COL 70 'Requires unknown permit' = unable to deliver passenger to V380 Orionis

[AgingGamer]

Once again I'm trying to deliver a passenger who styles himself an 'explorer' to a star system I don't seem to be able to reach. Apparently I need an 'unknown permit' to travel anywhere in COL 70 sector, and this huge swath of space is between me and the destination: V380 Orionis. And apparently 'unknown permit' is a code word for 'impossible to travel there': gee, thanks, Frontier!

I'm about 500 Ly out on a 1,100 Ly journey, and can't find any viable routes that I can be reasonably sure will get there. I assume that, since the Nav computer can't plot a route, that every possible route that avoids COL 70 is over 1,000 Ly. But where can I go that will get me a viable route to my destination? And how far out of my way (at least 400 Ly, I assume) do I have to go? I'm piloting my silly Orca, which only has a 20 Ly range, so I'd prefer not going 400 Ly randomly only to find I still can't get from 'there' (wherever there is) to V380 Orionis.

Has anyone made it to V380 Orionis lately? Or any other nearby star systems that involved somehow circumnavigating the COL 70 'no fly' zone?

 

[goemon]

yes, i have been at V380 Orionis 2 weeks ago.

plot a route as close as you can get - and after that resort to manually plotting (e.g. one jump at a time in the general direction). basically you need to come from the other side, e.g. going around the permit region corewards and east - at least that was the direction where i was coming from.

the route plotter tries to go in more or less straight lines - if it hits "a wall" it can't plot. same happens when stars density goes down.

 

[Jackie Silver]

I was there recently - if I remember it right, the best route takes you over the top of Barnard's Loop and then down towards V380. Might be wrong. It's a bit of a pain, certainly.

 

[AgingGamer]

Thanks, Goemon and Jackie! I'll see if I can make it.

My Orca isn't the right ship for this due to its feeble range, but since I can't transfer the passengers to my Anaconda I guess I'm stuck. I'm hoping I can make it there without adding much more than 500 Ly each way to the trip... fingers crossed!


UPDATE: Uggghhh, all of the "Horsehead' and COL 121 stars are also blocked with an 'unknown permit'. Geez Louise, this is frustrating. If I could hide all of the 'permit required' stars I could maybe see a route through. I'm currently in a group of stars that begin with 'Wregoe', and it seems like every path I follow is blocked by either 'COL 70', 'COL 122' or 'Horsehead' stars.

 

[CMDR AKIRA MASAKARI]

I've been there 2 weeks ago too. I passed above the col 70 sector, using the WREGOE sector, so you are getting it right.
When you are directly above V 380 Orionis, you should be able to dive in using the route plotter.

I have to say I had 53 jumprange and probably a somewhat big range is needed for the last jumps where you have to pass through some col 70 systems. Maybe you'll need some jump-injection with your Orca.

 

[AgingGamer]

I have to say I had 53 jumprange and probably a somewhat big range is needed for the last jumps where you have to pass through some col 70 systems. Maybe you'll need some jump-injection with your Orca.

Thank you, Akira, for confirming you were able to make it through. I'm thinking that my jump range (19.5 Ly) in the Orca is the key issue that is blocking me now that I know about the 'unknown permit' systems.

This is made much worse by the fact that plotting a manual (no Nav) route is made nearly impossible by all of the over-lapping/intermingled 'no fly' zones with no way to visualize them. That's another 'QoL' thing I think I'll propose to Frontier: add a feature to the galactic map to 'visualize' no fly/permit required zones the same way political bubbles are shown.

 

[Hell Razor5543]

Col 70 Sector (and some other Col Sectors) have become locked since February. I was investigating an unusual system over that way then, with no plotting issues. However, 3 months ago I hit the "Requires Unknown Permit" wall. I have now found a way into the region, via the Witch Head nebula.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Col 70 Sector (and some other Col Sectors) have become locked since February. I was investigating an unusual system over that way then, with no plotting issues. However, 3 months ago I hit the "Requires Unknown Permit" wall. I have now found a way into the region, via the Witch Head nebula.

I'd blame the Thargoids for the swath of permit-locked systems, but then I remembered there could be another non-human faction out there: Rogue AIs.

At about 08:45

[video=youtube_share;O6z5OK8J5pg]https://youtu.be/O6z5OK8J5pg?t=8m45s[/video]

 

[AgingGamer]

I finally found a path! Even with my crappy 19 Ly Orca! But boy howdy, it was ugly.

The route I followed is 'under' (galactic 'South') COL 70. I got there via the WREGO sector to Outotz OY-B B4 1-0, then to COL 69 AR-U C3-1. From there the Nav was able to plot a course to V380 Orionis via COL69, Trapezium, and NGC 1999 sector stars.

