This was discussed in the FAQ section but I am a littke confused. If I have a jump engine that is big enough for 15000 tons and efficient enough for 4 ships...and assuming that my jump cruiser carrying this engine weighs 14000 tons...am I correct that it can not escort any ship thru a jump point weighing more than 14000?
Also, does each of the 4 ships have to weigh less than 14000 or does the combined weight have to be under 14000? (3500 each)
You are on the right track. A jump ship can escort other ships through a jump, with the maximum size of the escorted ship being the smaller of the maximum capacity of the jump drive and the size of the ship that mounts the jump drive. So you are correct, in your example the largest ship that your jump cruiser could escort through the jump point is 14,000 tons. And yes, each of the other ships must be 14,000 tons or smaller, the total displacement doesn't matter.
Now, just to clear something up, there are several different kinds of "transits" through warp points in Aurora. There is a combat transit, with the identical order on the task group screen. There is also the transit, with the relating order. For the transit order, the only thing that matters is what the maximum tonnage of your jump ship is, in other words, Aurora won't look at the number of other ships and the maximum number that the jump drive can take through at once. This is a strategic issue, and it is assumed that in reality your ship might have to go back and forth several times to escort all of the other ships in the squadron through, but it is fudged for ease of play. The combat transit order reflects the way things are really supposed to work in Aurora. Under this order each jump ship can only escort through a jump the maximum number of ships that their drive is rated for, and they appear in random locations on the far side of the jump point. In reality all jumps should be done this way, but very few people want to mess with this for their freighter fleets with one jumpship and twenty non-jump freighters. For obvious reasons.
Kurt
