How fast can the Streak Drive climb hyper bands?

Hi all,

I'm embarrassed somebody hadn't thought of this years ago!

While the Streak Drive has enormous strategic significance, I'm wondering if it doesn't have tactical limitations.

Given we know its a brute force approach, and that the hyper generators are twice as big as the normal, does it take twice as long to reset or climb to the next band?

For example, we know DD's can be reset in ~4 minutes, while SD's take ~8 minutes, because of their relative mass etc; but do the Streak Drives take longer because they're so much bigger?

Does it take 40%, 50%, or twice as long?

Or are they faster throughout or just overall?

Or is the Streak Drive operate normally in the lower bands, ie resetting just as fast, but taking longer in the higher bands?

Given the crudity of MAlign starship tech, I think the former's more likely than the latter.

Can you see some ways Streak Drive ships, even if they are faster climbing in hyper might be trapped in hyper by ships waiting to ambush them, looking for proof among the damage or wreckage?

Your insights are more than welcome.

L

David made a point that the MA has thought through these sorts of issues. So there are no obvious weaknesses that haven't been addressed in some way.

kzt wrote:David made a point that the MA has thought through these sorts of issues. So there are no obvious weaknesses that haven't been addressed in some way.

True, but I don't think a 50% slower recycle time between band changes is a significant weakness.

The one place it taking twice as long could screw you is if you jump into n-space and discover you're unexpectedly in range of an opponent. Then every extra second it takes before you can flee back into hyper reduced your chance of successful evasion.

But that's not a situation that comes up a lot, and it certainly shouldn't for ships with both spider and streak drives because they should always be going for distant stealthy entry. It might be a problem for conventional warships equiped with streak drives; but one you can usually compensate for in exchange for the strategic mobility.


However my best guess is that up through the Theta bands there probably isn't much if any difference in recharge times between normal and streak generators.

lyonheart wrote:For example, we know DD's can be reset in ~4 minutes, while SD's take ~8 minutes, because of their relative mass etc; but do the Streak Drives take longer because they're so much bigger?

Is it the mass of the hyper drive or the size of the hyper field (which would be the same for a Streak drive and a normal hyper drive)?

Lyonheart:

You have brought up an issue I have been wondering about for many years. (Tried calculating travel times around a system for instance or between systems and there is this gigantic void at step number 1)

Other than the limitations, extrapolations, you have proposed, I have one more:

Brute force when commonly used refers to massive power applied. Generally speaking. Not difficult to accomplish, rather, $$$ intensive for operation.

*** We only know how long SLN SD's take to recharge ***

I would propose that total energy required is tied to mass and size of field. But how said energy is stored/discharged could easily vary depending on several factors. Streak drive could discharge its field much faster(higher power) than common designs.

1) More massive capacitors required for a quicker charge/discharge cycle

2) More massive power feed system required for a quicker charge

3) Efficiency of slower charging capacitors could be better(Fuel consumption) Or Capacitor density is superior.

4) MTBF of slower charging capacitors could be superior

5) All leads to: Cost of these faster dis/charging capacitors is more expensive

This leads to: How much $$$/mass a navy is going to designate as part of their ship design into the hyper generator instead of extra missiles, fuel for extended deployment etc.

I could easily see that DB boats have the $$$/Mass to dump into these superior hyper generator systems where Warships on the other hand have more pressing matters like Sidewall generators, CM's totals, MDM totals, along with patrol range before refueling. Especially when impeller drive ships have a semi-hard ceiling for tonnage. A spider ship on the other hand... does not.

Where have you gotten the idea that MAlign starship tech is crude? It isn't addressed directly in textev at all. The indirect evidence (the Sharks, the ghost scouts, the very existence of the streak DBs, etc) tends to indicate somewhat the opposite, IMHO.

Further, in some of RFC's posts and pearls he has referred to the MAlign as one of the few star nations that is even within shouting distance of Manticore's starship technical achievements and quality. Probably not as good as Grayson, but maybe on a par with the Empire (and Haven.)

dreamrider

lyonheart wrote:Hi all,

...

Given the crudity of MAlign starship tech, I think the former's more likely than the latter.

...
Your insights are more than welcome.

L

lyonheart wrote:Given we know its a brute force approach, and that the hyper generators are twice as big as the normal, does it take twice as long to reset or climb to the next band?

There is nothing in the text to indicate such a correlation.

Can you see some ways Streak Drive ships, even if they are faster climbing in hyper might be trapped in hyper by ships waiting to ambush them, looking for proof among the damage or wreckage?

Pulling off an intercept in hyper is already pretty damn hard. Pulling off an intercept against a ship climbing up or down even more so, presumably (Because they're going to be going through the bands as fast as they can safely cycle their drives, giving you only a few minutes of time in which to make your intercept).

The E wrote:Pulling off an intercept in hyper is already pretty damn hard. Pulling off an intercept against a ship climbing up or down even more so, presumably (Because they're going to be going through the bands as fast as they can safely cycle their drives, giving you only a few minutes of time in which to make your intercept).

And some of the text about hyper band (I'm thinking especially about Honor's little convoy reaching Grayon) gives the impression that you don't have to stop and recharge in each band, so you might be able to hop bands surprisingly quickly.

The Honor of the Queen wrote:earless hit the gamma wall, and her Warshawski sails bled transit energy like an azure forest fire. Her velocity dropped almost instantly from .3 C to a mere nine percent of light-speed, and Honor’s stomach heaved as her inner ear rebelled against a speed loss the rest of her senses couldn’t even detect. DuMorne’s calculations had allowed for the energy bleed, and their translation gradient steepened even further as their velocity fell. They hit the beta wall four minutes later, and Honor winced again—less violently this time—as their velocity bled down to less than two percent of light-speed. The visual display was a fierce chaos of heaving light as the convoy fell straight “down” across a “distance” which had no physical existence, and then they hit the alpha bands and flashed across them to the n-space wall like a comet.

So, at least going down the bands, you appear to be able to do a continuous transition down through them to n-space quicker than the hyper generator should be able to recharge. (A CA's hyper generator might have a 4 minute cycle time, but there's no way a run of the mill freighter's does)

I'm a bit obtuse on this subject, but apart from getting you where you need to go in a hurry, do streaks offer any tactical advantages apart from MAlign's very effective stealth?

Don

n7axw wrote:I'm a bit obtuse on this subject, but apart from getting you where you need to go in a hurry, do streaks offer any tactical advantages apart from MAlign's very effective stealth?

Don

Honor could have used Streak Drives when Eighth Fleet was conducting deep penetration raids and also acting as Home Fleet's reserve. She would have been able to reduce the time spent traveling to and from the raids and been able to either raid more or spend more time reinforcing Home Fleet in fact as well as in reputation.

Streak Drives are probably more valuable in the way the MAlign has been suing them: faster information flow gives them a strategic advantage similar to Manticore's inside position on information to and from the League.