Hyperdrive Misjumps

[Steve]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to build into a hyperdrive a chance to end up very far away from your intended destination in the case of a misjump, on the order of light years. Would it be some kind of Side Effect?

 

How about if the misjump can actually take you further than the drive can normally go? For example, the drive can normally make up to a ten light year jump, but a misjump could send you twenty or a hundred light years away in a random direction.

[zslane]

This sounds like a plot device effect to me. Just write it into the description of the ship.

 

For mechanics, maybe roll a d100 for distance and a d20 for direction (where the resulting direction is the facenormal of a d20 with the "20" facing up and pointing in the original intended direction).

[Armitage]

In the Terran Empire setting for Star Hero, it's just part of "how Hyperspace works".  It's not reflected in the drive write-ups.

Hyperdrives and Displacer Drives both require a Navigation (Hyperspace) or Navigation (Displacement) roll, and the margin of success or failure determines how accurate the jump was, from the exact point you were aiming for at 5+ success, to being off by 1d6 light years for 10+ failure.  Success by 0 - 1 is off by 1d6 x 1000 km.

Hyperdrives used in an unexplored area with no navigation beacons have a -3 penalty, and Displacer Drives have an overall penalty of -1 per 100 light years jumped.

[L. Marcus]

Yah, it's the effect of a failed Navigation roll.

[pinecone]

If you don't like having a Nav roll..it could run off of Unluck: Misjumps...

[bigdamnhero]

It could be a failed Astrogation Roll, or it could also be a drive failure. Either way I agree just figure out how you want it to work in practice and don't sweat the actual build.

 

Next question is what's the "recovery cost" from a mis-jump? In some SF settings, it's a simple matter of recalibrating the astrogation computer to calculate your new position and jump away. In other settings that rely more on hyperspace beacons and the like, you're stuck until Plot Happens.

[Steve]

In some settings, I could also see a type of Unluck effect going on. For every point or two you miss your roll, you get a die of Unluck to see how bad things are for you. The base number would be something like 1d6 AU, but each die of Unluck that rolls a one increases the magnitude. One level of Unluck coming up changes that roll to 1d6 light years, a second level of Unluck multiplies the distance by 10, a third by 100, up to a maximum of five levels for 1d6 X 10,000 light years.

 

This big of a navigation error would be possible if the setting used something like Warhammer's Warp to travel. Other settings could cap the multiplier at maybe one or even ten light years times 1d6.

[bigdamnhero]

While we've been saying this should be treated as a campaign effect rather than a function of the equipment per se, it occurs to me it could also be a good way to distinguish different tech levels. Maybe standard human tech misfires on an 8-, whereas more advanced alien tech only fails on a 6-, or maybe not at all. Meanwhile if your drive is damaged or hasn't been properly maintained, maybe that failure rate creeps up to 9- or 10-...

 

Of course with the normal rules for Activation Rolls the cost doesn't change with that level of granularity. But assuming we're talking about a Heroic game and the PCs aren't paying points for it, that's less of an issue.

[Nolgroth]

While we've been saying this should be treated as a campaign effect rather than a function of the equipment per se, it occurs to me it could also be a good way to distinguish different tech levels. Maybe standard human tech misfires on an 8-, whereas more advanced alien tech only fails on a 6-, or maybe not at all. Meanwhile if your drive is damaged or hasn't been properly maintained, maybe that failure rate creeps up to 9- or 10-...

 

Of course with the normal rules for Activation Rolls the cost doesn't change with that level of granularity. But assuming we're talking about a Heroic game and the PCs aren't paying points for it, that's less of an issue.

 

You can always use Ablative as a template. You start with a higher Activation roll to determine a successful jump and as you jump, the Activation roll decreases. As I recall, that's how I handled a jump drive setup in one of my campaigns. It was a good tool to keep characters in a given area while the drive was serviced. It did have the disadvantage of basically requiring an NPC to be the ship's engineer or there was always one person who was split from the party and not participating in the adventure. Of course, that may not be such a disadvantage if the NPC was one that the players could relate to and became part of the support crew. 

[pinecone]

The Jump drive could come with a built in "snarky AI" that operates the nano repair system...? You Can jump several times quickly, but each one (without a maintanance layover) increases the chance of a misjump...that adds Drama, and adventure hooks...win/win!

 

Maybe "Space piracy" uses cursorial hunting...you have several small ships in suronding systems and try to force multiple jumps, hoping the drive will burn out, or they surrender rather than risk a really bad misjump...not terrably practicle, but space piracy isn't really in the first place.

[Christopher]

In the Terran Empire setting for Star Hero, it's just part of "how Hyperspace works".  It's not reflected in the drive write-ups.

Hyperdrives and Displacer Drives both require a Navigation (Hyperspace) or Navigation (Displacement) roll, and the margin of success or failure determines how accurate the jump was, from the exact point you were aiming for at 5+ success, to being off by 1d6 light years for 10+ failure.  Success by 0 - 1 is off by 1d6 x 1000 km.

Hyperdrives used in an unexplored area with no navigation beacons have a -3 penalty, and Displacer Drives have an overall penalty of -1 per 100 light years jumped.

One thing I just recently stumbeled over again is something the rules says about skills and powers:

You do not need a skill for a power you bought with points.

You may need skills for powers you bought with money (mostly equipment, obviously). Weapon Familiarity is a obvious example. But as GM you can always jsut say "that ship's FTL you bought with money/got for free needs the Navigation skill to operate" Or maybe even a special "Hyperdrive Navigation" skill that you invented for that setting.

[pinecone]

And you can add as many layers as you want...a "Nav Computer" adds +5 to Jump Nav, but only to preplotted locations, so it's standard on any commercial ship...but if there is a misjump it's back to "old schoolin"

 

 

Being a "Hot Pilot" might include having a natural "Bump of Direction" for Hyper Navigation etc.....

 

 

"Well, Sure, every ship comes with a Nav Comp, you can't get insurance without one" "But Nav Comps can only go to places somebody has already been" "So you'll need to "Old school" to go else where...off course that May void your Warrenty..."

[bigdamnhero]

Also the standard Nav Comp solution is a very average course, whereas a skilled astrogator may be able to shave time/distance/fuel off each jump.

[Steve]

Also the standard Nav Comp solution is a very average course, whereas a skilled astrogator may be able to shave time/distance/fuel off each jump.

 

Like making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs?  

[pinecone]

Exactly.. Being a "Pathfinder" could be a money making career...somebody has to find a path, then put it into a Nav comp...the right path could pay Big...

 

 

So Typical mook navigators have a Nav skill of 9 to 11, +5 for a Nav Comp so business is safe to operate...but the rare 13+ navigator might want to go his own way...(PC)