The Planetary Circumnavigation Club

I've updated the OP with both Nookie's run and Heydan's claim - both with a status that qualifies their entries. I've also added a note to Timmy's run explaining the extenuating circumstances.
 
Well done Alec!

This is something I've had planned for almost a year now but I'm still getting to the planet I want to drive around. I will give this thread a full read tonight but again, well done on a splendid adventure!
 
3 months in real life, surely? Not game time?

I've been running my ship on fumes out here in the Outer Arm Vacuous because I need maximum range, and when I recall my ship there's definitely less fuel than there was when it went up (depending how long I've been down there, sometimes a few light-years' worth). When I asked the question on discord the concensus was that the ship definitely burns fuel while dismissed - jiust not while you're logged out, obviously.

Hmmm.... might be one to ask in a livestream at some point...

Got me there. Yes, in game time it was gone for 134hrs.
I never noticed a fuel drop....but I didn't specifically look either. I don't think I have Screenies from within the ship at the start so can't check :/
 
Found these regards fuel while dismissed

This was towards the end of an 'acrobatics' thing I took part in for educating Ed 1st July. From here I would have needed to fly to the equator to where I had 'left' the srv - (I had started 10 days or so before)
39rojDm.jpg


And on completing the circumnavigation 11th September
3czP6c4.jpg


It looks to me that maybe 2.5 - 3.5 tons of fuel is used in that time. This would include the travel back to the start etc. So this is what, 3 or 4 hrs of burn at the normal rate? Lets says there was 120 hrs game time (assume I used 14 already prior to the educating ed) and lets assume 3.5t used = 0.029 t/hr instead of the usual 0.91. I would say that *most* of the fuel use was in fact getting back to the SRV location - iirc I went normal space rather than supercruising because I was evaluating whether to repeat the circumnav in the ship - bear in mind I was only 10 days in and still full of enthusiasm :D. It was around 2 hours iirc. But since I can't truly remember, let's discount it as I did in the calc above. It would appear you have at least 1000 game hours in a 30t tank whilst ship is dismissed.
 
Found these regards fuel while dismissed

This was towards the end of an 'acrobatics' thing I took part in for educating Ed 1st July. From here I would have needed to fly to the equator to where I had 'left' the srv - (I had started 10 days or so before)
https://i.imgur.com/39rojDm.jpg

And on completing the circumnavigation 11th September
https://i.imgur.com/3czP6c4.jpg

It looks to me that maybe 2.5 - 3.5 tons of fuel is used in that time. This would include the travel back to the start etc. So this is what, 3 or 4 hrs of burn at the normal rate? Lets says there was 120 hrs game time (assume I used 14 already prior to the educating ed) and lets assume 3.5t used = 0.029 t/hr instead of the usual 0.91. I would say that *most* of the fuel use was in fact getting back to the SRV location - iirc I went normal space rather than supercruising because I was evaluating whether to repeat the circumnav in the ship - bear in mind I was only 10 days in and still full of enthusiasm :D. It was around 2 hours iirc. But since I can't truly remember, let's discount it as I did in the calc above. It would appear you have at least 1000 game hours in a 30t tank whilst ship is dismissed.

I left my alt Cobra III parked up on a planet for a while when I resumed my journey to Colonia with my main Cmdr. I can't remember how long it was left for, probably more than a few weeks, or how much fuel was on board but it would have been able to get me to a star or a port. Anyway when I went back there was no power and I was breathing on my reserve oxygen. I had to sit there and suffocate. I haven't done that again.
 
I left my alt Cobra III parked up on a planet for a while when I resumed my journey to Colonia with my main Cmdr. I can't remember how long it was left for, probably more than a few weeks, or how much fuel was on board but it would have been able to get me to a star or a port. Anyway when I went back there was no power and I was breathing on my reserve oxygen. I had to sit there and suffocate. I haven't done that again.

