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The text from Ports of Call reads:
The series of Drift lanes known as Prosperiola connects Verces in the Pact Worlds, Vesk-3 in the Veskarium, Marixah in Near Space, and Great Shadar in the Vast, in that order
So that would be:
1. Verces
2. Vesk-3
3. Marixah
4. Great Shadar
But the galaxy map shows a different order on this drift lane series:
1. Pact Worlds (Verces)
2. Marixah
3. Veskarium (Vesk-3)
4. Great Shadar
Which of these is correct?
Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
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The book order is correct, but practically it's kind of weird. Mostly because as written Drift Lanes take 7 days to use from one end to another, so it is nebulous "how far along" it would be to hit one of those other points anyways.
I'd chalk this up to a bit of simplification on the cartography side (and in truth an omission from my end while connecting dots and missing that added line). It shouldn't really affect gameplay, and in fact the rules would basically stay the same anyways.
Are you saying you don't have to stop and reenter at each link on the drift lane series? E.g. Verces to Vesk-3 is 7 days, but so is Verces to Great Shadar? Or at least it's something less than 21 days for the full three links? And similarly Pabaq is either 7 or at least less than 14 days from swarm space? Because I didn't get that at all from reading that section or reviewing it now.
Otherwise I don't see what's nebulous. I read them as being individual links, each 7 days, that happen to be linked at intermediate nodes.
Those loose threads represent the Drift lanes. Some connect just two points and attach to nothing else. Others chain together, leapfrogging across the Drift, whereas others still snagged multiple threads, turning those points into invaluable junctions. Using a Drift lane is almost always faster and safer than charting one’s own path to a Near Space location, and even zigzagging along a few Drift lanes can outpace a conventional trip to the Vast.
At always 7 days for each link two lanes will always outpace an average Vast trip, three somtimes outpace a Vast trip, four can, but not likely. So I didn't read this as drift lane series providing an extra undefined bonus if you skip the intermediate nodes and go from point A to point C directly.
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Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
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I've talked to the team about how we interpret some of Drift Lanes and will clarify more going forward.
Mostly the vagueness of what "one end" of the Drift Lane to another actually means. The intent is that the entirety of the lane takes 7 days to traverse, because each lane is not just the systems we mention (man pass through a bunch of unnamed/unexplored system). There isn't really a differentiation of nodes along a Drift Lane, just that one can use the entirety of a Drift Lane from one end to another. In fact, some lanes on the map specifically don't have an end point because there's some "hidden areas" we've not yet explored.
So 7 days in a Drift Lane is from Starting Point to Ending Point with the idea that you might pop out earlier in the process for points along the way. So for Prosperiola the fact that Verces is a start point and Great Shadar is the end point is where it would take 7 days. Hopping out in Vesk-3 or Marixah would be lessened time (GM's / narrative discretion).
There is a line in Drift Lanes that talks about not taking an exit ramp, but we're interpreting that as using a Drift Lane to hit somewhere like Gideron while on the Prosperiola track and not going off early to reach Marixah (which is clearly mentioned as being on the lane).
We feel this is the strongest way to use Drift Lanes in the setting. It means the map is still awkwardly incorrect (with Vesk 3/Marixah's order being wrong) but that actual impact on timing should amount to a few extra hours or a day and nothing more. Given the impact, we reserve the right in the future to just errata the order to match the map.