Propulsion Systems

This page describes the various methods of getting a ship from one place to another. Includes:

Thruster Modules

Thruster Modules are the standard Propulsion System utilized by ships in StarMade, practically required on any ship greater than a couple of blocks in size. Although a core does provide a small amount of thrust, this small quantity of thrust quickly becomes negligible as ships increase in size and mass. Larger ship should be equipped with an adequate number of Thruster Modules in order to move swiftly.

Pressing R on a Thruster Module will open up the Thrust Management Menu, allowing you to allocate the percentage of thrust thats outputted in any given direction. Other options can also be activated/deactivated through this menu. Auto-Dampeners can be toggled on to automatically slow your ship down when you take your hands off any of the movement keys. You can also choose to inherit thrust from all docked entities allowing you to supplement the total thrust of your mother ship. This menu can also be accessed under the "Ship" Tab on the menu bar at the top of your HUD whenever you have a menu open.

Jump Drive

The Jump Drive system enables a ship to rapidly "jump" a distance of up to 16 sectors. This process is not instantaneous - a jump takes approximately 5 seconds to complete. The Jump Drive must also be charged for a certain time before it can be activated.

Every ship which has a reactor has a weak jump drive; However, to improve the jump drive Reactor FTL chambers are used. Leveling up an FTL Chamber improves an aspect of the jump drive (e.g. charge speed, power efficiency).

Combined with waypoint navigation, the Jump Drive is the usual way for advanced ships to get around in or between systems. With an average speed of more than one system per minute (depending on Charge Speed Chamber level and Jump Distance Chamber level) it excels the normal thrusters in terms of mid- to long-range flights.

Detailed information on the operation of a Jump Drive system, can be found on the Reactor FTL Chamber page.

Warp Gate

Main article: Warp Gate

Warp Gates are paired structures built in space as space stations (therefore fixed in position). When a ship enters one warp gate, it is teleported, or "warped", to the second warp gate. These warp gates must be within 128 sectors of each other. This equals a span of 8 systems.

Because of the fixed position, the main purpose of Warp Gates is the connection of certain sectors, for example the sectors claimed by one faction.

See Warp Gate Computer for more information.

Other

A rather unconventional means of moving is to make use of the recoil from Cannon systems. When fired, cannons will deliver a powerful opposite force on the entity that fired it. A similar impact force is also applied to the entity that it hits. The strength of the recoil depends on the damage of the cannon system. The higher the damage is the stronger the recoil. If fired continuously without check a ship can be sent flying in circles. It is also theoretically possible to arrange cannons to fire in such a way as to stabilize a ships movement.

Tractor Beams are another method of traveling in a way. When a entity is hit with a tractor beam they are at the whim of the shooter. Tractor beams allow entities to be pushed further away, pulled closer, or held in place. While push and pull are self explanatory, hold will make the entity move with the shooting entity. So long as the beam does not brake line-of-sight with the entity it is holding then it can be dragged anywhere.