So, it seems that you can jump into and out of hyperspace anywhere - Han does it in E7 jumping out of the hanger bay and when landing on Death Star 3, and now they jump to hyperspace from atmosphere in Rogue One.

Yeah, I'm not sure I like this change.

Okay, Han's the best pilot in the galaxy, pulling his stunt twice - risky, but the guy is cocky as hell. Not-Kyle Katarn, tho? He's just some schlub who either got really, really lucky . . . or there's no risk to making the jump anymore (when surrounded by a whole bunch of falling rocks and debris, too).

So I'm thinking neo canon be damned. You still need to get outside the gravity well, you still need to take some time to plot the course - none of this pull the lever and off you go nonsense.

Your thoughts?

There was also a Clone Wars episode in season 1 or 2 that involved a Republic cruiser that was under attack making a hyperspace jump whilst in atmosphere.

Personally, I think each time it's been done it's been under extreme circumstances. So I think it's something you can do, but it's not advisable in the slightest.

So things still go wrong with hyperspace, it's just that our main characters have been shown to be very lucky so far (or it's the will of the Force).

Rogue One Spoilers

Rulewise, these stunts are "impossible" to me; but, if it's your "destiny", it will only be "very very very challenging". Thus, the situation may prove quite "desperate" easily.

And, you'd have to override the navcom's (Computers") and drive's (Mechanics) safeguards beforehand. And, the astromech would refuse to help due to it's basic programming. And, whatever else complication you can conceive.

My guys only did it once, after commandeering the Dark Lord's ride at Glare Peak. Comprehensible risk assessment.

To be fair, what Cassian did wasn't remotely close to the insanity of Han did. They've always established that you could pull in-system microjumps. A reasonable explanation for the calculation aspect of it was that K-2S0 had programmed the route in a logical progression: out of planetary orbit; out of system; out of quadrant; into destination quadrant; into destination system; into destination orbit. K-2 can be heard saying "I haven't finished the calculations, yet!" before Cassian responds. Most likely, he took what K-2 had done and changed the destination to the most recent completed calculation and then hit the activation.

The trickier aspect to explain is the gravity well circumvent, though there's nothing saying that the hyperdrive wouldn't allow for *initiation* of a jump from within a gravity well. The safety features of the hyperdrive would drop you out when encountering a gravity well along the path of travel, this is to present unexpected collision, but there's no reason to prevent you from accelerating into hyperspace *away* from a gravity well that didn't present a clear danger. The *danger* in Rogue One was presented by ship sized peices of debris falling in front of them chaotically as they were going - something that would have vaporized them at acceleration speeds, but Cassian probably considered the fact that a giant chunk of rock would have been just as deadly at normal speeds too, but if they didn't get out of there fast they would be exposed to the change longer.

Yeah, thus far I've accepted it as I can reason through it with my prior knowledge most of the way and only require a little change at the end to make it work. Out of the hanger bay, "Well, they're in space already so it's actually not much of an issue." Dodging the planetary shield, "Well, we knew it was possible to collide with a massive intersellar objects while in hyperspace ('fly right through a star') and that it was only so the safety features dropping you out early, so I imagine emerging from hyperspace just shy of colliding would look like that." Detaching the Phantom while in hyperspace, "Old canon says the object stays in hyperspace so I guess that's a change, but otherwise they at least described it as and made it look dangerous."

This latest jumping from in atmosphere is I guess an extension of case 2, since we've known since Episode 4 that a gravity well doesn't inherently pull a ship from hyperspace, but I still like it the least. I agree with you that not-kyle didn't seem like a good pilot, let alone astronavigator so.... maybe it was the droid secretly saving the day? I'm totally with the idea of it being very foolish and dangerous. That might be implied due to them not jumping immediately on takeoff and "waiting" until their only option was to try to jump or be crushed by falling rocks.

Honestly, I'm more bothered by communications during hyperspace, the ability to change course mid hyperspace jump, and the apparent speed of hyperspace travel. The communications I'm still writing off as special equipment, but it feels thin at this point. I'm still bothered by changing course, and in this movie could assume they dropped out and rejumped off screen. I can't write it off all the way since the Ghost not dropping out was central to the plot of the Rebels episode.

The speed of travel is almost irreconcilable with the old model. The attack in the rain might be ok if the planets are very close together and the crew hung around the U-wing for a few hours trying for repairs/getting comms up while the fighters travelled through hyperspace, but I doubt it. The final battle I could see the mon cal preemptively positioning the fleet close by (since he knew the target and is assumed to have known a boatload of intelligence troopers went missing) while the team transited to the same place. The sticking point is the fighters launching from Yavin 4 after the intercepted communications and seemingly getting there before the battle was over. I'll need to see it again to check if it's literally the same fighters, or if I can write it off as the rebels generically scrambling fighters.

That, and CP30 and R2D2's whole banter about not being on the ship didn't make sense; because they would have to be leaving with the rebel fleet to be on the covert in a new hope.

So, it seems that you can jump into and out of hyperspace anywhere - Han does it in E7 jumping out of the hanger bay and when landing on Death Star 3, and now they jump to hyperspace from atmosphere in Rogue One.

Yeah, I'm not sure I like this change.

Okay, Han's the best pilot in the galaxy, pulling his stunt twice - risky, but the guy is cocky as hell. Not-Kyle Katarn, tho? He's just some schlub who either got really, really lucky . . . or there's no risk to making the jump anymore (when surrounded by a whole bunch of falling rocks and debris, too).

So I'm thinking neo canon be damned. You still need to get outside the gravity well, you still need to take some time to plot the course - none of this pull the lever and off you go nonsense.

Your thoughts?

They just didn't roll Despairs...it's all good.

Who called Han the best pilot in the galaxy? Fairly certain he did .XD

I think the whole "Can't jump in a gravity well" is more of a safety feature than a hard and fast rule of Hyperspace. If the computer detects a large gravity mass, it cuts the engine before the ship crashes into it.

Thinking back to the original, Han and/or Chewie hadn't expected to leave Tatooine in that kind of rush. As a result they hadn't programmed the Hyperdrive for Alderaan yet. So they needed a couple of minutes outrunning the two Star Destroyers before the jump.

Still not entirely comfortable with how fast hyperspace seems and that you can communicate while traveling through it.

Your thoughts?

Well, me and canon get along about as well as rancors and twi'lek dancers... But I've never put any more thought into 'hyperspace' than Lucas did.

It's a plot device. You travel at Speed-of-Plot. It lets the heroes escape when they need to or you want them to.

In the MarcyVerse, it's not teleportation, it just cuts travels times from centuries or decades or years to months, weeks or days. All of which happens with a screen-wipe anyway.

Lucas didn't overthink it and neither will I.

Honestly, I'm more bothered by communications during hyperspace

Pretty sure Rebels had communications during hyperspace in season 2. (Goes to check)

*EDIT*

Yep, beginning of the episode titled "The Wings of the Master". That's the B-Wing prototype episode.