The first great planetary expedition : Chi Herculis / Kumay (route planning phase)

Was a hoot. Nothing like a little criminal activity to bond friendships ..lol

Looking forward to this adventure as I don't wing / group often and it makes a great change of pace. Just wondering if things will go too fast or too slow. Doing things solo means you can set the pace and there is no one to complain about the rate pf progress. Either way I am sure I will adjust and have the best time ever.

Caliber
 
It seems that if you're playing hide and seek and nobody gets maimed, killed and no property gets destroyed, then you're doing it wrong. It's best to hide among burning debris and dead bodies, obviously :D

I think those guys at O'Donnell did not appreciate Alec posting that movie where he jumps over that settlement, exposing how relaxed security there was.

Is O'Donnell still waypoint candidate?
 
It seems that if you're playing hide and seek and nobody gets maimed, killed and no property gets destroyed, then you're doing it wrong. It's best to hide among burning debris and dead bodies, obviously :D

I think those guys at O'Donnell did not appreciate Alec posting that movie where he jumps over that settlement, exposing how relaxed security there was.

Is O'Donnell still waypoint candidate?

LOL - OK, I think I know what happened. I think I was still WANTED from my last visit (when I scanned all their beacons). Today I returned CLEAN (having paid my fines at the Interstellar Factors conveniently located in the same system) and was once again able to roam around completely free of klaxons and explosions.

More importantly, I have perfected the O'Donnell leap! (yes, it took me a few goes)

[video=youtube_share;PxOmIFXGpJc]https://youtu.be/PxOmIFXGpJc[/video]
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So yeah - I'd say definitely still a candidate. Aside from that I did a bit more location scouting ..

The Termite Mound

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and boy was this guy lucky I found him!

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The Southern Ghosts

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The Jumble

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The Cliffs of Insanity

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.. and found a couple more screenie(s) I'm quite pleased with ..

One more from the pole last night ..

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And this while experimenting with a new SRV game I call "Lava Town".

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Just wondering if things will go too fast or too slow. Doing things solo means you can set the pace and there is no one to complain about the rate pf progress. Either way I am sure I will adjust and have the best time ever.

Caliber
Fear not - there'll still be plenty of alone time.
 
OK, 3D map now updated with all the latest data from the spreadsheet.

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https://www.maptoglobe.com/ByEOI1NUN

Nick, you're doing brilliant work on those geologicals - could I beg a favour and ask you to double check that they're all now correct on the map? You might find that easier to do on the flat version ...



Otherwise, I now concur totally with others that we should take a polar route. Assuming we start out from Bridger Town (which seems an obvious choice) I'm thinking we'd head North via (8) (6) and the Grand Canyon Craters, up over the North Pole perhaps via Blue Vein Valley, then down the other side via Manaslu Peak and the Fire and Ice mountains, past Raccoon Ridge to O'Donnell, through The Jumble and past (14) and (12), then down under the South pole via Dewdrop Crater and the Buttercup Mountains, through the Southern Ghosts, up past (11) and (16), over Grim Face Crater and the Termite Mound and then back up to Bridger Town.

Holy crap! :D This is starting to sound really fricking cool! :cool:
 
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Just a note that if you'll plot a straight line from POI #16 to Grim Face Canyon, it will be over a vast flat terrain, dotted only by shallow craters.
I know, because I've flown from Bridger Town to South Pole the other day in my Viper Speedstar, keeping to about 100m over the ground. Those stretches of flatland can become pretty boring.
There are canyons running S-N a litte bit to the east. GFC is West of them.
We could set some waypoints there, if you want to make it interesting, or just let people drive the shortest route.
 
Just a note that if you'll plot a straight line from POI #16 to Grim Face Canyon, it will be over a vast flat terrain, dotted only by shallow craters.
I know, because I've flown from Bridger Town to South Pole the other day in my Viper Speedstar, keeping to about 100m over the ground. Those stretches of flatland can become pretty boring.
There are canyons running S-N a litte bit to the east. GFC is West of them.
We could set some waypoints there, if you want to make it interesting, or just let people drive the shortest route.

Now we have more of an idea of the route - what I've started doing is to look at the 3D globe and try to fill in some of the blank areas (i.e. fly to parts of the planet*1 along the route which are devoid of waypoints and try to find some). Florenus - maybe create an entry for those canyons?

[B]*1[/B] or moon if you're AltoOrbita! :p
 
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Now we have more of an idea of the route - what I've started doing is to look at the 3D globe and try to fill in some of the blank areas (i.e. fly to parts of the planet*1 along the route which are devoid of waypoints and try to find some). Florenus - maybe create an entry for those canyons?

