Airships and rockets: up through the sky.

Airships

The Zephyr is the game's airship: a 34 m gondola with windows, the helm at her bow, two petrol engines on outriggers and a great envelope of gas bags. Her gas bags lift her, and she is built so her lift is always well over her own weight.

• Climbing and sinking: jump to climb and crouch to sink. She climbs and sinks at most about 5 m/s.
• Holding height: let go of the controls and she holds her height.
• Getting aboard: the door is on the port side at ground level, and her bunks are down her starboard side.

Airships can be built in the Shipwright with a gondola of wood or of light alloy. Her envelope is always filled until she has enough lift.

Rockets and the sky

A rocket flies along her bow. Forward, back, left and right are the usual keys. Her top speed depends on how high she is:

Where	Top speed
Low in the air	About 60 m/s
High in the air, a tenth of the way to the sky's edge	About three times that
Out in space on a classic world	About 120 m/s
Out in space on a true-size world	Enough to go round the world in about an hour

The sky ends at a height over the sea that depends on the world: about 1,500 m on the classic worlds and about 100 km on the true-size ones. Straight up, a rocket clears the sky in about two minutes. The flight computer holds a climb under the engines at about 60 m/s, so the ground can keep up. Once in space, a rocket hangs where she is unless her engines push her, and gravity fades out as she climbs.

The rocket's fuel tanks hold 1,500 units each. Rocket engines burn fuel at full thrust, and a rocket that runs dry stops. Refuel at a port, where her tanks take fuel from the bag.

The Slipstream Drive

Above the sky, a rocket with a Slipstream Drive can go much faster. At the helm in space, press the Slipstream key (X on the keyboard, or the left stick press on a pad) to switch it on or off.

• The drive spools up for about 2.5 seconds, then comes fully in over about 1.5 seconds.
• Fully in, the rocket goes up to 50 times her normal top speed. She drives herself on full ahead, so you do not need to hold the throttle.
• Long courses are faster the further they go. On a true-size world, a trip of several AU takes a few minutes, not hours.
• The Slipstream stops for you when you let go of it, or when you arrive. Her speed is then eased down so she stops at the place you chose.

The Slipstream cannot be kept on in a fight. As soon as a hostile craft comes within about 5 km, the drive is cut. See Dogfighting for how fights run.

The Vector Drive

A starship with a Vector Drive jumps between stars. Each jump covers up to 15 light years, and it costs fuel, which is set by how far the jump goes and how heavy the world is you are arriving at. Read the galaxy for the stars, and the Gate and the Vector Drive for jumps between universes.

A starship cannot use the Vector Drive while it is in a fight.

Landing

A rocket lands on the ground under her, and the landing gear comes down or up. It takes about 1.6 seconds to move the gear. A rocket that is too heavy for its engines cannot climb, so keep her light enough, and her fuel topped up.

The Kestrel fighter and the Skylark shuttle are both rockets. The Skylark goes up to orbit and down to any moon. The Longreach and the Humanity's Reach carrier are big enough that you step into a grav lift beam to go aboard.

For the ships themselves, see the fleet.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.