Jet Drive is the entry level engine tech in SFC2, and the one every player already owns. New accounts start with Jet Drive at level 3, so four ships are unlocked before you research anything. Each level adds 10% to the speed of every ship that runs a Jet Drive.
You research it from the Research page like any other tech. The level is account wide: research it once and every planet you own has it, including colonies you found later.
What it does
Two things.
- It makes Jet Drive ships faster. Every level adds 10% of the ship's printed base speed. It does not compound, so level 10 is double base speed and level 20 is triple.
- It unlocks ships. Seven ships list a Jet Drive level as a requirement, from the Artemis at level 1 up to the Carmanor at level 10.
That is the whole list. It does not touch cargo capacity, fuel burn, hull, shields or weapons. The in-game description says the Jet Drive powers "missiles and various other explosives", but that is leftover copy from the old game. In SFC2 it has no effect on Interplanetary Ballistic Missiles or Anti-Ballistic Missiles, whose flight time is a flat 15 seconds plus 30 seconds per solar system crossed no matter what you have researched.
Ships that use it
| Ship | Base speed | Needs Jet Drive | Also needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artemis Class Fighter | 12,500 | 1 | nothing else |
| Atlas Class Cargo | 5,000 | 2 | nothing else |
| Hermes Class Probe | 100,000,000 | 3 | Espionage Tech 2 |
| Zagreus Class Recycler | 3,500 | 3 | Energy Tech 3 |
| Dionysus Class Recycler | 2,000 | 6 | Shield Tech 2 |
| Hercules Class Cargo | 7,500 | 6 | nothing else |
| Carmanor Class Cargo | 4,000 | 10 | Expedition Tech 4 |
Three more units run a Jet Drive without asking for a level of it. The Shadow Probe is bought with credits and gets the same speed bonus as the Hermes. The Helios Class Solar Satellite and the Genesis Solar Satellite never move, so the tech does nothing for them. Everything else in the game runs a Pulse Drive or a Warp Drive.
Speed by level
| Jet Drive | Artemis | Atlas* | Zagreus | Hercules | Carmanor | Dionysus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| base | 12,500 | 5,000 | 3,500 | 7,500 | 4,000 | 2,000 |
| 1 | 13,750 | 5,500 | 3,850 | 8,250 | 4,400 | 2,200 |
| 2 | 15,000 | 6,000 | 4,200 | 9,000 | 4,800 | 2,400 |
| 3 | 16,250 | 6,500 | 4,550 | 9,750 | 5,200 | 2,600 |
| 4 | 17,500 | 7,000 | 4,900 | 10,500 | 5,600 | 2,800 |
| 5 | 18,750 | 7,500 | 5,250 | 11,250 | 6,000 | 3,000 |
| 6 | 20,000 | 8,000 | 5,600 | 12,000 | 6,400 | 3,200 |
| 7 | 21,250 | 8,500 | 5,950 | 12,750 | 6,800 | 3,400 |
| 8 | 22,500 | 9,000 | 6,300 | 13,500 | 7,200 | 3,600 |
| 9 | 23,750 | 9,500 | 6,650 | 14,250 | 7,600 | 3,800 |
| 10 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 7,000 | 15,000 | 8,000 | 4,000 |
| 11 | 26,250 | 10,500 | 7,350 | 15,750 | 8,400 | 4,200 |
| 12 | 27,500 | 11,000 | 7,700 | 16,500 | 8,800 | 4,400 |
| 13 | 28,750 | 11,500 | 8,050 | 17,250 | 9,200 | 4,600 |
| 14 | 30,000 | 12,000 | 8,400 | 18,000 | 9,600 | 4,800 |
| 15 | 31,250 | 12,500 | 8,750 | 18,750 | 10,000 | 5,000 |
| 16 | 32,500 | 13,000 | 9,100 | 19,500 | 10,400 | 5,200 |
| 17 | 33,750 | 13,500 | 9,450 | 20,250 | 10,800 | 5,400 |
| 18 | 35,000 | 14,000 | 9,800 | 21,000 | 11,200 | 5,600 |
*The Atlas only follows this column until you research Pulse Drive to level 5. See below.
