Hello. I try to figure out how the communication work in the Starwars universe. I would like to know how Owi-wan can communicate in real time with Anakin in Episode 2? Obi-wan is on Geonosis et Anakin on Tatooine. On top of that it seems that Obi-wan knows the exact location of anakin's ship even before he calls him. Do they use the Holonet system? strange that a little fighter like the Jedi fighter has a Holonet terminal built in.

If you ship is always connected to the Holonet like the Nubian ship Anakin is using, then anyone with good skills could trace you anywhere in the galaxy..

After Palpatine restricted the use of the Holonet to Imperial army only, I suppose this is no more possible to do that sort of instantaneous communication. It's like the galaxy reverted to Stone Age, at least communication wise. Even the Super-stardestroyer of Vador himself needs a huge room to use the system when he talk to the Emperor in the original trilogy.

How do you handle communication in your setting? for exemple if your players need to receive a message from someone else on the other side of the galaxy? Thanks for your thoughs

The movies weren't made with any continuity in mind, especially I, II, & III. Those scenes were done to fit the script, not to educate us on Star Wars technological advances. Picking something from one movie to base your system on can easily be refuted by a scene from another movie. I'd stick with the original trilogy, IMO.

I rather hate the idea of making Star Wars a Google-Wifi-Internet replica. There's no fun in fantasy for me if that's how it works. I think it disrupts the idea of immersion into a fantasy setting. If everything works like earth tech, then it's simply earth life with blasters and lightsabers. I don't like using comlinks like cellphones, Googling up individuals on the holonet to locate them for bounties, having every installation with holorecordings of every room, or having every holonet communication recorded and stored by some entity. You can't slice things from across the universe, you have to be there to do it.

I lean towards limited communication. I disregard those movie-moments where instant communication is improvised for the sake of the script. I like the exclusive Imperial Army use of the Holonet and needing a heck of a lot equipment to broadcast. I do not pretend that there is a gov't or Google corp out there recording all communications. They're not recorded unless a person on one end does so. I tend to think that interstellar communication takes time and rather exclusive equipment.

Tatooine and Geonosis are always depicted as being very close galacticly, and I would think that even in Star Wars that a ship would need some for of long range comm even if it's only a couple dozen light years, plus the Jedi seemed to get all the cool stuff so I wouldn't say what they have indicates what the rest of the galaxy has. For most things I would say that big ships would have ones that can reach across the galaxy but it's not like making a phone call that is easy to trace, if I had to pick something to compare it to I would say radio transmission that it can be intercepted but you need to know something about the incoming/outgoing transmission plus be near it. Since they seem to be much more directed than radio transmissions (but not so much so that you need to be in the direct line between to two transmitters). I think that the Clone Wars episode "ARC troopers" has something like this.

To make a broadcast or a "call" where you don't know the "frequency" of the person you're trying to contact, then you would probably need an Imperial Comm Tower like in the first season of Star Wars Rebels ("Call to Action" was the episode I believe).

You can do whatever you and your group enjoy, but I'd say you'd get the best classic trilogy feel by treating the galaxy as broadly 1930s in space.

Ok thanks for the replies. I think that make sense. I was thinking about the Bounty Hunter broadcast in some cantinas, where you can watch bounties and select them. This would be another side of the Holonet use made by the Empire. They would allow and broadcast some restricted feeds to serve their purpose. Anyway I think players won't have access to Holonet most of the time, and I will keep the original trigoly feelings you're right.

Thanks

It pays to spend some time on wookieepedia researching this topic. Not only are there pirate nodes for the Holonet, there are alternatives! There are still interplanetary communications as well, they're just much more slow. Why, I bet a skilled slicer could piggyback a signal on imperial comms traffic that looks like noise until properly decoded....

6 minutes ago, themensch said:

It pays to spend some time on wookieepedia researching this topic. Not only are there pirate nodes for the Holonet, there are alternatives! There are still interplanetary communications as well, they're just much more slow. Why, I bet a skilled slicer could piggyback a signal on imperial comms traffic that looks like noise until properly decoded....

encrypted communication is indistinguishable from random noise. Wanna make the NSA crazy? Output random noise on the internet.

Star Wars: Rebels has been particularly frustrating as far as communications goes... they routinely make calls in hyperspace, which shouldn't be in any way possible, and yet it is clearly (and canonically) possible. The best thing to do is what they do in the movies in shows: use communication however best serves the story. If they need a message from the other side of the galaxy for the story's sake, then they get it. If they are trying to abuse it somehow, then uh oh, "subspace interference".

6 minutes ago, Direach said:

Star Wars: Rebels has been particularly frustrating as far as communications goes... they routinely make calls in hyperspace, which shouldn't be in any way possible, and yet it is clearly (and canonically) possible. The best thing to do is what they do in the movies in shows: use communication however best serves the story. If they need a message from the other side of the galaxy for the story's sake, then they get it. If they are trying to abuse it somehow, then uh oh, "subspace interference".

