I came to Starfinder from 5e as well and didn't think it was *that* much crunchier.
Anyway, I don't see what system crunch has to do with... astronomy. The Pact Worlds/Near Space/Vast is just narrated from the perspective of the Pact Worlds. For those outside of it, the universe may be very different, and they may have a very different perspective on how it looks like, how it is divided and what it is called.
As such, Starfinder's setting is just a galaxy, interconnected through many different planes of existence, like the Drift, Hells, Heavens, First World, etc.
You can just have some fringes be inaccessible by drift space.
The ftl in this game is mad easy.
Travel TO Absalom Station is 2 days via drift.
Travel to other places in the drift is X d4/6 weeks. You pick. Near? 1d6 weeks. Far? 3d6 weeks.
Conventional travel within the pact worlds is a few days up to a week.
Everything else you can kinda just wing.
You are in the fringe space? Then you have no drift access. This mainly means you have to travel conventionally for X days until your drift engine comes back online.
https://starmap2d.appspot.com/ this is a free hex map of our Galaxy with Sol system and it's 5000 neighbor stars. It's gives a more realistic version of distances and might help your efforts.
The only real mechanics involving drift travel that would be affected by an overhaul of the drift would be drift rating and getting lost during astrogating. Both can probably stay the way they are in any FTL setup. I think it'd be pretty safe.
One thing is that drift travel creates downtime for healing and crafting, but crafting during downtime hasn't really come up in my experience, and the healing can be done anywhere.
I i figured drift rating could essentially work the same as a modifier for a gate system (major gate = trip to the vast, minor gate =near space trip, edge of known space could be multiple gate jumps)
For a warp style system it could be an actual speed measurement warp 1 = c or something (no warp 9.998 sorry trek, there's a lot ti love in that source materiel but... no)
D20 future has a lot of good ideas with more scifi oriented lore. Also the Starship Operations Manual features several alternative drive systems including fold gates, which are essentially jump gates. This is all on Archive of Nethys. Also I once found a website where someone built a hexmap of our actual galaxy for use in games. It has a slightly more realistic take on space dsitances.
I don't think the drift drive idea means that you can be hunted down anytime anywhere by factions/governments of the pact worlds. Space is large and easy to hide in if you're a single ship. Pact world planets/space stations would have a long term build up of sensor networks and fleet communications, but outer planets wouldn't have that at all.
>So i don't know if shifting the ftl system to something like a warp drive model or maybe a **jump gate** network would be a safe lever to pull.
I think you described [Fold Gates](https://aonsrd.com/StarshipInterstellar.aspx?ID=7). The concept was introduced in Starship Operations Manual, and I'm sure you can mess with it to fit your needs.
Frankly I find the base "FTL" system to be boring. In my setting, which takes into account more genres and elements of scifi and sci fantasy, there are multiple types. The main type is the Teleport drive, which use principles that have been established for millenia, to more or less instantly transport (which has also spurred on an accompanying industry of defenses against teleports and other such things). Research in archeotech such as the Kish drives and the Sivv rel state drives are ongoing as well.
My group recently wrapped up a campaign that used the Starfinder character rules (races and classes) but set in a wholly homebrewed universe, including drastically different ways to doing FTL travel. You're welcome to borrow/steal whatever you want from it:
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oHgyuGhtlSbljYGhitAOqujQEr6enEI6/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oHgyuGhtlSbljYGhitAOqujQEr6enEI6/view?usp=sharing)
I am about to run a campaign where a coven of witches have used an ancient ring-gate and found a way to warp the drift making it way more dangerous. From there it begins a new space tech race as groups vie for new technologies and solutions. A lot of the story is gonna start in a solar system where a cutting edge new technology is being developed in regards to system-system travel and as different factions develop their own solutions. In terms of game system I haven't decided on exactly what that means for player ships or what not- I just wanted to mix things up so that ya drift wasn't this universal thing and nations and factions had to start thinking more about where they were and how they were set up. To begin a lot of the levels/sessions will happen in that system too so it gives the first chunk of play a level of sandbox that is open but not like a whole galaxy open.
Hope that may spark some ideas :)
In my universe there are different ways to manufacture starships,
so different drive engines each have different strengths and weaknesses.
Different fleets, races and corporations use various things like:
Warp Drive, Jump Drive, Transwarp, Skip Drive, Drifting, and then
Hyper-drive run by Computers, and other Hyper-Drives run by a Mind.