What? That would have to be a bug. If you are not logged into the game for that account, your usage should be zero. Going 'pop' just because you haven't played in a while would be unacceptable
 
What? That would have to be a bug. If you are not logged into the game for that account, your usage should be zero. Going 'pop' just because you haven't played in a while would be unacceptable

Yeah I was thinking that too. Neither ships nor SRVs should use any fuel whatsoever while your logged out. It is interesting that, by the sounds of it, a dismissed ship does continue to burn a small amount of fuel tho ... I need to check my own circumnavigation screenshots now.
 
What? That would have to be a bug. If you are not logged into the game for that account, your usage should be zero. Going 'pop' just because you haven't played in a while would be unacceptable

Yeah I was thinking that too. Neither ships nor SRVs should use any fuel whatsoever while your logged out. It is interesting that, by the sounds of it, a dismissed ship does continue to burn a small amount of fuel tho ... I need to check my own circumnavigation screenshots now.

It surprised me, but just accepted it.
I'm now back to using my Cmdr out Colonia way for a while so I'm going to fly my alt Cobra down to a planet and leave it there to see what happens.

Edit. Oh, and whilst I am flying around beyond Colonia in my T7 I'm looking for a suitable moon or planet to circumnavigate in my SRV......
 
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Finally got around to watching SushiCW's "Around the world in an SRV" video all the way through ... WOW! (and apologies for taking this long, my "to watch" backlog has got completely out of control at the moment).

That's one hell of an interesting planet you chose there!

P.S. I don't know about anyone else here but I'm finding it very hard to resist the urge not to go back and do another one ... I was so happy on that journey. I fear there may be some kind of long distance SRV madness (akin to what makes RL explorers keep going back out to desolate places like the antarctic) which, once contracted, can never fully be shaken off!
 
It's like flying to Colonia. It's not a matter of if the bug bites again, but when. (And, for the right planet at least, it actually takes a lot less time).
 
Ok guys, guess I'll cross another entry off my bucket list soon...as much as I like to travel, explore and discover stuff, I far prefer the comfort and safety of things near home...so guess who's going to attempt a circumnavigation of Enceladus? :D

At 250 km radius and 0.01 g I'm confident it will be nothing more than a pleasant 1500 km long stroll across serene icy landscapes, with big ol' Saturn watching over my shoulder. Not considering I still have to learn and get used to driving/fliving with headtracking, so things could get rather dizzy after all.

Mission codename, "X Marks The Spot", coming soon*. I don't plan on keeping up with some kind of travel diary in the awesome way that Alec and other explorers did previously (not good at telling stories, not good at prolonged use of coherent English, and lazy as a drowsy sloth more in general), but I'll do my best to keep track of my endeavour through videos and screenshots. Wish me luck?

*-ish(TM)
 
So if you're able to do it all in one session (on a sufficiently small enough potato), will you see the SRV tracks where you started when you come back around?
 
So if you're able to do it all in one session (on a sufficiently small enough potato), will you see the SRV tracks where you started when you come back around?

It might be my imagination but I thought I saw tyre tracks in one of the OP videos - Sushi's maybe? I do love the idea of there being this set of tracks that go all the way around the planet (although of course "fliving" will rather defeat that).

Ok guys, guess I'll cross another entry off my bucket list soon...as much as I like to travel, explore and discover stuff, I far prefer the comfort and safety of things near home...so guess who's going to attempt a circumnavigation of Enceladus? :D

At 250 km radius and 0.01 g I'm confident it will be nothing more than a pleasant 1500 km long stroll across serene icy landscapes, with big ol' Saturn watching over my shoulder. Not considering I still have to learn and get used to driving/fliving with headtracking, so things could get rather dizzy after all.

Mission codename, "X Marks The Spot", coming soon*. I don't plan on keeping up with some kind of travel diary in the awesome way that Alec and other explorers did previously (not good at telling stories, not good at prolonged use of coherent English, and lazy as a drowsy sloth more in general), but I'll do my best to keep track of my endeavour through videos and screenshots. Wish me luck?

*-ish(TM)

Absolutely ... I wish you the absolute very best of luck!

n.b. re: "not good at telling stories, not good at prolonged use of coherent English" ... your post totally just disproved that but I do understand, it's a lot of extra effort (something I personally enjoy doing) but do create a thread and post some updates, even if very brief, as I'd love to follow your progress. Do you plan on taking several days or are you going to blitz it Sushi-style? If possible I'd love to come and fly alongside you for a bit. maybe take some video?

