Babylon 5 Aide
Mongoose
As I understand it ships accelerate in hyperspace the same as in sublight or whatever... Now does that mean the ship can accelerate for half the trip, then decellerate for the last half? Or am I way off base?
Ship decelleration and hyperspace
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psyclonejack
Mongoose
If one was in a hurry I am sure you could do that, but it wouldn't be very safe. For instance if a ship had a Hyperspace trip of 6 hours. It would be accelerating for 3 hours. That means if It had an acceleration of 2. That it would be traveling at 360, after the first hour, 720 after 2 hours, 1080 at the peak of the 3rd hour.
There is traffic in Hyperspace lanes. A ship has to be able to change course. Avoid small debris that floats around. It would strain a ship traveling at that speed to change course. Also the reaction time of the computer or pilot would not be fast enough. Just as the Sensors are picking it up an object you are ramming it. And I would hate to imagine the damage that could be caused by a piece of debris hitting a ship traveling at 720. Remember the stories of watermelons totaling cars when thrown from overpasses, or the stories of bird strike bringing jets and prop aircraft down.
Not to mention that while traveling at that speed one small navigational glitch would throw the ship way off the hyperspace beacon in a matter of minutes. I can see the captain now. "What do you mean the hyperspace beacon is gone?? Get it back ASAP ensign!! Full Stop helm." Then the helm would respond, "Yes sir, full stop in 2 hours." At which time the captain would shake his head and go, "DOH!"
Final Answer: I would imagine that most ships would have a cruising speed. And then they would go up by percentages. 125% Cruising speed. 200% Cruising speed. That way the percent not only reminds everyone the danger increase, but also keeps the crew on its toes.
PsycloneJack
There is traffic in Hyperspace lanes. A ship has to be able to change course. Avoid small debris that floats around. It would strain a ship traveling at that speed to change course. Also the reaction time of the computer or pilot would not be fast enough. Just as the Sensors are picking it up an object you are ramming it. And I would hate to imagine the damage that could be caused by a piece of debris hitting a ship traveling at 720. Remember the stories of watermelons totaling cars when thrown from overpasses, or the stories of bird strike bringing jets and prop aircraft down.
Not to mention that while traveling at that speed one small navigational glitch would throw the ship way off the hyperspace beacon in a matter of minutes. I can see the captain now. "What do you mean the hyperspace beacon is gone?? Get it back ASAP ensign!! Full Stop helm." Then the helm would respond, "Yes sir, full stop in 2 hours." At which time the captain would shake his head and go, "DOH!"
Final Answer: I would imagine that most ships would have a cruising speed. And then they would go up by percentages. 125% Cruising speed. 200% Cruising speed. That way the percent not only reminds everyone the danger increase, but also keeps the crew on its toes.
PsycloneJack
ShadowScout
Mongoose
And most importantly - get back on the beacon once hyperspace currents start to "blow" if of course! If you go too fast, you may not have the thrust to make those maneuvers...
Not to mention that there are Hyperspace Waveforms that can cause damage to ships going fast - the faster, the more damage (imagine them as a hyperspace speed bump - hyperspace folding upon itself; they are big and some even float around, so you never know where you may encounter one of those)
Babylon 5 Aide
Mongoose
Ok, thanks I didn't know about that sort of thing. Honestly I haven't watched that much - one of the reasons when my group decided to game in this story I bowed out as the GM for the first time in over a decade 
So, anyone have any idea as to travel times in the B5 universe? lol
So, anyone have any idea as to travel times in the B5 universe? lol
ShadowScout
Mongoose
Travel Times?
Oh, my.
none at all... of course, it does depend on how good a ship actually is - those with lots of thrust and good sensors can travel faster in hyperspace, since they have more of "safety margain" as they'll have dangerous stuff on their screen sooner, and their bigger engines let's 'em evade even at higher speeds.
But people have been trying to make sense of it all, so far without any success.
I hope some day Mongoose will bring out a Really good BIG Map, with some sort of "rating" for the jump routes. (Say, this route from Immolan to Ragesh is rated 12, so an slow ship with a hyperspace speed of "0.5 per hour" needs 24 hours, while a faster ship with, say, "1 per hour" can make it in 12 hours, a fast ship with "1.5" can get there in 8 hours and a really, Really fast ship with "2.5 per hour" will be there in less then 5 hours...)
Meanwhile GM judement rules.
You could for example assume travel times around 12 hours per major jump route, 18 for a minor and 24 for a restricted one, and then modify that for ship speed - these figures are for a standard warship, a WhiteStar or Courier makes in in half the time, a Battleship or Passenger Liner needs twice that, and Really slow hogs like an Ore Barge or an Explorer might even need triple that time. Then check your travel times, and if your players spend too much time flying through hyperspace for your liking, change your estimations.
Oh, my.
none at all... of course, it does depend on how good a ship actually is - those with lots of thrust and good sensors can travel faster in hyperspace, since they have more of "safety margain" as they'll have dangerous stuff on their screen sooner, and their bigger engines let's 'em evade even at higher speeds.
But people have been trying to make sense of it all, so far without any success.
I hope some day Mongoose will bring out a Really good BIG Map, with some sort of "rating" for the jump routes. (Say, this route from Immolan to Ragesh is rated 12, so an slow ship with a hyperspace speed of "0.5 per hour" needs 24 hours, while a faster ship with, say, "1 per hour" can make it in 12 hours, a fast ship with "1.5" can get there in 8 hours and a really, Really fast ship with "2.5 per hour" will be there in less then 5 hours...)
Meanwhile GM judement rules.
You could for example assume travel times around 12 hours per major jump route, 18 for a minor and 24 for a restricted one, and then modify that for ship speed - these figures are for a standard warship, a WhiteStar or Courier makes in in half the time, a Battleship or Passenger Liner needs twice that, and Really slow hogs like an Ore Barge or an Explorer might even need triple that time. Then check your travel times, and if your players spend too much time flying through hyperspace for your liking, change your estimations.
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