Hello!

What is your rule of thump for the speed when a ship leaves hyperspace?

Assuming the character's ship leaves hyperspace and they have to chase some enemy ships immediately which already have, say, speed 4. Does the character's ship have max. speed, a speed of 1 (0 would be to low, I assume), or something totally different?

Thanks!

I always assumed it was what ever speed you wanted to go? (within the ships limits, of course).

Coming out at top speed is very dangerous, cruising speed is typical, full stop sometimes necessary.

Thanks for your reply.

But when the following chase should come as a surprice it is importent. And if I ask: "What speed does your ship have, players"? Players, as they are players, will answer: "Top speed, of course"!

Hm, then again, they might assume they are landing in an asteroid field and choose speed 1...

Seems fair to give the players the choice, before they know what they are arriving in, but maybe give them reaction time to change speed if their Astrogation had advantage, or having them come out with slightly wrong speed with threat.

Generally we speed 0 or 1 in the movies I'd guess.

Ah, good advice. Thanks, Darzil!

18 minutes ago, Seam said:

Thanks for your reply.

But when the following chase should come as a surprice it is importent. And if I ask: "What speed does your ship have, players"? Players, as they are players, will answer: "Top speed, of course"!

Hm, then again, they might assume they are landing in an asteroid field and choose speed 1...

I guess it would depend on the situation. If you're trying to avoid being noticed by the cops it's probably not a good idea to be going 150 in a school zone full of people with cell phones...

If you didn't want to give them a choice, defaulting to half the top speed of the ship is a good base rule.

What was said above. It's also worth noting that, generally, the people who are in hyperspace have no idea what's going to be at the other side. So coming out over a core world where traffic is likely to be heavy would cause grievous accidents.

So either half speed or speed 1. Whatever is "safe" for that craft. It would still be considered going very fast; in ep 7, Han probably wasn't going that fast but given that he was almost in atmosphere and a short distance is hundreds of kilometres at a time, he didn't have very much time to respond to what was coming up.

Either way it isn't a huge issue, given a pilot can punch it to get up to max speed really quickly.

Thanks all!

Ugh no . . .

I can't recall where this is in the EotE rules, but a ship leaving hyperspace retains its speed from when it entered hyperspace.

And since my players usually tend to be involved in combat when they enter hyperspace, that means they exit hyperspace at full speed.

IF you want to keep it that simple, then no worries.

However if you think on this and take into consideration original vectors and take into relationship the relative speeds of the two primary stars that are being traveled between, then the relative speed of the ship could (and probably should ) be drastically different than what it was when they entered hyperspace.

And then to be completely mind boggled, there's also the factor of orbital mechanics. Planets travel around their primaries at a pretty good clip, and each solar system has a different orbital plane too.

Long story short, the math behind putting together a hyperspace jump path is going to be pretty complicated.

But here's the real takeaway; with the complexity and diversity of factors involved in travelling across a galaxy, as a GM, you can pretty much determine what the PC's speed is by fiat. Drive that Italian car. GM!

I've always maintained that the speed at which you transited from our dimension to hyperspace is the speed at which you return to "normal" space but there are many good points in this thread to provide ample reasoning for however someone wants to run it at their table.

My rule of thumb is that the Sublight engines are separate from the Hyperdrive so the pilot will engage Sublight engines when the ship comes out of hyperspace. I would actually start them at Speed 0 and have them use the appropriate methods of accelerating. Catching a ship as it comes out of hyperspace would seem to be a vulnerable time for the ship.

3 hours ago, Archlyte said:

My rule of thumb is that the Sublight engines are separate from the Hyperdrive so the pilot will engage Sublight engines when the ship comes out of hyperspace. I would actually start them at Speed 0 and have them use the appropriate methods of accelerating. Catching a ship as it comes out of hyperspace would seem to be a vulnerable time for the ship.

Which seems to contradict (speed 0 for starters) stuff we see in the movies. Not just that "coming out of hyperspace inside the shield" stint from The Force Awakens, but definately earlier work too. Snub fighters entering hyperspace near Sullust also have clear forward speed when they exit hyperspace near Endor, for example. I like that suggestion where speed entering equals speed exiting, except for when you use Advantages to change speed as a raction to conditions when leaving hyperspace.

8 minutes ago, Xcapobl said:

Which seems to contradict (speed 0 for starters) stuff we see in the movies. Not just that "coming out of hyperspace inside the shield" stint from The Force Awakens, but definately earlier work too. Snub fighters entering hyperspace near Sullust also have clear forward speed when they exit hyperspace near Endor, for example. I like that suggestion where speed entering equals speed exiting, except for when you use Advantages to change speed as a raction to conditions when leaving hyperspace.