Why shouldn't it be possible? I mean what the holonet does it send signals through hyperspace. Not sure how being in hyperspace would be a problem. I mean it happened in Force Awakens as well. Poe is also waiting in hyperspace at the destination but not exiting.

1 hour ago, Direach said:

Star Wars: Rebels has been particularly frustrating as far as communications goes... they routinely make calls in hyperspace, which shouldn't be in any way possible, and yet it is clearly (and canonically) possible. The best thing to do is what they do in the movies in shows: use communication however best serves the story. If they need a message from the other side of the galaxy for the story's sake, then they get it. If they are trying to abuse it somehow, then uh oh, "subspace interference".

I don't know why it's "frustrating", they simply don't go into the tech, so you can do what you want. If you want a IRL analogue, think maybe the internet under China or Russia: limited, monitored, but clever rebels can find ways around it.

If you think about it, it's kind of silly to assume the Empire can really shut everything down. Communication is essential for trade, and the entire economy would grind to a halt. Lots of powerful people would have a vested interest in either using the existing system in a way that appears legitimate, or failing that, finding alternative means of communication. Rebels does mention hijacking Imperial communications, and setting up their own networks. Corporate, criminal, and rebel organizations would find it lucrative to build their own networks and maybe charge a fee. If the Imperials find these networks they'd destroy them, but it's a game of cat and mouse.

I have read wookieepedia before and again, but it's not really explaining a lot. It says the rebels used a secret Holonet channel to broadcast secret informations to other freedom fighters... How can you have a secret channel? How it is working?

Hyperwave transceivers suspended in hyperspace? What does that mean? You can stop your ship in hyperspace, drop some transceivers rom your cargo hold, then resume your trip? Everything is really too grey in their descriptions.

2 hours ago, Rosco74 said:

Hyperwave transceivers suspended in hyperspace? What does that mean? You can stop your ship in hyperspace, drop some transceivers rom your cargo hold, then resume your trip? Everything is really too grey in their descriptions.

I don't know about "suspended in hyperspace", I would think they would be like satellites scattered across real space forming their own chain or network.

The answers here really depend on how you're going to use them. You could create an entire campaign around this issue, with the PCs trying to build out a network faster than the Empire can destroy it. In that case you need a lot of detail. I can't recall which sourcebook has the Holonet relay, but the game does have concrete costs for these things.

If you just want a reason to limit communications it's a lot simpler. Communications can be down or spotty because of <plot>. Communications can be expensive, especially to and from the Outer Rim, and the price can vary because of <plot>. If the Empire controls communications the PCs will have to assume they are being monitored. If they want to pass secret information, they either need to hide an encrypted message inside an innocuous one (Computers/Deception), where Threat or Despair could raise red flags; or they need to find access to an alternate relay (Streetwise/Knowledge-Underworld). The difficulties should be Hard or higher, otherwise the average citizen would be doing it too.

As for ship-to-ship, or ship-to-anywhere while in hyperspace, just MHO but that is rare and expensive (again, costs for this are in one of the sourcebooks, sorry I can't recall which). I rationalize the Ghost in Rebels having this because they spent a lot of time and effort to build it, and being in the top echelon of the Rebellion they have access to the Rebel's shadow system. If the PCs want to get the same thing they should have to work for it, first to get the equipment, and second to be considered reliable enough to get access. (Replace "Rebels" with any organization with enough money and reason to build a shadow system.)

Others have said it better - do what fits your game - but in AotC, I believe Obi-Wan said something like "patch me through the Old Folk's home" before the live communication, and I assumed this was a plot device that boosted his signal and allowed him to talk in real time.

these darn space wizards.

For extra confusion, consider the communications in Rogue One. Like hyperspace travel*, communications runs on plot.

If you want some kind of consistent rules to follow, you have to decide what you want to use.

*(Based on the movies, every ship should be able to get to every fight, because it only takes a few minutes to cross the galaxy.)

I find it best to think of communications like it was before cellphones and the internet when the original films were made (I know some of you young'ns don't know what thats like but it was a thing...).

Anyway what you'd have are walkie-talkies, Ham radios, landlines, and libraries. Handheld communicators (Comlinks) are essentially walkie-talkies with an increased range and better coverage with larger versions allowing communication out into the planetary system. Holo-Messengers are about the same on their own except it sends and receives holograms. Both can be boosted by larger systems and may have access to the Holonet as well, they're pretty strait forward to play.
Most Intergalactic communications (the Holonet) are more like old long distance landlines where you can only communicate through a network of relay stations. It can be accessed through private and public kiosks and is generally monitored, they can also communicate with ships if they have the right equipment.
The other type of communications are closer to Ham Radios which are like walkie-talkies but with much greater range and are primarily for ship to ship or ship to ground communications, how these work in ST is a bit rubber sciencey but it's separate from the Holonet but can use it to increase range. It's base range varies depending on how powerful it is with larger Imperial ships able communicate either directly or through relay stations across most of the Galaxy with little if any delay, smaller ships can't carry large comm equipment so have range limitations but it's up to you to decide what those are.

