tlb wrote:penny wrote:In the Selker Rift there is a rogue wave called the Selker Shear, as we all know. I've always visualized the Selker Shear to be like an unexpected very powerful Tsunami. The Streak Drive may be able to tame the Shear, well, ride the wave like a surfer hanging ten. And if that is possible for a Streak Drive, who knows what velocity a Streak Boat can attain riding the Shear. Groovy dude, like groovy man.
Too bad that your imagination did not remember that the streak drive is a hopped up hyper-generator and only has effect when changing hyper bands (or transitioning in or out of normal space). It has nothing to do with physical movement within a band (or normal space).
The maximum velocity is set by particle shielding, not the strength of the drive.
I do not think I am making myself clear. I understand the streak drive has nothing to do with movement once in a band. It simply allows a ship to access higher bands; in effect in layman's terms, enabling a ship to access more lanes across a very busy multi-lane freeway. In the case of rogue waves, the bands function as off-ramps. Exits. Exits are often utilized to escape danger on the freeway by avoiding your pursuer. All as an analogy.
In the Selker Shear, there is a rogue wave that suddenly comes on. Nobody knows "when the trouble they'll be in." So I assume a ship must run? They must try to avoid the Shear. Much like it is -- as the analogy I made in a previous post -- with a Tsunami.
Now, the danger when dealing with a Tsunami is in the wave energy that is inherent in the wave face. One does not want to be hit directly with the front face of the wave. So, a streak drive might allow a ship to temporarily rise above the Shear (the bowling ball) then drop back down and ride atop the ball, the crest if you will. Like a performer in a circus. If a ship drops down atop a rogue wave from a higher band, won't it be traveling faster? Perhaps a streak drive capable ship can match the speed of the train so it can jump on, if you will. Come on, you never jumped on a moving train as a kid?
Or, if a ship can be in the act of bouncing off the next highest band when the Shear hits, it might avoid the brunt of the wave. And my suggestion that the Warshawski Sail might be improved to divert a lot of the energies encountered when dropping atop a wave, as trimming the sails diverts a lot of energy from the wind pressure.
Of course, if Jonathan's notion that a streak capable ship might evade the danger by accessing the next highest band is true, then why attempt my maneuver? Well, for one, the streak drive might not be able to rise above the Selker Rift. (And I suppose that all ships evade the Shear by dropping back down to a lower band.) But if the streak drive will allow a warship to access a higher band and rise above the Shear, instead of sitting in the middle of the freeway like a disabled vehicle, then tactically it can avoid battle with faster GA ships while in the Rift. Saved by the Bell, the ship's warning bell (the Rift). GA ships have to run. Streak drive configured ships may be able to zag while GA ships have to zig.
A ship whose Warshawski Sails have been improved might be able to take advantage of a rogue wave by interacting with the wave at a different angle, by dropping down on the wave from above with a properly improved Sail.
No one has ever accessed a rogue wave, so nobody knows the particle count encountered there, or if whether by some freaky rogue-wave dynamics that the particles cannot be diverted by a slight alteration / improvement of the Sails that allow a tailored "trim."
If all of this research fields fruit, then even if riding a rogue wave doesn't allow faster travel, just being able to ride it might offer a tactical option when encountering GA ships while in the Selker Shear. And if by some freaky act of nature and sci-fi the particle density is freakishly low, then "Bob's your Uncle."
Late edit: If a streak-drive equipped ship is riding a rogue wave, it might be undetectable by enemy sensors.