Warp Tunnel

A relatively simple FTL technology and method of transport used by the Grand Artanat Empire. 

Warp Tunnels, though simple, have the advantage of being capable of transporting massive volumes of ships cheaply, have the disadvantages of having to be placed by a dedicated warp tunnel starship. Warp tunnels can connect 2 different star systems that are up to about 200 ly away. This allows for very fast logistics within one of the GAE owned galaxies.

Warp Tunnels are similar to wormholes, but the main factors that differentiate them are the time it takes to travel across the tunnel, energy requirement of warping (though the tunnel massively reduces this) and shorter range. Starships can access a Warp Tunnel from any location within a system, not having to fly through a wormhole, and can pick a location to arrive in the destination system. This allows them to launch full scale assaults on nearby systems and remain extremely organised. As warp tunnels are simple, they are reliable and the travel times are consistent and reliable.

However, not every ship has a warp tunnel creation machine. These are only fitted on dedicated warp tunnel creation ships, so some lone GAE ships might become lost and incapable of returning home. As such, all GAE ships are still equipped with their own FTL drives, but this is far more energy intensive and hard to maintain. 

A specialised version of warp tunnels exist, designed to connect galaxies. These are massive in scale and require a lot more energy to use. These are still placed in specific star systems and cannot be accessed outside the star systems they are placed in. A much larger and more energy intensive warp tunnel creation machine is required for this, and these types of tunnels are so large that they have a minimum range and therefore cannot connect within a galaxy.