In order to be of any use to anyone, a starship or space vehicle must at some point slip the bonds of its mother world, and head into the heavens. At the point where such a vehicle launches and up until the time it either lands again or enters hyperspace, it is considered to be in
interplanetary travel, or ready to move between the planets of the system. As with intraplanetary travel, the key questions when moving between two bodies in interplanetary space are
how long it will take to arrive at the destination point, and
how hard it's going to be to successfully navigate a safe course.
Interplanetary travel covers a lot of ground which may have nothing to do with moving in between planets at all. It may be that a vehicle is simply launched into space, orbits the planet from which it launched for a time, and then descends back to its surface. It may also be that a vehicle is launched for the purpose of travelling between a planet and one of its moons, or perhaps the moons of two different planets. Still other vehicles may be sent on an investigation of some local phenomenon in space such as a comet or asteroid. All forms of movement in space that remain within a star system are considered interplanetary transit in SFRPG, and are subject to the same general rules. The most general case of interplanetary travel, however, is movement from one planet to another planet in the same star system. Since all movement between points in interplanetary space follows the same general model as movement from planet to planet, this general case will be discussed. Where there are significant differences, they will be so noted.
Orbital Lanes, Quadrants, and Calculating Distances in Star Systems¶
Navigation within a star system isn't a whole lot different from navigation anywhere else. In order for a character group to get to where they want to go, they have to first know where they are and be able to come up with a way to get there. That means having a way of determining where exactly Point A and Point B are and figuring up the shortest path between those two points. In the case of interplanetary travel, a quasi-polar coordinate system is used to determine the positions of objects within the system. This coordinate system uses two coordinate sets, quadrants and orbital lanes.
Star systems can be divided into four
quadrants, each representing exactly one quarter of the star system. These quadrants meet up at a common point in the exact center of the system's primary star and are placed along the plane of the solar equator. Quadrants are designated numerically from one to four (or first to fourth, following the terminology used in this discussion) counterclockwise around the orbital plane, with one quadrant arbitrarily designated as the
first quadrant. (
As with planetary prime meridians, the designation and boundaries of the system's quadrants for a given system was determined at the time the system was cataloged, and by convention is always in the upper right-hand side of the system map). Travel time is dependent upon which quadrant(s) the
source and
destination planets are located, as is the difficulty of the piloting Check needed to move between the two planets.
Each planet (or any other object that primarily orbits the sun) in a star system is located within its own
orbital lane. Traditionally, there are never more than eight planets in a star system in the Starflight Universe. However, there's no reason why a star system in an SFRPG campaign can't have more than eight planets, if the GM wishes to create such a system (
for more details on star system creation, see Chapter 10.2.2). Orbital lanes may vary greatly in terms of absolute distance from one to another (
for example, the distance between Earth and Mars is (on average) only about half an AU, while the distance between Saturn and Uranus is closer to ten AUs. In both cases, a starship or space vehicle would only move one orbital lane). The orbital lane system assumes that travel between lanes are equitemporal (i.e. it takes the same amount of time to move from one lane to the next), no matter the actual distance to the adjacent lanes; this is done to avoid a lot of complicated math. Each object orbiting the system's primary will be in its own orbital lane. If a GM includes moons or other objects orbiting around planets in their campaign,
planetary orbital lanes are also employed to determine their location, with the planet serving as the origin point. The moon will inherit the positional information from the planet it is orbiting for the star system in general, with its planetary orbital lane listed afterwards.
For example, a planet is located in the third quadrant and fifth orbital lane. If there is a moon in the second orbital lane around that planet, the position of the moon is in the third quadrant, fifth lane, second planetary lane within the star system. As with orbital lanes around a star, the distance between various orbital lanes is not explicitly defined.
Calculating the distance between two planets in SFRPG can be done in one of two ways: a simple way, and a realistic way. As usual, the trade-off between the two methods is ease of calculation versus travel difficulty and fuel/time consumption. The GM should, prior to the onset of their adventure, select which method they'd like to employ.
