>There's a simple physical limit to how small you can
>make the vital components of a jumpdrive relative to
>the jump point you want it to generate; sort of like
>the relationship between a rocket engine and the
>payload it can put in orbit - and Spiral standard has
>reached the point where there's nothing left but
>evolution.
It is, as they say, a fair cop.
>So, instead of creating a jump point, they're instead
>cheating shamelessly?
Not so much cheating as redefining the rules of the game.
A standard jump point entry or exit profile is big and wastes tons of energy, but it's -easy-, an incredibly simple hypersphere construct, and reactor tech is dirt cheap almost everywhere anyway. Creating a sideslip entry where the hyperspace manifold conforms as closely to the spacecraft's lines as possible is much more energy efficient and creates less "noise" when used, but the physics and n-dimensional geometry needed to pull it off are a bitch and a half to master. Strictly Mad Scientists and Vorlon territory.
>A Vorlon thinks, "Why spend all this mass for living
>space on a planet when an Orbital takes so much less?"
>Getting the most out of the least, say. They like to
>see themselves ahead and everything else balancing
>out perfectly.
Well, the hypothetical Vorlon would be more like to think "Why fuck up a perfectly good planetary ecosystem, when you can build your own tailor-made to your personal specifications?" Efficiency only has a small part to play in that sort of mindset, really. The Juraiian view sort of sidesteps this with their reliance on biotechnology.
Anyway, the point I was trying to make about the Abh's near-Vorlon status is that they're the closest thing to a Vorlon style space-based society not because of hyperdrives or the lack, or efficiency, or the political factors, but because -in 2/3 of the Duchy there are hardly any planets at all, habitable or otherwise-. It's literally a matter of "build space habitats or die" out past Abliarsec.
---
S. "Mal" Breen
aka Mr. Fnord, Map Boy and Chief Vorlonologist
http://fnord.sandwich.net/