From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 11:12:12 -0400
Subject: Long Haul Jump Travel, Jump Stress and effects [FT campaign]
List-ites: (Like Dead-ites, only much more hygenic) Me and Schoon worked this up, and now submit it for your perusal. It is based (at least partly) on canon and words from St.Jon of Needham, and the rest is our own bash-up. Fill yer boots, and hope you like it. To my mind, it filled a need for getting some long-haul transit rates set down, along with consequences for violating them. Without further adieu.... ************************************************************************ ******** Long Haul Jump Travel in the FT Universe: by Tomin8tor (Tom Barclay) and Schoon (Sean Bayan Schoonmaker) ============================================================== Canon (and conversations with Jon T on the mailing list) seems to indicate that a military ship may jump once per 6 hour period at a maximum, and a civilian ship once per day, or at least these were the starting points. The average jump works out (counting the smaller jumps coming into a system and the larger open-space jumps) to about 1 LY. With a little thought, the following table is produced: Ship Type Normal Transit Hi-Rate Transit Max Civilian 7 LY (2.1 Psc) 14 LY (4.28 Psc) (Max 2 jumps a day with civ gear) Military 20 LY (6.1 Psc) 28 LY (7.7 Psc) (Max 4 jumps a day with military gear) These are "typical" travels. For a freighter or passenger liner, a normal day is one jump. For a military ship, most commonly three jumps. What we know also from canon is that the stresses of jump mess up humans and machines in the FT universe so that it takes a while for a ship to be "functional" when entering from jump. What that does not do is account for how long the trip prior to that was or how long the crew had been "short cycling" their jumps. In order to take this into account, and in order to allow a concept of "pushing" in long distance travel, a ship captain may choose to push his ship beyond his normal transit rate, towards the maximum rate. In the case of civilian rigs, this means two jumps a day... their gear just is not military standard. In the case of military ships, this means making the maximum 4 jumps each and every day. In either case, the regimen is no joy for the ships or crew. Minimal-Time Jump Cycling to Achieve Higher Transit Rates ----------------------------------------------------------------- For each and every LY the ship chose to increase its speed by short-cycling (in excess of the Normal Transit rate, limited of course by the Hi-Rate Transit Maximum), it will be possible to accumulate a Transit Stress point. At the end of the week (if still in jump), or at the end of the jump if it was less than a week in duration), roll one d6 for each LY rate increase excercised. Military Vessels & Marine Contingents: On a 5-6, accumulate a Transit Stress point. Civilian Freighters (no passengers, only crew) & Other non-Marine Troops: On a 4-6, accumulate a Transit Stress point. Civilian Passenger vessels: On a 3-6, accumulate a Transit Stress point. Cryosleep: When rolling for an accumulation of Transit stress, it takes TWO sixes to accumulate a stress point. This means a contingent of troops in jumpsleep can exist aboard a ship only slightly pushing the envelope rather indefinitely without noticing. They can also survive a Navy crew pushing hard to reach a destination. But that doesn't spare the ship's crew... If you have troops (non-Marine) aboard a Military Vessel, therefore they'd have different rates of Transit Stress accumulation, don't bother to roll twice - just count two totals as you roll and track the effects separately. For effects, consult the following table. Note that only severe effects (Jump Shock) will be relevant to ships in-transit. Otherwise, the results only matter when you exit a jump. Accumulated Stress Points Stress Level 0 Normal, no Transit Stress effects. 1-2 Slight Transit Stress 3-5 Moderate Transit Stress 6-9 Serious Transit Stress 10+ Severe Transit Stress, Jump Shock Effects of differing Transit Stress Levels: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Light Transit Stress One die roll every turn (opponents choice) is modified by -1 for every stress point (either 1 or 2). It only therefore affects 1 or 2 dice. But the opponent can chose whatever roll he wants to palsy representing the crew just not being in top shape - these can be firing rolls, thresholds, push-the-engine type rolls, PDS, you name it. But the choice to affect a roll must be made before the roll is made. Note for things where re-rolls might occur or certain die results have a specific value, even though a modifier is applied the basic roll is considered (for example, a beam rolling a 6, modified to a five is still considered to have a reroll - unmodified - as a result of the initial six). Moderate Transit Stress All die rolls every turn are modified by -1. This represents the crew really