Hyperspace Routes are Freeways

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

I just learned something new.

For several years, friends have encouraged me to watch Clone Wars (and Rebels). Even though I'm a comics reader, the cartoons really aren't my thing. But, hey, what the heck.

So, I started with the Clone Wars movie, and I' just starting the second episode of the series. It's OK. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with it. As I said, it's not really my thing.

But, I'll watch some episodes for now.



Why am I posting?

I learned, though this recent top of the toe into the Clone Wars series, something new about Hyperspace Routes.

I understand that the Clone Wars series is canon.

In the movie (I think--it may have been the first episode of the series), the Separatists have cut off the Jedi Knights and the Clone Army from the outer regions by taking control of the hyperspace lanes.



Now, I knew that there were major hyperspace lanes, but I didn't realize that going through hyperspace meant--like looking at a road map--taking certain space routes to get to your destination. I thought doing that would get you to your destination quicker, but I didn't realize how imperative it is to keep these space lanes open.

They're freeways. Close them down, and you can control traffic in the galaxy.

Which...all of a sudden, the dispute over taxation of the hyperspace routes in Episode I starts to make more sense.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Another Clone Wars revelation. Hyperspace jumps have a minimum distance, based on the size of the ship.

"With a ship that size it will be difficult to chart a course that is less than ten parsecs."

Wow. What does this say about micro-jumps in-system? That can't be done with certain sized ships!

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Watching Clone Wars still. It looks like the communication in hyperspace idea has been around a long time--it wasn't a new idea presented in Rogue One.

It happens in the Clone Wars series.

[garhkal]

But that's still 'disney' new canon... Not old Lucas canon.
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[CRMcNeill]

As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time dealing with freeways, I can say with some authority that it is, at best, an imperfect metaphor. There are many ways in which they differ, as well. Most obviously, it is impossible (or at least a very, very bad idea) to come to a dead stop in the middle of a freeway, then turn around and head the other direction.

It does make sense (also based on my experience) that larger vehicles might require more room to make a jump, what with mass and momentum affecting acceleration and deceleration. In the case of micro jumps, as seen in the HttE trilogy, this is where a backup drive might be useful, as the much lower relative speed will shorten the accel/decel distances.

As for comms, strictly speaking, the only place I can recall it being explicitly stated as impossible was the Black Fleet Trilogy, so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility. However, just because something is possible does not mean it should be common. My thinking is that it should be the province of full-up holo-comm systems, and limited to the Empire as of the Battle of Yavin. The Alliance would, in turn, make use of a less effective (but also less expensive and harder to trace) method of sending precordered text or audio messages via burst transmissions.

One comm restriction that does still stand from HttE is that deflector shields disrupt both hyper and sub space comms...
_________________
"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

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[CRMcNeill]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Mamatried]

[CRMcNeill]

Here's where we did most of our discussing.
_________________
"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

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

The more I read, the more I see that Hyperspace travel just doesn't happen without a road--a hyperspace route.

According to TLJ Visual Dictionary, people have been trapped in regions of space where hyperspace routes don't exist. This is why the Unknown Regions remain unknown. There's no traffic going into and out of that region of space. It is effectively cut off from the explored galaxy.

Evidently, there was an ancient race that mapped out the original hyperspace routes.



In the game, I thought that, if you didn't have a route, then you could blaze on yourself--you'd just have to use a high difficulty number.

Looking at the game now, I see that I was wrong about that. A "never traveled route" has a difficulty of 30.

That's still a route. One that is just not traveled. An old, duty back road, so to speak.



Galactic Atlas

Which brings us to the Galactic Atlas, which is mentioned in the novelization for ANH.

My supposition is: The Atlas is constantly being updated as ships make port. The ships Nav Logs from its just completed trip are downloaded into the local version of the Galactic Atlas at the starport. In return, the ship is provided with the latest version of the Galactic Atlas to update its Nav records.

In this way, all spacefarers keep updating the routes, via the GA, to ensure others who use the routes will have a safe trip.



Secret Worlds

If you've got a world that doesn't have a route going to it (or, not a well known route), the world may be known--but no one knows how to get there.

The trouble is, worlds where there is no known route are very hard to come by--they're extremely rare.



Spaghetti Routes

If you took a handful of limp, twisty spaghetti and toss it on a plate, each strand of pasta would represent a hyperspace route. The route allows switching to other routes wherever the strands touch.

[CRMcNeill]