FTL Drive
| FTL Drive |
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There are two types of faster than light (FTL) travel used by spacecraft; wormholes and warp. Without FTL a spacecraft is forced to deadhead.
Wormholes are traversed using a wormhole drive, this is the most basic form of FTL and simply require lumenite. Each polarity requires its own Patent, unlocked one after the other.
Warp drives require usable antiflux particles and a patent for the warp drive module. The patent does not appear until you complete the wormhole drive patent. Warp travel accelerate the spacecraft past lightspeed instantly, allowing the spacecraft to travel directly between systems at a fraction of the time it would take to deadhead.
An Engineer Station is required to be used in conjunction with a Navigator Station. Refer to the engineer console for instructions on how to use it.
Wormhole Drive
A wormhole FTL drive allows the spacecraft to instantly travel to another solar system through wormholes. It is created using lumenite, which is very common in the universe, but only found on moons and planets in colder orbit zones.
The wormhole drive has three polarity settings:
- Positive
- Negative
- Neutral
When engaged, the drive goes through a 6 second warm up phase, then the drive is active for 50 seconds, then goes through a 6 second cool down phase. The polarity cannot be changed while the the drive is engaged.
The spacecraft will disintegrate upon entry into a wormhole if the drive polarity is set incorrectly!
Helm console shows an indicator with the polarity when the wormhole drive is engaged.
See the Engineer Station page for more information on how to operate the wormhole FTL drive.
Warp Drive
Warp drives allow direct travel to other solar systems, at a speed of 5x the speed of light, per warp factor. I.e., warp 1 is 5x the speed of light, warp 2 is 10x the speed of light, and so on, until warp 9 at 45x the speed of light.
Warp drives can be set to warp factors 1 through 9. All factors are limited to patent, each warp factor being unlocked with the respective module patent. Each warp factor requires more energy than the last, so power plants and capacitors are a must.
When engaged, the warp drive goes through a 6 second warm up phase, then provides warp drive FTL speed for 50 seconds, then goes through a 6 second cool down phase. Warp drive is engaged at the currently selected warp factor. The warp factor cannot be changed once the drive is engaged, just as the polarity of the wormhole drive cannot be changed once the drive is engaged.
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This section is in need of revision. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. The reason given is: It seems FTL drives use the same power at all warp factors. Might be a bug or intended, but some of the info here is wrong. |
The energy consumed at warp factor 1 is the same as the energy consumed by engaging a wormhole drive. That way a ship's FTL drives and capacitor are adequate no matter what FTL drive type is installed later.
Helm station shows a warp factor indicator when the warp drive is hot.
Engineer crewman will operate the warp drive at an appropriate warp factor when the destination is farther than .9 parsecs (?) away. Issue a Travel Direct order and the crew will do the rest, it doesn't matter how many parsecs away it is. The engineer will engage the warp drive repeatedly if necessary to get there.
Engineer crewman will operate the warp drive to follow another vessel. If the ship being followed engages its warp drive, the engineer crewman will set the warp factor of his own ship to match that of the ship being followed and engage his own warp drive.
Design analysis shows the maximum warp factor achievable based on max capacitor power.
Warp Distance
When operating the warp drive yourself, a good rule of thumb for warp factor is twice the distance in parsecs rounded up. That way the amount of time the warp drive is operating is just about enough to get you to the destination. This is because light speed is 10 minutes per parsec. Warp factor 1 is 5x light speed, which means you travel one parsec in two minutes. The hot portion of the drive cycle lasts for almost a full minute (50 sec.). Therefore, the ship travels almost half of one parsec for each warp factor. You can of course choose any warp factor you like. Warp 9 to go 1.5p is a little much because you'll have to either circle around the destination system for a while after you get there, waiting for the warp drive to finish its cycle, or power off the warp drive prematurely.
Warp speed is directly proportional to the distance to the nearest star, up to the maximum established by the warp factor when the drive is engaged. There is no acceleration or deceleration. Speed changes are instantaneous. Observe the result of engaging the warp drive in deep space or the result of flying directly into the star with the warp drive engaged.
Warp speed near the star does not vary with warp factor; warp factor only affects the maximum speed achieved by a ship. Two ships that are the same distance from the star at different warp factors will travel exactly the same speed. At some distance from the star, one of the ships will stop going faster. The other ship will stop going faster when it is far enough away to reach it's maximum warp speed. Warp 1 full speed is achieved at 1/5 parsec from the center of the nearest star, which is right at the margin of deep space.
Turn Rate at Warp Speed
A spacecraft travelling at warp speed, or even at the speed of light using sublight engines will be unable to turn as quickly until it reduces its speed. This is because the faster a ship moves, the slower the turning is.