Someone posted earlier that a type 1 Drive from back then would give the sidewinder a range of 7, a type 2 a range of 30 something, iirc.
Ah - sorry, i didn't read the first post correctly. Yes, the Type 1 had a range of 7 ly, but for every ship, in every direction.
Regarding the type2b: I don't think a Sidewinder would be able to jump 30 ly with one of those under normal circumstances, because:
These hyperdrive mechanisms were also bulky, requiring many tonnes of shipboard space to be consumed during installation. Various sizes (or classes) of drive were available, but ship size still limited their installation. Jump range was proportional to the size of the drive and inversely proportional to the mass of the ship. Hyperdrives ranged in size from the class 1 at 6 tonnes, to the enormous class 8 at 600 tonnes.
These type 2b hyperspace mechanisms did have one advantage over the previous types however, jump ranges were extendable by class of drive, far exceeding the 7 lightyear limit. Ships were able to travel dozens of lightyears in a single bound.
In rare cases it was noticed that these hyperdrive mechanisms were able to take advantage of strange undocumented wormholes in space. It has been reported that jumps of distances of over 655 lightyears were achieved by judicious plotting.
"dozens of lightyears" may count for the class 8 type 2b drive, but my guess would be, that a Sidewinder with a class 1 and 6 tonnes plus enormous amounts of fuel required for such a journey would not be able to jump much more than 15 ly
See the new section on the front page about Current Activities. These mysterious beacons the missions were unloading seem to have a similar activity to UA's and UP's found around the Pleides. And we were told that "They are all linked - The Rift, Conflux, Hawkings Gap and what's happening now in the Pleiades." (can someone remember where that was from? - can't find a link to it)
Still, i'm not convinced that these where UA's and UP's. The Obelisks, Urns and what not from the Ruins of the Guardians where also "Artifacts"