Newcomer / Intro Off To Colonia And The Core

[Seizewell Warrior]

Decided as a complete change from shuffling BBS missions it's time to see what this Colonia and Sag* A are all about. Sticking with my slightly engineered AspX which has a modest range of 27LY but that will allow for plenty of system scans and mucho exploration creds if all goes well. Currently making my way to the first location on the "corridor" from Vequess. Would just share the following with any other new Cmdrs contemplating the journey.

1. At least for me the Galaxy Map would not calculate the route from Vequess to Colonia in one go. I had to consult the Wiki and input the first location on the corridor for it to take. Not sure how that will work going on from Colonia to Sag* A as I presume there is no corridor in existence yet.

2. FDev have seen fit to populate the Black with a whole lot of dead stars (Brown Dwarves) so depending where you start and what route the computer takes this becomes a whole new exercise in fuel management. I've already had a couple of close calls and on reflection think I should have replaced all the non essential modules with fuel tanks to extend the range. So don't pass up an opportunity to scoop, even if you've only just done so a star or two ago. Four or five ~25LY jumps will put you well under half fuel on your main tank. If you get to half and the next star on your route is a Brown Dwarf stop and get the map out. You need to be looking for anything within the remaining range that can refuel your ship.

3. At the first stop on the Corridor, assuming they have fuel tanks in stock, I'm going to rip out my cargo space, refinery and SRV bay and turn myself into a mobile tanker. I can always get them sent on transfer or buy new ones when I get to Colonia.

4. Make sure you have the highest possible rated Disco Scanner fitted so you will have literally hundreds if not thousands of locations to cash in. Remember the Disco is not passive and needs to be assigned to a weapon group and charged with your fire button to scan the system.

5. You're in this for the durationl - it's the ED equivalent of doing a long haul A380 flight in real time in Flight Sim.

Hope the above is of some use and I'll try and update on my progress.

 

[aRJay]

The bubble to Colonia is over 21,000ly route plotting has a maximum of 20,000ly so it would depend where Vequess on that route.

The issues with adding more fuel tanks are that scooping takes much longer and the huge mass of fuel reduces your jump range somewhat.

If you see an issue about where the next fuel stop is switch to economical route plotting it will mean more jumps but you will go further and as a bonus scan more systems. Also in a worst case remember the Fuel Rats.

As one who hasn't gone much over 5,000ly I salute you and wish you well. O7

 

[Chris Simon]

Decided as a complete change from shuffling BBS missions it's time to see what this Colonia and Sag* A are all about. Sticking with my slightly engineered AspX which has a modest range of 27LY but that will allow for plenty of system scans and mucho exploration creds if all goes well. Currently making my way to the first location on the "corridor" from Vequess. Would just share the following with any other new Cmdrs contemplating the journey.

1. At least for me the Galaxy Map would not calculate the route from Vequess to Colonia in one go. I had to consult the Wiki and input the first location on the corridor for it to take. Not sure how that will work going on from Colonia to Sag* A as I presume there is no corridor in existence yet.

2. FDev have seen fit to populate the Black with a whole lot of dead stars (Brown Dwarves) so depending where you start and what route the computer takes this becomes a whole new exercise in fuel management. I've already had a couple of close calls and on reflection think I should have replaced all the non essential modules with fuel tanks to extend the range. So don't pass up an opportunity to scoop, even if you've only just done so a star or two ago. Four or five ~25LY jumps will put you well under half fuel on your main tank. If you get to half and the next star on your route is a Brown Dwarf stop and get the map out. You need to be looking for anything within the remaining range that can refuel your ship.

3. At the first stop on the Corridor, assuming they have fuel tanks in stock, I'm going to rip out my cargo space, refinery and SRV bay and turn myself into a mobile tanker. I can always get them sent on transfer or buy new ones when I get to Colonia.

4. Make sure you have the highest possible rated Disco Scanner fitted so you will have literally hundreds if not thousands of locations to cash in. Remember the Disco is not passive and needs to be assigned to a weapon group and charged with your fire button to scan the system.

5. You're in this for the durationl - it's the ED equivalent of doing a long haul A380 flight in real time in Flight Sim.

Hope the above is of some use and I'll try and update on my progress.

1. The route plotter will fail if there is larger gap or permit locked area. Otherwise it shouldn't have problems plotting up to 20kLY route. If your jump range is under 30LY, though, it might mean you have to circle around some really thinned-out areas.

2. and 3. Use your filters - if you filter out all star types except the KGB FOAM (scoopable types), the planner can plot the route just through them.

5. Funny. I never realized the trip to Colonia is approximately the time equivalent of the flight to Australia.

Good luck on your journeys! o7

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

1. The route plotter will fail if there is larger gap or permit locked area. Otherwise it shouldn't have problems plotting up to 20kLY route. If your jump range is under 30LY, though, it might mean you have to circle around some really thinned-out areas.

2. and 3. Use your filters - if you filter out all star types except the KGB FOAM (scoopable types), the planner can plot the route just through them.

5. Funny. I never realized the trip to Colonia is approximately the time equivalent of the flight to Australia.

Good luck on your journeys! o7

Thanks for the tip about the map filter Chris, I'll re-plot a bit when next in the game.

I might ditch my weapons, well at least the mining lasers and pellet guns, at the first stop which will perhaps squeeze a couple of extra LY on the jump range too. I also read on Reddit if you set the maximum jump at 90% of your range, the ship uses much less fuel to cover the same distance.

Also been reading up on the other places to visit out there - Green Crystal, Beagle Point, Formadine Rift, an Abyss.

I just may never go home to the Bubble again. (Though it appears there is a shortcut by something called SuicideWinder?!).

 

[Chris Simon]

Thanks for the tip about the map filter Chris, I'll re-plot a bit when next in the game.

I might ditch my weapons, well at least the mining lasers and pellet guns, at the first stop which will perhaps squeeze a couple of extra LY on the jump range too. I also read on Reddit if you set the maximum jump at 90% of your range, the ship uses much less fuel to cover the same distance.

Also been reading up on the other places to visit out there - Green Crystal, Beagle Point, Formadine Rift, an Abyss.

I just may never go home to the Bubble again. (Though it appears there is a shortcut by something called SuicideWinder?!).

Heheh, those places you mentioned are... pretty far apart. It'll be one hell of a voyage.
Suicidewinder is always a possibility, but don't forget to park somewhere and sell your exploration data, first.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

It'll be one hell of a voyage.

Well TBH that's the kind of thing i'm looking for, rather than shuffling manila envelopes between Vequess and Cemeiss or similar. Even now I'm looking at the Galactic Map on EDSM and contemplating how much fun it would be to circumnavigate the outer edge of the Galaxy. Would probably take a few months to accomplish and probably getting ahead of myself but it would be a helluva role play to put in place. Might need something a bit more up market than the Aspx and with a bit of engineering. However a successful trip to Colonia Sag* A and maybe Beagle Point should put enough exploration data in the bank to give Farseer kittens and a nice FSD roll or three. (Particularly if in 3.0 we can buy the actual mats).

 

[Ashnak]

1. Yes - the maximum best case range of the route plotter is 20,000 ly (in fastest route mode - quite a bit less in economical route mode). But: I hope you have found the Colonia Route map - you won't have to plot more than 5,000 ly between the depots. The only real reason not to use the Colonia Route would be if you wanted to use the Neutron Highway (or wanted to visit some of the other sights on the way).

2. Not the responsibility of FDev - those brown dwarfs are really out there, and according to some of the latest observations, there might even be more. In ED, the BD concentrations are in one or two distinct layers, so if you go up (or down) a couple of hundred lightyears, you're clean. And/or, of course, use the route filtering in the map (which is also a great way to select for unusual stars, btw.).

3. You may do so, but it's not necessary. That additional fuel will just reduce your range, as you'll be lugging around a lot of that stuff and rarely (if ever) actually need it. Especially on the Colonia route, the Fuelrat's phone number is more important.

