Hyperspace

In Pioneer universe, hyperspace is a form of (actually, the only form of) Faster Than Light travel. It is the only way to travel the vast distances between star systems and travelling through the Milky Way Galaxy.

Travelling Through Hyperspace

To enter hyperspace, a ship must have a hyperdrive installed. A hyperdrive requires fuel in order to work, and the fuel required to make a hyperspace jump increases with the distance of the target star system (hydrogen fuel for civilian hyperdives, military fuel for military drives). If a ship meets the requirements, hyperdrive can be engaged to make a jump towards the target star system.

Star systems can be targeted for hyperspace jumps through the star map (F2 by default). If the star system has more than one major stellar body (stars, dwarf stars, black holes), each of them can be targeted individually as a hyperspace target. The map also contains information about the duration of travel, distance of star system and availability of the jump with the current hyperdrive and amount of fuel.

When the hyperdrive is engaged (F7 by default), a countdown will occur while the hyperdrive is charging. At this time, a hyperjump can be aborted with the same button used to engage hyperdrive. If not interrupted, when the countdown finishes, the ship enters hyperspace and starts travelling towards the selected star system. During hyperspace, controls are locked and the player does not have control over any of the ship's systems until the ship arrives at the destination.

While hyperdrives can be engaged anywhere, as the big amounts of energy relased when engaging the hyperdrive can cause pollution, engaging hyperdrive in close proximity of starports and orbital stations will have legal consequences and you will be fined.

Ships automatically deactivate hyperdrives once the target star system is reached. Usually the ship will exit hyperspace pretty close to the targeted stellar body.

Hyperclouds

When entering and exiting hyperspace, ships leave "hyperclouds", a cloud of energy that is relased when the hyperdrive is engaged and disengaged. It is a solid sign that a ship has entered or left the system using a hyperdrive.

Hypercloud Analysers can be used to examine these clouds and obtain information about the ship that used the hyperdrive, and it's course of travel. This technique is often useful when tracking down another ship.