Frame Shift Drive

Device that allows super cruise travel and hyperspace jumps between star systems.

— In-Game Description

The Frame Shift Drive (FSD) is a revolutionary ship hyperdrive system manufactured by Sirius Corporation. It was introduced to the market in 3297 after decades of secretive development, and promptly rendered all other hyperdrives obsolete. The Frame Shift Drive features two modes: supercruise, which allows travel at faster-than-light speeds within a star system, and jumping, which allows rapid travel through hyperspace from one system to another. Most ships produced since 3297 come equipped with a Frame Shift Drive by default, and cannot be operated without one.

When in supercruise, rather than accelerating a ship through normal space, the Frame Shift Drive moves space around a ship to allow it to travel faster-than-light without using extreme amounts of energy or experiencing time distortion. This is similar in principle to the Alcubierre drive design. When traveling through hyperspace, the Frame Shift Drive opens a wormhole and forms a stable, temporary corridor between the point of departure and the destination for a ship to pass through. Most ships leave behind transient wakes after they jump.

The FSD SCO adds the capability of supercruise overcharge for much faster travel within a star system.

Usage

In order to activate the Frame Shift Drive, Hardpoints and Landing Gear must be retracted, the Cargo Hatch must be closed, and the ship must break away from any Mass Lock caused by proximity to a nearby capital ship, station, or planetary body. Heatsink Launchers, Frame Shift Drive Interdictors, and certain Scanners still function during supercruise.

Jump range

While the maximum hyperspace jump range of a ship is limited relative to the Frame Shift Drive's Class, Grade, and the total mass and available fuel of the ship, this range can be increased:

• Engineering can increase a Frame Shift Drive's base jump range by over 60%. This modification is always active and applies to every jump unless it is removed from the module.
• A Guardian Frame Shift Drive Booster can increase jump range by a flat amount of light years that differs based on the class of module that is installed.
• Using Synthesis, an FSD Injection can be produced to increase jump range for a single jump. Depending on the grade of the FSD Injection, the increase is +25%, +50%, or +100%.
• A Frame Shift Drive can be supercharged for a single jump by passing through the polar emission jets of white dwarf stars or neutron stars. This is a dangerous maneuver that strains and damages the FSD each time, but the jump range increase is considerable: x1.25 for white dwarfs and x4 for neutron stars. FSD supercharging cannot be stacked with an FSD Injection.

Supercruise

Main article: Supercruise, Frame Shift Drive (SCO)

Supercruise enables FTL travel within a star system. By fitting the ship with a FSD SCO (C-Class) it can overcharge to accelerate 100x the speed of light in seconds.

Hyperspace Fuel Equation

The effective fuel consumption of a ship traveling in hyperspace can be calculated with the help of the formula below. The formula is speculative and was in part deduced from user experimentation.

$\text{Fuel equation:}f=r\times {(d\times \frac{m_{Ship}}{m_{Opt}})}^p\times 10^{-3}$

• f = fuel consumed per jump in tons
• r = linear constant. This constant depends upon the rating of the frame shift drive.

Rating	A	B	C	D	E
Linear Constant	12	10	8	10	11

• d = jump distance in light years

• mShip = the mass of the entire ship including its cargo in tons and before fuel is consumed for the hyperspace jump itself

• mOpt = the optimal mass of the frameshift drive in tons as indicated in-game by the outfitters. The total mass of the ship can exceed this value.

• p = power constant. This constant depends upon the class of the frame shift drive.

Class	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Power Constant	2.00	2.15	2.30	2.45	2.60	2.75	2.90

Specifications

Class	Rating	Mass (T)	Integrity	Power Draw	FSD Optimal Mass (T)	Max Fuel Per Jump (T)	Value (CR)
2	E	2.50	46	0.16	48.0	0.60	1,978
2	D	1.00	41	0.18	54.0	0.60	5,934
2	C	2.50	51	0.20	60.0	0.60	17,803
2	B	4.00	77	0.25	75.0	0.80	53,408
2	A	2.50	56	0.30	90.0	0.90	160,224
3	E	5.00	58	0.24	80.0	1.20	6,271
3	D	2.00	51	0.27	90.0	1.20	18,812
3	C	5.00	64	0.30	100.0	1.20	56,435
3	B	8.00	96	0.38	125.0	1.50	169,304
3	A	5.00	80	0.45	150.0	1.80	507,912
4	E	10.00	72	0.24	280.0	2.00	19,878
4	D	4.00	64	0.27	315.0	2.00	59,633
4	C	10.00	80	0.30	350.0	2.00	178,898
4	B	16.00	120	0.38	438.0	2.50	536,693
4	A	10.00	100	0.45	525.0	3.00	1,610,080
5	E	20.00	86	0.32	560.0	3.30	63,013
5	D	8.00	77	0.36	630.0	3.30	189,036
5	C	20.00	96	0.40	700.0	3.30	567,106
5	B	32.00	144	0.50	875.0	4.10	1,701,318
5	A	20.00	120	0.60	1,050.0	5.00	5,103,953
6	E	40.00	102	0.40	960.0	5.30	199,747
6	D	16.00	90	0.45	1,080.0	5.30	599,242
6	C	40.00	113	0.50	1,200.0	5.30	1,797,726
6	B	64.00	170	0.63	1,500.0	6.60	5,393,177
6	A	40.00	141	0.75	1,800.0	8.00	16,179,531
7	E	80.00	118	0.48	1,440.0	8.50	633,200
7	D	32.00	105	0.54	1,620.0	8.50	1,899,600
7	C	80.00	131	0.60	1,800.0	8.50	5,698,790
7	B	128.00	197	0.75	2,250.0	10.60	17,096,370
7	A	80.00	164	0.90	2,700.0	12.80	51,289,110

Engineering

This module can be modified by Engineers to enhance its abilities.

