Space Travel

Over the centuries, the various races of the galaxy have developed many unique ways of traveling the vast expanse of space at FTL speeds.

Overview

Sublight Engine

Sublight engines are used for non-FTL travel. While completely impractical for long-distance travel, sublight engines are perfectly for suited maneuvering in a local area of space and are far less energy intensive than any FTL engine.

Faster-Than-Light Travel

Standard Drive

The cheapest, simplest and most common method of FTL travel is the standard drive, known by many names such as the interstellar drive. The standard FTL drive works by quickly accelerating the vessel to FTL speeds. This method, while easy to perform, has a number of drawbacks: it can only go in a straight line, it can be tracked and intercepted, and it is the slowest method of FTL travel, sometimes by a significant degree. At the same time, their relative simplicity compared to other models makes them easy to maintain compared to more complex engines. Standard drives need time to cool down and recharge between each jump, a process that can take several minutes.

Bubble Drive

Developed by the Sauran, bubble drives produce a large 'bubble' that envelops both the ship and any object around it; the larger and more powerful the drive, the larger the bubble, with capitol ships being able to transport dozens of surrounding vessels. The bubble functions in a manner similar to that of a bubble floating through the air; the inside of the bubble is essentially the same as the outside, but the barrier prevents outside space from getting inside. The bubble 'pushes' through space, which bends around it, allowing the vessel to travel at faster-than-light speeds. The main benefit of this method of travel is that so long as a vessel is near a ship equipped with a bubble drive, it itself does not require one, allowing space for more armor, weapons, or other facilities.

Jump Drive

Jump drives bend space between the destination and the vessel before 'flinging' the ship towards the desired location in a manner similar to that of a slingshot. This method is significantly faster than a standard drive and is far more difficult, if not outright impossible, to intercept, though it is still not instantaneous. While this method allows ships to travel vast distances and catch opponents off-guard, jump drives have both a warm up and a cool down period and are energy-intensive, especially for longer jumps. The time required to make a second jump makes retreating from an unfavorable situation difficult and risky, as jump drives are sensitive to stress caused by rapid jumps.

Subspace Drive

Used by both the Aeveria and the Zaretians, subspace drives, also known as slipstream drives by the Aeveria, generate a subspace tunnel connecting one point of the universe to another. It achieves this by vibrating the vessel until it is synchronized with subspace, generating a vortex in the process. The Aeverians use subspace drives for short-range movements between systems. Zaretian subspace drives of capable of chaining multiple jumps, allowing them to outmaneuver and ambush other ships.

Warp Drive

Several nations, notably the Rach, Aeverians, Karahotdoum, and IAE, utilize the Void to travel through space. This is achieved by entering into the Void via a portal and then traveling at faster-than-light speeds towards the destination, where the ship will then exit back into realspace. The IAE utilizes corridor drives to create both temporary and permanent 'corridors' through the Void. The Rach are notable for their highly advanced Void-travel technology; both starships and terrestrial units are capable of using the Void for travel, giving them a significant advantage over their enemies in terms of mobility. The main benefit of Void travel is that it is nearly impossible to track; it is only possible to detect vessels entering or exiting the Void. Extended travel through the Void can be risky however, as the inhabitants of the alternate-dimension may attack the vessel, though this is extremely rare and only occurs in prolonged expeditions.

The Remusian Republic, and more recently the Repzork, utilize a variation of the Warp Drive which accesses a naturally occurring network of 'tunnels' in the Void known as Hyperlanes. Hyperlanes connect one point of space to another and are isolated from the rest of the Void, making it impossible to freely explore the dimension, but also rendering the lanes safe from incursions by the Void's inhabitants. Remusian Hyperlane Portal Drives are capable of chaining up to fifteen jumps before needing to recharge., while Repzork Lane Drives can only make 10 jumps, though they are rapidly improving as the empire dedicates more resources to Void research. The creation of artificial lanes between systems has thus far been largely unsuccessful with the exception of the Rift Incident, when malfunctioning Remusian and Repzork devices unintentionally created a lane between the two nations, facilitation contact between the two.

Warpgate

Warpgates, known as quantum gates by the Luminarians, are two-way portals. Warpgates can be constructed in space to move starships or on a planet so as to move troops and supplies. Warp gates provide instantaneous travel, making them one of the fastest forms of travel in the known galaxy. But they are extremely energy-intensive. For naval operations, the Luminarian's main method of travel is via quantum gates; most of their vessels have no FTL engines of their own, exchanging them for improved armor and weapon systems. Instead, the gates are constructed with small FTL-capable drives built into them. The gate is then deployed to the target location and activated, allowing the rest of the fleet to advance. The obvious drawback to this is if the gate is destroyed, the ships cannot retreat, and the gates themselves require time to construct.

Draft Drive

The Draft Drive has its roots in standard drives that, while still faster than light, were growing too costly, advanced or complex for the industry to innovate further. Draft Drives operate by leaving behind a trail of torn space that lingers for a time, eventually coalescing back together with only some long term cosmic damage. Ships can take advantage of the momentum and negative friction in the tear that follows the first ship to reach speeds far exceeding an otherwise subpar standard drive alternative with only basic engine requirements. Smaller, narrower draft-tears are easier to generate than larger, wider ones but last for shorter periods of time. During the flow-back period, attempting to drive a new path through the collapsed old one is significantly more difficult and dangerous, so frequent fliers such as shipping companies need to rotate routes, taking varieties of pitstops at otherwise backwater worlds. Because the networks are constantly fluctuating, experienced navigation is a must. Civilian ships can achieve long distance capabilities by rotating the lead ship in a convoy when blazing new trails. Militarily, it can mean that a navy can save tonnage on ships otherwise occupied by full FTL equipment and can focus on tactical rather than strategic engine designs as long as they have ships that can act as leadships with a full Draft Drive. Still, Draft Drive speeds remain below galactic averages, are easy to detect because of cosmic radiation generated by the tearing process, and not cost effective for singular vessels. It is believed to have more negative health effects on the body than other methods of FTL travel on leadships (some races compensate by using unmanned/temporarily-unmanned leaderships).

The Draft Drive also has an interesting side effect of interfering with some other FTL methods (including Standard, Subspace, and Jump drives) if not accounted for. Ships coming into proximity with a lingering draft-tear during FTL travel may find their ship caught in the draft, pulled along, and flung far off from their original destination. This can essentially leave a minefield preventing ships from simply blazing into territory rife with Draft Drive activity. Certain FTL methods like Warpgates, Warpdrives, and Bubbledrives(?) experience no interruptions. Leftover cosmic damage may also cause problems for those intruding into such territory

The Draft Drive is frequently (but not exclusively) used by the Betel, especially in the civilian sector to save on FTL costs. This helps contribute to the complex and shifting Betel economy and encourages the use of small but plentiful shipping vessels instead of large but fewer ones.