To use the simple method, begin by finding the orbital lane of the desired destination and the orbital lane the vehicle is presently in. Subtract the larger lane number from the smaller lane number. If the destination planet is in the
opposite quadrant, double the result. If the destination planet is in the
same quadrant, halve the result (round up). The final result of these calculations is the distance travelled, in orbital lanes.
The realistic system makes a general assumption about the positions of the planets within their quadrants, and that is that any planet is at the
exact midpoint of its journey through its current quadrant. This is done to simplify the trigonometry involved. The realistic method involves translating the coordinates of the planet from the polar coordinate system used into a Cartesian coordinate system. To do this, the value of the cosine and sine of 45 degrees (0.707 in both cases) is multiplied by the value of the orbital lane. The result is the magnitude of the planet's location along both the x and y axis. Depending on which quadrant the planet is in, the individual values of x and y can be positive or negative. In Quadrant I, both x and y are positive values. In Quadrant II, x is negative while y is positive. Both values are negative in Quadrant III, while in Quadrant IV x is positive while y is negative.
For example, a planet is located in the third quadrant and fifth orbital lane. Five times the sine of 45 is roughly 3.536. Since it's located in the third quadrant, the planet's coordinates are at (-3.536, -3.536) within the system. Once the Cartesian coordinates of both the source and destination planets have been determined, the Pythagorean Theorem (
√(source x - destination x)2 + (source y - destination y)2) can be employed to calculate the distance. Round the result to the nearest whole integer to get the final distance travelled in orbital lanes.
If moons are a part of the GM's campaign, it's generally assumed that in most cases the amount of time added or subtracted for actually travelling out to the moon from its primary (the planet it's orbiting) is insignificant compared to the time it would take to travel to the planet. For cases where a vehicle or starship wants to visit a moon orbiting another planet, simply use the same travel time it would take to get to the planet. If the vehicle should happen to be orbiting a source moon, use the travel time from the source planet to the destination planet. The only time that planetary orbital lanes are used is if the vehicle is going from moon to moon
around the same planet. In that case, the same methods that apply for travelling between planets can be employed for travel between the moons; simply use the planet as the primary.
Interplanetary Transit
When an orbiting space vehicle breaks planetary orbit, the first thing the crew will need to do is plot a course to a destination. This destination can be any point within the system, or the ship can set a course out of the system (for more details, see
Entering Hyperspace, below). The coordinates of the destination can be compared with the coordinates of the ship's present position (its source) to get information on how far it is to the destination (using one of the distance formulae discussed earlier in this chapter), and how much fuel it will take to get to that destination (which was discussed in
Chapter 8.1). In adventures where the plot indicates the characters will need to go to a specific destination, the GM can have that information prepared ahead of time. In situations where the GM is running a more open campaign, the players will tell the GM where they'd like to go. The GM will then have to calculate the necessary information as rapidly as possible.
To travel within a star system, the vehicle's Navigator will need to make a
Starship Piloting Check (
this sub-discipline is used even if the vehicle in question is not a starship). The DC of the Check is dependent on the amount of time required to reach the destination. If a GM is incorporating it into their campaign, "terrain" may also have an effect on the DC.
The amount of time it takes to move between two orbital lanes within a star system is largely dependent upon how good the vehicle's engines are, and what level of technology is used for the vehicle's propulsion systems. Industrial Age socities can have interplanetary craft, though as discussed in
Chapter 6.2, the transit times can be measured in years instead of minutes (this is true for any spacecraft that is not equipped with a sublight engine). For the first orbital, the time is one year. For each subsequent orbital, the amount of time is x
2 years, where x is the number of orbitals to be traveled (e.g. three orbitals would take nine years, four would take 16, etc.). The same times may be used to travel to moons orbiting the planet the vehicle launches from, but the travel time is in units of days instead of years.