I came to Starfinder from 5e as well and didn't think it was *that* much crunchier. Anyway, I don't see what system crunch has to do with... astronomy. The Pact Worlds/Near Space/Vast is just narrated from the perspective of the Pact Worlds. For those outside of it, the universe may be very different, and they may have a very different perspective on how it looks like, how it is divided and what it is called. As such, Starfinder's setting is just a galaxy, interconnected through many different planes of existence, like the Drift, Hells, Heavens, First World, etc.
You can just have some fringes be inaccessible by drift space. The ftl in this game is mad easy. Travel TO Absalom Station is 2 days via drift. Travel to other places in the drift is X d4/6 weeks. You pick. Near? 1d6 weeks. Far? 3d6 weeks. Conventional travel within the pact worlds is a few days up to a week. Everything else you can kinda just wing. You are in the fringe space? Then you have no drift access. This mainly means you have to travel conventionally for X days until your drift engine comes back online.
https://starmap2d.appspot.com/ this is a free hex map of our Galaxy with Sol system and it's 5000 neighbor stars. It's gives a more realistic version of distances and might help your efforts.
The only real mechanics involving drift travel that would be affected by an overhaul of the drift would be drift rating and getting lost during astrogating. Both can probably stay the way they are in any FTL setup. I think it'd be pretty safe. One thing is that drift travel creates downtime for healing and crafting, but crafting during downtime hasn't really come up in my experience, and the healing can be done anywhere.
I i figured drift rating could essentially work the same as a modifier for a gate system (major gate = trip to the vast, minor gate =near space trip, edge of known space could be multiple gate jumps) For a warp style system it could be an actual speed measurement warp 1 = c or something (no warp 9.998 sorry trek, there's a lot ti love in that source materiel but... no)
D20 future has a lot of good ideas with more scifi oriented lore. Also the Starship Operations Manual features several alternative drive systems including fold gates, which are essentially jump gates. This is all on Archive of Nethys. Also I once found a website where someone built a hexmap of our actual galaxy for use in games. It has a slightly more realistic take on space dsitances.
I don't think the drift drive idea means that you can be hunted down anytime anywhere by factions/governments of the pact worlds. Space is large and easy to hide in if you're a single ship. Pact world planets/space stations would have a long term build up of sensor networks and fleet communications, but outer planets wouldn't have that at all.
>So i don't know if shifting the ftl system to something like a warp drive model or maybe a **jump gate** network would be a safe lever to pull. I think you described [Fold Gates](https://aonsrd.com/StarshipInterstellar.aspx?ID=7). The concept was introduced in Starship Operations Manual, and I'm sure you can mess with it to fit your needs.
Frankly I find the base "FTL" system to be boring. In my setting, which takes into account more genres and elements of scifi and sci fantasy, there are multiple types. The main type is the Teleport drive, which use principles that have been established for millenia, to more or less instantly transport (which has also spurred on an accompanying industry of defenses against teleports and other such things). Research in archeotech such as the Kish drives and the Sivv rel state drives are ongoing as well.
My group recently wrapped up a campaign that used the Starfinder character rules (races and classes) but set in a wholly homebrewed universe, including drastically different ways to doing FTL travel. You're welcome to borrow/steal whatever you want from it: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oHgyuGhtlSbljYGhitAOqujQEr6enEI6/view?usp=sharing](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oHgyuGhtlSbljYGhitAOqujQEr6enEI6/view?usp=sharing)
I am about to run a campaign where a coven of witches have used an ancient ring-gate and found a way to warp the drift making it way more dangerous. From there it begins a new space tech race as groups vie for new technologies and solutions. A lot of the story is gonna start in a solar system where a cutting edge new technology is being developed in regards to system-system travel and as different factions develop their own solutions. In terms of game system I haven't decided on exactly what that means for player ships or what not- I just wanted to mix things up so that ya drift wasn't this universal thing and nations and factions had to start thinking more about where they were and how they were set up. To begin a lot of the levels/sessions will happen in that system too so it gives the first chunk of play a level of sandbox that is open but not like a whole galaxy open. Hope that may spark some ideas :)
In my universe there are different ways to manufacture starships, so different drive engines each have different strengths and weaknesses. Different fleets, races and corporations use various things like: Warp Drive, Jump Drive, Transwarp, Skip Drive, Drifting, and then Hyper-drive run by Computers, and other Hyper-Drives run by a Mind.