Almost lost in the mountains! Exobiologist dangers...

[JohannStrauss]

Looking for FunGoida on a planet 9000 LY from the bubble. Landed the Anaconda in a Crater. Perhaps the only landable place on the entire planet.
I got the first Genetic Sample quickly. Then I made the mistake going deeper into the mountains....First with the SRV, then by foot.
Suddenly I was lost. I surely made it back to my SRV. By then the Ship was gone.
Now being in the middle of the mountains. 4000 Meters high, brutal ridges.
Calling the ship back was no use because it had no place to land.
2 Hours of driving. Checking the Planet in the system menu. It was brutal going by degrees...240 degrees was the goal to reach a crater so my ship could land.
But I couldn't get there because the mountains were too steep to cross with the SRV.
Fear. More fear. Panic.
MY SRV fell down 500 meter cliffs. Multiple premium repairs.
Literally rolling down mountains to get out of this hell of a Mountain range..5000 Meter peaks.
Finally a flat space. Could the Conda fit? No.
20 Minutes later: next place, no again.
Finally it did find a place. Miracle. By inches.
I sat in my captains seat, started the engines and flew across the mountains. I saw that I was off by 20 degrees which means I would have never found the crater again.

Let me set a beacon on the place I landed my ship. This experience was hell.

I totally loved it.

 

[nemolomen]

I had a similar experience once. I had parked my ship at the local large planetary port, got in my SRV, and traveled out to a mountain in the distance, got out to take some screenshots, and that's when the trouble started...

I slid all the way down the hill, in complete darkness...had to use my suit to get back up to the SRV since the grade was way too steep. It took several tries and a lot of luck to get back to where the SRV was. I would have recorded it but, I was panicking...

What was going through my mind while I was panicking?...

• Can I recall my ship on foot?
• Can I recall my ship if it is docked at the planetary port?
• I'm never going to make it back to the port without the SRV.
• Wow! This terrain is very steep. I keep falling back down.
• How much power do I have in my suit?
• Wow, the vertigo I feel while climbing these mountains is very realistic. My stomach is flipping.
• Oh, I'm never going to make it back to the SRV.
• Jump, booooooooost...fall...boooooost...fall....booooooost...fall...booooost...
• Oh, I made it. I'm at the top of the hill. I can see the SRV...two more hilltops away....down/up/down/up
• How much power do I have left. I still have the two spare power cells. Oxygen is OK.
• Oh, the vertigo....
• Whew, I made it back to the SRV...don't fall again...

It was all very exciting...

Then, about 5 minutes after I got back in the SRV and left that hill, I was jumping a ravine, but my SRV integrity was below 50% and it exploded on landing.

It was awesome!

Exploration is some of the most dangerous activity in the game, its like Jedi training, against yourself...

 

[Schmack]

My exploration will be done in a small ship to avoid the problem of finding suitable landing places. I can stir up my own mischief by doing reckless things.

 

[JohannStrauss]

My exploration will be done in a small ship to avoid the problem of finding suitable landing places. I can stir up my own mischief by doing reckless things.

I took nemolomen's advice and pull my carrier all the way from the bubble to my current location. Since I just started 3 days ago I am not far out of reach. Such a good idea to use the carrier just as a safe Haven. I can pull it every 5000 LY to my current Anaconda position. I have several small ships on it, my phythons, my record anaconda with over 100 LY jump cap, my Corvette, Beluga liner, my Max-Cutter miner - al my premium maxed out ships. I think it could be fun. Also: selling tritium at Colonia for 550% premium...

 

[Schmack]

I took nemolomen's advice and pull my carrier all the way from the bubble to my current location. Since I just started 3 days ago I am not far out of reach. Such a good idea to use the carrier just as a safe Haven. I can pull it every 5000 LY to my current Anaconda position. I have several small ships on it, my phythons, my record anaconda with over 100 LY jump cap, my Corvette, Beluga liner, my Max-Cutter miner - al my premium maxed out ships. I think it could be fun. Also: selling tritium at Colonia for 550% premium...

You've hit the ground running, didn't miss a beat. Kudos to you.

 

[JohannStrauss]

I had a similar experience once. I had parked my ship at the local large planetary port, got in my SRV, and traveled out to a mountain in the distance, got out to take some screenshots, and that's when the trouble started...

I slid all the way down the hill, in complete darkness...had to use my suit to get back up to the SRV since the grade was way too steep. It took several tries and a lot of luck to get back to where the SRV was. I would have recorded it but, I was panicking...

What was going through my mind while I was panicking?...

• Can I recall my ship on foot?
• Can I recall my ship if it is docked at the planetary port?
• I'm never going to make it back to the port without the SRV.
• Wow! This terrain is very steep. I keep falling back down.
• How much power do I have in my suit?
• Wow, the vertigo I feel while climbing these mountains is very realistic. My stomach is flipping.
• Oh, I'm never going to make it back to the SRV.
• Jump, booooooooost...fall...boooooost...fall....booooooost...fall...booooost...
• Oh, I made it. I'm at the top of the hill. I can see the SRV...two more hilltops away....down/up/down/up
• How much power do I have left. I still have the two spare power cells. Oxygen is OK.
• Oh, the vertigo....
• Whew, I made it back to the SRV...don't fall again...