Starfaring space vehicles with a Class Seven engine or better may or may not have sublight engines, while all starships do have sublight engines. Sublight engines warp space in order to propel the vehicle, though nowhere near the degree necessary for superphotonic travel. This warping allows a space vehicle or starship to move very quickly through local space without any adverse effects from acceleration or deceleration on the ship's crew or superstructure. The speed of transit (that is to say, the amount of time it takes) is solely dependent upon the Class of the engine employed. For Class One Engines, it takes a vehicle one hundred minutes to move from one orbital lane to the next. For each successive class, it takes ten minutes less (
Class Two Engines require 90 minutes, Class Three engines require 80 minutes, and so forth). For moonshots, a Class One engine will take ten minutes per planetary orbital lane, with each successive class taking an additional minute less.
Terrain phenomena may also have an impact on interplanetary transit. Interplanetary terrain phenomena were not part of the original Starflight games, but a GM may add them to a campaign if they wish either in order to be more realistic or to spice things up a bit. The following table lists the potential effects of terrain on the difficulty of a journey through interplanetary space, including any affects on the DC of the
Starship Piloting Check. Unless a phenomenon is listed as having a "system-wide" effect, the effects of the terrain only come into play if the GM determines that the vehicle will pass within close proximity to the phenomenon (
e.g. while a star may have both a Stellar Corona and a Stellar Photosphere, a vehicle doesn't have to worry about it unless it gets too close, but a Neutron Star in the center is going to cause problems even if the vehicle doesn't go anywhere near it.)
Effects of "Terrain" Phenomena on Interplanetary Transit| Terrain Name | DC Modifier | Additional Effects / Notes |
|---|
| Dust Belt – Diffuse | 5 | Easy Terrain. Micro-meteoroid damage possible for each diffuse dust belt the vehicle passes through. In the event of a failed Starship Piloting Check, the vehicle takes 1d10 points of damage in addition to all other effects from the failed Check. |
|---|
| Dust Belt – Dense (Rings) | 10 | Moderate Terrain. 5d10 points of micro-meteoroid damage occurs for each dense dust belt the vehicle passes through, regardless of the success or failure of the Starship Piloting Check. |
|---|
| Asteroid Belt | 10 | Difficult Terrain. May form after planetary destruction by Black Egg. Corresponds to a Dense dust Belt (5d10 points micro-meteoroid damage). In the event of a failed Starship Piloting Check, a larger rock strikes the vehicle for 8d10 damage. |
|---|
| Radiation Belt | 20 | Easy Terrain. Exposes an unshielded crew to interstellar radiation (armor counts as shielding in this instance). Crew must roll Fortitude Saves to avoid the effects of radiation poisoning (can be set to various exposure levels; see Chapter 12.4.2 for details). |
|---|
| Stellar Corona | 40 | Moderate Terrain. In addition to behaving as a Radiation Belt, 2d10x10 points of thermal damage occurs. If shielding is reduced to zero as a result, an additional 2d10x10 points of thermal damage occurs and the effects of the Radiation Belt are doubled. |
|---|
| Stellar Photosphere | 50 | Extremely Difficult Terrain. In addition to behaving as a Radiation Belt, 5d10x10 points of thermal damage occurs. If shielding is reduced to zero as a result, an additional 10d10x10 points of thermal damage occurs and the effects of the Radiation Belt are quadrupled. |
|---|
| Nova | 60 | System-wide effect; Moderate Terrain. Behaves like a Stellar Corona. Also causes 10d10x10 points of damage from the shockwave. On a critical failure of the Starship Piloting Check, the vehicle is destroyed. |
|---|
| Supernova | 150 | System-wide effect; Very Difficult Terrain. Behaves like a Stellar Corona. Also causes 20d10x10 points of damage from the shockwave. On any failure of the Starship Piloting Check, the vehicle is destroyed. Post-supernova systems may either have a White Dwarf (Normal Star), a Neutron Star or a Black Hole in place of the supernova on subsequent visits to the system. |
|---|
| Neutron Star | 75 | System-wide effect; Difficult Terrain. Extremely Difficult terrain in proximity. Behaves like a Stellar Photosphere. Gravitational effects add 1d2 orbital lanes to the length of the journey. On a critical failure of the Starship Piloting Check, the vehicle is destroyed. |
|---|
| Black Hole | 200 | System-wide effect; Very Difficult Terrain. Impossible terrain in proximity. Behaves like a Stellar Photosphere. Gravitational effects add 1d10 orbitals lane to the length of the journey. On any failure of the Starship Piloting Check, the vehicle is destroyed. |
|---|
| Hypernova / Stellar Flare | N |
|---|
/ABeing in a star system when a hypernova or flare occurs results in instant destruction of the vehicle. Post-hypernova star systems have a Black Hole in place of the hypernova on subsequent visits, whereas post-flare systems have a normal star. |
Note that if a star system is located in a Nebula, any terrain effects from the Nebula will also apply to the entire system regardless of whatever else is in the system. For more on nebulae,
see Chapter 8.4.
