I tend to ramble on about hyperspace and it seems from the responses that I get that there are as many views on how hyperspace works as their are posters on the forums. Here I've setup a list of questions to try and figure out which views are the most common. I'm not concerned about canon but how people treat hyperspace in-game, as it's often the case that what works in the movies doesn't work so good in an RPG setting (one example is how fast characters in movies learn new things compared to RPG characters).

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

As I see it, it seems to move very quickly.

1) Yes

2) No

3) No

4) No

5) No

6) No

7) Depends on route, days at a minimum, likely between 5-15 days

8) Yes, but it's very dangerous, and probably not worth the risk. Must stay close to the ship, inside a projected "bubble" or "pocket"

9) Gravity activates the automatic safety cutouts, sort of a like a hyperspace airbag (probably still going to have significant damage due to strain on the ship's frame and components), without the safety cutouts, a ship can most certainly crash into a planet.

I have to say that in game I treat it pretty much ss hydrospanner puts it, if you run using canon, travel times are minute in comparison and this doesnt work as well in this game. In the TFA for example the superweapon starts charging, the fleet jump s into hyperspace and pretty much appear at destination shortly after. This doesnt work so well in game when tinescales matter more and the class of hyperdrive is more important as a result, why else have the falcon strive for a class .5 hyperdrive if it only makes a difference of a few seconds.

1. YES but will zigzag to avoid hitting planets, stars, black holes etc. But onboard the vessel it'll seem like a straight line.

2. YES but will take time and skill to avoid hitting a planet, star, black hole etc because of altering course during hyperspace. Really don't recommend it without very good Astrogation and an incredibly Daunting or worse test.

3. and 5. NO, but that's my opinion with no supporting evidence. If you can prove me wrong I'd be happy.

4. YES because I don't care how many complain about Poe communicating with his squadron. However I'd say NO to the real space due to the speed travelling. Of course, if I see it in the movie next time I watch it then YES.

6. NO because I don't like the idea of that. But if evidence is presented to support YES then so be it.

7. The Core Rulebook gives an estimate of time. I use a method of tracking hyperspace time for campaigns, but it's my house rule. When I make my blog public you can take a look if interested.

8. I wouldn't recommend it. Droids maybe but not a person.

9. YES.

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

I imagine that the ship is bobing and weaving, but it seems like a straight shot from inside.

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

If you plot the course change far enough out, sure - at an increased difficulty. However short term changes - "oh crap, we need to take that offramp now!", they shout swerving over 4 lanes of traffic - no. That's WAAAAY too dangerous.

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

Oooh, no idea. I'm going to go with "what serves the plot".

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

Isnt that the mission mandate of Interdictors?

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

Bleh - no, not in my game. I don't like that.

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

If it's hours from the center of the Galaxy (Courscant) to way the hell out (Tatooine) in a ship with the fastest drives, from edge to edge would take a couple of weeks at a x1 Hyperdrive.

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

I seem to recall that Chewie did it in one of the Brian Daley novels, and had to be REALLY careful about it.

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

Marcyverse answer:

We play it as incredibly mysterious and run entirely by Speed of Plot.

Hyperdrives essentially turn journeys that would take hundreds of years into hours, days, weeks or months. It still takes time, you need to know where you're going and vast tracts of the galaxy are marked with 'Here Be Krayt Dragons'.

(In other words, my view of 'hyperspace' is identical to that of George Lucas: it's a cool device that pushes the Plot)

No idea what the canon answers are, but this works for us.

For amusement value, this is an in-character discussion between two PCs, in a galaxy full of mystery and wonder:

She took a moment to map their next jump, and her hands flew over the familiar controls.

“Making Hyperspace… now…!” she smiled. The starscape changed abruptly, receding into a diminishing, dizzying perspective as everything flashed by at unimaginable speed.

They sat there looking at it for a few moments.

“You know, honestly…” she admitted. “I’ve been flying all my adult life, and I’ve still no idea what Hyperspace actually is ...!”

Jak pondered for a moment.

“Hyperspace is… it’s… it’s like a separate realm or dimension that… Well, it allows for FTL travel, obviously, and…”

“Yes, but what is it?”

