Travel speed for (magical) vehicles

[Crystalline_Entity]

I'm trying to work out what overland(/oversea) travel speed a character can achieve using a magical Vehicle and I'm a bit confused by the different rules. Specifically, I'm looking at the Flying Objects section of DF8 Treasure Tables (DF8 39), if it matters, I wanted to get opinions on how this is meant to work.

According to B463 (under the explanation for the Move value), Top Speed in mph is double the Move value (which is in yards/second), so a Move 20 Broomstick or Flying Carpet can move at 40 mph maximum. The item description doesn't mention any sort of energy limitation, so I assume it neither has nor expends FP (or ER).

Then, later on the same page (in the Long-Distance Movement section) it says cruising speed for ground or air vehicles (Side note: is the omission of sea deliberate?) is typically 60-70% of Top Speed, so using the Basic Set a Move 20 Broomstick can reach 40mph at top speed, and cruise at 24-28 mph. The reason stated for cruise speed being lower than top speed is travel conditions, safety considerations, and conserving fuel or energy. The latter doesn't apply from what I can tell, so presumably the first two conditions are what's limiting cruise speed here. I'm assuming that the 60-70% figure here is an abstraction and I shouldn't additionally correct for poor travel conditions (which I thought would affect the underlying Move stat) or safety (failed Piloting (Contragravity) rolls).

That makes sort-of sense (though I'm not sure what stops a character flying around at top speed if it's not costing him energy).


Then DF16 comes along and says Flying Carpets have their top speed fixed by magic, ignore terrain and can fly for 24 hours per day if someone with Magery is awake (DF16 21 - which also answers the question of whether using it costs FP). Okay, this particular flying carpet has Air Move 20, isn't affected by terrain, and it's a fine day so no further modifiers apply. The Covering Ground section (DF16 23) then says to get the final travel speed, halve the result. Half of Air Move 20 is 10 mph.

So according to DF16, the flying carpet can do 10 mph in perfect conditions, but according to the Basic Set, it has a cruise speed of ~25 mph even when correcting for poor travel conditions.

I must be missing something, does anyone know how to reconcile these two figures?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Crystalline_Entity

I must be missing something,

My guess that what's missing is explicit exceptions to the general movement rules for flying carpets in every possible case.

You'd have to admit that if every calculation intended to produce reasonable answers for humans travelling on their own 2 feet, possibly accompanied by 4-legged animals said "except for flying carpets" it'd get old in a hurry.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Crystalline_Entity

I'm trying to work out what overland(/oversea) travel speed a character can achieve using a magical Vehicle and I'm a bit confused by the different rules. Specifically, I'm looking at the Flying Objects section of DF8 Treasure Tables (DF8 39), if it matters, I wanted to get opinions on how this is meant to work.

According to B463 (under the explanation for the Move value), Top Speed in mph is double the Move value (which is in yards/second), so a Move 20 Broomstick or Flying Carpet can move at 40 mph maximum. The item description doesn't mention any sort of energy limitation, so I assume it neither has nor expends FP (or ER).

Then, later on the same page (in the Long-Distance Movement section) it says cruising speed for ground or air vehicles (Side note: is the omission of sea deliberate?) is typically 60-70% of Top Speed, so using the Basic Set a Move 20 Broomstick can reach 40mph at top speed, and cruise at 24-28 mph. The reason stated for cruise speed being lower than top speed is travel conditions, safety considerations, and conserving fuel or energy. The latter doesn't apply from what I can tell, so presumably the first two conditions are what's limiting cruise speed here. I'm assuming that the 60-70% figure here is an abstraction and I shouldn't additionally correct for poor travel conditions (which I thought would affect the underlying Move stat) or safety (failed Piloting (Contragravity) rolls).

That makes sort-of sense (though I'm not sure what stops a character flying around at top speed if it's not costing him energy).


Then DF16 comes along and says Flying Carpets have their top speed fixed by magic, ignore terrain and can fly for 24 hours per day if someone with Magery is awake (DF16 21 - which also answers the question of whether using it costs FP). Okay, this particular flying carpet has Air Move 20, isn't affected by terrain, and it's a fine day so no further modifiers apply. The Covering Ground section (DF16 23) then says to get the final travel speed, halve the result. Half of Air Move 20 is 10 mph.

So according to DF16, the flying carpet can do 10 mph in perfect conditions, but according to the Basic Set, it has a cruise speed of ~25 mph even when correcting for poor travel conditions.

I must be missing something, does anyone know how to reconcile these two figures?

I would suspect that Covering Ground is incorrect in its calculation. It should be calculated by doubling, not halving.

There are 1760 yards in 1 mile and 3600 seconds in one hour, so to convert Move to Top Speed, you multiply by 3600/1760 = 2 (approximately) to get mph, and divide by 2 to go the other way.

If the Flying Carpet has Air Move 20, its Top Speed should be 40 mph, not 10 mph. A Flying Carpet with a Top Speed of 10 mph should have Air Move 5.