Interstellar
Travel
To cross the vastness
of our Milky Way, thrust based engines are
insufficient as even the most efficient
ones can only achieve about 0.5C. However,
a ship equipped with a DC-Drive (or DBT)
can achieve speeds of many multiples of
the speed of light (C).
DC – Dimensional
Compression (common)
DBT – Dimensional
Barrier Tunneling (Engai Only)
(Common Knowledge)
DC-Drives use a
fuel called “dust.” The greater the distance
to be traveled, the more dust must be consumed.
It is called dust because this material
is found as dust sized particles. The mass
of the spacecraft also affects the amount
of dust consumed. Dust is not found in every
solar system, and it is rare and expensive.
There is a lot of money to be made in dust
mining and trade.
(Advanced Information)
To know much more
than the above requires appropriate skills
or background skills, which include:
Sci: Astronomy,
Mathematics, Physics, DC [Phys, Math or
Astronav], Cryogenics
AK: C-Space
KS: Any relevant
– H-Drives, Propulsion Systems, Hi-tech
Equipment, Alien Tech, etc…
PS: Pilot (any),
Engineer, Navigator, Miner, Trader, Merchant
Systems Operation,
Astronavigation, Trading
Anything that ever
becomes applicable…KS: Space Pirates could
easily be complimentary in the right situation.
The properties
of dust:
Dust is found only
in the coldest environments, is exceedingly
dense, and is magnetic. Just one cubic centimeter
of alpha grade (further crushed to increase
surface area for use in a DC-Drive’s reactor)
dust weighs over 1100kg kilograms. The most
powerful magnets are nitrogenous gel magnets,
which suspends the highly magnetic dust
in a solution of (frozen) liquid nitrogen.
Needless to say, handling dust in the presence
of strong gravitational or magnetic fields
is very dangerous.
How Dust Enables
FTL Travel:
When dust reaches
a certain temperature, it destabilizes and
is consumed. When dust is consumed, a wormhole
is briefly created (as the dust travels
back to its native dimension, a parallel
dimension, but compressed with respect to
ours by a factor of 159967.22). One km travel
there equates to 159967.22 km traveled in
your native dimension. Spacecraft that travel
into the wormhole cross into this compressed
dimension, also known as C-Space. The spacecraft
must remain very cold while traveling in
C-space, and have all manner of nifty cryogenic
equipment on-board to handle that aspect.
[Designer’s Note:
Matter from different dimensions becomes
unstable on that dimension when it acquires
too much heat/energy. Upon becoming unstable,
it reverts to its ground state, which exists
only on its native dimension. Dust dimension
“jumps” back to its native dimension whenever
it reaches 203 degrees K]
The wormhole is
not visible…only its effects are. When a
ship enters C-Space, to the naked eye, it
simply vanishes.
Jump Gates:
A DC-Drive is nothing
more than a device used to excite dust in
a very controlled way to open a wormhole.
Jump Gates perform this function for non-DC-drive
bearing vessels. They are huge ring-shaped
structures that frequently interconnect
populated systems. The reason for their
greater size is because more accurate geometries
increase the accuracy of the destination.
The greater size increases their resolution.
They could be made smaller if manufacturing
techniques improve. UPDATE: Nearly all Jump
gates have been destroyed by either Kataan
or Tassk warships. Only two remain active…see
map for more details.
In addition to having
the appropriate transport familiarity to
successfully operate an DC-Drive you must
make a successful Astronavigation skill
roll. If this roll fails, a roll will be
made on the DC-Drive Mishap Table.
Complimentary Skills
include any relevant background skills,
such as area knowledge, professional and
science skills. This includes, but is not
limited to:
Area Knowledge:
your present location, route or destination
Profession: any
relevant, such as Engineer, Starship Captain,
Smuggler, or Pirate
Science: Physics,
Mathematics, Astronomy,
Systems Operation
To engage the H-Drive,
you must be at minimum safe distance from
any object (based on its mass). The more
an object weighs, the farther you must be
away from it to jump. If you are inside
this distance, you can still attempt to
engage the H-Drive, but there will be a
penalty on the skill roll. If the skill
roll fails, you may cause damage to the
ship, fail to enter H-space, fail to arrive
at the correct destination or any combination
of the three.
DC-Drive Mishap
Table
Roll Result
1 Over Temp:
You successfully engage the drive, but you
come out of C-space 10% too soon per every
point you missed the roll by…you must use
more dust to get to your destination
2 Over Temp w/Cryo
problems: Same as 1, but you must have
a technician restart the C-Drive…if that
roll fails too, you need replacement parts
(note, you are not at your destination to
buy them)
3 Hot Shot:
You overshoot your destination, and your
exit from C-Space has too much velocity,
make a combat piloting roll to avoid ship
damage upon exit.
4 Burnout:
You consume all of your dust for the entire
journey, but the ship fails to enter C-Space
5 G-Slope Miscalculation:
You arrive at a random gravity well along
your path
6 Mass Miscalculation:
Make a combat piloting roll to avoid hull
damage and roll again.