[AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse

I believe it has been that way since the start the 50 times speed is an
effective speed not an absolute speed. Partially effected by bandwidth,
collation speed (iow even supercomputers need time to think), and
sensor reaction times. I seem to remember in the beginning they were
limited to something like teletype speeds comparred to dial-up speeds
now.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

"Henning Rogge" <HRogge.DeleteThis@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:dus1j8$s9n$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
> things that I don't understand.
>
> FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
> instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
> only 60 times faster than light.
>
> Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?
>
I'm not sure that earlier it was considered "instant" when detecting Wedges
or Hyper Exits, but it was always "faster than" Radio. IE you could detect
a Hyper Exit long before the exiting ship (using radio) could talk with you.


--
*
Paul Howard
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 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Henning Rogge wrote in message ...
> I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
> things that I don't understand.

> FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
> instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
> only 60 times faster than light.

> Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?


Over in-system (intrasystem?) ranges, I'd think that "only" 60c is
unbelievably fast, and "nearly" instantaneous.
Over intersystem a 60c FTL comm (which doesn't exist in the Honorverse yet)
would be rather slow.

It's all relative.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but quirk RemoveThis @swcp.com (Taki Kogoma) wrote
on Fri, 10 Mar 2006 16:45:49 +0000 (UTC) in alt.books.david-weber :
>On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:14:00 +0100, HRogge RemoveThis @gmx.net
>allegedly declared to alt.books.david-weber...
>>I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
>>things that I don't understand.
>>
>>FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
>>instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
>>only 60 times faster than light.
>>
>>Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?
>
>It was recently discovered that The Needs of the Plot have a
>measurable effect on the speed of FTL comm...

Ah, Technical Reasons.

And even 60 x C is still "fast". Or at least faster than light speed
sensor data. It means that while he is a light minute out, you have his
position, while he is still 59 second from acquiring your signal.

tschus
pyotr


--
pyotr filipivich
Typos, Grammos and da kind are the result of ragin hormones
Fortesque Consulting: Teaching Pigs to Sing since 1968.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

On Sat, 11 Mar 2006 14:15:44 GMT, pyotr filipivich <phamp.TakeThisOut@mindspring.com>
allegedly declared to alt.books.david-weber...
>Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but quirk.TakeThisOut@swcp.com (Taki Kogoma) wrote
>on Fri, 10 Mar 2006 16:45:49 +0000 (UTC) in alt.books.david-weber :
>>On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:14:00 +0100, HRogge.TakeThisOut@gmx.net
>>allegedly declared to alt.books.david-weber...
>>>I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
>>>things that I don't understand.
>>>
>>>FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
>>>instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
>>>only 60 times faster than light.
>>>
>>>Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?
>>
>>It was recently discovered that The Needs of the Plot have a
>>measurable effect on the speed of FTL comm...
>
> Ah, Technical Reasons.
>
> And even 60 x C is still "fast". Or at least faster than light speed
>sensor data. It means that while he is a light minute out, you have his
>position, while he is still 59 second from acquiring your signal.

OTOH, 60c isn't even Warp Factor 4 (64c under TOS rules, 102c under
TNG and later).

Gym "Uh oh...Did I just spark the next iteration of 'Trek vs.
Honorverse' argument?" Quirk

--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but "Paul Howard"
<ppaulshoward.RemoveThis@insightbb.com> wrote on Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:48:55 GMT in
alt.books.david-weber :
>
>"Henning Rogge" <HRogge.RemoveThis@gmx.net> wrote in message
>news:dus1j8$s9n$03$1@news.t-online.com...
>>I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
>> things that I don't understand.
>>
>> FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
>> instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
>> only 60 times faster than light.
>>
>> Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?
>>
>I'm not sure that earlier it was considered "instant" when detecting Wedges
>or Hyper Exits, but it was always "faster than" Radio. IE you could detect
>a Hyper Exit long before the exiting ship (using radio) could talk with you.

Compared to radio, it was "instant". Okay, so it took ten minutes for
the signal to arrive at Sensor Central, which is 5 hours and 50 minutes
before the radio message arrives.

