Let alone all the competition for the drive. It is capable of up to Jump-9, can be charged by 1% Earth ambient sunlight in 1 week using a sail no more than 4 square kilometers in area, can travel through a Jump no-go zone (first jump was from Sol's nadir to zenith point, aka through the Sol jump limit), and arrives effectively instantaneously (i.e. no spending 1 week in Jump space).
The problem is you need something to go from the 10 AU limit around the star to the planet, until you start plotting Pirate Points (places where gravity is low enough between a planet and star, or planet and moon, aka L1). Theoretically the 10 day trip could be handled via Traveller Jump drive, though BT engines are far more efficient (a 1900 ton Dropship only burns 18.4 tons of fuel while performing a 1G acceleration for 10 days)
The civilian version of the Battletech FTL drive takes up 95% of the mounting ship's mass, while the military version takes up just under 50% of the mounting ship's mass. Battle riders can be attached to it (and are on the civilian version) but they have to have the 'antenna' going through their hull to allow the FTL field to encompass and transport them. If you try that with a standard Traveller Battle Rider, it won't make the trip.
As to Reverse-engineering time, a planet was able to start with 20th century tech, develop the theory for it ~40 years later, and develop the drive 90 years later. Since the Imperial world knows the drive is possible, they can shave a lot of time off that schedule. They'll also see references in the computer about HPGs (Jump-15 transmission radius, again instantaneous), and the BT weapons will be obscene in damage (IIRC the estimate of 1 pt of damage melting up to 62.5 kilos of steel resulting in ~55 MJ/point of damage is very conservative)
Todd Kes
--- On Fri, 7/13/12, userbimbob wrote:
> just wait until some idiot House
> pilot misjumps a sail ship from the Battletech 'verse into
> the Imperium...
>
> how long would it take to reverse-engineer a Kearny-Fuchida
> drive?
The problem is you need something to go from the 10 AU limit around the star to the planet, until you start plotting Pirate Points (places where gravity is low enough between a planet and star, or planet and moon, aka L1). Theoretically the 10 day trip could be handled via Traveller Jump drive, though BT engines are far more efficient (a 1900 ton Dropship only burns 18.4 tons of fuel while performing a 1G acceleration for 10 days)
The civilian version of the Battletech FTL drive takes up 95% of the mounting ship's mass, while the military version takes up just under 50% of the mounting ship's mass. Battle riders can be attached to it (and are on the civilian version) but they have to have the 'antenna' going through their hull to allow the FTL field to encompass and transport them. If you try that with a standard Traveller Battle Rider, it won't make the trip.
As to Reverse-engineering time, a planet was able to start with 20th century tech, develop the theory for it ~40 years later, and develop the drive 90 years later. Since the Imperial world knows the drive is possible, they can shave a lot of time off that schedule. They'll also see references in the computer about HPGs (Jump-15 transmission radius, again instantaneous), and the BT weapons will be obscene in damage (IIRC the estimate of 1 pt of damage melting up to 62.5 kilos of steel resulting in ~55 MJ/point of damage is very conservative)
Todd Kes
--- On Fri, 7/13/12, userbimbob wrote:
> just wait until some idiot House
> pilot misjumps a sail ship from the Battletech 'verse into
> the Imperium...
>
> how long would it take to reverse-engineer a Kearny-Fuchida
> drive?