Modifications

The following modifications can be applied to this module:

• Faster boot sequence
• Increased range
• Shielded

Experimental Effects

The following Experimental Effects can be applied to this module:

• Deep Charge
• Mass Manager
• Double Braced
• Stripped Down
• Thermal Spread

Purchase Locations

Class	Rating	System	Station
All	All	Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial
All	All	Brestla	i Sola Prospect
All	All	Bhritzameno	Feynman Terminal
All	All	LHS 3595	Chaudhary Hub
All	All	Okinura	Bennett Gateway
All	All	Slink's Eye	Kelleam Ring
All	All	LFT 1103	Kirk Ring
All	All	Edin	Viehbock Dock
All	All	Tellus	Ahern Enterprise
All	All	Beta-2 Tucanae	Mouchez Orbital
All	All	Latuba	Soukup City
All	All	Midgard	Rontgen Port

Pre-Engineered FSD V1

A pre-Engineered Class 5 Frame Shift Drive with Increased Range and Faster Boot Sequence named "Engineered FSD V1" can be purchased at Human Technology Brokers. Unlike unlocking most other Technology Broker items, which makes them permanently available for purchase with credits at station outfitting services, unlocking the Engineered FSD V1 immediately places one module in local storage at no additional cost. The module must also be unlocked repeatedly in order to obtain multiple copies. Applying any other Engineering modifications to this module will remove the bonus second modification, but an Experimental Effect can be safely added or replaced.

Unlocking requires the following Materials:

• 18 Datamined Wake Exceptions
• 26 Tellurium
• 26 Electrochemical Arrays
• 28 Chemical Processors

Pre-Engineered FSD (SCO) V1

Similarly to the Pre-Engineered FSD V1 mentioned above, Human Technology Brokers offer SCO-capable Frame Shift Drives for purchase. Unlocking the Engineered FSD (SCO) V1 immediately places one module in local storage at no additional cost. These Frame Shift Drives are pre-engineered with the increased range and faster boot sequence modifications.

Overview of the Statistics of the Pre-Engineered Frameshift Drives (SCO) V1 according to edsy.org

Class	Rating	Mass/t	Integrity	Power Draw/MW	Boot Time/s	Optimised Mass/t	Thermal Load 1/s	Max Fuel/Jump /t
2	A	3.25	44.8	0.345	2	170	12	1
3	A	6.5	56	0.5175	2	283.9	16.8	1.9
4	A	13	70	0.5175	2	994.5	21.6	3.2
5	A	26	84	0.69	2	1997.5	32.4	5.2
6	A	52	98.7	0.8825	2	3400	44.4	8.3
7	A	104	114.8	1.035	2	5100	51.6	13.1

Each of the pre-engineered SCO-capable Frameshift Drives requires a Titan Drive Component in order to be purchased. Titan Drive Components can be salvaged from destroyed Thargoid Titans.

Class	Rating	Purchase Costs
2	A	10x Datamined Wake Exceptions 14x Tellurium 6x Electrochemical Arrays 9x Chemical Processors 4x Propulsion Elements 1x Titan Drive Component
3	A	12x Datamined Wake Exceptions 16x Tellurium 9x Electrochemical Arrays 11x Chemical Processors 5x Propulsion Elements 1x Titan Drive Component
4	A	13x Datamined Wake Exceptions 20x Tellurium 9x Electrochemical Arrays 13x Chemical Processors 6x Propulsion Elements 1x Titan Drive Component
5	A	15x Datamined Wake Exceptions 24x Tellurium 12x Electrochemical Arrays 14x Chemical Processors 7x Propulsion Elements 1x Titan Drive Component
6	A	15x Datamined Wake Exceptions 28x Tellurium 12x Electrochemical Arrays 16x Chemical Processors 8x Propulsion Elements 1x Titan Drive Component
7	A	16x Datamined Wake Exceptions 28x Tellurium 14x Electrochemical Arrays 18x Chemical Processors 12x Propulsion Elements 1x Titan Drive Component

Notes

• Being close to any mass will affect the FSD charge time. While being next to a heavier ship will merely make it charge slower, the FSD will get mass-locked should the ship be next to something extremely massive (station, asteroid field, etc.) and will be unable to charge at all.
• The FSD generates a small amount of heat while it charges up for the impending jump. This is amplified significantly within the scooping range of stars. Multiple careless charges within the scooping radius of a star could lead to significant damage, so care should be taken when charging the FSD near stars.
• For the original documentation of the hyperspace fuel equation, see this Reddit post.

Trivia

• The Frame Shift Drive is nicknamed the "Friendship Drive" due to the similar pronunciation. Some people made fan art. For example: 1."My girlfriend shouts, "yay friendship drive!" whenever I charge my FSD for the first time in a session. Every time. It's like she forgets.", 2. "So funny thing, my wife asked me what game I was playing with the friendship drive. I was like, what? Now I get it.", 3. "My SO and my stepdaughter loved this. They always say Friendship Drive Engaged when I'm playing."

Videos

• File:Everything you need to know about the Frame Shift Drive - Elite Dangerous Internals Guide
• File:Elite Dangerous - Lore & History - Frame Shift Drives
• File:Friendship Drive Engaged
• File:How to Engineer the New BEST FSD! - Elite Dangerous Guide 2024

Gallery

• 
  Hyperspace jump
• 
  Fer-de-Lance in Witch-space
• 
  Hyperspace jump in a Sidewinder
• 
  Anaconda hyperspace jump
• 
  Ship enters hyperspace
• 
  Friendship Drive Engaged