On what basis does WC 'jumping' work?

[Iceblade]

It could be that jumps depend on how far of a distance a system that you are jumping to is.

By the way, from which system is he coming from to get to Vaka?

--man those Kilrathi sure are creative about naming systems: Hari1(1) Hari1(2) Hari2(5) and all in the Hari sector --

 

[ChanceKell]

--man those Kilrathi sure are creative about naming systems: Hari1(1) Hari1(2) Hari2(5) and all in the Hari sector --

The Kilrathi most probably didn't name the Hari systems, seeing that the most of them were never used. The names you see on the map are just ConFed's own naming system, since they had no contact with the Hari. The Kilrathi might know the planets names, some of them, hidden in some dusty database, but they're really not essential information.

 

[Iceblade]

There are several more sets of the same name of a system that is more in the interior of Kilrathi space. (K'rt Tag, K'rt Karh, and several other "K'rt"s)

 

[Ijuin]

still sounds like bad design to me. Once again, I think the computer would compensate for that. You mean they have to reset the clock after every mission that involves a jump?

Well, don't you have to reset your clock when you cross time zone boundaries as well? Time is a very relative thing.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Hey, it's LOAF!

Hey in WC2, couldn't you just look at the mission clock in the Navigation screen before you jumped, and then check it after? That would tell you how long you were in jumpspace right? (WARNING: CANNON HOLE DETECTED!!!)

Hehehe, good job - you found the funniest possible way to confuse 'canon' and 'cannon'.

Seriously, though, the clock in WC1/2 is just the amount of time you've played the game - it doesn't take into account 'physical' time wasters like autopilot or cutscenes at all. Blair can sit and talk to the Agincourt for half an hour and the clock in the game won't change.

You said to remind you in six days - it's been 8.

REMINDING LOAF...................

Sorry, was away all weekend. I'll try and get it online tonight.

As far as I can tell, jumps are virtually instant in terms of shipboard time (excepting for the WCA cartoon). However, since jump lines are basically a form of wormhole, this does not necessarily mean that they are instantaneous with respect to the outside universe. In other words, you might find yourself minutes or hours in the past/future since the two ends of the wormhole are not "simultaneous". Indeed, given what we currently know about wormholes and relativity, it is quite UN-likely that a wormhole would stretch across space but NOT across time. Thus, the statement of "The Tiger’s Claw dropped from jump-space seven hours ago, at 08:00" would be a reference to local time, not shipboard elapsed time (much like in air travel you have to adjust for the local time).

There are a couple instances in the cartoon where jumping doesn't seem to take time at all, though - it's possible that it's only the "special" jumps (like the pulsar jump) take any discernable amount of time.

(As for time - the novels mention that there's a military standard 'CST' for measuring time onboard ships. I'm not really sure how 'dropped from jump-space seven hours ago, at 08:00' indicates that any amount of time was spent jumping, though. "I got out of my car seven hours ago, at 08:00" doesn't tell you anything about how long I was in my car.)

Maybe they don't want to pay overtime to the pilot for just sitting there and playing poker on jumpspace.

I'd imagine that fighter pilots are salaried. Anyone know how it works I-R-L?

By the way, from which system is he coming from to get to Vaka?

I think Dund meant 'Vaku'. In which case the answer is the Oecumene System.

--man those Kilrathi sure are creative about naming systems: Hari1(1) Hari1(2) Hari2(5) and all in the Hari sector --

I did that so there'd be a way to reference the 'unnamed systems' in discussions (... like this one!).

 

[Death]

I'd imagine that fighter pilots are salaried. Anyone know how it works I-R-L?

Pilots (fighter or otherwise) who get paid to fly (vice those who fly as a hobby) are salaried, civilian and military both. There may be bonuses based on flight time, depending on the specific circumstances, but they always get at least their fixed salary.

 

[GeeBot]

Not only are fighter pilots on a salary, but (AFAIK) everyone with a government job, military (from the lowliest private on up) or civilian, is on a salary. Apparently, the government doesn't have much demand for hourly work. Considering all the civil service baggage that comes with hiring someone, that makes a certain amount of sense. The temporary work is mostly farmed out to contractors, who get a lump of money and then they can exploit all the Mexican immigrants by paying them below minimum wage, or whatever.

Just to clarify on the military pay scheme, it uses a grade system. Your base pay is basically set by your pay grade classification (which are identified as E-1, E-2, ..., etc. for enlisted, O-1, O-2, ..., etc. for officers (including pilots)), which correlates more or less with rank/seniority. Then you get bonuses for this and that; for example, jumping out of airplanes and serving on nuclear submarines is considered hazardous and not appealing to most people, so you get a bonus for doing it. Reserve and guard units also have a fixed annual stipend, some extra pay during monthly/annual training, and they get switched up to active pay when they're activated (although the paperwork apparently gets lost in the bureaucratic shuffle for some time first).