4. Exactly this.

5. Not really, see 1.

6. That reddit post you (or someone) mentioned about reducing fuel use thanks to the cargo slider: yes and no. All that slider does is to reduce the maximum jump range the router will use. A jump of 90% (or whatever) of your maximum range will still use the same amount of fuel, but the fuel use rises extremely with the actual jump length, so two jumps at 50% use way less fuel than one jump at 100%.

 

[aRJay]

Well TBH that's the kind of thing i'm looking for, rather than shuffling manila envelopes between Vequess and Cemeiss or similar. Even now I'm looking at the Galactic Map on EDSM and contemplating how much fun it would be to circumnavigate the outer edge of the Galaxy. Would probably take a few months to accomplish and probably getting ahead of myself but it would be a helluva role play to put in place. Might need something a bit more up market than the Aspx and with a bit of engineering. However a successful trip to Colonia Sag* A and maybe Beagle Point should put enough exploration data in the bank to give Farseer kittens and a nice FSD roll or three. (Particularly if in 3.0 we can buy the actual mats).

AFAIK in 3.0 we will be able to trade materials for each other in a swap shop fashion but not buy them for cash.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I would recommend:
.
No extra fuel tanks, the Asp has big tanks already. Just fit the biggest scoop you can get, see below about time per jump.
Get that jump range up, it is a LONG trip and you would be amazed how much difference the longer jump range can make (try calculating the number of jumps * time per jump)
Take an AFM, they weigh nothing and they can be powered down most of the time so the power hit is not a big deal.
.
I went out to Colonia in the early days in a 25ly jump mining fit Anaconda, not something I care to repeat; I'd take my 50ly Asp next time. I set off three times as I decided to re-configure the ship a couple of times before committing it to the black for such a long run but didn't realise how much difference engineering the FSD would make.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

1. At least for me the Galaxy Map would not calculate the route from Vequess to Colonia in one go. I had to consult the Wiki and input the first location on the corridor for it to take. Not sure how that will work going on from Colonia to Sag* A as I presume there is no corridor in existence yet.

Your maximum plot range is 20kLY which will go from Colonia to Sag A in a single jump

Note that you can plot to any random uninhabited system half-way - it's an easier trip and you get some interesting sights if you use the corridor of stations, but you can also just plot to Blah AB-C d1-23 somewhere in the middle, then replot to Colonia when you get there.

3. At the first stop on the Corridor, assuming they have fuel tanks in stock, I'm going to rip out my cargo space, refinery and SRV bay and turn myself into a mobile tanker. I can always get them sent on transfer or buy new ones when I get to Colonia.

The first stop on the corridor doesn't have Outfitting. You'll have to get to Rohini, I think, for that, or you could use the non-corridor Omega Mining Operation station which isn't too far off track (but doesn't have much in the way of fuel tanks either)

You can buy cargo racks, refineries and SRV bays in Colonia. Transfer to Colonia is *expensive* so don't do it for anything you can buy locally when you get there.
Summary of Colonia regional outfitting: https://cdb.sotl.org.uk/outfitting

 

[ITZC0ATL]

Nothing really to add here as great advice has already been given. I'll definitely second that you don't need more fuel tanks, just filter KGB FOAM and equip the largest fuel scoop that you can afford and carry

Good luck out there, the journey to Colonia and the core is long but worth it!

o7

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Really appreciate all the advice guys. Sounds like I should maybe have prepped a bit more before setting out, but I'm not turning back now. I'm figuring it will probably be around 10 days in total to get out there based on the likely amount of spare time I have. No progress at all tomorrow and Sunday due to working 12 hour nights .

 

[HurstLlama]

"No progress at all tomorrow and Sunday due to working 12 hour nights"

OK, allow for travelling time to and from work, that should still leave 10 hours. Deduct from that the sleep you actually need and a generous allowance for personal hygiene, eating etc. and you still have at least five hours a day game time. So plenty of time to make some progress.

Young people today just seem to have no resilience or commitment.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Young people today

ROFLOL - not that young anymore.

Actually off at a tangent a couple of things I was pondering. What percentage of ED players do actually make the journey out to these remote locations? Presumably the vast majority stay in the Bubble with Ceos or Sothis the limit of how far they go.

