Newcomer / Intro Making sense of this map route?

[Piratescribe]

I hope this is the right place to post this question... it's a very newbie question, but glancing at this section, it's all introductions??
Anyway, I was considering ranking to get a Sol Permit, and read somewhere Ceos was a good place for Fed missions to gain reputation. I did a course to Ceo and this image below is from that.
1. Why does the path become dotted? I'm guessing the solid line is the farthest I can go before refueling?
2. I selected only scoopable class stars ... I take it that only determines what stars it shows, NOT what stars it allows in the plotted course? Which is why the suggested course seems to hit "invisible" systems? They're non-scoopable stars?
If I'm reading this entire plot right, it does not look like it's possible to travel from where I am to Ceos in a Cobra Mk III ! Unless I get really risky with how low I let fuel get and make long diversions to scoopable stars....
.

 

[Piratescribe]

OH shux, I forgot one other question, and for some reason it won't let me edit my post...
What is that orange star and circle symbol at the apex of the solid line path?

 

[Morbad]

The dotted path is indeed when you run out of fuel. However, if you have a filter set when plotting the route, the route will only pass through those stairs. If the stars aren't shown it's because they haven't been passed close enough to for the map to render them, or you changed the filter without re-plotting.

It's trivially easy to get even a ~15ly jump ship from the heart of the bubble to Ceos. Indeed, 15ly is enough to reach ~99.9% of the galaxy. In your case, just filter for scoopables (OBAFGKM), set fastest route, then plot to your destination, and don't pass up opportunities to scoop. I generally top up at every star. If you're feeling more confident, you can not apply any filter at all to get the straightest path, but you then have to take care to ensure you're never more than a tank of fuel from a scoopable star, manually diverting if necessary.

And that symbol is the last chance to scoop fuel on your current plotted route.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

The dotted path is indeed when you run out of fuel. However, if you have a filter set when plotting the route, the route will only pass through those stairs. If the stars aren't shown it's because they haven't been passed close enough to for the map to render them, or you changed the filter without re-plotting.

It's trivially easy to get even a ~15ly jump ship from the heart of the bubble to Ceos. Indeed, 15ly is enough to reach ~99.9% of the galaxy. In your case, just filter for scoopables (OBAFGKM), set fastest route, then plot to your destination, and don't pass up opportunities to scoop. I generally top up at every star. If you're feeling more confident, you can not apply any filter at all to get the straightest path, but you then have to take care to ensure you're never more than a tank of fuel from a scoopable star, manually diverting if necessary.

And that symbol is the last chance to scoop fuel on your current plotted route.

^everything he said.

And this forum is for questions from new folk to the game, not just introductions, so, yes, it's exactly the place to post.

And welcome to ED!

@@@07

PS the edit function is a bit flaky at the moment but they are working to rectify.

 

[BradHann]

2. I selected only scoopable class stars ... I take it that only determines what stars it shows, NOT what stars it allows in the plotted course? Which is why the suggested course seems to hit "invisible" systems? They're non-scoopable stars?

Check your filters, at the bottom of the list somewhere it will say "Apply Filter To Route" or something similar, this will make the route only go through those systems that are "visible" in your filter.

Also, check "Fastest" rather than "Economical" route, unless you don't mind jumping about a billion times instead of only a couple dozen.

 

[Ashnak]

1) Yes
2) If you also checked the "Apply filter to route" box. That is, as long as the algorithm thinks it's possible. Otherwise, even if you select KGBFOAM, it may put in some non-scoopables if otherwise it can't complete the route.
3) That's a fuel star - last scoopable star on your route before you run out of fuel.

It's always a good idea to keep an eye on the top right info box in your HUD where it announces the star type when you trigger the jump (yes - we want that info in the main HUD countdown since forever). If you jump to the fourth L-type in a row or are running low on fule, it may be a good idea to recheck your route and maybe make a diversion to the nearest scoopable. A selection of boost materials (aka Jumponium) and knowledge of the "economic route" plot option may be life saving here (as could be the address of the Fuel Rats).

 

[aRJay]

To get an idea what the symbols displayed on your map are tab across to the heading that look like two gray bars there you can select what symbols are used and get an idea what they are for.

Just to emphasise the route plotter is pretty basic and will only go so far from a straight line route so will plot you through stars that should be filtered out at times.

The solid line is the portion of the route that your current fuel will get you along, the dotted line shows the out of fuel portion, the symbol near the end of the solid line shows the last chance to refuel.

 

[Piratescribe]

Thanks all for the feedback!! It's greatly appreciated!