Warp by Numbers

In the last part, I figured out how many jumps an EVE pilot (aka Capsuleer) would need to visit all 5201 reachable systems of New Eden. After my Python script, in its best of about 100,000 test runs, spit out the magic number of 7825 jumps, the question naturally arises of how much time our pilot would need to spend in the cockpit for this.

The warp gates in EVE are at varying distances from each other depending on the system. Additionally, the duration of travel from one warp gate to the next within the same system depends on two factors: the warp speed and the so-called align-time, which is the time a ship needs to accelerate from standstill to warp speed. For warp speed, there are formulas that can calculate travel duration based on distance, considering acceleration and deceleration. The time for transitioning between two systems in EVE, however, is rather technically determined and can fluctuate somewhat depending on server load.

An Average Journey #

One could calculate the correct travel time for each of the 7825 jumps. However, I decide on an empirical approach: I pick a suitable star system and measure the time it takes for travel from one gate to the next. The distance between the two gates should be as average as possible.

The 5701 systems are connected by 13794 warp gates. Within the systems, there are a total of 14610 gate pairs. The distances can be quickly calculated with your script. The output in kilometers and converted to AU:

With these values, I search through all connection pairs again to find the “most average” connection. Since I don’t want to put our test pilot at risk, I do this not only across all systems overall, but also just in the High-Sec area.

Off to Rauntaka #

Looks like the Caldari system Rauntaka in Lonetrek is an ideal candidate for a few test flights. With about 28 AU between the gates to Otalieto and Atai, it’s pretty much exactly in the middle. For the ship, I choose a Heron, an inexpensive frigate that’s very well suited for exploration (plus I had one docked nearby). Compared to the Astero, with which Katia Sae likely completed her journey, it’s slightly slower in align-time but also warps at 5 AU/s.

The Heron with 340 m/s subwarp speed and 5 AU/s warp speed covers 28 AU in 23.59 seconds. Before that, it still needs 4.55 seconds to enter warp. So it would theoretically need 28.14 seconds. We give the Capsuleer a bit of time to select the correct gate after arriving in the system and initiate the jump, and round up to 30 seconds. Then there’s just the system jump itself. The time for this can’t be calculated, only determined empirically. So into the cockpit, time for a few test jumps!

In my test flights, I logged about 42 seconds for the 28 AU between the gates to Otalieto and Atai. Multiplied by 7825, that’s about 91 hours and 18 minutes. At an average playtime of 6.25 hours per week, the journey should take about 4 months to complete. Assuming you don’t get stuck in a gate camp, don’t get caught in a Warp Disruptor Bubble, don’t fly through a system where time stands still, and can click on the next warp gate every 42 seconds for over 90 hours while maintaining your sanity.

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