To the core, and beyond!... in an Imperial Eagle?

[Draco25240]

Crossing the galaxy in an Imperial Eagle

Introduction/Original post
Some few of you may have seen my little reddit post about my 8000 ly exploration trip in an Imperial Eagle for the Lave CG. Well, I eventually/finally went completely bonkers and suited my Imperial Eagle up once more for another exploration trip... My goal this time? Sagittarius A*, followed by an attempt to reach the 65k ly systems in the far galactic rim... (I'm so gonna regret this decision...) So I decided to do as some people before me and set up a little exploration log and screenshot library here (if you don't mind), where you all can watch and enjoy my slow descent into madness
For those of you who may wonder, this the loadout I'm using for my trusty PFS Asylum Express
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...22f2i.AwRjNd0o.IwBjNcrI?bn=PFS Asylum Express
She may not get places just as fast as an Asp, but she runs almost as cool as a Diamondback and works surprisingly well for the task

"But Draco, how do you plan to reach the far galactic rim with just 21.85 (23.95) ly jump range?"
Well, to keep it short, this should answer your question...

Spoiler

(yes I'm crazy)

That should total around 874 (958) ly worth of 100% boosts and 1180 (1293) ly worth of 50% boosts... That just might do it and push me through the final stretch and back, hopefully...

If you have any questions, comments, points of interest or anything, feel free to leave a reply

Achievements:
- Highest mileage Imperial Eagle of all time (~305,000 Ly travelled in it since it was purchased)
- Furthest distance reached from Sol in an Imperial Eagle (65,372.43 Ly from Sol)
- Potentially first Imperial Eagle to reach Sagittarius A* (unconfirmed)
- First, second and only Imperial Eagle to reach Beagle Point
- Among the first 100 people to ever cross the 65,000 Ly line

Notable dates:
Departure from Chilton Terminal, 21 Draco: 27th December 3301, ~12:01 in-game time
Arrival at Sagittarius A*: 2nd January 3302, 20:40:10 in-game time
Arrival at Beagle Point: 21st February 3302, 22:36:57 in-game time
2nd arrival at Beagle Point: 4th April 3302, 22:17:13 in-game time
2nd arrival at Sagittarius A*: 27th July 3302, 20:03:12 in-game time
Docked at Jaques Station: 5th August 3302, 20:58:08 in-game time
Departure from Jaques Station: 28th August 3302, 15:36:07 in-game time
Docked at Chilton Terminal, 21 Draco: 27th September 3302, 13:08:05 in-game time

 

[shreddog]

Good choice to go with extra fuel tank instead of shields. The standard 4t tank has abysmal range!
I was testing an eagle with shields and no extra tank, and found I had to stop like every 2nd jump to refuel. That adds up to allot of time spent on scooping on a long trip. Also was a high risk of running into ONE unscoopable and having to go eco jumping to find fuel..

edit: Hmm, now thinking maybe you should fit bigger tank, and one class lower fuel scoop? More consistent jumping that way, and less chance of running out of fuel. A bit longer to refuel of course, but then you can check forums Not sure what will be fastest in the long run. Going scoop range and then out again to jump takes quite a bit of time.

 

[Satsuma]

You can do it! Zulu Romeo reached Sag A* in a Cobra Mk III with barely more jump range than that. People have taken 25 LY Cobras out to 65k LY, too, so I think you can do it with careful shepherding of your jumponium.

I'm looking forward to running across you at some point next year. God speed, Commander!

 

[Roqinn]

Yeah you can do it! Once you get to within 6-8LY from the Sag A*, the stars get so close together that it is ridiculous. If you are looking to make a bit of credits while on your way, I would suggest dropping down to 1KLY below the plane of the ecliptic and tag a bunch of BHs, WDs, Neutrons and Carbon stars. There are still plenty of regular stars to fill up from too! Well, as long as you don't go to deep =D
Have fun while you're out there!

 

[Arnoldo]

Start of an epic journey, wish you well Cmdr!!

 

[Cmdr Frawd Digger]

Good luck Cmdr! I look forward to watching your progress...

Maybe we can meet up on the other side of the core?

Frawd

 

[kr1spy]

Wow, what a great challenge. The best of luck on your endeavour! You are braver/more patient than I am, sir.

 

[Draco25240]

Thank you all! Will try to post a log for day #1, #2 and #3 sometime today (I kinda decided to make this thread yesterday, during day 3 )

edit: Hmm, now thinking maybe you should fit bigger tank, and one class lower fuel scoop? More consistent jumping that way, and less chance of running out of fuel. A bit longer to refuel of course, but then you can check forums Not sure what will be fastest in the long run. Going scoop range and then out again to jump takes quite a bit of time.

I could've done that, the only problem is that a 2A Fuel Scoop only scoops 75 kg/s, while the 3A one does 176 kg/s, basically meaning I lose like 3/5 of my fuel scoop rate, and for a long haul trip like this, that is not something I want to do. Fitting a 3C tank also would mean decreasing my full tank jump range by 1.17 ly jump range, which could be bad for far rim exploration, while bringing my time to refuel up to 2:40.
As it is now though, I don't really stop to refuel, ever (except if I've run into 2 or 3 unscoopables in a row, but I check for that before using a route). The 3A is good enough to refuel what I used for the jump in a single, 75-100% throttle pass while I open the system map, so fitting a bigger fuel tank for more jumps would just slow me down really, maybe even dramatically.

You can do it! Zulu Romeo reached Sag A* in a Cobra Mk III with barely more jump range than that. People have taken 25 LY Cobras out to 65k LY, too, so I think you can do it with careful shepherding of your jumponium.!

Yeah, considering my jump range on fumes is 23.95, barely over a lightyear less than 25, I thought I may have a shot at making it without boosts, but just in-case I stacked up on 36 level 2 boosts and 20 level 3 boosts. I am only going to use the boosts if absolutely necessary to continue towards 65k ly though, preferably making it without them if possible, but I'll keep them as a safety net and be extremely careful on the usage when I do need them (look up the jump ranges on following jumps to see if there are any areas I need less boosts for, log what stars I'm jumping between for backtracking, etc). I don't want to use too many and get stuck out there!

Yeah you can do it! Once you get to within 6-8LY from the Sag A*, the stars get so close together that it is ridiculous. If you are looking to make a bit of credits while on your way, I would suggest dropping down to 1KLY below the plane of the ecliptic and tag a bunch of BHs, WDs, Neutrons and Carbon stars. There are still plenty of regular stars to fill up from too! Well, as long as you don't go to deep =D

Yeah, was thinking about dropping by those, but it'll be on the journey home, trying to reach Sag A* as fast as possible for an entry in the Buckyball A* Challenge (while still doing exploration and enjoying the nearby sights, not just going in a straight line), being the sole entry for Imperial Eagle.

Maybe we can meet up on the other side of the core?

Sure! I'm gonna leave a screenshot of my position in the galaxy for all logs I remember to do it for, so when I'm getting close to where you are, I'm sure we can arrange a meet-up

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Can you be tempted to join in the Distant Worlds expedition?

 

[D3vNu11]

Can you be tempted to join in the Distant Worlds expedition?

Why not Draco ? You can try with us !
Join !

 

[Draco25240]

First time doing a log for anything, bear with me and my probably bad way of doing it

Log #1, 27th December 3301
Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/L05J6

After using an hour to round down my credit balance to something my OCD can appreciate for the entirety of the trip (exactly 65,000,000 CR), and taking the necessary screenshots at Galileo, Sol, for an entry in the Buckyball A* Challenge, I head back to my main base in 21 Draco for some final goodbyes before setting off. Watching Chilton Terminal disappear in the blue FSD wake for the last time in a very long time was a... dramatic experience, but I've set my goal and there's no turning back now.
500 or so ly later, as I'm approaching IC 4606, I come to realize I've forgotten to start Captain's Log and EDDiscovery... Whoops... So after a quick return to 21 Draco and setting off for a 2nd time, I finally make it to and pass close by the IC 4606 nebula, where I locate what looks like a Water World, completely covered in water with seemingly no landmasses, and has polar ice caps...Well, turns out it was just a HMC planet, oh well (screenshot #2). I am however greeted by an Earth-like just 15 jumps later, much to my surprise (screenshot #3).
Not much else happened for a while, jump, scan, jump, scan, jump, scan, a WW and AW every once in a while, some hallucinations of stuff in hyperspace (already? that might be bad...), not much else. That was until I jumped into an explorer's worst nightmare already on jump #137, a contact binary (screenshot #4). I didn't land between them though, I landed INSIDE the binary companion, reaching 95% heat before I got to safety. So a word of advice to you explorers, do not enter Blu Thua AH-L d8-4, EVER.
After coming to my senses again after the slight heart attack, I continued towards my goal, coming across my first ever undiscovered Earth-like (screenshot #6) and Ammonia worlds (screenshot #7), a system where 4 planets were orbiting eachother (screenshot #5), and a system with 4 stars, 19 planets and 39 moons (screenshot #8). Along the way, looking around my galaxy map for where to plot route #5 (last of the day), I noticed the Omega Nebula in the distance, with its enormous cluster of B-type stars (my favorite type!) and decided to take a detour to go take a closer look. When I eventually realized it was now 2am thoguh, I parked my ship in the light of a majestic B-type star in the Smojue ZU-P e5-4 system and called it a day (screenshot #9)

TL;DR
- Found 2x Earth-likes (1x undiscovered), 10x Water Worlds (4x terraformable, 3x undiscovered) and 2x Ammonia Worlds (1x undiscovered), a group of 4 planets orbiting eachother and a system with 62 bodies.
- Landed inside a star in a contact binary system, escaped with 95% heat (do not enter Blu Thua AH-L d8-4 !!!)
- Started a detour to the Omega Nebula (many blue stars! very pretty, so bright, must get a closer look, wow)
- Ended the day in Smojue ZU-P e5-4.

Stats for Day 1
Distance from Sol: ???? ly
Distance from Sagittarius A*: ???? ly
Total hyperspace distance covered today: 5060 ly
Systems visited: 249
Exploration statistics before
Exploration statistics after

Final location in the galaxy:
Smojue ZU-P e5-4 (no screenshot available)


Log for day #2 coming later today or tomorrow

 

[Draco25240]

Can you be tempted to join in the Distant Worlds expedition?

Why not Draco ? You can try with us !
Join !

I was thinking about it, but that would mean postponing the launch to after my break is over, giving me a lot less time to play (maybe not even any at all). Other reasons include the fact that I wanted to give the Buckyball A* Challenge a try (and post a good time for Imperial Eagle, since noone else has done it it seems), that I've been planning this trip (and had decided to do it during the christmas break) for a long time and really couldn't wait any longer now that I had all the materials I needed for FSD boosts, and last but least, if I were to join the expedition, I'd probably end up in somewhere among the top 300-500 people to get to 65k ly, instead of within the top 100. (the last one may be a bit selfish perhaps, but the rest I hope are valid and understandable reasons, I'm sorry)

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Well, if we're in the neighbourhood, don't be a stranger

 

[Draco25240]

Well, if we're in the neighbourhood, don't be a stranger

Nah, I was planning to drop by some of the systems you guys are passing through on the way back to say hello and perhaps have a chat, give advice to ships with smaller jump ranges on how to navigate the far rim, etc, don't worry

 

[Draco25240]

Well, a slight update on my current position (hopefully I'll be able to catch up the logs to my actual position and date soon), I am now 8k ly away from Sag A* and 16k ly from Sol. Going by my current pace (5k ly per day), I should arrive in 2 days, maybe reaching the Great Annihilator tomorrow night

 

[shreddog]

My god that's a fast pace!

 

[Cmdr Frawd Digger]

Sure! I'm gonna leave a screenshot of my position in the galaxy for all logs I remember to do it for, so when I'm getting close to where you are, I'm sure we can arrange a meet-up

Excellent...

Frawd

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Well, a slight update on my current position (hopefully I'll be able to catch up the logs to my actual position and date soon), I am now 8k ly away from Sag A* and 16k ly from Sol. Going by my current pace (5k ly per day), I should arrive in 2 days, maybe reaching the Great Annihilator tomorrow night

If I really push it (and I have been) I can do about 4kly in a day (that's about 5 hours of game time)...will only be able to keep up this pace this week...next week back to work

So you will probably haul past me soon.

Frawd

 

[Draco25240]

Well, I'm just gonna keep these short, I just know I'm gonna use forever or not even finish at all if I don't

Log #2, 28th December 3301

Spoiler

Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/axDR1

Quick summary of Day 2:
- Continued towards the Omega Nebula, eventually dipping down into the badlands region of unscoopables surrounding the nebula. (I was taking the high route 500 ly above the badlands)
- Took a slight detour from the Omega Nebula detour, taking a look at the planetary nebula surrounding the Traikoa FL-P E5-4 black hole, taking some (bad?) screenshots. Didn't dare to approach the black hole within 500 km due to lack of "too close" border. (screenshot #4 - 9)
- Finally arrived at the B-type cluster in the Omega Nebula. So many beautiful blue stars! "Must, resist, the temptation, to scan them all..." ........... Okay, I failed at that, I spent like 2 hours flying mindlessly around that star cluster, I wanted my own blue star in there!
- Found a triple neutron star system inside the cluster (2MASS J18192359-1632298)
- More hallucinations/sightings in hyperspace, like things flying past, objects in the distance, etc. I never seem to be able to screenshot it though...
- Eventually started making my way through the badlands towards the Eagle Nebula (since I'm flying an Eagle, why not head there?)
- Jumped through a 10 solar radius B-type star upon entering Byeia Eurk FG-Y g2, luckily landed a semi-safe distance away from it. If I hadn't, I'd be dead. (screenshot #14)
- Found a Herbig Ae/Be Protostar, first of the trip. (screenshot #15)
- Found a Salvageable Wreckage, ~6400 ly from civilization. Didn't dare to enter it though, in-case of hostile NPCs. (screenshot #16)
- Arrived at the Eagle Nebula and ended the day there, infront of the A-type cluster. Precise final location is Eagle Sector EL-Y d203. (screenshot #17-18)

Statistics for Day 2:
- Screenshot
- Distance travelled: 4305 ly
- Systems visited: 231
- 50+ B-type stars scanned (none of them undiscovered )
- 0 Earth-like Worlds
- 14 Water Worlds (10x terraformable, 5x undiscovered)
- 2 Ammonia Worlds (both undiscovered)
- 4 black holes
- 5 neutron stars
- 1 Ae/Be protostar
- 4 stellar nurseries (screenshot #13)
- 1 salvageable wreckage (screenshot #16)

Final location in the galaxy:
Eagle Sector EL-Y d203
Distance from Sol: ???? ly
Distance from Sagittarius A*: ????? ly

Log #3, 29th December 3301

Spoiler

Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/stXrn

Quick summary of Day 3:
- Took a quick look at the dense A-type cluster in the Eagle Nebula, took some screenshots of the region, and started ascending again to get out of the badlands. Next destination? The Great Annihilator.
- Came across a Class A Blue-White Supergiant, 264.3 solar radii (Prielaei AA-A h6). Almost got fried when going close for screenshots, had forgotten how hot these things were... Watching your heat rise up beyond 70% while your speed decreases from 20+c to <1c for being trapped deep in the atmosphere of a supergiant, being several thousand lightyears from home, is not a fun experience... (screenshot #4-7)
- Randomly found a system with 75 bodies. (screenshot #8)
- Found my first undiscovered B-type star, took a couple of screenshots to celebrate. (It's MINE, all MINE! ) (screenshot #9)
- Found a binary Wolf-Rayet system (Ellairb AA-A h8). One of them being a WCN0 and the other being a WC0, accompanied by an O-type star. (screenshot #10)
- Another day, another contact binary. Only this time, two of them in one day. Luckily I suffered no damages this time either (thank god for the Imperial Eagle's surprisingly good cooling, I didn't bring heat sinks to save jump range...). Explorers, do not enter Ellairb MC-C c13-25 and Eodgorsts NX-T d3-167. (screenshot #12)
- Eventually came across an undiscovered Earth-like world, the 2nd of this trip. The game crashed once upon approaching it though. (somebody didn't want to be scanned!) (screesnshot #13)
- Ended the day in Blu Aescs AA-A h7, a 147.5 solar radii O-type star.

Statistics for Day 3:
- Screenshot
- Distance travelled: 5757 ly
- Sytems visited: 281
- 1 Earth-like World (undiscovered)
- 18 Water Worlds (10 terraformable, 15 undiscovered)
- 4 Ammonia Worlds (all undiscovered)
- 2 Wolf-Rayet stars
- 2 stellar nurseries

Final location in the galaxy:
Blu Aescs AA-A h7
Galaxy map screenshot
Distance from Sol: ???? ly
Distance from Sagittarius A*: ????? ly

Log #4, 30th December 3301

Spoiler

Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/rjISt

Quick summary of Day 4:
- Came across an O-type star with a 200.1 solar radii. (Screenshot #1)
- Staring down at the hot blue ball of plasma below me, I come to realize that I MAY have left the stove on back at my main base before heading out... Whoops... RIP my 15 cats.
- Found a system with 5 Water Worlds in it, 3 of them being terraformable.
- Tricked once again by a HMC, this time looking identical to an Earth-like... I travelled 100k ls for it... (Screenshot #2)
- More close binary stars, some more dangerous than others, but still no fried Eagle luckily.
- Jumps, jumps and more jumps, not a whole lot more happening for a while ("Which is great, space excitement is TERRIBLE")
- Binary terraformable Water Worlds and binary Ammonia Worlds found within short time of eachother.
- The sky, so many B-types... My god, it's so beautiful. Almost wish I could settle down here permanently. (Screenshot #5-6)
- Ended the day in Byua Ain NX-U e2-797, a B-type star (of course)

Statistics for Day 4:
- Screenshot
- Distance travelled: 4516
- systems Visited: 217
- 0 Earth-like Worlds
- 16 Water Words (8 terraformable, all undiscovered), one binary pair of terraformable Water Worlds
- 2 Ammonia Worlds (both undiscovered), binary pair
- 5 contact binaries
- 1 O-type (200.1 solar radii)
- 1 stellar nursery (screenshot #9)

Final location in the galaxy:
Byua Ain NX-U e2-797
Galaxy map screenshot
Distance from Sol: 16082.44 ly
Distance from Sagittarius A*: 9883.13 ly

Log #5, 31st December 3301

Spoiler

Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/EZhLk

Quick summary of Day 5:
- New years eve, not a whole lot of time to play, sadly...
- Once again a contact binary, landed on the safe side this time though. (screenshot #2)
- Took an actually pretty screenshot. (screenshot #3)
- Did hyperspace jump #1000
- Came across a green (and brown) gas giant, had to take a closer look. (is this something common? I've never seen one before) (screenshot #4)
- Found a trinary planet system of HMC planets, and a quadruple planetary system consisting of 3 gas giants and 1 icy planet.
- Parked in Dryao Aowsy TD-T e3-346 (guess what star type) before heading out to watch the fireworks.

Statistics for Day 5:
- Screenshot
- Distance travelled: 2979 ly
- Systems visited: 140
- 0 Earth-like Worlds
- 13 Water Worlds (8 terraformable, all undiscovered), one binary pair of Water Worlds
- 0 Ammonia Worlds
- 4 Terraformable High Metal Content planets, and a trinary planet system of standard HMC planets
- 1 Jolly green gas giant
- 1 contact binary

Final location in the galaxy:
Dryao Aowsy TD-T e3-346
Galaxy map screenshot
Distance to Sol: 18926.15 ly
Distance to Sagittarius A*: 4151.27 ly

 

[Draco25240]

Well.... I MADE IT, Sagittarius A*, at last Will post the Log for yesterday and today at some point tomorrow, but for now, enjoy the stats and screenshot
Total time used (including breaks, sleep, etc): 6 days, 9 hours, 39 minutes and 47 seconds.
Total distance travelled: 29787 ly
Total number of jumps: 1451

 

[Bartizan]

Nicely done, CMDR.