Beagle Point - Is it worth the Hype?

God I love this thread. Genuinely. Not only have I got that superb DW poster but also those views of Snowdon are amazing. As a younger man I spent so many many months training on those hills and mountains they have a special significance. Great analogy and great pics.:) I now want to do Snowdon again.
 
Well I'm see the core from the edge right now (as I'm on the far Western edge of the galaxy since writing this), so looking at the photos the core looks just as small as where I am now.

I'm actually heading back to the Bubble, since I've gotten Elite already for Exploration, I'll get my Anaconda and all mods at that system I unlocked when I hit Elite in Colonia a week or so ago) and then with that increased FSD I'll use that to hit Beagle point then. Been gone for 2 months, so don't want to turn this little exploration jaunt into another 11 month trip I did last year...
 
God I love this thread. Genuinely. Not only have I got that superb DW poster but also those views of Snowdon are amazing. As a younger man I spent so many many months training on those hills and mountains they have a special significance. Great analogy and great pics.:) I now want to do Snowdon again.

Maybe not in those temps... it was -8C and dawn when the first one was taken. The Sun caused the hoar frost on the grass to turn that astonishing shade for a very brief moment. I call the photo Snowdon on Mars :) Tooks loads of photos on the day, and had to return down the Llanberis Path as the walk back on the Pyg Track was just too dangerous. We caught the bus back up to Pen-Y-Pas and to be honest that was the most terrifying part of the day! :D
 
it has to be the same Q. as is it worth climbing a mountain?

But why, some say, Beagle Point? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 1077 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to Beagle Point! ...We choose to go to Beagle Point in this game and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win!
 
Is it worth getting to Beagle Point? Absolutely. It isn't the system or even the planet itself that makes it worth it, though. I would argue it is not even the view back across the galaxy (although that is something indeed). No, it is something else and that is the feeling of being where a stubborn and dedicated group of explorers made history. You won't see any memorials to any of them on the planet (at least not yet) nor audiologs broadcasting from nav-points in orbit. Nothing like that. The planet's surface is bleak and lonely and desolate. Ask anyone who has ever attempted to drive across it in an SRV pole to pole or who has successfully driven around the circumference. There is nothing there but monotony and darkness and loneliness . . . Except this is a haunted planet now. Riddled with lost voices and persuasive echoes. Shades linger in the black crevasses. Spirits drift uneasily across the craters. This planet is not so much the surface now or the long bleak horizon. No, Beagle Point is a well of stories and events and escapades you will rarely find elsewhere. From the initial landings to the fly-bys; the long sad departure; the little bug-like SRVs crawling across the pitted surface; the solitary moment when two explorers met and parked up 2 Lakon Type 6s; the coldness of realising that you may be the last explorer left in the system . . . Beagle Point now is all this and more. It is history and perhaps even legend. Travel on and land there and you will become part of that legend - and perhaps even add to it.

Those doubts are normal - expected even. It wouldn't be worth it if doubt didn't worm its way into you - especially now if you are so close. Conquer that and you can conquer the furthermost reaches of this galaxy. We all suffered them - but in the end, it is the journey which is the achievement, as others have pointed out here, not the destination. And no journey ever worth taking has not had doubt inscribed in it. A journey without doubt is no journey at all . . .
 
And this was my second visit, on board of the first and only (?) FDL that made it to BP. :)

46CfMqe.jpg
 
I'm personally looking westwards when get back to the bubble. Still so much to explore.
Well being that I've been out in the Abyssal Plain for some time on the edge. I'm pretty much already getting my fare share of loneliness and ghosts of the people that still haven't been out in this region.

I may just end up hitting Erikson's Star to say I've been to the far Western system since it's kind of on my route back (taking the outer rim), then return to the Bubble, get my new ship do some other stuff before going back out.

Then I can hit Magellan's Star on my way on the eastern outer rim to Beagle Point and that way I'll have hit 3 of the 4 extreme corners (if I don't hit Amundsen's Star on this return trip)...
 
With engineered ships getting to Beagle Point isn't as difficult as it was before. The interesting part is trying to see how much further you can get and see how far that level 5 boosted jump will take you. There are quite a few systems that have jumponium materials in the area so it's easy to stock up.
When you get there, fire up multicrew to share the view with other explorers. You'll get some interesting comments. :)
 
But less than half got there didn't they?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l_6_aQRF69F3IS5zIebmbGqPZPSNCwe1hVyqK7mkg8k/edit#gid=0
570 CMDRs at the moment of writing have gotten there and many did not form part of the expedition (like me).


Of the 1,200 that set off on Distant Worlds 3302, only 571 made it all the way.

The full roster of DWE3302 is here and shows who made it..

Distant Worlds Roster

To the OP : Beagle Point in a pretty boring system. Its the journey there that counted. Sadly I think the DWE3302 Fleet and those who went there during the pre-engineered era will be the last to experience what it was like for the early day travellers of gamma and post release who made it out there (check out some of the ship ranges on that roster! :cool:).

These days 50, 60, and 70 LY engineered ships and Jumponium bonuses have made it a walk in the park - especially crossing the Abyss and travelling the 10,000 LYs through the Solitude Void beyond the Abyss , both of which where a challenge back in the day, and thus made a pilgrimage to BP special.

I think the only way to recapture that challenge these days and make a trip from the bubble to BP how it once was, is to make a conscious decision to attempt the whole ~80K journey to BP in smaller low ranged ships (max 34 LYs so you can make the jump to BP itself).... no jumponium, no engineered mods, and no using Abyssal Crossing maps to aid you (go via the Roncevaux Crossing instead).
 
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