Requesting "Tactical" Advice (and some duct tape)

[hawkeye91]

Greetings all --

I'm transmitting from just "below" the Greae Phio AA-A H33 nebula, approaching the neutron fields, and enroute to Sag A*. I got a little too cowboy approaching a star for scooping and managed to crack my canopy. I've read some other transmissions warning of people crashing into neutrons and getting too close to black holes as they approach Sag A* - and thus taking a lot of damage. Now this may sound a bit cliche', but I'd rather not die out here(!!). I've got a ton of nav data collected, and part of me is thinking "play it safe" and head home. But then there's the part of me that thinks about how very close I am to my goal (well, not really, but compared to how far I've been, I am).

Thoughts anyone on how to proceed? If it gets really ugly towards the center, I'll run home, fix the ship, collect my money and try again.

Thanks!

Hawk

**Sending transmission in 5...4...3...2..1...

 

[WR3ND]

If you're most of the way there to your current main goal, I'd say go for it, just be careful. I'm in a similar predicament, and let me tell you that it does add a level of... urgency when being so far away from civilized space with a cracked canopy. The long and the short of it is though, you have to just ignore it and press on (besides of course taking measures to help insure that you don't take any more damage).

The main advice that I got in my recent thread that is somewhat similar to this one is to throttle back all the way to zero during the countdown for the jump. I had been ending up falling into the black hole systems I was jumping into. I made an additional button combo setup on my controller to set my throttle to zero. Oh, and when you "land," after checking that you're throttled down, target the main NS or BH and move away from it until you're at a safe distance.

The other advice I got was to not play during heavy server load times in case there is lag that might result in moving closer to the NS/BH before being able to respond to it.

However, if you're closer to home, you might want to live to fight another day, as they say.

Cheers, and best of luck!

 

[gooddoc]

There's been a few threads similar to yours & if you go on or return home depends on a number of things.

I would say the main point depends on how 'clumsy' you've been so far - no offense!

If you find that you're continually getting caught by Suns & pulled out of SC, then i would advise you to return, unless youre only a few K's away from the core.
If you only get caught rarely, then you should be ok. Some players quote that youve got a few goes at 'canopy cracks' before it gives completely, i wouldn't know cos iv never had canopy cracks.
Though it also depends on how bad the canopy is cracked.

The call is yours CMDR...good luck, hope you make it!

 

[Alex Traut]

My understanding is that there are four stages of canopy cracking, and that if you're still on just the first stage where the cracks are at the corners and edges, you're still okay. Obviously a truly serious impact might potentially do more damage.

It is really up to your comfort zone. My first attempt at SagA was cut short after an 18kly rescue op when I cracked my canopy--I was still around 20kly from SagA at the end of that, and I went back for repairs. This second trip succeeded, but I cracked my canopy again along the way and was so close by that point that I decided to press on. I'm now farming BHs in the lower neutron fields.

Here's the thing about throttling back: for some reason, the game doesn't seem to reliably register momentary button input during the hyperspace loading screen. Using my HOTAS throttle is always reliable--I suspect because throttling that back is a persistent physical state rather than a momentary keypress. However, there seems to be a pause of about a second between the time that you drop in and the time that you get control back. If you're using a keybind to kill throttle, I would try just holding it down during that pause. Watch your throttle bar; if should immediately zero out upon return of control.

 

[WR3ND]

...

Here's the thing about throttling back: for some reason, the game doesn't seem to reliably register momentary button input during the hyperspace loading screen. Using my HOTAS throttle is always reliable--I suspect because throttling that back is a persistent physical state rather than a momentary keypress. However, there seems to be a pause of about a second between the time that you drop in and the time that you get control back. If you're using a keybind to kill throttle, I would try just holding it down during that pause. Watch your throttle bar; if should immediately zero out upon return of control.

You can use the zero throttle key/button during the countdown before the jump. It will register then still. I've been using this recently.

When jumping into neutron star systems, I had enough time to throttle back after "landing," but when jumping into some black hole systems, there wasn't enough time and I would reach the drop out point and take damage.

 

[Whiterose]

Take care around Neutrons, dangerous little buggers. zero speed on the way in and make sure you move away very slowly and look at the yellow safety ring. I have already lost 5% hull in the neutron fields. Also whn I log out I always jump to a non neutron system first....call me paranoid.

 

[Traveller_GG]

Take care around Neutrons, dangerous little buggers. zero speed on the way in and make sure you move away very slowly and look at the yellow safety ring. I have already lost 5% hull in the neutron fields. Also whn I log out I always jump to a non neutron system first....call me paranoid.

For me when I am in a BH / NS system I target the star and flick the ship over so that the open circle is dead centre of the targetting scanner, then fly straight away. Get to a safe distance then stop, turn and scan.

 

[WR3ND]

For me when I am in a BH / NS system I target the star and flick the ship over so that the open circle is dead centre of the targetting scanner, then fly straight away. Get to a safe distance then stop, turn and scan.

Same here. I turn off the orbital lines too though; they're too much like cheating (my opinion) and muck up my view. So, there is no "yellow safety ring." In my experience, it isn't needed anyway, if you pay close enough attention to what you're doing.

 

[hawkeye91]

Well, I have pressed on towards Sag A* and so far no further damage to the ship. Had to change my shorts once after close encounter with a neutron that I didn't realize was along my route until I nearly jumped into it, but I suppose that's more a right of passage to all you veterans. The proactive throttle back is definitely part of the jump checklist, though! And I'm pleased to report that (for now, anyway) the girlfriend has stopped pestering me about my flying time, so I won't be needing that duct tape just yet!

Thanks everyone for the input/discussion. Happy exploring!

Hawk