Any tips for flying in sparse regions?

[Major Klutz]

So I got the urge to head out to the edge of the Galaxy into the new Outer arm.
I headed West-South-West from the Heart and Soul Nebulae. My Asp has a full tank jump range of 51.7ly or 55.8ly max, so I didn't think I'd have much of a problem getting there.
Little did I know until I looked at my EDD map today that I'm trying to cross the Formidine Rift.

Last night I ran into an impasse. The stars are just too far apart here. I could use jumponium but I may run out before I get across. I only have about 20 charges of each level.
So I backtracked and am currently going clockwise along the edge of the Pereseus arm until I reach an area where it looks a bit denser to cross over.

This is my first time flying through an area this sparse. It's very different than navigating anywhere toward the core.
I'm learning a few things as I go, such and fuel consumption goes down since your average jump distance drops way below your max and you have to make significantly more jumps to go 1Kly.
The other thing that surprised me is that nearly everything in this area is already tagged. Since I left the Heart and Soul, I think I've run into only a handful of untagged systems. Less than one system in 1000ly.
At first I thought it's just because the stars are sparse so there are fewer options for plotting a course in this area. But now I know it's also because it's the Formidine Rift so it's a high traffic area.

Anyone have any tips for navigating this area? I know there are published crossing routes that others have used, but I'm not in a hurry and have no particular destination in mind so I'm trying to find my own way across.
I'm assuming that the stars are densest near the center of the galactic plane. Is it possible they could be denser higher or lower?

 

[Aura Lorell]

I regularly fly in sparse regions, in fact I could say it's the part of exploration that gives me the greatest joy. I cannot comment on the specific area you area you are going through (other than close to the galactic plane is usually denser depending on where you are) but I can tell you how I survive deep into areas where I can only navigate with jumponium:

1. I usually start my trip with as much jumponium as I can get. Carrying 50 of each grade is a normal state for me but I usually have around 80 of G1, 70 of G2, and 50 of G3.
2. When navigating I prefer to use G1 and G2 if I can, leaving G3 for cases where I can't do otherwise. This highly depends on the jump range. My current range is 63.5 Ly so G1 and G2 cover a lot of ground. However closer to 50 Ly jump range, and depending on the area, G3 would be consumed a lot faster.
3. I have a rule that if I get close to 20 on G3 injections, I need to get down to planets and start prospecting for mats until it's up again. For G1 and G2 my limit is around 30.
4. I use bookmarks to signpost where I'm going and try to figure the best route that will cost the less jumponium.
5. I use the galaxy map a lot to try and figure out positions and routes.
6. If I can use NS I do but I'm always conscious of the danger of jumping to a remote area that is also a trap so I use that sparingly.
7. I use EDEngineer to manage my materials.
8. When I can I prefer planets/moons with at least two jumponium materials. Three and above is optimal but not always possible.

I can't think of anything else right now. Being inside such areas was nerve racking when I first started doing it last year but right now it's like second nature. Hope this helps.

Edited for spelling and clarity.

 

[Mengy]

I regularly fly in sparse regions, in fact I could say it's the part of exploration that gives me the greatest joy.

Yeah, me too. I regularly have to land on planets out on the fringe to restock jump mats along the way. It's just part of exploring for me.

Klutz, as you travel the sparse regions and start whittling down your jump mats, start scanning landables along the way and when you see a good one with a few jump mats just land and start restocking with the SRV. That's how I do it anyway. Basically exactly like Rhea does.

 

[Major Klutz]

Thanks. I generally don't bother scanning bodies that have already been tagged, but out here it's all tagged so I have been scanning landables and I'm currently on a surface prospecting.
My limiting materials right now are Cadmium and Niobium. Niobium is used in L2 and x3 in L3. Cadmium is used 2x in L2. So you need much more of those.

Yeah, it's slow going but I can see the appeal. You really fell more like you're actually exploring. I just have to accept that I'm not gonna get many first discovered bonuses.

 

[iain666]

I just have to accept that I'm not gonna get many first discovered bonuses.

You probably don't have to all that far from where you are currently to change that. I certainly wasn't seeing a lot of tags when I was last out that way and that was only a few months ago. OK, it was before people found the Zurara and whatnot so there'll have been a bit more traffic out that way since then but there are going to be huge swathes of never visited systems for a long time yet.

Although I was in a ship with half your jump range and no jumponium - so my sparse was for you not even noticeable as such - so there may be something in the scarcity of systems constraining the few who go that way to the same paths.

 

[Major Klutz]

Something else I noticed. I'm not filtering star types and I've yet to run in to a non scoopable.
Are proto stars and brown dwarves rare out here?

 

[iain666]

Yep.

 

[Chrystoph]

Yeah, it's slow going but I can see the appeal. You really fell more like you're actually exploring. I just have to accept that I'm not gonna get many first discovered bonuses.

I found that there are more discoverables the further you get from the galactic ecliptic.

Are proto stars and brown dwarves rare out here?

Much rarer as primary stars, but you will find them in stellar systems.

