My timeline is based on established Expanded Universe timelines. As
their have been some discussions surrounding the duration of the events in Star
Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, I have chosen to make it clear that
my timeline is based on hyperspace travel times as established in the Expanded
Universe. (One comment, though: events surrounding the timespan of Revenge of
the Sith have made alter my initial view a bit: certain sources have hinted
that both the Jedi as well as the Sith know of secret hyperspace routes which
allows them to travel throughout the Known Galaxy in an even much faster manner
as the usual hyperspace travel times. Thus, in my timeline, both these factions
can travel from one point to another faster)
Following are several excerpts from several books regarding hyperspace
travel.
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (West End Games, October 1987)
page 55 (Trips): An interstellar journey can take
days, weeks or even months. While in hyperspace, the ship’s computer pretty
much runs everything, so most duty personnel have little to do.
Page 57 (Background: Hyperdrives): The hyperdrive is a miracle of advanced technology. Powered by massive
fusion generators, it hurls its ship into another dimension, called hyperspace.
Only hyperspace techs and highly-trained scientists really understand hyperspace;
even they admit there is a lot they do not know. Many aspects of hyperspace
remain a mystery to Imperial science. One thing is clear, though: in
hyperspace, a ship can travel faster than light.
To get technical, hyperspace is coterminous to normal space. That is, each point in realspace is associated with a unique point in hyperspace. If you head north in hyperspace, you travel north in realspace.
Real objects have a ‘hyperspace shadow.’ That is, there is a star or
star-like object in hyperspace at the ‘same’ location it occupies in realspace.
This is a danger.
Space is not a complete vacuum. Floating molecules are everywhere – only
a few per cubic centimeter, but they exist. Larger objects, though rarer, are
common, too. There are many more ‘rogue’ planets - which float in the interstellar void, unwarmed by any sun –
than in star systems. There are uncountable asteroids, meteors and random
chunks of ice and rock between the stars.
If a ship travelling at translight speeds hits an object of any size, it
is instantly vaporized. Even a close graze with a rogue planet or sizeable
asteroid would throw a ship vastly off course.
Page 57 (Routes): All but the smallest hyperdrive-capable starships are equipped with nav
computers. Nav computers hold a wealth of statistical and map data charting the
positions of stars, rogue planets, known asteroid fields and other dangers.
Properly operated by a skilled astrogator, they calculate the safest, fastest
path for a ship to follow through hyperspace.
Errors are always possible. Merely transporting a set of numbers when entering data can send a ship far off course. Unskilled astrogators frequently ‘play it safe’ by taking a slower route in order to run less of a risk. The desperate sometimes do the reverse – accept a high risk to get somewhere fast.
Operating a nav computer porperly is no guarantee of safety. There are billions of stars in the galaxy; the positions of most are charted, but that still leaves many whose positions have never been entered in the standard nav computer database. There are many more planets and asteroids; the positions of 90%+ of them are unknown. A rogue planet shines only by reflected starlight; they can rarely be spotted by even the most powerful orbital telescopes, and are discovered only by accident. There are trillions of rogues. Only the ones close to frequently-travelled space routes are charted.
As for asteroids and meteors – there are so many that no serious effort
has ever been made to chart them.
And all of these objects – stars, planets, asteroids, meteors, gas
molecules – are constantly moving, often in unpredictable ways. Accidents
happen on even the most frequently-travelled and best-charted routes.
Page 58 (Passage Times): On a planet, the farther apart two places are, the longer it takes to
travel between them. In hyperspace, that is not necessarily so. Theoretically,
a starship can travel at practically infinite speeds. A well-equipped starship
can travel from one side of the galaxy to another in a matter of days or weeks.
The distance to the destination is not the controlling factor – it is
the difficulty of the trip. Basically, three factors make a journey
difficult:
- Since most rogue planets and smaller bodies are uncharted, a starship’s speed through hyperspace depends on the amount of debris that lies in its path. If there is a lot of debris, the ship must feel its way slowly, detecting and avoiding objects as it goes. The denser the debris, the slower the passage.
- If many charted obstacles (stars, planets, and so on) lie along a ship’s course, it must zig and zag to avoid them, and that is time consuming. All things being equal, the longer the trip, the more obstacles that a ship is likely to encounter – but sometimes the locat star positions make a particular course tough: you might be a mere 15 light years from the Dagobah system, but if your course goes through an asteroid field, you will still have to divert.
