Jump "escort" Ships

[James Patten (OP)]

I've seen a number of people here mention what I'd call jump escort ships.  It seems the only purpose these ships have is to stay on station at a jump point and when ships without jump engines arrive they join the task group and the jump escort ship performs the jump, after which the other ships leave the task group.

What's the pros and cons of doing it this way?  Why are so many doing this?

If you have a ship with a 10,000 ton jump engine, but it is only 6000 tons, can it escort a 9000 ton ship with it?  My experience is that it cannot.

[Erik L]

Early jump tech is MASSIVE. It will take about 1/3 the ship's mass for just the jump engine. It is very hard to build a decent warship with early jump tech. So that's why there are Jump Tenders.

And yes, the ship cannot transit anything larger than itself, even if the jump engine is rated higher. So in the case of battle fleet tenders, fill out the remaining space with fuel and magazines. Make it a dual/triple role ship, Jump Tender/Collier/Tanker. Just remember to check the appropriate boxes, otherwise it won't act like it.

[vergeraiders]

... when ships without jump engines arrive they join the task group and the jump escort ship performs the jump, after which the other ships leave the task group...

One of the best anti-micromanagement things steve has done is set it up so the the jump ship can just sit at the JP and whenever a ship without a jump drive has a transit order at that JP it will allow the execution of the tranist order.

You do not have to make the tranisting fleet join the jump ship fleet or vice versa.

It even works if the jump ships is on either side of the JP.

Its drawback is that it seems that the jump ship must start time interval at the JP for it to work. I'm ok with this and if I want my jumps moore coordinated i just use a smaller time interval. Usually its not that important.

[James Patten (OP)]

Early jump tech is MASSIVE... It is very hard to build a decent warship with early jump tech...

That would explain my difficulty in building any kind of decent jump ship with a small amount of space.  I've found if I build a freighter, I can either make it fast or have lots of hold space, but not both without it being huge.

For my early game, I did think about building jump tenders, but in light of how long it takes to build anything I was unwilling to sacrifice several years of construction in one of my shipyards for a ship that essentially had no function.  Never thought about giving it fuel tanks or magazines to make it useful.  I suppose I could also really load on the drive engines so it can keep up with the other ships that now no longer need jump engines.

[sloanjh]

I tend to put grav sensors in my jump ships - I've found this to be more flexible than having a jump tender escorting my grav survey ships.  I also load them up with passive sensors, since they're likely to be in a first contact situation while surveying.  I then make sure that my freighters, DD, and colony ships are all smaller (my geo survey ships don't have jump engines, and so are much smaller).

If you want speed (speed is life :-)

John

[ZimRathbone]

I have used a variety of different  jump ships at various times

(1)Jump Escort - of a similar size to the largest ship in the fleet it is inteneded to acompany - usually has extra tankage and (if missiles are used by the race) Magazines, some sensors, no weapons & minimal sheilds, and be faster than any equivalent sized ship.

(2) Mobile Gate - basically nothing but Jump engines & Engineering & Cargo, with some sensors -  intended to sit at jump points (has to be towed into position if its required to get there in a reasonable time).  These can be set up quicker than JumpGates, but need to be maintained & brought back for overhaul - I'm not sure that its economic in the long term.  

(3) Solo Jump Ship - ship intended for independant operations - usually all GravSurvey ships are of this pattern - often the  PlanetarySurvey units are too.  Allows flexibilty in explorations

[ShadoCat]

I tend to load my Jump Tenders with fuel and call them tankers.  That way the rest of the ships can be set to refuel at the nearest tanker.  I only have to watch a few ships.

[Erik L]

(3) Solo Jump Ship - ship intended for independant operations - usually all GravSurvey ships are of this pattern - often the  PlanetarySurvey units are too.  Allows flexibilty in explorations

I usually equip all of my survey ships with jump drives. Early generations tend to run in the 6k ton range.

I also tend to run the games with no maintenance.

[Haegan2005]

I also run all my survey ships with their own jump drives. 6k tons seems to be about right for beginning survey ships with large fuel reservs.
I also run my game with no maintenance.

(3) Solo Jump Ship - ship intended for independant operations - usually all GravSurvey ships are of this pattern - often the  PlanetarySurvey units are too.  Allows flexibilty in explorations

I usually equip all of my survey ships with jump drives. Early generations tend to run in the 6k ton range.

I also tend to run the games with no maintenance.

[ShadoCat]

I usually equip all of my survey ships with jump drives. Early generations tend to run in the 6k ton range.

I also tend to run the games with no maintenance.

Ditto.

The no maintenance is just a little less micromanagement.