I learned something today.
In my old 5. 6 game I had a 250ish ton jump scout that I would park in the boat bay of my scout frigate when I would send it on first-in missions. The idea was that the jump scout would traverse the jump point first, and if it ran into something dangerous, like a powerful black hole, I wasn't putting the frigate at risk. I could never get it to squadron transit, but it could standard transit just fine. I thought it was a limitation of self-only jump drives, but upon digging out the old save I discovered that it wasn't jumping under its own power. The frigate was apparently escorting it. Move the mothership off the jump point and it fails just as the Beagle did.
Back to the present, the Beagle is an evolution of this previous design, so I tried out an updated version of my old jump scout:
Saluki class Jump Scout 248 tons 2 Crew 58.2 BP TCS 4.95 TH 3 EM 0
1212 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 5.82 Years MSP 15 AFR 4% IFR 0.1% 1YR 1 5YR 11 Max Repair 36 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 0.1 months Spare Berths 8
J250(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 250 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Military Ion Drive 6P/0.122F-TR50 (1) Power 6 Fuel Use 12.25% Signature 3 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 29.7 billion km (283 days at full power)
Active Search Sensor MR28-R100 (1) GPS 3600 Range 28.8m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
It won't jump either, squadron or standard. This undermines my hypothesis that the non-commercial box launcher and MFC on the Beagle Mk. II tripped some conditional statement in the jump drive code that the Beagle's engine alone was failing to trigger. Either the Saluki's non-commercial 2. 25 HS active search sensor also suffers from the same fault as the Beagle's engine, or there is something unique about either the missile launcher or the fire control which enables the jump drive to work.
Now I'm curious. What about jump gauss fighters?
Bulldog class Fighter 228 tons 8 Crew 29.7 BP TCS 4.55 TH 3 EM 0
1318 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 1
Maint Life 29.33 Years MSP 20 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 1 Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 2
J250(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 250 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Military Ion Drive 6P/0.122F-TR50 (1) Power 6 Fuel Use 12.25% Signature 3 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres Range 64.6 billion km (566 days at full power)
Gauss Cannon R1-17 (1) Range 10,000km TS: 1318 km/s Power 0-0 RM 1 ROF 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.5 8-1250 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 16,000 km TS: 5000 km/s 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
No dice. Fails to transit, squadron or standard.
How about lasers?
Rottweiler class Fighter 330 tons 11 Crew 31 BP TCS 6.6 TH 3 EM 0
909 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-4 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 2
Maint Life 6.09 Years MSP 6 AFR 8% IFR 0.1% 1YR 0 5YR 4 Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Spare Berths 4
J500(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 500 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Military Ion Drive 6P/0.122F-TR50 (1) Power 6 Fuel Use 12.25% Signature 3 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,000 Litres Range 22.3 billion km (283 days at full power)
10cm C0.15 Infrared Laser (1) Range 16,000km TS: 1250 km/s Power 3-0.15 RM 1 ROF 100 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fire Control S00.5 8-1250 (FTR) (1) Max Range: 16,000 km TS: 5000 km/s 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stellarator Fusion Reactor Technology PB-1 (1) Total Power Output 0.6 Armour 0 Exp 5%
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Nope. Neither squadron nor standard. Note that this larger fighter required a new, larger jump drive.
OK, how about a MFC without the box launcher?
Mutt class Shuttle 243 tons 5 Crew 44.7 BP TCS 4.85 TH 3 EM 0
1237 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 37.9 Years MSP 29 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 1 Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 300 months Spare Berths 0
J250(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 250 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Military Ion Drive 6P/0.122F-TR50 (1) Power 6 Fuel Use 12.25% Signature 3 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 70,000 Litres Range 424.1 billion km (3968 days at full power)
Missile Fire Control FC1-R100 (1) Range 1.5m km Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Nothing. No squadron transit, no standard transit.
Box launcher but no MFC?
Mutt Mk.II class Shuttle 245 tons 5 Crew 44.3 BP TCS 4.9 TH 3 EM 0
1224 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0.15
Maint Life 39.75 Years MSP 28 AFR 1% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 1 Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 300 months Spare Berths 0
Magazine 1
J250(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 250 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Military Ion Drive 6P/0.122F-TR50 (1) Power 6 Fuel Use 12.25% Signature 3 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 70,000 Litres Range 419.7 billion km (3968 days at full power)
Size 1 Box Launcher (1) Missile Size 1 Hangar Reload 7.5 minutes MF Reload 1.2 hours
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
Still nothing. No squadron transit. No standard transit. Just to confirm my own sanity, I double checked that the Beagle Mk. II can jump. Yes, it still can, both standard and squadron. This is especially weird because both the Mutt and the Mutt Mk. II were designed by copying the Beagle Mk. II and subtracting one part or the other.
Gestalt ship design. My mind is officially blown.
EDIT: Charlie Beeler appears to have solved this mystery a mere five minutes after I posted it into the bugs thread. The problem is that the fighter's weight must match the jump drive rating exactly. Here is the latest model of the Beagle:
Beagle Mk.IV class Shuttle 250 tons 5 Crew 46.2 BP TCS 5 TH 3 EM 0
1200 km/s JR 1-50 Armour 1-3 Shields 0-0 Sensors 1/1/0/0 Damage Control Rating 0 PPV 0
Maint Life 30.83 Years MSP 23 AFR 2% IFR 0% 1YR 0 5YR 1 Max Repair 10 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 550 months Spare Berths 1
J250(1-50) Military Jump Drive Max Ship Size 250 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 1
Military Ion Drive 6P/0.122F-TR50 (1) Power 6 Fuel Use 12.25% Signature 3 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 70,000 Litres Range 411.4 billion km (3968 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Fighter for production, combat and maintenance purposes
It jumps just fine. As he stated, this need for precision does remain a bug.
Way to go, Charlie. Now I can send my intrepid crew of scientists and their lantern jawed captain out into the farthest reaches of known space to hunt for antediluvian ruins and green skinned alien women who dance the Dance of Seven Veils.