FTL is obscenely dangerous in Starfinder


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Wrath wrote:
If any of you have seen Event Horizon, this stuff reminds completely of that movie.

I fully expect either a module or an AP chapter based on Event Horizon, perhaps more than once. Why mention the risks of Drift travel if they don't crop up once in a while?

Also, stopping on a pretty stretch of Heaven for a picnic and a suntan doesn't sound like a bad idea ... ;)


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Just no camping, this isn't a Walmart parking lot. Yet.


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Depends ... are the seashells shiny? ;)


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Wrath wrote:
If any of you have seen Event Horizon, this stuff reminds completely of that movie.

Libera te tutemet...ex inferis!


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That could be really cool for a higher-level adventure.

A Starship through Hell, wherein Our Heroes have to survive the deadly threats during a chance Drift through Hell while aboard a luxury cruise ship or something sufficiently large. The PCs ordered a shiny new tier 16 hull and they're en route to its shipyard when this happens ...

This will be 50/300/1,000 credits per day that they'll never forget.


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The Mad Comrade wrote:

IIRC there are other methods of FTL travel mentioned that was largely relegated to the dust bin of history in AG 3 with Unity's widespread dissemination of Drift drive technology. Other methods are available ... but they're not cheap and now, more than 300 years later, they're often museum pieces or functional relics in much the same manner as, for commercial and military purposes ships, day-to-day operations are no longer performed by vessels that are the equivalent of being primarily powered by wood-burning steam engines or masts festooned with sails.

I'm quite sure solar sails, NBP (nuclear bomb propulsion), wormhole-gates and other 'esoteric' stardrives exist and are in use throughout the Pact Worlds milieu. They're just not common enough to be readily available for purchase. When they are, the combination of increased expense, inefficiencies of power consumption, size and probably a healthy dollop of relative fragility render them as ad-hoc solutions at best for most.

Now, the Azlanti Star Empire may very well have a secret project going on in some out-of-the-way location within the Empire constructing a massive two-way 'worm-gate'.

Here's the thing though ...

A space-fold drive is, in game terms, basically a (teleportation) effect. One dimensional anchor and the drive shuts off for a prolonged period of time. Factor in the traditional depictions of many space-fold drives as massive affairs requiring prolonged charge-up times and it takes the Firefly, Guardians of the Galaxy vibe out of the game. Makes it kinda boring, so this was passed on.

A wormhole/worm-gate, in game terms, tunnels through a transitional plane to connect two points on the Material Plane. We already know how a gate spell can attract unwanted attention from demon lords, solars and the like ... what kind of attention do you think is drawn by a miles-wide semi-impermeable 'worm' boring its way through Hell/Heaven/Purgatory?

Hyperspace drives, in game terms, typically transition the...

Have you considered a Wing Commander style Jump Drive?


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Thrice Great Hermes wrote:
Have you considered a Wing Commander style Jump Drive?

It's been a long time since I played Wing Commander. That's pretty slick, and is interesting take on Traveler's jump drive. I don't see any mention of smaller size limitations, although I don't recall flying any jump-capable bombers in Wing Commander. Presuming that there are no smaller ships capable of utilizing the Akwende drive, this may be the reverse of the Drift drive, with a minimum size requirement of Medium or some other, larger size.

What I found especially interesting is that setting discusses/uses two different FTL drives - the Akwende jump drive, and the Morvan warp drive.


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The big problem I have with the Drift drive is, why do the rest of the Gods put up with it? Can you imagine how Asmodeus would react to hundreds, if not thousands, chucks of HIS domain being stolen daily? In fact I can't imagine any god or demi-god who resides in the outer plans would be happy about this. Triune may be able to hid out in the Drift but his followers lack that protection.

Liberty's Edge

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I think the word is 'planes'. Lots of planes with LOTS of territory means a 'chunk' is a relative micropoint. It's just too trivial for the Big Ones to get bent out of shape over. Encounters is you just happen to be in the wrong Drift place at the wrong Drift time so you are in the unfortunate path of Something Nasty rather than Someone came looking for you. Like sailing the seas filled with drifting debris or the occasional coral reef.


