On 12Nov2019 0415, Phil Pugliese (via tml list) wrote:
> P.S. It was stated in one of the Library Entries I came across while
> chasing down my memories of the Dtank saga that the avg jump achieved
> by the Xboat system is only 2.6 parsecs so even increasing Jmax to
> six would probably not increase Javg to more than 4 parsecs thus
> greatly increasing the 'speed' of public commo but still not coming
> close to the speed of the J6 couriers avail for official commo.

My recollection is that one reason given for not increasing the system
to J-6 was that the average jump range wouldn't go up enough to justify
the increased cost. Personally I think that is just the official line
for public consumption and the real reasons are a desire to retain the
governmental/naval and megacorporate speed advantage, and also
resistance from vested interests - a lot of worlds along the X-boat
routes would wither if they were moved, which they would be if a J-6
system were set up, even if the J-6 system only covered the main trunks,
leaving the side branches at J-4.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>