There is no level cap, so the pattern keeps going. The probes are left out because the numbers are meaningless there: a Hermes goes from 100,000,000 to 220,000,000 at level 12, and both arrive in seconds.
You never have to work any of this out yourself. The Shipyard prints both figures on every ship: Base is the printed speed, Current is what your techs have made of it.
That is a Hercules at Jet Drive 12. Base 7,500, current 16,500.
The Atlas leaves at Pulse Drive 5
The Atlas Class Cargo starts on a Jet Drive and swaps to a Pulse Drive the moment you research Pulse Drive to level 5. Its base speed doubles to 10,000 on the swap and it then scales off Pulse Drive at 20% a level instead of Jet Drive at 10%. The trade is fuel: an Atlas on a Pulse Drive burns twice as much hydrogen per trip.
After that swap, Jet Drive levels do nothing for your Atlas fleet. The Hercules and the Carmanor stay on Jet Drive forever, and so do both recyclers.
That is an Atlas at Pulse Drive 8. Base 5,000, current 26,000.
What a level is actually worth
Travel time does not drop as fast as speed climbs. The flight formula works off the square root of speed, so doubling your speed does not halve the trip.
| Jet Drive | Speed | Travel time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.1x base | 5% quicker |
| 3 | 1.3x base | 12% quicker |
| 5 | 1.5x base | 18% quicker |
| 6 | 1.6x base | 21% quicker |
| 10 | 2.0x base | 29% quicker |
| 12 | 2.2x base | 33% quicker |
| 15 | 2.5x base | 37% quicker |
| 18 | 2.8x base | 40% quicker |
A worked example. A Hercules flying to a planet ten solar systems away in its own galaxy, at 100% speed, takes 50m 58s at Jet Drive 6. The same run is 43m 28s at level 12 and 38m 33s at level 18.
Two things to keep in mind when you look at those numbers:
- A fleet always moves at the speed of its slowest ship. Sending a 16,500 Hercules alongside a 26,000 Atlas gets you 16,500.
- Jet Drive levels do not change your fuel bill. Fuel is worked out from how far above the fleet's slowest speed each ship sits, so in a fleet of nothing but Jet Drive ships the hydrogen cost is the same at level 3 as at level 18. In a mixed fleet, the ships faster than the slowest one pay less.
Requirements
Research Lab level 1, on the planet you start the research from. That is the only requirement, at every level.
The game's data also lists Energy Tech level 1, but every player starts at Energy Tech 3, so it never bites. That is why the game's own requirements panel leaves it out.
What it unlocks
The More Info button on the Research page opens that list for any tech, with a green dot next to everything you already qualify for. Each of those ships has other requirements on top of the Jet Drive level, including a Shipyard level.
Cost
Level 1 costs 400 ore and 600 hydrogen. Every level after that doubles both. Jet Drive never costs crystal, and there is no level cap.
| Level | Ore | Hydrogen | Speed bonus | Ore spent so far | Hydrogen spent so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 400 | 600 | +10% | 400 | 600 |
| 2 | 800 | 1,200 | +20% | 1,200 | 1,800 |
| 3 | 1,600 | 2,400 | +30% | 2,800 | 4,200 |
| 4 | 3,200 | 4,800 | +40% | 6,000 | 9,000 |
| 5 | 6,400 | 9,600 | +50% | 12,400 | 18,600 |
| 6 | 12,800 | 19,200 | +60% | 25,200 | 37,800 |
| 7 | 25,600 | 38,400 | +70% | 50,800 | 76,200 |
| 8 | 51,200 | 76,800 | +80% | 102,000 | 153,000 |
| 9 | 102,400 | 153,600 | +90% | 204,400 | 306,600 |
| 10 | 204,800 | 307,200 | +100% | 409,200 | 613,800 |
| 11 | 409,600 | 614,400 | +110% | 818,800 | 1,228,200 |
| 12 | 819,200 | 1,228,800 | +120% | 1,638,000 | 2,457,000 |
| 13 | 1,638,400 | 2,457,600 | +130% | 3,276,400 | 4,914,600 |
| 14 | 3,276,800 | 4,915,200 | +140% | 6,553,200 | 9,829,800 |
| 15 | 6,553,600 | 9,830,400 | +150% | 13,106,800 | 19,660,200 |
| 16 | 13,107,200 | 19,660,800 | +160% | 26,214,000 | 39,321,000 |
| 17 | 26,214,400 | 39,321,600 | +170% | 52,428,400 | 78,642,600 |
| 18 | 52,428,800 | 78,643,200 | +180% | 104,857,200 | 157,285,800 |
You start at level 3, so the first level you actually pay for is 4, at 3,200 ore and 4,800 hydrogen. The doubling then does what doubling does: levels 1 through 8 put together still cost less than level 9 on its own.