Once the distance to the destination has been calculated, simply multiply the distance by the time indicated for the vehicle's engine class. For vehicles not equipped with sublight engines making interplanetary transit (not for moonshots), convert the time indicated into months first (multiply by ten). The final result is the amount of time needed to make the journey. Take this result and divide it by ten, and add to that amount any modifier from terrain features and the amount of any engine damage the vehicle currently has (minimum amount is 1). The final result is the DC of the
Starship Piloting Check needed to make the journey.
If the Check succeeds, the vehicle proceeds to the destination without incident. If the Check fails, however, the vehicle will take an additional amount of time to reach its destination equal to the degree of failure. This Check has critical potential: in the event of critical success, the vehicle will arrive at its destination early by an amount equal to the degree of success (minimum 10 minutes). In the event of critical failure, the Navigator gets the vehicle lost and as a result the journey takes twice as long as it should have. Additionally, the vehicle will have one encounter which cannot be negated by the Navigator's Stealth score (see below).
A typical star system
Let's say the captain does the odd thing and decides to make planet D the next stop on the itinerary, and further assume the Navigator's Starship Piloting
Check was successful. Using the simple count, planet D is 480 minutes away. That's eight hours total. The GM thinks that seven of those hours will be in open space, with one hour near the star; that's seven hours in Very Easy terrain with no weather, and one in Moderate terrain with no weather. Checking the fuel efficiency table, the GM sees little difference between those two conditions, and so decides to go with the listed Very Easy efficiency of 1%/2 for the entire journey. The ship is only going 4 orbitals, so only 2% of its power will be needed for the journey (or 0.2 cubic meters of fuel). If real count had been used, 5% of its power (0.5 cubic meters of fuel) would've been required instead.Encounters in Star Systems
Encounters with other races in star systems are generally few and far between, but they occasionally do occur. Unfortunately for the space adventurer, because the occurances of an encounter in a star systems is so rare, the
Stealth sub-discipline is not as handy at avoiding encounters in a star system as it is in hyperspace (
see Chapter 8.4).
While the Vehicle's Navigator is making their
Starship Piloting Check to navigate through a star system, the GM will make a concealed Check of their own, with the DC of the Check equal to the Navigator's
Stealth sub-discipline score. If the GM's Check succeeds (
if they roll higher than the Stealth score), the vehicle will have an encounter in space. Other factors may result in an encounter within a star system. If the Navigator fails the
Starship Piloting Check spectacularly, an encounter is automatic. Finally, should the destination be the homeworld of a species, an encounter is automatic. In any event, a vehicle will not experience more than one encounter after making the
Starship Piloting Check.
If an encounter is indicated, the GM will need to determine who or what exactly has been encountered. This needs to be a logical decision based upon whose territory the vehicle is current located in. Information on the territorial holdings of Starfaring races can be found in
Chapter 2.2 and
Chapter 2.3. Should the encounter happen in an unoccopied system, the GM may make a choice as to who has been encountered; this is a good opportunity to roll out the more unusual craft, such as Minstrels, Mysterions, the Enterprise, Interstel Police, etc. The GM may also choose to ignore the encounter, though there's not as much fun in that.