just not being in top shape and even the computers onboard the ship are a little off calibration - these modified rolls include firing rolls, thresholds, push-the-engine type rolls, PDS, you name it. Note for things where re-rolls might occur or certain die results have a specific value, even though a modifier is applied the basic roll is considered (for example, a beam rolling a 6, modified to a five is still considered to have a reroll - unmodified - as a result of the initial six). Serious Transit Stress All die rolls every turn are modified by -2. This represents the crew being totally shagged out and the computers in a pretty questionable state, badly off calibration - these affected rolls include firing rolls, thresholds, push-the-engine type rolls, PDS, you name it. Note for things where re-rolls might occur or certain die results have a specific value, even though a modifier is applied the basic roll is considered (for example, a beam rolling a 6, modified to a five is still considered to have a reroll - unmodified - as a result of the initial six). At this stress level, fighter and deck crews are in too rough of shape to perform - fighters and other small craft may not be launched or recovered. A Captain that takes his ship to this level of jump stress had better have a compelling reason, because a Board of Inquiry may well be convened. Any Admiralty looks askance at manouvres that so seriously endanger the safety of the ship and crew. Civilians caught pushing this hard can have their license to operate suspended for up to a year. Severe Transit Stress (Jump-Shock) This is very, very bad. The crew has been pushed to their limits and beyond. The computers are as likely to tell them the blip on the screen is a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater as it is to reveal its true nature. The hardware needs recalibrated, and the software may need reloaded from offline backups. For the crew, the effects are to the point where their headaches, nausea, and general de-habilitation become life threatening. Needless to say, crew can't fight. Automated defences can't work, and the ship will automatically decelerate to zero when it comes out of jump. It cannot move. The crew cannot fight a boarding action. Every crew unit must roll d6. For every point of Transit Stress over 10, add 1 to the roll. Any roll that meets or exceeds a result of 6 kills that crew unit. This should be applied to passengers or troop units too (obviously). A Captain that gets his ship to this state without some pressing emergency is likely to be stockaded for several years, have his or her watch-standing ticket suspended, be blacklisted by the Admiralty (bad for getting a subsequent civilian job), be stripped of rank, then be dishonourably discharged. Civilian Captains can expect to have their license to operate suspended, their ship impounded, face civil suits from injured parties or their relatives, and expect to have their space-qualification tickets and Ship's Master's tickets withdrawn. They can expect to be blacklisted with their professional guilds and whatever company they may work for, if any. Ghost ships have resulted from very bad transit shock. Ships arriving with all their crew dead and their computers a smoking heap. This is the stuff space legends are made of. Jumps executed inside a system's Jump Frontier are very stressful. Whatever this Jump Frontier is, for every 10% inside of this Jump Frontier (see the bottom to determine how long it takes to get from primary habitable area to Jump Frontier - or use your own PSB, math and distance), roll 2d6 for jump stress just from ENTERING Jump. A separate roll will be made for any intersystem distances covered. If the Jump is executed from inside the Habitable area, EVERYONE aboard dies. In fact, it is quite likely the ship never exits Jump space and is either lost in Jump space or destroyed. Recovery from Transit Stress ---------------------------------------------- You can't recover from being dead. But, for those that are alive, recovery will be a slow process. A Transit Stress point is recovered for every 6 hours spent resting. This means either the ship is gliding on a ballistic path with no enemies nearby to watch for, or that it is stationary in space on low power. In either case, the ships company takes time to come back from protracted jump stresses, and it takes them a while to recalibrate all the hardware and sensors and to reload and verify the integrity of all the various software nodes. Rumor has it that the Kra-Vak may recover from Transit Stress faster, perhaps 1 point every 3-4 hours. This is an unconfirmed rumor. Rumors also persist of secret drugs from black labs that will cut the recovery time for humans or allow them to ignore Light Stress. But these drugs no doubt come with risks, if they exist at all. Certainly none have been sanctioned or acknowledged by any civilian body or military service as of yet. Another Tidbit on Travel: