Re: FT3 DEVELOPMENT QUESTION: FTL

Continuing the very useful discussion on FTL, I'm going to get my long
pointy stick out once more and prod the ListMind Collective again to
keep things going…..

How many SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT styles/concepts of FTL travel can we
come up with between us from SF movies, TV and literature?

To start things off, I'd say we have the Star Trek model (which is
ironically looking like it just MIGHT be the most plausible, in the form
of the Alcubierre Drive) in which the ship forms a warp bubble of
spacetime around itself and can then go very, very fast through normal
space because it is "stationary" in relation to the spacetime inside its
bubble…. in terms of game effect, the ship just turns on its warp
drive and "fwoosh", it's off the table. Only ships with warp engines can
travel FTL.

Then you have the Star Wars approach, the classic "hyperspace" drive
which again requires a ship to be equipped with hyperspace engines,
which can seemingly be engaged at almost any time - fire up the
hyperdrive and you're off into FTL, but there is still a significant
flight time (hours, days or weeks) in hyperspace to reach your
destination.

The BSG model is probably closest to the "semi-official" GZG verse
version of "jump", the ship winks out from normal space and immediately
(as far as the crew are concerned) arrives somewhere else. Once again,
ships need to have jump engines to do this, or be carried in something
bigger which has jump capability.

Babylon 5 has the measurable-flight-time-in-hyperspace model with fixed
Jump gates that can open a jump point that allows any ship or small
craft to enter and exit hyperspace, but add the twist that large ships
(particularly warships and explorers) can create their own Jump Points
if they carry the necessary engines.

Then you have all the others like Collapsar Jumps (take a looooooong
run-up in normal space towards a Collapsar, hit it just right and pop
out somewhere else…) and several other flavours of jump point
concepts, both naturally-occurring and artificially produced.

Interestingly, the only series I am aware of that actually has more than
one type of FTL travel (as I recall, at least three different methods?)
is Brian Stableford's old "Hooded Swan" books - quite fun as I recall
them, though nowadays they would quite likely be categorised as "Young
Adult" SF…. 

OK, feel free to add to this list with any personal favourites, wherever
they come from……

Jon (GZG)