2.5 km/s, straight down: hot drops and tactical burns
Published · Updated
A ship with a jump drive can fall from Top to Low at 2.5 km/s, about 10 seconds for 24 km. That is the hot drop. Its sideways twin, the tactical burn, crosses an area in a straight line at the same speed. Neither costs fuel.
Who can
Only ships with a jump drive: the carrier (12 s spool) and the Hawkeye scouts (4 s). Strikers have no drive. Out flying, they stay behind; docked ones ride along. So the bold play is to hot drop in, launch, and hot ascend away.
The hot drop
Press a band key twice quickly (Shift+1 to Shift+4 within 400 ms), or double-click a band button.
- The drive spools, as for a jump. The ship noses over gradually as it spools.
- It falls or climbs at 2.5 km/s, then eases onto the band, slowing as it gets close.
- A group goes together once the last ship is spooled.
How far it noses over depends on its class: fighters 78°, scouts 75°, frigates 35°, carriers 18°, the biggest ships 10°. A huge hull on end would look like a dropped toy.
Committed. While spooling, any other order calls it off. Once falling, it ignores every order until it arrives.
The path must be clear. Enemy ships and craft block it, and so do our own big ships; our small craft get out of the way. If something is in the column when it would start, the drop is called off. If something comes into the column on the way, the ship pulls out about 1.5 km short and goes back to the band it left at its normal pace.
Why still go the slow way
A hot drop is not free in practice:
- The escort can’t come. Fighters have no drive, so a hot drop arrives alone.
- It is a straight, committed fall that can’t fight back.
- It is loud on purpose. The hull glows, brightest on the face leading into the air, and a streak trails behind it, up to six ship lengths. Anyone looking at that sky sees exactly where and when you came down.
The tactical burn
Key B, or Burn on the command card: pick a spot in the area you are viewing. Each ship’s footprint and path, a corridor as wide as the ship, is drawn; confirm in the menu.
- The ships spool while turning to face the spot, and go only once spooled and within 2° of their line. Nose first, no sideways burns.
- A group burns together, each ship on its own parallel line.
- Not at Low: a straight line at 2.5 km/s just over the terrain would hit the hills.
- No bull-rushing. A path blocked by enemies or our big ships is drawn red and refused. Something that moves into the path on the way stops the ship 300 m short of it.
No fuel
Jumps cost fuel from the rocket equation; hot drops and burns cost none. The reason is in the owner’s own words: nobody should waste time saving slivers of fuel. See Jump drives and fuel.
While the carrier is hot dropping or burning, nobody starts through its hangar bays: the line waits. A disabled ship can’t jump, hot drop or burn.
The numbers and the reasons behind them: height bands, hot drops and burns.