I am currently out exploring the North East of the galaxy, or at least on my way from SagA. I like to plot a course using nebulae as waypoints, watching them become more defined and take up more of my view as I approach. It creates a great sense of depth. I wondered if there is anyone who has visited all (141?) nebulae in the galaxy? If so is there a route anywhere I could use as a rough roadmap? I couldnt find anything specific in EDSM but probably could have missed it if it were there. Any thoughts, help or criticism always welcomed. GS.
Nebulae Exploring
- Thread starter VR George Smiley
- Start date
[Reply Deleted - wrong exped] Sorry about that - for some strange reason I thought the exped I linked to was nebula related....
This one?
Expedition IX - "All The Clouds In The Sky"
Enough watching other ships sailing away EXPEDITION DAY: -4 LOCATION: Inner Orion Spur - Kehperagwe MISSION OBJECTIVE: Exploration of all galactic nebulae NEXT WAYPOINT: Via Gravitatis EXPEDITION COMMAND VESSEL: DRAKE-CLASS Fleet Carrier: "Zodiac" LHL-31Z CREW: Cmdr Deluvian Reyes Cruz -...
Damn - I was right - wall of text blindnessThis one?
Expedition IX - "All The Clouds In The Sky"
Enough watching other ships sailing away EXPEDITION DAY: -4 LOCATION: Inner Orion Spur - Kehperagwe MISSION OBJECTIVE: Exploration of all galactic nebulae NEXT WAYPOINT: Via Gravitatis EXPEDITION COMMAND VESSEL: DRAKE-CLASS Fleet Carrier: "Zodiac" LHL-31Z CREW: Cmdr Deluvian Reyes Cruz -...forums.frontier.co.uk
Thanks Cmdr Varonica..So, Mr Smiley, once you've finished chatting with colleagues at the Circus, perhaps you could look at joining up with the illustrious Cmdr Deluvian? Exped goal stated as "to attempt to visit all the known nebulae and maybe even discover some new ones."
Good luck out there...
Oh, thanks very muchly! Will look into it and discuss with Percy Addeline et al. As long as bloody Bill Hayden doesnt turn up, the rat.
Wow, thats perfect, thanks!
Wow, thats perfect, thanks!
It's not 141, but a bit more than that. See the Catalogue of Galactic Nebulae: there are 246 "large" nebulae, of which 163 are procedurally generated, and 83 are real ones. There is one nebula which can't be reached, because it's inside a permit-locked area. (Bleia5 YE-A h30)
If you wanted to go to the small planetary nebulae too, there are 85 real ones there, four of which are unreachable, and three that require a fleet carrier. However, proc. gen. PNs number in the thousands, with the vast majority of them being inside the galactic core: outside of it, only a few hundred ones are known.
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Well I am honestly overwhelmed with the response to what I thought might be a rather mundane question. As ever the Elite Dangerous comrades have provided a superb response. Thankyou each and all! Its lovely to be in accordance with Marx, one feels so very...vindicated. Much appreciated, sincerely.
Just a couple of notes on the subject of the title, "nebula exploring".
1. By now, every single nebula in the game is likely to be thoroughly explored. So you won't be doing much actual "exploring" once you get to each nebula, just sightseeing.
2. If there were a publicized "best route between the nebulae", then that route would be well travelled, and you likewise wouldn't be doing much "exploration" while enroute.
Fortunately, the Travelling Salesman Problem means it's virtually impossible to calculate a "most efficient route" with over 100 waypoints in a galaxy of billions of stars. I'd reckon the game would well and truly be shut down before even the most advanced computers could complete those calculations.
So make your own path, enjoy the sights, and do some exploring on the way.
1. By now, every single nebula in the game is likely to be thoroughly explored. So you won't be doing much actual "exploring" once you get to each nebula, just sightseeing.
2. If there were a publicized "best route between the nebulae", then that route would be well travelled, and you likewise wouldn't be doing much "exploration" while enroute.
Fortunately, the Travelling Salesman Problem means it's virtually impossible to calculate a "most efficient route" with over 100 waypoints in a galaxy of billions of stars. I'd reckon the game would well and truly be shut down before even the most advanced computers could complete those calculations.
