Hyperspeed Ambush: Difference between revisions

* A strategy that comes up from time to time in ''[[Honor Harrington]]'', though mostly only when the characters are near a Wormhole Terminus. Since Wormhole Terminii located near populated systems tend to be extensively surveyed and plotted, any ambush through them requires overwhelming force, as one can usually find fleets of warships, arrays of massive space fortresses, and remotely-launched missile pods waiting for any unwelcome visitors in hopes of making their visit a short and [[Stuff Blowing Up|spectacular]] one. One notable example is the Royal Manticoran Navy's successful assault on the Havenite forces at Trevor's Star. They first launched a conventional attack with a fleet dropping in from hyperspace, and once that battle had enough time to develop fully, another fleet jumped in directly from the Manticoran system via the wormhole that connected the two star systems to strike the Havenite forces from behind. The main problem is that every transit destabilizes the Wormholes for a time, based on the transferred mass. With one ship, there is a very short cycle until the next one comes through. Sending the maximum mass in one transit (for a Manticorian Terminii about thirty Superdreadnoughts) will make further use impossible for ''hours''. Which means no retreat if something goes wrong and makes tactics as used above very risky. And sending your ships in one after another would just give the other side a chance for some target practice.

* [[Gordon R. Dickson]]'s [[Childe Cycle]], Donal Graeme stages a daring raid against an enemy planet in Dorsai!. He uses multiple swift hyperspace jumps to simulate a huge armada attacking his enemy, even though it drives him and his crew to the edge of collapse, with each jump leaving them more and more in pain and disorientation.

* While short-range hyperjumps are possible in Elizabeth Moon's ''[[Vatta's War]]'' universe, it is a technique generally limited only to some of the better equipped space navies; most civilian and commercial-grade equipment just isn't designed for that sort of thing. That said, limitations in sensors and communication (limited to light-speed within a star-system, given that the FTL communications arrays are space stations unto themselves) preclude this strategy from being used. {{spoiler|Until someone develops a FTL communications rig that can easily fit aboard a starship.}}

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Faster Than Light Index]]