Hyperspace Entry Options
By: Various Contributors
1) FFE's (David's) method: Abrupt entry which leaves behind a cloud.
A) Used in FFE.
B) Tried and true?
2) Tone's method: Point opened ahead of ship, ship intercepts it and enters hyperspace. Leaves a 'jump-point' behind.
A) Similar to the hyperdrive carrying ships of B5.
B) Used in Descent Freespace to a good effect.
C) You can tell when your enemy's about to hyperspace (and he can tell when you are).
D) There's a delay between pressing the hyperspace button and actually entering hyperspace, as per the original Elite.
E) Ship can be fired at, destroyed, or diverted off course from a randezvous with the jumppoint.
F) This 'Jump-point' is a point that coincides in both hyperspace and Realspace.
G) The jump-point remnant isn't a 'cloud,' but just a very high energetic 'lens-flare' style point in space.
H) Explanations from Tone's Webpage (occasionally edited):
Forming an entry Jump-Point This involves firing two concentrated bursts of energised tachyons -a tachyon being a classed as 'hyper-matter'- from the hyperdrive emitters. Once these two bursts converge at a point at a relative safe distance from the ship itself, the tachyon bursts decay almost instantaneously (due to the high energies involved) into hyperspace. Because of the relative high speed at which they 'decay' into hyperspace, they cause a temporary opening. This opening is caused by the 'perforation' effect from the tachyon's decay. As such, a jump-point is formed by the cause of both hyperspace and realspace existing at the same point.
Why 'Entry' Jump-Point? Because of the way the tachyons 'tunnel' from realspace to hyperspace, there is a dimensional 'flow-of-energies' involved. Therfore, once in hyperspace, the resulting energy of an object 'attempting' to exit hyperspace through use of an entry hyperspace would be zero. Nothing would happen, and the object or ship involved would simply fly through the entry jump-point on the hyperspace side without interacting with the jump-point at all. Of course, were another object entering through the point at the same time, destruction of both objects/ships would be the most likely outcome.
Dangers of Jump-Point formation [You've got to stay back from jump-points while they're being created.] Another reason for external jump-point formation is the 'decay' rate. With current known humanoid advances in hyperspace mechanics, simply forming a hyperfield around a ship resulted in catastrophic high energy explosion. The first trials of 'portable jump-gate devices' (now known as hyperdrives) revealed this and much more information on hyperspace.
Using entry Jump-Points [Creating a jump-point near a ship causes it to blow up due to the high energies involved. Therefore, people tend to project them farther away.] After entering the 'event-horizon' of the jump-point (see diagram) - the point of no return - the hyperfield is engaged. The activation of the hyperfield keeps the ship inside hyperspace once it reaches there.
3) Porphyre's method: Gradual 'phase in' to hyperspace during which an ellipsoid area around the ship flickers with particles which accumulate until they envelop the ship- a cloud is left behind at that point and the ship enters hyperspace.
A) Never used before...
B) You can tell when your enemy's about to hyperspace (and vice versa).
C) There's a delay between pressing the hyperspace button and actually entering hyperspace, as per the original Elite.
D) Ship can be fired at or destroyed prior to entry, but cannot be 'thrown off course.'
E) Allows natural fade-in to a hyperspace cloud.
G) Uses less pseudo-physics than Tone's... but who cares?
H) Entry and Exit clouds of similar origin.
4) The Admiral's Method (for use with NavHS):
A) Either Star Trek like (without the flash) or Porphyre's method.
B) Possibly without a cloud.
Agreed upon points:
Exiting Hyperspace:
From Tone's page:
Forming an Exit Jump-points An 'exit jump-point' is not created by use of tachyons, or by any real-space matter. It is simply caused by the exit, from hyperspace, of an object that 'belongs' in the realspace domain. The 'perforation' of returning to realspace leaves behind a phenomenon similar to that of an entry jump-point or cloud, but the resultant effect lasts a much shorter time. The reasoning behind this may be that the process was more natural - it was simply returning through a simple - yet immensely careful - controlled hyperfield collapse routine. To simply collapse the hyperfield in one simple discharge would make the ride a lot less comfortable - and probably damage - if not destroy - the ship performing the maneouvre.
Point/Cloud Color:
Point/Cloud color varies with the drive strength.