Also, re: the above tyre tracks query ... would you mind awfully doing your entire circumnavigation entirely on the ground? sure, it'll mean your journey takes about 5 weeks but the ribbon of tyre tracks all the way around the planet would be awesome and totally worth it. :p
 
n.b. re: "not good at telling stories, not good at prolonged use of coherent English" ... your post totally just disproved that but I do understand, it's a lot of extra effort (something I personally enjoy doing) but do create a thread and post some updates, even if very brief, as I'd love to follow your progress.

And that's where the "lazy as a sloth" part becomes relevant. :D
Seriously tho, it was still my intention to creat a thread about it and post some screens, updates and shenanigans from time to time. Also planning on making some brief videos, provided I get some interesting material out of this (Enceladus looks quite unremarkable as far as land features go, but should make for a relatively easy ride).

Do you plan on taking several days or are you going to blitz it Sushi-style? If possible I'd love to come and fly alongside you for a bit. maybe take some video?

Several days absolutely, for a number of reasons:
- I'm not SushiCW
- I'm not subhouse07
- I'm definitely not nookiemrsmith! :p
- RL won't allow it, I'm still required to give others my best impression of a somewhat functioning member of society
- As in real life when I have to drive for comparable lengths, I prefer to take the relaxed approach, and from time to time stop and smell the roses geysers.

Also, I'm starting to get a hang of fliving while being able to watch ahead where I'm going to land, but looks like refinements are still to be made when going above 100 m/s:
brsOE
agOZ1o9.jpg



Luckily that was just a "short" 150 km scouting run! (got carried away a bit with it :D)

Of course if someone wants to come find me for a bit of company, he/she will be more than welcome! (also, external video footage could happen to be very useful in the end, for reasons)


Also, re: the above tyre tracks query ... would you mind awfully doing your entire circumnavigation entirely on the ground? sure, it'll mean your journey takes about 5 weeks but the ribbon of tyre tracks all the way around the planet would be awesome and totally worth it. :p

As much as I'd have liked to do it for science (and totally not because I fear to crash and burn without even reaching the first pole), I did some quick tests and looks like tyre marks don't get carried over from a session to the next...I'll leave the experiment to someone willing to do the lap in a single take!

This just for the eyes, I still think the Python looks rather ordinary when flying around, but absolutely sexy when landed:

kTKTb3L.jpg


Must be all those lights scattered around, making it look like a very big ship. Or a very small oil refinery at night.
 
Also, I'm starting to get a hang of fliving while being able to watch ahead where I'm going to land, but looks like refinements are still to be made when going above 100 m/s:
https://imgur.com/a/brsOEhttps://i.imgur.com/agOZ1o9.jpg


Luckily that was just a "short" 150 km scouting run! (got carried away a bit with it :D)

That shot of the SRV exploding is fantastic! I love the tread of the three tyres that can be made out in the blaze of the explosion. Hope you don't mind but I might have to steal that image for meme's occasionally!
 
Lol, that was a lucky catch, I just happened to pause the video at the most shamefully embarassing instant of my demise. [haha] A short inventory reported no less than four wheels, a whole side wheel strut (side unknown, probably right) and the front grille/bumper.
Totally meme material. :D
 
Awesomeness. I might like to try this. However, my average speed in the SRV is maybe 10. I tend to stay on the ground, haha. That would just make it take longer, right?

Anyway, congrats to those who’ve done it!
 
Do you plan on taking several days or are you going to blitz it Sushi-style? If possible I'd love to come and fly alongside you for a bit. maybe take some video?

To be clear: my around-the-world was not done in a single sitting. I did it in four relaxing 1-hour sessions. (For some of them, I waited a few extra days for the planet to spin around to about where it was when I left, so I could have a relatively consistently rotating skybox).
 
Previous experimentation has revealed to me that SRV tracks do fade off eventually, but it's a goodly distance. I'm not sure what tweaking graphicsconfig's ship trails does for SRVs. Shall test that out one of these time-units.
 
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