.5 Past Lightspeed: My Theory

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Sam Or I
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.5 Past Lightspeed: My Theory

Post by Sam Or I »

We all know this infamous quote. Here is how I have always taken it, a very simple explination. (Unless there is an cannon explanation, this is the one I am going with)

.5 past light speed, means just what it says, traveling 1.5 times the speed of light. Han never said where. How do SW ships get around, in Hyperspace. So .5 past lightspeed, in hyperspace, could be many million times the speed of light in normal space.

well, thats just my half baked theory, but in my mind it is the most reasonable explination yet. (Unless of course there is a cannon explination I am not aware of).
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Re: .5 Past Lightspeed: My Theory

Post by mauldooku »

Sam Or I wrote:We all know this infamous quote. Here is how I have always taken it, a very simple explination. (Unless there is an cannon explanation, this is the one I am going with)

.5 past light speed, means just what it says, traveling 1.5 times the speed of light. Han never said where. How do SW ships get around, in Hyperspace. So .5 past lightspeed, in hyperspace, could be many million times the speed of light in normal space.

well, thats just my half baked theory, but in my mind it is the most reasonable explination yet. (Unless of course there is a cannon explination I am not aware of).
I believe in one of the X-Wing novels it's explained as an inverse logarithmic scale (think pH), or something; where '.5' would be a heck of a lot faster than .6, while .6 would be faster than .7 but the gap between the two wouldn't be as much as that between .5 and .6.

Don't have any of the novels on me, would check if I did.
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Post by Batman »

I'm reasonably certain the formula was never explained in any of the novels, but I also don't see how that matters. How about the Wars hyperdrive speed formula is (for whatever reasons) one that hits infinite at a value of one?
While we're at it, the '.6 is slower than .5' idea doesn't work, or at least not consistently-the MF at .5 was supposed to be really fast when as per TTT a VSD could pull .45.
Whatever the formula is, it appears to have speeds increase the closer they are to 1.
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Post by Solauren »

The inverse theory is also used in the RPG's by Wizards of the Coast
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Post by Kuja »

What .5 referres to the the Hyperdrive ratings system, which, according the New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (much as I hate that book) runs from Class 6 to Class 1, with a Class 1 being the fastest Hyperdrive available. However, some tinkered ships are actually rated faster than a Class 1, such as the Falcon's .5 or the .75 of the Outrider and Starlight Intruder.
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Post by Praxis »

.5 is the hyperdrive rating. The lower the rating, the faster the ship. Class 1 and 2 are generally military speeds, and 3 and above are civilian vessels, generally, according to the EGVV.
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Post by Lord of the Farce »

Batman wrote:While we're at it, the '.6 is slower than .5' idea doesn't work, or at least not consistently-the MF at .5 was supposed to be really fast when as per TTT a VSD could pull .45.
Whatever the formula is, it appears to have speeds increase the closer they are to 1.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that there are multiple "Class" rating systems in use in the SW universe. Otherwise, the Jedi Starfighter and Jango's Slave 1 (both Class 1.0) and the Acclamator (Class 0.6) would all be faster than the Falcon's 0.5.

Probably depends on the companies which manufacture the hyperdrives.
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Post by Solauren »

It's also entirely possible that the rating system was changed a little between Return of the Sith and A New Hope.
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Post by Illuminatus Primus »

Lord of the Farce wrote:
Batman wrote:While we're at it, the '.6 is slower than .5' idea doesn't work, or at least not consistently-the MF at .5 was supposed to be really fast when as per TTT a VSD could pull .45.
Whatever the formula is, it appears to have speeds increase the closer they are to 1.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that there are multiple "Class" rating systems in use in the SW universe. Otherwise, the Jedi Starfighter and Jango's Slave 1 (both Class 1.0) and the Acclamator (Class 0.6) would all be faster than the Falcon's 0.5.

Probably depends on the companies which manufacture the hyperdrives.
You're right. WEG and everyone else basically arrived at the consensus that the closer to 0 you got, the faster your hyperdrive. Class 3 and 4 vessels are pretty damn slow. Zahn just didn't pay attention and fucked it up.

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