Introduction
The X Rebirth game is set within a fractal-like network of Zones, Sectors, [solar] Systems all within, so far, one Galaxy. There are multiple Zones within each Sector, and there are multiple Sectors within each System. There are different means of travel for different types of location, which are described below. There's a great-looking map here.
The beta version of Rebirth v4.00 contains changes to the dynamics below for the player ship (the Skunk) as a player ship jump drive is being introduced. However, since things can change before release, this guide focuses on the v3.61 game world for now but it is technically accurate in the beta 4.00 anyway.
Free-flight within sectors
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As ships increase in size between S to XL their speeds and turning rates tend to decrease, so within a given zone small ships tend to reach their destinations quickest. However if a ship needs to travel between a few widely-spaced zones, capital ships tend to be quicker because although they are slower than S/M ships their boost can save time as it can operate continuously, and the ship flies directly to its destination rather than sticking to the highway route.
Regular highways within sectors
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Regular highways are similar to Super highways, which allow S/M ships to travel between sectors (see below). Both regular and super highways are unidirectional, although they're often located near routes going in the opposite direction. Some sectors have relatively direct highway routes between their zones whilst others can meander around a bit. Either way, apart from within Radiant Heaven sector and the Teladi Outpost DLC sectors, the highway network usually offers the quickest route between zones for S/M ships.
Super highways between sectors
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With the introduction of X:R 4.00 along with the Home of Light expansion (which was it?), to fit the existing super-highways into the special arrangement of zones in Home of Light System, the travelling speeds in super-highways are tweaked. Instead of requiring you to use about 1 minute or so to complete the journey (Ask yourself: why is (Inner World <-> Ascendancy) slower than (Ascendancy <-> Far Out)?), super-highways now have a definite speed. It means that intra-sector travel will be a lot faster, thanks to the speed boost, but at the same time, it may ruin the feel of "OMG the Universe is so big gonna have a bad time to march from Albion into the Xenon space in Maelstrom". Now X:R super-highways take about from less than a second (literally!) to less than 5 to 10 seconds - it finally feels like it is inherited from the Terran Trans-Orbital Accelerators.
Jumping between sectors by capital ships
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*NPC capship staff retain their settings if moved to another ship, so you simply have to remember to set 'auto-refuel == on' for /new/ hired Captains, not every time you swap a captain between ships. Similarly for Defence Officer resupply (Engineer doesn't have any relevant settings)
Travel between systems
This can only currently be achieved via Jump Gates, which require approach and flying through via free-flight (see above). So far, each system has at least 2 gates but some are inactive. Of the inactive ones, some are not in use by the game [yet] and two connect to the Teladi Fields of Opportunity system ("The Teladi Outpost" downloadable content (DLC)) - a trend that may continue with recent the announcement of a new DLC that is anticipated to arrive with or around the upcoming release of 4.00. Once a gate has been traversed, the ship will find itself within a new zone and from there, may continue on its way via the methods described above.
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