“It’s like an alternative region that co-exists with…”

He grimaced. “All right, the Jedi don’t know really either,” he admitted.

She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter, I guess. There’s an art to mapping it and making precision jumps… We don’t need to know much more than that…”

“Yes, but we should know,” he sighed. “I’m a Consular. It’s our job to understand the universe…”

“That’s the problem with our technology,” he sighed. “We don’t understand so much of it… We can copy and even make modifications to existing schematics, but… there’s not been any real scientific breakthroughs for hundreds of years… millennia, even… Everything we have, we’ve… inherited it, from what has come before. It’s like the whole galaxy has stymied, some kind of technological dark age. The Jedi have spent over two thousand years trying to understand the Force, and we’re no closer, really, than when we started. We’ve become very adept at using it… but the whole of it, the comprehension… it escapes the finest of the galaxy’s minds…”

“You’re over-thinking it,” she chuckled.

“Probably,” he admitted ruefully. “That’s our job, too…”

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

Probably as close to as possible, in the sense that modern interstate highways are -- cut as straight a path as possible while diverting slightly to avoid overwhelming obstacles.

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

I'd lean towards not.

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

Sounds reasonable.

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

I'd say no.

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

Probably not. Sensors can pick up when a ship enters hyperspace and when it exits, but in between is probably a no go.

As for the aforementioned Interdictors, I think those don't scan hyperspace travelers so much as put up a net, and are situated on hyperpace routes, near planets, and near vital strategic points to forcibly pull out anyone that passes through.

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

Gonna say no on this.

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

It takes bargle nawdle zouss to reach any destination from somewhere else.

I'm going to go on record and say that I personally can't stand the "crossing the galaxy in a matter of minutes/hours" bit that seems to be going on, no matter what the original movie tells me, and will audaciously ignore it. Space it big, it takes a while to cross it. The writers can go eat a boot for it.

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

Maybe? I guess if you don't like droids...

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

It appears that gravity itself doesn't , but built-in safeguards pull a ship from hyperspace. A few people know how to disable these safeguards to try and jump into a gravity well. Fewer can survive it.

I'm not concerned about canon

That makes two of us

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

Yes moreso like city driving or highway as there might be micro jumps or checkpoints to different lanes and stuff

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

Not without reverting back to subspace.

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

I would maybe allow it as a GM if it was thematically relevant or critical to the story. General travel no.

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

My party and I use the idea that you can't communicate with anything when you're in hyperspace. You have to drop out to send/receive. This way it encourages more checkpoints and can make travel more engaging.

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

No. In researching Hyperspace travel a while ago, I remember something like Hyperspace isn't just traveling really fast, it's a form or rip in space/time so the ship only exists to others in the same state.

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

No. I would just play it off like the ships power is devoted completely to hyperspace/shielding the ship from hyperspace travel

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

I think the book says something like edge to edge is 3 weeks to a month or so. My party uses the idea that each square in the grid of the galaxy map equals one day of hyperspace travel and that works for us.

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

Yes and yes (people walking around would make a great scene but I would only use it like once otherwise the spectacle would be less exciting with repetition.

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

Gravity wells cause them to revert back...unless the hyperspace drive is damaged or malfunctioning.

Ultimately, as a GM, do whatever you want/need to do to make great moments for your story. Remember that the rules are there as a guideline but at the end of the day whatever you and your table decide is your game.

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

Pretty much just straight lines, or a well-known course like a hyperlane.

Otherwise, you’re flying blind and trying to feel ahead for things that might obstruct your path, but the problem is that you’re flying faster than your ability to sense.

If you’re out exploring unknown regions, you tend to have Extreme range sensors, really good navigators, and you make micro-jumps from one end of that Extreme range to the next. At least, that’s how I see it.

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

Not theoretically impossible, but I’d be inclined to make it pretty difficult/dangerous.

Not something you consider doing unless you’re the best pilot in the fleet.

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

I would think that they could detect and see each other, if they were close enough. Don’t we see examples of that in canon, where a whole fleet is traveling together?

See also my answer below for #7.

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

IMO, holonet communications devices and hyperspace transceivers should work regardless of whether one or both parties are in normal space or hyperspace.