How long did Honor and the Elysian Navy Taskforce hang there at
Trevor's Star after the FTL platforms reported their arrival, and the radio
message arrive?

tschus
pyotr

--
pyotr filipivich
Typos, Grammos and da kind are the result of ragin hormones
Fortesque Consulting: Teaching Pigs to Sing since 1968.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Henning Rogge <HRogge.DeleteThis@gmx.net> wrote:

>I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
>things that I don't understand.
>
>FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
>instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
>only 60 times faster than light.
>
>Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?


Seems to me that FTLC (comm) is similar tech to detecting wedges.
Assume the 'detection' front for a wedge moves at 60c .. but if the
ship is moving FASTER than 60c (which it better be able to or trips
between star systems would take years) .. that means its going faster
than it's wedge 'hole' (or whatever blip it makes in the ether).
Which means you wouldn't ever see it coming. And it cant propagate at
60c relative since then the detection time depends which way you're
going.

Free plot device: If you can see sails in hyper at LONG distances (an
assumption otherwise its very boring there) .. why not put a picket
right at the hyper limit, bob up into the alpha band, look around,
then bob back down and ftl the latest news home. That way no sneak
ups thru hyper. Feel free to use BobberComm without license and for
free forever.
--
Your lot in life is rental property. Payments due daily, utilities not included.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Don Sample <dsample RemoveThis @synapse.net> wrote:

>In article <sqe612dorgm0s64ri193kc111bbs3qvm4p RemoveThis @4ax.com>,
> Soundspider <nospam RemoveThis @nospam.net> wrote:
>
>> Henning Rogge <HRogge RemoveThis @gmx.net> wrote:
>>
>> >I have just finished reading my 'At all costs' book, but there are a few
>> >things that I don't understand.
>> >
>> >FTL communication (like detecting an impeller) was described as nearly
>> >instant in all books before AAC. But in AAC it's said that the FTL-comm is
>> >only 60 times faster than light.
>> >
>> >Why is the FTL comm becoming much slower than before ?
>>
>>
>> Seems to me that FTLC (comm) is similar tech to detecting wedges.
>> Assume the 'detection' front for a wedge moves at 60c .. but if the
>> ship is moving FASTER than 60c (which it better be able to or trips
>> between star systems would take years) .. that means its going faster
>> than it's wedge 'hole' (or whatever blip it makes in the ether).
>> Which means you wouldn't ever see it coming. And it cant propagate at
>> 60c relative since then the detection time depends which way you're
>> going.
>
>It can only travel faster than light when it's in hyperspace. You can't
>detect wedges in hyperspace from normal space. You can only detect when
>the transition from hyperspace to normal space takes place (the hyper
>footprint) and wedges operating in normal space (or the same band of
>hyperspace if you're there.)
>>
>> Free plot device: If you can see sails in hyper at LONG distances (an
>> assumption otherwise its very boring there) .. why not put a picket
>> right at the hyper limit, bob up into the alpha band, look around,
>> then bob back down and ftl the latest news home. That way no sneak
>> ups thru hyper. Feel free to use BobberComm without license and for
>> free forever.
>
>A) you can't see very far in hyperspace.
>B) if your system isn't in a grav-wave it might be worthwhile to set out
>a network of recon buoys in hyper to watch for uninvited guests. Of
>course you'd have to have a *lot* of them, and you couldn't just limit
>them to the alpha band. They'd have to be in all bands. Most of them
>could be relatively simple, they wouldn't even need FTL transmitters.
>Have clusters of buoys with gravtic sensors, but reporting to a central
>relay that does have FTL capabilities (kinda like an Apollo missile
>group. Most of them are regular multi-drive missiles. The fancy stuff is
>all contained in the one control relay missile.)
>
>If your system is in a grav-wave anything you set out would need to have
>Warshaski sails, which would probably get very expensive, very quickly.

A) What is 'far' ? - a few hours out is a lot more warning than 'oh
lookee at the footprint' And a picket that jumps into hyper and back
is going to be a lot cheaper than an orbital fortress.

