Editing FTL Jump Drives (section)

==='''FTL JUMP RANGES'''===

The range that Galactica can jump at has never been specified on-screen. However, in a deleted line from the mini-series the jump from Ragnar to the Prolmar Sector is said to be "30 light-years", which is way beyond the red line (maximum safely calculable jump range). This is consistent with Colonel Tigh saying that Galactica could search every planet within 12 light-years for water before having to jump to another sector altogether (Water). On this Wiki, producer Bradley Thompson suggested that internally, the writers had been working on the idea the Fleet had been jumping about 5 light-years at a time, although that does not have to have been its maximum range. Finally, on composer Bear McCreary's blog, science advisor Kevin Grazier and producer Bradley Thompson suggested that the final six digits for the jump coordinates Kara interprets from the Music represent distance in SUs. 999,999 SUs - the maximum possible distance that can be inputted - would relate to 15.812 Colonial light-years. The distance inputted during the Battle of the Colony is 365,321 SU or 5.77 Colonial light-years, which is presumably the distance from the Colony to Earth (Daybreak, Part II). There may also be a factoring scale at work, and at close ranges Galactica appears to be able to jump much more accurately, as demonstrated by its jump from several million kilometers directly into New Caprica's atmosphere 100,000 feet above the surface (Exodus, Part II), or a jump of unknown range to within one kilometer of the Colony's surface (Daybreak, Part II), though this was more likely done with Raptors doing recon before these jumps were made, collecting the needed data for the Galactica to make these jumps more accurately.

Cylon FTL ranges are considerably larger. At the end of the series, the Fleet's larger ships have their jump ranges tripled by the installation of Cylon technology (A Disquiet Follows My Soul). However, during the rescue of Colonial resistance forces from Caprica three years earlier, a Raptor squadron outfitted with a Cylon FTL navigation computer traversed in 10 jumps (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I) a distance that Galactica would have required a minimum of 230 jumps (conservatively) to cross (Pegasus), an improvement by a factor of 23. However, this rescue team was just using the navigation computer to improve their jump calculations. Another example is how many jumps it ended up taking to reach The Colony. When Boomer stole a for some reason un-upgraded Raptor, it took her over a dozen jumps to reach The Colony. But the recon Raptor that was dispatched and even Galactica  herself were able to make that distance in one jump with their upgraded FTL drives. Lee Adama even specificly said that The Colony was in Galactica's FTL range which it wouldn't have been before with the un-upgraded drive given Boomer's journey there. With the upgraded drives, Tyrol said that the efficency of the Fleet's jump drive would be trippled and give them a much longer jump range which they believed was key to finding a new world for humanity to settle on. Cylon FTL's were so complicated that even Tyrol didn't understand them fully and said they were going to need rebel Cylons just to do the upgrades.