More specifically, the players are about to need to do an evacuation of a processing plant. They have a YT-1300 and a YT-2400. How many humans can they fit on each? They can't land them on the same planet, so they'll have to spend at least a little time aboard.

the quick and easy answer is a character's encumbrance is 5+Brawn. A human starts out as brawn 2, so the average human's encumbrance is 7. Take the encumbrance capacity of your ship and divide by 7 (there could be NPCs of varying encumbrances, but it's simpler to stick to the average).

Well, starships do have a "Passenger Capacity" stat that can be used for this. I've always assumed that's in addition to whatever is listed as the "Ship's Complement" (ie, the "crew").

YT-1300: Complement of one pilot, one co-pilot/engineer. Passenger capacity of 6. So I'd say it can hold 8 "comfortably."

YT-2400: Has exactly the same - One pilot, one co-pilot, six passengers.

Now if it's an evacuation situation and you're not as interested in being comfortable and just want to jam as many people as can possibly fit, then maybe the encumbrance should be taken into consideration as well.

the quick and easy answer is a character's encumbrance is 5+Brawn. A human starts out as brawn 2, so the average human's encumbrance is 7. Take the encumbrance capacity of your ship and divide by 7 (there could be NPCs of varying encumbrances, but it's simpler to stick to the average).

Not a bad approach, but I tend to think that ship encumbrance is usually meant for nicely stackable cargo or heavy machinery, not living breathing moving humanoids.

YT-1300 has an encumbrance of 165. Divide that by 7 and you get 23... That's one awfully crowded Millennium Falcon, lol.

You can fit a lot more if you put them in large specimen containers. Each can hold 15 ENC (so two humans) for only 5 ENC, so you can fit 33 such containers (holding 66 humans) on a YT-1300. Yep, it's TARDIS tech.

Yeah, I'll bet you can easily cram quite a few in.

You can seat nearly 100 people into the back of C-130 transport plane (reasonably close analog to a YT). I bet you can cram in more if you don't plan on them being comfortable.

Comfortability has little to do with it. The real limiting factor is life support. A YT-1300, for instance, is rated for 8 people, as previously mentioned. More people are going to tax the life support to its limit. Even though it's rated for two months, that's two months of constant "drain" on its resources. Overcrowding it will overwhelm the O2 scrubbers, making the air toxic to breath. There was a Stargate: Atlantis episode that touched on this.

That being said, plot is more important than physics. I'd say 20 or so for a YT-1300, uncomfortably.

-EF

Yeah. ... see that encumbrance thing makes no sense to me.

The YT-1300.

I am ignoring the fact that it used to be 100 metric tons in previous games.

However, taking the encumbrance rules as written, 165 for the YT-1300 seems terribly low. If an average human counts as 7 encumbrance of those, then yes, 23 people. Maximum. That seems low. 23 200lb men means that 4600lbs, 2.3 tons, is the upper limit of that ship? My flat bed will carry 23 men with room to spare. A vessel that makes it's money carrying freight better pull more than that.

And cargo space wise, 23 men cannot be right. I can fit 23 guys in the corridor over Han's smuggling spaces.

Am I missing something?

Am I missing something?

Encumbrance is much more than just mass.

What if you were transporting shipments of marshmellows? You’d run out of space way before you ran out of available mass.

If you were shipping depleted Uranium, then you’d probably run out of available mass before you ran out of space.

If you’re shipping humanoids or other living creatures, then you have to account for life support equipment (or lack thereof).

Encumbrance was intended as a very rough indicator of all of the various factors involved in transporting things. And it falls down in a lot of areas. That’s why we have a narrative system that allows us to try to make sense out of the mess that comes from having just one number try to cover all possible variables.

If you’re shipping humanoids or other living creatures, then you have to account for life support equipment (or lack thereof).

Those TARDIS-tech containers I mentioned above...

They include life support and stasis for the occupants.

More specifically, the players are about to need to do an evacuation of a processing plant. They have a YT-1300 and a YT-2400. How many humans can they fit on each? They can't land them on the same planet, so they'll have to spend at least a little time aboard.

You should determine how far you plan for these ships to go with so many people packed aboard. If you're talking a few hours to the nearest planet, station, or ship with better facilities, you probably won't have many problems with life support and such. If you're talking 12-36 hours, the discomfort starts to take a toll on the passengers and as you get closer to 36 hours with that many people on board, the life support system may just... turn off. If you're talking days, your PCs may wonder why they bothered saving anybody while they all suffer effects of too much carbon dioxide and other expelled gases.

