Ariel circumnavigation

[Jonas Treesong]

Video now up.

Thanks very much! I covered most of the ground today as I'm home with a bad cold. It was as your video shows. Bumpy here and there but nothing too bad.
Also: nice flying, by the way

Off to bed now for some sleep. I'll cover the last km's to the pole later tonight.

 

[Jonas Treesong]

HURRAY!!! I'm half way!!!!

The last 2.5° were easy enough however it took longer than expected. Reason being the navigation around a pole is challenging. The coordinates jump all over the place, so it took me quite a bit of time to actually find the pole. Check out the picture. That was as close as I could possibly get.

Then, I had a visit from CMDR Ascendingbike42 in his Type 9. He brought his SRV and a rather flash looking Guardian fighter. He did not say very much so I decided to carry on after a while. He followed me for a bit with his fighter and then flew off. It took him quite a bit of time to find me as it was impossible for me to give him accurate coordinates. Sorry mate! Not sure you actually read my comms in the wing channel...

Anyway, I'm now trying to get away from the South pole and that's equally challenging. After some aimless driving around I got a bit fed up and recalled my ship. I'll have a think about how to drive away from the pole. The issues are likely a combination of (1) bugs (2) the fact that close to the pole the meridians are very close to oneanother.

For the first time I had a view of Uranus again. A bit dark still, due to the bright light from the core but nevertheless it's there...

From the system map view the upcoming terrain doesn't look too bad. Mainly flat plains so I suspect I can cover good ground as long as I find a way to navigate away from the pole.

I had not thought I would make it this far. The terrain of Ariel is pretty daunting but now that I got here I'm quite optimistic about completing this undertaking. Considering the terrain and the minimal preparation I did, that is really amazing.

If anybody feels like dropping by and follow me for a while on my way back, please do so and send me a friend request.


As close as I could get to the South pole.

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The half way stats

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Hello there!!

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At the south pole. Upcoming terrain doesn't look too bad...

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CMDR Ascendingbike42 landing his Type 9

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[Ascendingbike42]

Sorry I didn't say much ,I was watching the 3.3 exploration stream .I left quite quickly because I don't know if the srv still takes more damage with multiple people in the instance

 

[Alec Turner]

HURRAY!!! I'm half way!!!!

The last 2.5° were easy enough however it took longer than expected. Reason being the navigation around a pole is challenging. The coordinates jump all over the place, so it took me quite a bit of time to actually find the pole. Check out the picture. That was as close as I could possibly get.

Then, I had a visit from CMDR Ascendingbike42 in his Type 9. He brought his SRV and a rather flash looking Guardian fighter. He did not say very much so I decided to carry on after a while. He followed me for a bit with his fighter and then flew off. It took him quite a bit of time to find me as it was impossible for me to give him accurate coordinates. Sorry mate! Not sure you actually read my comms in the wing channel...

Anyway, I'm now trying to get away from the South pole and that's equally challenging. After some aimless driving around I got a bit fed up and recalled my ship. I'll have a think about how to drive away from the pole. The issues are likely a combination of (1) bugs (2) the fact that close to the pole the meridians are very close to oneanother.

For the first time I had a view of Uranus again. A bit dark still, due to the bright light from the core but nevertheless it's there...

From the system map view the upcoming terrain doesn't look too bad. Mainly flat plains so I suspect I can cover good ground as long as I find a way to navigate away from the pole.

I had not thought I would make it this far. The terrain of Ariel is pretty daunting but now that I got here I'm quite optimistic about completing this undertaking. Considering the terrain and the minimal preparation I did, that is really amazing.

If anybody feels like dropping by and follow me for a while on my way back, please do so and send me a friend request.


As close as I could get to the South pole.

The half way stats

Hello there!!

At the south pole. Upcoming terrain doesn't too bad...

CMDR Ascendingbike42 landing his Type 9

Bravo on getting halfway - that's a pretty amazing achievement considering what Ariel is like.

P.S. sorry I didn't spot this post earlier, like everyone else I've been lost in the livestream feedback.

