A Comparison of FTL Travel in BattleTech and the Infinite Space Trilogy

A Comparison of FTL Travel in BattleTech and the Infinite Space Trilogy

Along with combat and ship classifications, one of the areas in which the Infinite Space trilogy shares some similarities with BattleTech is its depiction of interstellar travel at speeds faster than light. However, there are also a few key differences. Whereas BattleTech only has one major type of interstellar drive (the Kearney-Fuchida Drive), the Infinite Space franchise has several. So let's take a closer look at how both franchises handle FTL travel.

In the Infinite Space universe, there are multiple different types of interstellar drives. The more advanced a drive type is, the more powerful (and expensive) it tends to be; a ship with a more powerful drive will need less time to reach a given destination, all other things being equal and assuming the ship is not traveling through a nebula at any point in the journey. This last point is of particular importance due to the inability of most drives to function properly inside a nebula, with few exceptions; among them are nebular drives (which can propel a ship through nebulae at superluminal, i.e. faster than light, speeds) and the very rare Hyperdrive, which teleports an entire fleet to any system in the sector when used, but takes an entire year (or 60 days in all installments prior to Sea of Stars) to recharge. Unlike in BattleTech, however, there is no way for a drive to malfunction, except through severe battle damage, nor is it possible for a fleet to suffer from a misjump (in which the fleet arrives at a different place from its intended destination); however, any fleet that travels close enough to a black hole without the use of an Anti-Graviton Shunt (which negates a black hole's gravitational pull) is instantly destroyed, . Finally, in any case, interstellar drives in Infinite Space always occupy the drive slot on capital ships, and generally recharge instantly (with the exception of the Hyperdrive as shown above). 

In contrast, K-F Drives in BattleTech generally have a safe maximum range of 30 light-years and are limited to a single known design due to much of the science behind it being lost during the Succession Wars, preventing new designs from ever being developed until the rediscovery of the contents of the Helm Memory Core (although minor modifications were still possible). However, given that the K-F Drive was the linchpin for the colonization of the Inner Sphere, JumpShips (which rely on them for interstellar travel) were declared off-limits during wartime. Moreover, military vessels utilize a Compact K-F Drive, which has half the mass of an equivalent civilian K-F Drive but costs five times as much. Neither of them recharge instantly, however; instead, a large, relatively fragile jump sail (which collects light from a nearby star, converts it into energy, and transfers it to the drive, thereby recharging it) must be deployed in order to recharge the drive over the course of several days; once the drive is fully recharged, the ship can then perform another jump. Although it is possible to accelerate this process by using the JumpShip's own power plant instead of a jump sail, doing so risks damaging or even destroying the drive (or the entire ship in a worst-case scenario), with the former potentially leading to a misjump. Other causes of misjumps include navigational errors and spatial anomalies.

On the subject of sails, the original Strange Adventures in Infinite Space had a Solar Flare Sail as one of the options for interstellar drives. In-game, it allowed a ship to travel at 10 times the speed of light, although this item is absent from the sequels. On the other hand, BattleTech does not feature these devices as means of propulsion, but as the main recharging method for K-F drives as stated above.

The differences in FTL drive technology in both universes can be partially explained by the eras in which they are set. Whereas BattleTech lore spans several centuries of near-constant conflict (from an alternate version of the 20th and 21st centuries all the way to the 32nd), the Infinite Space games take place farther in the future and over a much shorter (and usually more peaceful) timespan - from the late 41st century to the early 42nd, when many vastly more advanced and exotic technologies are available, often at a higher cost compared to more primitive technologies. In both universes, however, any form of FTL technology is highly sought after due to the fact that interstellar travel would not be viable (or even exist) without it.

In short, although there are significant differences in how these works of fiction handle FTL travel, one of the most important things they have in common is that they both treat FTL technology (whatever form it takes) as vital for the establishment and maintenance of interstellar civilizations.