Introduction
As with many exploration trips into the black, the reasons for this trip are many and are shared by explorers across the galaxy.
For a challenge
Many have traversed the stars in ships, quite frankly never meant for long range expeditions. This challenge is something I am certainly not the first to do. However these brave explorers have from the humble sidewinder to the fearsome Fer-De-Lance, shown that even the smallest jump ranges are capable of the biggest journeys. Few however have rose to this challenge, with most explorers preferring the more sensible options such as the Asp Explorer, DBX or the Anaconda instead. This trip will be completed in a Federal Corvette dubbed the 'HMS Constellation'.
For myself
My biggest regret in this game was deciding not to take part in arguably one of the most well-known mass exploration trips, the Distant Worlds 3302 Expedition. The reason for which I have long forgoten. Admittedly at first I wanted to create my own exploration route, but after many days of fiddling around in the galaxy map. It was decided I would re-trace the steps of my fellow explorers proving to myself once and for all that I could do it. Already close to Elite in Exploration this is likely to be my last journey before reaching the final rank so a big trip like this I felt was also a good way to end it on.
For the hell of it
Let’s be honest most of these trips are taken on a whim. Sometimes you just need a break from it all and what better way to escape from it all than the other side of the galaxy!?
Creating a Constellation
Originally the ship was armed for PvP but with a particular focus on defence rather than offence. After all it was a bubble explorer and defence was paramount. So the first thing I did was dump the entire loadout into storage and make everything D-rated with the ship stripped bare except the essentials (A rated FSD). For the next three days I began making sure the ship was modified and tested thoroughly. First thing on the list was fixing the range, and after applying more lightweight mods than you can shake a stick at. The Constellation’s maximum range of 30.90LY was achieved. But of course a stripped out loadout would be a foolish endeavour and in case of disaster could bring a very abrupt end to the trip.
After the loadout was created and with the likelihood of being out in the black for a long time without proper ship maintenance a proper test run was in order. To be more precise, a trip far above Shinrarta Dezhra to test the ships maximum field range as well as a trip to the Seagull nebula and the famous ‘Hell Port’ asteroid base. The asteroid base was chosen due to a jaunt there in my old bubble explorer loadout which proved that I was unable to cross the arm with its sub-optimal jump range, perfect testing ground really. Luckily this time the Fuel Rats did not have to be called and the crossing was a success.
The trip above Shinrarta Dezhra however was not… although I technically managed to get high up and out of the star density (around 1,200 LY up) I found I was requiring Jumponium and purging the fuel to 25% of the main tank just for reaching systems which ranges were, in my eyes close enough to the ships maximum jump range to be a complete waste of valuable resources. Unhappy with the outcome, the decision was made not to lighten or remove the extra fuel tank due to the Corvettes tendency to gas guzzle and the extra fuel would be needed later on. So the following day was dedicated to increasing my FSDs range the aim was to increase the optimal mass and hopefully get a max fuel per jump secondary roll. After a good 40 rolls later a lucky optimal mass roll of +54.4% saved my sanity and another trip was chartered to ensure I was happy with the outcome. A trip which proved to be more than successful requiring only basic and standard Jumponium in places I required premium before.
Thus the final trip to HD 148937 began. The trip was to test my loadout and ship under an extremely high stress situation, and what’s more high stress than a 9.77G planet in a ship with no boost, and the shield strength equivalent to a fluffy pillow. The challenge was to land successfully and then get out of orbit without dying. Thanks to a friends (CMDR JZK21PL) previous advice of the -5 degree angle approach I successfully slid across the ground rather ungracefully and deployed my landing gear. Take off was much more eventful because at first the main thrusters barely had enough power to make the ship move let alone fly. Instead opting to use the ships ventral thrusters to fly up slowly but surely and escape the planets mass-lock. But out of fear of the ship stalling and plummeting to my death while trying to engage super cruise, I opted instead to jump to a star in front of me. Heavily damaged (8%) but alive I plotted a course for Asellus Primus, the starting line of my trip.
Build
TLDR
I’m plotting a course using the Distant Worlds Expedition as my route. I’ll be completing this run in a Federal Corvette...hopefully :3
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