All told, I expect the one way trip to V380 Orionis, which was supposed to be about 1,000 Ly, has come to over 3,000 Ly for me. I haven't made it to my destination yet: I still have over 600 Ly (70 jumps in the Orca, according to the Nav) to go. But I finally have a route

 

[AgingGamer]

And finally I've arrived at V380 Orionis- time to set up camp and drink away my aggravation.

And because I worked so darn hard to get these pictures, I need to share them

The Orca looking pretty amidst a nice binary on the way...

The surface tourist beacon at V380 Orionis- 'Fiery Sky'

Another picture from near the tourist beacon viewpoint...

 

[CMDR AKIRA MASAKARI]

I'm glad you made it!!!!! That must have been a mini adventure in itself!!!
A lot of CMDRs are waiting the Col 70 sector to be unpermited... When it was possible to visit that sector we tagged a lot of systems, I have an ELW tagged in one of the col 70 systems. What will happen to those systems? Will a swarm of rogue ai or thargoids come from systems tagged by us, becoming thwe most unfamous explorer in the community?

Time will tell, meanwhile feel the creep and bring those tourists home in one piece!!!!

 

[Jackie Silver]

Nicely done! I ought to be able to map the no-entry zones in that area - we know they're spherical and their centre points and sizes - will be a bit of a mess though. Let me see if I can think of a good way to display it in 2d.

 

[AgingGamer]

I'm glad you made it!!!!! That must have been a mini adventure in itself!!!
...
Time will tell, meanwhile feel the creep and bring those tourists home in one piece!!!!

A bit more adventure than I signed on for, I think- but yes, it felt good to get where I was going. But the job is only half-way done: now to get them back to their starting point!

Nicely done! I ought to be able to map the no-entry zones in that area - we know they're spherical and their centre points and sizes - will be a bit of a mess though. Let me see if I can think of a good way to display it in 2d.

Thanks! Someone creating a visualization of the 'no entry' zones would be nice. COL 70 seems to 'spread' all over the place, and since COL 121 and all the 'Horsehead' sectors are also blocked, it gets messy.

But I really think Frontier needs to provide a visualization of 'no fly' zones in-game when they are messing around with this functionality in popular sightseeing areas. I'm certain the route I took was exactly the opposite from 'efficient, but 'eyeballing' it took me quite literally hours to find a feasible path. My wife thought I was having a stroke when I started dancing around saying "I found a route! I found a route!" Note that I'm almost certain that someone with a more reasonable jump range of something around 40 Ly probably would have had a lot more workable choices: the 20 Ly Orca is just not cut out for this.

For now, though- my advice for any explorers heading out towards Orion, Horsehead, or Barnard's Loop... take your ship with the longest jump range, plan on lots of frustration, or maybe reconsider. Alternately, you may find the perfect route on the first try and wonder what I was fussing about- if so, please contradict me here

 

[Hegario]

I was there a few weeks ago and went through the Witch Head sector and it was only a few hundred light years more than the original distance.

I was in a 26 LY Cobra though.

 

[AgingGamer]

I was there a few weeks ago and went through the Witch Head sector and it was only a few hundred light years more than the original distance.

I was in a 26 LY Cobra though.

I sometimes think, Hegario, that my Nav computer just hates me I couldn't find a route through Witch Head, but that by no means implies there isn't one even for my 19 Ly Orca.

The route that I did finally find through WREGO=> Outotz=> COL 69 took me about 800 Ly out of my way. By that point I'd already bounced around about 1,000 Ly in that vicinity on false starts, moving to spots that looked promising only to have the Nav computer throw a hissy fit. I was getting tired of the whole process, so when I finally found a spot that looked almost certain to work i.e.: I could see a path of stars starting at COL 69 AR-U C3-1 that looked close enough together, I went for it.

 

[Hegario]

Try Witch Head Sector DL-Y D22. That's the system I set course to. Then just straight on to V380 Orionis.

 

[Jackie Silver]

The inestimable CMDR Alot has produced this handy map of hand-authored sectors.

 

[Jackie Silver]

I made a little viewer program for the hand-authored sectors (including a display of the currently permit-locked areas) - link here (win 64 build, with python source inside the archive) - controls should be fairly self-explanatory. Scaling is zoom, at scale 1, 1 pixel = 1 ly, at scale 2, 1 pixel = 2 ly etc. Change z level to see different heights from the plane. Red sectors are locked. Click on the map to move around or change the coordinates of the centre point using the input boxes. The save button dumps an output file in the program folder.

The example picture below shows a view of the permit-locked systems in Orion as they appear at about 200 ly below the plane.

(n.b. the underlying dataset is somewhat questionable, to put it mildly; I'm beating it into shape with proper legwork. ^^)

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

You are my hero. I wanted to do that with paper and pencil during the weekend, haha! [heart]

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

I wonder what the "FE 1 Sector" is? There is no astronomical acronym so it must be something between hand-placed and procedural?
Anybody got a clue?