Comfortability has little to do with it. The real limiting factor is life support. A YT-1300, for instance, is rated for 8 people, as previously mentioned. More people are going to tax the life support to its limit. Even though it's rated for two months, that's two months of constant "drain" on its resources. Overcrowding it will overwhelm the O2 scrubbers, making the air toxic to breath. There was a Stargate: Atlantis episode that touched on this.

That being said, plot is more important than physics. I'd say 20 or so for a YT-1300, uncomfortably.

-EF

Good point.

So just some dumb math...

2 month x 8 people = 480 total days for 1 person.

That would mean it's probably possible to load quite a few people on board.

Assuming the old 100 Metric Ton lifting ability, it's possible to lift over 1000 people. Of course fitting that many in the craft is probably pushing sanity... but at least the lift capacity is there...

On the other hand 100, on the floor in the cargo bay, halls, ect, is probably possible... smelly, uncomfortable, and a little dangerous, but possible...Assuming you're not going more then 4 days away, it's doable. I'd hate to be the hygiene droid the next day though....

Are you saying that you don’t want to be a **** barge?

Well with the exception of bulk biowaste transports.... does ANYONE really want to be a ****barge?

EDIT: note to self: find a reason to include an adventure on a bulk biowaste transport in the current campaign...

I like the idea of limiting the available space due to Life support capabilities. What I'm going for here is, initially, a kind of moral dilemma.

The PCs have room for X number of people. They have no time to prepare. They need to move X +20%, and there's no time for a 2nd trip. Going for the drama of deciding where and when to draw the line, how much they are willing top risk their own lives, and how do They decide who will stay.

Now, this is Star Wars, so another ship will arrive or some other option will present itself so that, ultimately, the PCs can save all of them, but initially I needed some number to give them that would bear the weight of logic to say, "You can fit this many and no more."

So just some dumb math...

2 month x 8 people = 480 total days for 1 person.

That would mean it's probably possible to load quite a few people on board.

1 person might last 480 days but 480 people would only last a few minutes.

They would produce CO2 and use O2 at a faster rate than the life support could handle.

Most would suffocate quickly and there would still be 2 months of life support left in the ship, the strongest (or those isolated in seperate compartments) would regain consciousness after the number of passengers had dropped to supportable level.

Life support doesn't include things like food and water, the LS could possibly handle 48 people over a 10 day journey but without proper supplies starvation and dehydration would take effect. Possibly even cause a mutiny.

If you want to move that many people you need a ship designed to handle the capacity, or standard freighter that has been customised (e.g. slave ship).

The number of passengers should be dictated by plot.

So just some dumb math...

2 month x 8 people = 480 total days for 1 person.

That would mean it's probably possible to load quite a few people on board.

1 person might last 480 days but 480 people would only last a few minutes.

They would produce CO2 and use O2 at a faster rate than the life support could handle.

Most would suffocate quickly and there would still be 2 months of life support left in the ship, the strongest (or those isolated in seperate compartments) would regain consciousness after the number of passengers had dropped to supportable level.

Life support doesn't include things like food and water, the LS could possibly handle 48 people over a 10 day journey but without proper supplies starvation and dehydration would take effect. Possibly even cause a mutiny.

If you want to move that many people you need a ship designed to handle the capacity, or standard freighter that has been customised (e.g. slave ship).

The number of passengers should be dictated by plot.

This. Life support is rated for X[/i[ number of people. Go much beyond that, and it can't scrub the air fast enough. Of course, that's the way things work in a more realistic setting, so Star Wars could be different if you want it to be.

-EF

Regarding encumbrance, yes, the rules are a little wonky, especially when you start talking about vehicle cargo capacities and such.

The thing to remember, as other people have implied, is that "encumbrance" in this system is a measure of the object's "awkwardness" and the "inconvenience" of carrying it. It is not a measure of the object's actual size, weight, or volume.

This is why, as HappyDaze points out, containers are essentially "bigger on the inside" - the encumbrance of the containers themselves is significantly less than the total encumbrance of the objects they can hold.

Note, for instance, that backpacks and utility belts effectively have negative encumbrance. Although they are still objects with size and weight, carrying them actually increases how much else a character can carry. The idea, of course, is that these objects are designed to be very easy and convenient to carry while also making other things you put in them easier and more convenient to carry. In turn, carrying them makes your total load less awkward and, in effect, actually reduces your encumbrance.