Research time
Research time counts ore and crystal only. Jet Drive costs no crystal, so the clock runs entirely off the ore and the hydrogen half of the bill is free time-wise. That makes Jet Drive one of the quicker techs to move for what it costs.
Hours = Ore ÷ (2000 × (Research Lab level + 1))
| Level | Ore | Lab 1 | Lab 4 | Lab 8 | Lab 12 | Lab 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 400 | 6m | 2m 24s | 1m 20s | 56s | 35s |
| 2 | 800 | 12m | 4m 48s | 2m 40s | 1m 51s | 1m 09s |
| 3 | 1,600 | 24m | 9m 36s | 5m 20s | 3m 42s | 2m 17s |
| 4 | 3,200 | 48m | 19m 12s | 10m 40s | 7m 23s | 4m 35s |
| 5 | 6,400 | 1h 36m | 38m 24s | 21m 20s | 14m 46s | 9m 09s |
| 6 | 12,800 | 3h 12m | 1h 16m | 42m 40s | 29m 33s | 18m 17s |
| 7 | 25,600 | 6h 24m | 2h 33m | 1h 25m | 59m 05s | 36m 35s |
| 8 | 51,200 | 12h 48m | 5h 07m | 2h 50m | 1h 58m | 1h 13m |
| 9 | 102,400 | 1d 1h | 10h 14m | 5h 41m | 3h 56m | 2h 26m |
| 10 | 204,800 | 2d 3h | 20h 28m | 11h 22m | 7h 52m | 4h 52m |
| 11 | 409,600 | 4d 6h | 1d 16h | 22h 45m | 15h 45m | 9h 45m |
| 12 | 819,200 | 8d 12h | 3d 9h | 1d 21h | 1d 7h | 19h 30m |
| 13 | 1,638,400 | 17d 1h | 6d 19h | 3d 19h | 2d 15h | 1d 15h |
| 14 | 3,276,800 | 34d 3h | 13d 15h | 7d 14h | 5d 6h | 3d 6h |
| 15 | 6,553,600 | 68d 6h | 27d 7h | 15d 4h | 10d 12h | 6d 12h |
The usual research rules apply:
- The lab that counts is the one on the planet you press the button from. Once you have the Advanced Research Communication Network, your labs are added together instead, one to start with plus one more for every ARCNet level, and it stops mattering where you start from.
- The Research Relay alliance perk divides the time, up to half at the top level.
- Only one research runs at a time across your whole account, and you cannot start one while a Research Lab is upgrading on any of your planets.
- Cancelling a research in progress refunds the full cost to the planet that paid. You can also finish it instantly with credits, which costs 1.12 credits per second remaining and is free once there are under five minutes left.
Worth knowing
- Level 6 is the one early target that matters. It unlocks the Hercules, which hauls five times what an Atlas does, and it costs 12,800 ore and 19,200 hydrogen. There is no reason to sit below it.
- Level 10 unlocks the Carmanor, a 125,000 capacity hauler, but you need Expedition Tech 4 as well, so it is not an early buy.
- Once the Atlas moves onto a Pulse Drive, Jet Drive is mostly your recycler and heavy cargo tech. If you spend a lot of time on harvest runs, levels here shorten every round trip you make.
- Four quests pay out on this tech, at Jet Drive 1, 3, 9 and 12. The first two are sitting there ready to claim from the day you sign up, because you start at level 3.
- Like everything else you spend, the resources sunk into Jet Drive count toward your rank.
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