Galactic Road Report

"The RPG hyperspace expressways are backed up and getting worse by the edition. More news at 10..."

I have done a quick study to compare the hyperspace travel times listed in various versions of the Star Wars RPG, over the years.

First up, WEG Star Wars 2nd Edition RPG. A nice seeming chart, found in this book, purports to tell us how long journeys across the galaxy far, far away will take. A note suggests that all times are for "system-to-system" travel (i.e. straight lines) using a class 1 hyperdrive. Comparing these listed times to the measured distances found on the Star Wars map, we find a slow average travel rate of 1559 ly/hr. Much more troubling is the standard deviation of this set: 1898 ly/hr! Meaning this table has almost no bearing in reality with respect to distance traveled, etc. The other hand waving arguments (galactic density, blah blah blah) also don't pan out: Dantooine to Tatooine in a mere 20 hours (crossing the entire galaxy) while Gamorr to Dagobah (in the same quadrant, not separated by the galactic center) takes 27 days (and 8 hours)! Whaaaa????

Next, we check in with the WotC effort, from the Revised Core Rulebook. Here we find another chart. This one is less specific, citing very broad travel times based on region of the galaxy you are traveling to/from. There is a nice 50% discount if you stay in the same quadrant. (?) Apparently this is where the backups begin to build on the hyperlanes, as the average travel time for the same set of planets seen above (minus Celanon) drops to 930 ly/hr (with a 530 ly/hr standard deviation). Again, next to useless, other than for the most rudimentary guesses. Slow, rudimentary guesses, mind you.

I didn't bother with a picture from the Saga edition rules, as they don't even have a table. Just a vague notion of how many weeks you can expect to languish in your poor light freighter as you go from A to B.

Now we arrive at the FFG material. This generous travel times chart is from the Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook. Much like with the WotC Saga edition, I didn't even bother to try to calculate any times from this snippet of a table.

FFG wasn't done, however. They released a bit more of a table in their Fly Casual book for smugglers (quite appropriate). Thank the maker that the times listed above appear to also conform to the AoRCRB table guidelines. At least they're internally consistent. Using this chart and plugging in the same set of planets from the WEG affair (minus Celanon), we see that the galactic gridlock has only worsened since FFG obtained the RPG license. The average hyperspace travel time for a class 1 hyperdrive has dipped to a paltry 324 ly/hr (with a 97 ly/hr standard deviation). Poor match for actual travel distances, and slower than any other source before it.

***

Just for fun, we will work up a few comparisons from the WEG, WotC, and FFG SW RPG travel bureaus, and compare them to observations from Rogue One.

Blue Squadron (Yavin to Eadu; 35,000 ly)
WEG: over 22 hours
WotC: over 37 hours
FFG: just about 108 hours (that's 4.5 days, people. Squadron Up, indeed.)


Death Star (Jedha to Scarif: 63,000 ly) [assume, incorrectly, a class 1 hyperdrive]
WEG: over 40 hours
WotC: over 67 hours
FFG: over 194 hours (Tell Vader to meet us at Scarif in 1 week. Plus 1 day. And a few hours.)

The "real" class 4 hyperdrive rating of the Death Star makes a further mockery of these tables.

Rogue One Travel Times

Ok. Here we are again discussing hyperspace travel times. Rogue One spoilers included below. Go see the movie, already.

First things first. When General Draven decides that Cassian Andor has failed in his mission to take out Galen Erso on Eadu, he sends Blue Squadron from Yavin to do the job.

The distance between Yavin and Eadu is about 35,000 light years. Captain Vienaris, one of Draven's Intelligence officers, says of the length of the trip (from the novelization):

"Short version: We're in striking range, but if the Empire's begun to evacuate we won't catch them. Best case, Blue Squadron arrives just in time to see the Imperials jump out."

This is the same amount of time as that between when the U-wing crashes (and Draven decides Andor has failed) and when Blue Squadron attacks the Imperial installation on Eadu. Hard to guesstimate how long the team is on the ground before the starfighters arrive. I would say, factoring in hiking and climbing, and whatever else they do (staring through quadnoculars, etc), we could be looking at a couple of hours. Probably comfortably 2, maybe 3?