What SW communications and information access aren't is like the internet. Most information is physically separated from the communications network and stored like you would find in a library (you know those buildings with books and ****). So to get information you literally have to have some way to access whatever storage device it's in. We see this many times in the films from the archives at the Jedi temple to the plans for the Death Star but mostly because none of the characters in any of the films uses anything remotely internet like when it would be really useful to be able to. It's likely because at the time SW was written this was the case but also because a lot of Sifi was about machines and humans having to fight it out for survival so information needed to be discrete and unconnected or the machine would take over and use us meatbags for batteries (this may be our future as well if codebreaking catches up to encryption).

Oh, and plot.

3 hours ago, coyote6 said:

*(Based on the movies, every ship should be able to get to every fight, because it only takes a few minutes to cross the galaxy.)

Thats a JJ thing, he did it in Star Trek as well, the other films were able to convey a sense of travel time a bit better.

In Suns of Fortune you have the long range transceiver page 100. It is used to transmit messages at speed faster than light across star systems, with a range up to 100 Light years. We know a parsec is 3.26 light years so the range is around 35 parsec. Not really much as a ship in hyperspace travel around 1500 parsec a day.

Anyway, the description say most planets are integrated in a local subspace network independant of the Holonet. With hypertransceivers are on deep space relay sattelites to create sector wide communication grid. At the end of the description, it says someone could send a message the other side of the galaxy, routing the transmission across networks.

Ok but I dont understand how it works, like a HAM radio where you broadcast and anyone can listen? Or there is a system like a phone number that allow you to send the transmission only to this target, like the old land phone system in the 70s.

25 minutes ago, FuriousGreg said:

I find it best to think of communications like it was before cellphones and the internet when the original films were made (I know some of you young'ns don't know what thats like but it was a thing...).

Anyway what you'd have are walkie-talkies, Ham radios, landlines, and libraries. Handheld communicators (Comlinks) are essentially walkie-talkies with an increased range and better coverage with larger versions allowing communication out into the planetary system. Holo-Messengers are about the same on their own except it sends and receives holograms. Both can be boosted by larger systems and may have access to the Holonet as well, they're pretty strait forward to play.
Most Intergalactic communications (the Holonet) are more like old long distance landlines where you can only communicate through a network of relay stations. It can be accessed through private and public kiosks and is generally monitored, they can also communicate with ships if they have the right equipment.
The other type of communications are closer to Ham Radios which are like walkie-talkies but with much greater range and are primarily for ship to ship or ship to ground communications, how these work in ST is a bit rubber sciencey but it's separate from the Holonet but can use it to increase range. It's base range varies depending on how powerful it is with larger Imperial ships able communicate either directly or through relay stations across most of the Galaxy with little if any delay, smaller ships can't carry large comm equipment so have range limitations but it's up to you to decide what those are.

What SW communications and information access aren't is like the internet. Most information is physically separated from the communications network and stored like you would find in a library (you know those buildings with books and ****). So to get information you literally have to have some way to access whatever storage device it's in. We see this many times in the films from the archives at the Jedi temple to the plans for the Death Star but mostly because none of the characters in any of the films uses anything remotely internet like when it would be really useful to be able to. It's likely because at the time SW was written this was the case but also because a lot of Sifi was about machines and humans having to fight it out for survival so information needed to be discrete and unconnected or the machine would take over and use us meatbags for batteries (this may be our future as well if codebreaking catches up to encryption).

Oh, and plot.

and in Star Wars lore we have several instances of Droid uprisings so yeah we meat bags don't network things in Star Wars. Furious Greg lays it out really well.

4 minutes ago, Rosco74 said:

In Suns of Fortune you have the long range transceiver page 100. It is used to transmit messages at speed faster than light across star systems, with a range up to 100 Light years. We know a parsec is 3.26 light years so the range is around 35 parsec. Not really much as a ship in hyperspace travel around 1500 parsec a day.

Anyway, the description say most planets are integrated in a local subspace network independant of the Holonet. With hypertransceivers are on deep space relay sattelites to create sector wide communication grid. At the end of the description, it says someone could send a message the other side of the galaxy, routing the transmission across networks.

Ok but I dont understand how it works, like a HAM radio where you broadcast and anyone can listen? Or there is a system like a phone number that allow you to send the transmission only to this target, like the old land phone system in the 70s.