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

For the most part, I would say no. An Interdictor cruiser might be able to see a little way into hyperspace, and ships might be able to detect wake traces in hyperspace indicating that someone just jumped out or is about to jump in, but otherwise I think I’d probably say no.

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

I think that would tend to be exceedingly dangerous, probably to both parties.

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

I believe with an x1 hyperdrive, it would typically take a few weeks to go across the galaxy, despite what we see in some canon.

OTOH, there are all these hyperspace/holonet buoys out there in hyperspace, and my belief is that they can detect ships passing by them, and do interrogate the transponders of all passing ships. In fact, without these hyperspace buoys, you couldn’t have hyperlanes.

So, if someone were to be monitoring the ship traffic that is passing the buoys, they might not be able to tell which ship is passing through with a 0.5x hyperdrive, but they would be able to detect that some ship is doing it, and that might bring down a lot of attention.

In addition, if one transponder code is flying past at 0.5x, and then suddenly isn’t being seen anymore and then there is another transponder code flying past at 0.5x in the next sector, then odds are that those two might be connected somehow and maybe someone switched transponder codes.

I have used this concept in a game against the players. They never understood how they kept getting tracked, but they never stopped flying as fast as they possibly could.

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

Yes, but exceedingly dangerous. If anyone/anything goes out onto the hull of a spacecraft while it is in hyperspace, you can assume that they’re most likely going to die out there.

But certain Heroes might possibly survive.

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

IMO, gravity causes really nasty problems for ships that try to pass through such objects while in hyperspace. I’m thinking that gravity is greatly magnified in hyperspace, and would cause the ship to implode.

That’s why all hyperdrives are equipped with multiple fail-safe backups to prevent anyone from trying to fly through a gravity well. And no Engineer or pilot would ever even think about turning off all the safeties, unless maybe they’re the best pilot/engineer in the Galaxy.

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

Hyperspace buoys are designed to do that, but I would say that most ships and other things in hyperspace probably cannot.

So, yeah — that could be a cool hiding place.

I tend to ramble on about hyperspace and it seems from the responses that I get that there are as many views on how hyperspace works as their are posters on the forums. Here I've setup a list of questions to try and figure out which views are the most common. I'm not concerned about canon but how people treat hyperspace in-game, as it's often the case that what works in the movies doesn't work so good in an RPG setting (one example is how fast characters in movies learn new things compared to RPG characters).

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

1. essentially, yes.

2. by slowing down to (still superluminal), yes, based upon Rebels and Clone Wars. Prior to seeing those, no.

3. Seldom.

4. Yes. Clone Wars has Holonet comms working while in Hyperspace in a couple different episodes. Prior to seeing those, no.

5. No.

6. if close enough to see each other, yes. Turning, however, can result in instant disengagement...

7. On the mains, about 11 days rim to rim. off mains, 30+ days.

8. Both, yes. the shunt is about 50m wider than the ship...

9. No. and no. If you hit the mass shadow, only YOU are destroyed.

Weren't the Black Squadron loitering in hyperspace waiting for the shield to come down on Starkiller Base? It seems to imply they are not only able to change course in hyperspace, but do so with some precision.

I've only been a Star Wars fan for 3 years so don't get mad at me if my ideas aren't on point.

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

I don't think so. Gravity wells and such exist in hyperspace and the way they ended up defining the Kessel Run would seem to say that gravity is used to plot courses. So the ship might not be steering itself but it is winding and weaving because gravity.

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

Not intentionally. An uncharted gravity well (such as from a rogue planet) could change it, though.

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

This depends on the equipment on board and the holonet access of the ships. Rebels can't because they have no holonet access but, in Epsode 7, they actually have ships in some kind of holding pattern around Starkiller (I imagine orbiting the sun Starkiller was orbiting) until they got the mesage that the shield was down and then they dropped out and attacked. They could talk to one another and to their base. I think the holonet has to detect the destination to route messages. It's not like a radio or the Empire could never lock it down (I think). So there must be some sort of detection or, at least, location infomation (is that telemetry?) available. It's not like radar, though.

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

Hey! I answered this in 3. I'm so efficient.

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

Without the holonet, I don't think so. In the book, Tarkin, they try out a prototype Interdictor cruiser and they have no idea what they might pull out of hyperspace until it falls out...

