Not sure about ships more agile (so more prone to jet cone turbulence) than an iceberg-like Annie. Will try it with my Phantom and let you know.
Neutron boosting - worth it?
- Thread starter schlowi123
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Well, I'm at the other end of the galaxy right now … this whole "try out" thing is why I'm asking. Because i haven't been on a station for several thousand jumps and am a bit worried about all the precious data.
Ah well, been there, done that
… without neutron boosting thoughFirst i read something very different and wanted to tell you about how life always finds a way … but then I realized it was not off-topic. Well, that sounds more like the "traditional" way … I almost did that yesterday … but then I chickened out shortly before entering the jet cone and conitnued with conventional jumping.
Uh! My Kassiopeia is agile lie a "wet-sack-filled-with-bricks" a.k.a. an Anaconda
… I guess that's good for me in this case. But I would greatly appreciate to know the results of your experiments
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This is definitely true, however additional AFMUs are never a detriment. You can repair faster (proportionately), and go longer before synthesizing refills. Plus, they're a good fit if you have slots that you aren't otherwise going to use, since they also help absorb heat damage that otherwise would apply to your other modules.
Particularly in the case of discussing how quickly you can get from point-A to point-B, the additional repair speed is highly relevant.
So while only one is necessary, additional AFMUs are useful in multiple ways.
EDIT: I see these points were brought up already. I started typing this earlier in the morning, but didn't have time to come back and finish for several hours. By the time I hit "save", the thread progressed considerably.
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Can confirm that its a safe way and worth it
You should go up or down a Kylie from the plane to get full advantage from the NS fields, and note the lack of NS on the xy null meridian, but then the route plotter is doing very well, even plots the fuel stops every 2,3,4 boosted jumps (depending on your fuel tank) , which spansh cant afaik.
But, as you mentioned, it's a more 'active' kind of travel. When I have to do the laundry I switch to conventional jumping
You should go up or down a Kylie from the plane to get full advantage from the NS fields, and note the lack of NS on the xy null meridian, but then the route plotter is doing very well, even plots the fuel stops every 2,3,4 boosted jumps (depending on your fuel tank) , which spansh cant afaik.
But, as you mentioned, it's a more 'active' kind of travel. When I have to do the laundry I switch to conventional jumping
Yep, that totally works. You just have to be going at very slow speed to keep from coming out the other side of the cone before the supercharge completes. I found that method to be effective with the T9. Since I'm usually in something a little more maneuverable, I usually fly along the cone since it gives me a wider range of speeds to work with. The important thing is that you don't want to be throttling forward in the event that your ship gets kicked around to face backward along the cone, into the exclusion zone. So the safest thing is to throttle to zero once the charging begins, and throttle up afterward as long as you're facing a safe direction. The cone tries to keep your speed constant and push outward, so throttling to zero ensures that you never fly inward toward the star. But it also works to keep the throttle above zero (or even full throttle through the super-fast "millisecond pulsars"), as long as you're ready to pull back to zero should you get spun around to face the exclusion zone, which will usually alert you with an "impact" warning in the upper-right info panel if you're moving toward it quickly. You might not have time to react though, if you're already close to the base of the cone. Entering somewhere in the middle of the cone helps mitigate those risks too.
The bad accidents tend to occur with the smaller, more nimble ships that get flung around violently, and with the throttle up, so by flying an Anaconda, you're already a little ahead of the game.
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yea, i know the saying... dirty minds think alike... but this was not the case here.
I was genuinely on-topic
Might be worth adding that White Dwarf boosting is best avoided (unless you just want to try it out). It's more dangerous than neutron boosting, but the main issue is that the relatively minor boost you get from a WD isn't really worth the hassle, Iw as finding that they were actually slowong me down.
So if I stumble across one when not seeking a boost, I typically make a normal jump to the next star instead. And If I have "use jet-cone boost" switched on, I deselect WD's from the star classes list and use "apply filter to route" so that I don't get routed via WD's.
So if I stumble across one when not seeking a boost, I typically make a normal jump to the next star instead. And If I have "use jet-cone boost" switched on, I deselect WD's from the star classes list and use "apply filter to route" so that I don't get routed via WD's.