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No doubt the great moves and shakers of the planes are quite concerned by the Drift and its kleptomania, but remember that the planes are infinite in size. The chances of anything truly significant being ripped off and tossed into the Drift are negligible, even with an entire galaxy constantly sending things through. No doubt it will happen anyway, because something so dull as probability is of no concern compared to the draw of a potential plot hook, but on the whole, no one is losing anything important.

Asmodeus being what he is, no doubt he's counting the injuries to his domain anyway. But the Drift is also an opportunity, until a superior method presents itself that doesn't involve ripping chunks out of Hell every so often. Now, once the corruption of a Material world is complete... now it has the means to spread that corruption to other worlds.

Imagine not nations, but entire planets and systems bound to the Infernal order.


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The Mad Comrade wrote:
Thrice Great Hermes wrote:
Have you considered a Wing Commander style Jump Drive?

It's been a long time since I played Wing Commander. That's pretty slick, and is interesting take on Traveler's jump drive. I don't see any mention of smaller size limitations, although I don't recall flying any jump-capable bombers in Wing Commander. Presuming that there are no smaller ships capable of utilizing the Akwende drive, this may be the reverse of the Drift drive, with a minimum size requirement of Medium or some other, larger size.

What I found especially interesting is that setting discusses/uses two different FTL drives - the Akwende jump drive, and the Morvan warp drive.

I didn't think of Wing Commander's Jump Drive as being Traveller inspired, because mechanically it's closer to the Alderson Drive from the CoDominium series.

Wing Commander is one of the few settings that I know of to use multiple FTL Methods.

If I was going to run a modded Starfinder campaign,heck if I had been on the design team, I would've replaced the Drift with a Wing Commander Style Jump Drive.

Why, You ask?

Because inter-dimensional FTL Drives are ubiquitous in Space Opera, and the ability to access other dimensions is nothing revolutionary to the Pathfinder setting; it's been a know quantity for millennia.

So "The Drift" as written is no big mind blowing revolution, heck a technological means to access the many alternate planes/dimensions that are known to exist for interstellar shouldn't have been that difficult to achieve.

What would have been a revolution, would have the revelation of the existence of "soft spots" in the fabric of space and the means harness them to instantaneously travel between distant points.

I also would have changed the Drift because Like many others, the fact that it eats pieces of the multiverse with every uses is more than a little unnerving.


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I suspect random encounters are significantly increased in the presence of players. :)


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Thrice Great Hermes wrote:

I didn't think of Wing Commander's Jump Drive as being Traveller inspired, because mechanically it's closer to the Alderson Drive from the CoDominium series.

Wing Commander is one of the few settings that I know of to use multiple FTL Methods.

If I was going to run a modded Starfinder campaign,heck if I had been on the design team, I would've replaced the Drift with a Wing Commander Style Jump Drive.

Why, You ask?

Because inter-dimensional FTL Drives are ubiquitous in Space Opera, and the ability to access other dimensions is nothing revolutionary to the Pathfinder setting; it's been a know quantity for millennia.

So "The Drift" as written is no big mind blowing revolution, heck a technological means to access the many alternate planes/dimensions that are known to exist for interstellar shouldn't have been that difficult to achieve.

What would have been a revolution, would have the revelation of the existence of "soft spots" in the fabric of space and the means harness them to instantaneously travel between distant points.

I also would have changed the Drift because Like many others, the fact that it eats pieces of the multiverse with every uses is more than a little unnerving.

The Drift drive's mechanisms are a bit unnerving.

The strengths it provides are (a) vagueness; (b) opportunities for in-flight encounters; and (c) not having to map out all of the jump points in Golarion's star system, let alone the staggering number of jump points required to expand to the nearest dozen or so stars. ;)


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The Mad Comrade wrote:
Thrice Great Hermes wrote:

I didn't think of Wing Commander's Jump Drive as being Traveller inspired, because mechanically it's closer to the Alderson Drive from the CoDominium series.

Wing Commander is one of the few settings that I know of to use multiple FTL Methods.

If I was going to run a modded Starfinder campaign,heck if I had been on the design team, I would've replaced the Drift with a Wing Commander Style Jump Drive.

