Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

Spaceman Si

Spaceman Si
Thank God for Long Wave and Radio 4. Beaming the essence of proper British order to expats since whenever :)

I will put in a mention for watching a particular episode of “Black Books” where the shipping forecast plays a significant comedy role in the proceedings, but fear it might be deemed unsuitable for kiddies. So I won’t. But Google will help you out on that front, if interested, I am sure :)
 

wAsh67

W
While collecting materials for engineering (exceptional wake etc etc etc) I took a black box mission for about 600k credits, which gets whittled down to 150k plus the materials. Didn't look at the recommended rank, or the hazard rating, cuz I'm hard, like. I just nonchalantly cruised the 7000 light seconds and piled right on in, scooped up the first black box of two, then noticed that my shields had gone and I'm surrounded by beams of light like a 1980's disco. Now my hull is starting to fail ridiculously fast, even with three size 4 HRPs in the military slots. I find that a wing of 4 NPCs are tearing me a new thingamubutt. Low wake out before the pucker factor becomes an underwear change.
Wait for the shields to recharge and target the site in the discovery scanner to find it has suddenly moved a further 7000 light seconds and is Hazard 4 rated.
Back in I go to to see how fast I can scoop up that second black box, only to find that both black boxes have respawned, so I pick up the first and before I know it the four NPCs are back and stripping my shields like scouse chavs on a parked Vauxhall Corsa. I boost boost boost until I can bail out again, intending to abort the mission and suffer the consequences to my rep, as although I have two black boxes, I now have about 4% hull left, I haven't had a successful mission email and the two black boxes in the hold are from separate instances. So I plod back to my employer to make my apologies, only to find the mission completed successfully and claim my reward!.

Why do I feel like I've kinda cheated a little.....

edit - it was a low wake out not a high....
 
Last edited:

Phongsalt

Phongsalt
It's a black box.There could be anything in there.Nobody knows.Don't sweat the small stuff.
But yeah,those scenarios are quite exciting.Expect the unexpected.I think they warn you before you accept the mission, but it's been awhile since i last took one.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Black Box missions are a bit like an inside out Heisenberg box with you in the roll of the cat.

Allegedly some are easy like the one you did with only two boxes and survivable enemies others have more boxes and more death and destruction.

Whichever sort you get there is something to be said for using collector limpets for a high speed run.
 

Spaceman Si

Spaceman Si
wAsh67 said:
before I know it the four NPCs are back and stripping my shields like scouse chavs on a parked Vauxhall Corsa.
Click to expand...

Comment of the day, that :D :D :D

I was once on a BA domestic flight to Glasgow, which was over Liverpool at the the time the pilot did the usual in-flight update on how things were going. He added "We're over Liverpool at the moment, so it's a good job the undercarriage is up".

I miss the days of ad-hoc commentary from pilots :)
 

Codger

Codger
I needed some Datamined Wake Exceptions to finish converting my FSD range upgrade to the new system, but I didn't feel like doing the whole Jameson crash thing, so I decided to just hang out at Jameson Memorial and scan wakes the old fashioned way. I figured I needed 7 or 8 to max out Grade 5.

I still have a long-range wake scanner from days of yore, and it has just over 5km range which makes it a bit easier to get them wakes. I was reasonably lucky and got 9 of the needed items in about 20 minutes. It required 8 of them to max the drive :) Good to go!

After that I gave my 'conda a new paint job to commemorate the change of role from passenger liner to long-distance traveler. I had a golden one I had never used, so this seemed like a good time to dig it out. Looks pretty cool, at least in some lighting. I wish it was a bit more reflective, but it has a kind of matte finish.

140098


Anyway, I then took the ship for a test run. I plotted a course to Colonia using the Neutron Plotter, which is a fantastic tool. Then I went ahead and flew the course for an hour or so. Maybe a bit longer, but I was testing stuff.

I had no big issues doing the supercharges, although I still feel rather tense while doing them. It'll take a bit longer to get into the flow, probably.

I stopped at the end to test out my AFMU process. My FSD was at about 90% at that point, and the AFMU repaired it back to 100% in just a few seconds. Painless, really. I also had to divert once to a scoopable star. The Neutron Plotter doesn't do that for you, you have to know your own ship and be sure to refuel as needed.

The plotter tells me it will take 131 jumps to get to Colonia from Shinrarta Dezhra. So add a few for scooping, I guess.

So far, using the Neutron boosts is definitely saving me a lot of jumps. It's also more interesting than the standard jump/honk/jump/honk sequence. It's not saving me a huge amount of time (so far) because I'm still learning the process, but I think it will result in some time savings once I get into the groove.

