How to cross VOIDS in Oolite!

[Switeck]

Thanks to the equipment add-ons (OXPs and OXZs) that refuel the player's ship or make jumps for them, it is possible to cross even relatively large voids using multiple mis-jumps.
While each jump or misjump is less than 7 light-years, doing 2 or more can "saw" your way towards a target system across a void.

Void-crossing misjumping hints:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... 64#p128864

Void-crossing route discovered at mid-bottom of Galaxy Chart 1...


Void-crossing routes discovered at bottom-right Galaxy Chart 2...


Void-crossing routes discovered in top right of Galaxy Chart 3...


Void-crossing route discovered at middle-bottom of Galaxy Chart 6...


Travel Routes across the Great Rift in Galaxy Chart 7...


Additional void-crossing route discovered in Galaxy Chart 7...


Void-crossing routes to Oresrati at bottom-left of Galaxy Chart 8!


I leave it as an exercise for other players on how to reach each of them!

[Cody]

Perhaps I should change your username to Voidhawk.

[Cholmondely]

Thanks to the equipment add-ons (OXPs and OXZs) that refuel the player's ship or make jumps for them, it is possible to cross even relatively large voids using multiple mis-jumps.
While each jump or misjump is less than 7 light-years, doing 2 or more can "saw" your way towards a target system across a void.

Switeck - what do you wish to do with this information?

We could do nothing and keep it a secret (which seems to have been the modus operandi to date - lots of coy hints (just as for trumble infestations...)

We could add it to the relevant galaxy pages in the wiki.

We could add it to the Geography page.

We could add it to the Hints.oxp

etc. etc.

What appeals to you?

[Switeck]

Do nothing for now...I've already posted the pictures here.

I'd prefer these pictures stay little-known until someone else discovers the routes.

Keep in mind that I didn't discover at least 2 of the routes across the Great Rift in Galaxy Chart 7 -- they are what initially inspired me to look for OTHER such routes!
The initial Great Rift routes might even predate Oolite itself, assuming earlier Elite clones had NPC ships making wormholes you could use.
Thus my 'Galactic Navy briefing' short story:
"Crossing the Great Rift in Galaxy Chart 7 to reach the large cut-off region has for a very long time been an open secret used by large trading corporations, the military, ...and smugglers from what I've heard."

Big Red Arrow paths poorly-drawn using Microsoft Paint on Galactic Charts is hardly more than "coy hints" for these routes.
What these red arrows tell is these routes are possible.

(Incidentally copying-and-pasting multiple screenshots of the Galactic Chart together and cropping the unimportant edges off to make a bigger map was quite hard.
That's why I want a more expensive full screen map option in-game -- the current one can barely have a 7 Light-Year range circle completely on the screen at 1080p resolution!)

These routes won't remain secrets...

This is how fast revealing a new route goes to becoming "commonplace":
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... 25#p128025
I should've made a new message thread on the subject!
You only get to make a discovery that large maybe once.

[Cody]

I didn't discover at least 2 of the routes across the Great Rift in Galaxy Chart 7

I think it was Eric "The Navigator" Walch who first put me onto those routes.

... they are what initially inspired me to look for OTHER such routes!

Yep!

[Cholmondely]

I suppose that it all depends on the Thargoid infestations. If they are aware/learn that people are using these routes, the numbers present might increase if clobbering such people is part of their overall strategy.

That would then presumably lead to a conquest of these outlying regions unless HIMSN/GN etc. is there in force to stop it.

[Cody]

... the numbers present might increase if clobbering such people is part of their overall strategy.

I think the number of warships at midway increased some years ago (cim era). By increased, I mean they now keep coming.

[Switeck]

For no-OXP Oolite, it's been 1d4+1 Thargoid Warships in Interstellar Space for a very long time.

[Cholmondely]

For no-OXP Oolite, it's been 1d4+1 Thargoid Warships in Interstellar Space for a very long time.

Certainly. But on the super-Switeck routes... !

And if one is bringing in as cargo Galactic Hyperspace modules, one would expect to make a veritable killing (if the Thargoids don't kill you first!)!

[Switeck]

I've already had that discussion on this forum -- beyond the first interstellar space misjump, there's vanishingly low chances of running across Thargoids.
You are no longer on a route between 2 systems, you've veered off into the weeds!

Even the Dark Wheel Elite canon short novel talks about how the chances of a Thargoid encounter for a non-standard misjump (1/10th a light-year in his case) is nearly 0.

