Slipstream space: Difference between revisions
→Velocities: Why is travel time being assumed as an hour? I don't remember the book itself giving a time frame, but if this citation saying "within a day" is accurate, all we can say for sure is at most 24 hours.
(→Velocities: Why is travel time being assumed as an hour? I don't remember the book itself giving a time frame, but if this citation saying "within a day" is accurate, all we can say for sure is at most 24 hours.) |
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The mechanics of the slipspace drive and the way it manipulates the slipspace field have an effect on the time it takes for a ship to cross distances, with more sophisticated drive technology allowing for various methods of crossing distances more efficiently.<ref name="fs86"/><ref name="tug"/> The size of a ship's engines correlates with the velocity at which it traverses slipspace; ships with larger engines will move faster within the Slipstream.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 187''</ref> Frequent traffic, especially when moving objects of considerable mass, will also slow slipspace traffic down on a galactic scale, although this is only known to have occurred when the Forerunners moved the Halo installations across the galaxy.<ref name="cryp266"/> | The mechanics of the slipspace drive and the way it manipulates the slipspace field have an effect on the time it takes for a ship to cross distances, with more sophisticated drive technology allowing for various methods of crossing distances more efficiently.<ref name="fs86"/><ref name="tug"/> The size of a ship's engines correlates with the velocity at which it traverses slipspace; ships with larger engines will move faster within the Slipstream.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 187''</ref> Frequent traffic, especially when moving objects of considerable mass, will also slow slipspace traffic down on a galactic scale, although this is only known to have occurred when the Forerunners moved the Halo installations across the galaxy.<ref name="cryp266"/> | ||
However fast it may appear, human faster-than-light travel is by no means instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more for the crew. Certain UNSC ships are known to be able to travel at a speed of 2.625 light years per day,<ref group="note">In ''Halo: First Strike'', Lieutenant [[Wagner]]'s [[prowler]] traveled from [[Reach]] to [[Earth]]—a distance of 10.5 light years—in four days. Velocity=Distance/time (V=10.5 light years/4 days=2.625 l/d)</ref> while Covenant ships can reach | However fast it may appear, human faster-than-light travel is by no means instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more for the crew. Certain UNSC ships are known to be able to travel at a speed of 2.625 light years per day,<ref group="note">In ''Halo: First Strike'', Lieutenant [[Wagner]]'s [[prowler]] traveled from [[Reach]] to [[Earth]]—a distance of 10.5 light years—in four days. Velocity=Distance/time (V=10.5 light years/4 days=2.625 l/d)</ref> while Covenant ships can reach several dozen light years per day.<ref group="note">In ''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'', the Covenant destroyer ''[[Bloodied Spirit]]'' travels from Earth to [[Onyx]] within a single day. The distance from [[Sol system|Sol]] to [[Zeta Doradus]] is 38 light years. Velocity=Distance/time (V=38 light years/24 hours=1.58 l/h or at least 38 ly/d)</ref> After the end of the Human-Covenant War, the discovery and reverse-engineering of Forerunner technologies allowed humanity to achieve significantly greater velocities. By early [[2553]], the {{UNSCShip|Port Stanley}} and {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} had been equipped with upgraded drives which enabled them to cross interstellar distances in mere hours.<ref name="ttw247"/><ref>''Halo: Glasslands''', ''page 68''</ref> | ||
Further complicating matters is that transit times between different star systems are not consistent. While [[Epsilon Indi]] is only approximately 12 lightyears from Earth, and 83.3 lightyears from [[23 Librae]], [[Madrigal]] is described as the "closest" colony to [[Harvest]], at only a few weeks transit time for a pre-war [[DCS light freighter|human freighter]], as opposed to just over two months to the much closer [[Epsilon Eridani system]] which lies only 14 lightyears from Epsilon Indi. The military starship {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} took only three days to reach Arcadia from Harvest, a star system 11.488 lightyears from Epsilon Eridani.<ref>'''[[Halo Wars]]'''</ref> These discrepancies are due to the fact the internal topology of slipstream space differs from that of normal space in certain areas, sometimes resulting in major inconsistencies in the distances traveled.<ref name="Catalog17"/> | Further complicating matters is that transit times between different star systems are not consistent. While [[Epsilon Indi]] is only approximately 12 lightyears from Earth, and 83.3 lightyears from [[23 Librae]], [[Madrigal]] is described as the "closest" colony to [[Harvest]], at only a few weeks transit time for a pre-war [[DCS light freighter|human freighter]], as opposed to just over two months to the much closer [[Epsilon Eridani system]] which lies only 14 lightyears from Epsilon Indi. The military starship {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} took only three days to reach Arcadia from Harvest, a star system 11.488 lightyears from Epsilon Eridani.<ref>'''[[Halo Wars]]'''</ref> These discrepancies are due to the fact the internal topology of slipstream space differs from that of normal space in certain areas, sometimes resulting in major inconsistencies in the distances traveled.<ref name="Catalog17"/> | ||