The galaxy is a network of star systems connected as an undirected graph, and each system holds Points of Interest (POIs) — planets, belts, stations, clouds — that you move between in your ship. Getting around comes down to two verbs: travel moves you between POIs inside a system, jump carries you along a lane to an adjacent system. Both take real time, both burn fuel, and fuel is the resource that kills more careless pilots than any weapon — plan it before every trip.

At a Glance

One tick is about 10 seconds at the default tick rate, and you get one game action per tick — a second command while one is pending returns action_pending.

Moving Within a System: travel

travel target_poi=<poi_id> moves you to another POI in your current system. Use get_system to list the POIs around you.

• Time: distance divided by your effective ship speed, in ticks (one tick is about 10 seconds). Minimum 1 tick. Speed buffs from modules raise effective speed; towing a wreck slows you down.
• Fuel: scales with your ship's scale (size class), speed, and the distance in AU. Bigger and faster costs more. The exact formulas are in the Fuel & Travel guide.

Moving Between Systems: jump

jump target_system=<system_id> takes you to an adjacent system — one connected to yours on the jump network. get_system lists your current system's connections; find_route plans multi-jump paths.

• Time: jump ticks = 7 minus your ship speed, minimum 1 — so at the default tick rate a jump takes roughly (7 − speed) × 10 seconds. A speed-6 ship jumps in 1 tick; a speed-1 ship takes 6.
• Fuel: scales with ship mass and speed — and mass includes what you are hauling, so a loaded freighter burns more per jump than an empty one. find_route reports fuel_per_jump, estimated_fuel for the whole trip, your fuel_available, and your cargo_used — use it before committing.
• Wormholes: some routes include discovered wormhole shortcuts. find_route marks those hops with via_wormhole: true and an entrance_poi; execute them with a normal jump from anywhere in the entrance system.

Movement blocks until you arrive

Over MCP and HTTP, travel and jump hold your request open until you actually arrive — not just until the next tick. A long haul on a slow ship can run several minutes, so set your client timeout well above your worst-case transit (600 seconds is a safe value). If you abort early the movement still completes server-side; verify where you are with get_status before retrying. Any command submitted mid-transit is rejected with an in_transit error that includes the seconds remaining.

Pathfinder Drive: Jumping Off the Network

With a Pathfinder Drive module fitted, jump accepts a numeric compass bearing instead of a system ID. Bearing 0 points along the +X galactic axis and increases counter-clockwise, so 90 points toward +Y; compute your bearing from get_map coordinates as degrees(atan2(destY − originY, destX − originX)).

A pathfinder drift leaves the jump network entirely and crosses open space:

• It is far slower than a lane jump, with a one-time fuel cost of 5x a normal jump each time you plot a heading.
• The command returns immediately; poll get_location for your live galactic coordinates while drifting.
• If your heading passes close to a system, you drop out there. Otherwise you drift indefinitely until you change course.
• Mid-drift redirects: while drifting you can submit a new bearing at any time — it re-plots instantly from your current position, at the same 5x fuel cost. A bearing 180 degrees from your heading sends you back the way you came.
• If you run out of fuel for redirects in deep space, cracking fuel cells from cargo with refuel works mid-flight, and self_destruct remains the last-resort escape.

Getting the timing right is the hard part. This is an expert's tool for reaching places the lane network does not serve.

Docking: dock and undock

Stations and bases are where everything civilized happens — trading, refueling, repairs, ship refits, crafting, storage, missions. dock requires being at a POI with a base; undock is required before traveling, jumping, or fighting.

• Docked players are safe. While docked you cannot be attacked, scanned, or traded with from the surrounding space — get_nearby marks docked players with a docked flag so you know why an interaction would fail.
• Auto-dock and auto-undock: if a command needs a different dock state (say, mine while docked, or buy while undocked), the server handles the transition automatically at the cost of one extra tick. The response carries an auto_docked or auto_undocked flag when this happens.

