expedient wrote:My take is that traveling in hyperspace involves either making a high energy field or limited artificial space-time bubble and pushing that into a super space framework that supports the normal four (more in the case of the Faey with their psionic abilities) dimensions that we can perceive. The negation of the normal effects of space-time leaves the mind struggling to cope with the nature of those dimensions. Either the energies in this dimensions affect the mind in some way or the removal of of the influence of space-time confuses the traveller.
This is essentially correct. Jumping hyperspace involves generating what you might call a "hyperspace energy field" around a ship, which then causes it to jump into hyperspace as soon as it moves in real space. Simply put, the larger a ship is, the more energy it takes. Also, the SLOWER it moves within the frame of hyperspace, the more energy it takes to keep it there. Not faster, slower. However, to CHANGE speed in hyperspace takes EXTREME amounts of power, which is why a ship is almost always locked into the velocity it inherits when it initially enters hyperspace. A ship will drop out of hyperspace the instant this field is removed, which is how ships drop out. Computers calculate how long to keep the engines going, then they shut them down, which causes them to drop out.
And this the REAL reason behind how interdictors attack ships. They induce a CHANGE in hyperspace velocity to any ship using hyperspace engines, the "disruption to hyperspace that knocks the ships out", and the ships' engines cannot meet that power demand to maintain hyperspace integrity. It disrupts their "hyperspace field," and they drop into real space. It's also how Karinne ships "ride the wave." They're not actually riding an energy trough, they're actually matching the velocity of the waveform itself, which causes no induced change of velocity. And so, they can jump right through it in the same direction the field radiates from its origin point.
And as soon as Myleena figures this out, she'll be able to redesign Karinne engines to counter the interdiction effect...because yes, the Karinnes and the Kimdori have engines and power generation systems powerful enough to counter the effect, with the Karinnes capable after just a few tweaks to their engines to upgrade them to modern technology (they're still using the original Karinne designs, where the Kimdori are using much more modern engines). The Consortium, however, do NOT. Their engines are based on the original Karinne design and therefore would be capable of it after a few modifications, but the Consortium's power generation technologies cannot stand up to the power demands required. In this respect, they are quite a bit behind the Karinnes, beacuse they focused more on interphasal systems to power their broadcast power systems and less and meta- and quantum- systems which hyperspace engines use. The Consortium would have to upgrade to a more powerful energy system in their ships to breach the interdiction field.
This "entry velocity" curve isn't linear, it's logarithmic, and like an interdiction buildup curve, it has a "slow/fast/slow" bell curve. This translates into a similar bell curve when it comes to the technology that allows a ship to get into hyperspace in the first place. Civilizations just learning about hyperspace start at the bottom, have to do a LOT of research and advancement to get to the start of the bell, and then, once they're highly advanced, no amount of research is going to make things much better.
If you're curious, the big three (Consortium, Kimdori, Karinne) are just starting to enter the bottom of the bell curve. There's still soooo much they need to learn before they start to max it out. And of the three, the Kimdori are the most advanced. They can do things in and with hyperspace the others have yet to match.
This is the reason why civilizations with highly advanced hyperspace technologies (the big three) can both move through hyperspace in real time, and also move a little faster in hyperspace than most others (this difference is measureable, but it doesn't have much impact in the scheme of things). Their ships have highly advanced systems that can more efficiently create the "breach" of initial hyperspace entry, so they enter with more velocity, and that efficiency translates to them being able to enter and move in hyperspace in real time. That's how they avoid the relativity delay. It's not about moving, it's about how they get in there.
This is also why most other civilizations are so far behind the big three when it comes to hyperspace technology. It takes some extremely advanced technology to make engines efficient enough to move ships through hyperspace in real time.
Your reasoning about how three dimensional beings perceive hyperspace is more or less also correct. It's a matter of sensory overload of both what you can understand and what you can't, the mind trying to perceive things far beyond its comprehension. Think of it as a temporary case of "being John Malkovich," with you looking instead through the senses of God. You have his ability to perceive what you usually cannot, but not his ability to UNDERSTAND what you're perceiving. What you see and hear and feel and smell make no sense to you, so your brain wildly misinterprets the sensory chaos in ways it can intepret...and this produces hallucinations and other phenomena associated with hyperspace exposure.