Hyperspace

Hyperspace is the method of travel between star systems at superluminal speeds. Only ships fitted with a hyperspace jump-capable Frameshift Drive are able to initiate a hyperspace jump on their own.

Please Note: The following is taken directly from the Design Decision Forum and will need to be checked and amended as elements are implemented into current gameplay.

Before the player can initiate a hyperspace jump they must set the final destination of the journey:

• The player selects a destination using a galactic map navigation interface
• The destination choice is hard-limited by several factors:
  • The amount of fuel available determines the maximum distance of a trip
    • Ships have an internal fuel capacity – additional fuel can be carried as cargo and transferred to the ship’s tank
  • The basic jump range of the ship’s hyperdrive, determines the distance of each step of the trip
    • Different hyperdrives have different capabilities
      • Jump range
      • Fuel efficiency
      • Charge time
    • Hyperdrives can be replaced with better models to increase capabilities
  • Jump locations available to their star map determine the route of the trip
• The player may also have access to additional information that could inform their decisions:
  • Activity heat maps for trade, piracy, conflicts etc.
  • Hyperspace tracking/prediction devices to monitor local ship activity
• A hyperspace journey may comprise of a number of jumps depending on the distance travelled
• When inputting a journey, there may be multiple routes available to choose from
• Once a destination has been inputted the hyperdrive can be engaged

Once a journey has been set, the player can engage the hyperdrive:

• When the hyperdrive is engaged it begins to draw power from the ship’s power plant until it is fully charged:
  • The hyperdrive cannot be initiated if its power draw would make the total power draw of the ship exceed the ship’s power plant capacity
    • The player can disable power safeguards to enable the plant to run at over 100%, suffering fatigue damage in the process
    • The player can turn off other powered systems to free up capacity for the hyperdrive
  • The hyperdrive cannot be initiated when the ship is too close to a celestial body or large man-made structure; the ship must use in-system travel to reach a minimum jump distance
  • To create a safe transit the hyperdrive must perform real-time changes based on ship’s power draw; changes to the ship’s total power draw (up or down) slow the charge rate by a percentage value for a duration
    • The percentage value and duration is based on the quality of the hyperdrive
  • The hyperdrive is sensitive to interference caused by incoming attacks; when an attack impacts on the hull or shields, the hyperdrive’s charge rate is slowed by a percentage value for a duration
    • This effect cannot stack with itself
    • The percentage value and duration is based on the quality of the hyperdrive
  • Special exotic modules can be fitted to ships which when activated interfere with a targeted hyperdrive in range, slowing down charge rates by a percentage value whilst active
    • This effect cannot stack with itself
    • The percentage value and duration is based on the quality of the module versus the quality of the hyperdrive
  • A hyperdrive module that has suffered damage may suffer a malfunction when initiated
    • The charge rate may be impaired
      • The percentage value and duration is based on the severity of the malfunction
    • The hyperdrive may misfire, becoming inoperable for a short duration whilst it runs diagnostics, after which it can be initiated again
    • The charging process may generate extra heat
    • The hyperdrive may misjump
  • Whilst charging the hyperdrive generates heat
• Once the hyperdrive is fully charged it activates:
  • The appropriate amount of fuel is removed
  • The drive discharges all power
  • The ship enters hyperspace
  • Time-based effects (charging shields etc.) continue as normal during a hyperspace transition
  • A residual opening is left, which dissipates over a duration (up to minutes)
• After a delay (a few seconds) the ship exits hyperspace at the destination area
  • If the journey consists of more than one jump the hyperdrive automatically begins to charge for the next jump
  • The player can cancel/pause the journey at this point
• Certain types of hyperdrive can use fuel upgrades, and modules are available to allow normal hyperdrives to use them
  • Fuel upgrades are carried as cargo units and can be committed to a hyperdrive jump whilst a route is being plotted
  • Fuel upgrades increase the capabilities of the hyperdrive for a single jump
  • Fuel upgrades produce dangerous waste as cargo units

These multiple jumps for a journey can go via dark systems, rogue bodies surrounded by lightless, dust-filled space, which will:

• Support all sorts of interesting encounters in their own right
• Become useful physical star map locations to discover
• Allow multiple routes to a destination
• Allow players to meet each other far from civilization

There are actions that players can take which directly interact with hyperspace jumps:

• Players that have become Allies (an explicit in game selection of a "friends" flag) can slave their ships together and jump as a single entity
  • All ships involved must fully charge their hyperdrive before the jump is initiated
  • If any of the ships suffers a misjump, all ships misjump together
  • Each slave jumping ship must remain within a set range to at least one other slave ship
    • If this distance link is broken, the jump is aborted for all slaved ships
  • For each additional slaved ship the chance of a malfunction causing a misjump is lowered
  • Ally groups enable the strongest match-making rules, prioritizing the integrity of the group over match ups with other players if it would result in splitting the allies group
• Using specialized ship modules a residual opening can be analyzed to determine the exit point of the hyperspace jump
  • This analysis takes an amount of time
  • It takes at least as long as the time window for tailgating (so you can’t do both)
  • It must fully complete before the residual opening dissipates to give a result
  • Analysis of a miss jump gives the original target as the result, with a probability of a misjump based on how quickly the analysis was started after the jump occured
• Ships can target a residual opening and attempt to “tailgate” after the ship that jumped
  • The tailgater must be in close proximity to the residual opening and activate the hyperdrive
    • The time window for tailgating is a fraction of residual opening’s total existence time
    • There is a significant reduction in charge time for tailgating
    • Fuel is expended for the jump as normal
      • If the tailgater does not have enough fuel to reach the destination they misjump
    • If the actual jump range is greater than the tailgater’s hyperdrive capability they misjump
    • The closer the residual opening is to dissipating when the tailgate jump is initiated the greater the chance of a misjump
    • The tailgater suffers an amount of hull/module damage during the jump based on how close the residual opening is to dissipating
    • If successful, the tailgater appears very close to arrival point of the tailgated vessel
• Special ship modules exist that when active can give brief forewarning of ships about to arrive nearby at a location
• Specialised munitions can be obtained which disrupt residual openings, preventing tailgating and analysis

Misjumps have their own set of rules:

• Misjumps can result from a number of scenarios
  • A hyperdrive malfunction can result in a misjump
  • A galactic map malfunction can result in a misjump
  • Activating the hyperdrive inside certain space phenomena can result in a misjump
  • Attempting to tail-gate another ship’s jump can result in a misjump
• A misjump transports the ship to a new destination
  • This distance between the new destination and the target destination is a random value based on the distance travelled (the longer the jump, the greater the misjump range potential)
  • The misjump destination may be the outer limits of an inhabited system, or a dark system
    • Such systems may not yet be in the player’s galactic map
  • Very rarely, a misjump can result in turning up somewhere else
• After a misjump, the hyperdrive automatically runs a diagnostics test for a duration before it can be charged again
• There is no way to force a misjump other than directly sabotaging the hyperdrive module to guarantee a malfunction