The jar does work great on its on. Thanks.

But are we forgetting that space is 3 dimensional?

So imagining that the normal system "disc" is horizontal, couldn't I just travel vertically can get away from all the planets that way??

Would be a hell of a lot quicker!

Space Monkey said:

The problem is not the tiny specks of dust that are the planets, but the influence of the sun. It does not matter from which way you approach.

Also, I don't imagine picking the exact spot you exit the warp is easy, if at all possible.

If so, if you happened to exit 'next' to the system, instead of 'above' or 'below', shifting your position to you can come at it from either of those directions would just take you longer, since it shouldn't be particularly hard to fly around the planets in the first place, it's not like they move very fast.

Space Monkey said:

This has been something I've been thinking of as well... For inner system worlds exiting the Warp at a point to zenith or nadir of the sun would seem more logical then on the edge of the system. Outer worlds would be so far spread out that with the correct bearing it should be conceivable to perform a warp jump without actually hitting the edge of the system.

But the above is a little off topic, as we're talking travel times within a star system... Given the astronomical (pun intended) number of variables which we would find between stars and their orbiting bodies, there is no real reason to expect a hard system to be in place. I've not yet gotten to play with Bila's calculator, but looking over the basics it seems a very handy tool to use for these situations.

-=Brother Praetus=-

As for exiting at the zenith or nadir:

You are trying to escape the suns gravity well, not get past the planets. Certainly you can head above or below the disk, no problem, but you still have to travel just as far to reach the "edge" of the systems gravity well. Additionally you leave yourself more 'exposed'. More obvious to sensors, less able to take cover, and you miss the option to scan planets as you fly by. It usually wont be a big issue, but its worth considering. So if you have to travel just as far either way you might as well take the route that is more likely to be advantagious.

This is Science Fantasy at best. Just roll a d10 and go with that many days. If you want, have your Navigator do a routine test, and subtract one day for ever degree of success, to a minimum of 1 day. And why would anyone care if players are told "Oh, 7 days pass and you are there?" This is RPG Routine. Not ever moment of time is spent fighting Xenos and looting dead worlds, there have to be times when people are resting, studying, practicing, plotting, you name it.

Another point is, if, by some fluke of the Warp, you arrive at your destination before you even left your point of origin, what effect will that have on the players? Are they then going to try and send an Astropath message to warn themselves if something goes wrong?

This is Science Fantasy at best. Just roll a d10 and go with that many days.

You could do that. But I'd prefer my players choice of ship to influence travel times. Using the ships acceleration to calculate 'realistic' travel times looks like an elegant solution.

And why would anyone care if players are told "Oh, 7 days pass and you are there?" This is RPG Routine. Not ever moment of time is spent fighting Xenos and looting dead worlds, there have to be times when people are resting, studying, practicing, plotting, you name it.

Don't forget time spent healing. If they had a major battle on the previous planet, I can see players wanting longer trips unless they have acquired the Regeneration trait or a psychic healer.

Another point is, if, by some fluke of the Warp, you arrive at your destination before you even left your point of origin, what effect will that have on the players? Are they then going to try and send an Astropath message to warn themselves if something goes wrong?

They can send one off. But there is no guarantee that they will receive it in time.

I agree, downtime is usually healing/learning time for my players. I do think a ships movement rating should have some play, it just totally skipped my mind. Lets not forget that Pirates lurk in the planetary wells, and in a ship with no Void Drive, they could pack alot of firepower and be a real problem. A pirate group could consist of monitors in several systems, with 1 big voidship to come by and pick up the goodies every now and then. A monitor could be a void hauler you stripped the void drive from, loaded down with macro's and used to hijack incoming shipping. This would make for a plausible and dangerous encounter, and could take up some dead time if need be.

I've been thinking of ways that the time for in-system travel could be calculated. The version I'm currently playing around with is this.

Battlefleet Gothic divides a system into six zones. I didn't agree with the exact classes of the zones, but I liked the concept. Here are my own adjusted zones with examples from the Solar system:-

Mercurial Mercury and the Sun 1D 2

Inner Biosphere Venus 1D5

Primary Biosphere Earth 1D5

Outer Biosphere Mars and the Asteroids 1D10

Outer Reaches The Gas Giants 2D10

Deep Beyond The Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud 3D10

All ships emerge from Warp in the Deep Beyond. To calculate travel times, take the start and finish points of the journey, roll the dice indicated for both, and the result is the base travel time in days. Subtract the ship's combat speed from this. Then have someone roll Navigation: Stellar and add or subtract degrees of success or failure. This final result is how many days it takes to make the journey, with a minimum of one day.

Example: Emerging from the Warp in the Deep Beyond, a ship aims for a planet in the Primary Biosphere. The base time is 3D10+1D5, which is rolled as 22. The ship is a Frigate with a combat speed of 8, which reduces this to 14. The Void Master rolls Navigation: Stellar and gets two degrees of success, so it takes 12 days to make the trip.

Example: Traveling from a planet in the Inner Biosphere to an asteroid base in the Outer Biosphere takes a base of 1D10+1D5, rolled as 7. The same Frigate would reduce this to -1, but then the Void Master fails the Navigation: Stellar roll by 3 degrees, and so it takes 2 days. Even if the roll had succeeded, the trip would have taken a minimum of 1 day.

I feel this system probably hits the best mix of detail and simplicity. The numbers may need adjusting- people who like to calculate real travel times on spreadsheets will probably have suggestions. But apart from that, I can't see any real difficulties.

To cover the inevitable question before it's asked (somebody will)- no, you don't calculate times based on all the zones traveled through, just the start and finish. Imagine the zones as a series of concentric rings and you'll see why- the longest possible journey is one with both end points in the outermost zone.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

One of the main reasons I wanted to know how the answer to this was for healing purposes.

Maybe, and just maybe, a vessels Maneueverability should be a factor in this calculation, as an addition or subtraction of hours to the time. I noticed how the Clipper has a Man: of +25, which makes it fast. Perhaps this is a 25% reduction to the time? Whereas a -5 would be a +5% addition to the time?

At least you are not a GM who says, just before the new adventure "Ok Folks, you are all healed up, and sitting around in the local tavern." I hate that.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

Actually, its Manoeuvrability of +25 makes it manoeuvrable. Its the ship's speed of 10 that makes it fast...