Why, You ask?

Because inter-dimensional FTL Drives are ubiquitous in Space Opera, and the ability to access other dimensions is nothing revolutionary to the Pathfinder setting; it's been a know quantity for millennia.

So "The Drift" as written is no big mind blowing revolution, heck a technological means to access the many alternate planes/dimensions that are known to exist for interstellar shouldn't have been that difficult to achieve.

What would have been a revolution, would have the revelation of the existence of "soft spots" in the fabric of space and the means harness them to instantaneously travel between distant points.

I also would have changed the Drift because Like many others, the fact that it eats pieces of the multiverse with every uses is more than a little unnerving.

The Drift drive's mechanisms are a bit unnerving.

The strengths it provides are (a) vagueness; (b) opportunities for in-flight encounters; and (c) not having to map out all of the jump points in Golarion's star system, let alone the staggering number of jump points required to expand to the nearest dozen or so stars. ;)

I suspect that "unnerving" is considered a strength.


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Calculating a Jump point in Traveller is relatively easy. If you are more than 100 diameters away from any planet or star, you can jump.


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John Napier 698 wrote:
Calculating a Jump point in Traveller is relatively easy. If you are more than 100 diameters away from any planet or star, you can jump.

The Akwenda jump drive is not the same thing - you have to get to the jump point and then activate the drive.


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I know. Just pointing out a difference in game mechanics.


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Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

It has occurred to me that the chance of an encounter might only be an equal chance of violence for adventurer/murderhobo types. I am currently imagining something like this for peaceful NPCs who prefer to avoid violence.

GM: <GM rolls> You have an encounter. <GM rolls again, looks at dice, and smiles.>

Peaceful NPC 1: It isn't what I think it is, is it?

<GM continues smiling and nods.>

Peaceful NPC 1: NO!!!

Peaceful NPC 2 <looks worried>: What is it?

Peaceful NPC 1: We are about to be subjected to a sermon from another wandering Triune missionary!


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David knott 242 wrote:

It has occurred to me that the chance of an encounter might only be an equal chance of violence for adventurer/murderhobo types. I am currently imagining something like this for peaceful NPCs who prefer to avoid violence.

GM: <GM rolls> You have an encounter. <GM rolls again, looks at dice, and smiles.>

Peaceful NPC 1: It isn't what I think it is, is it?

<GM continues smiling and nods.>

Peaceful NPC 1: NO!!!

Peaceful NPC 2 <looks worried>: What is it?

Peaceful NPC 1: We are about to be subjected to a sermon from another wandering Triune missionary!

:D !!!


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Kalifiir Sabra wrote:
I suspect random encounters are significantly increased in the presence of players. :)

Yeah, it's one of those things designed to make the game more interesting, not to simulate an actual technological system... just like the crafting systems and other aspects of the Pathfinder economy weren't meant to simulate the economy of the game world - just operationalize aspects of it for the PCs.


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thejeff wrote:
The Mad Comrade wrote:
Thrice Great Hermes wrote:

I didn't think of Wing Commander's Jump Drive as being Traveller inspired, because mechanically it's closer to the Alderson Drive from the CoDominium series.

Wing Commander is one of the few settings that I know of to use multiple FTL Methods.

If I was going to run a modded Starfinder campaign,heck if I had been on the design team, I would've replaced the Drift with a Wing Commander Style Jump Drive.

Why, You ask?

Because inter-dimensional FTL Drives are ubiquitous in Space Opera, and the ability to access other dimensions is nothing revolutionary to the Pathfinder setting; it's been a know quantity for millennia.

So "The Drift" as written is no big mind blowing revolution, heck a technological means to access the many alternate planes/dimensions that are known to exist for interstellar shouldn't have been that difficult to achieve.

What would have been a revolution, would have the revelation of the existence of "soft spots" in the fabric of space and the means harness them to instantaneously travel between distant points.

I also would have changed the Drift because Like many others, the fact that it eats pieces of the multiverse with every uses is more than a little unnerving.

The Drift drive's mechanisms are a bit unnerving.

