Neutron boosting - worth it?

schlowi123

S
With this thread I try to get an objective answer under (very) subjective premisses. So first the latter.

In short the question seems simple: is it worth using (regular) neutron star boosting to reach your destination?

The devil is in the details:
- I'm playing on PS4
=> So "typing" in a new "jump-to-system" takes time (I have no keyboard attached)

- I am not close to the core and I would actually just need it outside of the "somewhat center regions".
=> So how much time is actually saved if the neutron star density is low-ish? (Is it low-ish outside the core region?)

- Most of my destinations are close to the galactic plan.
=> How much time is "wasted" to reach the "neutron layers" (and go back to the plane).

- Right now I need ca. 1 minute per jump.
=> Within this minute I fill my tank while flying around the star (7B fuel scoop, 32 t fuel tank), with neutron boosting I'll need to stop to fill the tank.
=> I can fly with full speed around the star, as far as I understand the neutron star boosting instruction videos requires neutron star boosting much more active flying actions.
=> To repair the FSD I need to drop out of SC and repairing takes additional time (I have four AFMU's)
=> Actually I need a bit more time because I fly to each ELW and AW, but that is self imposed. I would say I manage 45 jumps per hour taking all "looking at the stars" into account. So that could be a (somewhat) huge time-saver for (regular) neutron star boosting.

- My jump range is 78 ls and on average I jump 74 ls. I guess average neutron star boosting will not add up to the exact 296 ls on average but will likely be below that value, since neutron star density may not allow to always jump the maximum distance … But then, I don't really know that.

- Most subjective: I use jumping to do RL stuff. This is the usual "grown-up chores"; e.g., getting two plates into the dishwasher per jump, hanging one T-shirt onto the washing line per jump, sorting stuff bit for bit etc. pp. This is NOT efficient regarding finishing these "chores" as fast as possible but it helps to get it done AND using the jumping time without being bored.
=> This is one of the more important reasons why I like ED so much … Instead of "business before pleasure" I have pleasure while business-ing)
=> So I appreciate this aspect of passive gameplay because of outside-of-the-game-reasons.
=> Neutron star boosting would not be so passive … I think. However, when "doing the chores" I can of course do the regular jumping, so it is not either-or … I think.

- So the question is not aimed towards the number of jumps. Those will be reduced, of course. But it is rather a question about the actual time saved to jump e.g. 15.000 ly. Taking all of the above into account I need 4+ hours (and all the "+" is because of me choosing to do time consuming stuff).
=> How much can this be reduced? I guess veteran neutron boosters can slash that quite severely … that would than be an objective answer to a neutral question, but the above clarifies (I hope) that this question is not so "neutral" to me.
=> All of this does not include that I have to learn neutron star boosting. This however is a necessary procees and the time used for it shall not be taken into account. … Right now I have a huge respect of neutron stars and their jets … well done FDev :)
=> All of this does neither include if I have to use neutron star jumping to reach certain systems.

Thank you in advance for the answers.
 

JustJon

J
I think if you have a decent exploraconda and you use Neutron boosting you can get what about 300 ly...

which means you can do 1000 ly in 3 jumps - maybe with this taking about 3 minutes per jump - less if you get good at it.

So dunno how long does it normally take you to jump 1000 ly - is it less than 10 minutes?
 

WhoCares

W
I have done a total of two white-dwarf boosted jumps, so I am no expert on the subject and leave the details to others.
Instead, just an idea about the process. Instead of entering a new destination after every jump, you might plan ahead and enter and bookmark a string of jumps at the beginning of the evening/trip. Takes a little longer to setup, but then you don't have to go through the manual entry "loop" after every jump.
 

Kzak

Kzak
Four AFMUs? One AFMU is all you'll ever need, if it should somehow drop to 0% integrity you can repair it up to 1% with the reboot/repair option, and then it'll work just as well as if it was at 100%.

