I've been thinking about a standard way to track how many turns it might take for a ship to take off and reach the minimum distance out of a planet's gravity well in pursuit situations. For example, a ship trying to flee Mos Eisly would need to spend 30 speed points to get to minimum safe distance for a jump. So a YT-1300 at max speed 3 (used Punch It maneuver) would need 10 turns. They might run into TIE Fighters at 9 speed points/3 turns from takeoff (exiting atmosphere) and have to fend off the fighters for 21 speed points/7 turns until they can jump.

Thoughts?

Well, the system seems sound enough - but a standard 30 for every planet might not work. Higher (or lower) gravity planets would have less of a well, there might be traffic to navigate, satellites to avoid or debris that will mess the ship up. So I'd pick the "time to jump" per system (or the needs of the story) instead.

Personally I'd prefer to keep doing it narratively, just based on the needs of the story.

Seems overly complicated to me.

I'd ask for an astrogation check, then based on that decide if they get to jump before the TIEs are in range, if the TIEs get a few shots off before the jump, or if the TIEs are going to have a good long time to shoot before the jump.

Way to complicated,

I have to ask , why is there a need to have exact time for events to occur and cant be story driven via narration?

I use the estimated times in the book as a reference point. AFB at the moment so can't quote page, but it is in there.

I like your idea in that it can give me a rough guideline in which to operate when I portray this in my narrative.

Table 7-12 in the core book on page 245 specifies 5-15 minutes to get from a planet's orbit to a safe hyperspace distance - that's a pretty broad range really.

I'd like to continue this discussion.

As a GM, it's helpful to have a general idea of how long a ship has to evade before they can make the jump. So an average size planet like Tatooine may take 30 speed points to escape its gravity, while Bespin may take 50 and Kessel 10. I'm not looking for exact rules for each planet, just a system that will help me give my players an idea of how long they need to hold out. It'll also incentivize the purchase of faster ships and heighten the need to speed through obstacles.

My idea is simply to tally how many speed points are spent each round towards escaping the gravity well when needed. So if the players are pursued by ships on planet, or once they hit atmo, I can give them something to work with.

It depends on whether or not said departure is under structured gameplay (combat, hazardous terrain) or not. If not, then travel times work at the speed of plot.

Even in the case of a fight or steering through debris before one is clear enough of the gravity well, the actual structured gameplay should only cover the portion of time when the conflict or series of maneuvers needs to take place. It keeps the dramatic pace up, and packs the action where it should be.

That being said, Table 7-12 on page 245 of the Edge of the Empire rulebook indicates the time needed to fly from a planet's orbit to a safe hyperspace distance. So perhaps double that for getting from surface to orbit and then orbit to safe hyperspace distance. 30 rounds is technically true I suppose, but the action is only going to take place in about 1/3 of that time.

So maybe keep it to 10 rounds base, with success or advantage reducing that time. Having someone with Galaxy Mapper will cut that down to 5 rounds. Threat, of course, can increase that time as well. Despair might have the pilot leaping out of his seat into the back saying something about "it's not my fault!!"

I think atmosphere would be at 1/3 the total length. So if Bespin is a large gas giant, it would take 90 to go from surface to jump distance, but only 60 to get to Cloud City in the atmosphere.

I'd like to continue this discussion.

As a GM, it's helpful to have a general idea of how long a ship has to evade before they can make the jump. So an average size planet like Tatooine may take 30 speed points to escape its gravity, while Bespin may take 50 and Kessel 10. I'm not looking for exact rules for each planet, just a system that will help me give my players an idea of how long they need to hold out. It'll also incentivize the purchase of faster ships and heighten the need to speed through obstacles.

My idea is simply to tally how many speed points are spent each round towards escaping the gravity well when needed. So if the players are pursued by ships on planet, or once they hit atmo, I can give them something to work with.

I don't see why your system wouldn't work and add dramatic effect, in fact I will likely give it a go next time I have a chase scene. I think they key is to determine how far a speed point gets you; of course in combat nobody's flying a straight line even if they're executing Stay On Target so there's plenty of room to fudge it. However, we're going to be getting into some big math if we consider that one combat round is considerably less than a minute. I think this is where the idea falls down if you want to really crunch the numbers. For a hand-waive, though, it's perfect.

Seems in the movies it is about 5 seconds (10 in the Special Edition versions).

Seriously though... I would say it depends on where the action is. That is why the movie cut is valid. In the movie, nothing happens for that 2? 3? 5 minutes? it takes to get to space... why? Because it is boring. This is why they blast out of Mos Eisley and are suddlen in space with a star destroyer bearing down on them. Your campaign should be the same... otherwise it is boring.

HOWEVER... If there is no star destroyer and your action is escaping the planet, then have it be however long you want. Make it a "time lock" story (you have X rounds to get away and fend off), or make it something is interfering with them getting to space until something is fixed... whatever.