Planetary Movement and Distances
Yes, the Planets Move. Yes, their distance matters. Yes, It's a pain sometimes
The Planets Move
Much like real life, the planets in Galactifun move, and are thus not a stationary distance away from earth. And this distance MATTERS. Getting to the moon is easy, but once you start pushing beyond that you will be hit with a realiziation: you will not always be able to go to a planet depending on timing.
I first encountered this with my first attempt to get to Mars. I got my Tier II Rocket created, got plenty of fuel to fully fill the rocket. got everything in place, put down the rocket, filled it to the brim with delicious fuel buckets. Right click on the rocket, and....
WHY IS MARS NOT IN THE LIST?
After searching for answer, I found the answer. The planets move, and even with a Tier II Rocket filled with fuel, Mars can at times be too far for you to launch to.
Dispelling False Info
After working through this mod, I've realized there is some bad info out there. So I'm here to correct this info.
The Observatory "Finds" Planets
Several people online have claimed that before you can rocket to a planet, you need to use the observatory to observe a planet, only then will it show up as a place your rocket can go to. This is wrong. As long as your rocket has the fuel to make the difference, you can go to any planet.
What the observatory actually does is two main things:
- View the current distance of all planets, even ones your rocket can't reach right now
- Observe a planet, which gives you details like temp and atmosphere to prepare before you go there
How Far Does Fuel Go
Simply put, for each bucket of fuel, you'll be able to go 2 million km (2,000,000 km).
Here's a breakdown for the max distance for each rocket type:
- Rocket Tier I: 20 million km (20,000,000 km) | 10 fuel
- Rocket Tier II: 200 million km (200,000,000 km) | 100 fuel
- Rocket Tier III: 1 billion km (1,000,000,000 km) | 500 fuel
- Ion Rocket: TBD
Ammonia Fuel = 4x efficiency
Methan Fuel = 6x efficiency