I've been doing some black hole hopping through Eissentam lately and I recently read about some people trying to make it easier to navigate using black holes to reach the centre of the galaxy. The Black Hole Suns is one group that is mapping black holes and building a database and tools to help others.
Black holes always move you closer to the centre of the galaxy, but do they move you in a particular direction? Clockwise for example? I have completed the Atlas quest and can see all black holes on my galactic map so I decided to explore the black holes near my bases in more detail and see what I can learn.
Itchecat Sector
Cool name huh? "Hi, I live in the Itchy Cat Sector of Eissentam." This area is around 688,000 LY from the centre. I've found a lot of exotic planets here, a lot of planets with high sentinel activity, some ok paradise planets but no perfect paradise planets (green grass, blue water and sky, habitable temperatures, few storms, no sentinels). I've also noticed most red star systems seem to be uncharted, whereas blue and green systems are mostly populated.
Anyways, back to the black hole in Itchecat Sector:
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| Tochurs Yem: 688,629 LY from Centre |
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| Keviann: 681,990 LY from Centre |
Distance travelled towards Centre: 6639 LY
The black hole in Tochurs Yem transported me to Keviann in the Zaurgam Boundary region of Eissentam. Technically, it is closer to the centre of the galaxy, but if Itchecat Sector is "north" of the galactic core on the map, the Zaurgam Boundary is more "east".
Usnerer
Usnerer is nearby and slightly "north" to Itchecat Sector and I have a few bases here too, located about 689,000 LY from the centre.
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| Zuoheko-Neo: 688,874 LY from Centre |
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| Hegoni-Riiat XIV: 683,079 LY from Centre |
Distance travelled towards Centre: 5795 LY
The black hole in Usnerer at Zuoheko-Neo transported me "west" to the outer spiral arm of the Eissantam galaxy, to Hegoni-Riiat XIV in the Yicurret Anomaly region. This looks like a good place to explore the outskirts of the galaxy, perhaps even visit "The Fade". Maybe I'll build an exploration outpost base out here.
Dosonbu Void
After black hole hopping a bit, I settled on a star system in Dosonbu Void, which is about 655,000 LY from the Centre and at least 30,000 LY away from most of my other bases (thank goodness for portals!). I found a lovely paradise planet with blue seas, green grass, pink skies, glow-in-the-dark plants ... and frequent storms and sentinel "inspections".
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| Savyuc: 654,750 LY from Centre |
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| Sesakaic XI: 649,169 LY from Centre |
Distance travelled towards Centre: 5581 LY
The black hole in Savyuc system seems to have exited in the same approximate area of the galactic map, at Sesakaic XI in the Nephitho Mass region. I guess rather than moving in an X or Y direction, the black hole moved in a Z direction, like moving from behind the page to in front of the page, a good reminder of the 3-dimensional nature of the galaxy.
Lessons
I learnt a couple of things from black hole hopping near "home". First, there is only one black hole per region. Second, black holes do not travel in a predictable direction - I kind of expected that black holes would spiral in towards the centre following along the arms but it would be really cool to find a black hole that jumped from a distant arm to a closer arm. Instead, they can travel left or right, up or down, back or forward, as long as they end up closer to the Centre than they started. Lastly, I found it fairly easy to repair my ship after jumping, as long as I had some wiring looms, tritium and stellar metals available. The black hole usually leaves you near the space station so you can probably buy whatever you need there if necessary.
Exploring the galaxy via black holes is fun but also reminds you how big the galaxy is and how much more there is to see. Keep travelling.
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