Fuel

Fuel is a consumable resource that will be required in order for Ships, Hovercraft, and Space Stations to function. It can be both bought and harvested from the environment.

By default, all grids have the Auto-Refill option enabled in their Entity settings menu. This means that any fuel tank on the ship whether that be a fuel tank brick, or the internal tank of a Reactor/Lightcruise thruster will have its tank automatically topped up. This is a Creative Mode only feature that you can toggle on/off should you want to gather and burn your own fuel - it will not be available in the future Career Mode.

## Overview

Fuel is consumed over time and can be obtained by docking to a space station and accessing the fuel terminal to purchase fuel. Some systems require fuel to function and are supplied using pipes. Tank joins are used to connect immediately adjacent fuel tanks and consumers. Holding a pipe block while looking at another pipe or tank will allow a player to see the fuel level as it moves.

Fuel is stored in fuel tanks. Optionally, valves can be used to control the flow of fuel. Transparent pipes can be built to observe the flow of fuel.

### Consumers

Fuel is consumed when an entity's systems are online and active. Systems that directly use fuel require that it be transported to them using pipes.

### Storage

In order for fuel to be utilized, players must first store it in various storage tanks. Pressing **[F]** on a storage tank will bring up its context menu. Here players can give that specific tank a usage designation. These designations will help the entity calculate its fuel efficiency. This is not necessary and merely helps with logistics. Current fuel levels can be viewed by looking at a tank while holding a pipe block.

### Piping

Systems that use fuel must have it transported to them directly by connecting pipes to and from storage tanks. Pipes can occupy the same space as hull blocks only. This means that pipes do not necessarily need dedicated space made for them.

Fuel can be piped to consumers that are placed on child entities. Directly placing pipes into the base of a mechanism will allow any pipe on the child entity to pull fuel from a tank on the parent entity. This transfer also continues down the entire child entity line; A child entity 10 levels deep can still draw fuel from the parent entity.

  Hose (Fuel) |  Pipe Transparent

## Purchasing Fuel

Should the need arise players can purchase fuel from NPC Space stations in any star system. First the player must dock their ship at the station. Once docked then the player must find and access the fueling Kiosk. Fuel by default costs **10 wan per unit of fuel**.

Players can also set up their own fueling Kiosks on their own ships and stations however it must still be purchased. As of 22w44c, there is no way to transfer fuel from one ship to another free of charge.

## Harvesting

Players can harvest fuel by gathering it from large floating gas clouds in star systems. These clouds are usually located near the system's Star and are massive. These clouds are so large that they can be targeted and autopiloted to once in range.

Players will need a Fuel Scoop connected to a storage tank via pipes to begin harvesting fuel. Each cloud has a finite amount of fuel that can be harvested and will disappear once depleted. When set to **Harvest Mode**, the fuel scoop will begin gathering gas when it is inside a gas cloud. There will be a visual effect of gas accumulating around the fuel scoop to indicate that is fuel is being harvested. Fuel scoop(s) must be exposed to the fuel clouds; placing **them within enclosed spaces will not allow them to harvest**. The fuel scoop will automatically stop harvesting gas when all connected tanks are full.

## Tips

* An effective fuel saving method is to have a master on switch for all reactor, an ignition switch if you will. This switch will need to be turned on before players can pilot their chosen craft.
	+ Using an Event Gate trigger on the pilot's seat is a good way to automatically turn the reactors on and off.
* Fuel consumers on child entities do not need to have their piping connected directly to anything. As long as fuel is being piped to the base mechanism any pipe on the child entity will automatically draw fuel from it; even if it is floating mid-air.