Thruster

Thruster Types

Ion Thruster (Electrical)

All standard Electric-based Ion thrusters will consume a minimum of 0.002 kW (2 Watts), even when not in use. They use electricity to generate thrust, their power consumption scales linearly with what percentage (as seen on the thrust override slider) the thruster is operating at. Its effectiveness is inversely dependent on the density of the atmosphere, having actual effectiveness anywhere from 30% at minimum to full effectiveness outside planetary atmospheres – becoming increasingly less effective the thicker the atmosphere.

Hydrogen Thruster

All Hydrogen-based thrusters require a Conveyor connection to a source of Hydrogens such as an Oxygen Generator or a Hydrogen Tank. (*) Hydrogen-based Thrusters despite having a ‘power consumption’ rating will not consume electrical power they ONLY consume Hydrogen from a hydrogen source accessed via conveyors. Their only electrical requirements will be for the hydrogen sources that store or make hydrogen and the Conveyor system. Each Hydrogen Thruster consumes a tiny amount of Hydrogen even if not active (as seen with its ‘pilot light’), much like the minimum that electric-based thrusters have. Their effectiveness is entirely unaffected by the presence of planetary atmospheres, being equally effective everywhere.

Atmospheric Thruster

All atmospheric thrusters’ thrust output is entirely dependent on the density of the atmosphere around the thruster and only work in planetary atmospheres, being most powerful near the surface and becoming linearly less powerful further out. Typically the thruster will never achieve its rated maximum during usual play even directly on the surface (which is typically around 90% max efficiency). They much like standard thrusters use electricity to function and consume a minimum amount of 0.002 kW (2 Watts) even when not in use.

Effectiveness In Natural Gravity

To get an idea of how many thrusters are needed to make a ship hover in the air while under the influence of natural gravity,
the following calculation should help:

Lift [kg] = engine force [N] * effectivity [unitless] / acceleration due to gravity [m/s²]

Example: 1 Large Atmospheric Thruster on a small ship has a force magnitude of 408,000 N and an effectiveness of 90% at sea level.
So on an Earth-like planet at sea level, it can lift:

L = (408,000 N * 0.9) / 9.81 m/s² = 37,431 [kg]

Where 9.81 m/s² = 1.0 g on Earth.
Or to just check if it will fly with 4 thrusters and a mass of 120,000 kg:

F = (4 * 408,000 N * 0.9) m = 120,000 kg a[min] = 9.81 m/s² a[curr] = (4 * 408,000 * 0.9) / 120,000 kg = 12.24 m/s² > 9.81 m/s² ===> will fly!

So if the ship’s downward thrusters’ total lift is greater than the ship’s mass,
the ship will be able to hover and fly.

This value decreases linearly with the decreasing air density at greater heights. The air density is different for each planet type.

Online calculator to calculate the thrust at planets and moons.

 not one should also keep in mind, that depending on the ship’s orientation during maneuvering, not all downward thrusters will contribute 100% to the ship lift.
If the thrusters are angled away from the planet’s center of gravity, their effective lift value will decrease accordingly. A thruster angled at 45 degrees will only contribute cos(45°) = 70.7% of its total force for lift. If not taken into account, this can make a ship plummet to the ground when not maneuvering it carefully
due to insufficient lateral thruster force when rolling the aircraft too much for example. So this should be calculated or tested before actually finishing a ship design to prevent a bad surprise.

Note2

The “x5” / “x10” inventory setting will also affect the calculation.
The game will divide the cargo mass by the set inventory multiplier when calculating thruster lift.
So a cargo mass of 100,000 kg will only count as 10,000 kg if the “x10” inventory multiplier is set.
This means a ship with atmospheric thrusters can potentially lift 10 times more cargo mass with the same thrust than it normally could if an “x10” inventory multiplier is set.
However, the right HUD panel when inside of a ship doesn’t correct the cargo mass to reflect the mass taken into account for lift.
So that means when having a ship with a net mass of 100,000 kg and transporting 100,000 kg of cargo with a 10x inventory multiplier,
the panel will show 200,000 kg of mass while in reality, it will take only 110,000 kg (ship mass + cargo/10) of mass into account for the calculation of lift ability.

Thruster Damage

If Thruster Damage is enabled for a map or server, thruster flames will deal damage while active to any blocks directly behind within a certain distance with a few exceptions making it possible to build “landing pads” for small ships. The “danger zone” varies in size based on the thrust being applied by the thruster. Larger thrusters can deal damage further out than smaller thrusters.

The table above and the images below give an indication of the damage distances for small and large thrusters and ships. They apply only to blocks directly behind the thruster and do not account for damage to adjacent blocks.

All thrusters from standard thrusters, hydrogen, and Atmospheric deal thruster damage to varying degrees if enabled, generally the more powerful the thruster the larger the danger zone becomes.

Note: The ranges displayed in this gallery are outdated. Refer to the overview table for accurate flame (damage) lengths.

Thruster Damage Immunity

Small-Grid-sized thruster flames do not damage any block with a Deformation Ratio under 25%; which are listed below:

Attention : This doesnt mean the flame doesnt pass these blocks : any block behind will still suffer from damages.

Visual Damage Sizes for all Thrusters (as of 1.198.033)

Small Grid Thrusters Damage

Large Grid Thrusters Damage

History

Before Update 01.105, Thrusters used to have two specific modes: a normal thrust and the inertial dampening thrust. Normal Thrust is used when manually piloting with the keys and mouse or using the thrust override slider and a dampening thrust that is automatically providing 10x more force for 50% more electricity consumption. All Thrusters from large to small when inertial dampening is on and the ship is moving, will kick in and attempt to slow the ship to a stop. Due to this, ships were much more able to come to a complete stop than they were able to accelerate before that update.

Before Update 01.107, all Small Ship thrusters would receive a 5x boost to thrust when under the automatic control of inertial dampeners (not the player or ‘thrust override’) attempting to stop the ship, for no increase in both power usage or fuel usage.

Currently, all kinds of thrusters (whether small or large ships) do not have any special super-dampening capabilities beyond their rated maximum thrust and power consumption.