 

[Jonas Treesong]

Bravo on getting halfway - that's a pretty amazing achievement considering what Ariel is like.

Thanks! I was hellbent on getting to the South pole and watched the Chapter 4 stream afterwards. Pretty amazing stuff they showed off.

Sorry I didn't say much ,I was watching the 3.3 exploration stream .I left quite quickly because I don't know if the srv still takes more damage with multiple people in the instance.

No problem! I did not notice any excessive damage. Nor did I when Alec was visiting. Maybe that bug was fixed (although I doubt it)?!?!? Did notice a drop in frame rates though. Thanks for dropping by!!

 

[SushiCW]

This is my favorite circumnavigation thread right now. Amazing and really challenging terrain! And good on Alec for scouting for you.

 

[Jonas Treesong]

This is my favorite circumnavigation thread right now. Amazing and really challenging terrain! And good on Alec for scouting for you.

Thanks

I was inspired by Alec's driving when he came over to shoot the video. At the time I could not see his technique as I was too busy keeping my SRV under control, but once I saw his video I thought "I want to do that too!!". I now must contain myself and not get lost too much in dagerous maneuvres. I only have 2 SRV's left in my trusty Cobra and still got a lot of ground to cover. I got a feeling Ariel has yet to surprise me and I probably will need to call out fellow commanders and construct an airbridge with Pythons to cross the uncrossable canyon... I know it's there. The question is just whether I will run into it... :-o

Anyway, as circumnavigation is a bit of a thing would it not be useful to have a Discord server for ciscumnavigators? Just thinking out loud here and Alec mentioned that the current "clubhouse" was getting a little cramped anyway

 

[Florenus]

I got a feeling Ariel has yet to surprise me and I probably will need to call out fellow commanders and construct an airbridge with Pythons to cross the uncrossable canyon... I know it's there.

I'll argue against it. Although sounds fun, I think It'll negate actually driving around the planet "achievement" a little bit.

Anyway, rooting for you.

 

[Jonas Treesong]

I think It'll negate actually driving around the planet "achievement" a little bit.

You are right.

 

[Jonas Treesong]

I finally managed to navigate away from the pole. Yesterday, headings were all over the place: one moment I was driving 120°, next moment it was 37°. Not today, thankfully. No idea what caused this. Anyway, I'm now safely away from the South Pole and sitting at 77° South. The progress was really good, given that I only spend some 80 minutes driving. The terrain is flat with intermittent flat topped mountain ridges. I expect to have to negotiate at least three serious canyons before returning at my point of departure, but they're quite a bit away yet.

Uranus is now permanently visible to my right as a huge blue ball looming over the mountains. According to Wikipedia, Uranus is (like Neptune) considered an ice giant and not a gas giant.

At one point I saw a player icon appear on the radar and I went dark immediately. However, they flew by and did not return.

Uranus looming...

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An NPC Eagle in the distance, attacking a group of skimmers (see the laser fire above my SRV reticule)

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[Jonas Treesong]

Minor progress today, just a couple of degrees. Not much change to the landscape either. Just this one canyon caught me by surprise. Deep and steep... it was very much outside operating limits of the SRV so it required a lot of crabbing to get to the top.

Deep and steep... oh, yeah baby!

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[Alec Turner]

Another great image, really captures the height and mood of the place!

 

[Florenus]

At one point I saw a player icon appear on the radar and I went dark immediately. However, they flew by and did not return.

It might've been me. I was in the area, looking for signs of intelligent life on this barren planet. I saw your name in history tab later. I think it was 19th.
I guess you don't like visitors

 

[Jonas Treesong]

I guess you don't like visitors

On the contrary, I do like visitors. But yeah, this is open and there are many with less friendly intentions and take pleasure in sending others to the rebuy screen. Better safe than sorry...
If you want to meet up, just send me a friend request.

 

[Florenus]

On the contrary, I do like visitors. But yeah, this is open and there are many with less friendly intentions and take pleasure in sending others to the rebuy screen. Better safe than sorry...
If you want to meet up, just send me a friend request.

