Hyperspace Drives

[Ironwatsas]

Could this be a possible option for the largest of transport ships to mount, in exchange for a lost thruster perhaps?

Probably not. That'd be a powertrader's heaven come to earth. The loss of a thruster wouldn't really mitigate it. The only thing that would on a transport is it sapping up like 90% of the cargo space, so it wouldn't serve a practical purpose.

The only exception is the Barge, due to it's inability to maneuver between systems. But that'd have the same problem as the above. But given the rarity of the barge and cost of fuel, even the massive profits a load of ore would bring in would only JUST pay for the fuel cost of jumping the thing.

Also, about the interdictor ship... it's interdiction field should be of similar range to the hyperjump field... other than that, someone might just park it 50K up, and prevent any work in the system, except through the classical means of travel.

If it can be scripted, sure. That is a valid problem. However, a fleet could just jump to a jumphole in a neighboring system and use that. Which is kind of the point of a gravwell. Plus, if a gravwell is 50k or so away from a target fleet, it can't prevent them from jumping OUT of a system or disrupt cruise or serve as anything aside from dead weight.

The reason I suggest making it impossible to jump INTO a whole system with a gravwell near is the fact that I don't know how difficult it would be for detection of it's radius from whole systems away. And the fact that a fleet would still be able to jump in on top of someone if the gravwell or right next to it's radius. Thus would make a gravity well ineffective on a strategic level.

The reason it dosen't affect jumping OUT of a whole system is that big, expensive capships should have a viable retreat mechanism. If they can escape the range of a gravity well or destroy it then they'll be able to power up their hyperdrive and make a clean getaway. this is one of the major uses of a hyperdrive.

Also, make Hyperdrive cost 1.3 Billion, and resale value 100 million, if possible

Exact costs factor in sellpoints, faction use, cumulative fuel costs, etc. Needless to say, it's going to be prohibitively expensive. So only factions or VERY well connected indies will be able to affoard one.

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