Why Time Matters — The Physics Behind Every Route
How COMPASS calculates travel time from first principles — align, warp, gate overhead — and why getting it right changes everything about route planning.
Most route planners count jumps. COMPASS counts seconds. That single difference changes which route is "best" — because a 15-jump highsec route in an Obelisk takes longer than a 20-jump route in a Prowler, even though it has fewer gates.
Time = f(ship, route, skills, fittings). Not jumps. Two pilots flying the same route in different ships will arrive at completely different times. A route planner that ignores this is lying to you.
Three Phases of Every Jump
Every gate jump has three components. Miss any one and your estimate is wrong.
Your ship rotates to face the destination gate and accelerates to 75% max velocity. Depends on mass and inertia — a 1.1B kg Obelisk with 0.065 inertia takes 36 seconds. A Prowler takes 4.
EVE uses real physics — exponential acceleration to warp speed, constant cruise, then exponential deceleration. A 15 AU warp at 3 AU/s takes ~25 seconds. We use actual gate XYZ coordinates from the SDE — not averages.
Session change (10s), gate animation (3s), grid load (3s), gate approach (4s). This is constant regardless of ship — but it adds up. On a 45-jump route, that's 15 minutes of overhead alone.
Real Numbers
Here's the same 45-jump route (Jita to Amarr via highsec) in three ships:
Same route. Same jumps. 3x time difference. The Obelisk spends 27 minutes just aligning — the Prowler spends 3. If your route planner says "45 jumps" for both, it's missing the entire picture.
Where the Data Comes From
Why This Matters for Route Choice
When you factor in time, the "shortest" route isn't always the fastest. A route with 5 more jumps through systems with shorter warp distances can be faster than the shortest path through systems with 30 AU warps. COMPASS evaluates both and shows you real travel time per system — align, warp, and threat level — so you can make informed decisions.
Imagine planning a road trip. Google Maps doesn't just count the number of turns — it calculates time based on speed limits, traffic, and road type. A highway with 50 exits is faster than a mountain road with 30 switchbacks. EVE route planning works the same way: ship speed, gate distances, and alignment time are your "road conditions."