Supercruise

Supercruise is a method of "fast travel" within planetary systems. A ship that is in Supercruise is using its Frame Shift Drive to accelerate to speeds from 30 kilometers-per-second to superluminal (faster-than-light), allowing a ship to cross entire solar-systems in a relatively short amount of time.

In Supercruise, speeds are typically measured in multiples of the speed of light, represented as C or in Megameters, represented as Mm (1C = 30Mm). A ship that is traveling at 1c is therefore traveling at the speed of light. Speeds in Supercruise are highly dependent on distance from bodies of mass, and achieving higher speeds is only possible by distancing oneself from large bodies of mass.

It should be noted that in Elite: Dangerous, FTL travel is not subject to relativity; a ship's frame of time is always the same as to the surrounding universe.

Entering Supercruise

File:Elite Dangerous Tutorial Fast Supercruise Travel

1. Select target that is in-system through the Navigation Panel
2. Use the Supercruise button (default is J) - Supercruise will be engaged
3. Once the FSD is charged, throttle up to engage Supercruise
4. Use flight controls to navigate as usual
5. Keep an eye on where your Target Information is displayed - Try to get the vertical orange lines within the blue sections at the same time
6. Press the Supercruise button again to disengage Supercruise mode

Notes

• Use Hyperspace when traveling to other systems.
• Maximum Supercruise speed is determined by the proximity to stellar bodies and the direction the ship is heading relative to the stellar body.
  • Heading towards a stellar body will decrease maximum speed while heading away will increase maximum speed.
• Supercruise cannot be engaged if the ship is Mass Locked (i.e. too close to a large body of mass such as stations or planets) or if it has anything deployed (such as Landing Gear, Cargo Scoop, or Hardpoints).
• The blue lines in Supercruise are indicators of a planet - As the circles spread outwards from the center your ship is getting closer.
• The orange lines in Supercruise are indicators of stellar body orbits.
• You can not use Supercruise to travel between systems.

Trivia

• Maximum Supercruise speed (when not affected by stellar bodies) is 2,001c and takes 57 min to reach.

  File:From HR 7729 to HIP 99940.jpg

  Supercruised to another system.

  • It would take 4h 22m 51s to travel 1 light year at maximum Supercruise speed.
• Using Supercruise to travel between system will just get the targeted distance from the starting system.