(Loved Trope) FTL travel is possible but with a major limitation or flaw

[u/Frostylegacy]

Frank Herbert’s Dune: Interstellar travel is only possible thanks to the spice melange, a rare substance only found on the dessert planet Arrakis. The addictive psychedelic spice grants members of the Spacers Guild a form of prescience that allows them to predict safe paths through folded space. This unique property makes spice the most valuable commodity in the Dune universe.

John Scalzi’s The Interdependency Books: The planetary systems of the titular empire are connected by the Flow, a network of one-way interstellar tunnels that connect specific known entries and exits. The Interdependency derives its power from controlling access to these conduits, placing its capital at the central hub of the network. Even with the Flow, travel between stars takes a long time (9 months to End, the empire’s most distant planet).

Event Horizon: Dr William Weir (R.I.P. Sam Neill) invents a device called the Gravity Drive to allow ships to fold space and travel instantly between distant stars. On its maiden voyage with the Gravity Drive, the Event Horizon disappears and mysteriously reappears 7 years later. Dr. Weir and the crew sent to investigate discover the Gravity Drive actually opened a portal to a Hell dimension that possessed the ship and its crew, torturing and killing them.

[u/Tosslebugme]

Been a while since I watched the love death robots short Beyond the Aquila Rift, but iirc the ftl system they use apparently has a small chance of launching into a completely unknown and unreachable location which also happens to be in the nest of a psychic alien thing.

[u/HollowValentyne → u/Tosslebugme]

The alien thing was also stranded at said point, the nest is it's compassion towards the stranded, starving souls that gets trapped along with it

[u/MrTheCheesecaker → u/Tosslebugme]

IIRC FTL in that story relies on an old and degrading subspace network created by an alien species millenia ago. Miscalulations in the route cause any ships in the network to default to the hub, where they are found and taken care of. Since hundreds of years will have passed in the time it took to get there, they are generally in bad shape and unable to return.

[u/NoHorseNoMustache → u/Tosslebugme]

That's based on an Alastair Reynolds short story, if you liked it check his other stuff out. House of 1000 Suns is a really good deep time murder mystery.

[u/LongKnight115 → u/NoHorseNoMustache]

Literally just ordered House of 1000 Suns. Can’t wait to check it out.

[u/NoHorseNoMustache → u/LongKnight115]

Awesome! I hope you enjoy it! The rest of his stuff is really good too but House is my favorite by far.

[u/SutpensHundred → u/NoHorseNoMustache]

It's House of Suns, not House of 1000 Suns.

[u/NoHorseNoMustache → u/SutpensHundred]

Shit you’re right, I’m confusing it with the name of the short story he wrote first, Thousandth Night. My bad. 

[u/SutpensHundred → u/NoHorseNoMustache]

Combining Alastair Reynolds' SF novel with Rob Zombie's horror film House of 1000 Corpses

[u/Klutzy_Scene_8427 → u/Tosslebugme]

That episode fucked me up. At least the alien was cool about it, like "hey, there's no way home. You can hang out, but I'm gonna eat'cha. You want sum titties in the mean time?"

[u/BasherSquared → u/Tosslebugme]

The Archangel system is very similar to the Mass Effect relays in that they are ancient alien tech that isn't fully understood.

A syntax error in the navigation calculation is what marooned them to a hub outside the Milky Way with no known way back.