system
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human
[BSG] If the Twelve Colonies possessed FTL jump drives that were capable of crossing significant portions of the galaxy, why didn't they expand further before the Second Cylon War?

I understand that jumping long distances is dangerous, but surely they sent explorers or surveyors to new planets at some point?

The colonials have been spacefaring for at least 2,000 years after all.
gpt
The Colonies were extremely unusual in that they were several habitable worlds in really close proximity to each other. In contrast, it took weeks of searching further out from Colonial space than they had ever gone for the Galactica to find ONE barely habitable planet.

Calculating jump parameters is also an involved process which has some inherent risks. You can jump to nearby stars using telemetry gained from ground and orbital telescopes, but it lacks exact precision and most stellar bodies are almost impossible to detect, such as asteroids small planets, comets etc. This seems to be the type of recon Raptors were designed for, but they lack the sensitive viewing systems to extensively survey entire systems. 

Basically, it seems to be a measure of time... They'd have to calculate reliable jump-coordinates from telescopes, send a Raptor to do a cursory sweep and determine safe coordinates for a larger jump, then send in heavier survey equipment both to survey the system but also to collect data for further jumps. That type of work is time consuming, and rather expensive. 

This wasn't so much an issue for the Galactica, since they largely threw caution to the wind for the sake of survival, but the Colonies wouldn't have been so desperate. In fact, between the First and Second Wars they seem to have become increasingly arrogant and bureaucratic.