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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16173
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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 Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:30 pm Post subject: Actual Hyperspace Speeds |
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As part of the deep background for the SWU, I've put a lot of thought into how hyperspace works, and there is a lot to cover that has me scratching my head. In particular, the WEG system of rating trip length by hours does not translate well into either the canon as presented or actual linear distances. As in, a trip that takes 7 hours may cover the distance between two systems within a sector, or it may cover a trip across a major portion of the galaxy (Tatooine to Alderaan, for example).
A while back, as an attempt to resolve certain issues with equipment write-ups having no practical utility in-game, I came up with the idea of the Hyperminute. The initial concept was that, if you have a subspace comm with a range of 60 light-years, that does you no good in-game, as there is no way to put 60 light-years on a starmap and say whether or not you are within comm distance of the closest planet. Having a unit of measurement that can be applied to the only extant measurement of distance between planets would make it usable within a game, and thus the Hyperminute; if your hyperdrive conks out midway through a 4-hour hyperspace trip, but you only have a 20 HM range on your Subspace Comm, it tells you whether or not you can directly contact the closest planet for help. But I digress...
In order for the current paradigm of hyperspace travel to exist, the trip times listed by WEG cannot be converted directly to lightyears-per-hour in realspace terms, because its obvious that some routes cover far greater distances than others even while having identical trip times. Obviously there had to be other factors involved than just linear distance traveled.
Since my version of hyperspace travel is pretty evolved at this point, I was loath to simply discard it and start over, and I think I may have come up with a solution. In another topic, I proposed the idea that Astrogation Difficulty should be tied to how well known a given route is (for example, a Heavily Traveled Route is Easy, but a "You want to go where?" Route is Heroic).
What I'm thinking of doing is adding a Hyperminute Modifier to the different route types, as well, so that a Heavily Traveled Route will have a higher "Speed Limit", and thus the actual distance covered in Hyperminutes will be doubled or quadrupled, while a "You want to go where?" Route will have its actual distance covered reduced by as much as 3/4.
Now, this may end up only being a niche application for things like comm-system ranges and experimental hyperspace sensor systems. It also doesn't address the degree to which the factors that affect relative hyperspace speeds may also affect hyperspace comm-scan systems. However, I do like the idea that it at least address a discernible flaw in the Hyperspace system established in the game as it pertains to the universe it's trying to represent.
I'm not entirely sure where I want to go with this, but I thought I'd put it out there for discussion. Thoughts?
_________________
"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
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Bren
Vice Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 3868
Location: Maryland, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 11:39 am Post subject: Re: Actual Hyperspace Speeds |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | It also doesn't address the degree to which the factors that affect relative hyperspace speeds may also affect hyperspace comm-scan systems. |
One problem is that the factors that affect relative hyperspace speeds e.g. how well mapped or how frequent the route is traveled are not going to affect communication systems. So you are still back to "I know how long it takes to get from A to B, but I don't know how far it is from A to B." |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16173
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:52 pm Post subject: Re: Actual Hyperspace Speeds |
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| Bren wrote: | | One problem is that the factors that affect relative hyperspace speeds e.g. how well mapped or how frequent the route is traveled are not going to affect communication systems. So you are still back to "I know how long it takes to get from A to B, but I don't know how far it is from A to B." |
I had considered that, but I think it leaves out the possibility that local hyperspace conditions that affect the viability of the route (including hypermatter obstructions in hyperspace itself) may also have an effect on communications systems, as well. If there is, say, a hypermatter cloud occluding portions of the route, which require ships to travel at (relatively) lower speeds, I could see that having a negative effect on Comm systems, too.
I'm willing to be talked out of it, but I think there's something to it...
_________________
"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.
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Bren
Vice Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 3868
Location: Maryland, USA
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| Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 6:13 pm Post subject: Re: Actual Hyperspace Speeds |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | I'm willing to be talked out of it, but I think there's something to it... |
Unless travel and communication are effectively the same physical process, it doesn't seem reasonable to me that ship speed and communication ranges are always or even usually equally effected.
The way I see it scattered comets and asteroids and a few massive roving bodies in the path of a hyperspace route are going to slow ships down but would seem to leave communications unaffected. As more and more ships travel a route those bodies are spotted and plotted to the point that courses can predict their location accurately enough for ship speed to increase. So familiarity with the route is one factor in effective hyperspace speed. I don't see how familiarity with a route makes the communication range or speed increase.
But I'm not invested in what I think is your desire to have two effectively be the same so that's easy for me to say that sounds unreasonable. I'm thinking you probably want a technobabble explanation that links the two. It would be simpler if communication was like what you see in Traveller where the fastest means of communicating is Jump-6 courier ships. If courier ships were required then communications and travel speeds and distances are just about one and the same. But then you would lose the ability to have real time communications.
Maybe hyper-radio waves travel through the same space as the ships in the exact same way (somehow) as do the ships. So communication datapackets are behaving like tiny electronic ships that tunnel through the same hyperspace as do ships. I guess we could call that hypertronic radios or something. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16173
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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It's not so much that as the possibility that the same astrographic phenomenon that dictate the routes may also affect line-of-sight for communications.
Just as a personal example, I have a CB radio in my big rig. When I'm winding my way through the mountains, the route I take (as delineated by the highway) is dictated by the easier route around the obstacles in its path, such as mountains, lakes, rivers, etc. My CB won't be affected by the lakes or the rivers, but can't broadcast through a mountain.
My point is that some of the things that affect the absolute speed of hyperspace travel may also affect how far hyperspace communications reach, but that it is not an absolute correlation.
_________________
"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.
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