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Many new High Frontier players see the cards for the solar sails and dismiss them as not suiting their purposes. The thrust is low, low enough that the sail will not propel a heavier rocket, and the solar feature means that beyond Mars solar sails will be unable to operate. Since most of the real estate on the board is beyond Mars many players look at the solar sail and pass it over for something more powerful. This is a shame, because used properly the solar sail is one of the most effective thrusters in the game. Hopefully this article will show you how you can use a solar sail more effectively. Part 1: Tricks of the Trade There are a variety of 'tricks' to using the solar sail, and once you master them you will find that the solar sail can be a very powerful tool in developing the solar system. While the advanced (black) solar sails are better everything you want to do can be done with the basic (white) sails, and the material below assumes that you are using them. three is a high priority. However, it is certainly possible to create a solar mission that has a mass of more than four, though this limits your options somewhat, and you still need to keep your rocket mass below eight at all costs. Note though that the ESA privelige of adding +1 to your thrust is a very big deal to the solar sailor. For a player using the ESA privelige, solar sail rockets with a mass of 5-7 function like anyone else's sail rockets of mass 1-4, and they could mount a mission with a solar rocket of mass 15 and still have a thrust of one. An ESA solar sail rocket with a mass of four or less gets +2 to its thrust and this allows you to do even more remarkable things. Whatever you decide to do, you need to plan your mission based on what mass your rocket will have and you can do the most when this mass is low.
Trick #2 - Disposability The second thing tou need to understand about your solar sail is that it is a disposable thruster. Whether you want to aerobrake and let Trick #1 - Mass the sail burn up in the atmosphere, or jettison the Firstly, you need to understand the need to sail once you reach the asteroid belt, you must keep the mass of your rocket low. The 'magic' understand that there are almost no circumstances mass number is four; a rocket with a mass of four where the solar sail will return to low Earth orbit. (and no fuel) is the heaviest rocket in the probe But that's okay! In fact, it was your plan all category, and rockets in that category get a +1 along. Boosting a new sail to LEO only costs you bonus to their thrust. It may not sound like a lot one water token, and using it will save you a lot but every point counts and sometimes that one more than that in fuel. The solar sail mission point of thrust is what makes your mission work. typically involves shipping one component to its The second magic mass number is seven - any destination, decomissioning the sail, and then rocket with a mass of more than seven gets a -1 boosting it again to deliver the second component. penalty to their thrust, so a basic solar sail rocket This might take longer than just making one with a mass of more than seven cannot leave LEO. mission but it also means that you don't need to Since the ideal mass of the solar sail rocket have the cash to boost everything all at once. is four or less, and the solar sail has one point of When you send your robonaut out to the asteroid mass on its own, you generally want the solar sail belt, you don't need to have even bought your to carry components with a mass of three or less. refinery yet! You can get it later. This will necessitate making two trips to your So when you plan your mission, don't destination, one to deliver the robonaut and the worry about the return trip. Your goal is to get the other to deliver the refinery. If you are using the components of a factory out to their destination, solar sail then buying a refinery with a mass of and the solar sail doesn't need to come home.
A represents the point below the Sol-Venus L3 point. B represents the point below the SolVenus L4 point. Both these spots are useful because they have paths that lead into the Earth zone wothout costing any burns. The Sol-Venus L5 point isn't nearly as useful because there's a burn leading out to it (though you can do the Mercury flyby) and the one line out that you can use doesn't get you to too many places. Part 2 - Suggested Routes C represents a starting point for a mission If you're still having a hard time picturing to Ceres that uses a special trick. It is only one how you are going to make your solar sail mission space away from B but using that burn before you work, I've prepared a variety of route maps for you make your big launch the the outer system makes a big difference. to show you how you can get almost anywhere D is the "Rabbithole," the Sol-Mercury L3 within the orbit of Jupiter or sometimes even further. All the major asteroid groups are covered point. It can be used for many destinations that as well as the Jupiter Trojans and some of Jupiter's would also use the A starting point, but such a flight path costs one extra burn. However, it has moons as well. the advantage of taking one less turn to get to.
This route can get you to the Hygiea family of asteroids (though Hygiea itself is too big for a direct landing) or you can make a Jupiter slingshot. This really illustrates the power of the Jupiter slingshot because this can really get you places. You can make it all the way out to the Trojan camp Jupiter Trojan asteroids (and can land on any of them) or to Comet Nejumin I or to Okyrhoe. You can also set yourself up for a Saturn mission (though you can't actually make it to Saturn) by dropping off payloads on the route in to the Saturn system until you have enough there to make a complete rocket. You could also set yourself up on Comet Schwassman Wachmann I, which makes a decent refueling stop on the way to Saturn, and at size 2 it is pretty big for a D site (but is still landable). If you wanted to go for a Callisto mission, you could stop your sail at the burn that leads to the Hygiea family. Once you have assembled enough parts for a conventional rocket there, you send it to the Jupiter flyby and have it pass through Route A1: Lutetia - Elara - Hertha the double aerobrake that leads to the Sol-Jupiter L1 point. You have four free burns to play with at This route uses the straight line leading out this point (one of which you just spent) which are of the Sol-Mars L3 point as a "bouncing" spot. enough to get you to Callisto without spending any This line is useful because it has lots of spots fuel. where a turn can be executed cheaply. This route leads to both Hertha and Lutetia, which are both Route A3: Mars Needs Sails! great starting spots if you want to go after Metallic sites. Elara is the largest of the Jovian Himalia If you want to get a solar sail to Mars this Moonlets that you can land on and makes a good is the best way to do it. You can get your solar sail refueling point if you plan on exploring Jupiter's all the way to the polar insert if you want, though moons. landing there is tricky. Most people will use the Note that all these sites can be reached with aerobrake - let's face it, the sail is not coming one burn to spare. This means that you could use home anyway. The fact that you can get your sail the Rabbithole (or points G or H) as a starting to Mars with two burns to spare means that you space and save yourself a turn, or you could send a can use the Rabbithole instead (at the cost of one mass 7 rocket out there and still have enough extra burn) and you could have a mass 7 rocket at burns to get there (though landing on sites the same time. becomes more difficult). This route also shows a number of other minor destinations; namely Nyx, Nereus, Olijato, and the Koronis Family "sweet spot" where you
Jupiter is the King of planets, and combined with the Mercury-Venus slingshot the Route B2: The Mercury-Venus Slingshot Jupiter slingshot can really get you places. It gets you to the same spots as the A2 route but you have The one-two punch combo of the Mercury- one extra burn to spare. This is a big deal because Venus slingshot has enough power to get you into it gets you to a few places on the board that are orbit around Davida; no mean feat considering that difficult to access. It can get you into the Kleopatra it takes a Hohmann Pivot and a burn to get there. family (no other route gives you enough burns to The Karin Cluster point is really useful for this do it), or the Greek Camp Trojans. It sets up the because it provides you with a free turn, though at same Saturn mission launch points but with one the cost of a hazard space. Davida doesn't have a burn to spare, which means that with an ESA lot going for it though; Ceres is a much better C "push" you could make the Saturn Flyby (though site. this destroys your sail). This route can also get you to Psyche or It also gives you access to Jupiter's Vesta orbit, but there are routes to reach those that Galilean moons - you can reach Europa and are less dangerous. Ganymede, and are one burn away from Callisto. In the expanded game the Venus slingshot Io is also one burn away, but it's a hazard so you can only be reached during the Blue sector, so the are in raygun range. use of this route (and all the subsequent ones) have to be timed carefully.