Space Battle Zero is mostly about strategic energy management, but if you know a thing or two about orbital mechanics you'll definitely have an advantage - fans of Kerbal Space Program will feel at home here! But for uninitiated, here's a quick tutorial on how to pull off an orbital transfer in SBZ.

Why are we doing this?

This game is all about assigning energy to systems and shooting down your opponent. Where does that energy come from? Orbits, of course! And the faster you orbit, the faster you gain energy.

Step 1

It's a little counterintuitive, but if we want to go faster, we first need to go slower. Start by dropping some energy in to the Move system (and maybe shields, we don't want to get shot down while we're distracted). Once those are charged, give one or two quick presses on the [- -] button, firing retro-rockets and losing some orbital velocity.

By the way, if you want this "overhead" view in-game, just press 2 on the keyboard.

Step 2

This puts us in a new, elliptical orbit with its high point (apoapsis) where we decelerated and low point (periapsis) on the opposite side of the planet.

Step 3

Now we want to do the same maneuver as before, but this time waiting until we're near periapsis. Press [- -] just like in Step 1. This will circularize the orbit at our new, much lower and faster altitude. For the record, this kind of transfer is known as a Hohmann transfer.

Step 4

Now we're skimming just off the surface, racking up energy points and maybe even dodging the enemy's attacks. We can stick around down here for the rest of the match, or perform the same maneuver in reverse to get back on a level playing field.

Of course, this is just one possible strategy. Maybe we could boost ourselves to a higher orbit to get out of the enemy's missile range? Then, power up our Sensor so we can rain missiles down on them with impunity! So many possibilities.

And don't forget, this is all optional. If you just want to throw everything into lasers and shields, that's cool too!

Try it out for yourself in Space Battle Zero. Playable online right from your browser, and now available to download for PC or Mac.