Hyperspace Travel

[Stule]

Hey Guys!

Something has been bothering me and I wanted to get your input.

In Episode III (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Anakin goes to the Mustafa System in the Outer Rim. He leaves from Coruscant. When Obi asks Padamae how long he has been gone, she says only a day.

In Episode V (Empire), Admiral Needa says that after the Falcon jumped (It was actually on the back of the Star Destroyer) it could have been on the other side of the Galaxy by then.

My question is, do you guys use the charts in the RPG or do you just make up the times, becasue if the Movies are canon, then it takes two days max to go from one side of the Galaxy to another. Crossing from Coruscant to the Outer Rim seems to take just one day. The Charts in the RPG books (both D20 and D6) are waaaay off.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Stule

P.S.
I am not flaming anything btw. I just want my games to feel as much like the movies as possible.

[Error]

Admiral Needa may have been a pessimist and prone to embellishment. Besides, the Millenium Falcon was reputed to be substantially faster than other ships.

Anakin's jump to the Mustafar system implies that it was probably pretty close to Coruscant to begin with.
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The only words of explanation you need for any concept in the entire Star Wars universe are the words Science Fiction and Space Opera.

[Baruch]

Who said either of them were actually going -across- the galaxy, literally?
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[Gry Sarth]

Captain Needa's statement was obviously an exageration. It's like when we say "You were in there for HOURS", but it surely was only a few minutes. He just meant that they could be anywhere and were out of reach.

As for the Ep3 thing, there's lots of things to consider. Padme says Anakin's left 1 day ago, but that doesn't mean he's already arrived. Not alway scenes that are intercut happen one after another. Anakin might have taken a few days to get to Mustaphar. And if he got there faster, it can be explained by the presence of a direct, hazzard-free, well documented hyperspace route from Coruscant to Mustaphar. In hyperspace distance is not that big a deal, but the twists and turns you sometimes have to make to get to a point in space can take a lot of time.

[Hellcat]

I like to point out that the astrogation gazetteer in the second edition GM screen actually gives you a way to calculate shortcuts that make it possible for you to cut a trip down by a considerable amount of time when this type of discussion pops up in a different forum on the web. Look at TPM and Tatooine to Coruscant. In the movie the trip seems to take very little time to complete, but according to the astrogation gazetteer that trip, when made from point A to point B, would take 22 days and 14 hours. However, Coruscant to Corellia is a 4 hour trip and Corellia to Tatooine is also a 4 hour trip. So by using Corellia as a shortcut, and turning the trip into a three point trip rather than a straight trip, Coruscant to Tatooine becomes a mere 8 hours.

It's like here I can go from my house to someplace up north that's about a hundred miles or so I'd say by taking both sets of northbound interstates that will get me there. One remains here in this state the entire way and actually passes through the place, but I've got to leave the state to take the other one. And the one of of this state is probably a little longer mileage wise by maybe three or four miles. And yet I'm looking at an hour and a half to two hours taking that way versus two and a half to two and three quarters staying here in the state. About the biggest difference really is that the out of state one runs pretty straight and doesn't run through any major cities where the number of cars increase to slow things down. But the point is sometimes things can be faster than you'd expect even if they seem longer.

And don't forget that hyperspace itself does some funny things that could help to cut travel time down.
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Wanted Poster

[Grimace]

Also keep in mind that you can't use "movie time" as a basis. The movie is not going to show hours of travel where the characters don't do anything but wait. That's the kind of stuff that happens in "reality" and would therefore need to be accounted for in a game. Hellcat offers one of the better ways to account for the differences in travel times, if you don't feel that the exact times are quite right. Personally, I'm of the opposite opinion, and feel that travel times should be longer. The galaxy is a HUGE place, and flying from one side of the galaxy to the other shouldn't be something that can be done in a few hours, otherwise it wouldn't be that big of a boast.

My suggestion, if you really want it shorter, just reduce the values by half or so.

[Stule]

WOW!

Thanks guys!

Stule

[Hellcat]

But is it really that big of a boast? It seems like better than half the smugglers, fighter jocks, pirates, and general spacers have been from one end of the galaxy to the other. And who really do they boast about it to? The folks who are unlikely to have ever left their home planet.
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Wanted Poster

[Allst Beamem]

Ok, so Im watching SWEIV with the directors comentary on my dvd set, right.

Just as "the group" is coming out of hyperspace to find the destroyed Alderan George is explaining how hyperspace works.

What I gather from what he said is that you either have a hyperdrive or you dont, and the speed at witch you get from point A to point B is compleatly dependant on your navagation system, and has nothing to do with how "fast" your engine is.

Has any one else listend to this and come to the same conclusion.

[Hellcat]

Your navi computer can only plot a course, it doesn't get you there. The speed of your hyperdrive is important. It's like having two cars travelling the same exact route over the course of fifty miles using a GPS system, one going thirty mph and one going fifty mph. From point A to point B, which car is going to get there sooner?
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Wanted Poster

[Stule]

Um.....

Ok...I give up.

[Allst Beamem]

Hay hellcat, have you watched the dvd with the directors comintary? Becouse listening to George it sure sounds like that was his intent.
Not trying to argue with ya just givin my impression.

[Stule]

So the WEG decided to make it about speed and George made it about the Nav computer?

Hmmmmm.

I gotta say, I agree and like the way WEG at least handled it but in the movies, it sure seems that Hyperspace is a plot device and not an exact science. It never seems like they spend days in their ship and there is just no way that Anakin flew from Coroscant to Mustafar in EPIII and spent 2-4 weeks couped up in a fighter.

In my games, I just make up the amount of time I need.

If my players want to roleplay a little, then I make the trip take longer. If I need some time to pass, then I also make it take a bit longer.

Anyway, that's just my take.

I really try to be a director and not let the rules run my story.

[Tatum]

I always went by the books. The outer rim wouldnt be the outer rim if you could get there in a day.

Also, why would Han brag about his ship going .5 past light speed if it was all about nav comps?

[Stule]

Hey I totally agree with your Han quote.

I think it should be about speed.

I think there are two types of Philosophy here.
WEG Philosophy and Lucas Philosophy.

I just think the travel times shoul be in hours, not days.

When I watch the movies, the feel is that you can jump anywhere in about a day.

So in my game I changed the times to hours in the Astro Gazette to more accurately reflect Lucas Philosophy.

As I said before, if I need them to hang out in Hyperspace for awhile, I just jack up the time.

Either way is good, and I do like the system that WEG came up with.

I am just trying to make the expeirience for my players feel more like the movies.