Spelljamming speed, and invisibility

Just a few questions and thoughts for the list.

Can ships see each other while at spelljamming speed?  The canon 
implies yes, we have numerous examples of ships following each other 
at spelljamming speed in the novels and the rulebooks.  Spelljamming 
speed is extremely fast ( ?????) and I would think seeing another 
ship with the naked eye would be difficult, but I think possible.

This weans we should think of SJ speed more like Star Trek's 
Warpspeed then Star Wars' hyperspace. 

This would also make coordinated fleet movement much easier and thus 
more common.

That in mind, I've been considering cloaking helms and ship 
invisibilty spells.  There is a spell called 'Ship Invisibility', I 
think it's 4th level, in an issue of _Dungeon_ magazine (an adventure 
set in the Sea of Fallen Stars on Toril, dealing with pirate 
treasure).  That spell's main limitation is that the ship still 
displaces water, so a ship shaped hole appears in the water, 
difficult to see from a distance, but it would be noticeable upclose. 
My players (crew of the Oathtaker, detailed on Beyond the Moons) used 
that spell alot (they ran through the _Dungeon_ adventure before 
entering space.)

So, how is ship invisibility limited in space? I think gravity 
fields.  The ships still drop each other to tactical speed when 
within 10 hexes, so if you drop to tactical speed yet see no asteroid 
or ship near which can explain it, then it might be you are being 
stalked by a cloaked/invisible ship.

This would explain an event in _The Maelstrom's Eye_ where the scro 
use powdershot from jettisons to detect two cloaked IEN men-o-war and 
manage to destroy one. This seems clever on the surface, but if you 
have no idea where they are if they are near, in somewhere as vast as 
space you would likely waste all your powder without ever detecting a 
cloaked vessel.  But if the gravity field thing works, then the scro 
knew the elves were near when they unexpectedly dropped to tactical 
speed.  It says the elves had 'moved in for a closer look' just 
before the attack.

Comments?


-- 
"He thinks being Dungeonmaster gives him a license to mess with our heads."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Perhaps I should let you encounter kittens and 
Grandmas so as not to upset you." 'Discos and Dragons', 
_Freaks-n-Geeks_

Paul Westermeyer,  westermeyer@????????.net