B) I don't know where it says you can only see in hyper in the band
you're riding. If that was the case, nobody would ever see anybody by
simply changing bands and there would never be an encounter in hyper
not to mention a battle. (i.e. a courier way up in the highest band
couldn't be intercepted or even seen by any sort of capital ship.
Makes for a boring story -unless....)

On the other hand if inter-band seeing is prohibited, then what you
have in is WW-I style submarine warfare - hop down to shipping bands,
spot the target, go up to the high band (submerge), pop back down next
to the target, fire, pop back up. A depth charge/torpedo is a missile
with sails that you can 'drop' into the right band hoping thats where
the target shows up.


--
Your lot in life is rental property. Payments due daily, utilities not included.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Soundspider wrote:
> Don Sample <dsample.RemoveThis@synapse.net> wrote:
>
>
> A) What is 'far' ? - a few hours out is a lot more warning than 'oh
> lookee at the footprint' And a picket that jumps into hyper and back
> is going to be a lot cheaper than an orbital fortress.
>

"Hey lookee at the footprint" IS a few hours out, for all intents and
purposes. Hardly anybody puts anything important out at the hyper
limit. You have system pickets running around near the H-limit so they
can be close enough to get a look-see at whatever is popping into the
system to see if it's something scary (a fleet of superdreadnoughts) or
just something really annoying (a couple of destroyers poking around).

The orbital fortress is gonna be there either way, since they guard
stationary assets (usually planets and orbital facilities. Grayson and
Sphinx, IIRC, are two planets described as being particularly heavily
defended by forts.

The only time you see forts in a first-response position to deal with
units hypering in is around Wormhole Junction Transit Points (Manticore,
Talbott, Trevor's Star, Baselisk, etc.), and that's because the transit
point is a choke point where you can readily predict an enemy will be
likely to enter from. If the other end of the transit is a friendly
system (ie: Manticore-Baselisk), then you have your pickets on the other
side already. If it's an unfriendly system (Manticore-Trevor's Star,
before White Haven captured TS), then you CAN'T put pickets on the other
side very easily.

> B) I don't know where it says you can only see in hyper in the band
> you're riding. If that was the case, nobody would ever see anybody by
> simply changing bands and there would never be an encounter in hyper
> not to mention a battle. (i.e. a courier way up in the highest band
> couldn't be intercepted or even seen by any sort of capital ship.
> Makes for a boring story -unless....)

I don't recall if they outright say it or not, but it's strongly implied
in "Honor Among Enemies" that ships in different bands can't see
eachother. Hauptman's ship hops into a higher band to escape when HMS
Wayfarer was baiting the Havenite Battlecruiser into a fight. The only
reason this allowed them to escape, of course, was because the apparant
presence of a Mantie tramp freighter that *couldn't* hop into a higher
band to escape gave the Peep captain a plausible excuse not to go
chasing after and destroying the Mantie ship full of civvies.

Most of the time a group of ships are intercepted in Hyper, it's because
some member of them can't get to a higher band and the rest aren't
willing to abandon them (civvie freighters can only get up into the
Delta bands, military ships can get higher than that, and courier boats
even higher than that). If two groups of military ships meet eachother,
neither group can usually out-climb the other, so battle ensues. We've
never seen a Courier Boat intercepted in hyper, as the only ships that
could possibly catch them there would be... another Courier Boat. On
the rare occassions they're captured, it's in-system.

And, most cases, a ship tends to be in the highest band it can safely
operate. There's rarely a good reason not to travel that way, as you
still expend the same amount of energy (plus regular wear and tear on
your equipment) to cruise around in a lower band, and it's much faster
to be in a higher band. It's like driving your Corvette in Second Gear
all the time, makes no kind of sense.

> On the other hand if inter-band seeing is prohibited, then what you
> have in is WW-I style submarine warfare - hop down to shipping bands,
> spot the target, go up to the high band (submerge), pop back down next
> to the target, fire, pop back up. A depth charge/torpedo is a missile
> with sails that you can 'drop' into the right band hoping thats where
> the target shows up.