The strengths it provides are (a) vagueness; (b) opportunities for in-flight encounters; and (c) not having to map out all of the jump points in Golarion's star system, let alone the staggering number of jump points required to expand to the nearest dozen or so stars. ;)

I suspect that "unnerving" is considered a strength.

Unnerving, in that cosmic horror since doesn't to me fit the flavor of the setting. Starfinder is too colorful and whimsical for existential/cosmic horror to be a central aspect. It would be very dissonant for the Guardians of the Galaxy's FTL drive] to be similar to Event Horizon's.Gravity Drive or Warhammer 40K's Warp Drive.

Jump Points could still allow for mid-transit encounters, the Jump would simply have to be[url=http://thelostfleet.wikia.com/wiki/Jump_space]non instantaneous.

Next add in a pre-jump calculation that would influence travel time and where or not the ship navigated the dimensional flux well to avoid a "planer convergence"(encounter).

Scarab Sages Starfinder Design Lead

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mwjen wrote:
The big problem I have with the Drift drive is, why do the rest of the Gods put up with it? Can you imagine how Asmodeus would react to hundreds, if not thousands, chucks of HIS domain being stolen daily? In fact I can't imagine any god or demi-god who resides in the outer plans would be happy about this. Triune may be able to hid out in the Drift but his followers lack that protection.

How would he react?

"It is clearly agreed among the gods that whatsoever is Asmodeus' domain is mine to rule, without question. It is no matter of mine if mortals spread my domain into new planes of existence unexpected to you. They remain mine by right, and I will claim and defend them."

Nothing really takes Asmodeus by surprise.


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Golarion was very colorful and whimsical... and the prison of a God of Destruction, tainted by the Abyss, with one of the major world powers basically having Hell on speed-dial. As far as Starfinder, an Eldritch Horror is literally one of the Core Gods, an another is one of the core planets.


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David knott 242 wrote:

It has occurred to me that the chance of an encounter might only be an equal chance of violence for adventurer/murderhobo types. I am currently imagining something like this for peaceful NPCs who prefer to avoid violence.

GM: <GM rolls> You have an encounter. <GM rolls again, looks at dice, and smiles.>

Peaceful NPC 1: It isn't what I think it is, is it?

<GM continues smiling and nods.>

Peaceful NPC 1: NO!!!

Peaceful NPC 2 <looks worried>: What is it?

Peaceful NPC 1: We are about to be subjected to a sermon from another wandering Triune missionary!

"Have you heard the good news of our Code and Savior?"


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Shinigami02 wrote:
Golarion was very colorful and whimsical... and the prison of a God of Destruction, tainted by the Abyss, with one of the major world powers basically having Hell on speed-dial. As far as Starfinder, an Eldritch Horror is literally one of the Core Gods, an another is one of the core planets.

Yup, but it's about the execution.

The Eldritch Horror in Path/Starfinder is a
lighter-shade of black.

You a puny mortal can stand before the storm, challenge it and force it to break.


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Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Nothing really takes Asmodeus by surprise.

Well, so he claims, anyway... >:)


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Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Another horrifying encounter for peaceful NPC types:

You are subjected to a timeshare sales pitch for some vacation property on a world in the Vast.


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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
mwjen wrote:
The big problem I have with the Drift drive is, why do the rest of the Gods put up with it? Can you imagine how Asmodeus would react to hundreds, if not thousands, chucks of HIS domain being stolen daily? In fact I can't imagine any god or demi-god who resides in the outer plans would be happy about this. Triune may be able to hid out in the Drift but his followers lack that protection.

Considering how big the planes are and how much of them is probably in contact with the Maelstrom and thus being constantly dissolved and reinforced with quintessence from the souls of their followers, I have doubts that the probably relatively small amount torn off via drift drives is something most worry about, especially when it provides their followers on the mortal plane with great advantages when it comes to spreading their influence and accessing new opportunities.