[B]*1[/B] or moon if you're AltoOrbita! :p

Case in point - I realise I forgot one from this morning. Check out TCI (The cliffs of insanity) just South of O'Donnell on the recently updated globe map. If anyone gets a chance to survey these in the daylight that would be much appreciated.
 
I've entered Zig-Zag Point to spreadsheet. I know I'm great at naming things...

It's around 235km from Geological #16 and 370km to GFC. One of many canyons in the area. Heading there from #16 and then to Grim Face Crater ensures most interesting terrain along the way in my opinion.
this is how terrain looks like towards #16
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I'm not saying this is any good as I've just cobbled it together but it's a place to start.

Any start is a good start for me, truth be told just a simple redesign of the text would come a long way to enhance your idea. Just add some circling arrows and it's practically an enhanced version of the PCC logo. ;)

I had a spare hour this evening, so I cobbled something together too, not really a logo since I can't draw, I don't have good assets for it and I struggle to make any since I can't draw :eek:, but just a composition idea for a logo in badge-form (mostly 'cause I shamelessly stole the basic frame from my Fly Me To The Moon event "medals").

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It's "a bit crude", to be generous :rolleyes:, but just to give some idea in case someone is actually able to draw a proper one.
 
Someone else mentioned this but the shadow on the planet during an eclipse doesn't seem to get drawn until you fly inside it. Quite disappointing really, I thought ED handled light and shade within a system better than this but they're obviously using some tricks and shortcuts (perhaps for efficiency).

So in this video, Kumay is eclipsed the whole time really, but the shadow is only drawn once I fly within it (or perhaps within a certain distance of the moon).

[video=youtube_share;OxwDJGNhh-k]https://youtu.be/OxwDJGNhh-k[/video]

Anyhoo, got a nice screenie of Kumay and Apasam out of it.

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P.S. love the logos!
 
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LOL, just got sent to the Orbital Stockade N-65 at Ross 640 (again) after handing myself in at Bridger Town.

I was checking out a Search Zone: Habitation that appeared in my Navigation list.
The first I came across was deserted but the second one had skimmers and a trespass zone.
 
LOL, just got sent to the Orbital Stockade N-65 at Ross 640 (again) after handing myself in at Bridger Town.

I was checking out a Search Zone: Habitation that appeared in my Navigation list.
The first I came across was deserted but the second one had skimmers and a trespass zone.
LOL - I had a search zone appear a couple of days ago. Was quite surprised actually, I thought they only appeared after you'd accepted a mission. It was a little installation with a beacon to scan ... no skimmers or agro tho. Have you got a loyalty card for the Orbital Stockade yet?

P.S. speaking first great expeditions, check this out!

http://firstgreatexpedition.org/FGEmj/index.php?title=Chi_Herculis_System

Just stumbled across it while googling for kumay and apasam (thought they might be from a greek legend or something). I confess I didn't realise we had any connection with a "First Great Expedtion" when naming our little adventure.
 
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A little bit more scouting this morning (and a couple of videos).

The Lithops Mesa

A pair of flat topped mountains on the edge of a complex canyon area and next to a crater with a nice central mound (named after the Lithops succulent).
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And a short film of a drive from the top of the Lithops across to the crater mound.

[video=youtube_share;8nbui7l_9k8]https://youtu.be/8nbui7l_9k8[/video]
Knievel's Jump

A long narrow canyon which runs almost directly across our path and is perfect for a canyon jump (named after Evel Knievel).

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[video=youtube_share;jZ1Q2RtkrGo]https://youtu.be/jZ1Q2RtkrGo[/video]
Cinder Toffee Mountain

Probably our first hurdle after leaving Bridger.

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3D map now updated!
https://www.maptoglobe.com/ByEOI1NUN

Journey from Grand Canyon Crater via (8) to the Lithops Mesa is possibly an optional diversion for those with more time on their hands but personally I think it will provide some stunning views and terrain and will be well worth a visit.

Updated globe ...

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It looks like the start of expedition is near, so I have a question about rules of circumnavigation.
I wonder what happens if I destroy SRV while driving? Does this mean I failed, or can I continue in another one?

I'm trying to decide what ship to use (one of the small ones) and I'm trying to figure out if there is a reason to bring more than one SRV?

When thinking about it, logic dictates that destuction of SRV and subsequently respawning in orbit disqualifies the attempt, but... what are the house rules in this case?
 
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