Hypertube

The Hyper Tube is a pipe-like transport system used to quickly transport Engineers over long distances. A Hyper Tube Entrance is required for entry, but not for an exit. Hyper Tubes are non-directional and can be entered from both ends if an Entrance is placed on each ends.

Engineers can change the travel direction or nearly stop during mid-flight by holding the directional key (forward and backward only). No Tube junction or crossing is available in game. If the Tube is built through terrain or trees, the Engineer travelling inside will be able to clip through.

Speed
Travel speed is affected by whether traveling upwards or downwards and by the number of sharp turns. Hypertube railgun increases the travelling speed.

Hypertube railgun/cannon: Speeds exceeding 500 km/h can be reached by chaining Hyper Tube Entrances, making it faster than the Electric Locomotive, which can be used for effectively crossing large distances. Chaining over 17 entrances is not recommended as the speed gained in the tube will shoot the player beyond the map boundary.

How to construct a Hypertube cannon:
 * 1) Build a row of foundations of 1 tile x 9 tiles
 * 2) Every 4 meters, place a Hyper Tube Support, up to 17.
 * 3) From each support, build a short Hypertube of 2 meters each, except for the last segment.
 * 4) The last segment should be slightly longer and curved 30 degrees upwards and point towards your target destination of the map. Use the mouse wheel to control the vertical tilt.
 * 5) Delete all Hypertube supports.
 * 6) Build Hyper Tube Entrance at the beginning of each segment, all facing one direction only.
 * 7) Power all the entrances.

To use the Hypertube cannon:
 * 1) Save your game.
 * 2) Equip a Jetpack and enter the 1st entrance for crossing the longest distance.
 * 3) If overshot, reload and enter from the 2nd entrance for a shorter distance. If still overshot, enter from the 3rd entrance, etc.
 * 4) Build walls or jelly at the other end to land safely without a jetpack.
 * 5) Experiment the ideal launching angle by adjusting the tilt and curvature of the last tube.

To use the cannon for fast map exploration:
 * 1) Build The HUB near the cannon to set your spawning point near it.
 * 2) Store all your inventory at a safe place, do not bring anything along.
 * 3) Launch across the map at any chosen angle.
 * 4) Kill yourself by simply letting the cannon to launch you outside the map, or click respawn button in the Esc menu.
 * 5) After respawn, adjust the last tube to a slightly different angle, then repeat the launch. Eventually, the entire map will be revealed.

Hypertube Cyclotron:
 * A variant to hypertube railgun is the Hypertube Cyclotron, where several short segments are chained to form a loose loop, with the launching tube placed at some distance away.
 * When the speed gained in the loop is fast enough, it throws the engineer out of the loop and into the launching tube for the actual launch.
 * As this usually uses less entrances than the straight version, it can save some power.

Construction

 * The Hyper Tube has 4 construction modes: Default, Conveyor 2D, Noodle, and Vertical. Tubes do not transmit power, therefore each Entrance must be separately powered for it to be usable.
 * Tubes have a maximum length of 100 meters before an additional Hyper Tube Support is required.

Engineer damage

 * While inside, the Engineer will not aggro nearby hostile creatures, however, damage will be dealt if they come in contact, which may even throw the Engineer out of the Tube.
 * The Tube does not shield from Poison Gas or Radiation.
 * Fall damage will be inflicted if the Tube is exited vertically downwards too quickly

Trivia

 * Hyper Tubes somewhat resemble the Tube Transport System from Futurama.
 * In a multiplayer game, Engineers phase through each other if more than one are within, and can drag Engineers standing on the top of the Tube. The Tube can be constructed into a loop once another Engineer enters it, getting them stuck with no exit.
 * The metal rings on the Tube aren't spaced out evenly.

History

 * Patch 0.3: Introduced