Hyperspace Travel

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Hyperspace Travel

See: Astrogation Difficulty for calculating Hyperspace jumps.

Essentially another dimension accessed through the fantastic technology of the Hyperdrive, Hyperspace allows starships to travel at many times the speed of light, shortening a trip that would take thousands of years at Sublight speeds to a handful of days or weeks. Although it is a mature technology and ships travel relatively stable Hyperspace routes that are updated constantly, traveling through Hyperspace is still a dangerous proposition.

Although it has been studied and scrutinized for as long as the sentient spacefaring races have used it, the exact nature of Hyperspace remains a mystery. What is known about it is that Hyperspace is essentially an alternate dimension that exists conterminously with realspace. This means that anything traveling through Hyperspace is traveling the same direction in realspace.

Hyperspace Shadows

Objects, especially large objects with powerful gravity like planets and stars, cast a shadow in Hyperspace, and thus they exist in both planes at once. For example, if a star exists at a certain location, its reflection exists in the same location in Hyperspace. The Hyperspace Shadows possess the same mass and gravity in Hyperspace as the objects that cast them possess in realspace. For all intents and purposes, they physically exist in Hyperspace and present a serious and concrete obstacle in both planes.

Due to the existence of Hyperspace shadows, there is no straight, fixed Hyperspace route from one end of the galaxy to another. Ships moving through Hyperspace must navigate around these obstacles as they do in realspace. This is why fixed, well-established Hyperspace routes exist between major population centers in the galaxy, although fixed is a relative term due to the fact that the galaxy is constantly in motion and, therefore, so are its Hyperspace lanes.

Hyperdrive Travel Times

Once a ship is actually in Hyperspace, there is little for the crew and passengers to do but sit back and enjoy the ride.

All Hyperspace routes have an average duration, in hours or days, based on the time required for a ship equipped with a Class 1 Hyperdrive to make the trip under ideal conditions.

These average times are modified by a ship's Hyperdrive class, and can be further modified by the Game Master at their discretion due to complications with the Astrogation check, fluctuations in the route, outdated charts, or any other reason the GM sees fit.

Slower Hyperdrives

Of course, most starships (especially civilian vessels) do not have a Class 1 Hyperdrive.

To determine the actual travel time of a starship, first determine the Hyperdrive travel time. Then, multiply this travel time by the Hyperdrive's Class. So, the time for a Class 1 Hyperdrive remains the same. However, a ship with a Class 2 Hyperdrive would take twice as long to get somewhere, a Class 3 Hyperdrive would take three times as long, and so on.