Now that is an interesting (if someone impractical idea). Something as
small as you can make it with hyper capability, with the best AI and
sensors you can put in it. Drop it in near where you estimate the other
fleet should be, and let it seek out the enemy. Maybe something to put
on a Courier Boat so it can pester a larger enemy fleet from the safety
of the higher bands.

Like I pointed out earlier, a rather impractical idea, and given the
limited damage one missile will be allowed to do, it occurs to me that
this is an idea better imployed for a hyperspace recon drone, deployed
by a courier boat-sized ship, to see what's going on in the lower bands.

--
--Jeffrey MacHott

"Sola bona lingua est mortua lingua"
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Jeffrey MacHott <Raguleader.DeleteThis@netzero.net> wrote:

>Soundspider wrote:
>> Don Sample <dsample.DeleteThis@synapse.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> A) What is 'far' ? - a few hours out is a lot more warning than 'oh
>> lookee at the footprint' And a picket that jumps into hyper and back
>> is going to be a lot cheaper than an orbital fortress.
>>
>
>"Hey lookee at the footprint" IS a few hours out, for all intents and
>purposes. Hardly anybody puts anything important out at the hyper
>limit. You have system pickets running around near the H-limit so they
>can be close enough to get a look-see at whatever is popping into the
>system to see if it's something scary (a fleet of superdreadnoughts) or
>just something really annoying (a couple of destroyers poking around).
>
>The orbital fortress is gonna be there either way, since they guard
>stationary assets (usually planets and orbital facilities. Grayson and
>Sphinx, IIRC, are two planets described as being particularly heavily
>defended by forts.
>
>The only time you see forts in a first-response position to deal with
>units hypering in is around Wormhole Junction Transit Points (Manticore,
>Talbott, Trevor's Star, Baselisk, etc.), and that's because the transit
>point is a choke point where you can readily predict an enemy will be
>likely to enter from. If the other end of the transit is a friendly
>system (ie: Manticore-Baselisk), then you have your pickets on the other
>side already. If it's an unfriendly system (Manticore-Trevor's Star,
>before White Haven captured TS), then you CAN'T put pickets on the other
>side very easily.
>
>> B) I don't know where it says you can only see in hyper in the band
>> you're riding. If that was the case, nobody would ever see anybody by
>> simply changing bands and there would never be an encounter in hyper
>> not to mention a battle. (i.e. a courier way up in the highest band
>> couldn't be intercepted or even seen by any sort of capital ship.
>> Makes for a boring story -unless....)
>
>I don't recall if they outright say it or not, but it's strongly implied
>in "Honor Among Enemies" that ships in different bands can't see
>eachother. Hauptman's ship hops into a higher band to escape when HMS
>Wayfarer was baiting the Havenite Battlecruiser into a fight. The only
>reason this allowed them to escape, of course, was because the apparant
>presence of a Mantie tramp freighter that *couldn't* hop into a higher
>band to escape gave the Peep captain a plausible excuse not to go
>chasing after and destroying the Mantie ship full of civvies.
>
>Most of the time a group of ships are intercepted in Hyper, it's because
>some member of them can't get to a higher band and the rest aren't
>willing to abandon them (civvie freighters can only get up into the
>Delta bands, military ships can get higher than that, and courier boats
>even higher than that). If two groups of military ships meet eachother,
>neither group can usually out-climb the other, so battle ensues. We've
>never seen a Courier Boat intercepted in hyper, as the only ships that
>could possibly catch them there would be... another Courier Boat. On
>the rare occassions they're captured, it's in-system.
>
>And, most cases, a ship tends to be in the highest band it can safely
>operate. There's rarely a good reason not to travel that way, as you
>still expend the same amount of energy (plus regular wear and tear on
>your equipment) to cruise around in a lower band, and it's much faster
>to be in a higher band. It's like driving your Corvette in Second Gear
>all the time, makes no kind of sense.
>
>> On the other hand if inter-band seeing is prohibited, then what you
>> have in is WW-I style submarine warfare - hop down to shipping bands,
>> spot the target, go up to the high band (submerge), pop back down next
>> to the target, fire, pop back up. A depth charge/torpedo is a missile
>> with sails that you can 'drop' into the right band hoping thats where
>> the target shows up.
>
>Now that is an interesting (if someone impractical idea). Something as
>small as you can make it with hyper capability, with the best AI and
>sensors you can put in it. Drop it in near where you estimate the other
>fleet should be, and let it seek out the enemy. Maybe something to put
>on a Courier Boat so it can pester a larger enemy fleet from the safety
>of the higher bands.
>
>Like I pointed out earlier, a rather impractical idea, and given the
>limited damage one missile will be allowed to do, it occurs to me that
>this is an idea better imployed for a hyperspace recon drone, deployed
>by a courier boat-sized ship, to see what's going on in the lower bands.