 

[Major Klutz]

I found that there are more discoverables the further you get from the galactic ecliptic.

That's generally true. The trouble is that the stars thin out even more as you go up or down and they are already too thin here to cross over. So most everyone who has crossed the rift has done it on or near the ecliptic which is why most everything here is already tagged.
I'm not out here for the tags or the money really, but I find little motivation to explore a system that has already been explored.
Just looking forward to getting across and exploring some uncharted systems on the far side.

 

[Rustnsawdust]

I'm currently on the far side of the Rift, near the westward end, and last night hit a belt of Y and T stars that presented some problems. I have about a six-jump range and was hitting three and four in a row, which made me a bit nervous. Moved out a bit rimward and got back into the ever-present M types. Boring but safe!

 

[Major Klutz]

So I'm heading deeper into the rift and I still have a 900+ly course plotted.

I stopped to fill up on jump mats but I'm limited by Niobium so if I use some L2 jumps I'll have fewer L3 jumps available.
I don't want to use more than half of what I have so I can back track if necessary.
https://www.edsm.net/en/user/travel-map/id/9556/cmdr/Alan+Hutchins

 

[Valije]

I regularly fly in sparse regions, in fact I could say it's the part of exploration that gives me the greatest joy. I cannot comment on the specific area you area you are going through (other than close to the galactic plane is usually denser depending on where you are) but I can tell you how I survive deep into areas where I can only navigate with jumponium:

1. I usually start my trip with as much jumponium as I can get. Carrying 50 of each grade is a normal state for me but I usually have around 80 of G1, 70 of G2, and 50 of G3.
2. When navigating I prefer to use G1 and G2 if I can, leaving G3 for cases where I can't do otherwise. This highly depends on the jump range. My current range is 63.5 Ly so G1 and G2 cover a lot of ground. However closer to 50 Ly jump range, and depending on the area, G3 would be consumed a lot faster.
3. I have a rule that if I get close to 20 on G3 injections, I need to get down to planets and start prospecting for mats until it's up again. For G1 and G2 my limit is around 30.
4. I use bookmarks to signpost where I'm going and try to figure the best route that will cost the less jumponium.
5. I use the galaxy map a lot to try and figure out positions and routes.
6. If I can use NS I do but I'm always conscious of the danger of jumping to a remote area that is also a trap so I use that sparingly.
7. I use EDEngineer to manage my materials.
8. When I can I prefer planets/moons with at least two jumponium materials. Three and above is optimal but not always possible.

I can't think of anything else right now. Being inside such areas was nerve racking when I first started doing it last year but right now it's like second nature. Hope this helps.

Edited for spelling and clarity.

I am currently trying to go around the galaxy visiting the "last systems" of the edge, so I've been travelling in very sparse zones for the last 3 months.

What Rhea Lorell said is more or less what I currently do, even the amount of boosts I look after are same: 80/70/50.
I am using a spreadsheet to account for materials since I made it to change color from green to red the less materials I have. Once I see too many orange and yellow, I drive a bit. The amount of materials I use is pretty high and I need to get more every couple of days (in this trip alone I landed 130 times). Of course I try to avoid using Polonium if I can.

I would like to add that I always travel "on fumes". When scooping, I check the actual range in the right panel, functions tab. If you have less fuel than the maximum your FSD uses, the range will go up as you scoop until you hit the max range. Then it will start to go down again because your mass is bigger the more fuel you have. Since the game is currently not accurate, I try to get a bit more than needed, just in case.

Of course, when I charge the FSD I always check the next system main star type. After a lot of times doing the same, now is just a reflex.
I only found 3 non scoopable main stars ater a bit more than 1700 systems: a T, a TTS and one NS.

 

[Redfox]

Though not specifically for the area you're asking about, you could also check the following thread with some more general tips that I found quite useful:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/320492-Effective-plotting-techniques-in-sparse-areas

 

[Macros Black]

Judging from this map, there's some pretty amazing ships out there. Good Polonium (>0.6%) & Arsenic sources seems rare, so stock up when you find any good ones.

Spoiler

 

[Traveller_GG]

A trick I used when jumping off the edge of the galaxy (Northern edge East of BP if you want to find the tags) was to bookmark the route back. It's a bit of a minotaurs maze when you jump J3 leaps into the unknown. I found 'islands' of systems with only one way back, and using the breadcrumb bookmarks meant I could find the route back much more easily.

You *can* just look for the systems you've visited or refer to your logs but the bookmarks make it an instantly visual route map back.

 

[Major Klutz]

Judging from this map, ...

OMG. I didn't think to turn on stars in my map. It's no wonder most systems here are already tagged.
I picked a rather popular place to cross over. The stars thin out slightly there in the middle of that donut where I first had to turn back and divert NW slightly. Looks like I'm on the right track now.

Update: Made it across with no Jumponium required. I guess it's just a matter of choosing the right place to cross.
Well I'll probably use all this Jumponium anyway exploring the edge and/or taking a shortcut back across.

I stopped by to check out the Zurara and then I'll be off to the edge of the abyss.

Thanks for all the tips.