Thank you for the answers. I am right now, literally in front of a neutron star … and I will do it … maybe … I think … AAARAJRGAJGRJAGRJG … if I don't make it, please tell my son that I love(d) him.
O! M! F! G!!!!!! My heart is pounding! … … … But I did it! Jumpig now! 313 ly! WHOHOOO! That's a record for me.
I wrote
.oO(The intense radiation must have stimulated … or damaged … my brain)
Now I ask myself in how far literally can be applied here. Obviously I wasn't there as a real person. But my in game alter ego was in that virtaul, not real galaxy. So … what is the opinion of the crowd regarding the use of "literally" in that case?
.oO(The intense radiation must have stimulated … or damaged … my brain)
A thought has just occurred to me...
If you're in an area where jumping directly from one neutron to the next is commonplace (i.e. a high neutron density, and a ship with a good base jumprange), wouldn't it be possible to use the star-class filter and "apply filter to route" to force the standard route-plotter to only pick neutron stars? No need to either type or copy-paste from another source?
Of course the route would immediately fail if even one gap between neutrons was too big. But in some places it might be worth it.
Unfortunately I can't test it, as I'm out in Acheron with a 47ly Beluga. Unlikely to work out here.
If you're in an area where jumping directly from one neutron to the next is commonplace (i.e. a high neutron density, and a ship with a good base jumprange), wouldn't it be possible to use the star-class filter and "apply filter to route" to force the standard route-plotter to only pick neutron stars? No need to either type or copy-paste from another source?
Of course the route would immediately fail if even one gap between neutrons was too big. But in some places it might be worth it.
Unfortunately I can't test it, as I'm out in Acheron with a 47ly Beluga. Unlikely to work out here.
I'm in The Abyss right now so the density of neutron stars is really low. I used the standard route plotter and had checked the "use neutron jet boost"-box ticked off. It plotted a route with the occasional neutron star in between.
From a neutron star to a regular star the extended range was taken into account. Everything else was like normal. I did NOT filter anything … or well I did, but I didn't apply it to the route.
If one would filter for (just) neutron stars, probably the extended range will not be taken into account, if said box is not checked.
From a neutron star to a regular star the extended range was taken into account. Everything else was like normal. I did NOT filter anything … or well I did, but I didn't apply it to the route.
If one would filter for (just) neutron stars, probably the extended range will not be taken into account, if said box is not checked.
Getting back to some of the questions about how much it's worth it, depending on a variety of factors, here are just a few thoughts--
Using them only occasionally because you're in a place where there aren't many of them will of course only "speed up" your journey by a small amount. But there's no harm in using them this way. To me, leaving the "jet cone boost" option turned on is worth it all the time, because then they become a fun little surprise in such places.
If you're specifically planning to cover a large distance in places where the neutron layers are reliably stocked, I find that the overall travel speed is roughly 3x that of normal jumping, (ignoring how much more or less scanning time you might include, so just comparing the straight travel time). It quadruples your jump range for those jumps, but they take slightly longer because of the supercharging, and extended refueling between batches.
It's more "hands on". This is great for me as a VR player since I can't easily do other things while playing, but it certainly could be a problem if you're trying to do chores or write emails or something alongside the game.
The time it takes to go "up" or "down" to the neutron layers has to be factored in. If your destination is close to the center plane, and only 3 kly away, it's probably not worth it. 6+ kly, and off the plane a bit, might be more viable. Larger distances are almost always faster to take the neutron highway. That upward/downward jaunt can be angled a bit, bit it can start cutting into your neutron-jumping speed bonus if you go too far off from vertical. 30-degrees from vertical makes for a pretty good path.
If you use spansh, yeah, you'll be having to copy/paste system names a lot, and none of those neutron stars will be undiscovered of course. The in-game plotter does a pretty good job, but you have to help it by getting into the neutron layers first, of course. Sometimes it will do a better job if you turn off some common classes of stars, such as M, and maybe K, depending on star density.
High jump ranges make for more optimal neutron boosting, since it has a larger number of neutron stars to choose from within your jump-range sphere. And larger fuel tanks can make for more optimal travel speed too, since you don't have to hit a refueling star as often. For these reasons, Anacondas with stock fuel tanks will typically get only 2-3 neutrons in sucsession before refueling stops, and Asps/Phantoms will get more like 4-5, and sometimes 6. This closes the jump range gap a little bit, and so Asps and Phantoms can get around almost as quickly, but not quite. It also means that even the Beluga does OK, since while it's range is shorter, it has a huge tank and can do maybe 9 boosted jumps at a time.