From the "X-Wing: Rogue Squadron" novels (and other sources, including the "Clone Wars" cartoon and the Original Trilogy movies) I have come to think that a class 1 hyperdrive (like found in the X-wing starfighter) can travel at something like 5700 ly/hr.

That would make Blue Squadron's arrival on Eadu almost 6 hours after Draven gives the order to "squadron up".

I'd say that's a bit on the long side.

Another tidbit is the mission to Scarif. The Rogue One team on the ground is already well underway, with Cassian having given the order to "Light it up", before Mon Mothma et al hear about it. An intercepted Imperial transmission informs the Rebellion of "Rebels on Scarif". Before Mon Mothma can formulate a plan, she hears that Admiral Raddus has already "...gone to fight." Now the clock is ticking. Yavin to Scarif is something like 50,000 light years.

I would think that the fleet's arrival above Scarif certainly occurs before almost 9 hours have elapsed on the ground. Maybe the ground forces could keep up their running firefight distraction for 3-4 hours. If they're lucky.

We also know that the Death Star is sitting above Jedha, with Tarkin staring lovingly down at the destruction and daydreaming about his wonderful new toy. He is interrupted:

"Sir?" General Romodi had approached. Tarkin indicated his attentiveness with a cock of his head. "Scarif base--they're reporting a rebel ground incursion. Firefights around the Citadel."
...
"A ground incursion," he said. "But no spaceborne support?"
"Not that Ramda's people have mentioned."
...
"Prepare the jump to hyperspace," he said. "And inform Lord Vader."

Jedha to Scarif is quite a long haul, almost 63,000 light years. The Death Star I is said to have a paltry class 4 hyperdrive. 44 hours to make this journey across the center of the galaxy. Uhhhhh......

Assuming Vader is still sulking in his castle on Mustafar when he gets the news, he's looking at a journey of 48,000 light years in Devastator. This Imperial I-class star destroyer is said to have a class 2 hyperdrive. Almost 17 hours of travel. Ouch!

My 5700 ly/hr speed for class 1 hyperdrive supports the OT, when Vader says (aboard the Death Star at the wreckage of Alderaan).

"This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi, it will soon see the end of the Rebellion."

If the 5700 ly/hr for class 1 speed is used, the travel time Alderaan to Yavin (28,440 ly) for a class 4 hyperdrive is ~20 hours. Just short enough to make Vader literally correct (assuming a standard 24 hour day). This also gives the Rebels something like 17 hours to study the plans before the DS arrives.

***

Long story short:

Rogue One wants us to travel through hyperspace almost 2.5 times faster.

Blue Squadron to Eadu in ~2.5 hours = class 1 hyperdrive speed of ~14,000 ly/hr

Admiral Raddus to Scarif in ~4 hours = class 1 hyperdrive speed of ~14,000 ly/hr

Death Star I, Jedha to Scarif in ~4 hours implies it has a class 1 hyperdrive (or a bit better!)

Devastator from Mustafar to Scarif in ~4 hours = something like a class 1 hyperdrive in the Imperial I-class star destroyer.

Using 14,000 ly/hr for DSI, we re-calculate the travel time from Alderaan to Yavin as being only 2 hours. Now there is no extra time for the Rebellion to study the plans and find the weakness. According to Rogue One, however, they are told what the weakness is, so they don't need a ton of time to diagnose it themselves. Maybe?

Galactic Coordinates

Rogue One introduced us to a number of new planets. The new book "Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide" provides, among many other things, a nice new map. The following planets appear somewhere in the galaxy for the first time, to my knowledge: Lah'mu, Jedha, Eadu, Scarif, Ring of Kafrene, Wobani, and Lothal (I have been idly wondering about this one for quite awhile). I will be adding these worlds to the Gazeteer feature of this blog. Here are the rough galactic coordinates, in the meantime.

Lah'mu: L-3 (Outer Rim)
Jedha: H-11 (Mid Rim)
Eadu: U-10 (Outer Rim)
Scarif: T-15 (Outer Rim)
Ring of Kafrene: K-15 (Expansion Region)
Wobani: R-8 (Mid Rim)
Lothal: T-8 (Outer Rim)

I suppose I will add the relevant Episode VII planets, too: D'Qar, Hosnian Prime, Jakku, and Takodana.

