Finding the closest star to a destination star.

Ian Phillips · Jun 8, 2015

I am doing a little tour along some black holes and want to include Gliese 2026 in my trip.

However it seems to be isolated.... I tried first in my Cobra 21+ LY range) and only got "route unavailable". Now I am trying again in an Asp (31+ LY range) and am again getting the "route unavailable" message.

The trouble is - I have to be within 1000 LY to be able to plot the route, and having to return, get/outfit a new ship with a larger jump range, and then travel out to a point where I can again try to plot a route is very time consuming

Does anyone have a method of discovering the closest point to a target star, so I can find out what jump range I need to be able to reach this black hole?

Dommarraa · Jun 8, 2015

I have had a poke around, and cant see any way without reverting to 3d trig.

As someone who has been out to the fringes a few times, I would make some comments:
1. It is often not the last jump that is important, there are many islands of stars limited to just 1 entrance point that can be hundreds of ly away from your destination
2. The route plotter isnt very good at hunting out rare routes. Try circling the target as best you can at a reasonable distance (couple of hundred ly?), attempting to plot from each system
3. Try economical plotting, it may be better at finding that rare entry point than fastest. Once you know of a way in, then use fastest on various way points on the route.

Ian Phillips · Jun 8, 2015

Thanks. At least that gives me another angle of attack

Neokortex · Jun 8, 2015

Ian Phillips said:
The trouble is - I have to be within 1000 LY to be able to plot the route...

Why that? Cuz of the route-plotting issues? Then you dont need. Its more "regarding your jumprage" but you can also calc fast small routes like I jump atm around Sag to couple systems in a very short range.

I also dont understand your question. I mean I bet you are able to zoom into the gal map and there you can see the stars and distance/coordinates (depending of your map filter)?!?

Dommarraa · Jun 8, 2015

There is no way to measure the distances between stars without doing the 3d trig (or just setting up a spreadsheet to do it for you)

dannywhac · Jun 8, 2015

Frrrrrrrp.

Ian Phillips · Jun 9, 2015

Neokortex said:
Why that? Cuz of the route-plotting issues? Then you dont need. Its more "regarding your jumprage" but you can also calc fast small routes like I jump atm around Sag to couple systems in a very short range.

I also dont understand your question. I mean I bet you are able to zoom into the gal map and there you can see the stars and distance/coordinates (depending of your map filter)?!?

My question originates in the fact that I am NOT going inwards, but outwards (actually downwards but it's essentially the same). Stars are spaced further apart, and in this case I do not seem to have enough jump range to reach the star I want to get to.

Dommarraa · Jun 9, 2015

Ian Phillips said:
Thanks. At least that gives me another angle of attack

Make sure you have a route logger when you go so you can find your way out again !
Without one, I would have been stranded on an island and had to self destruct.

Grey Steel · Jun 9, 2015

Dommarraa said:
Make sure you have a route logger when you go so you can find your way out again !
Without one, I would have been stranded on an island and had to self destruct.

Domm you can't mention something so important without giving more details! What do you mean route logger? I would like to know more!

dannywhac · Jun 9, 2015

Grey Steel said:
Domm you can't mention something so important without giving more details! What do you mean route logger? I would like to know more!

http://firstgreatexpedition.org/mybb/showthread.php?tid=1406

dognosh · Jun 9, 2015

Dommarraa said:
There is no way to measure the distances between stars without doing the 3d trig (or just setting up a spreadsheet to do it for you)

I use the grids to get approximate distances, it can be tricky(especially in the 3rd dimension) but gives good results.

Ian Phillips said:
I am doing a little tour along some black holes and want to include Gliese 2026 in my trip.
Does anyone have a method of discovering the closest point to a target star, so I can find out what jump range I need to be able to reach this black hole?

Have you tried plotting the route backwards ? start at Gliese 2026 and using my method above, you can possibly find a route but it will be very time consuming !

dognosh · Jun 9, 2015

Ok, got in my Asp and found a route

BUBBLE
HYADES SECTOR UD-A B1-2
SYNUEFE NA-L D9-64 <<<--- key part of this route, just get here and you are fine
SYNUEFE KY-I D9-0 <<<--- plot to here and not GLIESE 2026
GLIESE 2026

Asp Explorer
Thrusters D4
FSD A5
Life D4
P Dist. D4
Sensors D5
P Plant D3
scoop, detailed & adv acanners

jump range : 34.47 LY

Not going there, just got within 900 LY of it to find a route, and directly it didn't allow me so i found a route 2 jumps from GLIESE 2026, then the last 2 jumps

Raiko · Jun 10, 2015

I’ve been reading SvennoJ’s excellent thread Exploration: Quest for the loneliest planet, I noticed that he often needed to manually plot routes in sparsely populated regions, such as crossing to the ends of the outer arms and when skirting the galactic fringe.

He found routes manually through trial and error while the route planner couldn’t even plot two-jump routes.