When setting up an encounter, the GM should consider the current SI of the vehicle and quickly compose a fleet of encountered ships that come close to matching the SI (
it's generally okay to go under or over the SI as long as the fleet comes within 100 points either way; any amount substantially below that may be a very easy encounter, while any substantially above may be very difficult). Encounters do not generally mean combat, though combat can occur in any given encounter depending upon the actions of the characters. An encounter may simply be hailing and talking to aliens for a while (
a good opportunity to advance a story and to get in some good role-playing). It can also be a situation where the PC vehicle just jets off, with the other ships not giving pursuit (
though again, there's not much fun in that). Of course, depending upon who's encountered, combat may very well be an automatic result. In case combat ensues, the GM can refer to the combat rules in
Chapter 9. During the course of the encounter,
Starship Technology Checks may be made to determine vital stats on the opposing fleet (for more on the
Starship Technology sub-discipline,
see Chapter 3.8). Encounters terminate either when there is sufficient space between all encountered ships (
either they or the characters leave the area) or are destroyed as the result of combat.
Entering and Leaving Hyperspace¶
Being able to transit between planets in a star system is all well and good, but some very advanced space vehicles (not to mention starships) are designed for travelling
between star systems. It's therefore obvious that at some point a vehicle may be required to leave a star system and enter another. The mechanics of what happens in between the point the vehicle leaves a system and enters another is discussed
in the next sub-Chapter. This section discusses what happens when a vehicle first enters a star system, and how a vehicle goes about leaving a star system.
For navigational purposes, "hyperspace" is always considered to be located in the outermost possible orbital lane of all star systems (
for traditional Starflight campaigns, this would be the "ninth" orbital lane; for custom campaigns, it's in the lane immediately following the last object placed in the system by the GM if there are more than eight objects in the system, or the ninth orbital lane otherwise). To enter hyperspace from within a star system, the ship's Navigator simply sets a course for the hyperspace orbital lane. Hyperspace is considered to be in all four quadrants of a star system simultaneously. While technically a course to hyperspace can be set in any of a star system's quadrants, most of the time it's safe to assume that the vehicle will try to stay in the same quadrant when heading out-system (for the sake of saving time, difficulty and fuel, obviously). Transition to hyperspace (and therefore interstellar travel) is automatic upon reaching the hyperspace orbital lane.
Leaving hyperspace is a little more complicated (but not much). Upon reaching the system's coordinates in hyperspace, transition to normal space and interplanetary travel is automatic (as with entering hyperspace). If the GM was paying attention as to what direction the ship approached the system from, they may merely place the ship in an appropriate quadrant (
for example, a starship enters a system. It approached the system travelling from upspin and coreward, so it'll probably enter the system in the downspin/outward side of the system, which corresponds to the third quadrant). Should the vehicle approach from a cardinal direction, the GM may place the vehicle in either of the appropriate quadrants at their discretion, or roll 1d2 for placement with a result of two corresponding to the higher numbered quadrant. If the GM wasn't paying attention, however, they may still roll for the ship's position at random using a roll of 1d5. The GM simply places the vehicle in the quadrant corresponding to the outcome of the die roll. If the result of the roll is five, the GM may either roll again or simply place the ship at random. In all cases, the ship's position upon entering the system is the hyperspace orbital lane, in the quadrant indicated.