I will be having another post very soon wherein I will explore what Rogue One has to say about galactic travel times via hyperspace. Hint: they are very short!

Putting Episode VII on the Map

The following chart provides locations for planets from Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the map from pages 248-9 of the Age of Rebellion core rulebook. They were determined by comparing that map with the one from pages 8-9 of the Visual Dictionary.

Planet	Region	Coordinates
D'Qar	Outer Rim	0-18
Hosnian Prime	Core	M-12
Jakku	Inner Rim	J-14
Starkiller Base	Unknown Regions	H-6
Takodana	Expansion Region/Mid-Rim	J-16

Flying Through Space Ain't Like Dustin' Crops

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here I am again with more analysis of the convoluted mess that is Star Wars hyperspace travel times.

In the recently released Fly Casual book we find a small chart listing Hyperspace Travel Times (in days) for a Class 1 Hyperdrive.

There is some preamble and the usual hand waving as to whether the established galactic "Trade Routes" are safer, or easier to travel, or whatever. I will save that old debate for a later post (later this week, perhaps).

I won't reprint the entire chart here, but I will use a few relative measurements in comparison to my previously published Star Wars Gazetteer.

Suffice it to say, taking Taanab as an example, the average difference in travel times (in hours) between my Gazetteer and the Fly Casual chart is a 20 times multiplier (minimum of x13, maximum of x25 for the sample I tested). That is, if I say it takes 1 hour to get somewhere, Fly Casual says it takes 20 hours. Another thing to factor in is that I used straight line distances on the galactic map. They might be actually following the trade routes through space. I will try to estimate what difference that would make to these numbers later tonight.

There are numerous canon sources (including the OT movies themselves) that contradict FFG (and WotC before that, and WEG before that) in terms of travel time charts of this kind. The worst offenders, in my opinion, are the variable charts that suggest crossing the galaxy takes a random amount of time.

I have heard it all before: Star Wars ships in hyperspace "...move at the speed of plot." That same bland, facile comment could be applied to all aspects of this Sci Fi setting, in such a way that nothing matters and there are no "truths" anymore.

So that leaves us with evaluating either tea leaves or gut feelings.

How long should it take to travel from point A to point B via hyperspace?


I will look at this question in the following ways, and keep my thoughts in the comments section of this post.

A. Canon sources. A few tidbits from OT movies and some quotes from The Clone Wars. Whatever you thought of that cartoon series, it is one of the only "non-Legend" sources still in existence.

B. Starship Consumables Ratings. I don't get the feeling from Star Wars that the ships we see flitting about, here and there, are arriving at the starport in desperate need of anything, in particular. taking stock of the consumables info might help us to see what the number of trips between re-stocks would be, and whether those numbers seem to make sense.

C. Gut Feeling. I guess, in the end, we need to figure out what feels right for these travel times. I guess I lean toward saying my Gazetteer might have travel times that are too short. Almost all of them (if not all of them) are less than 20 hours. Many are in the single-digit numbers of hours for the Class 1 hyperdrive. On the other hand, the Fly Casual chart lists a minimum of 12 hours and has most of the trip times hovering around the 1 week mark, with a high water mark of something like 11.5 days. That's a looooong time for a crew to be stuck in hyperspace playing Dejarik or wrestling in the cargo hold. It feels too long for a quick paced story to me. Learn this new clue! Pick up the chase! Run to your ship! ...Wait a week....What were we doing, again?

More Travel

I have been on a quest to finish my galactic gazetteer, quantifying hyperspace travel times between 48 different interesting locations in the Star Wars universe. This equates to 1128 separate measurements on the map! You can see my progress by clicking on the "Gazetteer" link along the top of the blog (only 325 measurements left-ugh).

I have been having a one-sided conversation with myself (Join in! See comments section of this post) regarding how long, exactly, hyperspace travel should take. As mentioned, my first cut at this is to simply have a set travel time per inch of map traveled. I am using a hand-waving argument to dismiss the Star Wars hand-waving argument that travel times vary greatly based on numeric density of stars.

