VTOL

The VTOL, or Vertical Take-Off and Landing, is a lightweight aircraft in Astroneer that allows the player to travel long distances across the planets by flying over the surface of the planet.

Source
Players will obtain a free VTOL and its Schematic from completing a long chain of Missions:


 * By completing either Fuel for Thought or Onboarding, players obtain Vertical Thinking.
 * Finding and blowing up the Vehicle Data Recorder on Vesania and retrieving its EXO Chip will unlock the mission Bootstrapping and reveal the location of the MAT.
 * Finding the MAT and slotting an EXO Chip will unlock two missions to bring two each of Hydrogen (full canister), Nitrogen (full canister), Graphite, Titanium, and Tungsten.
 * Once all ten resources have been provided, another mission unlocks to provide the MAT with two of each Silicone and Tungsten Carbide.
 * Completing this mission unlocks one more to provide the MAT with three EXO Chips.
 * For the last mission, Finished Product, the player just needs to activate the MAT, in order to be able to collect the rewards: The VTOL, its Schematic, as well as two Hydrazine.

Uses
The VTOL takes off vertically by double-tapping the take-off button ( on PC), and holding the same button allows the player to ascend higher. The VTOL can descend by holding the descend button ( on PC). Double-tapping the descend button when near the ground will land the VTOL.

When nearing a slope of a mountain or some other kind of obstacle the VTOL automatically ascends to avoid a collision. The player may exit the VTOL at any time by pressing the use key ( on PC), although, if high enough, they may take damage, which could be fatal, and the VTOL will land automatically.

Holding the forward movement key will accelerate the VTOL forward, speeding up after 10 seconds of holding for faster flight. The left and right movement keys will strafe the VTOL, while moving the camera will turn the VTOL in the direction the player wishes to move.

Like other vehicles, the VTOL supplies oxygen to the player nearby, but not to Tethers unless equipped with an Oxygenator. It provides no Power, not even for a Worklight, which doesn't consume any, but requires it.

Capacity and Fuel
The VTOL has a Tier 1 slot in the back that can only be used for Hydrazine as fuel. It will auto-pull canisters if the current one runs out. The VTOL will drop down to the ground, when no fuel is left, without taking damage. Hydrazine canisters put into the fuel slot cannot be removed, even if it wasn’t used at all. The gauge at the back indicates how much fuel is left in the internal tank. When a Packager is used to repack a VTOL, all Hydrazine in the vehicle is lost.

There is a built-in seat for the player and two more Rover Seats may be attached using the two Tier 2 slots in the upper front. The VTOL may be controlled by any of the three seats. Instead of holding seated persons, the Tier 2 slots can also hold a canister filled with Hydrazine for long time flights or any other Tier 2 item.

There are two Tier 1 slots on the bottom left and right, which can be activated using context keys (for PC: or, Xbox:  or , PS4:  or , Switch:  or ). This allows players to shoot fireworks, play horns, or toggle lights while flying.