And, speaking of Asmodeus in particular, we already know that there are a number of hellworlds that Hell has turned into outposts of Hell on the material planes, which presumably also have access to this technology now - and I'm hoping that this turns up as a potential group in Starfinder somewhere, because who doesn't love them some Darkseid and Apokolips? For that matter, they're still presumably working on extending the influence of Hell over countless planets of sapients simultaneously because that's just how many resources Hell has to draw on, some subtly, some engaged in open warfare. And now...one hellworld can reinforce operations on other worlds much more easily, one imagines. Whether it's with soldiers or with infiltrators and evangelists and terrorists...

So, honestly, I don't imagine Asmodeus is terribly concerned...after all, he already intends to take over the entirety of the Material Plane anyways. And for other deities...like I said, it's probably something minor in the eyes of most, especially since, you know, the other planes are insanely huge already, as well as being constantly eaten away at by the Maelstrom which probably gulps down a lot more quintessence than the drift drives do. And if something from their domain is taken...it says they float there for eternity, but I don't know, I wouldn't be too surprised if it was something a deity might not be able to reclaim it, either directly or perhaps by making a deal with Triune, though that is speculative...


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Maybe there are certain Celestials and Fiends who want part of their planes brought into the drift so that they can put military outposts there.


David knott 242 wrote:

Another horrifying encounter for peaceful NPC types:

You are subjected to a timeshare sales pitch for some vacation property on a world in the Vast.

(10d6+2) nights' accommodations on us! All you have to do is endure the sales pitch ...


Tacticslion wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Nothing really takes Asmodeus by surprise.
Well, so he claims, anyway... >:)

I'm not gonna tell him different.


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Vidmaster7 wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Nothing really takes Asmodeus by surprise.
Well, so he claims, anyway... >:)
I'm not gonna tell him different.

Asmodeus sits upon his throne, drinking blood from a skull chalice while reading reports on the ever occurring invasion of hell upon the material plane. By sheer random chance, as a merchant from the pact worlds starts up their Drift engine his entire throne-room is ripped from hell into the drift. Asmodeus takes a sip from his chalice, unfazed. Just another day in the life for the ruler of hell.


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Uret Jet wrote:
Vidmaster7 wrote:
Tacticslion wrote:
Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:
Nothing really takes Asmodeus by surprise.
Well, so he claims, anyway... >:)
I'm not gonna tell him different.
Asmodeus sits upon his throne, drinking blood from a skull chalice while reading reports on the ever occurring invasion of hell upon the material plane. By sheer random chance, as a merchant from the pact worlds starts up their Drift engine his entire throne-room is ripped from hell into the drift. Asmodeus takes a sip from his chalice, unfazed. Just another day in the life for the ruler of hell.

Asmodeus's throne ends up on a high celestial plane. Solar flies by notices Asmodeus on his plane. Eyes go wide clumsily draws his holy sword in panic. Solar: What is your buh-buh-business here foul lord of hell?!? Asmodeus: *Points at throne* "Drift. this spot is mine now..."

Solar: Oh yeah fair enough *goes about his business*


Even just within the Pact Worlds/Golarion System, you're still fundamentally in a frontier environment, so a 1% fatality rate is probably pretty good odds considering you're transporting material to areas that aren't always completely settled. That's just within "real space".

Use of the Drift is probably folded into the "cost of doing business". Much like in Pathfinder, it's accepted that there are dangers even in "civilized" areas, and there are plenty of entrepreneurs (adventurers) who are willing to take up guard duty: they're likely better equipped to deal with the odd Drift encounter than most rank-and-file corporate security forces.


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I would imagine that Abadarcorp makes a tidy profit on its starship insurance business...


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Haladir wrote:
I would imagine that Abadarcorp makes a tidy profit on its starship insurance business...

Yeah, probably. It's a bit difficult to prove a claim exists in the Vast reaches of the Drift. OTOH, it's impossible to collect premiums from customers that have exploded. ;)

Dark Archive

The Mad Comrade wrote:
Haladir wrote:
I would imagine that Abadarcorp makes a tidy profit on its starship insurance business...
Yeah, probably. It's a bit difficult to prove a claim exists in the Vast reaches of the Drift. OTOH, it's impossible to collect premiums from customers that have exploded. ;)

That's what relatives are for...


quibblemuch wrote:
....There is only one plausible explanation: Automobiles are sentient aliens, the harbingers of an invasion wherein we destroy ourselves.

