Re: An idea! jump gates.

In-Reply-To:  your letter rec'd 21-OCT-1988 01:25


JumpGates, eh?  Hmmmmm.  I like it.  My first thought when I read the note
was to arrange it so you didn't need a jump engine on the ship at all.  Just
secondaries to get you around in the system.  This would allow you to save
space and money on the jump drives.  With the extra cargo/passenger space you
could lower your rates for transport.  This would allow you to sell more space
to people who could not afford it before, thereby raising your volume of
business.

Then I re-read your note.  You say that a jump drive is still necessary on
board the ship.  Whyso?  If you set up the gate as a ring (or some other
enclosed polygon) would not any matter entering it be jumped?  Assuming
it was turned on, of course.  What do the rest of you think?  This would allow
you to jump whole asteroids from system to system as raw materials...or
weapons.  "We could throw rocks at them..." --The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Finally, I believe this concept wouldn't be developed until higher tech levels.
Say 15 or 16.  The technology is significantly different...instead of jumping
the engine (and whats attached to it, i.e. the ship), you are jumping what is
NOT the engine (i.e. what the engine encloses).  What do the rest of you think?

That's all for now.  From the bridge of the NOMAD.

"You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars
I've been living on the edge so long, where the winds of limbo roar
And I'm young enough to look at, and far too old to see
All the scars are on the inside, I don't know if there's anything left of me..."

Captain Sir Michael Talmoth,  UPP:  BA5A8B
    AKA Paul Baughman
        AKA Unka Paul   ----> [email removed]

SnailMail:
    [address removed]

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