Space Engineers
Atmospheric Lift
Leaving a planet in Space Engineers comes down to thrust against weight, and you would much rather discover a shortfall on paper than halfway up.
Atmospheric Lift
Large Atmospheric
Small Atmospheric
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How the numbers are worked out
Two things set the thrust you need: the gravity of the planet and the mass of the ship once it is loaded. On top of that, every thruster type has a very different output depending on whether there is air around it. Pick the planet and your real cargo weight, and the calculator gives the count of each thruster type required.
The formula
- force needed = ship mass × planet gravity
- thrusters = ceil(force ÷ (thrust per unit × atmospheric efficiency))
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Common mistakes
Ion thrusters do almost nothing in atmosphere and shine in vacuum — which is why a ship that handles perfectly in space cannot get off the ground. Size atmospheric thrusters for take-off and ion thrusters for everything afterwards.
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