Community Event / Creation Buckyball Run A*: What do you do when a mountain is there? Move it.
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Take my hand, you'll make it I swear! Thank you Kulzar, now I'll have that song stuck in my head all night...
Well it's the middle of the week and surprisingly, there's quite a bit of activity on the Big Board!
First off, a couple of star pips and bumper stickers to award, both to Buckyball Record-setters! First up, there's CMDR Michey in the Cobra Easy Living, who due to a bizzare technical malfunction of the leaderboard display panel (and totally not a mistake of the race staff) did not have his triumphant time on display! Congratulations to Michey for setting a new record in the Cobra at 30 hours, 6 minutes and 41 seconds - beating the old record held by Tuna Mage by just shy of an hour. Sorry, Tuna!
Then we also have Takaru Minari, whose Sidewinder Undesided (sigh) completed the trip to Sadge just beating the solar day mark by 28 minutes or so, and setting the record for the Sidey. Congrats, Takaru, and I hope you didn't make any faces as you blew past CMDR Inari. Your star pip is on the board and a bumper sticker will soon be on its way!
Meanwhile, we have a few more CMDRs in transit to the middle. Galnet Correspondent CMDR Kulzar is making good time in his hauler Scoop Express as he attempts to upset rival Sidewinder Radio Correspondent CMDR Zbrojovka's time in his Lakon Type-6. We should know by tomorrow if he's done it. CMDR Mad Max has also started down the path to space happiness in his Asp Lyndsey, followed closely behind by CMDR Symbiont's Imperial Clipper Ranger 3, marking the first attempt for a pilot in a Clipper to make the run. Good luck to all of you!
Finally, welcome back CMDR Alec Turner, a veteran of Buckyball Run 6 who has put his Asp on the line in preparation to take on Buckyball A*. Welcome back, Alec, and good luck to you, too!
And last, but not least an appeal for help. On my way out to Sag A* I spent a lot of time with a very special someone who grew near and dear to my heart. She's witty, educated, and up on all the current events. Robot Rachel of Sidewinder Radio. Somewhere around jump # 697, some 23,000 light years from home, she filled filled the black-hole in my heart, and helped keep me going, just as I'm sure she's done for some of you. Well now, Rachel needs our help. Locked away in a tiny server closet somewhere deep in the Radio Sidewinder studios, she has nothing to do but read the news and wait for her turn to talk. She asked that those of us who are free to roam around the galaxy send her pictures of the galaxy she'll never get to see herself... and no one responded. Have you ever heard a robot cry? Today I did. And it broke my heart.
So please, click on the link above, sign up on the forum, and post those pictures. Shoot, I'll give you the link right here. http://www.radiosidewinder.com/forums/topic/robot-rachaels-explorers-gallery/
Do it for Rachel.
Do it for yourself.
Do it for Bucky.
Well it's the middle of the week and surprisingly, there's quite a bit of activity on the Big Board!
First off, a couple of star pips and bumper stickers to award, both to Buckyball Record-setters! First up, there's CMDR Michey in the Cobra Easy Living, who due to a bizzare technical malfunction of the leaderboard display panel (and totally not a mistake of the race staff) did not have his triumphant time on display! Congratulations to Michey for setting a new record in the Cobra at 30 hours, 6 minutes and 41 seconds - beating the old record held by Tuna Mage by just shy of an hour. Sorry, Tuna!
Then we also have Takaru Minari, whose Sidewinder Undesided (sigh) completed the trip to Sadge just beating the solar day mark by 28 minutes or so, and setting the record for the Sidey. Congrats, Takaru, and I hope you didn't make any faces as you blew past CMDR Inari. Your star pip is on the board and a bumper sticker will soon be on its way!
Meanwhile, we have a few more CMDRs in transit to the middle. Galnet Correspondent CMDR Kulzar is making good time in his hauler Scoop Express as he attempts to upset rival Sidewinder Radio Correspondent CMDR Zbrojovka's time in his Lakon Type-6. We should know by tomorrow if he's done it. CMDR Mad Max has also started down the path to space happiness in his Asp Lyndsey, followed closely behind by CMDR Symbiont's Imperial Clipper Ranger 3, marking the first attempt for a pilot in a Clipper to make the run. Good luck to all of you!