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

No... except maybe slicing if both ships have holonet access.

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

Speed of plot. I really don't know but weeks seems to offer the best arcing plots for big events like the Clone Wars. If every ship could cross the galaxy in a few days, there really are no strategic locations. Everywhere is reachable from everywhere... but then we have Palpatine going from Coruscant to Mustafar in about the time it takes to say both planet's names the times. I think the only time they ever show a ship actually spending any time in hyperspace, it was just long enough to see Luke play with a remote and Chewie get his way in chess.

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

If they showed it in a canon source, then they can! I'd have an easier time accepting that they can't if we didn't have a Canon source saying otherwise. Without a Canon source to say otherwise, i'd gladly accept that nearly all biological life can ot, though. Just say "radiation" and no one would argue. No amount of portable radiation shielding is protecting you from most sources of radiation in the galaxy.

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

Dropping out of hyperspace because of a gravity well isn't an effect of gravity. Without a gravity well detector, the ship would not drop out of hyperspace. It would go boom.

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

I think there are hyperspace beacons that do this. Or they're in hyperspace and real space at the same time.

I tend to ramble on about hyperspace and it seems from the responses that I get that there are as many views on how hyperspace works as their are posters on the forums. Here I've setup a list of questions to try and figure out which views are the most common. I'm not concerned about canon but how people treat hyperspace in-game, as it's often the case that what works in the movies doesn't work so good in an RPG setting (one example is how fast characters in movies learn new things compared to RPG characters).

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

7) did you see this? http://www.swcombine.com/navcomp/

8) They did so in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (CANON). As long as you keep beeing attached to the ship (and people carry a suit) you can go out. Remember that people will get hyperspace sick or even mad if they stare to long into the hyperspace.

9) Gravitiy pulls out of hyperspace. You can put a asteroid somewhere and people flying there in hypersapce will drop out, Pirates do that. The Empire uses the Interdictor technology that simulates a gravity field.

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

1) Mostly yes, exception may be very long slight curves.

A real turn would cause the ship to have some nasty accidents; Just think about a Dodge Viper at 250 mph that makes a sudden strong move on the steering wheel... now multiply this with the speed of light... the result woundn´ t be nice to watch...

2) Not really, at least not with out a lot of trouble on your heels... normaly you map your course by using an fixpoint in realspace as your starting point, while in Hyperspace the startingpoint is in steady movement, while calculating the variable would allready change from cordinate x1/y1/z1 to x5000000/y80000/z9785411 within seconds... and even if you would take a fix point farahead for your calculation you would only have a tiny split of a second to react when you reach it or your calculations will be off and the next gravitywheel calls you welcome...

3) They have to be veeeeery close... and they need the special equipment of a hyperspace beacons aboard.

4) With restrictions yes. 1. the ship needs access to the Holonet. 2. for normal communication there have to be enough hyperspace beacons. So mostly only on the Main Hyperlanes, while on minor lanes the communication will be with lags (like when you trie to talk to a friend via Skype and than you have to wait a minute for the answer because of a bad internet connection.) 3. In regions without any lane... well no reall hyperspacecommunication is able... please use the voice mail...

4. The things seen in TFA are inventions of the future... no need to get an headache over it now.

5) No. at least not in real time. Even interdictors can´t they are mostly used when the Empire has confirmed informations about the movement of enemy fleets, or about an high class target and the estoimated time of crossing path. because even if they could detect an enemy ship on extrem range, the ship would have gone by long before the commanding officer could give the order to activate the gravitygenerator, and even more before the machine starts working...

Only chance is to start the generator prior the estimated time of the target coming by.

6) No. Simply No. The laser travel at the speed of light so they won´t hit anything faster than light. Oh and the Lasers would risk to disturb the bubble... resulting in selfannihilation.

7) I use the count for 12 hours per Square (on the CRB map) x1 on a major hyperlane, x2 on a minor hyperlane and x3 for no lanes x4 in unknown region. The result is multplied with the Hyperspacegenerators class (x 0,5-x 12)

8) Yes, but not recommend... one false step and... you are LOST IN (HYPER)SPACE!

9) It´s the fail-safe backup that prevents the ship from becoming dust...

