The FTL Drive provides a form of movement used to travel large distances such as between solar systems or to quickly jump within the system. Travel between star systems occurs at about 20 light years per minute. In-system jumps occur at a slower speed. Before a jump can actually start the FTL drives must spin up to the correct field strength which is adjusted for damage from combat. Multiple FTL drives will reduce the spin up time and increase ship speed during in-system movement. Interstellar speed on the star map is Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; text-align:justify; text-justify:inter-ideograph; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} also improved with the existence of multiple drives. Due to the energy requirements all armament is powered down and unavailable during spin up. Forward speed is also zero during spin up due to the nature of the FTL field modifying the laws of physics. When the ship returns to normal space the pre-FTL speed is restored.

Ion Drive engines are used for both acceleration and maneuvering of the ship during non-FTL movement. Each engine is equipped with its own fuel tank holding 250 units of Xenon gas. The Xenon gas is consumed while maneuvering the ship in a planetary system. The tanks can be filled when your ship is at the mission screen.