Lost Stars - Distant Worlds re-run for Xbox

If you heard of Distant Worlds and missed it the first time around, they're trying to get it going again for the Xbox now that we can do planetary landings. If you want to go to the greatest depths of space, and don't mind allocating several months, give it a look.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/256951-Lost-Sta...

Ooh cool. I think I'll join that, although I expect I'll be instanced all by myself. I'd been planning to go on a big expedition once Horizons came out, but I've also been holding back a bit because of Leap Frog and GTASC.

I'm in too, see you guys in deep space ;)

I joined as well. Seems there are at least 6 TA'ers interested so far. Be nice to have some company in the black.

Maybe we can get a TA group together for at least parts of the journey.

That'd be cool to do. Would present some problems though.

Granted, instancing sucks but at least we do meet at the checkpoints on the same days. Winging up for a bit of exploring is certainly possible. Even if we only see others randomly, it will be impressive to see that many CMDRs in the black. My goal is to arrive the day before its scheduled on the itinerary so I'll be 'around' when others arrive. We'll see when we get a bit closer but I'd like to have a dedicated Elite playtime for those few months at least so you can be guaranteed of finding me online during certain hours.

Chances are that I'd say something like 9PM-1AM daily (-5GMT) or something like that.

I'm planning to arrive early too given my timezone difference. It's easier for me to get there the night before as the meet time is 6am for me.

For those not in yet, the Distant Worlds Xbox chat is now live: https://discord.gg/015NWX1vUiMRaVXAI

I'm gonna (hopefully) try something a bit different. It'll probably be suicide, but I don't particularly care...the funds are flowing in and I'm on a mission to fly my arse to Beagle Point in an Orca. I've gone and worked out a build that allows me a bit over 18ly, and I'm hoping I can push that to ~21-22 LY with a Grade 5 FSD mod. That means I'll hopefully be able to do a 40LY jump with an injection. I'm hoping to farm enough materials for at least 20 boosts, with more to come along the trip (I've got a LOT of free time, so I might as well help the Rock Rats with some of that time). The only real problem I may encounter is that it's got very little fuel capacity, and there is a serious lack of scoopable stars in some stretches of the galaxy...but I don't really have anything I'd be willing to sacrifice to put a fuel tank in. I could probably do without my shields, but I like that piece of mind when landing on planets. Plus I'd lose a half a light year jump range while only gaining three more jumps (although 7 is a lot easier to get to a scoopable star with than 4 is). I'm sure fuel won't be too big an issue with all the other players around, but I'd hate to be reliant on others more than absolutely necessary. Anyone have any suggestions that may help (aside from the obvious "don't run an Orca" comments)?

I would like to join but I don't know how much time I can commit. I don't usually get much game time these days.

Tervaskanto said:I'm gonna (hopefully) try something a bit different. It'll probably be suicide, but I don't particularly care...the funds are flowing in and I'm on a mission to fly my arse to Beagle Point in an Orca. I've gone and worked out a build that allows me a bit over 18ly, and I'm hoping I can push that to ~21-22 LY with a Grade 5 FSD mod. That means I'll hopefully be able to do a 40LY jump with an injection. I'm hoping to farm enough materials for at least 20 boosts, with more to come along the trip (I've got a LOT of free time, so I might as well help the Rock Rats with some of that time). The only real problem I may encounter is that it's got very little fuel capacity, and there is a serious lack of scoopable stars in some stretches of the galaxy...but I don't really have anything I'd be willing to sacrifice to put a fuel tank in. I could probably do without my shields, but I like that piece of mind when landing on planets. Plus I'd lose a half a light year jump range while only gaining three more jumps (although 7 is a lot easier to get to a scoopable star with than 4 is). I'm sure fuel won't be too big an issue with all the other players around, but I'd hate to be reliant on others more than absolutely necessary. Anyone have any suggestions that may help (aside from the obvious "don't run an Orca" comments)?What's your current build?

GoinXwell said:What's your current build?https://coriolis.io/outfit/orca/0p0tiFflsdisif4---020202---0...

That's what I've come up with so far. I sacrificed the shields to put in an extra fuel tank, but I don't think I should sacrifice anything else. The top two slots can only be cargo racks or hull boosts, so there's not much else I can do. I decided to forgo the shields in favor of a fuel tank because I think three extra jumps may be the better choice. I've gotten pretty good with planetary landings lately, so I should be able to do them without blowing up, and the shields are fairly ineffective on the Orca anyway.

