So I've been trying to find rulings on how long it would take a pilot to calculate the jump to lightspeed and then to enter hyperspace while under the constrains of a combat. Clearly that is one of the most viable ways to lose a pursuing enemy, so it would make sense that there be some rules regulating it. After having scoured through the book I honestly can't seem to locate any information that would be helpful in this situation.

In fact the book seems to leave out key details when it comes to how long it takes to perform a lot of actions. The skill Astrogation for example mentions that successes can also help determine how much less time it takes to perform the action, but doesn't provide any kind of base line or chart to show how much time it should take in the first place.

When hyperspace is the best way to escape pursuit, we need to know how it pertains to combat situations.

Am I missing something from the book that goes into these precious details?

There aren't any rules, though lots of threads on the topic, so you might have to dig a bit to get the best. Personally my rule of thumb is about 6 rounds, though extra successes on an Astrogation roll can shorten this (Advantages and Triumph are more about the quality of the route, not the rate of success, but that's certainly negotiable).

One other thing I've introduced is that once the nav coordinates are input and you're ready to go, a piloting roll may be required to orient the ship in the right direction. No roll in open space, but terrain or lots of enemies will make it more difficult.

You might want to make it part of their astrogation roll, increase difficulty/add setback die for stressful/short time conditions....I've dealt with it by creating a set time for the calculation, extra successes decrease this time. I generally state 3 rounds of combat before a jump can be made....extra successes can whittle it down to one round since the coordinates still need to be entered/calculated as an action it can't be instantaneous. The only time I let it happen immediately is if the group took the foresight to preset a jump ahead of time.

I've made the following house rule for jumping to hyperspace:

1. The base time to calculate the jump is 4 rounds (which is halved if you have the Galaxy Mapper talent).

2. Then add another 2 rounds for each setback die (I add setback dice depending on how well-travelled the route is; 1 setback is a major inter-sector route, 3 setback is a rarely-travelled way-out-in-the-boonies-route). These extra rounds are added even if you have Galaxy Mapper that removes setback dice, since GM also halves the time regardless of setback dice.

3. A single success on the Astrogation check gets you into hyperspace after that amount of time. For each success beyond the first, subtract 1 round from the calculation time, down to a minimum of 2 rounds (1 round if you have Galaxy Mapper). A Triumph can be used to reduce the calculation time to one round (although if you fail the check but still get a Triumph, you might not emerge from hyperspace where you planned - the Triumph just gets you INTO hyperspace fast...).

I'm AFB but I think in the Beginning game adventure it was a base six rounds after the installing the hyperdrive thingy...

Some great ideas, guys. Thank you.

Do you all have the PC making the Astrogation check committed to that action for all the rounds it takes? Or can they get the navicomputer set and crunching away then turn to work sensors/shields/copilot actions?

Do you all have the PC making the Astrogation check committed to that action for all the rounds it takes? Or can they get the navicomputer set and crunching away then turn to work sensors/shields/copilot actions?

Personally I let them do something else in the meantime; the rounds taken is just how long it takes the navcomputer to spit out a complete course after the navigator has fed it the appropriate coordinates. And besides, it sucks for a player to have to sit and do nothing for x rounds.

I'm mixed on this so what I do is allow the Navigator to do other things in the cockpit but with a Setback because they are still paying some attention to the nav computer as it calculating.

I like the Setback to other cockpit actions a lot, I'll definitely incorporate that.

It seems like I can always stand to find a way to add more Setback for my players to overcome (or get talents to cancel)!

I've done it a little differently than most of the people here.

Any astrogation checks made in a rushed manner need 3 successes. These successes roll over from one roll to the next but failures cancel these successes out. Making the jump itself requires getting to the jump vector which can be made closer or further away depending on threat & advantage.

Astrogation can be done in 1 round if the players are lucky.

Example:
Rnd 1: Harloth rolls astrogation: 2 success, 1 threat.

Total: 2 Success. 1 Threat.

Rnd 2: Harloth rolls astrogation: 1 Failure, 1 threat.

Total: 1 Success. 2 Threat.

Rnd 3: Harloth rolls astrogation: 1 success, 1 advantage.

Total: 2 Success. 1 Threat.