I dread the way home

moonshiner57 · Apr 1, 2016

Hi fellow explorers,

In December I started out towards the galactic core in "Laika", my now smelly old DBX. Having little time to play, it took me until now to get anywhere - I am 5.000 ly from Sagittarius A. I can probably make it there... but the thought that it will take me JUST AS LONG to get back home to my parked Cobra and civilization makes me consider flying into a star. 30kly more of this before I see a station again. AAAGGGGHHHH!!!! A true deep-space explorer I am not, this I know by now.

So while I would dearly love to bring my discovery data, a few ELWs and a lot of first discoveries back home, it will be fall before I get there. At my current rate and growing disgust of Star-Swoops-At-Me it'll take months... and I'm this close to pulling the metaphorical trigger

Hamlet has nothing on me... it seems such a sweet thought to self-destruct and be back in the bubble in an instant.

What to do? What to do? Help me, fellow explorers... hold out or give in? Is there a rescue organization for I-cannot-bear-it-anymore types like me? An interstellar support group or logistics outfit that will put me in a cryo-chamber and fly my ship home for me?

AAGGGHH! RUUUNNN! RUN!!

This is space madness, surely!!!1!! I'll open an airlock and then it'll be over!!!

Arry · Apr 1, 2016

Never give in.

I was just pondering this question myself. Do you guys ever, just want to open the air lock and breath in the vacuum. Just to step outside for a break etc.

Hard to say, what to offer. One possibility, maybe find a fellow explore near to you, through these pages, maybe, team up with someone else, just to relieve the boredom.

Jackie Silver · Apr 1, 2016

If you don't bother stopping to scan anything, you should be able to make roughly 1000 ly (or more) per hour. Better, per album. Plot a course, stick a record on and just follow the jumps mindlessly while concentrating on the music. You can cover ground really quickly if you need to, though with a DBX you may need to pause occasionally to refuel instead of being able to refuel by skimming the star as you travel.

Monk · Apr 1, 2016

This is why I do local exploration...

Appreciable impact on populated systems
- IIRC, expansion does not occur into unexplored space. A system must hit a critical level of scans before expansion can occur into the system
Easy money collected while doing other things
Exposes opportunities in populated space that may be ignored otherwise (since system data isn't available on gal map until explored, even populated systems are left unexplored)
No space madness
Can hop into doing anything else so it doesn't become repetitive
Smaller cache of data as it is offloaded at any appropriately aligned station, at any time

Sure, you will be hard pressed to find anything that is completely new and not tagged (though I do find some along the edges of pop space from time to time), but you still get rank progression and the bonus isn't all that rewarding anyway. Plus, I couldn't give two craps about my name being tagged on somewhere I will never return to. I've got a couple of my tags out there, enough for me.

Sapporo · Apr 1, 2016

I wanted to do the same on my Sag A run. In the end, the 40m was worth it.

Sapient6 · Apr 1, 2016

My Sag A trip started in march of last year and it took me until June to get there. Took me a bit less RW time than you're taking

, but I still went through a moment of that "maybe I'll just self-destruct". It passed, of course, and by the time I was done in the Core I found I wasn't really eager to head back to populated space after all, and ended up meandering about, seeing some additional sights before truly pointing my nose back home.

A few things changed, which helped:

First, and maybe most importantly, I changed the way I went about traveling. When I started out I was scanning everything in every system. That didn't last long because I wasn't covering ground and realized it was going to take literal years to get to the core that way. By the time I was considering self destructing I was cherry picking what I scanned, but still checking out every system I traveled through to see if there was something worth cherry picking.

So I changed it up further and began designating periods of time as "travel mode". In travel mode I don't even open the system map, I am covering a pre-determined distance, just honk-scoop-jumping. This got a little bit dull, though, to be quite honest. Picking a soundtrack for traveling, like Jackie suggested, helped, but it also was not enough.

What was enough for me was this: I began thinking about technique. How to come into the system, get to scooping as quickly as possible, maximize the amount of time spent scooping, while still initiating the next jump the moment the FSD cooldown ends? Since I was a wee-bit "suicidal" by this point I was perfectly okay with abandoning the popular "throttle down". Nope. Throttle's got to stay at MAX at all times! Then it was working on diving right into each star, full speed, and learning the right time and degree to swerve off in order to get to the max scoop rate as quickly as possible without getting kicked out of supercruise for coming to close.

