DISCLAIMER: If you don't like the idea of tracking fuel and all of those fiddly things then I understand and feel you have a valid point.

I have been using a system based on the Galaxy Map which has grid squares of 1500 Parsecs. I saw an article which placed the Falcon with it's .5 class hyperdrive doing about 828 Parsecs per hour. So that puts a class 1 Hyperdrive at 414 Parsecs per hour. this means that you cross one of the grid squares on the map every 3 1/2 hours roughly with a Class 1 Hyperdrive. I use this as the base for the Astrogation roll, and then adjust based on the outcome of the check.

I track fuel in Hours of Hyperdrive operation, and for the purposes of buying it one cell or unit of fuel gives 1 hour. Price for a cell is multiplied by Sil. In my campaign we use 5cr as the base cost for a Sil1 Fuel Cell, so a unit of fuel for a Sil4 ship is base 20 cr.

Capacity is trickier because I wanted something that makes sense for usage parameters for the vessel. Bigger ships are a bit slower and have longer consumable times. You may want to use something fitting for your campaign, but we used 1/8th of the ship's consumables for fuel capacity. So a ship with two months (8 weeks) for consumables has a fuel capacity of 1 week under Hyperdrive which equals 168 hours of fuel. 168 x 20 = 3,360 cr for a full fuel gauge.

Fighters with a week's worth of consumables end up with 21 hours of fuel if unmodified, and this gives good reason to have carriers or docking rings for bigger ships.

This adds tension to situations where the players are trying to get funds, and also makes the rolls for Astrogation and Negotiation for fuel purchases more impactful. Fuel usage under this method is a consideration all the time, so if you want a more fluid type of travel you can give the ship more fuel capacity and lower the base cost of fuel per unit.

Let me know if I've made any glaring errors and if you have a system you use for fuel as I'd love to hear how people use fuel for their starship operations.

You might want to review the Operational Costs PDF in the Compiled Resources thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/85616-compiled-resources-list/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-cK7UE7hkkcTzJocVowQnJwRkk/view

Yup, @Archlyte , that's the sweet spot I've found -- 3500c to fill the tank of a light freighter.

I used math based on somebody's house rules posted on this forum years ago -- 2.5ish fuel cells per day of consumables, so 50c per cell. Easy to top off yet not insignificant when empty; plus, it makes the Mando's remark in the sneak peek all the more interesting, suggesting a post-GCW fuel hike of 150% or more.

A normal jump set from Mon Gazza to Llanic would consume about 5 cells, so logistics-minded players would start to feel that re-up nag after crossing a few sectors. Eyeballing it, I think we're similar there, too.

I'd suggest unifying fuel prices, but if you and your players are fine, then keep that depth.

Not sure I'll use it, but I like it.

And thanks for the link to the grid map, bery useful.

6 hours ago, wilsch said:

Yup, @Archlyte , that's the sweet spot I've found -- 3500c to fill the tank of a light freighter.

I used math based on somebody's house rules posted on this forum years ago -- 2.5ish fuel cells per day of consumables, so 50c per cell. Easy to top off yet not insignificant when empty; plus, it makes the Mando's remark in the sneak peek all the more interesting, suggesting a post-GCW fuel hike of 150% or more.

A normal jump set from Mon Gazza to Llanic would consume about 5 cells, so logistics-minded players would start to feel that re-up nag after crossing a few sectors. Eyeballing it, I think we're similar there, too.

I'd suggest unifying fuel prices, but if you and your players are fine, then keep that depth.

To be fair I think I took the idea of the cells from you Wilsch Thanks again for that it's changed our games for the better

7 hours ago, Archlyte said:

To be fair I think I took the idea of the cells from you Wilsch Thanks again for that it's changed our games for the better

Well, shucks! Now I gotta find the guy who posted here and inspired me.

Edit: Aha, found it ! I spent so much time searching and reading this forum in the weeks leading up to my campaign 3 years ago. Such a great resource.

On 9/18/2019 at 1:13 PM, Archlyte said:

I have been using a system based on the Galaxy Map which has grid squares of 1500 Parsecs. I saw an article which placed the Falcon with it's .5 class hyperdrive doing about 828 Parsecs per hour. So that puts a class 1 Hyperdrive at 414 Parsecs per hour. this means that you cross one of the grid squares on the map every 3 1/2 hours roughly with a Class 1 Hyperdrive. I use this as the base for the Astrogation roll, and then adjust based on the outcome of the check.

