Information I'd love to know

Is it possible to automate the transit into and out of hyper?

cthia wrote:Is it possible to automate the transit into and out of hyper?

I believe David has said no. I don't think he's really explained this, it's just how it is.

I don't recall a specific denial of automation of hyper transits. But David has been pretty clear that there are limits to automation in Honorverse.

On the other hand, at least emergency automation of hyper transits downward is implied. When Zilwicki and Cachat and company experienced a system failure, apparently emergency systems dropped them back into normal space before the generator completely crashed. That does not mean that you would want to trust a ship to use automatics for hyper transits in normal use, though, any more than you would want to use a wall to stop your car all the time, trusting to your bumper and airbag.

cthia wrote:Is it possible to automate the transit into and out of hyper?

Almost certainly. However, David has established certain limits on what is and is not possible, mostly to keep the story from getting more out of balance than it already is, and also to keep some cool bits of technology from taking over the story.

This particular limit says there won't be any completely automated ships in the Honorverse. That's a follow-on from there not being any general AI in the Honorverse. Task-specific AI, yes, general AI, no.

Given that, there isn't much point in automating hyper transitions beyond what's been shown, which mostly seems to be setting the right dials, issuing the right commands and pushing the right button.

JohnRoth wrote:

cthia wrote:Is it possible to automate the transit into and out of hyper?

Almost certainly. However, David has established certain limits on what is and is not possible, mostly to keep the story from getting more out of balance than it already is, and also to keep some cool bits of technology from taking over the story.

This particular limit says there won't be any completely automated ships in the Honorverse. That's a follow-on from there not being any general AI in the Honorverse. Task-specific AI, yes, general AI, no.

Given that, there isn't much point in automating hyper transitions beyond what's been shown, which mostly seems to be setting the right dials, issuing the right commands and pushing the right button.

Thanks for that.
I was wondering because, in many of the storylines when it comes to the battles there's always a ship that transits up into hyper to call in the cavalry. I just wondered why an automated ship couldn't do that. But, it's a moot point now. And ships ready for the breakers could be automated kamikazes. But where would that stop? Captured enemy ships could be automated to attack Navies in which they originally belonged. The SLN would have difficulties fighting their own junk.

But of course, animated ships would bore the storyline.

Im guessing for if a situation came up that a human would decide requires the cavalry, like the broadcaster being setroyed before broadcasting or some such, so as to allow the message to get out without waitng on a computer to receive a message. A dose of initiative, and a circuit breaker of sorts.

cthia wrote:Thanks for that.
I was wondering because, in many of the storylines when it comes to the battles there's always a ship that transits up into hyper to call in the cavalry. I just wondered why an automated ship couldn't do that. But, it's a moot point now. And ships ready for the breakers could be automated kamikazes. But where would that stop? Captured enemy ships could be automated to attack Navies in which they originally belonged. The SLN would have difficulties fighting their own junk.

But of course, animated ships would bore the storyline.

*** Reordered to avoid limit on nesting quotes. ***

cthia wrote:Is it possible to automate the transit into and out of hyper?

JohnRoth wrote:Almost certainly. However, David has established certain limits on what is and is not possible, mostly to keep the story from getting more out of balance than it already is, and also to keep some cool bits of technology from taking over the story.

This particular limit says there won't be any completely automated ships in the Honorverse. That's a follow-on from there not being any general AI in the Honorverse. Task-specific AI, yes, general AI, no.

Given that, there isn't much point in automating hyper transitions beyond what's been shown, which mostly seems to be setting the right dials, issuing the right commands and pushing the right button.

cthia wrote:Thanks for that.
I was wondering because, in many of the storylines when it comes to the battles there's always a ship that transits up into hyper to call in the cavalry. I just wondered why an automated ship couldn't do that. But, it's a moot point now. And ships ready for the breakers could be automated kamikazes. But where would that stop? Captured enemy ships could be automated to attack Navies in which they originally belonged. The SLN would have difficulties fighting their own junk.

But of course, animated ships would bore the storyline.

That's actually a different issue. RFC has a frequently stated aversion to hyper-specialized ship types, and an automated ship whose sole use is to transit between normal space and hyper to carry messages and sensor readings is that kind of hyper-specialized ship. Why build a few of them when they'd have to be carried on something else and when you can assign a destroyer to the same duty if your ops plan happens to need it?

Spacekiwi wrote:Im guessing for if a situation came up that a human would decide requires the cavalry, like the broadcaster being setroyed before broadcasting or some such, so as to allow the message to get out without waitng on a computer to receive a message. A dose of initiative, and a circuit breaker of sorts.

cthia wrote:Thanks for that.
I was wondering because, in many of the storylines when it comes to the battles there's always a ship that transits up into hyper to call in the cavalry. I just wondered why an automated ship couldn't do that. But, it's a moot point now. And ships ready for the breakers could be automated kamikazes. But where would that stop? Captured enemy ships could be automated to attack Navies in which they originally belonged. The SLN would have difficulties fighting their own junk.

But of course, animated ships would bore the storyline.

Also this situation comes up rarely enough its not worth building and bringing custom ships for it.

If you've got enough of a fleet to be worth mousetrapping someone from hyper, you've got enough you can peel off a destroyer or two to act as your local space eyes and message relay.


After all, the smallest robotic relay would still be basically the size of a courier, because it'd need a power plant, hyper generator, sails (because the system might be in a grav wave). So you'd save the personnel costs of the few crewmen over just re-purposing a courier.

Hardly seems worth the upside. Now if you had something in hyper than needed frequent messages back and forth to the system, then maybe a automated ship that did nothing but jump from normal to hyper and back might make sense... And if it's well outside the hyper limit and not maneuvering then it's very unlikely to screw up and need human intervention.

You don't need a destroyer to do the jumping to or from hyperspace. Bring along a couple of dispatch boats. They are small, they are nimble, they don't tak away from your combat forces. You can even still use them to send reports after the trap has been sprung.

Brigade XO wrote:You don't need a destroyer to do the jumping to or from hyperspace. Bring along a couple of dispatch boats. They are small, they are nimble, they don't tak away from your combat forces. You can even still use them to send reports after the trap has been sprung.

The advantage of using a destroyer rather than a courier boat is that a destroyer has stealth systems and some self-defence capability. A courier boat has neither.