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Old October 1st, 2005, 09:07 PM   #2
WarMachine
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Default Faster Than Light Travel In Cbsg, Pt 2

Faster Than Light Travel In Cbsg, Pt 2

[cont.]

An indeterminate amount of time after the Galactica arrives in-system, Adama and Apollo land near their former home on Caprica; although conjectural, it would appear that at least some Cylon ground units have arrived on-planet at this point. It is highly likely that the Cylons, with limited fleet and ground force units immediately available (they did have an Empire to garrison, after all), were unable to land a full-scale invasion force with the initial assault; the follow-on, "exploitation and extermination" troops would mop up the remaining humans following delivery via baseships working in relays. This delay gives the Galactica time to assemble the "rag-tag, fugitive fleet".

To backtrack a bit, while Adama and Apollo are on Caprica, the surviving Vipers of the fleet rendesvous with the Galactica. Again, how? Unless specially modified(rendering them unarmed), Vipers are incapable of FTL flight on their own. In the novelization, the Vipers refuel at an "ambush screened" fueling station. This is where we run into a continuity issue, as the Vipers still cannot make FTL on their own...on the other hand, it is highly likely that they did the same thing as the Cylons, i.e. hitched a ride with a jump-capable ship. It really doesn't matter, functionally, whether the fueling station was jump-capable or whether the Vipers hitched a ride on the Cylon tankers or a passing Colonial freighter; the fact is, the Vipers had to have assistance in reaching the Colonies, and they likely did that via a jump-point, as they had no Battlestars to ferry them.

Next, we have the Colonial refugee fleet. Several of the ships are known to be incapable of FTL flight on their own. So...how are they moving along? It is physically impossible for the entire fleet to move at sub-light speeds, as everyone would be long-dead before they reached the next system. The answer, again, is the jump-line drive. In a manner similar to the Cylon Raiders and surviving Colonial Vipers at Cimtar, the FTL-incapable ships would 'nestle' in close to FTL-capable ships for the jump, then spread out at the destination system. Because of the physics of the jump drive, ships arriving in the target system would have to plod along under normal-space drives to get to the next jump point, and as was repeatedly demonstrated, most of the refugee fleet was barely able to run its engines, limiting advance rates to the speed of the slowest vessel[s], as the Colonials cannot afford to ruthlessly abandon disabled ships.

Next is the movement of the Colonial refugee fleet to planet Carillon, for rest and refuelling. Carillon was chosen as it was known to have raw Tylium fuel deposits, and the Colonial refugee fleet would be able to use their fuel ships to process the raw ore into fuel. It was also known (or at least assumed) that food could be obtained there. In the deliberations among the new Council of the Twelve, reference was made to the fact that the most popular way to approach Carillon was closed off the fleet, as it "was surely guarded". Captain Apollo's alternative plan was to approach Carillon via the Nova of Madagon - a pathway between two close-together stars. It was pointed out that this way was unguarded because it was mined. Why? Because the most popular (and likely, the safest) route was via a jump-point on the far side of the Carillon system, and it was either guarded within the Carillon system, or more likely, it was guarded on the far side of the jump point, i.e. the next system over (this was likely for political reasons). For this reason, even though there was a small Cylon presence on Carillon itself, when the Colonial fleet suddenly appeared through the nova, it took time for reinforcements to be summoned, and approach from the standard jump-point.

Finally, as the last proof example presented here, is the continued existance of the fleet itself. After the Carillon battle, the Colonial refugee fleet begins a long-running 'stern-chase', where the Cylons are continually hunting the Colonials, but are unable to do more than shadow them at any given time. The Cylons, in fact, are almost never able to gather a credible force to destroy the Galactica and its fleet; even when that fleet approaches a major Cylon regional capitol, there is barely one task force's worth of Raider craft available for defense -- because the rest of the assigned units are hunting Commander Cain's Battlestar Pegasus.