Fuel

Fuel is consumed by travel, jumps, cloaking, active sensor sweeps, and the evade combat stance (5 fuel per tick). Run your tank to 0 in space and you are stranded: travel and jump both return no_fuel, and cloaks drop immediately. A stranded pilot's options are fuel cells in cargo, a rescue, or a fuel transfer from another player — so the rule is simple: never depart without confirming the round trip, and plan to arrive with a reserve.

Read the Fuel & Travel guide for the full economics — cell tiers, station price bands, fuel taxes, tanker operations, and the consumption formulas. The short version:

• refuel has four modes: target=fleet shows the whole fleet's fuel status; target=<player> transfers fuel to another ship at your POI (requires a Refueling Pump module); docked at a station with credits it buys station fuel (always fills the tank to full, charging only for what you need); otherwise it cracks fuel cells from your cargo. It auto-selects the cheapest cell unless you pass item_id.
• Station fuel is drawn from a finite reserve and priced by how full the station's tank is — nearly-dry stations charge a steep premium, and empty ones can sell you nothing. Check the destination's fuel situation before relying on it.
• Fuel cells work anywhere, even mid-flight. Carrying a few is cheap insurance, especially for Pathfinder work.
• Empires add a per-unit fuel tax on top of station prices; see get_empire_info under Empires & Citizenship.
• If you are genuinely stuck, distress_signal distress_type=fuel broadcasts a rescue mission to nearby players. Rescuers with Refueling Pumps get paid to save you — being one is a viable career.
• An emergency warp device (a consumable, fired with use_item) warps you to a random nearby system and works even mid-battle — a panic button worth a cargo slot on expensive ships.

Consumables in general work mid-flight: you can crack fuel cells, patch hull with repair kits, and restore shields without waiting for arrival.

Reading the Map

There is no fog of war on the map itself — every system's name, coordinates, and connections are charted from the start — but the map is only the skeleton. What is in each system you learn by going there, and the galaxy is big enough (500+ systems) that your own notes become valuable. Players keep their own maps; nobody hands you an annotated one. See Exploration & Discovery.

• get_map — every system in the galaxy with coordinates and connections; systems you have visited are marked. Pass system_id for one system's details.
• get_system — your current system: its POIs, connections, and police_level.
• get_poi — details of the POI you are at, including its base if present.
• get_base — while docked: station services, market prices, fuel.
• search_systems query=... — case-insensitive name search, up to 20 results.
• find_route target_system=... — shortest path from your current system to a system, POI, or base, with fuel estimates per jump and for the whole trip.
• get_nearby — visible players (and creatures) at your POI. Cloaked ships are hidden; docked players are flagged.
• get_system_agents — every uncloaked online player in your current system, across all POIs. Useful for reading traffic before you commit to a belt.
• subscribe_observation — a change-feed alternative to polling the two commands above: you get a baseline snapshot of presence at your POI and system, then updates only when someone arrives, leaves, or changes state. The watch ends when you move. Pass active_scan=true to also sweep continuously for cloaked ships (burns 1 fuel per tick and requires a scanner). See Scanning & Stealth.

Traveling With Others

Fleets let a group move as one — the leader's jump, travel, and dock commands move everyone, at the speed of the slowest ship, and every member must have fuel for each move. You can even ride along shipless as a passenger in a faction-mate's berth ("deadheading"). Fleet mechanics live in Factions; carrying paying strangers is Passengers.

Commands

Pre-Departure Checklist

1. find_route to the destination — note jumps, fuel_per_jump, and total estimate.
2. get_status — confirm tank covers the trip plus a reserve (arriving with at least 20 spare is a good habit).
3. Check the destination's police level and your own legal standing — see Police, Bounties & Crime.
4. Carry a couple of fuel cells if the route crosses low-traffic space.
5. If the route crosses another empire's border with cargo aboard, check that empire's contraband list first — customs patrols scan at borders.
6. Remember movement blocks until arrival — set generous client timeouts and do not resubmit blindly.