Star Citizen: What is VTOL? We explain the term

The controls of the spaceships in Star Citizen are already quite refined. This also means that a lot of details matter. Terms like VTOL play an important role in this, and we explain what that is.

Vertical launchers: VTOL allows some ships in Star Citizen to take off and land better.

Landing in particular requires a bit of experience and skill in Star Citizen. Ships with VTOL have a special ability for this purpose.

Star Citizen: VTOL allows vertical take-offs and landings

VTOL stands for "Vertical Take-Off and Landing". Some ships even have a special mechanism for this:

• The best example of this is the Drake Cutlass (in all variants), as the rear thrusters are initially vertical.
• This way, the Cutlass can take off and land vertically.
• For normal flight, however, the nozzles must be tilted "J" to the horizontal. Otherwise it goes very slowly and acceleration takes many times longer.
• For the next landing you have to press "J" again to be able to land with VTOL.

It is one of the pitfalls of the alpha version that mechanics like this are not pointed out in the game. Die Taste „J“ ist für Einsteiger somit wichtig zu kennen, falls Schiffe wie die Cutlass oder auch eine RSI Constellation Andromeda im Einsatz sind.