I have been struggling with this concept for a bit of time. In the RT book it gives modifers for the GM's stated length of time as a reduction of in game time between warp translations. However, there is no robust example of vectors or units for any interval. That said I have somewhat gone with this as a short term fix but I feel it is not correct either.

1. Translation between close by systems <1 week

2. translation between stars within a larger region <one month

3. translation between regions = # of regions between months

4. anything on the beyond unstated months - years.

This seems like a decent fix, but I would really like to have a void unit total list to give an idea on the maps.

Zrako said:

While there's no void unit totals listed, the fix you have listed is covered in the book on table 7-2, pg 184. However, it gives travel times (assuming good warp currents, a navigator, and good navigational equipment) that are a lot smaller then the ones you listed.

1 = 1 day

2 = 5-10 days (two star systems in the same subsector)

3 = 30-60 days (crossing multiple subsectors/crossing the entirety of a sector)

4 = 100+ days (crossing an entire segmentum)

The unmentioned 5 = several years (an odessy across the galaxy)

Of course, as mentioned, table 7-2 assumes the ship has a navigator, decent/accurate navigational equipment and charts, and favorable warp conditions.

For more assistance in figuring out consistent times for journeys (well, as consistent as warp travel can be), a good rule of thumb would thus be for each of those things that the ship lacks for it's journey, the duration is increased one step (with fine tunning done within the time span listed). Say, a ship wishes to go from Riesha to Fenksworld on the DH map. That would be somewhere between steps 1 and 2, so GM decides to make it step 2, and the lest amount of time, 5 days base time. Now, if that ship didn't ave a navigator, it would increase to step three's least time of 30 days. If that same ship also was working with a fatly chart purchased from irreputable sources, travel time would increase to step 4's least time of 100 days. Now, if that unfortunate sip was also trying to undertake this voyage while the warp churned and seethed from a near-by warp storm, then we're looking at the least of step 5's time of a year base time for the ship to go from Riesha to Fenksworld.

The fact that most ships in DH don't have navigators is why it takes so bloody long for them to get anywhere.

Hope this helps you out a bit and, on measuring warp travel in VU's, that might not be the best idea. The warp being what it is, perhaps keeping things like absolute distance a bit vague is best. When the warp's involved, it's never exact math so general rules of thumb should be all you need.

Good points, Graver. I'd add to that all the 'space is really big' quotes you care to consider.

VUs are an arbitrary method for delineating and normalising combat (or 'precise') game moves. With interstellar travel, however, you're surely talking ludicrous amounts of VUs. There's, what, ~1000AUs to a light year, and four of them between Terra and Alpha Centauri. How many VUs to an AU?

I think GMs would do well to develop a 'loose precedent' they intend to stick to. Playing about with the DH map and the Navigation process is enough to do this, one simply needs to figure out an idea and a tentative list of 'favourable samples'. Then add in what you'd expect to happen with 'odd things happening', i.e. simulate dice rolls of 'something mental' or 'no astronomican spotted' and so forth.

Best rule of thumb I know is that large movement in 40k is literally at the speed of plot . It's pretty much the definition of 40k's warp travel! You're not flying at warp factor five or the Kessel run in twelve parsecs; but at seventy-pi mad banana hates per touch of the nerves.

Xisor said:

You'll want to slow down when it starts raining tuesday, though. Those storms play merry hell with passing starships...

My own House Rule for Warp travel is that one inch on the maps in the DH/RT rulebooks gives a five day base journey in the Warp.

This is simple enough to implement and roughly approximates the times given in the RT Navigators chapter.

random statement one Ly (light year) = 63,241.077 AU .