Also while pondering the fuel question I did start to wonder about the other resources which you would actually need on such a long voyage - oxygen (+CO2 scrubbers), water and food. Having alighted from the Asp Explorer on a planet a couple of times it's not that big, not even the size of a DC3 so unless you imagine some sort of compression technology you might - at best - get a months supply of resources on board. This would affect the weight until you breathed/chewed/drank your way through the stock. Waste synthesiser could turn poop back into food I guess, up to a point and urine could be filtered and distilled to recover some of the water. Perhaps that might be taking realism too far and I shouldn't give the devs ideas. OTOH it would give a purpose to seed landable earth like planets in strategic systems so the Cmdr can SRV or space leg to gather fresh supplies.

 

[TWitko]

Firstly - sorry for all typos and so on .. I'm in a hurry little bit ...

If your next route is longer then your computer can plot, I found this tool useful - it will "cut up" your way into several smaller parts (each about 1.000 ly) .. then no problem to use your ship's computer: https://www.edsm.net/en/map/planner/

just enter starting system, end system and your max range ...cick Search and wait ... then click on "Route Waypoints" ... and will get the list of waypoints ...

I'm currently at Colonia .. planing next trip .. would like to visit Sag A* and some interesting spots all around .. will start on weekend. If you are interested, here are some tips (PLEASE NOTE I'm a beginner ... take it with some salt) :

- no extra tank - not needed. USeless extra weight ...

- the best fuel scoop you can get .. I have 6A and scooping is matter of seconds. A lot of scoopable stars there .. I set Galaxy Map filter to display KGB-FOAM stars only, but don't apply this limitation to route planner. It means my route was plotted through all star types.

At every suitable star I scoop until full tank. I depend on calculated route (consider it reliable) mostly, but if there are several nonscoopable stars in row and my fuel tank is somewhere about 50% I stop my trip, open Galaxy map and re-check what's going on - what stars will be next. If necessary (or if in doubt) I jump away to the nearest scoopable star .. fill my tank and then continue. Maybe some "jumponium" could be useful for some emergency jump .. I have it but haven't needed it yet ;-)

- no weapons, no useless weight ... just heatsinks. Your jump range 27ly doesn't seem to be OK. I don't say it's not possible to use, but this value seems to be quite low. Even stock ASPX should have range somewhere 33+ ly.

For example here is my ASPX ... Yes, there is engineered FSD, but if you replace it with 5A stock FSD you get range 35ly which is significantly better then 27. Try to make your ship as light as possible ... install D modules ..

- there is "well known way" to Colonia ... mentioned above in previous posts ... those Deep Space Outposts (Hillary, Eagle's, Mammon, Rohini). A lot of people use this "highway", so all systems nearby are already explored by someone else. My personal opinion - You needn't to follow it. Stay away ... try to find your own route = then you will be able to find some (maybe many) unexplored systems and you can get your tag "Discovered by ..." . I have my name on 40-50 systems now ... from one trip to Colonia.

During my trip I visited Eagle's Landing only, as I had to repair my ship and restock HeatSinks (cos I'm moron ) The rest of trip was through deep space ... No problem at all ... it was absolutely awesome experience .. be alone there, no stupid NPCs, no pirates, no griefers etc ...

- Don't be a hurry & enjoy it . Learn how to properly scan objects (I expect you have DSS - Detailed Surface scanner). Note- don't scan everything - learn what is worth of your time and effort These can help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/eliteexplorers/comments/650i3f/cmdr_frus_23_exploration_payout_guide/
http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/File:Dashboard-Hologram-Reference.png

There are some advanced techniques how to identify valuable objects (like their sound in System map). It doesn't work me .. I am almost deaf and can't recognize those small differences in sound ... but it may work for you - If you are interested - google it.

Don't underestimate this exploration as you can earn some nice amount of credits ... my trip (first one, no experienced and in a hurry (DOve Enigma) ) gave me about 40 millions ... which is nice

OK .. I hope that's all ... fly safe ... and maybe we will meet somewhere near Sag A ;-)

TW

-- some edits - typos etc .. nothing important

 

[TWitko]

However a successful trip to Colonia Sag* A and maybe Beagle Point should put enough exploration data in the bank to give Farseer kittens and a nice FSD roll or three. (Particularly if in 3.0 we can buy the actual mats).

trip to Beagle will "send you" to Elite ...

