Travel Speed

Many game systems will have their own rules for overland travel speeds, durations, etc. Refer to your system, or your system adapter, for the appropriate values for your system. The values presented here are broad strokes, and should not be considered hard limits.

Foot Speed

These values presume normal humans with up to light encumbrance.

Travel Method mi/h km/h mi/day km/day Limit Assumptions
Walking, on road 3 mi/h 5 km/h 24-30 mi 40-50 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime
Walking, off-road 1.5 mi/h 2.5 km/h 12-15 mi 20-25 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime, uneven terrain
Running, on road 6 mi/h 10 km/h - - 1-3 hr Clear weather, daytime
Sprinting, on road 12 mi/h 20 km/h - - 1-5 min Clear weather, daytime, sure footing

Walking: Most travel times in Skyline are listed as walking times. Unless specified otherwise, these assume 8 to 10 hours of walking along roads in clear weather for the 8-10 hrs of daylight, stopping for an hour for lunch and other breaks. This gives an effective daily travel distance of 24-30 mi (40-50 km).

Running: Athletic humans can maintain a running pace longer than the 3hr listed above, but it requires training. Maintaining that pace while encumbered requires even more training.

Sprinting: Average humans can maintain a sprint for about 1 minute, or a little shy of a quarter mile. Moderate training in athletic humans can get this to 5 minutes, or about 1 mi (1.6 km). It takes daily, Olympic-level training to get this to an hour.

World Records: The world record for the marathon (26mi/42km) is almost exactly 2 hours, or 13 mi/h (21 km/h). Usain Bolt’s 200m world record almost doubles the pace above, for 20 mi/h (37 km/h), but only for 20 seconds. By the time you get up to the mi/km distance, world record speeds are closer to 16 mi/h (26 km/h). For ultra distance, the 100km record is just over 6 hr, for an average 10 mi/h (16 km/h).

Mounted Speed

For simplicity, all basic machine mounts in Skyline use the same speed and range. This includes Striders, Broadheads, and Chargers. Like horses and humans, Skyline mounts have a range which diminishes with speed — the faster you go, the quicker you wear out. While machine mounts do not tire as horses would, their riders do — humans become just as exhausted after a day of riding as they do with a day of walking.

Mount Speed mi/h km/h mi/day km/day Limits Assumptions
Walking, human speed 3 mi/h 5 km/h 24-30 mi 40-50 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime
Walking, machine speed 4.3 mi/h 7 km/h 34-43 mi 56-70 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime
Walking, off-road 2 mi/h 3.2 km/h 16-20 mi 26-32 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime, uneven terrain
Trot, on road 8 mi/h 13 km/h 64-80 mi 104-130 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime, consumes Blaze
Trot, off road 4 mi/h 6.4 km/h 32-40 mi 51-64 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime, consumes 3× Blaze
Gallop, on road 24 mi/h 39 km/h 192-240 mi 310-390 km 8-10 hr Clear weather, daytime, consumes 3× Blaze

Walking: While machine mounts can comfortably walk at the 3 mi/h (5 km/h) human pace, they can also walk a little faster, 4.3 mi/h (7 km/h), before they break into a trot. They can sustain this for an entire day without significant effort.

Off-road: Terrain sensors allow machine mounts to make better time off-road than humans: 2 mi/h (3.7 km/h) for machine mounts versus 1.5 mi/h (2 km/h) for humans. Riders should keep an eye on the mount’s Blaze levels — maintaining this speed over rough terrain will start to consume Blaze. Similarly, uphill climbs which would cause a human to get winded will also cause the mount to consume Blaze.

Range: Exhausting mounts occurs in two ways: fuel and wear. For any effort beyond a walk, mounts use Blaze canisters as their fuel source, which will get consumed over time and need to be replaced every 100mi (160km). Faster speeds and rough terrain increase Blaze consumption, reducing this range.

Sustained journeys of several hundred miles, even at a walking pace, break down the body components of mounts, eventually riding the mount into the ground. Unless the mount is repaired for 1 hr for every 100mi (160km) of travel, the mount will degrade to the point of becoming nonfunctional within 500mi (800km). This kind of repair work takes time and focus, so characters can’t do much more than eat a meal at the same time.

In practical terms, this means that without repairs a fresh mount will last ~21hr at a gallop, consuming 15 Blaze canisters in the time it takes to cover that 500mi range.

Reference Distances

Here are some distances between major cities and gates (see Places in the Narrator Guide), and the time in days it takes to make the journey. These distances are via roads and other human-traversable routes, and do not represent straight-line distances.

TODO: /27, /40, /72, /216

A B mi / km Human Walk Machine Walk Trot Gallop
All-Mother Mountain Daytower 280mi / 450km 10d 7d 4d 1.3d
All-Mother Mountain Mother’s Heart 70mi / 110km 3d 2d 1d 0.3d
All-Mother Mountain Song’s Edge 620mi / 1000km 23d 16d 9d 2.9d
All-Mother Mountain Southern Embrace Gate 70mi / 110km 3d 2d 1d 0.3d
Daytower Song’s Edge 620mi / 1000km 23d 16d 9d 2.9d
Deeproot Meridian 950mi / 1500km 35d 24d 13d 4.4d
Deeproot Song’s Edge 1020mi / 1640km 38d 26d 14d 4.7d
Deeproot Southern Embrace Gate 450mi / 720km 17d 11d 6d 2.1d
Deeproot Tapwash 430mi / 690km 16d 11d 6d 2.0d
Deeproot Winter’s Fork 415mi / 670km 15d 10d 6d 1.9d
Meridian Daytower 280mi / 450km 10d 7d 4d 1.3d
Meridian The Jewel 240mi / 390km 9d 6d 3d 1.1d
Meridian Sunfall 150mi / 240km 6d 4d 2d 0.7d
Song’s Edge Keener’s Rock 70mi / 110km 3d 2d 1d 0.3d
Southern Embrace Gate Winter’s Fork 34mi / 55km 1d 0.8d 0.5d 1.4h
Tapwash Winter’s Fork 100 mi / 161 km 4d 2.5d 4h