveller and jump drive malfunction
- From: Ben Finney
- Re: Traveller and jump drive malfunction
- From: Bent C Dalager
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