Stardrive, Frontier Elite II Variant (Spaceships)

Presented below is a stardrive system for use with GURPS Spaceships. This variant is based on the hyperdrives used in the video game Frontier Elite II. These are much bulkier than the default hyperdrive system, but are not high power systems (consuming fuel instead).

Hyperdrive (TL11^) [Any][]

A hyperdrive allows the ship to enter and travel through hyperspace for a maximum of 7 days, emerging in realspace a number of lightyears away.

SM	+5¹	+6	+7	+8	+9	+10	+11
Cost ($) Standard	30K	100K	300K	1M	3M	10M	30M

1) The lightest hyperdrive is a Class 1 (SM+6), so an SM+5 ship must install at least three systems.

Using a Hyperdrive[]

A hyperdrive functions as described on p. 40 of GURPS Spaceships, with the exception of a hyperdrive being directly rated for its maximum hyperspace journey distance rather than given an FTL rating.

A hyperdrive can technically be activated anywhere, although all legally-manufactured drives have a built-in lock that prevents it from being used within 10 miles of a space station or the surface of a planet.

Hyperdrive destinations are beacons placed within the outer orbit of star systems - typically 10 AU for a Sun-like star. Trade routes may also have interstellar beacons to allow slow ships to travel in multiple hyperspace steps between stars. A hyperdrive beacon also manages the exact position of a ship as it emerges from hyperspace to prevent collisions with other ships.

Fuel. Activating a hyperdrive consumes hydrogen fuel. The hyperdrive statistics table below shows the quantity consumed for a maximum-distance journey. Journeys of a shorter distance consume proportionally less fuel.

Journey Time. Travel in hyperspace takes 7 days for a maximum-distance journey. Travel time is reduced proportionally for shorter distances.

For example, an SM+6 ship has six hyperdrive systems, making it a class 2 drive. The maximum journey is 12 light years, consuming 4 tons of hydrogen fuel. If the destination beacon is 6 light years away, the hyperdrive instead consumes 2 tons of fuel and the journey takes 3-and-a-half days.

Hyperspace Cloud. Entering and exiting hyperspace leaves behind a radioactive hyperspace cloud that takes several days to disperse. A hyperspace clouds in comm/sensor range can be analyzed with the appropriate software to determine the tonnage of ship that created the cloud, and its destination or departure star system. This is of use to bounty hunters, pirates or assassins to track their target, and if a pursuit ship has a hyperdrive with greater rating, they can arrive before the target ship and lay in wait.

A desperate pilot can purposely force hyperdrive to "mis-jump" with an additional successful Navigation (Hyperspace) roll: this has all the ramifications of a critically failed navigation check, however hyperspace cloud analyzing software cannot distinguish between mis-jump and a normal jump.

Hyperdrive Classes[]

Hyperdrives are rated by their class, with different classes having varying efficiencies and fuel consumptions.

The total number of hyperdrive systems in a ship determines what class it is. Use following table to determine the hyperdrive's class shows what class of hyperdrive the ship has. For example, an SM +6 ship with 4 hyperdrive systems has a Class 2 drive.

Notes:

If the number of systems falls between two values, use the nearest value.
A ship must have a minimum of two hyperdrive systems, and no more than ten hyperdrive systems, for the hyperdrive to function.
The table includes intermediary SM hulls from Eric B. Smith's variant rules. A dash indicates that a ship of that mass cannot house that hyperdrive class.

Ship SM	+4	+4.5	+5	+5.5	+6	+6.5	+7	+7.5	+8	+8.5	+9	+9.5	+10
Class 1	-	6	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Class 2	-	-	-	7	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Class 3	-	-	-	-	8	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Class 4	-	-	-	-	-	7	5	2	-	-	-	-	-
Class 5	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	5	3	-	-	-	-
Class 6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	5	2	-	-	-
Class 7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	4	3	-	-
Class 8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	4	2	-
Class 9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	5	3	-
Class 10	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	4	2
Class 11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	5	2.5
Class 12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	3.5
Class 13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7	4
Class 14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	5
Class 15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6

Hyperdrive Statistics by Class[]

Class	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3	Class 4	Class 5	Class 6	Class 7	Class 8	Class 9	Class 10	Class 11	Class 12	Class 13	Class 14	Class 15
Maximum journey (ly)	1.66	2	2.4	2.3	1.9	1.6	1.4	1.2	1	1	0.9	0.85	0.8	0.75	0.7
Fuel Consumption (hydrogen)	1 ton	4 tons	9 tons	16 tons	24 tons	36 tons	49 tons	64 tons	81 tons	100 tons	121 tons	144 tons	169 tons	196 tons	225 tons

Fuel shows the tons of hydrogen fuel consumed by a maximum-distance journey.

Military Hyperdrive (TL11^) [Any][]

A military hyperdrive has half the mass of a civilian hyperdrive of the same class. They are generally only available to those ranking in the Empire or Federation navies.

The class 4 military hyperdrive is speculative: it might exist as a prototype or available only to special forces.

Fuel. Military hyperdrives consume military fuel instead of hydrogen. 1 ton of waste radioactives are left in the fuel tank for every 2 tons of military fuel consumed. Disposing of waste radioactives can be difficult: many systems have laws against ejecting into space. Some stations will take a payment to take it off your hands.

SM	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9	+10	+11
Cost ($) Military	50K	150K	500K	1.5M	5M	15M	50M	150M

Military Hyperdrive Classes[]

The following table shows the number of systems required for each class of hyperdrive.

Ship SM	+4	+4.5	+5	+5.5	+6	+6.5	+7
Class 1	5	3	2	-	-	-	-
Class 2	-	8	5	3	2	-	-
Class 3	-	-	-	6	4	2	-
Class 4	-	-	-	-	7	3	2

Class	Class 1	Class 2	Class 3	Class 4
Maximum journey (ly)	4	5	5	4.8
Fuel Consumption (military fuel)	1 ton	4 tons	9 tons	16 tons