- The more frequently a particular route between two planets is used, the better the obstacles between them are charted, and the less cautious (and slow) a ship needs to be when travelling between them. The best case is a trip like the Kessel run, one of the most heavily-used trade routes in the Empire – and one which hot-shot pilots and traders on the shady side of the law like to travel very quickly. The worst case is a trip between two previously-unexplored star systems; the only guide the nav computer has in this case is the positions of known stars. Worst-case trips can take months.
additional information from
The Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Second Edition (Revised
and Expanded) (West End Games, August 1996)
page 116 (Hyperdrives): Hyperdrives propel starships into an alternate dimension known as hyperspace, where it is possible to travel at many times the speed of light. Ships in hyperspace can cross the incredible distances between stars in a few weeks, days, or even hours.
pages 117 - 119 (Hyperdrive Multipliers): A hyperdrive is ranked by a ‘class,’ or hyperdrive multipier. The lower the multiplier, the faster the drive. Most civilian ships have a Class Two (x2) or higher hyperdrive. Many military vessels and starfighters have a Class One (x1) hyperdrive, which is twice as fast as a Class Two hyperdrive. The Millennium Falcon has a Class 0.5 (x1/2) hyperdrive, making it one of the fastest ships in the galaxy.
Each hyperspace route or journey has a duration. Multiply the duration by the ship’s hyperdrive multiplier to find out how long it takes the ship to reach the destination.
There is no known route that travels
straight across the galaxy. Even the fastest of ships, such as the Millennium
Falcon, would take months to cross the entire galaxy, if such a route did
exist.
pages 119 (Passing Time on Trips): Interstellar journeys can take hours, days... even weeks. Since the ship’s computers handle everything, crew members and passengers have few responsibilities.
Luxury liners provide a wide variety of entertainment. Gourmet meals, music, dancing, holo shows and even theatrical entertainment are common. Ship personnel often spend time studying up on astrogation and other vital skills. Other people pursue hobbies, such as model building, playing games, reading and gambling.
Smaller freighters are another story.
Being cooped up in a cramped freighter for days at a time takes its toll even
on the closest of friends. The autochef’s food may be nutritious, but ther is
only so long people can take three square meals a day of white, pasty,
flavorless ‘autochef surprise.’ Ship’s computers may carry holonovels, games,
and other pre-recorded entertainments, but these libraries are normally limited
to what the captain and crew are personally interested in.
additional information from
Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Revised Core Rulebook (Wizards of the Coast, May
2002)
page 116 (Hyperdrives): Hyperdrives propel starships into an alternate dimension known as hyperspace, where it is possible to travel at many times the speed of light. Ships in hyperspace can cross the incredible distances between stars in a few weeks, days, or even hours.
page 206 (Hyperspace Travel Time): Base Travel Time in hours:
Travelling from Deep Core Core Colonies Inner Rim Expansion Mid
Rim Outer Rim Wild
Deep Core 12 18 24 48 72 96 120 144
Core Worlds 24 6 24 36 60 84 96 120
Colonies 48 24 12 24 48 72 96 120
Inner Rim 72 36 24 18 24 48 72 96
Expansion Region 96 60 48 24 24 24 48 72
Mid Rim 120 84 72 48 24 36 24 48
Outer Rim 144 96 96 72 48 24 48 24
Wild Space 168 120 120 96 72 48 24 12
pages 206 & 207 (Travel Time): A typical journey between two regions of the galaxy (or between two systems within the same region) takes a certain number of hours. This base travel time can be modified by as many as three factors, each of which is discussed below:
- Hyperdrive Quality: The base travel time given on the table assumes the use of a standard hyperdrive with a x1 multiplier. Faster hyperdrives (x0.5, for example) reduce the travel time accordingly, and slower hyperdrives (x2 or x5, for example) increase travel time.
- Location of Destination: If the destination of the journey is in the same region as the starting point, or if the destination is in the same quadrant of the galaxy as the starting point, the travel time is halved. (the book has a map on pages 208 and 209 in whcih you can divide the galaxy in four quadrants: two perpendicular lines cut through the center of the Deep Core, dividing the galaxy into four sections, or quadrants - Eddie). Travel time is cut in half for any journey from one place to another place in the same quadrant, even if the two locations are in different regions.
- Check Result: (this factor is a gameplayer factor which I will omit from these pages – Eddie)
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