BattleTech - What would you invent?!

Spartan303

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Osaul
Really? I thought the NBSG drives were almost as limited in range as BTech jump drives.

I guess the lack of significant recharge time is what you're implying makes the big difference.


No. They're limited by computer limitations for the Colonial side of things. You need to calculate FTL jumps and that gets progressively harder over greater distances. For instance, with Athena providing calculations the Raptor rescue mission was able to jump back to Caprica in what? a Dozen jumps? Where as the fleet would have taken close to a few hundred.

Colonials and Cylons jump drives are not that much different in terms of capabilities. Its the Cylons ability to plot farther and faster that gives them a strategic edge.
 

Aaron Fox

Well-known member
Wasn't there a ship that was developed that could double the range of Jumps or jump 100LY?
There are but the example was destroyed because WoB decided to crash the party (please note that this variant can make a safe jump within 120LY). The WoB variant can go 900 LY in a jump (with anything resembling accuracy) but slagged the entire LF/KF assembly and had a massive increase in terms of misjump chances.
Really? I thought the NBSG drives were almost as limited in range as BTech jump drives.

I guess the lack of significant recharge time is what you're implying makes the big difference.
While nBSG drives are considered pixie dust drives of brokenness, they do have some pretty hefty limitations. For example, the main reason that the jumps per day are so low compared to what they can do is a combination of crew, passenger, ship, and engine limitations (passengers and crew don't function well while constantly jumping, the ship gets all sorts of problems if they constantly jump, and you risk frying the jump engines if you constantly jump, as one of the missions in Deadlock showed). In addition, they likely figured out how to make an interdictor field but they require planets and/or moons to properly function.
Indeed, but the Manassas was able to jump 40LY at a time until that failure, and apparently did so many times. There was also the super jump drive on the Lucretia that didn't fry itself. It seems clear that the drives can exist, they just always happen to be unavailable or become lostech via author fiat.
In the case of the Manassas, it's due to a faultily repaired FTL regulator for the second misjump. The first misjump was due to a surge in said FTL regulator if I remember right.
And 40 jumps per day at 30LY per jump is enough to quite literally go from one end of the Inner Sphere and back again in a day
I wouldn't be surprised that if you tried that, then you'll have an unsettling increase of misjump chances. KF drives are finicky things and I wouldn't be surprised that they wouldn't like getting pushed like that. You might get a rapid-recharge KF drive with a fraction of a standard's range, but even then that might be pushing it.
 

Spartan303

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There are but the example was destroyed because WoB decided to crash the party (please note that this variant can make a safe jump within 120LY). The WoB variant can go 900 LY in a jump (with anything resembling accuracy) but slagged the entire LF/KF assembly and had a massive increase in terms of misjump chances.


So maybe some ComStar Blake cultists sabotaged the FTL drive on the Lucretia and it ended up on ID4 II Earth?
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
I wouldn't be surprised that if you tried that, then you'll have an unsettling increase of misjump chances. KF drives are finicky things and I wouldn't be surprised that they wouldn't like getting pushed like that. You might get a rapid-recharge KF drive with a fraction of a standard's range, but even then that might be pushing it.
Yeah in all honesty combining the 120 LY range drive with say a pair of LFBs would almost certainly be just about the most you could could probably get out of a reliable KF drive. Mind you being able move a ship up to 720 LY in two weeks is probably more than enough stragetic mobility in the Battletech setting. You'd certainly want to find a way to make a compact core variant ideally one that doesn't take up more mass than a standard compact core and if possible one that's say only twice as expensive as a standard compact core drive.
 

Aaron Fox

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So maybe some ComStar Blake cultists sabotaged the FTL drive on the Lucretia and it ended up on ID4 II Earth?
The Lucretia actually jumped into a star instead of getting captured by a WoB Invader and its attendant dropships.
Yeah in all honesty combining the 120 LY range drive with say a pair of LFBs would almost certainly be just about the most you could could probably get out of a reliable KF drive. Mind you being able move a ship up to 720 LY in two weeks is probably more than enough stragetic mobility in the Battletech setting. You'd certainly want to find a way to make a compact core variant ideally one that doesn't take up more mass than a standard compact core and if possible one that's say only twice as expensive as a standard compact core drive.
That wouldn't be possible, for -from what I can tell- the more capability you want, the costs rise quadratically. This is shown most vividly with anything related to the KF drive. At least that is how it goes in-universe.
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
That wouldn't be possible, for -from what I can tell- the more capability you want, the costs rise quadratically. This is shown most vividly with anything related to the KF drive. At least that is how it goes in-universe.
hence why it fall under the category of what would you invent not how hard it would be to do
 

Spartan303

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The Lucretia actually jumped into a star instead of getting captured by a WoB Invader and its attendant dropships.


So, obviously, finding safe port at ESD Earth would be more desirable.
 

