Don't Over Rely On Spansh...

[Seizewell Warrior]

Returning from BP using the route SPANSH had given me, first mistake I made when dropping off the neutrons for fuel was to exceed my (normal) jumponium boosted range to the fuel star. After a few white knuckle jumps and running desperately low on jump materials (nah, I won't need that for the journey home... ) managed to get back on the neutron path only to find Spansh now ganked me - a two step move which the plotter refuses to recognise. Everyone warns about the Abyss but there is also a nasty little area just south of Formarion Frontier called Newton's Vault which has extremely sparse density of stars.

Thoughts of getting back to Sol by the middle of next week have been abandoned as I desperately scour nearby systems for jump material - I was down to 2 x premium as nearly out of niobium. That seems to be resolving itself although no polonium or arsenic to be found as I go round the Graea Pri bunch of stars looking for a path into more densely star-populated space. Assuming I make it, I'll progress inward a bit before trying Spansh again

This might serve as a warning to anyone else returning from BP to Sol and relying on SPANSH - don't, at least not in the outer areas or without checking multi stage sections are viable or that there are fuel stars within normal jumping distance from the neutron route.

 

[Dr. Nagi]

The only thing I rely on is my own insanity.
That being said, the ingame plotter became much more efficient with the Neutron Routing and if I do use Spansh, I only use it to give me some intermediate waypoints and then let the ingame plotter do the rest, as it also includes refueling stops, which Spansh doesn't.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Assuming I can dig out of the current predicament, think I will also go back to using Spansh as a rough guide only, falling back on the plotter to do the rest with occasional neutron jumps to speed things up.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Managed to dig myself out of the current hole but only with about 6 or 7 boosted jumps of varying degree. Back on the Neutron Highway but even after reducing the range of my ship slightly in Spansh, the built in plotter is refusing to compile beyond the next two or three jumps. Will see what happens...

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Final update, all is now good and following the advice above I'm taking a location 3 - 4 kylies ahead on Spansh which allows the route plotter to do it's thing. Now just over half way through the total distance so I might get in Wednesday after all. Just a question of deciding where I go to hand in the Exploration data. think I've already maxed Farseer so trying to remember who/where the other mechanical engineer was located. Alternatively I might just head for Sol and hand the data in there.

 

[grey_areaz]

Hi Seizewell. Just managed to get myself in to precisely the same predicament you described above . . wish I'd read your post sooner!! (hindsight, wonderful etc). Having spent last night failing to plot either forward and backwards on the same Spansh route I'll be trying my escape over the next few days. Any tips on your approach to this? I'm planning to head on a diagonal back the way I arrived and up towards the galactic plane heading for what looks like a denser star field and just hope that 45 medium and 3 large jumponiums on a 43ly range will be enough.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Sorry to hear you're in the same pickle.

I just spent a large amount of time in the Galaxy map with maximum FSD boost (not neutron) selected, looking for line traces and systems in the general direction. I didn't end up backtracking but got close to hitting self destruct a couple of times. It's a rather nasty empty area of space, people kind of think about the Abyss but turns out that was a doddle to get across as was, by comparison, approaching Beagle Point from the "western" side through all those systems wittily named after poop..

It was the thought of losing nearly two months of gameplay which kept me persevering as, if I had failed to get out, the game would probably have ended up rage uninstalled, never to darken my brow again!

 

[Kissamies]

I haven't had that problem with the Spansh plotter, but my recent abyssal crossing west of the region taught me the importance of keeping a healthy jumponium reserve and knowing these notoriously sparse regions. I knew it was sparse, but didn't know what that actually meant. Premium injection for every other jump for my low to mid 60s Krait Phantom, and lesser injections for the other jumps.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Spansh explicitly warns NOT to jump into any remote place your Ship might not be able to leave again

But anyway, any Engineered Vessel should have absolutely no issues traversing those old gaps.
They're not gaps anymore but tourist highways.

If the own Jumprange is absymal for some reason, it's extremely risky to make the trip without plenty of Premium FSD injections.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

My AspX was (is) engineered but not to fullest extent - 47 LY. Had been to BP with it once before last year but the second trip took this more difficult route.

 

[grey_areaz]

Thanks Seizewell and all. Will see how i get on. Good to know someone has survived it. Didn’t expect the challenge (having made Salome’s reach on 43ly and jumponium ok) but have to reflect that it’s the cold brutal uncaring unforgiveness of the game that also makes it so damned cool!!

 

[varonica]

Thoughts of getting back to Sol by the middle of next week have been abandoned as I desperately scour nearby systems for jump material - I was down to 2 x premium as nearly out of niobium. That seems to be resolving itself although no polonium or arsenic to be found as I go round the Graea Pri bunch of stars looking for a path into more densely star-populated space. Assuming I make it, I'll progress inward a bit before trying Spansh again

With raw materials so easy to harvest now I never leave on an expedition without a full load of jumponium, even to the point of using premium jumponium on a short jump when necessary because using premium jumponium on a short jump reduces the amount of fuel used for that jump. So if you only have enough fuel for one in range jump, but your nearest fuel star is two jumps away and you will be stuck, using premium jumponium on those jumps means you can make it even if you don't have enough fuel for two normal jumps.

I think I have around 130 premium jumps available at the moment on this current run, I drop into volcanic or bio sites to stock up whenever I feel it's necessary. Oh yes, I only have a fuel tank large enough to carry fuel for three regular full range jumps but carrying a full stock if jumponium is a very comforting.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Lessons have been learned for next time I venture "up north", as it were, though my ambition is probably to retire the Aspx and upgrade to an Anaconda, with a view to engineering a 50+ LY range. Would still have got stuck in Newton's vault, though!

 

[varonica]

My AspX was (is) engineered but not to fullest extent - 47 LY. Had been to BP with it once before last year but the second trip took this more difficult route.

My Phantom made the journey to BP without using any Jumponium but that has 65ly jump range and was coming from the right as you look at the map, moving on to the left around the galaxy I did have to use jumponium to cross the tween arm gap, at the moment I am heading furthest south and found I was using a lot of jumponium even though I was a long way away still, so I had a look at the star field and a hundred or so light years below me was a thick layer of stars, I had followed a slightly higher course, so just that little mistake can make a lot of difference.

 

[grey_areaz]

Took Seizewell's advice and have been prospecting mats to max out as many FSD boosts as I can before progressing. Also struggling to find Polonium. My first two jumps were touch and go but I’m making steady progress and bookmarking along the way in case I end up in a blind alley. Will let you know how it goes. I can see the density of stars increasing around 400ly towards the galactic plane so I’m quietly confident it’ll work out but the lesson from this is ‘don’t jump in when you can’t see what’s under the water’ so I’m assuming nothing!!

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Sounds as though you will be okay - don't give up!

I can't remember if it was Polonium but certainly one of the elements was quite hard to come by. Imagine, if you will, a 57 year old bloke going "Whoop, whoop" and waving his arm in the air, when I finally cracked open a rock with the SUV gun and actually found some. Wife thought I was bonkers...