Non-Hyperspace FTL

[MrNexx]

Just an idle thought:

Has any Star Wars material covered FTL that wasn't hyperspace based? Space fold, mass effect drives, etc.?

I keep thinking about the SWG encountering a primitive species and not understanding HOW they got there, because they don't travel through hyperspace like normal people.
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[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Zarn]

Well, the Kwa Infinity Gates explicitly use terminology which is different from the entire Hyperspace thing. Their gates is said to utilize a principle first known to the Celestials - indicating that there might be a whole new area of technology related to this.

Then, there's the Gree Hyperspace gates - which does use "Hyperspace" in its description, but the Maker only knows what's going on with that flute-playing cephalopod - and why doesn't it know anything but "tekeli-li"?

Anyhow, there's also the Otherspace described in the modules mentioned by Wajeb Deb Kaadeb, but that isn't described as being coterminous with the Galaxy's realspace - so it seems improbable that it can be used reliably as a method of FTL travel.

The Sharu also seem to be a good candidate for an alternate FTL travel system due to their mastery of multiple dimensions (as evinced by the Mindharp), but nothing of travel is mentioned explicitly to my knowledge.

The Aing-Tii fold, spindle and mutilate the Force through an entire spectrum of techniques, and could move their perception point through time and space through 'flow-walking'. They could also teleport objects through the Force. Basically, they have the cheat codes of the universe. Or at least in the Kathol Rift.

A lesser version of flow-walking might be known to the Adepts of the White Current, as they had something they called 'Force immersion'. It was basically using the Force to turn into something of a ghost - but it didn't seem to offer the ability to cast one's center of perception like the flow-walking of the Aing-Tii.

So basically, some species in Star Wars have, or have had access to technology that seemed to utilize higher (or lower) dimensions for FTL travel, and the Celestials seem to have been first. Then, the Force offers a variety of ways to do this, either as an expansion of Farseeing or as actual travel - both abilities used by the Aing-Tii.

Essentially, if you wanted to do something like that described in Babylon 5's "Thirdspace" or offer novel ways of FTL travel such as a skip drive or Alcubierre drive, there's ample EU examples to legitimize that - or at least make it plausible.

[evilnerf]

Essential Atlas says the Devaronians and the Gossams used something called a "Tumbledrive" before the advent of Hyper drive, but does not elaborate.
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[MrNexx]

[garhkal]

One thing i liked that Stargate did was made it where each race's hyperdrives worked on similar principles but hit different "Frequencies".

BUT i would have loved seeing that taken a step further to where each races's frequency for their hyperdrives opened up into a separate "wave length" for hyperpsace.. Sort of like each race had its own "Lane" no other ship could cross into it sort of thing"...
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[CRMcNeill]

Something I've considered in the past but never got around to posting is a wormhole gate system combining aspects of Babylon 5 jump gates and the wormhole "hyperspace bridges" of the Honor Harrington universe.

In the Honorverse, ships are equipped with hyperdrives that allow travel through higher dimensions, much like in the SWU. However, there is a second method of travel, where a network of fixed-location wormholes allow instantaneous transit across hundreds of lightyears, greatly reducing trip times. This serves as the in-universe equivalent of strategically and economically valuable time-saving transit points like the Suez and Panama Canals; control over such a junction (and the charging of tolls and other fees to use a wormhole) can make or break entire systems by allowing ships to bypass standard hyperspace routes.

What I envisioned at the time was using B5-style jump gates located at wormhole openings to force a bubble of realspace (containing a ship) through a wormhole and out the other side, bypassing a hyperspace journey of days or weeks.

The problem is that it is very difficult to fit into the existing SWU without seriously unbalancing things...
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[CRMcNeill]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[ForbinProject]

[MrNexx]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

Conceptually, I don't think there is a place in the SWU for Trek-type warp drives, if only because a ship traveling at warp speeds will only be capable of interacting with other, equally equipped ships. Ships in hyperspace travel far faster, taking weeks to cross the galaxy instead of decades,. IMO, warp drive ships would be an anomaly, and not widely accepted.

The only real use I could see for them in galactic society as we know it would be as a specialized drive for scouts, traveling at ridiculously slow speeds relative to other ships, but still at superluminal velocities, and able to view space around them, and thus be able to slow down for a closer look if they find something interesting.

Either that, or as pathfinders mapping new hyperspace routes, being able to scan the route for obstacles and such.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[ForbinProject]

[ForbinProject]