The Great Circle - a planetary circumnavigation

Straha Yeagar

S
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Ever since completing my first planetary circumnavigation, I have felt a certain draw, almost a longing to create that personal tie to another planet that can only be done by spending hours driving around it.

Well, that time has come.

I have narrowed it down to two very different plantes. The first is an Icy World ringed gas giant moon with a radius of just over 2000km.

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The thing about the icy world, despite it's smaller radius, my initial scouting showed a whole bunch of interesting features, but it does not look as if there are any smooth spots to speak of, so it will be pretty rough terrain all the way around, not to mention the slipperiness of the ice.



The other is a close orbiting high metal content world with a radius of about 3900 km.

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This planet, while having a much larger radius, and corresponding higher gravity, appears to be fairly smooth with no significant mountains or canyons.



Both planets are less than 1200 ly from the bubble, so in easy quick range for anyone who would want to visit.

I will make the final decision by the end of the day, so any input and thoughts would be very welcome!
 
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Straha Yeagar

S
GeoJase said:
What is your selection criteria? Radius, volcanism, POIs, bases, challenge/speed ratio, orbital vista..?
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The primary criteria for me, which is also a primary driver in all of my exploration, is the system has to be first discovered and tagged by me, and by extension, no bases or settlements. For this particular circumnavigation, I was also looking for a planet that had volcanism, as well as it being larger than what has previously been done by other commanders. I also wanted it close to the bubble so if other commanders wanted to visit while I was on my expedition, those that were in the area would have an easier time dropping in.
 

Orvidius

Orvidius
I guess my question would be, do you want the challenge of rough terrain, or more of the "smooth sailing" sort of feel, where you can keep your speed up most of the time?

But my usual answer when anyone has a hard time choosing between two things is "why not both?" :D
 

Straha Yeagar

S
Orvidius said:
I guess my question would be, do you want the challenge of rough terrain, or more of the "smooth sailing" sort of feel, where you can keep your speed up most of the time?

But my usual answer when anyone has a hard time choosing between two things is "why not both?" :D
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure at this point that I will do both, and likely back to back :D
 

Straha Yeagar

S
Well, there has been a change in plans, or rather change in locations. I eagerly disembarked from the north pole on Synuefai CF-K b52-0 1b. The darkness set an incredible mood which was quickly dashed when it became apparent that this would be a very brutal journey. It took over three hours and four repairs to travel 37 km and cover only 0.5 degrees of latitude.

I managed to recall and board Buckeye II and began a low altitude scouting mission, and quickly realized that I was actually in some of the more hospitable terrain. As it was where I was at, flat surface acceleration was poor and slow, I was losing traction at 20 degree slope, and lost all traction at 40 degree slope. Flyving as a travel strategy was pretty much out because getting any forward momentum on anything other than a flat surface was a struggle

A few quick calculations told me that with best case scenarios, this was going to take over 700 hours of exhausting, frustrating driving. I don't generally have any issues with that type of driving so long as is a few hours here, few hours there, where it can be broken up with some relatively easy, relaxing driving, but pushing five full weeks of driving in this non stop would not be enjoyable to me in the least. Any final sense of accomplishment for me would be completely overshadowed.

So I made the decision to leave this moon, and visit my other choice, Synuefai UI-M b51-0 A1.
 
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Straha Yeagar

S
Yeah, some quick back of napkin calculations indicate that I will actually drive a shorter distance on the 3900km radius planet, though I'm not really fussed about the actual driving distance so much as I just don't think I could handle the duration of extreme terrain. With Meridian, I did sometimes spend hours at a time over the course of a few days in the extreme, but this would be weeks worth of hours with no break.

I have landed at the north pole of Synuefai UI-M b51-0 A1, and plan on disembarking this evening.
 

Alec Turner

Alec Turner
Hard but good call I suspect.

I actually like that, even as experienced SRV drivers, we can still be reminded of our insignificance within the galaxy by extreme terrain (and distance) which, in all honesty, is beyond our limits of ability and endurance.

I don't think space exploration in this game really gives us that, we can go anywhere we like in a day if we choose (someone just set a new sub-7hr Sol to Beagle Point record I believe) and it really isn't very difficult, at all. Planetary exploration on the other hand requires genuine skill to do well and even then we're only really talking about the easy planets. There are monsters of scale and/or terrain out there which, with current 3305 technology, are beyond our ability to conquer. I feel this is quite right and exactly how it should be.

Apropos of this I occasionally fool myself into believing I might one day take a crack at circumnavigating Pomeche 2C. From far enough away it looks doable right? Deep down tho' I know this is nothing but a delusional fantasy and that if I actually set down there to attempt it, within hours I, like you, would be confessing - errr ... maybe not. :ROFLMAO:
 

Straha Yeagar

S
Alec Turner said:
Hard but good call I suspect.

I actually like that, even as experienced SRV drivers, we can still be reminded of our insignificance within the galaxy by extreme terrain (and distance) which, in all honesty, is beyond our limits of ability and endurance.

I don't think space exploration in this game really gives us that, we can go anywhere we like in a day if we choose (someone just set a new sub-7hr Sol to Beagle Point record I believe) and it really isn't very difficult, at all. Planetary exploration on the other hand requires genuine skill to do well and even then we're only really talking about the easy planets. There are monsters of scale and/or terrain out there which, with current 3305 technology, are beyond our ability to conquer. I feel this is quite right and exactly how it should be.

Apropos of this I occasionally fool myself into believing I might one day take a crack at circumnavigating Pomeche 2C. From far enough away it looks doable right? Deep down tho' I know this is nothing but a delusional fantasy and that if I actually set down there to attempt it, within hours I, like you, would be confessing - errr ... maybe not. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Yeah, SRV planetary exploration is the one thing left that is not impacted by engineering, and relies primarily on pure skill. It is you vs the planet, and the planet is a whole lot bigger than you are.
 
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