Often a warp jump can give away the position of a ship, allowing others to home in on the signal. It is said to be like a drop of water landing in a larger pool of water, with ripples coming out in all directions. Įntering the warp can, like many things, further disturb the fabric of the warp. With the nature of the warp, anything is possible. There have even been odd accounts of ships going back in time and emerging before they entered the warp. This can lead to some strange, but extremely rare, events such as armies being sent across the galaxy to defend a threatened planet only to arrive many years too late, the planet already long lost to enemy forces. Sometimes, ships and fleets within the warp can be caught in time bubbles for hundreds of years. Generally, however, one day in the warp relates to twelve days real time. Only once a ship jumps out of the warp can it learn how long its journey has taken in real time. Time passes at very variable rates between both realities. To add further unpredictability, there are drastic time differences between the warp and real space. It is safer and easier to travel from some Systems to others where established channels with well-charted warp currents are regularly used for Imperial shipping. Small jumps of up to four or five light years are generally accurate, while longer jumps can be dangerous or a long way off mark. To make this process difficult, the warp doesn't follow the normal laws of physics and is ever-moving with inconsistent currents and tides, so the exact exit location of long-distance journeys is often unpredictable. If one does not travel to a Mandeville Point, they risk having their Warp jump's direction and navigational calculations interfered with by the gravity of planets and other celestial objects. This is the closest distance that a ship can safely enter or exit Warp Space from its intended destination. In order to safely utilize the Warp for travel, one must first travel to a System's Mandeville Point. This process is known as a jump or hop, and the act of entering or leaving the warp is known as a drop, shift, or translation. A warp jump consists of a ship entering the warp from real space by activating its warp drives to open a tear between realities, traveling the currents of the warp by means of its conventional drives for an appropriate time, and then using its warp drives to re-enter real space at a new position, having bypassed light years of galactic space.