Hydrazine Thruster

The Hydrazine Thruster is a vehicle propulsion item used to launch Shuttles and, in a limited way, Rovers. It is primarily mounted on the bottom of a Shuttle to enable interplanetary travel, but it can also be attached to the front or back of a single Rover to give it a burst of speed and extra airtime. The thruster has a Tier 2 attachment point on top, allowing it to be mounted to any vehicle or object with a Tier 2 slot, and it also has three Tier 1 slots around the nozzle for fuel canisters.

A Hydrazine Thruster is fueled by Hydrazine canisters placed in its lower slots. Only a canister that actually contains Hydrazine will power the thruster, and up to three canisters can be connected. One full canister provides 8 burns, whether those burns are used for liftoff from a planet or for transitions between planets. With all three fuel slots filled, the thruster can provide a maximum of 24 burns. Returning from orbit to a planet’s surface does not consume fuel.

When used on a Rover, the thruster can be toggled while seated in a Rover Seat: the left context key activates a rear-mounted thruster, and the right context key activates a front-mounted one. This makes it useful for short bursts of speed and long jumps, but it burns fuel quickly and can easily flip the vehicle if handled carelessly. Rover trains cannot be propelled by Hydrazine Thrusters.

Because of its reliance on Hydrazine, the thruster is usually supported by a broader resource loop. Hydrazine itself is one of the chemical resources tied to atmospheric collection and advanced production, so the thruster commonly comes into play after the player has established chemical manufacturing and wants reliable long-range travel. It is also a high-value trade objective in practice, since rare resources cost more Scrap on the Trade Platform.

• The thruster can be attached to any vehicle with a compatible Tier 2 slot, but its main use is on Shuttles.
• It must be mounted on the Shuttle’s bottom side to allow spaceflight.
• Filling all three fuel slots gives the longest possible operating range.
• Using it on a Rover greatly increases speed and airtime, but also raises the risk of losing the vehicle if it leaves the playable area.
• If the thruster is attached to a vehicle storage arrangement improperly, it can behave unpredictably; one known issue causes a free-floating thruster with no attached object to become a permanent satellite in space.