Then I began the trial-and-error phase to learn what my ship could tolerate as far as initiating the FSD jump while I'm still at the max scooping rate. I was in a Clipper, with a configuration that runs pretty cool, so it turned out it could tolerate more than I had assumed. Still had to veer sharply away from the star once I had triggered the FSD, and def had to be careful doing this with hotter suns (hint: it turned out to be unwise to try to jump from the corona of O-Class stars).

Did some damage to my ship this way, but it gave me something to work on, something I could improve over time.

And the other result was pretty great, too: I was covering larger and larger stretches in less time.

gooddoc · Apr 1, 2016

Long range exploration is apparently not for you.

what kind of jump range do you have?

What I would suggest instead of giving up immediately is to just honk & go. Time yourself how long you can go in a couple of hours by this method & you'll probably surprise yourself on how fast you can travel.
You'll soon be back in the bubble with all your data to sell & at least get something from the trip.

btw I'll hit Beagle Point tomorrow.....with another 65K LYs left on the return trip to the bubble

Scal · Apr 1, 2016

Before you self destruct, pick an easily reached destination in the direction of home, and go there. You will be 1 or 2 Kylies closer, and things might seem a tiny bit less overwhelming. See if you want to travel a couple more Kylies next day. The option to self destruct will always be there, you don't lose anything by waiting a few days.

gooddoc · Apr 1, 2016

Do you carry an SRV?

A couple of days ago, on the DW thread, there were posts regarding a potential 'getting back to the bubble quick'.

It is alleged that if you die in your SRV, then you get the choice of returning back to your ship or back to the last docked station in a Sidewinder (ship is lost). It was stated that if you took the Sidewinder option, you still had your data to sell.

I can't confirm this, as it's something that I'd never do...Id still go with the Honk & Go, I covered a 5k LY return journey in 4 hours in my 20 ly Python by this method, to get back for the DW start. So a 30k return shouldn't take more than a couple of days play.

Adeezha · Apr 1, 2016

^ Can we not discuss methods of cheating please.

Mengy · Apr 2, 2016

moonshiner57 said:
In December I started out towards the galactic core in "Laika", my now smelly old DBX. Having little time to play, it took me until now to get anywhere - I am 5.000 ly from Sagittarius A. I can probably make it there... but the thought that it will take me JUST AS LONG to get back home to my parked Cobra and civilization makes me consider flying into a star. 30kly more of this before I see a station again. AAAGGGGHHHH!!!! A true deep-space explorer I am not, this I know by now.

So while I would dearly love to bring my discovery data, a few ELWs and a lot of first discoveries back home, it will be fall before I get there. At my current rate and growing disgust of Star-Swoops-At-Me it'll take months... and I'm this close to pulling the metaphorical trigger Hamlet has nothing on me... it seems such a sweet thought to self-destruct and be back in the bubble in an instant.

What to do? What to do? Help me, fellow explorers... hold out or give in?

You need to learn what I learned many months ago: the difference between travel mode and exploration mode. Exploration Mode is scanning everything, sightseeing ringed worlds, stopping to admire the views, while Travel Mode is literally jump, honk, and jump again the immediate second that the FSD cooldown is up. Once you can make that distinction and discipline yourself enough to actually do it then huge distances suddenly become much less fearsome.

You speak about 5000ly like it's a great distance, and there was a time when I felt that Bernard's Loop was also far too. However, now that I can fly in "travel mode" that distance of 5000ly's is a mere three hours of flight time for me to cover. A DBX should be able to cover similar distances, most likely at least 1500ly's per hour, probably more though depending on your ship's outfit.

But then I never long for returning to the bubble either, I'm perfectly fine out in deep space, and when I'm back in the bubble I long to get away from the other ships flying around!

Cdr Voorheez · Apr 2, 2016

Just think of all those lovely credits you will gain on return. My first SagA* trip earned me 70mil creds. Think on losing that before pulling the trigger CMDR.
You will learn to love or to hate deep space, she is a fickle mistress with no middle ground.

Traveller_GG · Apr 2, 2016

15 years in the isocube citizen. Exploration judges you.

Whiterose · Apr 2, 2016

If you pull out the little tray between your legs, and unwrap the plastic there is a cyanide pill. Make sure to take the blue pill.

