Commercial Jump Drive

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I have added a Commercial Jump Drive to v4.3. This is done using a new Military/Commercial option on the Create Research Project window for Jump Drives in a similar way to Commercial vs Military engines. LIke the Commercial Engine, the Commercial Jump Drive is larger and less efficient but much cheaper on a per-HS basis. The primary differences in design are as follows.

1) Efficiency is 75% of the equivalent military jump drive. So if you have researched Jump Drive Efficiency 5, then commercial jump drives will use an efficiency of 3.75

2) The max squadron size is 1 less than the equivalent military jump drive and the Jump Point Distance is halved. So instead of Max Jump Squadron Size - 3 and Jump Point Distance - 50, you would use Max Jump Squadron Size - 2 and Jump Point Distance - 25. This is not much of a restriction though as the chances of a ship with a commercial jump drive carrying out a combat transit are limited.

3) The size of the jump drive and the maximum jump size are both multiplied by 10. This is actually more like 7.5x the max military jump size in reality because of the reduced efficiency compared to a military engine.

4) The cost, crew, HTK and development cost are all the same as if this was a military drive without the commercial modifications, which make the commercial drive MUCH cheaper on a per-HS basis.

5) Ships equipped with military engines cannot use a commercial jump drive and cannot enter a jump point opened by another ship with a commercial jump drive. This is because military engines are inherently more unstable than commercial engines due to the designers trying to squeeze out as much power as possible and therefore they create instabilities in a jump point opened by a commercial jump drive. This is the same line of technobabble that prevents more than one fighter or fast attack engine per ship because they are even more unstable. Commercial engines are lower-powered, low-maintenance, stable engines and therefore the commercial jump drive can be designed to take advantage of that by generating a larger but weaker jump field. To allow this technobabble to make at least some sense I have changed the explosion chance of commercial engines to be much less than military engines

Some comparisons using the same parameters for Military and Commercial Jump Drives. In each case, the only design difference is flipping the toggle between military and commercial - all other parameters remain the same. All these designs use Efficiency 5, Max Squadron Size - 3 and Jump Point Distance - 50

Size 15

Code: [Select]

J3750 Military Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 75 (3750 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 3     Max Dist: 50
Jump Engine Size: 15 HS    Efficiency: 5    Jump Engine HTK: 3
Cost: 56    Crew: 75
Materials Required: 11.2x Duranium  44.8x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 560RP

Code: [Select]

JC28K Commercial Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 560 (28000 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 2     Max Dist: 25
Jump Engine Size: 150 HS    Efficiency: 3.75    Jump Engine HTK: 3
Cost: 56    Crew: 75
Materials Required: 11.2x Duranium  44.8x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 560RP
Size 24

Code: [Select]

J6000 Military Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 120 (6000 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 3     Max Dist: 50
Jump Engine Size: 24 HS    Efficiency: 5    Jump Engine HTK: 5
Cost: 144    Crew: 120
Materials Required: 28.8x Duranium  115.2x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 1440RP

Code: [Select]

JC45K Commercial Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 900 (45000 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 2     Max Dist: 25
Jump Engine Size: 240 HS    Efficiency: 3.75    Jump Engine HTK: 5
Cost: 144    Crew: 120
Materials Required: 28.8x Duranium  115.2x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 1440RP
Size 40

Code: [Select]

J10000 Military Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 200 (10000 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 3     Max Dist: 50
Jump Engine Size: 40 HS    Efficiency: 5    Jump Engine HTK: 8
Cost: 400    Crew: 200
Materials Required: 80x Duranium  320x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 4000RP

Code: [Select]

JC75K Commercial Jump Drive
Max Ship Size: 1500 (75000 tons)     Max Squadron Size: 2     Max Dist: 25
Jump Engine Size: 400 HS    Efficiency: 3.75    Jump Engine HTK: 8
Cost: 400    Crew: 200
Materials Required: 80x Duranium  320x Sorium
Development Cost for Project: 4000RP
Steve

[welchbloke]

Looks good Steve,
The main tactical implication I can see (apart from the opportunity to create a Bug style fleet, are you going to design that into your NPR logic?) is that if you want to escort convoys in areas without jump gates you need either escorts with commercial engines or a military jump drive equipped ship with the escorts.  So lots more things to think about and allocate resources to.

[alanwebber]

The other advantage is after a battle. At the moment, if you want to send in salvage ships (or any other commercial ship) you have to build a jump gate to get out again. This may be okay for a single system NPR but I hate the thought of a battle fleet turning up hellbent on revenge and I've built a jump gate system back to my homeworld.

I can see a series of commercial jump ships being used as a temporary jumpgate system until there is time to set up a permanent one (or it is expedient and safe to do so).

[sloanjh]

Thanks

John