With a more common form of science fiction FTL drive such as a Star Trek-like 'warp drive', a Star Wars 'hyperdrive', or even a Babylon 5 'hyperspace'/'jumpgate' drive, it would be possible to easily trap the Colonial fleet at some point, because all of the aforementioned drives are non-locale-dependant in nature. The easiest way to perceive a tram-line system is to think of it in terms of pre-atmospheric flight Earth: Almost all transoceanic travel had to pass through a series of "choke points" - canals or narrow straits. FTL tram-lines function as 'gateways' that must be opened and closed to allow a ship to pass through the canal/strait.

In this model, seas like the Mediterranean are analogous to star systems: within the system, you can move as quickly are your engines will push you. However, once you come to a jump-point/strait, you must use a special engine/pay a toll to pass through to the next sea/system. As a result, if you are in a system with multiple jump points, an enemy would not only have to know _which_ jump point you traveled through, _and_ what system that point connected to, but they would also have to send a relay ship to notify pursuing fleet elements of your course...and although messages can move at the speed of light, ships take considerably longer. While within charted space, this would present no real difficulties for a pursuer.

However, once into uncharted space, all of the advantages are on the Galactica's side: all it has to do is slip through three or four "nexus" systems (systems with multiple jump-points), and the bulk of the pursuing Cylon fleet will be functionally incapable of catching up. The exception to this rule is the immediately-pursuing forces. However, their ability to maintain pursuit is increasingly limited as they stray farther and farther from their base-territory. Additionally, their ability to summon reinforcements will decrease expotentionally with every multi-point system they pursue the Colonial fleet through.


IMPLICATIONS AND IMPACTS TO TACTICAL AND STRATEGIC OPERATIONS OF A TRAM-LINE DRIVE

Given the assumption of a tram-line/jump-point drive in BSG/TOS, what effect would this have on tactical and strategic operations, and do the televised prorgams reflect these concerns? Strategically speaking, the main concerns are communications and fleet movements.

Communications

Due to the physics of a jump-line system, communication in the absence of FTL radio, while slower, is still extremely fast -- within Charted Space. This is becaus ethe natural inclination would be to construct a "pony express" type of system, where a ship jumps into a system, and transmits a message to a ship at the next jump point, which jumps to the next system in line and repeats the process. As a result, within a certain radius, communications can move at technically-faster-than-light speeds, slowed only by however much time is necessary to jump nd transmit data; the Cylons would have the advantage in this, as their sysems would be cycling at a far faster rate than Colonial systems (which appear to utilize a far higher degree of external, physical intervention; this makes Colonial nets more secure, but slower). On the other hand, moving ships and troops can be time-consuming, and extremely expensive, beyond a certain point: the advantages of the jump drive are offset by the need for real-space fuel, spare parts, and the necessity of constructing bases and repair depots to support ship movements.

Impact On Strategic And Tactical Operations

As a jump-line drive has no use or effect in real-space, away from jump-points, there are no concerns vis direct FTL combat; indeed, such combat is not possible using this FTL system. Ship-to-ship combat would occur at sublight velocities; however, there seems to be a discontinuity in BSG combat scenes, as vessels of all classes rarely seem to enter a deceleration phase. The explanation behind this is that such vessels use some type of inertial compensation/cancellation system. This is not directly realted to FTL tactics, but goes some way to explaining 'SCM' (Space Combat Maneuvering) as seen in the BSG universe. Despite repeated mention of "electronic" and/or "magnetic" shields in the BSG universe, lack of an effective shielding technology on the order of that seen in Star Wars or Star Trek results in small one-to-three-person fighter craft having the ability to severely damage or destroy capital-grade warships, even if they need large numbers to do it. But there are other reasons for the existance of one-man fighters, namely, the need for reconnaissance and pickets. A vessel's sensor suite is only so good; it would need satellite craft (fighters or shuttles) to extend its sensor range.
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