My thought process goes like this: of course there are issues with travel times and distances and whatnot quoted in the myriad sources that make up the old levels of Star Wars canon (now called Legends). However, we do not need to further complicate the issue of a lack of carefully controlled coordination across disparate sources by adding in some hokey arguments and smokescreens. In my opinion, a gazetteer should be possible. And it shouldn't have much to do with how closely packed the stars are, otherwise travel times near the galactic core would be hundreds of times longer than in the Outer Rim. I will admit that there is something about making a gazetteer of cold, hard facts that eats away at some of the mystery and excitement of the unknown so important to Star Wars. Loosey-goosey traveling "at the speed of plot" seems more like space opera, of course, but a bit less like Science Fiction. I hope to bring a bit more balance to that scale.

As long as I am thinking about traveling from Tierfon to somewhere else, I thought I would share these ideas, too.

*On an earth-sized planet (~100 km thick atmosphere), an X-wing launching from the ground takes about 6 minutes to get to space (full throttle, straight up). This is using the conventionally quoted 1050 kph atmospheric speed for the X-wing. One strange thing is that an X-wing is much slower than an SR-71 Blackbird (at least 3540 kph).

*With an earth-sized planet (7918 km diameter), an X-wing takes about 14 minutes to get to the hyperspace jump point (6 planetary diameters away). This is a bit more interesting. It uses a WEG factoid (6 diameters), some calculated numbers for acceleration (based on some very careful film study of the Millenium Falcon in action), the published MGLT numbers for various craft (interpreted as acceleration values), and some kinematic equations.

*With an Jupiter-sized gas giant (521,286 km diameter), an X-wing takes about 47 minutes to get to the hyperspace jump point (6 planetary diameters away).



I am curious as to what people think of this. Too much information? Kills the free-spirited Star Wars vibe?

Galactic Travel

I have been working on a gazetteer lately, trying to quantify the hyperspace travel times between a large group of planets all across the Star Wars galaxy. It has been an interesting journey, with the Essential Atlas at my side, digging into facts about the structure of real galaxies in an attempt to solve the problem.

Many Star Wars sources deliberately leave out details on the thorny issue of hyperspace travel, likely because of the vast number of contradictory tidbits of information out there. One of the common quotes in this arena is "Ships travel at the speed of plot."

As in, "Forget about it."

While this free and easy notion might work well for a movie, it grates on my nerves when thinking about an otherwise quasi-realistic Sci-Fi universe. We need to know how long it takes to get from point A to point B, and it should be consistent and understandable. There is a lot of hand-waving in the Star Wars canon about how local space effects can make travel times much different than one would guess, based simply on the straight line distance between trip endpoints.

As a first order approximation, I am measuring the distance between each planet pair on my list (see below) on the master galaxy map found in the Essential Atlas. I have a couple of reference distances to compare against in order to convert my distance measurements (in inches) into light years (namely, the distances from Coruscant, Tatooine, Naboo, Hoth, and Yavin to the Galactic Core). At this point, I will have to figure out a hyperspace travel speed in terms of light years per hour (for the x1 drive multiplier). Then things get messy...how does one incorporate things like the variable density of stars throughout the galaxy? For my first order approximation, I won't bother with this. I tend to think these sorts of arguments are more "retcon" type ideas, generated after-the-fact, made to gloss over the widely varying apparent travel times from different quoted sources. Stay tuned for more updates as my work continues...

For the sake of argument, here is the list of planets in my gazetteer thus far: Abregado-rae, Alderaan, Ansion, Arda, Bespin, Bogden, Bonadan, Bothawui, Brentaal, Cato Neimoidia, Corellia, Coruscant, Dagobah, Dantooine, Dorvalla, Endor, Eriadu, Felucia, Fondor, Gamorr, Geonosis, Hoth, Kamino, Kashyyyk, Kuat, Lianna, Malastare, Mandalore, Mon Calamari, Mustafar, Muunilist, Mygeeto, Naboo, Nal Hutta, Onderon, Ord Mantell, Polis Massa, Rodia, Ryloth, Saleucami, Subterrel, Sullust, Taanab, Tatooine, Thyferra, Tierfon, Utapau, Yavin.

Did I miss any you would include? Tell me in the comments section.

Another question for you: how long should it take for a smuggler in a light freighter to cross the entire galaxy? A day or two? A week?

As an arbitrary point or reference, a group of people in a motor home could go from New York City to Los Angeles in something like 45 hours or so (that's a bit like a light freighter crew crossing the galaxy, isn't it?)