Re: [VV] Vectorverse FTL

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 00:16:47 -0500, Laserlight <laserlight@quixnet.net>
wrote:
> I said:
> > > I think manmade jump gates would imply too high tech a culture...
> 
> Beth said:
> >Why? Whats so much more advanced involved in a gate vs an engine?
> 
> I think of jumpgates as providing instant teleportation, and FTL
> drives as taking several hours/days/weeks to get where they're going.
> And I think of it as easier to build a boat to ride an existing river,
> rather than build a river. YMMV.

Well... to steal from the B5 universe, the only races who actually
understand how jump gates and drives work are the ancients (vorlon,
shadow, etc). The other races only ape the hardware. They can build
jumpgates and drives, but they have no real understanding why....

You can have it set up in such a manner that when discovering new
systems, there is a chance of an abandoned jumpgate that the nation
can reverse engineer and use...