Lightcruise Engine

Lightcruise Thrust | 50 lc

**Lightcruise Engines** are a special type of thruster that allows a Ship to enter lightcruise mode.

## Overview

Lightcruise engines are not an essential system for a ship to fly. They offer a meager amount of forward thrust and have absolutely no lateral thrust. However, they allow a ship to more easily travel within a Star System by enabling Lightcruise mode.

### Setup

Lightcruise engines can be placed on any entity, but only Ships can use them. They can be scaled and expanded. They require energy to function and will produce heat. They must be placed with the exhaust facing towards the rear of the ship to function properly.

### Fueling

Lightcruise engines, unlike regular Thrusters, require Fuel to function. They have an internal fuel tank and need fuel to be piped to it directly from another Fuel tank. Without it, the engine will cease to operate, stranding players in the middle of space if they are not mindful of their fuel reserves. Using the Link tool will allow the player to view a statistical breakdown of that particular engine.

### Lightcruise Mode

Lightcruise mode is the primary means of interplanetary travel in the game. It is technically possible to fly a ship from one side of the Star System to the other using standard thrusters; however, it is not advised as the distance between objects is too great even for the fastest ships to traverse promptly. Lightcruise engines are required for a ship to make warp jumps.

Players piloting a ship with at least one installed engine can press and hold **[L]** to charge lightcruise mode. Releasing the **[L]** key before activation will cancel it. Once engaged, lightcruise engines will propel the player's ship forward at incredible speed. Players will still have control of their ship while in lightcruise mode, so proper piloting to avoid collisions is advised. While Lightcruising, all weapons will cease to fire. Players can exit lightcruise by pressing **[L]** again.

The speed at which ships can travel in lightcruise is impacted by mass vs. the amount of lightcruise thrust provided by lightcruise engines. Larger lightcruise engines can haul larger ships around at faster speeds in exchange for increased power usage and fuel efficiency.

Large objects like Planets or Stars will slow a ship down if passed close by. Colliding with a star or a gas giant will result in the ship's destruction and the player's death. Once a vessel has pulled away from the object's gravity well, it will begin to speed up exponentially.

Using the Holomap, players can navigate around a system. Objects such as Space Stations or any entity with a Shipyard installed can be targeted from across the system. Once targeted in the holomap, players can autopilot to their desired destination by pressing **[F]** to bring up the context menu and selecting **"Autopilot to Location."** Objects must be more than 2km away from the player for this option to become available. The AI will automatically pull the ship out of lightcruise when it is 2.5km from the destination.

## Logic

Ships will be kicked out of Lightcruise immediately if the system is turned off mid flight.
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## Tips

* Lightcruise engines placed on child entities will contribute to the parent entity's lightcruise thrust.
	+ Fuel can be shared between parent and child entities. Connecting pipes directly into a Mechanisms base will allow any piping on the child entity to draw fuel from the parent entity.
* Angled lightcruise engines do not count as thrust vectoring.