Thanks, I'll try that. Would love to see you go firsthand

 

[Jonas Treesong]

Just squeezed in another quick session and got to 65° South. Not much change in the terrain. Plains, valleys, and the occasional canyon but nothing terrifying. Uranus is now well established in the sky above me. The colors have gone from shades of green to shades of purple. I managed to set a personal speed record for this trip at 48 m/s. If my math is correct that works out as some 173 km/h. Unfortunately no pictures (so yeah I know, it didn't happen) as I was way too preoccupied keeping the SRV on track to press F10. There is however one photo of the aftermath where the speedometer is at 37 m/s... It was terryfyingly fast and at points I felt like the whole SRV would disappear into orbit.

My big blue friend...

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Meep... meep...

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My trusty Cobra MkIII. This time not landing a million miles away!

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[Jonas Treesong]

So, where does one spend its chassis damage points on? For me it's roughly 25% damage through landings after an SRV flight (basically my "normal" SRV operation), 15% through hitting those shin buster rocks with hitboxes like barn doors and 10% from tumbles along steep hills. That would bring the chassis down to 50% by which time I generally do a repair. Either from synthesis or by recalling and boarding my ship. This is typical for crossing moderate landscape with not too much humps and bumps. I estimate to do about 75km on 50% chassis. Obviously YMMV.

At the moment I'm at 53° South. The terrain was a bit of a mixed bag. It started out as annoyingly bumpy which impacted my progress quite a bit. But since 60° South, it has improved. Long rolling plains where you can make good progress and build up good speed. On avegrage I try to get the speed around 40 m/s when on a smooth plain. Then that gives me enough speed to boost-fly past the next outcrop or bumpy area.

Another thing I want to mention are those massive slabs of bedrock poking out of the surface. Amazingly, they are generally positioned exactly at the point where you capacitor runs empty and there's nothing you can do and wait for the inevitable crash. I managed to do a landing-and-jump on them once or twice, just by sheer luck.

Hopefully another session tonight so I can push my position to 45° South.

The south pole (the grey circle) and my current location.

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Bumps everywhere!!!

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Barnard's Loop, The Magellanic Clouds, Uranus. What's the name of the small nebula NW of Barnard's Loop??

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[Alec Turner]

Another thing I want to mention are those massive slabs of bedrock poking out of the surface. Amazingly, they are generally positioned exactly at the point where you capacitor runs empty and there's nothing you can do and wait for the inevitable crash.

ROFL - yes, totally this ^^^

How many times have I seen one of those slabs looming in the distance, thought to myself "OK, the one place in this entire landscape that I must NOT bounce is there", and yet yet somehow found myself inexporably drawn towards it until, with no last minute boost left, I hit it square on! [haha] I swear those things have their own gravitational pull!

 

[Rustnsawdust]

I'm convinced the Stellar Forge has a wicked sense of humour - I often find those slabs tucked away on the blind side of hills and humps.

As for Jonas's damage accounting, I'd guess mine is very similar, although I think I get a fair bit more than 75km for 50% damage. But I'm a notoriously cautious commander!

 

[Jonas Treesong]

I swear those things have their own gravitational pull!

When I was taking bike driving lessons, my instructor said "Never look at a tree when driving through a bend. You will be pulled to that tree and crash your bike!". This is the same thing. You look at it and you're basically doomed...

So, yes I managed to squeeze in another session and got to 46° South. Tonight then, I was joined by CMDR Florenus. It took him a while to track me down, possibly due to me not giving him correct coordinates. In my defense it's totally impossible to drive a jumpy SRV while at the same time engaging in keyboard comms After a while he did find me though and witnessed me navigating some particularly bumpy terrain with steep and deep bits. I did not look at the system map, but I believe that was the last canyon area before I get to some flatter terrain which should bring me to the equator again. CMDR Florenus arrived in his Type 9 and soon deployed his fighter and buzzed around for a bit. Thanks for visiting, CMDR!

A visit from CMDR Florenus...

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