Hyperlanes

[worfbacca]

Anyone ever come across cannon or semi-cannon information on the different types of Hyperlanes and the possible speed bump it gives for a major, standard and minor hyper route?
_________________
"That was left handed!"

[ThrorII]

As far as the 6 movies go (or 9, depending on your opinions) there is no dialogue about hyperlanes. The closest is the opening crawl of Phantom Menace talking about trade routes.

If you look at Wookieepedia for Hyperlanes, you find that most of the source material is books or rpgs. And even those are just mentions of them.

I think the current concepts of hyperlanes, how they work, how fast, etc. are all the domain of rpgs only. Meaning they can be changed or clarified whenever LFL feels like it.
_________________
"The internet is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural." - Sheev Zuckerberg

[pakman]

My friends and I have a great quote regarding this topic and official sources (movies and tv shows);

"Hyperspace works at the speed of plot".

The various rpg books are your best source regarding long distance.

Shorter hopes in most modules are exceptionally long comparatively (sometimes going across a sector is slower than going across the galaxy almost).

For out game - we use ratios for the times and maps.

Major Trade Route - 1/2 time.
Minor Trade Route - 1x time
Local trade route - 2x time
unofficial route - 4x time.

For a baseline - decide how long you think it should take to go along a major trade route (the Rimma trade route, corellian run, etc.).

As a side note - if times are too long - then the galaxy will feel a lot bigger - and the responsiveness of the movies is less plausible.

If the times are too short - then while some movie logic works - it would wreck a lot of concepts on warfare, trade, etc.

beat of luck in what ever you decide.
_________________
SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon....

[ThrorII]

For internal consistency, I've adopted the following, based on the 1e Astrogation charts and using the Essentials Galaxy map:

Major Trade Route: One of the big 5 routes (Perlemian, Hydian, Correlian Run, Correlian Spine, and Rimma). Worlds on one of these have a base travel time of 3 hours.

Commonly Traveled Routes: One of the hundred or so routes listed on the map, such as Koda Spur, Triellus Trade Route, Gamor Run, etc. Worlds on one of these have a base travel time of 7 hours.

Lightly Traveled Routes: One of the thousand un-listed routes on the map. Usually reserved for systems within a sector. Worlds on one of these have a base travel time of 14 hours.

Routes Traveled more than 3 years ago: These are reserved for uninhabited planets (Hoth, Dagobah) that are not in Wild Space or Unknown Regions. These Worlds have a base travel time of 30 hours.


Never Traveled Routes: Wild Space or Unknown Regions. These worlds have a travel time of over 30 hours.

The longer travel time between systems is used. Corescant to Alderaan is 7 hours because Alderaan is on a Commonly Traveled Route.

I then treat any hyperspace travel that is within the same square in the map ("Grid C-5") or within the same sector as halving the travel time.

Any travel of 6-12 squares distance doubles the travel time.

Any travel of 12+ squares triples the travel time.

This actually gives you a travel time very close to the Revised 1e rules (where they changed days to hours).
_________________
"The internet is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be unnatural." - Sheev Zuckerberg

[Whill]

[worfbacca]

[ThrorII]

[Kytross]

The Essential Atlas was published in 2009, three years before Disney bought Lucasfilm. It is the best resource I've ever read on hyperspace travel. It's not canon anymore, officially, but most of the information in the book is still used by Disney Lucasfilm.

You can find versions of the maps they used online, like this one that a reddit user keeps updating.


This is the best map I've ever come across. It's interactive and it has hyperspace lanes added on as a filter you can take on and off.

In brief, hyperlanes are (mostly) naturally occurring lanes the galaxy where gravity is weaker so hyperspace travel is faster. The less gravity, the faster you go.

Plotting a course through hyperspace is about cutting down the distance you have to travel by avoiding gravity wells. Gravity pulls ships out of hyperspace. Most people avoid star systems all together to avoid not crashing into a planet or another ship. If you're a great astrogator you can get closer to known gravity wells by more precise calculations and knowing exactly where planets and stars and black holes and other large sources of gravity are. This can shave time off your runs. The stars and planets are in constant motion, so you need to know your stuff.

I had an NPC who sold limited time use hyperspace shortcuts. He was a Givin math prodigy and could calculate routes no one else would take. He sold them to pirate groups as escape routes that allowed them to outrun the authorities after pulling a job. The catch was that they were only good for a week or so because heavenly bodies keep moving.

[Whill]

[Kytross]

Always a pleasure to chat with you Whill.

I drew my data from the X-Wing novels when they talk about navigating hyperspace routes, The courtship of Princess Leis for the sentence or two they talk about Jedi being able to use the force to improve hyperspace routes, and mainly from the Essential Atlas. I may have also used some of the Platt's guide stuff. The descriptions of how Bureau of Ship Services (BoSS) works talks about how navi-computers get updates, etc. I use BoSS in all my games, I think it's brilliant and has more verisimilitude than Disney's 'Chain Codes.'

[CRMcNeill]

That’s part of what I was going for in the Obstacles in Hyperspace topic, trying to justify why routes might lose integrity relatively quickly, even though real space is mostly empty and takes thousands or millions of years to move any appreciable distance (on a galactic scale, at least). Since hyperspace is the unknown factor, it’s a lot easier to insert the obstacles and other reasons for rapid route degradation there.
_________________
"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

[Whill]

[garhkal]

[Kytross]