I'll just turn off inertial dampeners and feather thrusters between 92-100m/s. It's more convenient. Also, if I have to sudden take over the ship, it's just one key (Z) and I'm back.

The slow climb versus maximum power isn't going to matter much in fuel economy.. What makes the difference actually is fuel efficiency between large and small thrusters. Large thrusters are always more efficient. So turn off the small thrusters unless they are necessary.

If you really want fuel efficiency in space, fly slower and coast (disable inertial dampeners). Takes a lot longer to get somewhere, but you burn way less fuel to accelerate / decelerate…

My solution is to switch off/on the backwards thrusters with a button on the toolbar. Makes coasting really simple and you still can avoid stuff.

Normally in space I keep it simple, accelerate to 100m/s and disable dampeners until I'm close to target and then re-enable when close (under 2km) to target, basically coasting most of the way like wig said - saving a huge amount of fuel

When leaving a planet I have dampeners off, accelerate to 100, let it drop to 75-80'ish and re-accelerate back to 100. This saves a lot of fuel vs keeping thrusters on constant till out of the atmosphere.

I always coast, folks (I thought that was a no-brainer), but I do it by turning off braking thrusters rather than inertial dampeners, unless I'm purposefully kiting an asteroid. This lets me keep control in case I need to "pull up" to avoid something without prematurely braking. So again, the question is whether slow acceleration is more efficient than fast acceleration. I also thought there was something special about setting thrust directly vs pressing "W", something I read long ago and have since forgotten...

Originally posted by Ronin Planetary Industries:

The slow climb versus maximum power isn't going to matter much in fuel economy.. What makes the difference actually is fuel efficiency between large and small thrusters. Large thrusters are always more efficient. So turn off the small thrusters unless they are necessary.

I knew that one large thruster is more efficient when it comes to PCU than the equivalent multiple small thrusters, but I didn't know it was more efficient when it comes to fuel consumption per given amount of thrust.. I'd like to confirm this - there must be some sort of value in the .sbc files defining thrusters, because I thought it was the opposite - usuallly "big engines" use more fuel than small ones IRL, though obviously that's assumine a 1-to-1 comparision.

In general the thrusters are not energy/fuel efficient and its easy to waste. The game doesn't cut thrust when at max speed.

In 2021, I made a script for someone that did thruster override to get out of gravity well by increasing thrust override up to 95m/s or something, and if its over that then decrease thrust override. Then when out of gravity, remove the override.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/0/5913784177851702445/

Originally posted by ShadedMJ:

In general the thrusters are not energy/fuel efficient and its easy to waste. The game doesn't cut thrust when at max speed.

In 2021, I made a script for someone that did thruster override to get out of gravity well by increasing thrust override up to 95m/s or something, and if its over that then decrease thrust override. Then when out of gravity, remove the override.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/244850/discussions/0/5913784177851702445/

This can now be done with event controllers, which I myself do. I just don't know if it's "worth the effort" to use the override vs holding down "W" to get to a given speed. I'm beginning to think nobody else does either.

I guess I'm going to have to "science the $*%%" out of this and figure it out myself. Time to dig out paper, pencil, and stopwatch, LOL.

Originally posted by Captain Canard:

I always coast, folks (I thought that was a no-brainer), but I do it by turning off braking thrusters rather than inertial dampeners, unless I'm purposefully kiting an asteroid. This lets me keep control in case I need to "pull up" to avoid something without prematurely braking. So again, the question is whether slow acceleration is more efficient than fast acceleration. I also thought there was something special about setting thrust directly vs pressing "W", something I read long ago and have since forgotten...

I think the only real efficiency gain is in the speed you're aiming for. If you accelerate to 100m/s, coast, and then decelerate back down to 0m/s you burn a lot more fuel than if you accelerate to only 20m/s and then coast and decelerate to 0m/s. As I said, it will take a lot more time to get to wherever it is you're going, but it will save lots of fuel.

Originally posted by wig:

I think the only real efficiency gain is in the speed you're aiming for. If you accelerate to 100m/s, coast, and then decelerate back down to 0m/s you burn a lot more fuel than if you accelerate to only 20m/s and then coast and decelerate to 0m/s. As I said, it will take a lot more time to get to wherever it is you're going, but it will save lots of fuel.

This is definitely true. I don't have the patience for 20 m/s to asteroid hop, but I also rarely go the full 100 m/s unless I'm going a truly long distance.

In case you're all wondering why I'm fussing, this is for early game, before I have reactor-powered refueling stations and jump drives for long distance hops. Like RL, I feel the cost of fuel right now!

In Space I use single direction main engines and flip them to decelerate with dampners on. Its very efficient. The only other thrusters I have are very small ions for retros but I only use those to dampen the last few m/s, comming down from 100+ m/s is all done by rotating main engines. (I'm playing with Tealistic Thrusters and Reentry but it works in vanilla too)

Im kinda getting annoyed at myself for allways suggesting a Mod or Script buuuut:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1316048908

Works in Space aswell Ofcurse.

Originally posted by Pirate Roberts:

In Space I use single direction main engines and flip them to decelerate with dampners on. Its very efficient. The only other thrusters I have are very small ions for retros but I only use those to dampen the last few m/s, comming down from 100+ m/s is all done by rotating main engines. (I'm playing with Tealistic Thrusters and Reentry but it works in vanilla too)

Flip and burn, here comes the juice!

I’ve set up procedures for all of my stations. They make things much easier and help save both fuel and time. One of those things you learn while playing around with flight simulators.

I map out the points:

H1 - Hold-1 (Hold Fix) - The point at which the approach to docking or the landing begins. There could be several, for example if there are many autonomous drones.

IP - Initial Point - The point at which communication is established - in this case, the point at which the ship or dock comes within range. In my setup, this is a communications satellite linked to a station via a laser antenna; its own antenna typically has a range of 1000–2500 meters. So, once a ship enters this range, it gains the ability to communicate with the station. It can check the weather, take a look via a camera, and so on.

G-Border - boundary of the gravitation;

A-Border - Atmospheric boundary – I don’t use it actively, but I record it in the description of the G-Border waypoint; that way, during the approach, I can always check and remind myself what the altitude is, so I don’t have to memorise this.

EP - Enter Point (Base Point) - Followed by the final approach. At this point, the spacecraft should already be configured for docking and maintain a close distance to this point. This one is useful, especially if the dock is hidden for instance, inside an icy asteroid. If every vessel is required to reach this point before docking, you know exactly where to look, as they always approach along the same line. Even in the absence of communication or radio announcements, you can visually verify whether the path is clear.

A separate point for each dock, located at a distance ranging from 100/250 m to 500 m for large vessels, depending on the size of the station, the dock, and the ships. Marks the beginning of the Final Approach.

Dock - Usually without marked waypoints, but it comes in handy at Pertam, since landings sometimes take place in conditions with zero visibility.

Even for npc stations I’ve already visited, I place these markers and fly through everything in an almost procedural way.