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

No stop possible if you stop the engine you fall back to realspace imediatly, or cause an annomalie that will end catastrophal for the ship / and or crew.

In the EU/legends, there were a few attemps to use things like Hyperspacebombs/mines that should be set out on the lanes in Hyperspace to destroy incoming hyperspace travellers... it did not ended well for the bomb carrier and the mines.

The hyperspace beacons (mashines that aren´t really needed anymore since the introduction of navigation-computers) are in real space and just commiting signals (mostly the actual starmaps) to the ships that fall back to realspace near them. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hyperspace_beacon

The first Time ever the possiblity to stay in Hyperspace was mentioned was in EP8 TFA when the Blacksquadron pulled that stuned at starkiller Base... and that is as mentioned before future tech and not relevant for the Eote era or prior.

BUT AS ALWAYS:

Go with what ever you think will fit with your story, at your table.

1) Is travel in hyperspace in straight lines only?

2) Can you change course while inside hyperspace?

3) Can ships inside hyperspace detect each other or see each other if sufficiently close?

4) Can ships inside hyperspace communicate with each other? With people in real space?

5) Can a ship in real space detect a ship in hyperspace that flies by it?

6) If ships in hyperspace are very close, can they shoot at each other? Use tractor beams? Splice?

7) How long does it take to go from one edge of the galaxy to the opposite edge? Hours/Days/Weeks/Months/Years?

8) Can droids crawl around on the outside of a ship in hyperspace ala Phantom Menace? How about people?

9) Does gravity itself cause a ship to revert to real-space? Or can a ship actually crash into a planet?

1) No, more like curvy. You have to avoid the mass shadows of objects enroute.

2) No, not at my table; mainly because I introduced the N-CRAB from WEG: a special device that gives you just the mentioned option.

3) Hasn't come up yet; rather no.

4) Necessary equipment provided, yes; i.e. HoloNet relais.

5) Well, it might detect that something just whizzed past, but certainly not intercept it. (Even at x20 a ship in hyperspace should do about 10 Ly/h).

6) No.

7) Depends on the routing: The Hydian Way about 3 to 4 weeks base; offroad much longer.

8) I might consider that "impossible", not sure. But Despair would be very final.

9) Yes and yes. The ship could be yanked into realspace, just in time to crash at high velocity; depends on the fickle red dodecahedron.

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

My not so satisfactory answer so far: With a sufficiently advanced (30 years in the future) NavCom you might calculate a tight hyperspace loop, that will let you exit at a predefined spot within nanoseconds. During the Civil War: Impossible, and at least very dangerous, possibly very, very, very dangerous.

1) Yes. Travelling through hyperspace means a ship is moving from charted stellar body to charted stellar body and readjusting its course as it goes.
2) No. You have to drop out of hyperspace and plot a new course.
3) Yes. In an episode of Rebels , the crew of the Ghost detached its shuttle from the ship in hyperspace. The two vessels flew right next to each other for a few moments before the shuttle slowed and dropped out of hyperspace.
4) Yes and Yes. Communication is basically instantaneous in Star Wars . You just need the recipient's "phone number."
5) No.
6) Yes.
7) Depends on the efficiency of your hyperdrive. According to the game, it averages a little over a week of flight time to cross the galaxy.
8) Sure, as long as an air breathing creature has a spacesuit.
9) Gravity pulls ships out of hyperspace. A ship wouldn't crash into a planet while in hyperspace but the gravity of the planet would pull it out of hyperspace... and then the ship would crash in realspace.

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

At my table...no.

What most people call "hyperspace" and treat like a "place" or an "alternate dimension" is simply an effect, an interaction of being in a (relatively) stationary viewing position as the galaxy moves past you at relativistic speeds. The speed is an essential component of the "being in a separate place" effect. Essentially, you most certainly can come to a stop in hyperspace, but hyperspace is simply real space experienced at relativistic speeds, so stopping in it is the same as stopping any other time...you'll just revert from hyperspace to realspace as a very early part of that slowing process.

