Given the Kathol Rift being filled with obstacles and making pilots suffer from mental health issues while in flight, the Outer Rim Coalition seems to be the faction that most needs an Otherspace-capable fleet.
The only requirement for any ship qualifying for Project Otherspace is an Otherdrive. Pick one among the following (ask the permission of the writer having subbed the corresponding Otherdrive, with the allowed production levels in brackets):
Highly recommended is the
Otherpilot navicomputer (mandatory if the Nadion Otherdrive is in use), regardless of which Otherdrive is in use, which allows ships equipped with it to take nonlinear routes in hyperspace as well as Otherspace.
Additional notes on Otherspace (courtesy of [member="Jorus Merrill"]):
- Otherspace does not contain realspace mass shadows. Reversion from Otherspace into hyperspace and then realspace is thus extremely dangerous, comparable to a blind hyperjump -- it is entirely possible to revert to hyperspace on a collision course with a deadly mass shadow, or even inside one.
- While the native Charon are not capable of hyperspace travel (and giving them hyperdrives is not recommended), they have purged entire galaxies of life, moving from system to system. The laws of physics are different in Otherspace, allowing vast distances to be traveled in disproportionately short time, much like in hyperspace.
- Using Otherspace as a means of travel in the main galaxy (by jumping to Otherspace and reverting to hyperspace elsewhere) is conjectured to be roughly comparable to a slow hyperdrive (perhaps class 3-8).
- Such travel is extremely dangerous, both for the risk of running into the Charon or blundering too close to a black hole, and for the risk of reverting to hyperspace in or near a mass shadow. Significant skill in instinctive astrogation is required to even partially mitigate the latter danger.
- Possible benefits to such travel could include circumvention of hyperroute surveillance and early warning systems, as well as temporary neutralization of S-thread tracking beacons.
- Crucially, the Otherdrive cannot be used to jump out of an interdiction field, or jump from deep in a gravity well, as it requires a brief hyperspace jump. It is possible, however, to jump from Otherspace to hyperspace inside a gravity well of whatever kind, either destroying the ship or allowing the Otherdrive to attain a result comparable to a deeply imprecise Hyperwave Inertial Momentum Sustainer.
Currently qualified ship classes:
Outstanding needs:
- Frigates (escort or heavy variety)
- Cruisers (escort, artillery, heavy or carrier variety)
- Elite destroyers (due to production levels)
- Possibly specialty ships