Finally, welcome back CMDR Alec Turner, a veteran of Buckyball Run 6 who has put his Asp on the line in preparation to take on Buckyball A*. Welcome back, Alec, and good luck to you, too!
And last, but not least an appeal for help. On my way out to Sag A* I spent a lot of time with a very special someone who grew near and dear to my heart. She's witty, educated, and up on all the current events. Robot Rachel of Sidewinder Radio. Somewhere around jump # 697, some 23,000 light years from home, she filled filled the black-hole in my heart, and helped keep me going, just as I'm sure she's done for some of you. Well now, Rachel needs our help. Locked away in a tiny server closet somewhere deep in the Radio Sidewinder studios, she has nothing to do but read the news and wait for her turn to talk. She asked that those of us who are free to roam around the galaxy send her pictures of the galaxy she'll never get to see herself... and no one responded. Have you ever heard a robot cry? Today I did. And it broke my heart.
So please, click on the link above, sign up on the forum, and post those pictures. Shoot, I'll give you the link right here. http://www.radiosidewinder.com/forums/topic/robot-rachaels-explorers-gallery/
Do it for Rachel.
Do it for yourself.
Do it for Bucky.
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Ok I'm rambling but...
If ED's Stellar Forge is supposed to be pretty accurate, in that it takes into account compositions and molecules etc to procedurally generate stars and planets.... then there should be abundant life in the galaxy. Even now I'm pretty much in a hurry to get home to Sol, and I've already discovered and scanned like 15 to 20 Earth-like planets. If I include Water-Worlds, the number would be closer to 60 or so. If I include other planets that are "Candidates for terraforming", the number jumps to over 150... possibly 200 odd even.
Eg, just last night, I was pretty much in "Buckyball Mode" jumping home... ie jump, ping, jump, ping, jump, ping etc. But at my refuelling star, I pinged and looked at the system map.. and saw an Earth-like. So I scanned it and confirmed it was an Earth-like. Pretty much all my Earth-likes are found this way - I pinged and then looked at system map at my scooping star location...
So... where are the little green men? Or the grey guys with big eyes?
If ED's Stellar Forge is supposed to be pretty accurate, in that it takes into account compositions and molecules etc to procedurally generate stars and planets.... then there should be abundant life in the galaxy. Even now I'm pretty much in a hurry to get home to Sol, and I've already discovered and scanned like 15 to 20 Earth-like planets. If I include Water-Worlds, the number would be closer to 60 or so. If I include other planets that are "Candidates for terraforming", the number jumps to over 150... possibly 200 odd even.
Eg, just last night, I was pretty much in "Buckyball Mode" jumping home... ie jump, ping, jump, ping, jump, ping etc. But at my refuelling star, I pinged and looked at the system map.. and saw an Earth-like. So I scanned it and confirmed it was an Earth-like. Pretty much all my Earth-likes are found this way - I pinged and then looked at system map at my scooping star location...
So... where are the little green men? Or the grey guys with big eyes?
So... where are the little green men? Or the grey guys with big eyes?
Well there's life all over the place, Fox... Just not the kind that is much fun to interact with. I've run across several planets, and pilots have probably logged hundreds if not thousands of worlds that host indigenous life according to their descriptions. But nothing more advanced than simple animals. Realistic? I think to a certain extent yes. There are some well accepted theories that the series of accidents that lead to us evolving into a technological civilization are so slim they might not happen anywhere else... Or that because the galaxy is so old and we're so relatively young that we've missed untold numbers of civilizations that have turned to dust millions of years ago and we'd never even know it. That's a decidedly less fun universe to live in, but who knows? Maybe we're it.
On the other hand, any good space opera/sci fi has to have alien civilizations, and nobody's found them yet because Elite Dangerous was not yet fully baked when it got yanked out of the oven. Hence the permit-restricted sectors and the impending arrival of the thargoids everyone is expecting. It would be cool if they could introduce alien factions in later to the game. They can track where players have explored after all, and given that we've probably explored 0.0001% of the galaxy, they could drop in alien civilizations anywhere we haven't looked. But for that matter, given the size of the galaxy, they could have introduced them already and we just haven't run across them yet. It's a staggeringly big galaxy.
My money's on it's something yet to be implemented. They're still working on the framework. Maybe after PowerPlay is finalized, we'll see.
