| “ | These lateral Strafe Thrusters allow a ship to travel faster sideways, an advanced technique known as strafing. | ” |
| — In-Game Description |
| Strafe Thrusters | I | II | III | IV | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mass | 2% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 10% |
| Strafing speed | +20 m/s | +40 m/s | +60 m/s | +80 m/s | +100 m/s |
| Rotation Speed | -5% | -10% | -15% | -20% | -25% |
| Research | |||||
| Tech Lab Required | III | IV | VI | VIII | IX |
| Time | 1d 3h 46m 40s | 5d 18h 53m 20s | |||
| Helium-3 | 54,438 | 217,751 | 871,003 | 12,542,399 | 25,742,080 |
| Antimatter | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,393,600 | 4,542,720 |
| Build | |||||
| Time | 48s | 3m 12s | 12m 48s | ||
| Helium-3 | 18,795 | 29,365 | 60,144 | ||
| Antimatter | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
General
Strafe thrusters increase a ship's strafe speed, or the ability to move in just about any direction, including backwards to a minimal extent, although the most common way to strafe is sideways. Strafing to a destination to directly in front of a ship yields no increase in maximum speed. The additional speed increase is only at peak when a ship strafes perpendicular to the front of the ship, port or starboard.
Overall, despite the importance of strafing in battle, especially for frigates against a weapon of any type, many players as well as experienced high level players do not equip their ships with strafe thrusters with the exception of destroyers. Strafe thrusters are commonly attached to destroyers that are used to attack bases allowing the destroyer to dodge incoming fire and fire back as well as increase how quickly they can re-position themselves to reengage a different combat module.
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