Using them only occasionally because you're in a place where there aren't many of them will of course only "speed up" your journey by a small amount. But there's no harm in using them this way. To me, leaving the "jet cone boost" option turned on is worth it all the time, because then they become a fun little surprise in such places.
If you're specifically planning to cover a large distance in places where the neutron layers are reliably stocked, I find that the overall travel speed is roughly 3x that of normal jumping, (ignoring how much more or less scanning time you might include, so just comparing the straight travel time). It quadruples your jump range for those jumps, but they take slightly longer because of the supercharging, and extended refueling between batches.
It's more "hands on". This is great for me as a VR player since I can't easily do other things while playing, but it certainly could be a problem if you're trying to do chores or write emails or something alongside the game.
The time it takes to go "up" or "down" to the neutron layers has to be factored in. If your destination is close to the center plane, and only 3 kly away, it's probably not worth it. 6+ kly, and off the plane a bit, might be more viable. Larger distances are almost always faster to take the neutron highway. That upward/downward jaunt can be angled a bit, bit it can start cutting into your neutron-jumping speed bonus if you go too far off from vertical. 30-degrees from vertical makes for a pretty good path.
If you use spansh, yeah, you'll be having to copy/paste system names a lot, and none of those neutron stars will be undiscovered of course. The in-game plotter does a pretty good job, but you have to help it by getting into the neutron layers first, of course. Sometimes it will do a better job if you turn off some common classes of stars, such as M, and maybe K, depending on star density.
High jump ranges make for more optimal neutron boosting, since it has a larger number of neutron stars to choose from within your jump-range sphere. And larger fuel tanks can make for more optimal travel speed too, since you don't have to hit a refueling star as often. For these reasons, Anacondas with stock fuel tanks will typically get only 2-3 neutrons in sucsession before refueling stops, and Asps/Phantoms will get more like 4-5, and sometimes 6. This closes the jump range gap a little bit, and so Asps and Phantoms can get around almost as quickly, but not quite. It also means that even the Beluga does OK, since while it's range is shorter, it has a huge tank and can do maybe 9 boosted jumps at a time.
As long as you are not heading towards the star, overcharging the FSD is pretty safe.
Using the NS fields is totally worth it if you need to travel big distances. No need for spansh nor type anything. Just check "Use jet-cone boost" in the route planner. If you are in the fields, it will trace a router and it will take a while. Then, tag a system on that route every 4 or 5 kly to mark your path and trace the router to the nearest tagged system. This way the recalculations will be way faster.
Since the Anaconda can only jump 4 times with a full tank it is not much of an issue, but in some ships the game plotter tends to make you scoop too soon sometimes. If you find your next jump is not to a NS and you can still do a couple of jumps more, just uncheck the jet-cone option and check it again. The game will try to find the route again and almost always you get more NS charged jumps (if you are in the fields, of course).
Keep in mind there is a strip of the galaxy with almost no NS between -1000 and 1000 ly in the X axis of the galaxy coordinates. Check the edastro site from CMDR Orvidius and you will see what I mean.
Using the NS fields is totally worth it if you need to travel big distances. No need for spansh nor type anything. Just check "Use jet-cone boost" in the route planner. If you are in the fields, it will trace a router and it will take a while. Then, tag a system on that route every 4 or 5 kly to mark your path and trace the router to the nearest tagged system. This way the recalculations will be way faster.
Since the Anaconda can only jump 4 times with a full tank it is not much of an issue, but in some ships the game plotter tends to make you scoop too soon sometimes. If you find your next jump is not to a NS and you can still do a couple of jumps more, just uncheck the jet-cone option and check it again. The game will try to find the route again and almost always you get more NS charged jumps (if you are in the fields, of course).
Keep in mind there is a strip of the galaxy with almost no NS between -1000 and 1000 ly in the X axis of the galaxy coordinates. Check the edastro site from CMDR Orvidius and you will see what I mean.