Bear Ribs

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The Lucretia actually jumped into a star instead of getting captured by a WoB Invader and its attendant dropships.
Every time I read that it annoys me. There are over 500 G-type stars within 100 lightyears of Earth, and over 113,000 if you count other spectral star types (that's ignoring brown dwarves). The Lucretia should not have had a problem finding an out-of-the-way place to avoid the Blakists for a jump or two, it's ludicrous to imagine that the Wobbies could cover all their alternatives.

I realize "lazy writers" is the Doylist (and correct) answer but it still annoys me.
 

Aaron Fox

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Every time I read that it annoys me. There are over 500 G-type stars within 100 lightyears of Earth, and over 113,000 if you count other spectral star types (that's ignoring brown dwarves). The Lucretia should not have had a problem finding an out-of-the-way place to avoid the Blakists for a jump or two, it's ludicrous to imagine that the Wobbies could cover all their alternatives.

I realize "lazy writers" is the Doylist (and correct) answer but it still annoys me.
Given that most of those G-Types would have been already colonized and that -from what the Wiki implies- the project had already been thoroughly compromised by WoB...
So, obviously, finding safe port at ESD Earth would be more desirable.
See above.
 

Bear Ribs

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Given that most of those G-Types would have been already colonized and that -from what the Wiki implies- the project had already been thoroughly compromised by WoB...

See above.
The entire IS consists of about 2,000 colonized systems. Knowing this fact gave me a +99 on my D% roll to disbelieve that the WoB has colonized 113,000 star systems in close proximity to each other.

I passed the check, BTW.
 

Spartan303

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The entire IS consists of about 2,000 colonized systems. Knowing this fact gave me a +99 on my D% roll to disbelieve that the WoB has colonized 113,000 star systems in close proximity to each other.

I passed the check, BTW.


So in the situation I outlined, they'd be better off, yes? The Lucretia.
 

Aaron Fox

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So in the situation I outlined, they'd be better off, yes? The Lucretia.
Agreed. It's hard to do worse than jumping into a star for no apparent reason. Going your way would be far better for them.
Thing is, WoB would likely be on their tail, given the relative swiftness they were on Lucretia's ass. If I were a betting man, why the Lucretia jumped into the sun is probably WoB agents slaughtering their way into the bridge and the crew decided to not let the drive into WoB hands and jumped into the sun.

At least, that's my take.
 

Bear Ribs

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Thing is, WoB would likely be on their tail, given the relative swiftness they were on Lucretia's ass. If I were a betting man, why the Lucretia jumped into the sun is probably WoB agents slaughtering their way into the bridge and the crew decided to not let the drive into WoB hands and jumped into the sun.

At least, that's my take.
I mean, that's not a bad take and it's much better than what was written for sure. If Catalyst had written that instead, I wouldn't see nearly as much red.

The actual notes (Page 86, Jihad Conspiracies) states that WoB jumped an Invader in behind the Lucretia and their boarding parties were destroyed by her jump wake when she escaped, so they hadn't gotten aboard yet. Lucretia jumped into the sun because... actually I'm not clear on how the WoB was even able to tell where they jumped, honestly. The Precentor seems to think that Lucretia had only a partial charge on her core so she could jump only as far as the sun but didn't have enough juice to go elsewhere... if that's the case and JS can do shorter hops on a partial charge that actually breaks the setting more than the 120LY drive does.
 

Sergeant Foley

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So..you're a renowned scientist in your field. You left with Kerensky's Exodus and, believe it or not, made it to a Garden world that wasn't trying to kill everyone every other hour.

With that in mind, what sort of tech do you and your brethren develop since you're not committed to developing warfighting capability (though that's cool too.)?

I'm looking for ideas and specifics here. Better Jump Engines (Like Comstar/WoB develops), cooler weapons and armor, better sensors and communications equipment. Maybe you just develop Velcro that doesn't make noise when you use it.

I'm looking for all sorts of things so feel free to go nuts, just base what you develop from the stand point of the Star League's tech developed in exile.

[edit: 20210625] I plan on updating this original post to keep track of all the ideas and recommendations so return here for a full blown list and the contributor!

Agricultural Efficiency (ie. improved crop yields) @Bear Ribs
Faster-Than-Light Communication (improved HPG network/software) @Bear Ribs
Faster-Than-Light Transportation (better Jump range and transportation of inorganic material outside the Jumpship) @Bear Ribs & others
Metallurgical improvements: better materials for internal structure/armor [added this one myself]
Miniaturization of motive tech: engines, jump drives, L-F Batteries @Bear Ribs @Knowledgeispower
Terraforming Technology @Bear Ribs


EDIT: I do believe I put this in the wrong spot. Thread Overlords, feel free to move or just tell me where to repost this.
Subscribed and following! 😎
 

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