So make your own path, enjoy the sights, and do some exploring on the way.
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Which is pretty much what the OP wrote about, visiting nebulae to see the sights.
About that part about nebulae being thoroughly explored, I wrote this post at the end of last year, and judging by some quick looks at EDSM data since, the point that there are still undiscovered systems to find likely still stands.
As for doing a route that visits all large nebulae, that's an interesting question. On one hand, you have 245 waypoints to visit: on the other, for the purposes of visiting them in Elite, you don't need a perfect route at all. A ship with a jump range of 40+ ly (which only five ships can't reach) should be able to get from any waypoint to any other, and since all of them should be within the 20 kly limit of the in-game route plotter, the systems in-between don't need to be considered. Plus you don't need an exact solution to the TSP here, approximation should do well enough. Finally, this being Elite, you don't have to return to the starting point, which is also a significant help. (You could restrict the end point to Colonia or perhaps Sagittarius A*, but pretty much any waypoint should have a public carrier with a shipyard within 5 kly anyway, so any end point would also do.)
Oh, and there's also that most nebulae are relatively close to each other, and there are only a few outlying ones that are alone (as in, not in clusters of several nebulae): that should help too.
So yeah, I think that coming up with a good enough practical route should be entirely doable. There's even that EDJP can create and optimise routes, although I don't know what algorithm(s) it uses for that. Could give that a go too, see what it comes up with.
It's been a few years now since I last checked out the Mynoaw nebula, but last time I was there I spent a few days and discovered 200+ systems, and hardly scratched the surface. It's a little bit off the main path that people follow through the central north/south corridor, but it's a large nebula and close enough to the core that the star density is quite high. Even if most of the systems are tagged by now, I suspect that there's still a lot of unmapped bodies available. I'd be curious how some of the other nebulae near the core compare to this as well. Maybe I need to visit some of these again too.
There's a very diffuse nebula to the left of galactic center, I'm not sure if it really shows on the galaxy map at all, but last time I passed through there almost nothing was mapped. In fact I am not even sure it had an actual nebula name, next time I am in game I will look for it, I keep meaning to go back that way and have a good look around, I once got a mapping error looking around but could never be sure if it was because I was targeting an unknown permit locked system or just a glitch in the galaxy map because I could never figure out what caused it and unfortunately moved the target location before I made a not of the system name!
I think that will be the target of my next major trip out that way.
I've now been back to the Mynoaw nebula for a few days, and sure enough, it's still only partially explored. It's sufficiently out of the way, and tucked between other nebulae, that it's easy to overlook. I think most people have assumed all of the nebulae are picked clean, so this one has stayed under the radar. Granted, most of the unexplored systems are M/K class systems, but I'm still finding some unexplored A/F/G systems as well, and found an undiscovered ELW too.
I realize that posting this means there will now be some competition. And that's a good thing! For the moment, my carrier is parked here in Mynoaw FM-S c18-76, for some quick data sales.
I realize that posting this means there will now be some competition. And that's a good thing!
For the moment, my carrier is parked here in Mynoaw FM-S c18-76, for some quick data sales.
It's been a few months since I was out there, but the Rhubarb Nebula in the Inner Orion-Perseus Conflux was fairly underexplored too. I eco-routed across it twice and I think maybe a third of those systems had been tagged. I picked up an ELW and several systems with bulb(?) molluscs. So even nebula with codex NSPs in them still have undiscovered systems in the actual gas cloud
Thanks for the tip! I was only about 2k away. Excuse me while I farm ElectricaeI've now been back to the Mynoaw nebula for a few days, and sure enough, it's still only partially explored. It's sufficiently out of the way, and tucked between other nebulae, that it's easy to overlook. I think most people have assumed all of the nebulae are picked clean, so this one has stayed under the radar. Granted, most of the unexplored systems are M/K class systems, but I'm still finding some unexplored A/F/G systems as well, and found an undiscovered ELW too.
I realize that posting this means there will now be some competition. And that's a good thing!