I have an OXP that removes extreme interstellar space Thargoids, because really...they're annoying when I'm testing misjump routes!
(I haven't released that partly because it's part of my unfinished Null Gates project.)

I long ago edited Galactic Navy to have low odds of interstellar battles. They may happen behind-the-scenes, but you're not likely to see one!

[Cody]

... beyond the first interstellar space misjump, there's vanishingly low chances of running across Thargoids.

Curious - perhaps I'm misunderstanding something. Misjump to midway; misjump out of midway; misjump out again; rinse and repeat - right?

[Cholmondely]

I've already had that discussion on this forum -- beyond the first interstellar space misjump, there's vanishingly low chances of running across Thargoids.
You are no longer on a route between 2 systems, you've veered off into the weeds!

Even the Dark Wheel Elite canon short novel talks about how the chances of a Thargoid encounter for a non-standard misjump (1/10th a light-year in his case) is nearly 0.

I have an OXP that removes extreme interstellar space Thargoids, because really...they're annoying when I'm testing misjump routes!
(I haven't released that partly because it's part of my unfinished Null Gates project.)

I long ago edited Galactic Navy to have low odds of interstellar battles. They may happen behind-the-scenes, but you're not likely to see one!

But if they know that this is a route being commonly used by lots of people, they may well decide to put in an appearance, no? Just to keep you company and talk to you... and stop you from getting too lonely!

[Switeck]

A route being commonly used by lots of people implies lots of people using the route separately, not many together in a clump.

A convoy of freighters or military ships is needed to do more than a couple short misjumps, so the Thargoids will need a much-bigger ambush group to be effective.
Each additional misjump in a series typically requires another ship (or equipment to refuel/other means of creating wormholes)...so 10 long (4+ LY) misjumps in a row would take a convoy of 10+ ships (for redundancy) to get there.

My premise: Thargoids can't be everywhere.

Even 3 "standard" misjumps in a row using different systems each time can end up a lot of places in the void.

... beyond the first interstellar space misjump, there's vanishingly low chances of running across Thargoids.

Curious - perhaps I'm misunderstanding something. Misjump to midway; misjump out of midway; misjump out again; rinse and repeat - right?

Even if the only misjumps done are the normal "midway" kind...
Say there's 4 nearby systems arranged in a perfect square, 4 Light-Years on a side...and reading from left-to-right top-to-bottom number 1 and 2 are at top and 3 and 4 are at bottom.
And there's Thargoids waiting in ambush along the lines from 1 to 2, 1 to 3, 2 to 4, and 3 to 4.

Misjump from 1 to 2 and you're at the top middle of the square and along the line from 1 to 2, so Thargoids are there waiting in ambush when you arrive.
Misjumping again towards either 1 OR 2 leaves you on that line between 1 and 2...that entire line could be viewed as the hyperspace tunnel between 1 and 2, and maybe Thargoids can magically pull themselves to you as long you stay on that line.

But if after misjumping from 1 to 2 you misjump to 3...you're not on a line between any of the 4 systems, not even a diagonal line running from 1 to 4 or 2 to 3.
Thargoids could follow you, either by using your wormhole or making a jump of their own for the exact same distance along the exact same route...but that would mean abandoning their ambush spots on the main lines between the 4 systems.

Misjumping doesn't have to be symmetrical like regular jumps.
This tends to happen when the total distance isn't evenly divisible by 0.4 Light-Years.
So 2 systems 1.2 LY apart would likely have a misjump that's 0.4 LY from one direction and 0.8 LY from the other...or 0.4 LY from both directions!

Using the 4-system square example again...
The diagonal lines from 1 to 4 and 2 to 3 are both less than 7 Light-Years.
The distance from 1 to 4 is the same distance as 4 to 1, so there is symmetry there.
But the misjump from 1 to 4 could end up in a slightly different location than the misjump from 4 to 1...despite supposedly being "halfway" both times along the same diagonal line between 1 and 4!

The locations that can be reached as well as time taken to do it gets even more complex when using non-standard misjumps that can be any percentage of the total distance.

[Cody]

O-kay... I think I get it. So simply shuffling along the line between A and B would have Thargoids at every misjump... yes?

[Switeck]

My Interstellar Thargoid Remover OXP removes Thargoids if the previous location before misjumping was interstellar space OR if the misjump was not the standard halfway one.

The Thargoids are lazy...and Galactic Navy ships are usually too few to scare them off from their standard ambush locations.