Cdr Voorheez · Apr 2, 2016

The red pill is a laxative. A very strong one.

Gully Foyle · Apr 2, 2016

gooddoc said:
Do you carry an SRV?

A couple of days ago, on the DW thread, there were posts regarding a potential 'getting back to the bubble quick'.

It is alleged that if you die in your SRV, then you get the choice of returning back to your ship or back to the last docked station in a Sidewinder (ship is lost). It was stated that if you took the Sidewinder option, you still had your data to sell.
Snip

They know nothing Jon Snow

d8veh · Apr 2, 2016

I just came back 15KLY in my Asp. It could do 1KLY (30-35 jumps) every 30 minutes, stopping for scooping every 7 jumps, so it took about 8 hours, which was two evenings while watching TV. You don't need much concentration for it. In your DB if you have a jump range of over 30LY, your 30KLY will only take 16 hours or 4 nights watching TV.

moonshiner57 · Apr 2, 2016

I think I calmed down a bit. What helped was the Explore vs. Travel distinction. So far I always scanned the star, checked the map, maybe scanned a body or two, then jumped. Today it felt a bit cheap and dirty to jump without even scanning the star... but is was much faster, to focus on speed only.

So I decided to make it to Sag A at least - 4kly to go. Then, I'll see... maybe the return journey will feel better, as I actually move closer to home.

Multi-crewed exploration vessels, a true autpilot and a rich selection of board games - that's what Elite

angerous needs!

Satsuma · Apr 2, 2016

There's something that seems to happen to a lot of deep space explorers, and it's definitely happened to me. Let me tell you a little story.

Back in the early days of the game, I had no patience for making credits, and exploration netted far fewer credits. I did some exploration in my Sidewinder - never really leaving the bubble, as I didn't have the money for a good FSD. 100 light years was a slog. After a while of this, I switched to my Freagle and fitted it for travel, and took some trips in it. My time in the Sidewinder made 100 light year trips seem quick, so I managed a few trips of 1-2 kly in the Freagle. I knew I didn't have the endurance for a long trip, so I wanted to make my short trips count, and I'd typically scout up to the edge of the thin disk of the galaxy, things like that.

I lost the Freagle after some stupidity, and decided I really wanted a Cobra. I plied the rare trade route for a few days, and ended up in a Cobra Mk III with an A-class FSD. That, I figured, was my endgame. I did some shakedown cruises of 1-2 kly, which were pretty quick affairs, and then headed out for a longer trip. A kly, which was hard before, was easy - I'd done that before, after all - so I made it out 10 kly to the Sagittarius arm, headed back at an angle, and ended up home after 25 kly or so. And that, I figured, was a long trip.

Then space madness reared its head and I signed up for Distant Worlds. I could do 25 kly. I knew that. So Distant Worlds seemed feasible. I'm now just about done with it and facing a trip back of at least 65 kly. But I already know I can do more than that, so I figure I'll head home the long way and follow the Sagittarius-Carina arm around. I'm already looking at other "shorter" trips to follow that up with - I'm curious about the Formidine Rift, and it doesn't seem too far. Each "longest" trip seems hard at the time, but afterwards it becomes something you know you can do, and you find your ability to travel long distances increasing.

You set out on a long trip. 28 kly out and at least that much back. But you're almost out to your destination. Halfway through your trip. When you get back you'll have done it, and you'll have the credits and the string of first discoveries to show for it. You'll hop in your Cobra and you'll fly around the bubble and you'll be happy you're back. But you might find yourself looking out into the black and thinking "I managed 56 kly. I'll bet I could find something interesting out in the Osprey Stellar Remnant. It's barely more than 56 kly out...". And you'll know that you can do it. You'll be one of us, brother explorer.

Roqinn · Apr 3, 2016

I know how you feel! I was feeling that way by the time I got to Sag A* and still had to travel out to Beagle Point! Now I have been there and want to get back. I keep trying to find a "short cut" from the outer arm to the one closer to the core and I should have just run back to the Crossing. It would have saved me at least 4 days. I just kept hoping to find a shorter way back across. LOL So much for a short cut!

I still have over 60k ly to go back to home. It's a good thing I got over that feeling of dread of the trip back! Embrace it! Take another way back, head down to the neutron star fields or look for certain types of stellar objects that you like (I'm partial to O type stars.)

Good luck Cmdr!