FTL vs HYderdrive

[pRyvvik]

My thought is that neither drive has to be better.

FTL, for example, requires shields to be active and has limitations about how frequently one can jump. Where as a hyperdrive requires neither of these. Of course, we have no idea how much energy each uses...perhaps FTL is a far more energy efficient method or more reliable (you can't very well gate in randomly to repair it).

Basically, I am saying there are a lot of other factors to consider other than the speed. And in many cases, no episodes give us enough information to determine these factors or how the drives differ.

If I had to guess, based on the time scale, I would say the FTL drives came before hyperdrives. In addition, I would argue the FTL drives have more limitations that make them less useful for day to day use. When I say day to day I mean jumps between planets, course change, etc. Destiny, for example, would not be very useful if you wanted to bounce around between local planets.

The thing that puzzles me is that per SG-1 and SGA, it seems as though the intergalatic drives are far superior to Destinys FTL in the speed spectrum. The Asgard seemed to be able to nearly instantly jump their ships from earth to their own galaxy. The speed of these drives seemed to get altered over time and slow down a bit. Even the Daedaelus class ships could jump between galaxys in a few weeks, which seems to be faster than the two month jump of destiny (granted you have no stats on how far between the galaxies they were actually traveling).

One of two has to be true, else we wouldn't have much of a show...
1. Destiny is slower but so ridiculously far out into the universe that even the superior drives would take many many years to reach it. Case in point, if earth dispatched ship they would have told Destiny. And if this was the case, Destiny's crew would have been far more likely to stay on a habitable planet and wait for rescue. The reason they tend to not stay behind is the lack of a guarantee and Destiny itself being their best shot.

2. Destiny's FTL is faster than (or nearly the same speed as) the newer hyperdrives. There could be countless reasons this is true. Thus a rescue party attempting the journey would never really catch up in any meaningful time scale.

I think #1 is the best option. In my opinion FTL is slower than hyperdrive but so much distance as been traveled it is not really feasible (or worth while) to send a rescue ship or for the ancients of the Pegasus to have bothered with building a newer model.

(Granted they could have build a newer model and gated the parts through to destiny and assembled on sight ;-)

[Quetzocoetl]

We do seem to be clinging to the idea that a faster drive is an inherently better drive.
We do know that FTL is riskier for 2 reasons:
1. If the shields aren't active, the ship can be torn apart
2. The ship can collide with objects in it's path. While that's fine for things like small alien fighters, colliding into a planet or star could be...problematic.

We know that the only side effect of hyperdrives is potential radiation, which (as the Wraith exhibited) can be counteracted without shields (The only reason that they had to drop out of hyperspace every now and then was because their hulls were inherently alive. It is probable that the same radiation shielding could be accomplished with inorganic materials).
It is also probable that Destiny's FTL is more inefficient when it comes to power consumption. Destiny, while being able to cross galaxies in a month, is powered by stars. A BC-304, on the other hand, can reach Pegasus in weeks utilizing a handful of Naquadah generators.
Destiny's FTL is also more affected by gravity than hyperdrives. Destiny was pulled out of FTL because it came too close to a star in "Faith", the only time any sort of gravitational anomaly has affected a hyperdrive was when SG-1 got propelled to another galaxy because they entered hyperspace about the same time a sun went nova. Even passing by blackholes has done nothing to ships in hyperspace (remember when Teal'c and Carter traveled to the replicator planet, only to realize that the Asgard collapsed it's sun? The black hole didn't force them out of hyperspace).

Hyperdrives are just a safer, more efficient method of intersteller travel. Perhaps the only reason the Ancients didn't equip every single ship in their armada with intergalactic drives was simply the cost (or perhaps an attempt to keep the Wraith from finding a way to the Milky Way...).

[Nth Chevron]

Even passing by blackholes has done nothing to ships in hyperspace

Incorrect.

Season 6 Memento, whilst in hyperspace the Prometheus pass through intense gravity waves from a collapsing star that fried the Naquadriah hyperdrive core surge protector.

I would call that definite interaction.

Besides we already know gravity is one thing that has an effect on both subspace and normal space.

N.C

[garhkal]

Plus they have to be a certain distance away to even enter hyperspace.

[Tajis]

Perhaps Destiny has FTL simply due to that type of drive being more reliable over a long period of time. The Ancients made Destiny to be as seemingly redundant as possible requiring durability, flexibility, and simplicity.

Conventional power sources deplete, but stars are everywhere--thus the logic on the recharging method. FTL engines are older, but perhaps a less problematic design to implement on a ship that will be automated for most of its journey. It may not be faster or 'better' per-se, but more of a case of not needing your local neighborhood Ancient to throw in a can of oil every three thousand lightyears.

While in Atlantis they could find a ten thousand year old hyperdrive that still worked, had it been running as continuously as the FTL drive has been for Destiny? The saying goes that they don't build them like they used to. Haha.

[Mirel]

Holy **** people.

When Destiny goes in FTL it goes almost as fast the ships in the other 2 series. It's older tech so it doesn't go faster. There was never a mention of a FTL drive. There's no reason to assume they're different.

Am I the only one who just thinks the writers renamed it from hyperspace/hyperdrive/hyperwhatever to FTL because it's a more understandable term than hyperspace? It's more friendly to the casual viewer instead of the word hyperspace, which sounds way too nerdy for the casual viewer.