The Voyage Of The Ponsonby - Finding the "Compass Points" of the Galaxy

[HumbleGamer]

Hi guys!

I've been playing Elite for about 2 years now, and I've been an explorer through most of that (though short stints as a bounty hunter and a trader have also been and gone), and I've decided to go on a frankly massive and rather tidiculous quest.

As every explorer knows, Beagle's Point is the Holy Grail, along with Sagittarius A*, and these have both been on my list for a while now. But I'm an ambitious little so-and-so, so I'm also going to be aiming for the other "compass points" of the Galaxy (I know, space doesn't have relative directions, but it's the best way to frame it )

So, if we take Beagle's Point as the "North" point, I shall also be travelling to the furthest reachable star in the "west", the "east", and the south.

Anyone got any pointers? My ship is a pretty fully decked out Asp Explorer (~30LY jump distance, 64T fuel capacity, 5A FSD - you know, the standard stuff), and my first way point is the Colonia System - partyl because I want to visit Jaques Port before it leaves because any space station that can move is awesome and I'm happy to admit I'm a bit of a tourist but also because there is the planet-based dock in the system (currently a community goal, at time of writing) which I thought would be a good "centre of the galaxy" hub for me to call home during the expedition. I'm already about 5000LY out on my trip to Colonia, since I've done a fair bit of exploring in this kind of area of space, though I am now starting to get a little further than I've ever gone before... But any advice/tips/expertise/stories/warnings would be GREATLY appreciated!

So if there is any advice, or if anyone wants to come on any leg of the adventure with me, let me know

My travel diaries can be seen on my YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/humblegamertube - as of Sunday 14 May 2017, but I shall post regular updates here if there's enough interest in the adventure

Thank you for listening,

Commander Humble Gamer out!

 

[Arius]

But any advice/tips/expertise/stories/warnings would be GREATLY appreciated!

This has already been done by CMDR Sam Ishum, AKA Firey Toad. Check past news letters for the story, or pop into his twitch stream and speak to the man himself. He does his thing most days of the week so it shouldn't be too hard to track him down.

 

[HumbleGamer]

Awesome! Thank you! I will definitely check him out

 

[Fyrd Judge]

You forgot the other two points , the highest point of the Galaxy and the lowest point.

My advise is to stack material to extend your jumps if you are going to reach the furthest reachable stars in the "west", the "east", and the south. Ask FD if they know what those points are, as many claim they have reached them on Inara.

 

[Arnoldo]

Also take a look at https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/220552-Cardinal-Points

 

[HumbleGamer]

Thanks folks!

I shall make a note of the co-ordinates in the other thread.

And one day I might learn to fend for myself and research this stuff [noob]

- - - Updated - - -

Wow... so I am waaaaaay late to this party hehe I expected nothing less! I am honoured to be in the presence of some of the great explorers. Just consider me following in your footsteps??

 

[Arnoldo]

Be prepared for a long trip and make sure you take a break when it stops being enjoyable.

+1 for the jumponium tip - it will come in handy!

Fly safe out there Cmdr

 

[HumbleGamer]

Those are my next goal, but sadly I only have so much time they are most definitely on the list though!

Yeah, I am going to stock up in and around the Colonia system with all the materials I need for extended FSD jumps. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Corbin Moran]

If you check out the interactive map of the Galactic Mapping Project and turn on 'beacons' you should be able to see a bunch of useful stuff for your voyage.

Meridian systems (compass points relative to Sol):
Asterous - Northern compass point
Pernicious - Eastern compass point
Notus - Southern compass point
Wespoint Ormand - Western compass point

Limit systems (furthest reachable system along any coordinate):
Ishum's Reach - furthest possible north
Magellan's Star - furthest possible east
Amundsens's Star - furthest possible south
Erikson's Star - furthest possible west

As far as I am informed the meridian systems (or compass points) are debatable, since they are based on the loose definition "being really close to directly (north) while being also really far away from Sol"... If anyone are able to reach a system that are further away while being closer to "true (north)", these systems might be changed...

But the Limit systems should be absolute according to the info I got from CMDR Allitnil. There should be no more reachable systems further out and as such these should not be subject to change.

Good luck with your endeavor!

 

[Valije]

As a fellow explorer that is expending time in the fringes of the galaxy, a few tips (assuming you have horizons)

- Get a better jump range. I think 30 ly will not be enough because the last systems in the border have quite a distance between them. It must be very frustrating to get near there and being unable to do the last few jumps.
- 64 tons of fuel are not needed. Almost all stars near de edge are scoopable. It is very rare to find one that is not, but they exist. In around 30 kylies on the very south I found only 1 with a TTauri, and had to call the fuelrats . Fortunately there was another system "only" 50 ly away, and with just 1 ton of fuel and level 3 jumponium I was able to get there and was saved. It was nice spare the fuel rats from a pretty long trip.
- Pack as much materials for FSD sinthesis as you can. You will need them. Bring a SRV.
- You should learn how to travel "in fumes". Jumping with only the minimum amout of fuel needed can be the difference between being able to get to the next system or not. Also you will save more rare materials.

Edit: Oh, what a coincidence... I just found a 2nd non-scoopable system. A NS, maybe the furthest NS south.