The positions of all planets and other objects located in the system will also need to be established (
preferably prior to when a vehicle first enters the system, though it's okay to establish positions at the time of the vehicle's entry). Presumably, the GM has prepared the system beforehand with information on what is located in each orbital lane within the system, as well as specifics about those objects (information on planets, severity of radiation belts, etc.). Star system creation is quite complex and should not be attempted on the fly; not having that information prepared beforehand is a major oversight on the part of the GM. If the GM is conducting a traditional Starflight campaign in the Alpha Sector or Delta Sector, the
Starflight One Survey and
Starflight Two Survey (both available on the Starflight III wiki) are great sources of information compiled by a team of dedicated fans (
as a note, though, the surveys were used to collect information on planets, and there are a number of systems in the original games that had no planets orbiting them; for full details, see Chapter 12.4.1). Any GM would do well to use the information contained in the surveys. Information on creation custom star systems (and even full Sectors) is located in
Chapter 10.2.2. To establish the exact quadrant position of objects orbiting the system's primary, the GM may either place objects in the system at their own discretion, or use a 1d5 roll to establish positions. If using a die roll, simply place the object in the quadrant indicated by the die roll. On a result of five, the GM may either use their own discretion, or simply roll again.
Occasionally, the GM will need to move objects in a given star system. Largely this entails making a decision as to whether or not an object has moved into a new quadrant or not. Generally, the GM should consider moving objects if more than fourteen days have passed inside the campaign's own game time. Any vehicle that re-enters the system prior to that time should find the planets in the exact same positions they were in the last time they visited the system. GMs may use their discretion to move objects around the system. Generally, objects closer to the sun will have moved further than objects further away from the sun (
it's conceivable that a planet closer to the sun will have moved two quadrants in two weeks, while it's unlikely the eighth planet will have moved). The GM may also make a 1d5 roll for new positions, either rotating the object counterclockwise around the system a number of quadrants equal to the result of the die roll or by simply putting the object in the quadrant indicated by the die roll (
if rolling for positions, the GM should pick one of these two methods and stick to it). In both cases, the GM should either make a random selection or roll again on a result of five.
Orbiting, Launching and Landing¶
Most space vehicles at some point or another have to return to a safe haven to refuel and replenish vital supplies, such as water and carbon dioxide scrubbers. Rotating the crew (and possibly passengers) is also an important job of a space vehicle (
all vehicles, actually). While some of the most advanced vehicles may have teleporters installed, for most space vehicles this can only be accomplished on the surface of a planet. It's therefore important to know what's involved in descending to a planet's surface and what's involved in the ascent from the surface.
Orbiting a planet or other space object (like a star or moon) is as simple as keeping a vehicle moving fast enough to compensate for the pull of the object's gravity. If the vehicle is moving too quickly, it will break its orbit and shoot out into space. Too slowly, and the vehicle's orbit will decay, resulting in atmospheric entry (assuming the object has an atmosphere). Maneuvering into orbit has been factored into the Check for arrival at a destination after interplanetary transit (
assuming the destination is a body that can be orbited, such as a planet, moon, star, etc.), and thus orbit is established automatically. Orbit is also factored into the Check for a launch, and is also automatically achieved after a successful launch from a planet or moon.(as described below).
An orbit usually cannot be maintained forever, though if it is stable it can be maintained for a long time without a boost. The key factors in maintaining an orbit are the density of the planet's atmosphere and its gravitational pull, though other space terrain (such as rings in the path of the vehicle's orbit) can cause an orbit to degrade prematurely. To determine how long a vehicle can maintain a stable orbit around an object, subtract the planet's gravity from 28. From this result, an additional amount is subtracted depending on atmospheric density. If the object has no atmosphere, no amount if subtracted. For each subsequently thicker atmospheric density category, subtract an additional point. Finally, if the vehicle was launched from the object in question, halve the remaining amount. The final result is a number of days that an orbiting vehicle can maintain a stable orbit before its orbit final decays to re-entry. Orbital decay can be prevented by occasional booster thrusts of the vehicle's maneuvering thrusters. This is accomplished using a
Starship Piloting Check, with a DC of 15. If the Check is successful, the vehicle returns to stable orbit with its time until re-entry reset to full. Should the Check fail, nothing happens. Only one attempt at a boost may be made per day (24 hour period).