I agree and I don't see the need for a rule, particularly an 'always' one. Going fast on exit could be a mistake, same for zero, slow, half speed they're never going to know. If you set to a default then you always hand them an advantage in some cases and always a pain in the other. It shoe horns me into having to plan around that and I hate being narratively shackled by a rule.

There is only one speed in Star Wars, and everything travels at that speed:

The Speed Of Plot.

In all seriousness, I'd agree that the speed exiting hyperspace should be the speed you entered it at. Bear in mind, most EU material says you can't actually change course in hyperspace, so getting from one place to another frequently requires intermediate jumps between those points, rather than travelling a straight distance between them (this is what lets space piracy function in Star Wars, successful pirates know good points to catch ships at a waypoint between destinations where they get maximum booty for minimum risk). So a ship could easily do a "combat escape jump" at full speed, exit hyperspace pretty much precisely in the middle of nowhere, slow down to a safer speed, and continue on to their eventual destination.

2 hours ago, Xcapobl said:

Which seems to contradict (speed 0 for starters) stuff we see in the movies. Not just that "coming out of hyperspace inside the shield" stint from The Force Awakens, but definately earlier work too. Snub fighters entering hyperspace near Sullust also have clear forward speed when they exit hyperspace near Endor, for example. I like that suggestion where speed entering equals speed exiting, except for when you use Advantages to change speed as a raction to conditions when leaving hyperspace.

Yeah I guess that's true. Oh well I guess it will be max speed before and after all jumps now. Farewell Punch It , it was good while it lasted.

Not necessarily, after they do that and jump right into a minefield, or say a destroyed planet, that the Empire neglected to mention and they're making an ugly obstacle roll or two when they appear normal space.

17 hours ago, Seam said:

Players, as they are players, will answer: "Top speed, of course"!

GM: How fast are you going when you exit!

Them: Full speed, baby!

GM: Very well, you cut in the sublight engines and come out of hyperspace in the middle of a swarm of space tugs trying to maneuver the HMS BigAssPassengerLiner into a parking orbit. Roll your piloting against five reds and . . . how many Black Dice do you have? Yeah, that'll do.

Problem solved.

2 hours ago, Desslok said:

GM: How fast are you going when you exit!

Them: Full speed, baby!

GM: Very well, you cut in the sublight engines and come out of hyperspace in the middle of a swarm of space tugs trying to maneuver the HMS BigAssPassengerLiner into a parking orbit. Roll your piloting against five reds and . . . how many Black Dice do you have? Yeah, that'll do.

Problem solved.

Yeah they'll just split the baby on that one. Good point though, they will always be coming out at half maximum speed.

12 hours ago, Archlyte said:

Yeah they'll just split the baby on that one. Good point though, they will always be coming out at half maximum speed.

For me, if nobody specifies, they'll come out at Speed 1. If they want to specify they can pick whatever speed they want. If they want to know what the right speed is, it's a Daunting scanning check.

38 minutes ago, whafrog said:

For me, if nobody specifies, they'll come out at Speed 1. If they want to specify they can pick whatever speed they want. If they want to know what the right speed is, it's a Daunting scanning check.

Yeah that seems like a good way to go.

Things will vary system to system. Coruscant for starters I see having defined hyperspace exit areas and approach/exit corridors in normal space to track comings and goings as we as manage the crush of traffic in n out around the clock.

I would guess that a lot of planets have designated approach and departure vectors. Wasn't it somewhere in the last couple of episodes of Rebels where Hondo was trying to get the Ghost planetside and someone said "Um, why are we hanging out in hyperspace arrival lane?" Now Lothal is no Coruscant in terms of traffic, but even they had a designated arrival (and presumably departure) zone.

Hmm, thinking about it, that could be a fun complication for the next planetary escape. "Well, you can try and fight your way off planet or you could easily elude the fighter screen by running headlong into the hyperspace arrival corridor. Add a couple of reds to your piloting roll, would you?"

4 minutes ago, Desslok said:

I would guess that a lot of planets have designated approach and departure vectors. Wasn't it somewhere in the last couple of episodes of Rebels where Hondo was trying to get the Ghost planetside and someone said "Um, why are we hanging out in hyperspace arrival lane?" Now Lothal is no Coruscant in terms of traffic, but even they had a designated arrival (and presumably departure) zone.

Hmm, thinking about it, that could be a fun complication for the next planetary escape. "Well, you can try and fight your way off planet or you could easily elude the fighter screen by running headlong into the hyperspace arrival corridor. Add a couple of reds to your piloting roll, would you?"

I was just thinking about the Star Wars version of ATC and how that would be handled depending on the planet. I would think that Coruscanrt would be a situation where you are going to be guided in strictly and any deviations are going to get a response. Meanwhile someplace like Tatooine may have nearly no traffic control and might only contact you as you get right in city airspace.

Coruscant would certainly be a space traffic insane asylum. A trillion + residents with a transitory population likely that much. It would be a mad house daily.