Neutron star boosting will significantly reduce your travel times. In my 75-LY Exploraconda, I travelled from Sol to Explorer's Anchorage (near Sagittarius A*) in 3h 25m, and this was with some time spent mapping a few Earth-likes I found along the way. Without neutron boosts, that would easily take twice as long.

The in-game route plotter with 'jet cone boost' enabled will give you a decent route with fuel stars included. Not as effective as Spansh's website for neutron boosting, but the 3h 25m trip to Explorer's Anchorage was done using the in-game plotter.
 
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Bigmaec

Bigmaec
Kzak said:
Four AFMUs? One AFMU is all you'll ever need, if it should somehow drop to 0% integrity you can repair it up to 1% with the reboot/repair option, and then it'll work just as well as if it was at 100%.

Neutron star boosting will significantly reduce your travel times. In my 75-LY Exploraconda, I travelled from Sol to Explorer's Anchorage (near Sagittarius A*) in 3h 25m, and this was with some time spent mapping a few Earth-likes I found along the way. Without neutron boosts, that would easily take twice as long.

The in-game route plotter with 'jet cone boost' enabled will give you a decent route with fuel stars included. Not as effective as Spansh's website for neutron boosting, but the 3h 25m trip to Explorer's Anchorage was done using the in-game plotter.
Click to expand...
What he said (y)
 

schlowi123

S
Thank you for the answers so far. Even though some of the issues weren't addressed I'm tempted trying it.

Regarding the 4 AFMU's: I have them mainly to "suck up" damage which I've readis distributed over all modules, so the more modules the less damage to each (while the total stays constant). But I don't know if that is true. I also thought that repairing may take less time if four AFMU's are working on it at the same time.

But I don't understand one thing. Flying with a, FSD at 1 percent. I've heard that one may drop out of SC below 80% and that this would be deadly inside a jet. What am I misunderstanding here?
 

LifesAJourney

LifesAJourney
Kzak said:
Four AFMUs?
Click to expand...
It's better to have four AFMUs than one AFMU and three free slots. In case of a mishap the damage is better distributed amongst modules and therefore non-repairable-in-the-black power plant suffers less.

EDIT: ninja'd by schlowi123 ;)

Flying with FSD below 80% is a nightmare. Massive waste of time and an additional risk of getting caught in some nasty situation (NS cone is only one of possibilities here).
 
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Bigmaec

Bigmaec
Kzak talks about the AFMU having 1 % and working.
The FSD should be repaired at 80% because it starts malfunctioning at 79%.
 

foobaron76

foobaron76
The reason I sometimes run multiple AFMUs is that I'll have more ammunition before having to synthesize and eventually collect more materials. Material gathering is not something I enjoy even though it has gotten easier with the abundance of stuff you find at geological signals.

Re neutron boosts, I held off using them for a long time, but for me neutron travel is about twice as fast for covering a certain distance.
 

schlowi123

S
Ah ok, THAT I understand :) … well, sometimes I use my AFMU's to repair themself … for the sake of the 100 %. With my Anaconda I also have the impression that using the AFMU to repair everything and just buying AFMU-ammo is cheaper than repairing the same amount of damage at a station. But I can't confirm this.
 

Northpin

Northpin
I play on XBox and I had the same issue when i took the trip Bubble - ExplorersAnchorage - Colonia - Bubble.
Still the neutron highway proved to be faster, but i do have attached the ChatPad to my controller so typing is ok-ish although not as fast as copy/paste on PC.
You need to repair the FSD every 20-ish jumps or so and take refueling stops every 4 jumps.
After 10 jumps, supercharging became routine, not to mention that an Anaconda is a quite stable platform for supercharging - the same cannot be said about the dbx for example.
 

schlowi123

S
Thank you Northpin, that addresses a lot of what I've tried to get an answer for :) … I'm a bit nervous though … it will be my first time blush
 

Phongsalt

Phongsalt
It's been my experience that maneouvering to use the jet cone effectively takes significantly longer to execute, but is nevertheless worth it if time-saving is the objective,although not by as much as would at first be apparent,due to the need for refuel and repairs.
 