Honestly, if you plan on planetary landings, I think the attrition to your hull from even slight impacts while landing might be a bigger concern than prolonged module damage given how long we plan on being out. You'd probably be better off losing the AFMU than the shield and be extremely careful while scooping, make sure you don't emergency drop too often, and hope you don't run into any near contact binaries.

Or of course, you could make the trip but give up on taking an SRV.

Or just take your AspX and not deal with these issues.

GoinXwell said:link hidden
Also has several mods including lvl4 FSD range boost. Getting rep for the lvl5 one still

SeraphimNeeded said:Honestly, if you plan on planetary landings, I think the attrition to your hull from even slight impacts while landing might be a bigger concern than prolonged module damage given how long we plan on being out. You'd probably be better off losing the AFMU than the shield and be extremely careful while scooping, make sure you don't emergency drop too often, and hope you don't run into any near contact binaries.

Or of course, you could make the trip but give up on taking an SRV.

Or just take your AspX and not deal with these issues.Adding the shield adds a bunch of other issues though. The shield itself ends up drawing more power than I can manage by disabling things, necessitating a larger power plant. So in addition to the major impact that the mass of the shield has, I'd actually increase the mass further with the weight of the power plant to get the power to run the shields, further decreasing my jump range. On the plus side, I could add a larger fuel tank, giving me 10 jumps, but I don't think it'll be a huge issue either way. Planetary landings are only for jumponium resources when required, and I plan to leave with a bunch to begin with (if I can't grind out at least 20-30 level 3 jumps worth, I likely won't take the chance). Losing the SRV is potentially the best call to shed some further weight though...just not sure I want to actually do that at the moment. If the logistics don't work out in advance though, then the Asp will likely be making the trip. I can always do a dedicated Orca run at a later date just to see if it can be done.

if you are looking into doing this in an Asp - I'd almost recommend scrapping the shield as well. However, landings will take their toll on your ship. Even if you are gentle, expect to take some damage with the low power thrusters you likely have. If you do want to get the good Jumponium on the route - you must have a SRV. You can not collect the resources with your ship. Also - I found most of my 25% jumponium in Pristine Metallic rings - not on planets. The rare stuff you need for the 50% and 100% boosts are only on planets... and very few at that. Finding it without the benefit of having a news article listing its location will be very hit or miss.

I went to Sag A* and back in a DBE with no shield, no AFMU and no SRV (was pre-horizons.) It only had a 24LY jump range. After falling asleep during several jumps my canopy was cracked badly but I made it back to the bubble with ~70% hull. My experience with the Asp E makes me think its more durable (though nowhere near as good with heat management) than the DBE. If you are looking at stuffing the best things into an Asp build, can I suggest:
link hidden

Disable cargo hatch to save power.
Disable AFMU until its needed. Whatever you repair with it will need to be disabled to be repaired.
Disable shield when using AFMU if more power needed or not landing/in bubble.

Power management is fun! Yes I fly combat in a Vulture

Also, be aware that a build this low power will NOT HAVE BOOST!

planting42 said:if you are looking into doing this in an Asp - I'd almost recommend scrapping the shield as well.Why?


https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/0p5tiFfliddsnf52m-----0002020...
Even with a few extra bells and whistles, it still falls into optimal BP trip range. It also still has boost and above optimal mass thrusters (both are better for actual planetary approach, not to mention running from interdictions while leaving and returning to the bubble). This is the ship it currently looks like I'm taking out, although mine has been to the engineers for a few extra LYs.

I haven't checked out the suggested locations yet, however there is a lot of interesting info on materials for jump boosts in this post: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/212600-DISTANT-...

Edit: also worth noting that the next point release of Elite will make materials much more plentiful, and will also tell you what materials are on planets once you scan them.

Edit:
- We will be adjusting the way the surface scanner works to allow you to see what materials are available from any given planet. This should make locating materials far easier.
- In addition we are making a number of changes to the lowest level blueprints. This includes improving the positive effects of low level upgrade results as well as reducing the cost and simplifying the materials needed.
- We’re also increasing the number of units you get for each instance of a material you find. This means instead of getting one unit of a material, you will get multiple units of that material. This will allow you to increase the number of attempts at each Engineer.
- We’ll be increasing the number of materials spawned when surface mining. Again, to make the process easier and the materials easier to gather.
- The likelihood of finding rare materials in these instances will also be increased, meaning it will be easier to use higher level blueprints.
- And we will be reviewing the balance and locations of non-planet salvage and reviewing the possible USS locations for each material

Knowing my luck, this point release will happen the day before we leave and I don't have time to try and re-roll everything.

It will at the least mean that picking up boost or repair materials from planets as we travel will be much easier.