Starship Travel Times
Source GM Core pg. 36
Starship travel is measured in hours or days. Standard starship engines can be used to go into orbit or land, travel point-to-point on a planet, travel to a planet's satellites and moons, and travel within a system. Drift engines enable hyperspace travel via the plane of the Drift and are used to travel within a system, or between distant systems. Using Drift engines, travel time is based on the region of space you wish to travel to: Near Space or the Vast. A planet is classified into these interstellar regions not by location, but by the number of Drift beacons in the vicinity. Thanks to the Starstone, Drift travel to Absalom Station is always swift, making it a galactic hub. While other galaxies exist, the distances between them and the galaxy of the Pact Worlds— known as Desna's Path—are so incredibly large that there have yet to be any confirmed instances of intergalactic travel.
Drift lanes first appeared in the aftermath of the Drift Crisis, a year during which the Drift was dangerously unstable. Drift lanes are essentially hyperspace highways through the Drift with consistent end points. They connect two locations in a chain and can't be used to rapidly reach other regions of space not on the chain, nor can they be entered at other locations. Some Drift lanes have one or more nodes along their route, which are early exits, similar to a highway's off-ramp. Like the Drift lane itself, these stops are consistent and don't change. Exiting at a node along a Drift lane shortens the overall travel time by an amount determined by you, likely by half or a third depending upon how many nodes are along a Drift lane's route. A starship that purposefully flies out of, or is knocked out of, a Drift lane is deposited in a random location in the Drift and must begin to Plot a Course through the Drift, as normal.
Typical travel times using standard engines, Drift engines, and Drift lanes are noted on the Starship Travel Time table below. These travel times are further modified by the result of a PC's check to Plot Course.
Drift lanes first appeared in the aftermath of the Drift Crisis, a year during which the Drift was dangerously unstable. Drift lanes are essentially hyperspace highways through the Drift with consistent end points. They connect two locations in a chain and can't be used to rapidly reach other regions of space not on the chain, nor can they be entered at other locations. Some Drift lanes have one or more nodes along their route, which are early exits, similar to a highway's off-ramp. Like the Drift lane itself, these stops are consistent and don't change. Exiting at a node along a Drift lane shortens the overall travel time by an amount determined by you, likely by half or a third depending upon how many nodes are along a Drift lane's route. A starship that purposefully flies out of, or is knocked out of, a Drift lane is deposited in a random location in the Drift and must begin to Plot a Course through the Drift, as normal.
Typical travel times using standard engines, Drift engines, and Drift lanes are noted on the Starship Travel Time table below. These travel times are further modified by the result of a PC's check to Plot Course.
Starship Travel Time
| Destination | Standard Engines | DriftEngines |
|---|---|---|
| Travel Point-to-Point on Planet | 1d4 Hours | N/A |
| Go Into Orbit or Land | 1 Hours | N/A |
| Reach Satellite from Orbit | 1 Hours | N/A |
| Travel In-System | 1d6+2 Days | 1d6 Days |
| Travel to Absalom Station | N/A | 1d6 Days |
| Travel to Near Space | N/A | 3d6 Days |
| Travel to the Vast | N/A | 5d6 Days |
| Travel a Drift Lane | N/A | 7 Days |
| Travel Between Galaxies | Unknown | Unknown |