On Alluvial Dampeners and Wanted Criminals

[Ker]

Say that you're a criminal in Star Wars wanted for murder, fraud, smuggling, embezzlement, and some other crime of your choice. You're also being hunted by Boba Fett and HK-47 (please ignore the continuity issues).

But wait! There's a way to escape your predicament--disengage the alluvial dampeners on your hyperdrive. Make a short jump, and you'll be a few hundred years in the future! If you load up on valuables, such as artwork and gems, you can sell all that in the future and be rich.

Any flaws in this plan?

[Tam_OConnor]

Crashing into the various celestial bodies that have moved since then? Honestly, if time travel was that easy, don't you think Solo would already have done it? Actually, one could argue that you're moving through time and space, but without the dampers, you're interacting with anything that crosses your path in those hundred odd years. Which means that the first ship to cross your path blows both of you up. Poor criminal. Have you already done this, and HK-47 was on the ship while you did it? Just curious.

[Seraph]

Twilight zone did a variation on this. the flaw in their cunning plan was that when the criminals woke up, their loot turned out to be worthless in the future.

[Ker]

Crashing into the various celestial bodies that have moved since then?

You could jump out of the galactic plane, then just jump towards empty space outside the galaxy.


Honestly, if time travel was that easy, don't you think Solo would already have done it?

It is incredibly dangerous. He also might just not have wanted to.

[Dervag]

I suspect that the dampeners have to fail in a very specific way for you to survive the trip, which would explain why it's such big news when it actually happens to someone that this person gets fifteen minutes of fame in a galactic civilization.

More likely, if the dampeners fail in most other ways, then either you can't enter hyperspace at all, or you die en route (say, because you age 200 years while jumping 200 years into the future).