So, how do the hyperlanes/trade routes factor into travel speed then? Do they matter at all in your game? In the last campaign I ran, we made travel along the main routes faster, but imposed tolls at the major junctions. I'm curious how they fit into your scheme.

14 hours ago, jendefer said:

So, how do the hyperlanes/trade routes factor into travel speed then? Do they matter at all in your game? In the last campaign I ran, we made travel along the main routes faster, but imposed tolls at the major junctions. I'm curious how they fit into your scheme.

Thanks for the question My rate of travel is based on the rough distance within one of those squares which if you draw a straight line across is 1500 parsecs. In the interest of making it easy we just count each square as being that distance unless the course within the square looks like it's a lot longer (like if the path doglegs or something), and if so we extend the distance in parsecs usually by 100 Parsec increments. So if the ship has a Class 2 Hyperdrive the time to cross a square is gonna be 7 hours 15 minutes (207/1500 = 7.24). Because we use an approximation to start with, and a dice check to modify the end result it works out ok I think.

Hyper lanes and Major Hyperlanes modify the Astrogation Check. For a normal Hyperlane we add a Boost die to the check. For a major Hyperlane we have done a difficulty downgrade or added 2 Boost dice depending on the location. If they travel off of Hyperlanes I will introduce Setback at the very least and Challenge dice more likely. In addition to what the book suggests we use the following:

• Each bonus success from the Astrogation check reduces the distance of the route by 1/8th of the distance.
• Each Advantage rolled will Give some other effect of a good bit of navigation, mainly like the situation they come into after they emerge from hyperspace. I have also used it to reduce fuel consumption by an hour per Advantage.
• Threat increases the fuel consumption and adds extra hours of use to a shorter trip.
• Triumph and Despair are used either for the trip or something else in the narrative.

If this isn't static enough for you though you could just assign a multiple to each grade of Hyperlane and take the base 1500 parsecs and reduce the distance by whatever you feel would be the efficiency of that route.

As for the tolls, is there something that kicks the ship out of hyperspace? Do you have it so that the Navicomputer has to recalculate at those junctures?

On 10/3/2019 at 11:22 AM, Archlyte said:

As for the tolls, is there something that kicks the ship out of hyperspace? Do you have it so that the Navicomputer has to recalculate at those junctures?

We had very hand-wavy explanations for why ships had to come out of hyperspace at the junctions. Mainly, we did it because in real life, lots of super highways (at least where I'm from) have tolls compared to smaller local roads and some even have more heavily tolled express lanes. So we wanted something like that, to make there be a cost to balance out the speed advantage. I think we justified it with something along the lines of hyperspace congestion in those areas requiring recalculations by the navicomputer, and there being space stations set up for customs checks and toll collection at those points. We didn't focus much on space travel in our game, so it wasn't as well thought out as your system.

For our group we took a page out of the X-Wing/Tie Fighter/etc games.

Each plot just takes you to the next system. If there's a trade route / major lane, the system has nav bouys at the entrance/exit.

The bouys mark a safe zone for entering hyperspace as well as possibly contain information for the system: Name, warnings, docking locations, traffic control frequencies, and in places like Nar Shaddaa, advertisements!

1 hour ago, jendefer said:

We had very hand-wavy explanations for why ships had to come out of hyperspace at the junctions. Mainly, we did it because in real life, lots of super highways (at least where I'm from) have tolls compared to smaller local roads and some even have more heavily tolled express lanes. So we wanted something like that, to make there be a cost to balance out the speed advantage. I think we justified it with something along the lines of hyperspace congestion in those areas requiring recalculations by the navicomputer, and there being space stations set up for customs checks and toll collection at those points. We didn't focus much on space travel in our game, so it wasn't as well thought out as your system.

Well I love your ideas though. I think that was a very cool way to do it. I am gonna think about how to add the toll junctions to some areas. they would need to be a place that is well patrolled enough to make such a thing possible.

9 minutes ago, starwulfe said:

For our group we took a page out of the X-Wing/Tie Fighter/etc games.

Each plot just takes you to the next system. If there's a trade route / major lane, the system has nav bouys at the entrance/exit.

The bouys mark a safe zone for entering hyperspace as well as possibly contain information for the system: Name, warnings, docking locations, traffic control frequencies, and in places like Nar Shaddaa, advertisements!

Buoys!! Awesome. I love this idea and I feel like an idiot for not using it before.