I'm going to share with you today my RF route, for those who wish to compete but not study every second of my run videos to see where I go (aside from the mistakes I make kek). zyxophoj suggested doing Tayla and Goodins when you reach Edom and Perry during Masterson's missions, but I counted out the jumps and it ends up the same, so there's probably no time difference.

grind 1.5mil credits xxn-1927 -> oxford oxford -> xxn-1927 -> new constantinople (edom) new constantinople -> xxn-1927 -> oxford patrol oxford oxford -> xxn-1927 -> 119ce -> junction (burton) junction -> 119ce -> xxn-1927 -> oxford excort ship (5mins of wasted time) oxford -> saxtogne -> new detroit -> perry (base) perry -> nitir (defend nitir) -> perry (base) perry -> surtur -> charlie -> hyades (defend charon) -> charlie -> surtur -> perry perry -> tingerhoff -> nexus -> capella -> crab-12 -> new caledonia (patrol kilrathi) new caledonia -> crab-12 -> capella -> nexus -> tingerhoff -> perry (base) perry -> tingerhoff -> nexus -> capella -> sherwood -> regallis (patrol kilrathi) -> troy troy -> pender's star -> junction -> new constantinople (edom) new constantinople -> 44-p-1m (patrol) -> new constantinople new constantinople -> newcastle (liverpool) newcastle -> new constantinople (edom) new constantinople -> new detroit (new detroit) new detroit -> new constaninople (edom) new constantinople -> newcastle -> metsor (patrol and destroy) -> xxn-1927 -> oxford oxford -> xxn-1927 -> 119ce -> junction -> nexus (macabee) nexus -> tingerhoff -> perry -> new detroit new detroit -> perry -> tingerhoff -> nexus -> capella (drake) capella -> nexus -> tingerhoff -> perry -> new detroit new detroit -> perry -> tingerhoff -> nexus (nav 4 kill retros) -> tingerhoff -> perry -> new detroit new detroit -> new constantinople -> junction -> pender's star -> troy (achillies) troy -> regallis (nav 1) -> freyja -> regallis -> troy (achillies) troy -> pender's star -> junction -> new constantinople -> new detroit -> perry (base) perry -> ragnarok -> alpha (patrol points, kill at nav 4 and defend at nav 5) -> ragnarok -> perry (base) perry -> tingerhoff -> nexus -> junction -> pender's star -> troy (refuel) troy -> war -> pestilence -> death -> famine -> capella (drake) capella -> nexus -> tingerhoff -> perry -> new detroit (land restock) -> rikel -> eden (gaea) eden -> fly to moon -> kill Jones -> win game

Nice.

So... why was I wrong? (or at least, not right.) It looks like the issue here is that you do not need to go back to Sandra Goodin after mission 4 to hear her say "well done", so the first batch of navy missions ends in Regallis. And then it's faster to go to New Constantinople from there (4 jumps) than to Oxford (6 jumps).

I am now thinking of doing the first 3 Lynn Murphy missions when Masterson sends you to Edom, and doing the last one on the way back from Regallis. This might save as much as 5 seconds from minimising the number of times we have to land and launch at Edom :D :D

Anyway, I do appreciate you doing all the work figuring this stuff out. I haven't had much time to play the game recently., but that will change soon, and I'll definitely have a go at speedrunning RF.

I think that you end up sorta reordering the jumps rather than actually cutting them, but I didn't consider the return after Lynn 3 so maybe.

Anyway, there are still time saves available, even if just in doing combat better. I used missiles on the way to Troy for the Armageddon run, which cost time. Maybe keeping 6-10 missiles on that mission you can skip landing on the way to Gaea, which would save some good time.

Handling Menesch is a little interesting, though. You don't have to kill the guys with him in Freyja, but you want to get back to Troy ASAP. At Regallis Nav 1 a second wave of enemies will come in, so if you kill them near the nav point you'll have to fight more. Do you just afterburn to the base in Regallis to despawn everything, or lure the ships far enough away that the second wave won't stop autopilot when you kill the first wave? Or is there another, better option? Go through Freyja to the next system linked to Troy to get back?