trip progress report

[Jeffers2112]

I set off from Jameson a week or so back, meandering in the general direction of the core.
I'd gotten about 8k light years out and I noticed that I was getting quite near to a big nebula, NGC 6357. So, I thinks I'll go take a look. It's quite interesting and has some nice looking stars but I soon noticed the traces of former visitors with "discovered" systems popping up. So it looks like this is one of the popular tourist spots.
So I'm off again, going "up" a bit and not quite towards the galactic centre. Much better, not seen a previously discovered system for a while.
Seems that all those Commanders wandering about are leaving their mark on the galactic map....
Current distance from Sol 8932 ly, that's the furthest out I've ever been. And still 18 thousand light years from Sag A! Don't know if I can be bothered to go that far, especially as it's a well travelled area, I want to discover stuff, not just go sight-seeing the popular spots.

[MrSandman]

Fly safe Cmdr

[Daniel Dakota]

That was one of my stop offs too, I'm in the NS fields on the way to the core, at present looking for a service station to get a burger and go to the loo

Fly safe, may see you at Sag A*

[Jeffers2112]

Now 12k light years from Sol, and 1200 above the plane. Found that stars were getting a bit thin so I've had to travel around the arm a bit.
Spotted my first Neutron star on the Galaxy map today, but it said "no route available". So I headed a bit further past it to run the fuel down a bit to get the extra range and finally got a route there. Strange thing is, none of the legs were any longer than I'd been doing on a full tank? The final leg to the Neutron was only 26ly, so I filled up before going there, as a precaution.
So I get to my first Neutron star, only to find that somebody's already discovered it! Not having visited one before I thought I'd go a bit closer for a better look, I was just at low throttle but suddenly get an emergency stop. No real harm done, I've gotten an percent or so damage to some modules, but I've got a couple of repair modules so that'll be easily fixed. So now to go and find another Neutron star or black hole that hasn't already been found by someone else!
I thought I'd be heading back by now but, after a month out already, this looks like it's going to be a long trip.....

[Jeffers2112]

Still out there....
About 14.5k from Sol, been in the upper side of the Galaxy for a while, currently thinking I'll head "down" to the plain and see how full of stars it is down there. Then maybe it'll be time to meander back in the direction of home.... got a fair bit of data to cash in!

[Jeffers2112]

Well, I'm still out "in the black"....
Been 53 days now, I'm currently 22,105 ly from my base and only(!) 3991 from Sag *A.
Been making good progress this last couple of days and I reckon a couple of good sessions should get me to the core.
Found lots of interesting stuff and had a few scary moments, but all in all still in pretty good shape. I've got a couple of repair modules on board so I've been able to keep most modules at 100%. Hull & power plant are both at 94%, so no real worries and at least I haven't damaged my canopy like people seem to have done previously!
Only seen one "discovered by" tag in the last couple of weeks so I should be getting my name on plenty of systems when I eventually get back.
I'm hoping that someone else from Mobius might also be at Sag *A when I get there, it'd be nice to see a friendly face!
Now if I can just avoided being distracted....

[Dudley]

Hi Jeffers, I'm not an explorer at heart, but I love reading about it. Look forward to the next instalment .
Don't let cabin fever get the better of you.
I will drop you a line if I see you in game.
Keep going...
Best regards
Dudley.

[Jeffers2112]

Well, I made it! Sag A* is quite spectacular. It took a lot of effort to get there as I started suffering from route-planner difficulties. Because of the high density of stars it has too many alternatives to look at and just gets slower and slower. From about 800 lys out I had to plot each jump manually so it was a bit tedious. But it was worth it in the end.... Met another commander at Sag A* when I looked in Open play. We had a nice chat and took a few pictures.
Now I'm on my way out of the core, dropping down to where the stars thin out a bit. The routing is getting better, I can now do 3 or 4 jump plots in a few seconds.
Then I might have a go and finding some more Neutron stars...

[Jeffers2112]

Latest progress.
Decided that I'd get to 3,000 systems visited and then set off home.
Reached that goal today, and started in the general direction of my base system.
Got distracted by a cluster of Neutron stars, and now I've decided to go take a look at the Great Annihilator while I'm out here. I had been thinking that this was just another nick-name for Sag A*, it was bit of a doh! moment when realised that wasn't the case.
Anyway, going to take a look.... I will get home eventually!
Bit of a major session today, 115 systems visited.