Ahem.... ^_^: https://horrorpedia.com/2014/09/17/the-cars-that-ate-paris-1974-australian- comedy-horror-film-overview-plot-reviews-dvd/

Oh, man; why did you have to reactivate the neurons I have that recalled this particular piece of schlock? ^_^


Vidmaster7 wrote:

Asmodeus's throne ends up on a high celestial plane. Solar flies by notices Asmodeus on his plane. Eyes go wide clumsily draws his holy sword in panic. Solar: What is your buh-buh-business here foul lord of hell?!? Asmodeus: *Points at throne* "Drift. this spot is mine now..."

Solar: Oh yeah fair enough *goes about his business*

You know what they say:

"If it isn't one Damned Thing, its Another" ^_^

The Exchange

Rockwell555 wrote:
quibblemuch wrote:
....There is only one plausible explanation: Automobiles are sentient aliens, the harbingers of an invasion wherein we destroy ourselves.

Ahem.... ^_^: https://horrorpedia.com/2014/09/17/the-cars-that-ate-paris-1974-australian- comedy-horror-film-overview-plot-reviews-dvd/

Oh, man; why did you have to reactivate the neurons I have that recalled this particular piece of schlock? ^_^

Maximum Overdrive

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_Overdrive

Particularly noteworthy for the fact AC/DC did the entire sound track


The simplest answer is that the encounter tables only have that high of a risk for player characters.

Most spacefarers never have to worry.


Don't like it change it. I plan on using Stargates and Slipstream Engines for Ships.


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Wrath wrote:
Rockwell555 wrote:
quibblemuch wrote:
....There is only one plausible explanation: Automobiles are sentient aliens, the harbingers of an invasion wherein we destroy ourselves.

Ahem.... ^_^: https://horrorpedia.com/2014/09/17/the-cars-that-ate-paris-1974-australian- comedy-horror-film-overview-plot-reviews-dvd/

Oh, man; why did you have to reactivate the neurons I have that recalled this particular piece of schlock? ^_^

Maximum Overdrive

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_Overdrive

Particularly noteworthy for the fact AC/DC did the entire sound track

I once saw a creepy horror movie about a world where the self-driving cars have already killed all the humans and now roam a depopulated landscape performing twisted imitations of their former masters' lives. It had a sinister name like 'Jaws' or 'Aliens'... 'Cars', that was it!


I'm a firm believer in the tech tree philosophy of worldbuilding.

All rocket research leading to ships that can escape the atmosphere of your homeworld eventually leads to:

Tech 1: Ion drives, which open up the rest of your solar system to colonization and interplanetary nationbuilding. Ion drives still limit travel time between planets to days or weeks instead of months or years, but eventually someone invents the:

Tech 2: Gravity drive, which allows "gravships" to reach the outer planets and the very fringes of the solar system from the inner worlds in mere minutes or hours, instead of days or weeks. Gravship technology builds on the unity of the moons of each outer planet far better than radio comms ever could, and the outer colonies invariably seek more autonomy or outright independence from the homeworld, whom they have broken away from culturally a long time ago. There follows political tension, outright civil war, or a longing for more breathing room which provokes technological innovations such as:

Tech 3: The generation I spacefolding drive, which allows expeditions to other star system far more reasonably than even the most advanced gravity drives (which are still constrained by the light barrier). The first expeditions may require travel times of a few years to reach all but the nearest stars, but these expeditions will be followed by colony ships of people just trying to "get away from it all". Spacefolding drives will eventually get faster and more energy-efficient, such as:

Tech 4: Generation II spacefolding drives, allowing star-to-star travel in months instead of years...

Tech 5: Generation III spacefolding drives, linking the interstellar community and shrinking the universe still further. Even the most distant colonies can conduct trade over hundreds of light-years in just a few weeks' worth of travel. Then the next great leap:

Tech 6: Near Teleportation: Now a person can commute to jobs on the other side of the planet. Intraplanetary vehicular transportation will eventually become obsolete due to teleportation. Only the military and ultra-secure courier services will have need of aircraft, land vehicles, or seagoing vessels anymore. If ion driven spacecraft weren't obsolete before, they are now.

