How do you get to other planets?

[Jor1994]

I need titanium and a lot of silicone but i have no idea how to travel to another planet.

The only thing i can do is fly extremely slowly towards another planet where i think I'd run out of energy half way there even with a full inventory of fuel.

Is there supposed to be a faster way to get to another planet?

[Ichbinderkuli]

I was LITERALLY you until I figured out that at the expense of a LARGE amount of energy, you can hold the SHIFT key and actually accelerate to 1000m/s with just Drive Lvl 2.

BE WARNED!!!

If you drain your core, you cannot steer. And slowing down takes energy. So what I do in the early going is speed up to about 550-600m/s and coast. Save about 1/4 of your core energy. DON'T hold or use any of the movement/flight keys as they constantly drain energy. Use the gimbal to line up your target and make multiple mid course corrections. make small ones over a long distance, much easier to fix a mistake. Once you get the hang of orbital speeds and such, you will start being able to make the "calculations" in your head. Aim for the center of the planet.

If you are still in the Graphite phase, make sure you take off with 4 full stacks in the "tank" a full charge in the core and 6-8 EXTRA stacks of fuel for the return trip and to use on the planet.

If you are in the hydrogen fuel phase, you can get away with a full "tank" worth, if you are careful. But it never hurts to have a extra stack. If you are smart and plan your course corrections wisely, you will land with 1/4 to 1/3 of a core charge left.

And if you are using Deuterium fuel rods, Just let'er rip. You probably have rank 3 of core and energy and you will have plenty of juice to go full speed and make those trips short. :)

[Twitching Finger]

This..

I was kinda of worried at first, but took the leap, no pun intended, and filled up my mecha w/ Energetic Graphite, took a bunch with me JIC.. took off to 3 planets away from starting planet to get Titanium.. Yea, piece o cake.. hardly used up one full stack..
Just be easy on the space bar, it will/does eat up a lot of fuel..

[Calisthra]

Originally posted by Kracka:

This..

I was kinda of worried at first, but took the leap, no pun intended, and filled up my mecha w/ Energetic Graphite, took a bunch with me JIC.. took off to 3 planets away from starting planet to get Titanium.. Yea, piece o cake.. hardly used up one full stack..
Just be easy on the space bar, it will/does eat up a lot of fuel..

Almost exactly my experience here. Found that the acceleration is very expensive but your energy recharges (very slowly) while coasting. Get off planet, set a general course, make small adjustments infrequently after your initial 'burn'. Don't use more than half your energy reserves (an opinion) because you'll need that to decelerate on the other end.

Just don't be in a hurry until you have the fuel and mecha upgrades to not care.

[Twitching Finger]

SO I noticed yesterday our Mecha's have HP's, 1500 to be exact, yea I know I'm slow...
Anyway... I just tested this out, I just slammed into my home planet, bounced I should say.. No damage, so that's a good thing..... for now..

[Kyrros]

Originally posted by Jor1994:

Is there supposed to be a faster way to get to another planet?

If it's your first trek to another planet, then no. But the Titanium you bring back will be used to create the next tier of research materials - and THAT will open up faster modes of transportation.

So, eventually, yes, it will be much faster - the flip side of that, is that by the time it does get faster, you won't actually need to go yourself, because you'll be able to automate transporation between planets :-p

Originally posted by Jor1994:

I'd run out of energy half way there even with a full inventory of fuel

The majority of your fuel use is the initial escape from gravity and landing on the other end. Once you get into space itself, you will use 0 fuel, as you will be able to coast on your inertia (in fact, since you'll technically be idle while coasting, your Icarus will actually GAIN energy on the way)

Out of a single stack of 100 carbon rods, I use about 20 each way.
[But I also glance at the system map before I jump - instead of just flying at the target planet - it'll have moved by the time I get there - I figure out a decent 'intercept' plot and fly there - ideally I'll reach the intercept destination just as the target planet does.]

And lets be honest - with the savegame function - just save before making any major decisions (first planet jump, etc). It's fun to experiment! ... and if the worst happens, learn from your mistake, then reload :-p

[Xilo The Odd]

yeah once you got energetic graphite, you can get to planets safely and easily by boosting towards them. just dont drain your core to do so or you might blow past your target and be unable to stop or turn around.

i also advise, as i'm on my 2nd playthrough, dont bother making hydrogen power cells. just focus on getting to making deuterium power cells if anything and use those to charge your mech. they are 10X more powerful than hydrogen cells and with a little early investment into making deuterium from hydrogen, you'll always have power no matter what your doing.