Banzaidyne Custom Works Options:
Faster-than-Light (FTL) Drives


The ability to travel faster than the speed of light, in one fashion or another, is a staple of many science-fiction universes. This following new rules may be added to the Silhouette Vehicle Construction System to include FTL drives in spacecraft writeups. Each universe has its own unique FTL drive, but these rules will cover the majority of settings.


FTL Drive by Distance
This drive type is for more "realistic" settings, where travel between stars is measured in days or weeks, and the reach of interstellar empires is measured in lightyears. Examples include Traveller's jump drive, Star Trek's warp drive and the stutterwarp drive from 2300AD.

Defensive Score for Vehicle with Distance FTL Drive: Add (speed as multiple of c) squared
Miscellaneous Score for Vehicle with Distance FTL Drive: Add (range in lightyears) squared

For example, if modeling Traveller's Jump-1 drive, the values are:
DS: Jump-1 = 1 parsec/week = 3.26 ly/week = 163 ly/year (163c); 163^2 = DS +26,569
MS: 1 parsec range = 3.26 ly; 3.26^2 = MS +10.63
A jump drive is thus relatively cheap; you're paying a lot for the speed, but you can't go very far.

Star Trek's warp drive, on the other hand, is modeled this way:
DS: Warp 8 (TOS) = 512c, 512^2 = DS +262,144
MS: assuming a range of 1000 ly between refuelings, 1000^2 = MS +1,000,000
The Starship Enterprise is thus incredibly expensive, but that's the price you pay for its capabilities.


FTL Drive by Time
This drive type is for galaxy-spanning action, where the only important factor is how long it takes to get from star A to star B. Examples include the hyperdrive from Star Wars and the "standard" FTL drive of Blake's 7. This form of FTL drive may also be used to replace the FTL stats for the starships in Dream Pod 9's CORE Command.

Defensive Score for Vehicle with Time FTL Drive:
Miscellaneous Score for Vehicle with Time FTL Drive:

For example, the Pathfinder starship from the CORE Command Player's Handbook is described as being capable of reaching speeds of 10,000 times c, with a range of 10,000 light years. The current rules for FTL drives mean that such performance results in a Threat Value of x4096, which effectively makes the TV so high as to be meaningless.


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