I think 'escape' in the higher bands is the point - you go lots
faster, you don't vanish. If bands are invisible to each other, then
you could play hide and seek up and down the bands if being pursued..
even if all you had wal alpha thru delta. If approached, drop down
one two or three bands. If the other guy doesnt guess right, you're
long gone .. or he is.. by the time he figures out where you went.
i.e. i go down two, then so do you, and see me then i go up two and
down one you go up two and zing.. you're light days ahead of me in a
blink. Since jumping bands for evasion (not climbing higher to run)
other than dropping to sublight hasn't ever been used that I know of,
I'm thinking that if you change bands you can still be seen.. but only
as long as the speed differential between you and the looker permits
before you get too far apart.

--
Your lot in life is rental property. Payments due daily, utilities not included.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Soundspider wrote:

> I think 'escape' in the higher bands is the point - you go lots
> faster, you don't vanish. If bands are invisible to each other, then
> you could play hide and seek up and down the bands if being pursued..
> even if all you had wal alpha thru delta. If approached, drop down
> one two or three bands. If the other guy doesnt guess right, you're
> long gone .. or he is.. by the time he figures out where you went.
> i.e. i go down two, then so do you, and see me then i go up two and
> down one you go up two and zing.. you're light days ahead of me in a
> blink. Since jumping bands for evasion (not climbing higher to run)
> other than dropping to sublight hasn't ever been used that I know of,
> I'm thinking that if you change bands you can still be seen.. but only
> as long as the speed differential between you and the looker permits
> before you get too far apart.

I'm fairly sure that in Honor Among Enemies, it was at least strongly
implied that once Hauptman's ship went up to the next band, they were
beyond detection to anyone in the band they just left. I visualize
Hyperspace as being a series of flat layers, with some sort of visual
barrier between them. The higher up you go, the faster relative to
normal space you go. In Honor of the Queen, IIRC, it's mentioned that
the cruiser running back to Manticore to get help either did skip off
the bottom of the next band or nearly did (which is apparently quite the
nerve-wracking and life-threatening experience), which implies that
there is a degree of altitude involved in going to higher bands of
hyperspace, unless I just completely misread that.

The problem with your idea is, every time you change bands, you loose
most of your forward velocity, even relative to normal space. If you
drop from Delta down to Zeta then Beta, and I follow you down to Beta,
then you jump up through Zeta to Delta again and then back down to Zeta
while I'm jumping up to Delta, I'm not light years ahead of you, I'm
pretty much right on top of you, even after I jump up to Eta just to
make sure. In fact, you have to slow down a LOT before you drop down a
band, lest you break something important in the sudden deceleration
(dropping out of hyper without slowing down first is called a crash
deceleration for a reason). This gives your pursuer time to run you
down before you can dive to the next lower band. So using this tactic
is of limited practicality unless you just travel at very slow
velocities as a rule.


--
--Jeffrey MacHott

"Sola bona lingua est mortua lingua"
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

Okay, so I'm late and catching up, but Jeffrey MacHott
<Raguleader DeleteThis @netzero.net> wrote on Tue, 14 Mar 2006 12:49:12 -0600 in
alt.books.david-weber :
>
>I'm fairly sure that in Honor Among Enemies, it was at least strongly
>implied that once Hauptman's ship went up to the next band, they were
>beyond detection to anyone in the band they just left.