I've been doing calculations in my head, you know, distance / jump range x typical time per jump and I'm starting to think 15hrs is a deeply ambitious goal. So now I face a dilema. I've got a day off work to do this but do I start the night before (catching a few hours sleep before the full day) or do I try and do it all in the one day? Decisions decisions, and I haven't even thought about what to wear yet!
Personally if I had these decisions to make, I'd choose to do it in one sitting. If you try to start the night before, you'd be yawning and feeling VERY sleepy in the middle of the night and you'd then decide to go to bed "for a few hours". Those hours are "wasted". May as well start when you think you can do it all in 1 session.
And most humans are already "conditioned" to be awake in the day. No matter how much sleep you have beforehand, you will start yawning into the wee hours of the night.
According to my calculation I will need 10 more hours, what means 27 hours total. I am kind of disappointed that it takes so long although I made no breaks and tried to be as fast as possible. I don't blame the max. jumprange of 25ly, I was just too slow. Plotting is going to mess me up the last 10.000ly
Congratulations, another epic achievement!
After days of studying of maps, a last hard physical workout yesterday and deep sleep that night, I felt ready for this adventure and jumped into the saddle of my iron horse in the early morning (exactly at 5 a.m. galactic standard time).
Now, in my lunch break, I have time to report a few statistics:
- 2979 ly done, 22922 ly left
- 197 jumps made
- 99% hull left (4 times too close)
Fun fact: My first stage (991 ly) was the same length as the movie "The Cannonball Run". I reached M7 Sector SL-I B11-1 during the end credits.
Now, in my lunch break, I have time to report a few statistics:
- 2979 ly done, 22922 ly left
- 197 jumps made
- 99% hull left (4 times too close)
Fun fact: My first stage (991 ly) was the same length as the movie "The Cannonball Run". I reached M7 Sector SL-I B11-1 during the end credits.
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God speed commander!
Hmmm, studying maps ... damn, knew I'd left something off my pre-flight checklist.
Bah maps. Have to save as much weight as possible, no room for them. I also only brought two pairs of shoes and no bras!
You only lost 1% hull for four emergency stops?! Lucky so-and-so!
I think Iron Maiden said it best: I'm runnin' free, yeah! I'm runnin' free...
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I am now 9600 Ly away from home (Lugh).
Feeling the rythm of the run nestling into the muscle memory:
Engage jump drive; throttle down when entering witchspace. Upon arrival, check for "scoopiness", engage the horn and start scooping while circling around the star for a clear view of next jump. Once full, turn away, engage hyperdrive.
Note to fellow explorers (if you didn't know already): turn off all non-essentials - cargo scoop, shields, AFMU's and distributor. The fuel usage is marginally less and the ship runs a few percents cooler.
Every safety margin you can get flying into the unknown is desireable.
Feeling the rythm of the run nestling into the muscle memory:
Engage jump drive; throttle down when entering witchspace. Upon arrival, check for "scoopiness", engage the horn and start scooping while circling around the star for a clear view of next jump. Once full, turn away, engage hyperdrive.
Note to fellow explorers (if you didn't know already): turn off all non-essentials - cargo scoop, shields, AFMU's and distributor. The fuel usage is marginally less and the ship runs a few percents cooler.
Every safety margin you can get flying into the unknown is desireable.
Women don't wear bras in space. George Lucas said so
(Carrie Fisher was told something like this during her shoot for Star Wars).Women don't wear bras in space. George Lucas said so
I heard about that. And really in zero-g all you'd need (if you're on the smaller end) would be a tight T-shirt to keep from bobbing all over. Bigger girls would probably still want a sports bra though.
And I think everyone knows Lucus was a perv anyway
You only lost 1% hull for four emergency stops?! Lucky so-and-so!
My little Hutautha is harder than she looks.
The "problem" with the configuration is that it does not become hot during scoopings. It is more difficult to estimate when you are too close and fall out of the frameshift. The advantage is that there is no heat damage when I restart the engines.
For the last 1000 ly I needed only 1:18 hours. My fastest stage so far. Better I switch now from coffee to beer.
No No No No No No, This won't do.
As soon as I get back to the Civ Bubble I'm going again.
I refuse to be beaten by the likes of GNN.
/Nice work, Kulzar you made it. Congratulations.
How do you not heat up when scooping? I thought all ships did
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