Attempting to land a vehicle on the surface of a space object is always a risky proposition; there are many things that can go wrong during the course of a landing. Some of these things can even be fatal if enough goes wrong. A successful landing is never a given, even for something as large as a starship. When a vehicle's crew decides that they would like to land their vehicle, they must first inform the GM of what planetary coordinates
(see Chapter 8.2) they'd like to land. A
Starship Piloting Check must then be made for the vehicle's descent. The DC of the Check is dependent upon both the object's atmospheric density and the object's gravity. The modifiers for atmospheric density are listed in the table below. Add to the amount indicated in the table an amount equal to ten times the object's gravity. If the vehicle has any engine damage, add that to the DC as well (if the vehicle is making an uncontrolled descent, treat it as though the engines are destroyed and add 100 to the DC). The final result is the DC of the Check.
Density Landing DC Modifiers| Atmospheric Density | DC Modifier |
|---|
| None | 0 |
|---|
| Very Thin | 20 |
|---|
| Thin | 40 |
|---|
| Moderate | 60 |
|---|
| Thick | 80 |
|---|
| Very Thick | 1 |
|---|
00
If the Check succeeds, the vehicle makes a successful descent to the coordinates indicated. At that point, intraplanetary transit begins
(see Chapter 8.2); the vehicle may go ahead and land at the coordinates indicated or, if it has maneuvering capabilities within the atmosphere, it may fly to another position on the planet's surface. Should the Check fail, a descent still occurs but the vehicle will take damage in the process. The amount of damage will equal ten times the degree of failure, which may be multiplied if the atmosphere of the object in question is particularly thick. The damage is doubled for moderate atmospheres, tripled for thick atmospheres, and quadrupled for very thick atmospheres. The Check has critical potential: in the event of a critical failure, a successful descent does not occur and the overall damage from the descent attempt is doubled. Should the vehicle still be intact after accounting for the damage, it will be located back in orbit with approximately one hour before its orbit decays.
Launching from the surface of a space object entails a lot of the same risks as landing on the object, and it can also be fatal if enough things go wrong. The procedure for launching from a space object is the same as attempting to land on the object; only a few particulars are different. Launching requires a
Starship Piloting Check, with the DC determined in the exact same manner as that for landing. A successful Check indicates that the vehicle has successfully transitioned into a stable orbit around the object. A failed Check indicates a successful transition to orbit, but there is some damage to the vehicle in the process. The amount of damage is determined the same way as for a failed landing Check. The orbit is also not entire stable; it will decay after one hour. The Check has critical potential: in the event of a critical failure, a successful ascent does not occur and the overall damage from the attempt is doubled. If the vehicle survives the damage, it will be in a stall within the atmosphere (
for details on stalling, see Chapter 9.3). The vehicle will have to successfully recover from the stall before any additional attempt at launch is made.
Not all objects in space are safe for space vehicles to launch from or to land on. There are some objects out there that simply have too much gravitaional pull for a vehicle's descent thrusters to slow sufficiently for a safe landing, or too dense of an atmosphere for the vehicle to be able to withstand the dynamic pressure of launching and landing. For purposes of gameplay, all objects with a gravitational pull of eight gees or greater fall into this general "unsafe" category. Any attempt to land on one of these objects (or launch from one of them) is instantly fatal. A GM should remind players of this fact if they say they want their characters to land on such a world.
Launching and landing both burn a fair amount of fuel, usually more than one can expect to burn during the course of travelling through a star system (). Fuel consumption during launch and landing is solely dependent upon the object's gravity. If real count is being used, a launch or landing will consume 0.25 cubic meters of fuel per gee of gravity. Assuming that the object does not have an integer amount for its gravity, the GM will need to calculate the exact amount used. If simple count is being used, 1 fuel unit (or 10%) is burned for up to two gees of gravity. An additional fuel unit is burned for each extra two gees of planetary gravity. Any vehicle that attempts takeoff without sufficient fuel will automatically take a critical failure of the launch attempt, while any vehicle attempting to land without sufficient fuel may make the attempt at an uncontrolled entry.
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