Jumpgate question

[Lunan]

some gates have 3 struts some have 4 why is that?

[Susitcha]

some gates have 3 struts some have 4 why is that?

Well I would assume it is to do with the size of the ships coming through it. When they had to bring the artifact through in Thirdspace they pulled all the struts futher apart.

I imagine having four struts would give a bigger area for ships to pass through. Just a guess though.

[Jan]

The one time that I recall the three-strut gate, the script simply said that it was of an alien construction. I guess having a different strut count was the easiest way to depict that.

Jan

[Joseph DeMartino]

I imagine having four struts would give a bigger area for ships to pass through. Just a guess though.

Since the gate struts can be moved to accomodate bigger ships I doubt the number of struts affects the "size" of the opening into hyperspace.

It may be that 3 struts is the minimum needed to create a vortex. The 4 strut designs may respond a little faster because of the extra power supply and also provide a degree of redundancy so that the gate can continue to function even if one strut fails. Races who are more cautious or wealthier or both might favor 4-strut designs while poorer races with less access to Quantium-40 or who want to build more gates quickly might go with 3 struts, especially if strut failures are rare. (You can build four 3-strut gates with the same materials that would yield three 4-strut models, so it would make sense for a rapidly expanding power or one with limited resources to favor the 3 strut design.)

Regards,

Joe

[B5_Obsessed]

Maybe two struts would give you a two-dimensional, or flat, opening so you need at least a third point to create an opening you can actually pass through. Also, the more struts you have, the more power, and conceivably the larger vortex in and out of hyperspace. If you didn't expect large ship traffic in your area, you might decide not to over-engineer your jumpgate.

[Joseph DeMartino]

Maybe two struts would give you a two-dimensional, or flat, opening so you need at least a third point to create an opening you can actually pass through.

That's what I had in mind when I mentioned three being the minimum number. Probably should have spelled that out. Thanks for doing it for me.

Regards,

Joe

[Susitcha]

Since the gate struts can be moved to accomodate bigger ships I doubt the number of struts affects the "size" of the opening into hyperspace.

Regards,

Joe

But surely there must be some theoretical limit on how far apart the struts can be moved before the gate becomes non functional. If so then four struts would give a greater area for ships to travel within? I am not the best at these things so if I am wrong please feel free to correct me.

[Joseph DeMartino]

But surely there must be some theoretical limit on how far apart the struts can be moved before the gate becomes non functional. If so then four struts would give a greater area for ships to travel within? I am not the best at these things so if I am wrong please feel free to correct me.

Is a rectangle "bigger" than a triangle? It is a meaningless question. Neither shape is "bigger". And the maximum distance between struts might differ in different configurations, so we'd again be comparing apples to oranges. It is true that if the struts could only be a fixed maximum distance apart, say 100 meters, that a square with the corners at 20 meters distance would enclose an area greater than that enclosed by an equilateral triangle with sides 200 meters long - but that doesn't necessarily mean that the oval vortex that forms inside the one would be correspondingly bigger. There are too many variables and too few of them are known.

It may be that if the struts are too far apart the gate won't work because the signal is too weak to form a vortex, but that beyond a certain point the vortex iteslf won't get any bigger - the two things are not necessarily related.

Regards,

Joe

[Susitcha]

Is a rectangle "bigger" than a triangle? It is a meaningless question. Neither shape is "bigger". And the maximum distance between struts might differ in different configurations, so we'd again be comparing apples to oranges. It is true that if the struts could only be a fixed maximum distance apart, say 100 meters, that a square with the corners at 20 meters distance would enclose an area greater than that enclosed by an equilateral triangle with sides 200 meters long - but that doesn't necessarily mean that the oval vortex that forms inside the one would be correspondingly bigger. There are too many variables and too few of them are known.

It may be that if the struts are too far apart the gate won't work because the signal is too weak to form a vortex, but that beyond a certain point the vortex iteslf won't get any bigger - the two things are not necessarily related.

Regards,

Joe

Thanks Joe, I knew it was too complex for my simple brain

[JohnFourtyTwo]

Silly me, I never paid attention to the number of struts in the jumpgates, I thought they were the same CG effect, just a different star background. Interesting though, I'll pay more attention for now on.