If jump points connect various systems in a large web, how is it possible for anyone to invade anyone? What stops the UEE from creating an impenetrable choke point at the jump point exit of a valuable system?
TL;DRInternally called the Swiss cheese method: besides the main stable jump points, less stable connections can be found as back roads, so a single choke point can't fully seal a system.
So we talked about this at a CitizenCon, I forget exactly the year, but internally we kind of call it the Swiss cheese method. The idea is that there are these main, very stable jump points that are usually initially what's found to connect systems, and those are what get the infrastructure. But space is not only connected at that one point; it's soft all over that area over long distance. And so there are other, more unstable jump connections that can be found, of different sizes and various qualities. So it's kind of something that players will be able to do, and it's something that potentially NPCs will be able to do, is find new paths between systems that are not at that main stable jump point, that highway. There's back roads, basically. And then the other thing is that the exit point, we've talked about a little bit, is... I'm not sure, I'm going to stop there. But that gives us kind of the leeway to explain how there aren't just large cannons aimed at a point, and the bandits show up and get blown up instantly.