Standard-issue Confed infantry weapon of 2667. Besides, there are very few tactically valuable locations that are completely inaccessible to vessels using only Jump drives (deep space, isolated stars). The time delay involved in switching between the two drives presents a tactical disadvantage since a vessel can neither Jump nor Hop until the required engine is on-line and ready. Very few vessels carry both Jump and Hopper drives because the two interfere with each other's operation-for either one to operate properly, the other one must be powered down. For this reason, ship commanders are discouraged from using a Hop to ambush an enemy by dropping into their midst, as ofttimes Hopping may be the only means of retreat if an engagement turns bad, so it is preferable to save your ship's Hop for emergencies. Second, a ship cannot Hop twice in rapid succession-the Drive needs a period of rest before it can be used again. First, the wormholes created do not extend over interstellar distances-it requires dozens of successive Hops to travel to a neighboring star.
However, the Hopper Drive has two drawbacks that make the use of Jump Drives preferable whenever possible. Furthermore, it is possible to Hop across a single solar system, saving hours or days of sublight travel. The artificial wormhole lasts just long enough for the vessel generating it to pass through safely, and collapses immediately afterward.īecause faster-than-light travel is not possible in the Wing Commander universe, the Hopper Drive is the only means of quickly traveling to places that are far away from any Jump Points, such as deep interstellar space or those few stars lacking Jump Points. When engaged, the Hopper Drive creates a wormhole with one end near itself and the other end extended in the desired direction in three-dimensional space. This led to the development of the Hopper Drive.
This limits the size of Jump-capable vessels, as all parts of the vessel must be within this radius unless it mounts secondary emitters synchronized with the primary drive.Īfter the invention of the Jump Drive, it was discovered that it was possible to create artificial, temporary wormholes by generating powerful focused bursts of gravitons. However, due to their short lifespan, anti-gravitons can not be projected beyond a range of about one kilometer from the point where they are generated before decaying. The Jump Drive (or Akvende Drive, after its creator) functions by creating a beam of anti-gravitons which nullify the gravitational force that normally squeezes the mouth of the wormhole shut like a sphincter. Only by using a Jump Drive can a spacecraft "open" a wormhole at a Jump Point and pass through to the other end. The points in normal space that are connected by these wormholes are known as "Jump Points". In the Wing Commander universe, the gravitational fields of stars and other objects of greater-than-planetary mass create natural wormholes that connect neighboring stars to each other.
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