The amount of distance the jump drive can transition a ship is based on how much energy is released into the moment of contact between the jump fields and has nothing to do with the size of the vessel itself, correct? So, a smaller ship couldn't jump further than a larger one simply because it's smaller?
I thought the size or at least the mass of the ship was taken into account, I remember when the Aurora Jumped with some Cargo shuttles parked on her flight apron and it took slight on energy to complete the jump.
Then it as also been said that the distance travelled is regulated by the amount of energy dumped into the jump drive energy fields.
So I might taken 1 million Kilowatt Hours to Transition a 10 Ton ship 1 light year, 2 million Kilowatt hours to transition a 20 Ton ship 1 light year.
this is as I read it, mind you it might have something to do with surface area and not the mass or size of the ship, enough is not know about the Jump drive, yet.
I think that speed is also a factor.
The faster you are travelling, the more power you apply, the lower your mass and the more compact the jump field = the furthest jump you can do.
With other factors like local gravity wells on your route negatively effecting distance.
Jumping between galaxies should be the furthest jumps possible as gravity would play less of a role.
We (the characters) understand how the engineering in the jump drive works, as well as what causes the jump. We just don't understand the 'why' (physics) of it all.
Two fields; inner and outer. The inner field (the one that looks like pale blue water flowing over the hull) hugs the hull shape. (Skipping over indentations and holes and such.) The outer field is identical in shape to the inner field, only 1 meter larger. (So it is not in contact with the hull.) It is also invisible.
The outer field forms first along the shape of the hull, then expands by 1 meter. Then the inner field forms. The outer field is then allowed to shrink back down to the hull, and at the moment the outer field contacts the inner field, the jump energy is dumped into the outer field, and the jump occurs.
We know that when the jump occurs, the inner and outer fields fuse into one. What we don't know is why that causes the ship to 'jump'. The current theory is that something about the fusing of the two fields and the energy dumped into them causes the 'field bubble' (which contains the ship) to transition from our own (4D) space into (3D) space where time does not exist. ((Of course, this goes against everything we know and understand, but, what the heck, this is Sci Fi.)
However, something from the 4D universe cannot exist in the 3D universe. That includes the jump field bubble itself. Something about the amount of energy dumped into the bubble allows it to exist in 4D space for a brief moment. I know, confusing. A 'moment' is an element of time, and time doesn't exist in the 3D universe. But it does exist inside the jump field bubble, at least until the energy level in the jump field bubble drops down low enough that it can no longer keep the two fields fused. Once the inner and outer fields separate, and the outer fields collapses. (The outer field first, then the inner field.) Since an object from 4D space cannot exist in 3D space (without the outer jump field protecting it) the ship is 'rejected' from 3D space and transitions back into 3D space, but at a new location. That 'new location' is determined by three things. Course, speed, and decay rate of the jump field bubble, the latter of which is determined by how much energy is dumped into the field at the moment of the jump event.
How much energy is required to move a ship, say 10 light years? Well, that depends on several factors. The speed of the ship at the moment of jump is one factor. (Don't take these numbers as gospel, they are just for demonstration.) If a ship travelling at, say, 0.5c requires 1 trillion mega-joules of energy to jump 10 light years, then that same ship, traveling at 0.75c will take less energy, say, 750 billion mega-joules of energy to jump that same distance.
Now, a bigger ship than the Aurora, say, a Jung battleship, which is a little more than 3 times the Aurora's size and mass, that wants to make that jump is going to need more power. At 0.5cc, she needs, say, 3.25 trillion joules to make the jump. Then, take into consideration that it takes considerably more propulsive effort to get that battleship to such speeds, so maybe it is going to make the jump at 0.25c. At that speed, she would need 6.5 trillion mega-joules of energy to make that 10 light year jump.
Of course, there are other factors to consider as well, such as the effects of the gravity well you are jumping out of, as well as any gravity wells that you might pass along the way. But, for the most part, the amount of energy being applied is so great that it has little effect on the overall jump.
Does any of this make sense, based on our understanding of physics and the universe? Hell no. But again, that's Sci Fi.
Can you jump while in FTL? Could the Jung come up with a way to jump a battle platform using FTL tec, thus needing less power.
Jumping 20 Light years in a straight line in space can be risky, you need to map out safe channels between the starts to travel any long distance.
Travelling at FTL speeds is very risky because you cannot see what is in front of you.
To be travelling blind then skipping ahead a few light years to another point where you are travelling quite quickly seems to be a little stupid to me. Worse when you are messing with fields that are barely understood. Jump fields collapse to jump the ship - would these and the FLT fields mix well? would it cause the ftl field to fail too? how far would a ship jump if they were in FTL speeds when they jumped? would a jump field work over the distance covered by a ship at FTL speeds? I see the down side as greater then the upside to these experiments...
Having both drives and switching between the two makes more sence. FTL out of a system and Jump between the stars then FTL into the new system that makes sence.
FTL between Jump points while recharging the jump batteries would be safer if you are trying to avoid attention and/or not be caught sitting still if spotted.
