Newcomer / Intro Unable to hyperspace

Salvia

S
Hi all,
I need some help please. I bought Elite and an X52 Hotas to go with my Oculus Rift at the weekend and am close to giving up.
I've completed the training missions and read the newbie start forum guides here.

I've started at Bakers Prospect
The first mission suggested is to deliver data. I've tried accepting various missions, launching my ship and after leaving mass lock I find I am unable to hyperspace as it is too far for my fuel capacity.
Other delivery missions that are in range I select the destination in the galaxy map but it is the other side of the planet so cannot enter frame shift as the 'destination is blocked'. I spend a very long time travelling slow speed to the other side and then find I do not have enough fuel for the jump.
I put months of playtime over 30 years ago playing Elite on my Commodore 64 but can't remember things being this difficult.

Any suggestions how to find a mission that is in-range and is not obstructed after I launch please.

Thanks
 

CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE

CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE
Salvia said:
The first mission suggested is to deliver data. I've tried accepting various missions, launching my ship and after leaving mass lock I find I am unable to hyperspace as it is too far for my fuel capacity.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the game. In the galaxy map select Economical Routes and try again. You might find it takes 2-3 jumps.

What is your current jump range? (go to the right-hand panel -> Functions)

Also, plot your route after you have selected the mission, this way the cargo will be loaded and the route plotting will take the weight into account.

Other delivery missions that are in range I select the destination in the galaxy map but it is the other side of the planet so cannot enter frame shift as the 'destination is blocked'. I spend a very long time travelling slow speed to the other side and then find I do not have enough fuel for the jump.
Click to expand...

You need to enter Supercruise and travel so that the destination is no longer obscured* (navigation target circle changes from dashed to solid). You will then be able to Hyperspace to the target system.

*if you are already in space, the optimum way is to travel at a 90deg angle to the planet - if you supercruise towards the planet you will get slowed down by the planet's gravity well.

if you are landed on the planet, supercruise at 90deg to the planet (just like a rocket leaving Earth) until you are outside of the Orbital Cruise range (the planetary flight HUD will disappear) and then turn back and circumvent the planet. There are other methods but this is usually the fastest if you want to get to the other side of a planet.
 
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Rob_the_Sparky

R
You may have selected your target on the galactic map rather than plotting a route to it, I.e. you are trying to get there in one jump. I've made that mistake before. This will cause this error message. The other reason is to plot the route with no cargo, then get cargo. This reduces your range so you can no longer use the route calculated. Re-visiting the Galaxy map should re-plot your course in this case.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Maybe just to hopefully reduce the confusion: ED has two different types of hyperspace travel:
- Supercruise (SC) and
- FrameShiftDrive (FSD, often also called "Friendship Drive" - you'll learn why :p )

Supercruise is for travel in-system, FSD is for travelling between systems (and you have to use FSD to get to another system, you can't SC to it). On a HOTAS with enough buttons (using the 16000m myself), you should be able to map these two transitions to two different buttons (on an XBox-contoller, they're mapped to the same button, which can lead to exactly what you're describing).

So, if your FSD target is obscured, go into SC, fly around whatever is in your way, then trigger FSD. If you have both transitions on the same button, you need to deselect your FSD destination (left cockpit screen, Navigation tab) to go simply into SC instead of FSD.

- - - Updated - - -

Added: giving you a suggestion for a mission where the target isn't obscured would be difficult :D - nobody but you sees the missions you see, and target obscuring will change with rotation (and movement) of the planets. The ED universe isn't static.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
The elephant in the room is that you can create a key-bind that is just "engage supercruise" - as opposed to your default setting which is a context sensitive "engage drive" (it will go to supercruise if your navigation target is within the current system or it will {try to} engage a hyperspace jump to the star system selected in your nav panel). Having the separate "supercruise" binding is very useful because (as you have found) often the destination system is obscured.

There are other key-binds that you might (should) like to have set - 75% throttle is one (that keeps you from overshooting your destination in supercruise).

There is one you should REMOVE from default - that is JETTISON ALL CARGO - can be embarrassing.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Sounds like part of the problem is the classic newbie frustration of taking on a mission with a destination that's beyond the jump-range of the starter ship.

IIRC, your starter ship has a jump-range of around 7Ly.
If you take on a mission where the destination is more than 7Ly from any other system then you flat-out CANNOT get to your destination without upgrading your ship.

I think that trips up everybody who plays ED when they first start.
I guess FDev have chosen to make the game that way to force the player to learn about navigation, learn about upgrading their ship and learn about prioritising missions.

If this is the problem, simply forget about that mission temporarily.
Take on a few missions where the destination IS within the jump-range of your ship (either within 1 jump or a series of short jumps) and then, after completing them, use the profit to upgrade the FSD of your ship.
Having done that, you should be able to go back to the original mission and complete it.

Once you get yourself an FSD capable of allowing your ship to make a 15Ly jump you should be able to travel almost anywhere within the bubble. [up]
 

Salvia

S
Hey guys. Thanks so much for all your replies. I shall go through all your info.
Such great help, makes me feel I've joined an excellent community here.

Cheers
 

bookmite

bookmite
It's a double edge sword, you need that 10k credits from the first mission to kick start you . However with a little knowledge you can still get on the ladder pretty quickly. But first you need to sort out why you can't jump anywhere . There IS a reason why you can't , many possibilities have already been stated, let us know what happened or if you need further guidance.
 

CMDR Mr. Boombastic

CMDR Mr. Boombastic
Useful is to set up another key for just jumping to supercruise. E.g.:

  • J: Toggle FSD (default)
  • <CTRL> J: Enable FSD to supercruise - useful when you are unable to hyperjump (high-wake) to a system because it is obscured by a celestial body.

Using FSD has different actions depending on if you have locked a system or not:
Target System LockedKey PressedResult
NOJSupercruise (facing any direction)
YESJHyperjump (once facing target)
YES but obscured<CTRL> JSupercruise (facing any direction)
then fly around the celestial body
before pressing J to hyperjump

If you are struggling to remember all the keys ( I know i did those first few weeks) you could print out a guide (as well as save and download configs) using:
Elite: Dangerous Reference Sheet Generator
 

Keta

K
CMDR Mr. Boombastic said:
Useful is to set up another key for just jumping to supercruise. E.g.:

  • J: Toggle FSD (default)
  • <CTRL> J: Enable FSD to supercruise - useful when you are unable to hyperjump (high-wake) to a system because it is obscured by a celestial body.

Using FSD has different actions depending on if you have locked a system or not:
Target System LockedKey PressedResult
NOJSupercruise (facing any direction)
YESJHyperjump (once facing target)
YES but obscured<CTRL> JSupercruise (facing any direction)
then fly around the celestial body
before pressing J to hyperjump

If you are struggling to remember all the keys ( I know i did those first few weeks) you could print out a guide (as well as save and download configs) using:
Elite: Dangerous Reference Sheet Generator
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. It produces a graphic that is far easier to use and understand than the one that came with my HOTAS setup.
 
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