I was doin' a little science the other day.
My Anaconda jumps about 64ly with a full tank, and will plot routes based on this range, maybe a little less. We'll be rounding to 64, and 256 for neutron boosts just to keep things easy.
Four standard, non-neutron jumps, on my Xbox, takes roughly 2 minutes and 45 seconds. That's 256ly
One Neutron jump, from arrival into supercharging system, to arrival to the target system takes roughly 1 minute. 256ly.
Manually plotted jumps must be completed under 2 minutes and 45 seconds to be 'better'. Basically, from the time you drop into a neutron system and supercharge your FSD, you need to be out of the system in 1 minute and 45 seconds.
My anaconda has an additional 6c fuel tank, so about 96 tons of fuel. This means I can make 12 consecutive jumps, refueling on the last. I must repair every 20 jumps (I did not time refueling/repair times yet)
So assuming 12 neutron jumps, at the minimum full tank range of 256ly, we can cover a little over 3000ly on one full tank.
If you manage to complete a supercharge, and jump to the next system in 1 minute and 30 seconds, it should take you 18 minutes to cover that 3000ly-- and that's before taking into consideration your half-tank jump range, which will let you jump beyond 256.
Standard jumping at this rate would cover the same distance in about 30 minutes, assuming standard, non-supercharged jumps.
Keep in mind that I do not type in my desired neutrons, I just find them in the gal map along the way, and improvise. There's a few variables I haven't touched on here, like refueling/repair times, but those are quite brief.
Also, I'm not the best at math. Your mileage my vary lol.
My Anaconda jumps about 64ly with a full tank, and will plot routes based on this range, maybe a little less. We'll be rounding to 64, and 256 for neutron boosts just to keep things easy.
Four standard, non-neutron jumps, on my Xbox, takes roughly 2 minutes and 45 seconds. That's 256ly
One Neutron jump, from arrival into supercharging system, to arrival to the target system takes roughly 1 minute. 256ly.
Manually plotted jumps must be completed under 2 minutes and 45 seconds to be 'better'. Basically, from the time you drop into a neutron system and supercharge your FSD, you need to be out of the system in 1 minute and 45 seconds.
My anaconda has an additional 6c fuel tank, so about 96 tons of fuel. This means I can make 12 consecutive jumps, refueling on the last. I must repair every 20 jumps (I did not time refueling/repair times yet)
So assuming 12 neutron jumps, at the minimum full tank range of 256ly, we can cover a little over 3000ly on one full tank.
If you manage to complete a supercharge, and jump to the next system in 1 minute and 30 seconds, it should take you 18 minutes to cover that 3000ly-- and that's before taking into consideration your half-tank jump range, which will let you jump beyond 256.
Standard jumping at this rate would cover the same distance in about 30 minutes, assuming standard, non-supercharged jumps.
Keep in mind that I do not type in my desired neutrons, I just find them in the gal map along the way, and improvise. There's a few variables I haven't touched on here, like refueling/repair times, but those are quite brief.
Also, I'm not the best at math. Your mileage my vary lol.
Thank you so much to all of you for all the tips and tricks and especially for sharing all the experience. Together with the videos I've seen before that helped me to lose my fear regarding neutron boosting … not the respect though. I'm about to make my third boosted jump soon … still excited .
Please feel free to continue sharing your stories It might be helpful for others in the future. Especially everything that covers more than just the "that's the way how you do it" parts.
.Please feel free to continue sharing your stories
It might be helpful for others in the future. Especially everything that covers more than just the "that's the way how you do it" parts.The third jump was charged at a neutron star with a rather short jet. The next system contained also a neutron star. Here I entered the jet with 0.1 c a bit fast (for my taste) and was afraid to be hurled around … my heart started pounding … but then everything went well ok
No more neutron star boosting until I reach my goal.
No more neutron star boosting until I reach my goal.
OP, here's a post I made back in 2017...
Okay, so I've taken a couple of random days' logs from EDD and have the following info:-
3rd Feb ... 53 boosted jumps over a period of 137 minutes and travelled 5413LY = 39.5LY per minute
15th Feb ... 58 non-boosted jumps over a period of 100 minutes and travelled 1717LY = 17.2LY per minute
So, for me ... NS boosting is king