Depends. Are you using an encryption module? If so to listen in you need to break into the encryption. Encrypted communications give a number of set back to people trying to listen in. Special modifications gives rules for slicing. Follow those rules. add setback per the description of the device being used. if a slicer is running the device they can use their defensive slicing talents. and so on.

1 hour ago, FuriousGreg said:

What SW communications and information access aren't is like the internet...

What followed is some faulty assumptions about the internet, security, and the benefits of isolation. You can still have "the internet" in Star Wars while at the same time rationalizing having to be on-site to get valuable information...indeed that's how it works today . You can almost never "hack in" to a system from the internet, you almost always need someone inside to compromise the system, either wittingly as an agent, or unwittingly as a phishing target.

Maybe I'm lazy, but I can't be bothered to explain to the players all the intricacies of how the Star Wars socio-economic/communications structure is different from ours, and then make up rules to explain it all just to deal with a small subset of PC activity. The movies never went into it primarily because that's not what the story was about. TCW does a much better job of fleshing out the universe on these issues, and provides plenty of evidence for the existence of something like "the internet".

5 hours ago, whafrog said:

What followed is some faulty assumptions about the internet, security, and the benefits of isolation. You can still have "the internet" in Star Wars while at the same time rationalizing having to be on-site to get valuable information...indeed that's how it works today . You can almost never "hack in" to a system from the internet, you almost always need someone inside to compromise the system, either wittingly as an agent, or unwittingly as a phishing target.

Maybe I'm lazy, but I can't be bothered to explain to the players all the intricacies of how the Star Wars socio-economic/communications structure is different from ours, and then make up rules to explain it all just to deal with a small subset of PC activity. The movies never went into it primarily because that's not what the story was about. TCW does a much better job of fleshing out the universe on these issues, and provides plenty of evidence for the existence of something like "the internet".

Sony hack says otherwise.

You'll note I said "almost never". There are always exceptions. The vast majority of "hacking" is done from the inside.

Two things the Empire does not do: networked devices, and safety rails.

14 hours ago, FuriousGreg said:

Thats a JJ thing, he did it in Star Trek as well, the other films were able to convey a sense of travel time a bit better.

Abrams definitely seems to entirely be a Speed of Plot guy; I remember some amazingly fast flights on Alias. Must be the Red Mercury.

But Star Wars, both pre- and post-TFA, has not exactly shown galactic flight to take the amount of time depicted in the various RPGs; getting across LA or NYC seems like a lengthier endeavor than traveling the galaxy. In Clone Wars, Palpatine feels a disturbance in the Force during the battle on Mandalore, orders his ship be made ready, and still gets from Coruscant to Mandalore in time to whup Maul & Savage before they can scamper off. Nobody on the Falcon seemed to so much as change clothes on the trip from Tatooine to Alderaan. In Rogue One, the Rebels intercept Imperial communications & learn that Erso & co. are attacking Scarif, so Admiral Raddus takes a chunk of the fleet to help, and arrives in plenty of time - that wasn't an hours-long siege they were holding.

How many scenes clearly depict a journey taking days or even hours? Maybe the one in Empire Strikes Back, where the Falcon - with no hyperdrive - flies from Hoth's system to Bespin? No hyperdrive would mean a journey of years, if not decades or centuries. (Hence WEG's ingenious creation of the "backup hyperdrive" that is merely several times slower than the primary.) There are other scenes that can be interpreted as taking a while - maybe Ben, Luke, & Han changed clothes enough times they all cycled back to their freshly cleaned original outfits - but almost all of them can also be interpreted as "yeah, they got there in maybe a few hours." And there are plenty of scenes that are way faster than that.

(IIRC, the canonical answer as to how some journeys take so little time is hyperlanes. Some routes just don't take long to traverse, apparently. Galactic super-duper-highways++, for some reason.)

6 hours ago, Daeglan said:

Sony hack says otherwise.

The Sony hack where the initial releases were all apparently settling personal grudges and embarrassing individuals who wouldn't be known outside the company? That had the FBI blaming America's enemies a few days later using weak evidence they couldn't release? I guess it's POSSIBLE no one inside was involved . . .

I use HoloNets on many scales for information networks. The largest one, Galactic HoloNet, is a terrible swamp full of thousands of years of junk communication, messages and data obscured by interference, and predators both organic and electronic looking for prey. Coruscant's main network is not much better and as a result there are many HoloNets on planets like Coruscant as the data gets more and more hard to read and vulnerable. Government signals work because they basically use a combination of signal fidelity, destructive wave pattern breakers, and protective multi-recode cyphers. There are Republic/Imperial data scrubber facilities that work to essentially clean up the garbage o main HoloNet Frequencies but they can only hope to maintain the status quo for the most part.

Voice traffic is always essentially VOIP unless it is dedicated stuff in close range or with dedicated repeaters, so it's vulnerable to the same problems as data.