FASTER THAN LIGHT TRAVEL IN CBSG
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Hi All,
This is my first post to the board...
Below is a work in progress. It concentrates on on the strategic and tactical effects of what I think CBSG uses as an FTL drive. Interestingly, it is pretty close to the Engines page at the BSG/TM
http://www.tecr.com/galactica/ (I originally posted it there under th name DorsaiLeader).
Comments are invited....
Please note: This is not complete; I basically ran out of steam and stalled, which is why I'm posting it here...
Thanks.
WarMachine
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FASTER THAN LIGHT TRAVEL IN THE ORIGINAL BATTLESTAR GALACTICA UNIVERSE
Jump-Line Transits and Naval Combat Doctrine of the Twelve Colonies and the Cylon Empire
by Michael A. Cessna, ©2005
Based on "Battlestar Galactica" created by Glen A. Larson, c.1978, CE; all rights reserved.
This work is supplemental and complimentary to the Battlestar Galactica Technical Manual:
www.tecr.com/galactica/en...ngines.htm
INTRODUCTION
In analyzing any science fiction series, the caveat always exists that there will need to be many assumptions made, and that "hard science" cannot be reliably used to predict the physical aspects of that universe. That said, it is still possible to analyze certain aspects of a given universes technology, and how it impacts (or should impact) that universe's storyline. The first question to ask is: how does the Galactica travel faster than light? Answer: In the TV show and novelizations, there are references to 'going to lightspeed', but there is never a very clear description of the process in anything this author is aware of that can be regarded as 'canon'.
It is the contention of this author that FTL systems in the Original Series(C/BSG) are of a 'Tram-Line/Wormhole' nature, and that everything seen in C/BSG supports this view. The purpose of this article will be to both demonstrate the validity of the use of the jump-line drive in C/BSG, and to discuss the ramifications of such a drive in regards to naval/space combat tactics and strategy.
A 'tram-line' FTL drive was described in detail in the book 'The Mote in God's Eye', by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, 1974, ISBN# 0671741926. In sum, it predicates points in a solar system where the fabric of space-time is flexible enough to allow a ship to travel to another star directly linked with that one point. Travel through 'real-space' is by normal reaction thrusters(chemical rockets)...and can take a very long time, relative to the interstellar 'jump', which takes essentially no time at all.
PROOFS OF THE USE OF A TRAM-LINE/CIRCUIT DRIVE IN C/BSG
The first demonstration of this drive we have is the attack on the Colonial Fleet at the Cimtar Moon. This is also our first look at both Cylon and Colonial fleet operations. There is no direct evidence in the TV episode that the Cimtar moon is inside the Colonial home system; in fact, the circumstances would strongly mitigate against it - even if the Cylons were negotiating a real peace treaty, they would not wish to enter the Colonial home system directly, and the Colonials certainly would not want an unknown number of Cylon warships in the heart of their home system. For their attack to work, the Cylons had to lure the bulk of Colonial fleet elements away from the Twelve Colonies' home system, and the presumption is that they chose the Cimtar system to draw the Fleet far enough away from the Colonies that even if one or two Battlestars escaped the ambush - as the Galactica did - they would not arrive in time to affect the main Cylon attack.
The episode opens with Zac trying to talk Starbuck into sitting out what they think will be their last combat patrol before peace is declared. The Colonial fleet is shown variously deployed in either a "line-ahead" or a "line-abreast" pattern, but in both cases, they are deployed along a roughly parallel course, both vertically and horizontally, much like a WW2 bomber aircraft formation. Given that their primary threat appears to be from fighter craft, this is understandable, as most attacks later in the season come from either above or below, and such a formation would minimize "friendly fire" incidents between vessels.
During the afformentioned patrol, a strike group of Cylon Raiders is located as it attempts to pass unobserved through a natural phenomenon. It is further discovered that two empty Cylon tankers are also present. The logical, and apparently true, assumption is that the Cylon fighters refueled at the tankers as they prepared to move on the Colonial Fleet. It is pointed out that Cylon fighters could not operate so far from the Cylon homeworld without a base-ship, and the veteran Warrior Captain Apollo quickly makes the correct assumption that the Cylon fighters refuelled at the tankers, but that their base-ships are elsewhere. Why? How could fighters, unequipped with FTL drives even get to the Cimtar system without a base-ship, and why did the Fleet not detect the base-ships, either entering or leaving?
The answer is that the fighters were not dropped off by base-ship. By 'tucking' themselves in closely with the tankers, the fighters were enveloped in the tankers' spherical jump fields. Since the fighters would need to have their tanks topped off before starting their attack, having them jump in with the tankers makes perfect sense.
Turning to the Colonial side, as the Cylon strike package engages the Colonial Fleet, Commander Adama, receiving the intelligence about the tankers-but-no-baseships immediately notifies the President aboard the Atlantia that he is withdrawing to try and defend the Colonies. This is obviously a 'forlorn hope', as the Galactica's Viper squadrons are already closely engaged with the Cylon strike package, and the Galactica will undoubtedly face several capitol ships with fully-deployed squadrons of Raiders, all without being able to recover its fighter squadrons. In a very short span of time, the Galactica arrives in the Twelve Colonies' home system, and is greeted by the spectacle of a massive Cylon raiding fleet levelling every human Colony; significantly, reference is made to Cylon baseships "...launching against all outer planets". The presumption is that the Galactica has entered the system at a point significantly far from any one Colony that they can render no effective aid, Viper squadrons or no.
With a jump-line FTL drive, this makes perfect sense. Data presumably long-known to the Cylons would reveal the exact rotational period of every planet in the Colonial system; as this is at least a binary - and possibly a trinary - system, it would be extremely large in size, as expressed in AU's (astrnomical units). Even if the Galactica made a high-speed run to a jump point, and successfully jumped into the Colonial System, it would have been too late. If the Cylons selected Cimtar as the place to lure the Colonial Fleet into an ambush, it was because no Colonial-system planetary body was close enough to the adjoining jump-point at the time of the attack that could have had aid rendered to it by any surviving Colonial forces. This would give the Cylons the potential for a complete "knock-out" blow, destroying the Colonies' military and industrial powerbases at a single stroke. Coupled with the apparent sabotage to Colonial system defenses conducted by Baltar's agents, this sealed the Colonies' fate.
