In SF games that involve FTL, what kind of FTL do you prefer?

The classic jump drive, a'la traveller, works to get the players from system A to system B, but doesn't work in gravity so it allows for 'space battles" around planets and such, and it had been made to work fairly consistenly over the decades in which traveller has been around.

Warp drive lets players communicate and interact with the universe while in ftl, but has a lot of issues with it, like how do weapons hit a ship thru the 'warp bubble' around it and so on.

Hyperdrive is just jump drive with fancier effects.

The honor harrington books have a new form of ftl that's heavily explained and could be used in most games, plus is can defend a ship in battle along it's sides.

So, what FTL drive do you like? Does it have to be heavily detailed technically and consistent? I prefer that kind as it keeps things on a solid, consistent foundation. Or do you go for the less complex "It's like in star wars/star trek" kind of drive?

Anything that allows for "handwavium overloads" whenever my physics savvy player tells me that by doing x,y and z he can evade the imperium dogfighters/not use any fuel to get from a to b/blow up a planet.

In StarCluster I used a true Jump Drive, which is instantaneous to the occupants of the ship, though it may take up to almost a year of outside time to transit. Transits go from a known Jump Point to a known Entrance Point in each system.The ship is never technically travelling anywhere. It disappears one place and re-appears another.

In Cold Space, I used a "Go Faster" drive which compressed space ahead of it in an inverse proportion to the gravity present. This makes travel within a system faster, and travel between systems much, much faster.

Obviously, I like both of these...

-clash

Traveller jump drive seems adequate for most gaming purposes.

I have a soft spot for Battletech´s Kearny-Fuchida Drives. They are more Traveller than Traveller!

Stuttwerwarp also rocks.

Quote from: SettembriniI have a soft spot for Battletech´s Kearny-Fuchida Drives. They are more Traveller than Traveller!

Stuttwerwarp also rocks.

Ah, stutterwarp, that was a cool drive. Wasn't it also called the flicker drive and  first used in traveller 2300?

Quote from: Dominus NoxAh, stutterwarp, that was a cool drive. Wasn't it also called the flicker drive and  first used in traveller 2300?

From what I can remember, Stutterwarp was first used in 2300. It is a very cool concept of making a large number of very small jumps.

I have slight problems with FTL drives because of the time travel which they inherently allow.  Relativity is quite well-established, and it means that if you can get a ship up to relativistic speeds with an FTL drive (including a standard teleport one), you can travel through time.

Not a big deal in a space opera game -- but it's given me a twinge or two before in games which try to have science in them.  

This is avoided if you have a preferred frame of reference -- which you can do by tying the FTL drives to stars, or the galaxy or something.  So I like ship-sized wormholes or system-based "stargates", but also any FTL drive which locks the ship to a frame of reference.

Wormholes.

Eistein-Rosen bridges, despite the inherent challenges, seem the most plausible to me.

I like the Hyperspace of the B5 universe.

If I just want to focus on planetary stuff, then any system that breaks down to "plot a course and roll some dice" works. I'd prefer as few stabs at actual physics as possible, because it's rare that the game designer understands physics better than all the players of the game, and it only takes one guy spouting off on a BBS somewhere to break a system wide open and require cascading house rules to patch it.

Quote from: Dominus NoxThe honor harrington books have a new form of ftl that's heavily explained and could be used in most games, plus is can defend a ship in battle along it's sides.

Quote from: Caesar SlaadWormholes.

The best thing about David Weber's "Honor Harrington" setting (the "Honorverse") is that it uses a very detailed FTL drive as well as wormholes. Actually, it uses two FTL drives - a more "conventional" one (in scifi terms) and the Warshawski sails, which allows ships to use gravity waves that were extremely dangerous to FTL travel before their invention. Toss in wormholes which become objects of strategic interest, and it's a very rich part of the setting.

So that'd be my pick - the "Honorverse" system of FTL travel.

Quote from: James McMurrayI like the Hyperspace of the B5 universe.

If I just want to focus on planetary stuff, then any system that breaks down to "plot a course and roll some dice" works. I'd prefer as few stabs at actual physics as possible, because it's rare that the game designer understands physics better than all the players of the game, and it only takes one guy spouting off on a BBS somewhere to break a system wide open and require cascading house rules to patch it.

Albert Bailey, who designed the drive for Cold Space and designed the drives for StarCluster with me is a plasma physicist working for Northrop Grumman. He's an actual bonafide rocket scientist.

-clash

Then the game probably has waaaay more information about how the FTL technology (and other stuff) works for my tastes. Bully for him though, that takes a hell of a lot more work than I want to do.

Although technically I'm a rocket scientist too, it's just that the parts of the rockets I work on are code. Make of that what you will, but I'm sure some folks reading it will stop using "rocket scientist" as an honorarium for people they think are excesively intelligent.

Quote from: James McMurrayThen the game probably has waaaay more information about how the FTL technology (and other stuff) works for my tastes. Bully for him though, that takes a hell of a lot more work than I want to do.

Although technically I'm a rocket scientist too, it's just that the parts of the rockets I work on are code. Make of that what you will, but I'm sure some folks reading it will stop using "rocket scientist" as an honorarium for people they think are excesively intelligent.

Well, that's actually not true. We abstracted all of that info out - only using it to develop it. We are both gamers, and hate taking time out of play for fiddly stuff. StarCluster is dead simple - a single die roll for how long it takes - though Cold Space is somewhat more complex, requiring some elementary level math. A four function calculator does the job. Just want to set the record straight.

-clash

Ah, cool. Thanks for the intel.