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The technobabble seems to indicate that mounting both a Hopper and a Jump drive to a ship is a bad idea. First of all they're both bulky power-eaters, which means that despite all attempts to miniaturize them, carrying both types of engine would mean less space and power available for propulsion, shields, and weapons. Second and probably more important is that supposedly the residual radiation left after a "hop" that prevents the Hopper drive from being used again until it disappates has the same effect on a Jump drive--you wouldn't be able to Jump OR Hop for a few hours after a Hop.

Of course, the most important reason is plot. It wouldn't do for storytelling for a Confed ship to be able to suddenly "hop" away from danger unless the Kilrathi ships stood a chance of being able to pursue it.
 
The technobabble seems to indicate that mounting both a Hopper and a Jump drive to a ship is a bad idea. First of all they're both bulky power-eaters, which means that despite all attempts to miniaturize them, carrying both types of engine would mean less space and power available for propulsion, shields, and weapons. Second and probably more important is that supposedly the residual radiation left after a "hop" that prevents the Hopper drive from being used again until it disappates has the same effect on a Jump drive--you wouldn't be able to Jump OR Hop for a few hours after a Hop.

I don't think that the technobabble actually says any of this, save the 18-hour limit between individual hops.

The failing the Hopper Drive in this respect is the fact that it simply can't be used within a star system, which is where almost all space combat occurs. Hopper Drives create artificial antigraviton wells and then "jump" them -- but they can't do this when they're near the effects of other stars, planets, etc.

(They're also incredibly dangerous, owing to the amount of precision required in calculating the hops.)
 
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