Ticks, Steps, And Travel

Track The 15-Minute Tick

A game tick occurs every 15 minutes at :00, :15, :30, and :45.

Each tick refreshes the navigation steps for your current ship. Over time, ticks also move market stock and prices toward their usual local balance.

Travel, repairs, module installation and removal, parking, launching, and combat all use the same step allowance. Plan these actions together.

Calculate Step And Credit Costs

Your ship's effective speed is exactly its navigation-point allowance per tick, including all installed-module bonuses and penalties.

Each normal-drive leg costs one navigation point plus credits. Higher fuel efficiency reduces the credit cost.

If your balance cannot cover the next leg, the emergency drive takes over automatically and uses any remaining credits. It normally costs two navigation points per leg, reducing the distance you can travel during that tick.

A ship with only one navigation point per tick is an exception: emergency drive uses that one point and still travels one leg. A paid route can switch to emergency drive during the same tick as soon as its credits are depleted.

Parking, launching, repairing, installing a module, and removing a module each cost one navigation point. Faster ships can travel and act more often; slower ships require more advance planning.

Follow Links Between Bodies And Waypoints

Manual travel follows available links between celestial bodies and waypoints. Waypoints are open-space locations between the main bodies.

Waypoint names identify the inner and outer body. Their numbers always increase away from the sun, even when you travel inward.

Autopilot uses the same credit costs, navigation points, emergency-drive rules, and per-tick limits as manual travel. It continues at game ticks while you are offline or another character is active.

Most routes to a moon pass through its parent planet. Two moons that share the same parent planet are directly connected.