Today I took a couple of spins around the galaxy in my fully Borg Assault Cruiser. It was the first time I had tried the tour of the universe, it was a lot of fun. I manually piloted the hairpin turns which was probably not the best way to do it. But I still made two full laps quite easily, and almost made the third. I have been told that you can do 4 with a perfect run so I am sure there is room for improvement. Why do this you ask? For the profits of course! 🙂
How to start the event
The tour can only be started during the event so I would suggest to get in place right before the event starts. You have to go to Earth space dock. Once you beam in you need to go to club 47 and find Captain Yim. He is standing just to the left on the upper rail. When I did it, there was a crowd of people making him a bit hard to see. He has a mission for you call Tour the Galaxy. He explains what you must do, and off you go. Your object is to go to every sector in space except the three Klingon sectors. I haven’t tried this on a low level character but to get the maximum possible reward you have to be at least rear admiral as you need to use the Gamma Orionis.
Rewards for completing the tour
You can complete the mission multiple times in the hour. Each completion is referred to as a lap. The rewards for each lap are:
- 350,000 Energy Credits
- 400 Exploration XP
- 330 Trade XP
- 40 Recruitment XP
- 30 Development XP
Now if you don’t complete a full lap or if you complete some extra blocks, the reward per block is 50,000 energy credits, 50 exploration xp, and 40 trade xp. Yes, you can earn over 1 million energy credits in an hour doing the universe tour.
How I did the universe tour
Okay, I admit it. I did this one blind, no research, asking advice, or anything else. Just hop in my ship and go. My route was pretty simple at least i though it was. I opened my map and planned my route. It is probably not the optimal route but It allowed me to make almost 750,000 energy credits in that hour so I was not too upset with it.
When I left space dock, I warped to sector space and headed towards Risa sector. Once there it completed the Sirius block and I started my first turn, headed towards Kassae sector. In Kassae sector I took my second turn and headed towards Argelius sector. Once I reached Argelius that completed the Regulus block.
I made the decision to cross back into the Vulcan sector so that when I went into a Alpha Centauri block it was a straight shot north on the map. I passed through the Teneebia sector on my way to Bolarus sector. To complete Iota Pavonis block requires a hair pin turn. I headed north until I just barely crossed into Z-6 sector, then started the turn. The turn picked up the Taroo and Devron sectors. Which completed the Iota Pavonis Block.
Continuing south into the Alpha Centauri block put me in Sierra sector. That only left Vendor and I quickly rushed through it completing the Alpha Centauri Block on my way to Psi Velorum.
Psi Velorum block was a straight shot, I confess I used the autopilot to Pi Canis block which picked up Hyralan, Onias, and Mylasa all without my input. Isn’t modern technology great? Anyways, it was really quick and completed Psi Velorum.
Arriving in Mempa sector, I realized that I could do basically the same thing as Psi Velorum. The only change was the destination which was Eta Eridani block and so I called on the trust autopilot which picked up Hromi and Xarantine to complete Pi Canis.
Looking at my map I realized that I had to make a decision about which way to go from here. I was in Archanis and it is a bit complicated to pick up the Orellius block and Gamma Orionis. I chose to try to use the autopilot as much as possible. So to make a long story short, I set the autopilot for the Orellius block and let it pick up Donatu and Aldebaren to complete Eta Eridani.
Orellius block is a toughy, it is only two sectors but both entrances are in Deferi, so the make it work you have to go towards Raveh sector. When you cross the sector line it completes the Orellius block and I set the autopilot for Beta Ursae.
Entering the Cardassia sector, I set the autopilot for Zeta Andromedae block. Zeta Andromedae has another hairpin turn. I set the autopilot to Arawath and when I crossed into Arawath sector I made the turn through Vanden and Orias completing Zeta Andromedae block. At this point I was getting close, so I set the autopilot for Alpha Trianguli.
The rough spot
I opened my map and realized I missed two sectors in Beta Ursae, Bajor and Kalandra. To make it up required a sloppy route, but thats what I ended up with this time. First, I went to Trivas, then turned north towards deep space 9. This picked up Almatha sector. Once I crossed into Bajor sector I headed to Kalandra. Kalandra completed the Beta Ursae block. I went towards Minas Korva and when I crossed into Dorvan sector it completed the Alpha Trianguli block. I set the autopilot for Sirius block.
Once I was in Risa Sector I set the autopilot for the transwarp conduit to Gamma Orionis. Jumping through the conduit puts you in Cestus sector and I went south into Bellatrix. Once there I set the autopilot to NGC-4447, which picked up Galdonterre. Setting the autopilot for the last time I chose Pelia sector which picked up Mutara completing Gamma Orionis.
The end of lap one
Arriving in Pelia, I used my transwarp to Sol system to return to Earth space dock. I turned in the mission. And started lap two. All in all, I really enjoyed the trip and using my Playstation 3 controller made the turns a lot easier. I am thinking about doing a write up on how to use that controller with the game, it’s not as easy as it sounds but I prefer the PS3 controller to the xbox one. So look for that in the future.
How you can help
I am sure everyone would like an optimal route and setup. I can already see a few things like using the assimilated Borg engines, duty officers with the transwarp cooldown ability, and probably the driver coil skill as helping to speed you along. Any other help would be appreciated. So, leave a comment and help out your fellow STO players.