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How does Hyperdrive work

Posted: 2008-09-01 07:40pm
by Todeswind
I'm also a bit hazy on the way that the FTL for star wars works. The impression that I am laboring under is that it is something similar to that of BSG wherein highly accurate maps of local star systems and orbital drift charts are used to move at faster than light speeds to a fixed point (minus the instantaneous disappear/reappear junk). Am I correct in saying that Hyperspace travel, while relatively safe and very fast in comparison to other scifi fandoms, is highly dependent upon these pre-mapped hyperspace routes that have been around since the old republic.

This is to say that a ship with inaccurate hyperspace co-ordinates or none for the current area of space that they are localized in would be crippled, or at least highly limited in where it can safely travel to at anything more than sunlight speeds for fear of colliding with a planet.

Is this accurate?

Posted: 2008-09-01 07:42pm
by Aaron
This is going to answer most of your questions in both threads. The author of the Incredible Cross Section books website.

Posted: 2008-09-01 08:17pm
by Todeswind
thx

Re: How does Hyperdrive work

Posted: 2008-09-01 08:32pm
by Ender
Todeswind wrote:I'm also a bit hazy on the way that the FTL for star wars works. The impression that I am laboring under is that it is something similar to that of BSG wherein highly accurate maps of local star systems and orbital drift charts are used to move at faster than light speeds to a fixed point (minus the instantaneous disappear/reappear junk). Am I correct in saying that Hyperspace travel, while relatively safe and very fast in comparison to other scifi fandoms, is highly dependent upon these pre-mapped hyperspace routes that have been around since the old republic.

This is to say that a ship with inaccurate hyperspace co-ordinates or none for the current area of space that they are localized in would be crippled, or at least highly limited in where it can safely travel to at anything more than sunlight speeds for fear of colliding with a planet.

Is this accurate?
In the most broad terms this is correct. But in practical applications there are a few things one could do. We don't know the tolerances of hyperdrive and how much the astrogation can optimize, so they might be able to get away with microjumps and telescopes to map enough of what they need in short order. It will just be slower going.