Newcomer / Intro Long range exploration, 'Goldilocks zones', Fuel, and a few Qs

jpjeffrey

jpjeffrey
Hi all
I set off on a long range trip to Sag A - I'm about 14.5 klys from Sol, heading toward the Greae Phio Nebula

Yes, as noted by others in the forums, it can be boring! :)

I'm not in a particular hurry, so I'm happy to dawdle around in systems, scanning likely candidates, get the Exploration percentage up a bit

So, like many, I've fallen into a 'line and length' with the jumps:
1. Jump to system, preset the throttle to zero when the FSD engages
2. Arrive in system, 'honk' immediately, move the targeting reticule to the centre of the star
3. After the honk, target the star to start scanning; while the scan completes, open the system map to look for likely candidates.
4. Back to the main screen; when scan is complete, scoop the star to top up the tank (if the star is scoopable)
5. When the tank is full, move off to 'surface scan' likely candidates before jumping.

As I mentioned, I'm not in a hurry so I tend to scan all the 'metals', the TF, WW, ELW, even the Gas Giants.

So, some questions:

Q1. SECONDARY STARS - the 'Goldilocks zone'
I've become reasonably adept at guessimating the 'goldilocks zone' of stars according to their type and heat (not all the terraformables are nice and blue coloured ... :) )
ie for any particular star class, the terraformables will be found orbiting within a certain range

BUT...
What about the planets orbiting secondary stars...?

Example:
Let's suppose the Primary star is a G type - I've found that the 'Goldilocks zone' for a G type is about 350ls to 875ls (at the extremes), so a quick look at the system map will reveal any planets orbiting within that zone.
Clicking on any of these planets will give their range to the primary star in LS.

Now, suppose there is a secondary star in the system - say, a Class M at quite a distance from the primary star, with planets in orbit around it. Let's say that some of these planets look invitingly blue...
The question then becomes: are these planets within the 'goldilocks zone' of the secondary star?

Clicking on these planets doesn't help, as the information provided will only reveal their RANGE TO THE PRIMARY STAR - useless for the present purpose

Q. is there any way of determining the planet's range to the secondary star (without actually going there...)

(and, yes, I have in fact found some terraformables in the 'goldilocks zone' of such a Secondary Star)


Q2 FUEL TANKS
Before leaving I outfitted my ship with an extra fuel tank
(a 'spare tyre' I believe it's called... :))
Yes, when full it cuts down my jump range by about 3ly, but I can live with that. And, it increases my total range from full to empty to about 450ly

I have to confess, travelling towards the centre the extra fuel capacity is just about useless. There are plenty of scoopable stars, so I don't know what I was worried about! :)

However, a thought occurs...

Q. When travelling on the fringes of the Galaxy, where stars become few and far between, is there a use for a large fuel tank?
ie to cross large areas of 'badlands' that contain no scoopables?

I'd welcome tales of any relevant experience



Q3 REFUELLING
As mentioned above, I have plenty of fuel.
I generally only play in solo, but occasionally reading the forums I see some poor Commander stuck somewhere 'in the black' without fuel
It occurred to me that I could log in in 'Open' and help the poor critter... :)

Is this possible? I don't have any fuel drones... must the 'donating ship' have the drones, or can the 'receiving ship' do the transfer...?
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Hi, wow, what an essay! :D

1) No, nav panel tells you the distance from your ship and the system map tells you the distance from main star. Bummer.
Personally, I don't visit the secondary star systems, if they are more than 100k ls away Especially if they are a sub M class (I never found anything worth while orbiting a star below L class. It's almost never worth it, unless you are one of those "Scan all the things" guys.

2) Yes, normally there's no need to extra tank as you can simply filter your route to only go via scoopables. But as you say, there are regions where you find a long chains of unscoopable stars and then the extra fuel comes in handy. It really is a matter of planning ahead, depending on where you want to go.

3) Yes, you need the limpets and fuel transfer controller to be able to refuel other ships.
 
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Valije

Valije
Q1:

Skaude_II_R_d5_67_20161219_212601.jpg


Use the Semi Major Axis. 1 AU is around 500 ls.
The only problems are binary planets.

Keep in mind not all stars of the same class have the same temperature and the Goldilocks Zone changes with it. Check the luminosity & type of the stars using the galaxy view:

Skaude_II_R_d5_67_20161219_213456.jpg
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
jpjeffrey said:
Aha! so the 'Semi Major Axis' is the distance from the secondary star, expressed in AU..
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Almost.... if the orbit were a circle, this would be the radius. Since it usually isn't, it's the larger "radius" of the ellipse. However, due to the way ED models orbits, this gets useless for anything not directly orbiting the star - like binaries or moons.

If you want to get technical: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-major_and_semi-minor_axes
 
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