WP11: Luna's Shadow
08 Apr 2019J.Bauer
After a full system reset, all systems are at 100% and functional. The power plant was the only essential system we didn't reboot because there's always the chance it won't turn back on. Getting stuck 37k Ly from home without a way to restart is a bad idea.With repairs complete we've started the longest part of our expedition thus far. Waypoint 11: Luna's Shadow lies 14,500 Ly away from waypoint 10. The journey is expected to take two weeks to complete. It will take us across Izanami and Newton's Vault; into the Formorian Frontier. The navigation computer calculated a route of 358 jumps to Smootoae QY-S d3-202. We're scheduled to arrive on April 19th at location 3A, Coordinates: -68.4811 / 64.2183.
For those who are unfamiliar, coordinate locating on distant worlds is similar to that on Earth. Each planet has a given latitude and longitude. Latitude measures degrees from the planet's equator with positive values toward the north, and negative ones to the south pole. The value ranges from -90 to 90 degrees. Longitude measures the angle "around" a planet with an arbitrary reference point starting at 0. On Earth this reference point is the Prime meridian. Longitude is measured from -180 to +180 degrees along the east/west reference of a planet.
Landing on a particular set of coordinates means maintaining the correct heading. Your heading is the direction your ship is facing with reference to the northern pole. That is, facing directly north represents a heading of 0 degrees. A heading of 180 degrees is facing directly south, and a heading of 90 and 270 represent a ship facing east and west accordingly.
Knowing your current coordinates and destination coordinates will help you figure out what heading you need to take. If for example, you're at 30, -60. You are thirty degrees north of the equator, and 60 degrees west of the prime meridian. If you wanted to head to 0, -30, you would want to head south east to get to your destination. Since 180 represents south, and 90 represents east, you would want to travel between those angles to head southeast. Your ideal angle would split the difference at 135 degrees.
As I had said, the entire journey is approximately 350 jumps. As we've traveled further from the core, the density of stars has dropped. This has meant the navigation computer has had to compensate by taking slightly shorter jumps to find a way forward. This started in Newton's Vault as we attempted to cross the Styx, a short gap between the Norma and Scutum-Centarus arms. What is typically a relatively straight route has become somewhat more jagged. We've experienced jumps as short as 31Ly on a range of about 43Ly.
What worries me is that this problem will be a hundred times worse when we enter the Abyss. I suspect that Distant Worlds II leadership will make specific route recommendations for Commanders then. Make a note to mine for additional jumponium materials once we enter Masefield's Ocean in the Scutum-Centarus arm.