No, 220. Hornet Mk II.

Here's a question-- How long would it take if the sector-to-sector jumps were used?

It seems to me that they don't actually use special engines. per say, from what we've seen of them in game. It seems to be more like a hyperspatial bubble generator, something that creates a temporary "warp" in the space-time continuum. My reasoning:

We know that the amount of energy used in a jump doesn't change with distance, therefore we can conclude that it doesn't use conventional engine technology. We know that T-S continuum warps are possible in the VO universe, because we use them whenever we want to go between systems.

I think that the sector jump drive essentially uses the energy to propel the craft into this spatial warp, a sort of hyperspatial dimension, at which point the craft's normal drives are used to propel it through "hyperspace" for a few moments. This hyperspatial dimension would be parallel to out own, but ships in it would be able to cross huge expanses of "realspace" in an instant. The vessel simply drops out of "hyperspace" when its destination is reached or the hyperspatial bubble encounters interference caused by ionic radiation from out own dimension.

The ionic radiation theory explains both why ion storms interrupt jumps and why this same method of transportation isn't used to go from system to system; the Oort Cloud (the cloud of comets and other stellar material that forms a sphere around a solar system) would generate large amounts of said radiation, preventing ships from leaving the system.

The wormholes use the natural gravitational anomalies, and therefore wouldn't be affected by ionic radiation, as the hyperspatial bubble wouldn't be generated by sensitive electronic equipment.

Hyperspace theory would explain why a jump from Sedina B-8 to Sedina B-9 takes the same amount of energy as a jump from Sedina B-8 to Sedina O-6.

Now, if this theory is correct, then the craft in question would still have to get outside the Oort Cloud using conventional engines (which would take quite a while at 210 m/s), but at that point it could make its way through the void to another star using sector-to-sector jumps. The longest part of the journey would be passing through the Oort Clouds of both systems, which could take months (if not years).

Still, it's not a bad trade-off if you consider that the estimated average diameter of the Oort Cloud in our solar system is a paltry 18.6 trillion miles (~3.26 light years), and ships can cross a system in a matter of seconds in VO.

Math time!

Let's say that it takes five seconds to go between sectors (say from one side of the system to the other).

100000/3.26=30674 system diameters

30674*5=153370 seconds of travel

153370/60=2556 minutes of travel

2556/60=42 hours of travel

So, you can see, it would take just under two days at sector-to-sector jump speeds to get to Earth from Sol II (not counting Oort Cloud travel time).

Pretty damn good travel time, considering you're moving 586,569,600,000,000,000 miles.

EDIT: Holy mother of Jose Whatever-the-Heck-His-Last-Name-Was, I get long-winded when I'm discussing theoretical quantum physics.

Heh. Not even REAL physics. ;)

You would have to use FTL or Wormholes or Sector Jump tech to reach Sol. You just CANT use generation ships, because after X number of generations the ocupants would be soooooo inbred that they would be inable to fly the damn ship!!

Or just use freezers. If we're imagining technology that can sustain itself for hundreds of thousands of years, I think we can toss in some working cryogenics.

Or just make the ships large enough to hold enough genetic diversity to keep the pool robust.

by the way...

The fastest infiniboost ship is the Orion Convoy Guardian... at 220 m/s

Actually faster would be the Hog 2, at 220, cause its lighter.

But I think for just flying around the universe the vult is better because of its weight.

"Heh. Not even REAL physics. ;)"

B0w 70 73h m4d3 up 10g|c!

ctishman, the Serco actually do that? But that's... that's absolutely terrible. Can you imagine the impact of that heavily xithrite(?)-shielded prayer scroll when it reaches the surface of old Earth, after having dropped from orbit? S a good thing gravity can only accelerate you that much... But still, orbit-bombing old Earth with burning ship remains and a prayer capsule, is that really a good way to show Earth we haven't forgotten it?

Aha, I get it... The Serco have never quite forgiven Earth-that-was for not being able (neglecting?) to keep the wormhole-that-was open, and the Hero's Return is just a rather morbid name for the process of giving a dead Serco one last chance to serve her nation in battle by giving the surface crust of old Earth a damn big dent... ;-)

The combat shielding remains in place to protect from micrometeorite strikes en route, but of course the orbital-reentry shielding is removed, silly.

One would expect the denizens Earth to be able to handle a slow moving ship that appeared to be on a collision course. Or, there won't be anyone there to care - in which case, bombs away!!

LOL I can see automated defenses orbiting at LaGrange points at old Earth / Sol I obliterating the stupid coffins before they get anywhere NEAR the atmosphere, with their dust possibly landing on the moon.

"Who keeps sending all this CRAP our way? GAH!"

So long as their hearts are pure and their deeds truly meritorious, the remains will find their target. We know this as an article of faith.

220 m/s / 3*10^8 = 0.000000733c

3.26 light years / 0.000000733c = roughly 4.4 million years to make it through the Oort cloud, and another 4.4 million once you reach Earth.

In that amount of time new technology will likely become available making any attempts to reach Earth under current technology a wasted endeavor.

Or perhaps our in-system warp drives simply require the gravity well of a nearby sun to function.

For close observers of the universe and readers of the backstory, you may notice that the closest realspace point to Earth would be Deneb, at roughly 1600-3500 light years from the Sol system. (Please forgive Deneb not being very realistically portrayed as a blue supergiant).

Intra-system jumps are based on the use of gravitational anomalies, not unlike how wormholes function, but on a much smaller scale. They require a very massive object (a star) in order to be useful. The benefits of the method of travel quickly dissipate as one moves further from the star.

However, in theory, if a radio telescope were established near Deneb, and pointed at Earth, it should be able to receive whatever transmissions originated 1600-3500 years previously. Since we're at about AD4430 or so, that would make it transmissions from either about 930AD (nothing) to 2830AD (lots?) depending on the actual distance of Deneb. That would be interesting, as, on the optimistic side of possible distances, that would put the VO universe receiving transmissions from roughly 500 years after the Sol II wormhole phase-transition.

That sounds like an interesting mission tree--one that all nations might be interested in participating in.

I'm sure most people in the universe of VO would want to know what went on back in Sol after the wormhole phase-shifted.