Cmdr Nemo LXXI

Cmdr Nemo LXXI
Kzak said:
Four AFMUs? One AFMU is all you'll ever need, if it should somehow drop to 0% integrity you can repair it up to 1% with the reboot/repair option, and then it'll work just as well as if it was at 100%.

Neutron star boosting will significantly reduce your travel times. In my 75-LY Exploraconda, I travelled from Sol to Explorer's Anchorage (near Sagittarius A*) in 3h 25m, and this was with some time spent mapping a few Earth-likes I found along the way. Without neutron boosts, that would easily take twice as long.

The in-game route plotter with 'jet cone boost' enabled will give you a decent route with fuel stars included. Not as effective as Spansh's website for neutron boosting, but the 3h 25m trip to Explorer's Anchorage was done using the in-game plotter.
Click to expand...
"(near Sagittarius A*) in 3h 25m" PC or Console? Doing it on a PC with the ability to copy paste is WAY faster than a console where one has to type.
 

Kzak

Kzak
Cmdr Nemo LXXI said:
"(near Sagittarius A*) in 3h 25m" PC or Console? Doing it on a PC with the ability to copy paste is WAY faster than a console where one has to type.
Click to expand...
As I wrote, this was done using the in-game route plotter, no typing done. Done on PC. If I was using Spansh and had an optimized Anaconda, I could have done the trip in under 2 hours.
 

Cmdr Nemo LXXI

Cmdr Nemo LXXI
Kzak said:
As I wrote, this was done using the in-game route plotter, no typing done. Done on PC. If I was using Spansh and had an optimized Anaconda, I could have done the trip in under 2 hours.
Click to expand...
Again, on a PC one can utilize the route planner using a mouse, which is considerably easier than trying to negotiate using the dam controller buttons. A mouse has a left and a right button, generally a wheel or ball for making fine movements and can be programmed to be even finer. Sometimes which is actually most of the time, one can get close using a controler, but not as close as they need, because one can move a wee little bit like a mouse wheel can and generally will end up passing up what they are trying to target. Thus it's more prudent to just type it in than trying to plot.
 

schlowi123

S
Kzak said:
As for an example of how to quickly use the neutron cones to boost, see this video I made earlier. I just slow down to pass through the cone's midpoint, with speeds around 2 Mm/s that's usually enough, unless the cone is very thin - then speeds of 1.5 Mm to 1 Mm might be necessary. You'll soon get used to judging the cone size.
Click to expand...
Now THAT was very different to what I've seen before. That would simplify the whole thing like, A LOT. Can anybody confirm that this is a safe way to neutron boost?
And I guess I'll have to use the in-game route plotter, too. Otherwise too much time will be wasted "typing" the system names into the search field.
 

Kzak

Kzak
schlowi123 said:
Now THAT was very different to what I've seen before. That would simplify the whole thing like, A LOT. Can anybody confirm that this is a safe way to neutron boost?
And I guess I'll have to use the in-game route plotter, too. Otherwise too much time will be wasted "typing" the system names into the search field.
Click to expand...
I can only offer my own confirmation - I used this method to Beagle Point and back in DW2 recently, hundreds of neutron boosts performed. Granted, you still have to keep an eye on your FSD integrity and fix it when it approaches 80%, but the neutron boost method saves you lots of time compared to the maneuvering other people might do to target the ends of the jet cones.

Try it out on a neutron star, e.g. Jackson's Lighthouse which is quite close to the bubble, until you're familiar with how the boost is done, then you can swiftly make your way around in the Milky Way.
 

Northpin

Northpin
I use to pull up so i enter the cone along the way not perpendiculary and then after it charges i accelerate and let it throw me out
 
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