It's similar to the idea of having a campfire, and wanting to just fill a glass box full of flame and seal it up to take with you. No wood, no oxygen, you just want the flame itself. It clearly exists as a separate part of the fire from the logs, so it might seem like you could just hold the box over the flame and slam it shut...but that's just not how it works. The flame is the intersection of heat, fuel, and oxygen just as much as "hyperspace" is an intersection of relativistic speeds, a comparatively stationary perspective, and the protective field that the hyperdrive motivator projects about the ship.

Okay, I got a question for you: can you come to a stop in hyperspace? As in not move forward and just sit there? That could be kind of a cool hiding place for top secret space stations and ancient eldritch gods if you could.

You obviously need to check out the WEG module "Otherspace". You get to find something in hyperspace...and try to survive.

Interesting topic! I'd like to clarify that gravity wells are an important part of hyperspace travel to me and function similar to planetary slingshots current space travel uses to get around our solar system.

1) [straight Lines] Yes, it's a straight line. But as we know gravity bends straight lines of light IRL, so to does gravity bend a straight hyperlane making it possible to take a "straight" path around a astrophysical corner.

2) [Change course] Course corrections are a canon thing, though in Rebels they make it seem like a small adjustment so maybe you can't actually change the destination, just how you get there.

3) [Detection between jumped ships] I think this is comes down to an equipment question. It is by no means common or even rare, but the equipment could exist to do this. Like, even cutting edge military ships wouldn't have the capability, but hyper advanced deep space exploration vessels might.

4) [Communication] Similar to the above, only the technology is more common. I forget if we've seen hyperspace to hyperspace communication, or if it's all been hyperspace to realspace. I'd imagine the former would be more rare, but the latter I feel any important modern military ship should be able to do.

5) [Realspace detection] If it's cruising by the normal observer, then no. However, I don't think it's impossible for advanced technology to do it. This is based on the times we see people saying, "Ship/Fleet coming out of hyperspace!" I think this means normal ships (even civilian ones with decent sensors), can detect when a ship enters or leaves hyperspace in their range. What's to say a sufficiently advanced array can't pick up the ripples of a ship which passes?

6 [Hyperspace interaction] One at a time, but first I don't think we've seen -hostile- ships in hyperspace together ever. We have seen coupled together and allied ships, so my working idea is ships can slave together their navicomputers to make the same jump. In this way they are in the same hyperspace "bubble." Until I see hostile ships in the same "bubble" then I'll assume they're separate and cannot interact in this way.

Of course, what if one of these slaved together ships turned on the others? My gut feeling is 1) shoot? My gut says it shouldn'

t be a thing, but I think we'll eventually see it on screen. Maybe the "bubble" the hyperdrive generates is enough to fire weapons inside it? 2) tractor beam? Same as shooting, though I'd think the ships can only correct for so much. So if the tractor moves the ship it could engage the safeties and pull the target out of hyperspace. 3) slice? This harkens back to the communications question and if they can do that then it'd handle it like slicing in realspace.

7) [Time across galaxy] Standard of what the book gives, 1 week (on a major hyperlane) to 3 weeks (taking hyper-backroads) for a x1 hyperdrive.

8) [beings outside ship] If they had a way to hang on, but as we see in Rebels, if you fall off then you revert to realspace. It looked pretty tough on Kanan/Ezra when they were inside a shuttle, so I imagine a body would be torn apart.

9) [Gravity and reversion] IMO, all ships have safeties which prevent this from happening unless something real bad happens. The ship's safeties would sense the growing gravity well and disengage the hyperdrive before the point of no return. IMO, gravity itself would revert a ship to realspace, but by the time that happens it's already too late to stop you from colliding with the source of the gravity. You'd see the starlines start to form and then a flash of the thing you're hitting before destruction.

Regarding the comments about hyperspace use in episode 7, in my mind there was never anything preventing what we saw on screen. Obviously Han throws caution to the wind and disabled the safeties, which gave us a glimpse of what would happen without the restrictions. It's not as if the hanger door was closed when Han jumped out of it (and the larger ship's gravity is insignificant next to that of a planet). As I said above, the hyperdrive safeties normally cut it so the closest a ship could emerge is in orbit. With these disabled, I don't see why someone couldn't cut the line even thinner. And as for the circling x-wings, I'd imagine a (difficult) hyperspace calculation could get a ship to orbit a gravity well while still in hyperspace, it's just not the typical way hyperspace is used.