Tech 7: Far Teleportation: Planet-to-planet teleportation within a single solar system becomes a reality. No one needs to use gravships to travel around the core solar systems anymore, unless they really really want to, or they're expanding the teleportation network a little bit farther out.

Tech 8: Extreme Teleportation: When the first star-to-star teleporters are invented, the civilization is likely well on its way to colonizing a large portion of the galaxy, and the rest of the habitable worlds in the galaxy will belong to them...it's just a matter of time.

Tech 9: Personal Teleportation: The steady evolution of consciousness will by this stage allow guided evolution into beings of energy and thought, allowing the most advanced members of the civilization to lead the way into ascending to incorporeality.


The comparison to loosing a commercial airliner every 20 days is a bit off.

First is that Drift travel is closer to 16th - 19th century shipping, 1920's air transport or settlement of the American west.

Second is in the number of people. An modern airliner is in the 100-200 people range. most Starfinder ships will have a couple dozen at most.

Third is that most larger ships are going to have some type of security. There are always people looking for adventure, willing to take a risk or just looking for free passage.

Fourth many of the ships are private owner/ operator deals. nobody is going to get upset over them unless a friend or family.

Fifth is the convoy approach. If you can keep ships close together in the drift you may slightly increase the chance of an encounter but with mutual support are far more likely to survive.

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Davick wrote:
This is why here in the real world when travel was more dangerous because of pirates/bandits/natives/etc big businesses used caravans and escorts. Like, have you ever even seen a western where they attack a stagecoach loaded with mercenaries or the Indians raid the caravan of pilgrims? This is a real situation that really happened, so it happening in a fantasy setting makes plenty of sense.

from 1550 to 1650, the portugese lost one in five ships in the India trade.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/084387141102300205?journalCode= ijha

It's dangerous out there. If it weren't the Starfinders wouldn't be so busy.

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Wrath wrote:
Rockwell555 wrote:
quibblemuch wrote:
....There is only one plausible explanation: Automobiles are sentient aliens, the harbingers of an invasion wherein we destroy ourselves.

Ahem.... ^_^: https://horrorpedia.com/2014/09/17/the-cars-that-ate-paris-1974-australian- comedy-horror-film-overview-plot-reviews-dvd/

Oh, man; why did you have to reactivate the neurons I have that recalled this particular piece of schlock? ^_^

Maximum Overdrive

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_Overdrive

Particularly noteworthy for the fact AC/DC did the entire sound track

Also Stephen King directed it and was blasted high to the sky on cocaine the whole time. It's awesome.


The Mad Comrade wrote:
Haladir wrote:
I would imagine that Abadarcorp makes a tidy profit on its starship insurance business...
Yeah, probably. It's a bit difficult to prove a claim exists in the Vast reaches of the Drift. OTOH, it's impossible to collect premiums from customers that have exploded. ;)

Loss insurance pays the owners of the ship and/or the ship's cargo for their loss of investment (e.g. if the ship never arrives at its destination).

I would imagine that, as in the real world, the vast majority of ships are owned by corporations (or extremely wealthy individuals) that don't go on the journey, but profit from the journey's success.


Haladir wrote:
The Mad Comrade wrote:
Haladir wrote:
I would imagine that Abadarcorp makes a tidy profit on its starship insurance business...
Yeah, probably. It's a bit difficult to prove a claim exists in the Vast reaches of the Drift. OTOH, it's impossible to collect premiums from customers that have exploded. ;)

Insurance pays the owners of the ship and/or the ship's cargo for their loss of investment (e.g. if the ship never arrives at its destination).

I would imagine that, as in the real world, the vast majority of ships are owned by corporations (or extremely wealthy individuals) that don't go on the journey, but profit from the journey's success.

Hmmm, how does that work? Never really thought about it before. I know in the old sailing ship merchant voyage days, ventures were insured. That's pretty much where the whole modern insurance business started.

Back then, a lost ship usually just disappeared, never to be heard from again. But they could also be delayed, sometimes for long periods. When did they pay off and how?

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