I got about 4000LY out in my hour or so of futzing around. That's about how far I'd go in an hour if I just buckyballed it the old way, but it took a lot less jumps.

So now I'm out here -- do I keep going or come back? I didn't really plan on going to Colonia just now. I'll think on it overnight.
 

Phongsalt

Phongsalt
I'm now 200 or so jumps from my destination parked at the confluence of three sectors, probably the furthest i've been.Tomorrow i will set out across the Outer Orion-Perseus Conflux.
I've totalled my scarab, which is inconvenient, if not a disaster.At the least, i should arrive earlier,not feeling the compulsion (or having the ability) to gather mats any more. But i have enough mats to get where i'm going and return safely if i exercise caution.I just need to rein in my sense of wheeeee!
 

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos
I love my Python and when I finally arrive in Colonia in it, with all its engineered weapons, thrusters, shields and what not, it will come in handy to run missions and cosy up to the local factions. I will have some time to kill because I’ll shipping my Dolphin over from the bubble and MY GOD do I miss my Dolphin!

I love that little thing. Pretty sure once I’m done in Colonia and my Dolphin is available, I’ll put the Python in storage there and not bother with populated systems for some time.
 

Codger

Codger
I decided to return to the bubble as I originally planned. So I plotted my course back and spent another hour traveling the neutron highway.

I'm getting a bit more comfortable with the process. It's certainly more engaging than normal traveling. I think the risk factor helps keep you awake :p Plus there's just more to do and think about. Each star is a bit different, and you have to pay attention.

Normal traveling is more relaxing (or boring, depending on your mood I guess).

I'm doing about 4000LY/hour, but not really trying to be super efficient. I think I can probably get to around 5000LY/hour with more practice, and if I concentrate on not wasting time (not something I'm good at, hehe).

So overall it'll probably be faster, especially for really long journeys. It's a cool technique to have available. It makes planning a journey, and then traveling as planned, a bit more interesting. I will definitely be doing more of it when the need arises.

For now though, I have stuff to do in the bubble.

Here's a shot of a neutron star with an interesting sort of patterned glow in the middle, around the star itself. I find the neutron stars to be both frightening and beautiful.


140175
 

Phongsalt

Phongsalt
Codger said:
I decided to return to the bubble as I originally planned. So I plotted my course back and spent another hour traveling the neutron highway.

I'm getting a bit more comfortable with the process. It's certainly more engaging than normal traveling. I think the risk factor helps keep you awake :p Plus there's just more to do and think about. Each star is a bit different, and you have to pay attention.

Normal traveling is more relaxing (or boring, depending on your mood I guess).

I'm doing about 4000LY/hour, but not really trying to be super efficient. I think I can probably get to around 5000LY/hour with more practice, and if I concentrate on not wasting time (not something I'm good at, hehe).

So overall it'll probably be faster, especially for really long journeys. It's a cool technique to have available. It makes planning a journey, and then traveling as planned, a bit more interesting. I will definitely be doing more of it when the need arises.

For now though, I have stuff to do in the bubble.

Here's a shot of a neutron star with an interesting sort of patterned glow in the middle, around the star itself. I find the neutron stars to be both frightening and beautiful.


View attachment 140175
Click to expand...
it's a great way to travel somewhere far away fast, but beware the white dwarf.They can be lethal.

P.S.Thanks Para Handy.
 
Last edited:

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Codger said:
I decided to return to the bubble as I originally planned. So I plotted my course back and spent another hour traveling the neutron highway.

I'm getting a bit more comfortable with the process. It's certainly more engaging than normal traveling. I think the risk factor helps keep you awake :p Plus there's just more to do and think about. Each star is a bit different, and you have to pay attention.

Normal traveling is more relaxing (or boring, depending on your mood I guess).

I'm doing about 4000LY/hour, but not really trying to be super efficient. I think I can probably get to around 5000LY/hour with more practice, and if I concentrate on not wasting time (not something I'm good at, hehe).

So overall it'll probably be faster, especially for really long journeys. It's a cool technique to have available. It makes planning a journey, and then traveling as planned, a bit more interesting. I will definitely be doing more of it when the need arises.

For now though, I have stuff to do in the bubble.

Here's a shot of a neutron star with an interesting sort of patterned glow in the middle, around the star itself. I find the neutron stars to be both frightening and beautiful.


View attachment 140175
Click to expand...
Just a friendly reminder - repair your FSD regularly. ;)
Under 80% integrity, random malfunctions can occur. And however random, they tend to happen WHILST neutron scooping. And although the Anaconda is a big ship and isn't thrashed around nearly as much as the smaller vessels, it's pretty damn hard to escape the jet, especially as the FSD is... well... prone to malfunction again. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom