Trip to SAG A - any tips?

Colonel North

Colonel North
I'm ranked Pathfinder so would not say I'm a novice explorer, but I would hardly say I was an expert either! Most if my exploration has been relatively short range around 2500ly out is about the furthest I've been.

So, planning a trip to SAG A, will be using an ASP. I've got credits to kit out as required. Aside from the usual stuff is there any extra advice from elite explorers?

Roughly how long does it take to get there and back?
 

Senex VII

Senex VII
Know why you're going.
If you're going as a tourist, go there, ogle it, and come back. The destination is the thing.
If you're going as an explorer, take your time - lots of it, and explore systems in detail. The journey is the thing.
 

Duckfather

Duckfather
It all depends on how much time you spend scanning systems. If you only scan the core star(s) and any interesting looking objects, then you can make between 1k and 2k LY per hour in a 30LY jump range Asp. If you intend to scan more, then you'll obviously travel a lot less.

I did the above and made it there in ~2 weeks at ~10hrs play per week. many others have done this much faster (the Buckyball Sag A* run springs to mind!)

As for tips, take an AFM and equip heat sinks for those little accidents when you're not really concentrating (or when you get sprung by a close binary at the drop in point!).

And take a really good selection of music and a flask! ;)

Edit : oh, and allow more time for route planning near the core. As the star density increases, the route planner will slow down radically. I ended up manually planning single jumps from about 1000LY out from Sag A* because of this!
 
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Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
Fastest run with an Anaconda is about 11.5 hours I think. With an ASP the fastest was about 12.5 I think.
If you are taking it steady expect about 20 hours or more.


Advice is don't run into that huge star! The usual throttle down during supercruise.
Watch for the large area of unscoopable stars at Sol height going towards Sag A. Go +/- 500LY in height to avoid that.

In the core you get problems with route plotting. Im still looking for the advice thread but I'll post it here when I find it :D
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=151389
and post #7 here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=142047
 
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tetra

tetra
If you want to just "get there" it can be done in about 13 hours or less, but the grind is real if you're only in for the destination, like others have said it totally depends what you're actually going there for. For me I started a journey to go visit some of the lower parts of the galactic plane about 4k LY out trying to thread myself down as low as I could get before running into a brick wall for lack of jump range where the stars are too sparse. I then decided instead of heading home I would go visit Sag A and the Great Annihilator, seeing as I was already some distance away, those being my top two "to see" attractions. I spent a couple of weeks getting there with the goal of only stopping for suspected earth likes or ammonia worlds, of which I found quite a few. Once I got to Sag A I decided to try and turn the rest of the trip into a profit and rank increase mission. So starting from Sag A I trawled the neutron belts for about a week, then headed to the Great Annihilator, then honked and stopped for earth likes + ammonias on my way home. Entire trip took a day over 2 months in total and I went from Pathfinder to Pioneer cashing in about 60 million's worth of exploration data on return.

Only tip I can give you is don't think about the journey, just think about what you want to explore, 750 jumps give or take there and 750 back might not sound too much but after a certain point you begin to lose the will to live, I lost track of the amount of times I considered just self-destructing having seen what I actually set out to see. Just do it in stints if it becomes too much and just remember there really is no rush.
 

CMDR MrChips

C
My trip to Sag A is pretty much the extent of my exploration and it was sufficient to get me straight to Ranger, I think. I got there and back in about 8 days of fairly intensive play, including a long weekend and the following Saturday. On the way out I alternated between 1000 Ly scanning and 1000 Ly hop-and-honk. On the way back I pretty much just hopped and honked as it was getting a bit monotonous by then.

You don't need anything that special gear wise, I got back with my hull integrity still in the low 90s and my AFMUs mostly full. Definitely get the absolute best scoop you can afford, it's a long way and you will be doing A LOT of scooping.

You might consider trying a diamondback instead, I've only messed about with the scout but the thing that struck me fairly quickly was that it seems to be made of asbestos, and can dive hard into the scoop zone and stay there without getting anywhere near the damage threshold, and I can even start charging the FSD from max scoop depth without danger. If the explorer is the same it might improve your quality of life a bit. Maybe someone who has used one can confirm if my impressions are correct.

If you want to get plenty of first discoveries, you'll want to get off the direct line between inhabited space and the core, so tack perpendicular to your intended course if you're seeing a lot of names on the system map.

If you want to boost your income take a detour to the neutron star fields as you approach the outer core, google can tell you where they are.

One other thing worth noting, that might have changed since I took my trip, is that the route planner starts to get VERY slow as you penetrate the outer core (so the last 5 kylies or so) due to the density of stars. You may have to switch to shorter legs - 100 Ly route calculations still seemed to be pretty trivial, but 1000 Ly in that area took my computer roughly a cup of tea and a cigarette to plot. YMMV as I assume this is CPU bound.

Make sure you take the time to stop and admire the view when you find some interesting objects, maybe make a log of interesting finds and take some screenshots. It does take a long time and it can get dispiriting when you look at the galaxy map and see how far is left to go so having something like that to look back on can help you keep going.
 

Alec Turner

Alec Turner
Colonel North said:
I'm ranked Pathfinder so would not say I'm a novice explorer, but I would hardly say I was an expert either! Most if my exploration has been relatively short range around 2500ly out is about the furthest I've been.

So, planning a trip to SAG A, will be using an ASP. I've got credits to kit out as required. Aside from the usual stuff is there any extra advice from elite explorers?

Roughly how long does it take to get there and back?
Click to expand...

It took me just over 13 hours to get there and just under 3 weeks to get back :)

This is the difference between getting the house to myself for 24hrs during a freak occurence when both my wife and my kids all happened to be away on the same day plus me taking a day off work vs. my normal play time which is around 1.5 hours per week day (and a bit at the weekend if I'm lucky).

I have to say I enjoyed the full on, 13hr, Buckyball run enormously (possibly the best thing I've done in this or any computer game), despite seriously underestimating how long (and physically/mentally exhausting) a 13hr video gaming session really is :) Among other things it required lots of good "driving" music (radio Sidewinder in particular was invaluable) and plenty of nice food and drink on standby (I recommend hot cross buns and wine).

The journey back was an endurance test of a different sort (mostly because I just couldn't believe how long it took compared to the journey out). I set myself daily goals (typically destinations such as Neutron fields, black holes or nebula), and many of the sights I got to see as a consequence were truly extraordinary. I think what the return journey required more than anything was to not focus on the destination. Enjoy the sights and let the realisation that you're back within a few thousand lights years of the bubble come as a surprise.

Good luck commander!
 

Darrett

Darrett
I'm on my way right now! I'm 15,000 LY out, but I went out at a 45 to the direct path, so I've got a long way yet to go. I also turned around for 2k LY or so because there was something I wanted to go see that was a bit out of the way, and I missed it on the way out.

I have done some scanning of full systems as well as skipping a few just to get distance in. My rate is pretty slow; about 1000 LY in a 2-3 hour playtime because of scanning and flying close to planets. I'm hauling a shield generator with me in a DBX as well, so my jump distance isn't huge.

So far the big thing that's been helping is keeping my phone handy to watch movies on; I watched all of Firefly again and I'm going to get started on some Star Trek for as long as I can stand it.

The worst bits so far have been when I was focusing on scanning full systems or making big, fast jumps. When I'm just flying to look at things and scanning only what I want to (leaving the Brown Dwarfs at 580,000 LS for someone else), it's much better.

My main concern is that I'm going to lose my Surveyor title when I return though. Too bad.
 

Jigster

Jigster
Colonel North said:
Aside from the usual stuff is there any extra advice from elite explorers?
Click to expand...
Two Heatsinks and two AFM units came in handy on my trip.
I tried extra fuel tanks recently but didn't need them in the end.
Cargo racks allow you to manually adjust your jump range in the Galaxy Map and can be helpful near the core.

Colonel North said:
Roughly how long does it take to get there and back?
Click to expand...
It took me one month, there and back again.
 
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Ziggy Stardust

Ziggy Stardust
Took me 5 weeks but I took quite the detour on the way back. Did have a couple of moments where the distance to go got to me. To remedy that I just put the brakes on and snooped around the area where I was at that time.

Don't forget to bring a towel!

Edit: going on the lonely explorers friendslist will show you other CMDRs exploring on the map. Might help when you're experiencing some cockpit fever.
 
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Zulu Romeo

Zulu Romeo
It is a long distance journey that over 500 commanders have made. If you're going there, don't expect to go there for the first discovery bonuses and tags unless you take a very imaginative route.

Also, you don't need a very big jump range. I managed it in a ship with less than 22.5LY range, which at the time (when the route plotter could only manage one system at a time) was the best I could afford. With the 1000LY plotter, and some fancy economical route planning, it might even be possible with less.

Also also, don't be afraid. About halfway through, your perception of the Galaxy changes significantly and drastically. What seemed familiar now will seem odd to you. I don't know if today's graphical rendering is different, but the final third of the journey was bathed in intense light. You migt want sunglasses.

Finally, take breaks. One mistake and you could lose everything.
 

Chummy62

C
If you are playing open, be aware that there are "Pirates" who have made the journey just to catch explorers who are not expecting company.
 

Entz

Entz
Alex Brentnall said:
Watch for the large area of unscoopable stars at Sol height going towards Sag A. Go +/- 500LY in height to avoid that.
Click to expand...

Curious, about how long is that stretch? I was planning on doing this in a Courier for kicks (bored with PP) but may want an extra tank for safety ...

That or strip my python...
 
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Eminor

Eminor
My advice would be:
1. Minimum 2 heat sinks, 1 AFMU
2. When you find an Earth-like planet, stay and be the tourist. You can get some great wallpapers ;)
3. Find some good music for the ride
As for how long it takes ? Depends on what how much you want to scan...
 

Adept Geraden

Adept Geraden
I'm also on my way there now. Keeping a pen & paper log file so I can calculate flight time and keep track of distances to Sol and Sgr A. Currently 14 1/2 hours flight time, 3699 Ly's from Sol, and 22308 Ly's from Sgr A. From the bubble, I went down & left a bit, and quickly hit untagged everywhere. Searching for Earth-likes, have bagged 2 so far. Personal rule is not to cherry-pick. If a system looks promising, I'll detail scan EVERYTHING in it. Keeping a log file keeps the spirits up, you can confirm that you are making progress towards your goal. At my current rate of progress, guesstimating 90 hours flight time to get there. The key is to enjoy the journey. Sagittarius A will still be there, whenever you get there.
 

Alex Brentnall

Alex Brentnall
Entz said:
Curious, about how long is that stretch? I was planning on doing this in a Courier for kicks (bored with PP) but may want an extra tank for safety ...

That or strip my python...
Click to expand...

I think its about 1000Ly if you go straight from Sol in Sag A direction. There are scoopables in the middle but usually the route planner will lead you to a "no fuel" situation at some point meaning you have to manually re-route which is a pain. Like I said, go up or down a few 100Ly and you should be golden.
 
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