For Farseer just a trip from Dahan (near SOL) to Maia (need Meta Alloy) and back to Deciat (where she stays) was sufficient - exploration data just from that "trip" (quite short) was enough to make her happy (and helped me to get grade 5) ... you really needn't to travel to Colonia just because of her ..

TW

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

no weapons, no useless weight ... just heatsinks. Your jump range 27ly doesn't seem to be OK.

Yeah the boat is a bit heavy for sure. I've now changed course slightly and heading for Eagle where I can offload the weapons and downgrade some of the modules. I set it up originally as an all purpose trader/passenger/mining and it really needs optimizing for the journey.

However now I found the map filter, knowing each star is scoopable is allowing me to push faster. It's around 50 seconds per cycle when not scooping, with a scoop stop taking around 2.5 minutes.

Out of interest how will I find out if I'm the first CMDR to visit a system?

 

[Mxpower76]

Also been reading up on the other places to visit out there - Green Crystal, Beagle Point, Formadine Rift, an Abyss.

The Formadine bases are pretty interesting. You also have the Heart & Soul nebula on the way. On the way back the Bubble nebula is a required stop. So is NGC 7822. It's a group of O-type stars lined up in a nebula. Lots of black holes in there too.

Also on the way back from Sag A don't forget the Great Annihilator like I did. I was almost home when I remembered.

 

[TWitko]

And let me give you my last (for now ) advice : BEFORE you start your LONG trip, try to practice everything you will need (and/or you think you will need), while you are here in Bubble. Like:

- do you know how to scoop stars (different ones) properly and SAFELY ? If in doubt practice it ...
- do you expect to land on planets during your trip ? I assume the answer is YES, as everybody does it .. and I can't imagine longer exploration without laneding and material collecting. Then go .. and practice landing on some HIGHer gravity bodies and practice SRV driving ... including how to synth fuel for it and how to repair it using mats ...

- are you going to use "jumponium" ? OK, then go and practice how to synthetize it and how to use it and what bonus it can (and can't) deliver ..
- are you going to use netron/dwarf FSD boosts ? Then go and practice it ... not easy task, especially those dwarfs ..

Because, if you fail here (I mean in the Bubble), you just pay some credits for REBUY and continue. If you fail somewhere in the "middle of nothing", then rebuy screen will be really painful. Not only $$, but exploration data lost .. and ... you will "resurect" in the last station .. which is ... where ? Well, probably .. thousands ly away ...

- Equip your ship here (in Bubble) and check it fits your needs ... as in Colonia the outfitting service is not the best ... and sending modules (or even ship) there is really, REALLY expensive and time consuming

- and last but not least .. Do you really like those "Bobbleheads" you currently have on your dashboard ? Really ? Cos you will be unable to remove them without Outfitting service (station) ... thus you will have to stare at Santa bobblehead for weeks

TW

 

[TWitko]

Out of interest how will I find out if I'm the first CMDR to visit a system?

1) you have to SCAN (not only "Honk") the body ... SCAN means to come closer to the particular ..( and "locked/selected")* ... body (the distance depends on its size) ..until you see "rolling icon" in the left panel .. after scan is completed (take some time) you get some addtional info. If you have DSS installed, then your scan is more detailed ...

2) you have to sell map data .. somewhere, where UNI Cartography service is available ... means some station .... and if you are first who scanned object and you are first who sold such data .. the tag "Discovered by..." will be added to system map. You can verify it in your game - open Galaxy map - enter system name - see System map and then you can verify WHO discovered (and WHICH body) .

... NOTE: Every object in system has its own "discovery tag" ... thus Main star can be "Discovered by TWitko" and another bodies/planets "Discovered by Seizwell Warrior" etc ..
some additional info here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...Z-quot-tag-confirmation?p=6377913#post6377913

TW

* added later ...