Dca wrote:SWM wrote:The turbulence in hyperspace means that the maximum range of gravitic detection of even something as powerful as a grav wave is 20 light-minutes....
Yeah, that sounds about right from the Wayfarer's fight in HAE. But I read http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/entry/Harrington/157/1 "Grav pulse coms do work in hyper, but the range is reduced somewhat." They don't really say what that "somewhat" might be, but I'd have thought more than 20 light-minutes. And http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/entry/Harrington/153/1 "A hyper footprint, on the other hand, is detectable at far greater distances than any impeller wedge simply because the "ripple" a starship produces as it actually enters or leaves hyper is much more of a roaring cataract."
So I'm not sure exactly where things stand at this point.
Well, the most important use of gravitic detectors (also known as Warshawskis) when they were invented was to warn ships in hyper of approaching gravitic waves, which would tear the ship to pieces if they ran into it unknown. And the text in several places states that the modern range limit for detecting gravitic waves is about 20 light-minutes, due to the spatial distortions and turbulence in hyperspace. So, if it can't detect a gravtic wave beyond 20 light-minutes, then the detection range for the much smaller signals of impeller wedges or hyper can't be any longer than that.