Nexus Linkage Device

A Nexus Linkage Device allows up to nine of one type of components to be used together.

• It can work on jump drives, maneuver drives, and power plants, but not in combination. For instance, it can not link a maneuver drive and a power plant.

Description (Specifications)

Some shipbuilding concerns make large machines, such as jump drives, maneuver drives, and power plants in standardized sizes.

• The device employs an additive effect with distinct limits. E.g. three Type-A drive-units (each individually outputting 100 energy units) could be "ganged" together to produce a 300 energy-unit output total, or the equivalent of a Type-C drive-unit. In a 200 dton hull, this would permit 3 Type-A Jump Drive units (each individually capable of Jump-1 in that hull class) to produce a Jump-3 capability, which would normally require a single Type-C Jump Drive unit.
• A set of standardized fittings, designed alongside the standardized sizes of components. If, for example, two jump drives of size A are to be used on the ship, the Nexus Linkage Device sits between them and allows both of them to be used at once.
• This can be because one size (say, size A) is too small for a given ship design but the next size up (size B in this case) is too large, but 2 or 3 of the first size would be just right.
• In the case of jump drives, this is also a lower-tech alternative to a Jump Governor. If three jump drives are installed, each of which could give Jump-1 performance on its own, together they can yield Jump-3 performance for a Jump-3's worth of fuel ...but when the ship's captain only wants to jump a single parsec, two of the drives can be disengaged and the other one powered up, using only a Jump-1's worth of fuel.

Nexus Disadvantages

When used in place of larger components (...which might not be available in the optimal size, or at a shipyard's current technological level), a Nexus Linkage Device offers diseconomies of scale. One manual has this to say about connecting jump drives:

For example, an N2 or NN Jump consists of two N Jump Drives connected by a Nexus. The nexus itself is basically a connection; it adds no tonnage and no additional cost.

A Nexus can also be used to create other combinations up to nine drives: N3, K4, Z9. An A9 drive (consisting of nine Standard J-Drive-A and nexi) creates an output of 900 EP, is (9 * 10)=) 90 tons, and costs MCr90. Jump Drive-J is more efficient at 50 tons.

The same is generally true of maneuver drives and power plants.

History & Background (Dossier)

Standardized connectors date back to pre-spaceflight technology on many worlds. The Nexus Linkage Device is merely a logical evolution of the concept.

This is such a common practice that many shipbuilding concerns just use these without calling them out. In these cases, they have no such thing as a "standardized size" of the relevant component: instead of "a size A jump drive", they speak of "a 10 ton jump drive that can give a 100 ton ship Jump-2 or a 200 ton ship Jump-1". This can cause some confusion when sophonts used to deal with the former talk to those used to dealing with the latter.

Technological Overview of Alternate FTL Devices

• Jump Drive → Nexus Linkage Device → Jump Governor → Advanced FTL Drives (Hop Drive or more advanced) → Hieronymous Device → Jump Potentiator

References & Contributors (Sources)

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This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Starships (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), T5.10 Book 2/p. 100.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science