It was all very exciting...

Then, about 5 minutes after I got back in the SRV and left that hill, I was jumping a ravine, but my SRV integrity was below 50% and it exploded on landing.

It was awesome!

Exploration is some of the most dangerous activity in the game, its like Jedi training, against yourself...

What a story! I was afraid of losing my exploration data in the mountains. I would have respawned in my Anaconda...but what about the genetic probes I already collected? Should be around 300 Mio. Already. I could not risk it.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Yeah, that's why the Exploraconda is actually a bad idea . And that's why I explore in a Dolphin. Being able to scoop while charging the FSD and landing on a stamp are just two of its perks .

Having said that: Those kind of trips are the best, because you came out on top and will remember it. My closest call on an exploration / exobiology trip was when I fell into a ravine while on foot and couldn't get out. Didn't have enough boost in the jetpack, and I was close to running out of O2 and battery when I finally got out after walking for kilometers at the bottom of a series of rifts until I found a slope I could get up on. Waiting for the ship to drop in and finding a spot to land while all my HUD elements were blinking red was really painful.

 

[K Olley]

My exploration will be done in a small ship to avoid the problem of finding suitable landing places. I can stir up my own mischief by doing reckless things.

l do most of mine in an Asp, but when it gets tight I have both a Sidewinder and a haulier equipped and ready in my carrier.

 

[D34M0N]

Looking for FunGoida on a planet 9000 LY from the bubble. Landed the Anaconda in a Crater. Perhaps the only landable place on the entire planet.
I got the first Genetic Sample quickly. Then I made the mistake going deeper into the mountains....First with the SRV, then by foot.
Suddenly I was lost. I surely made it back to my SRV. By then the Ship was gone.
Now being in the middle of the mountains. 4000 Meters high, brutal ridges.
Calling the ship back was no use because it had no place to land.
2 Hours of driving. Checking the Planet in the system menu. It was brutal going by degrees...240 degrees was the goal to reach a crater so my ship could land.
But I couldn't get there because the mountains were too steep to cross with the SRV.
Fear. More fear. Panic.
MY SRV fell down 500 meter cliffs. Multiple premium repairs.
Literally rolling down mountains to get out of this hell of a Mountain range..5000 Meter peaks.
Finally a flat space. Could the Conda fit? No.
20 Minutes later: next place, no again.
Finally it did find a place. Miracle. By inches.
I sat in my captains seat, started the engines and flew across the mountains. I saw that I was off by 20 degrees which means I would have never found the crater again.

I totally loved it.

What happened when you recalled your ship while in the mountains? If there's no place to land, the ship should hover in place. Than you can position yourself underneath it and get hoisted up to your ship.
That is what happened to me one time when I was in a similar situation.

 

[Pville_Piper]

What happened when you recalled your ship while in the mountains? If there's no place to land, the ship should hover in place. Than you can position yourself underneath it and get hoisted up to your ship.
That is what happened to me one time when I was in a similar situation.

It can be hard to see, but the ship will hover over the ground and the blue boarding circle will be below it, you can board from there...

 

[HRDiagram]

Going Exobiology? Go Hauler!

 

[Pville_Piper]

In the early days of Horizons I used to roam the planets looking for wreck sites and loose cargo, it was my main source of income. One time I found 11 cargo containers full of gold... After getting about half, the game crashed and they were gone! Upset I was!

Anyway, I landed on a large plain and worked my way to the mountains in the distance. I climbed up them, they were quite rugged and a challenge to get to the top. I took in the view, and decided to call in the ship. I wasn't sure if it could land or not, but I didn't feel like going back down to the plain.

The FAS came in and hovered over a depression between 2 peaks just below me... I was going to send it off and see if I could find a better spot but I decided to see if I could get aboard.

I quickly found that the ship was too high for me to boost straight up to the cargo hatch so I tried getting a run shot... On about the third attempt I almost made it... But overshot the hill and found myself looking at a very LOOOOOONG way down!

It took everything I had to get to the bottom, bouncing off the side of the mountain, keeping the SRV upright, picking my next impact point, almost landing half way down! I had to repair a couple of times along the way, I ended up about 4km away from the peak, shot across the plain a fair distance and rolled a couple of times times at the bottom before coming to rest with just a few percent hull... I actually had to regain my composure for a minute as I was breathing quite hard, the adrenaline was flowing... I regained my composure, repaired the SRV again and called in my ship.

What an adventure! I miss those days, not much of a reason to drive around planets anymore.

 

[Martyn W]

What happened when you recalled your ship while in the mountains? If there's no place to land, the ship should hover in place. Than you can position yourself underneath it and get hoisted up to your ship.
That is what happened to me one time when I was in a similar situation.

Yes, this is a thing. Happened to me a few times.

 

[midnight void]

for such situations you can also use stuck recovery function from main menu

but overall yes, for exobiology small ships fit better

 

[Jokerman]

Great tale OP, really captures the essence of what planetary exploration is! Planets generally need a 'variety' bump and there are some out there which are exceptional.
S!

 

[OutofSpace]

I personally would never take an Anaconda for planetary exploration. Even a DBX can be hard to land out there on the very rocky bodies.