If memory serves, (and the text supports me) the Hauptman liner
_dropped_ down, and made a very slow transition through the wall to the
next band. After first making like a hole in hyperspace, while the
Wayfarer put out a ECM drone programmed to make noise like the liner. The
Peeps saw what they expected to see - two Manty civilian ships being stupid
....

> I visualize
>Hyperspace as being a series of flat layers, with some sort of visual
>barrier between them. The higher up you go, the faster relative to
>normal space you go. In Honor of the Queen, IIRC, it's mentioned that
>the cruiser running back to Manticore to get help either did skip off
>the bottom of the next band or nearly did (which is apparently quite the
>nerve-wracking and life-threatening experience), which implies that
>there is a degree of altitude involved in going to higher bands of
>hyperspace, unless I just completely misread that.

To get into the next "band" requires a transition, which can be done
going "up" at a maximum speed (1/3 C, irrc), and there is a 98% speed
reduction crossing any of the "walls". That is why the Warshawski "sail"
was such a break through, speed could be regained after crossing a wall,
and without the need to drag along reaction mass.

It still remains that sensor effectiveness in hyper is degraded from
"normal space", which makes it all so much fun to make a passage through
hyper.

--
pyotr filipivich
Typos, Grammos and da kind are the result of ragin hormones
Fortesque Consulting: Teaching Pigs to Sing since 1968.
 >> Stay informed about: [AAC] Speed of "FTL-communication" in the Honorverse 

"Jeffrey MacHott" <Raguleader DeleteThis @netzero.net> wrote in message
news:mcERf.3972$422.139@fed1read10...
> Soundspider wrote:
>
>> I think 'escape' in the higher bands is the point - you go lots
>> faster, you don't vanish. If bands are invisible to each other, then
>> you could play hide and seek up and down the bands if being pursued..
>> even if all you had wal alpha thru delta. If approached, drop down
>> one two or three bands. If the other guy doesnt guess right, you're
>> long gone .. or he is.. by the time he figures out where you went.
>> i.e. i go down two, then so do you, and see me then i go up two and
>> down one you go up two and zing.. you're light days ahead of me in a
>> blink. Since jumping bands for evasion (not climbing higher to run)
>> other than dropping to sublight hasn't ever been used that I know of,
>> I'm thinking that if you change bands you can still be seen.. but only
>> as long as the speed differential between you and the looker permits
>> before you get too far apart.
>
> I'm fairly sure that in Honor Among Enemies, it was at least strongly
> implied that once Hauptman's ship went up to the next band, they were
> beyond detection to anyone in the band they just left. I visualize
> Hyperspace as being a series of flat layers, with some sort of visual
> barrier between them. The higher up you go, the faster relative to normal
> space you go. In Honor of the Queen, IIRC, it's mentioned that the
> cruiser running back to Manticore to get help either did skip off the
> bottom of the next band or nearly did (which is apparently quite the
> nerve-wracking and life-threatening experience), which implies that there
> is a degree of altitude involved in going to higher bands of hyperspace,
> unless I just completely misread that.
>
> The problem with your idea is, every time you change bands, you loose most
> of your forward velocity, even relative to normal space. If you drop from
> Delta down to Zeta then Beta, and I follow you down to Beta, then you jump
> up through Zeta to Delta again and then back down to Zeta while I'm
> jumping up to Delta, I'm not light years ahead of you, I'm pretty much
> right on top of you, even after I jump up to Eta just to make sure. In
> fact, you have to slow down a LOT before you drop down a band, lest you
> break something important in the sudden deceleration (dropping out of
> hyper without slowing down first is called a crash deceleration for a
> reason). This gives your pursuer time to run you down before you can dive
> to the next lower band. So using this tactic is of limited practicality
> unless you just travel at very slow velocities as a rule.
>
>
> --
> --Jeffrey MacHott
>
> "Sola bona lingua est mortua lingua

I'm currently reading the "Honorverse" series and from what i've read it
seems to be more like tuning into a radio signal with energy feedback from
the various layers that can destroy a ship if it doesn't have the hardware
to cope with the higher energy levels in higher layers than actual physical
transfers.
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