The Killer Whales Presents: The Elite PGA

Indigo here, brings to light a two-part special. We formed a new sub-committee, the Elite: PGA, or Planet Golf Association. Planet Golf, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the nickname for planetary mapping, given by the Frontier folks during the Exploration update reveal. We liked the term and found it terribly appropriate, and have been having our bit of fun with it.

If you've not yet delved into the new Exploration mechanics, tagging and mapping planets might seem a bit daunting at first, but this little video should help. We plan, at some point, to organize some full-scale PGA competition, once we've had time to really get a feel for planet mapping and can come up with some viable "courses" that offer appropriate challenges.

As you may or may not know, there is a bit of skill involved in planet mapping - namely to distribute probes in such a manner as to reach 90% (or higher) with as few probes as possible. Each planet has its own Efficiency Target, or what we in the PGA call "par". Hit this number, or lower, and you score yourself an Efficiency Bonus (extra credits awarded when you sell your exploration data). Our PGA play is, much like in actual golf, based on the same scoring principles - the lower your final score, the better. A score that is "par", that is, just meets the Efficiency Target, is worth 0 points. A "bogey" is 1 over par. A double-bogey is 3 over par. A Birdie is 1 under par (-1 point), and so on.

This video, which I hope both entertains and enlightens, shows a very well shot Eagle (2 under par).

[video=youtube_share;nlzeX5w5QEs]https://youtu.be/nlzeX5w5QEs[/video]

So get out there, map some planets, and stay tuned - we'll be ramping up for some competitive planet golf in the near future. For now, keep practicing!
 
Nice. Yesterday I was doing the same thing to figure out how far that circle needs to be aside from the planet.
What is the effective radius of launched probes when they hit the target?
How the gravity influence the arc?
Why are You playing golf during Thargoid invasion?
 
Nice. Yesterday I was doing the same thing to figure out how far that circle needs to be aside from the planet.
What is the effective radius of launched probes when they hit the target?
Depends on the engineering.
How the gravity influence the arc?
I haven’t really noticed.
Why are You playing golf during Thargoid invasion?
I’m an American, I take after my leaders. Plus there’s no invasion out here.
 
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Love this game!

Need to get a good mix of gas giants (easy to go underpar) and medium rocky planets (a little trickier).

The narative that's going through my head is "Welcome to this system. It is a lovely par 25"

Edit:

Just scanned a new system: 10 holes par 49. I hit a 6 under 43 (4 birdies and an eagle). [big grin]
 
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Just remembered I have hidden somewhere a 6DOF golf controller, hacked to work on PC! "Track.." something...

There will be some serious abomination when I find it.
 
Just remembered I have hidden somewhere a 6DOF golf controller, hacked to work on PC! "Track.." something...

There will be some serious abomination when I find it.

You just need one of these:

photo-3.jpg


And a bit of coding skill to write a controller interface.
 
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