Let's see where this little ravine takes me

[Alec Turner]

Somewhere deep in the heart of the mountain ...

Spoiler

The climb itself was difficult, with much fighting for grip on the near vertical slopes and several slides back down past the tyre tracks of previous attempts to gain altitude. But slowly, inexorably, progress was made and another "Wormwood" summit was claimed in the name of the Planetary Circumnavigation Club.

(note the tracks of my final ascent illuminated in the dull glow of my headlights!)

What tomorrow brings I cannot say. I still have over 1,200 km left to go and now I'm a wanted man!

 

[Walter2]

The climb itself was difficult, with much fighting for grip on the near vertical slopes and several slides back down past the tyre tracks of previous attempts to gain altitude. But slowly, inexorably, progress was made and another "Wormwood" summit was claimed in the name of the Planetary Circumnavigation Club.
(note the tracks of my final ascent illuminated in the dull glow of my headlights!)

That takes me back - I'm envious. Great story.

 

[Alec Turner]

Spent a day on top of the mountain waiting for daylight but finally got my moment this morning.

I'm always amazed when I've logged out teetering right on the top of a peak that I don't find myself a few metres off and falling fast when I next log back in.

It's actually pretty extraordinary given that the entire damn planet (let alone galaxy) is procedurally generated that I'm still right there on top of the same peak next time I play. I mean it is, and it isn't. I'm a software engineer with a computer science degree so I know that software is deterministic and frankly it would be weird if I wasn't in exactly the same place on exactly the same terrain ... but it also still seems like magic sometimes.

Anyway, with the top of this mountain being like the crown of a tooth I was fortunate enough to have a little hollow in which I could drop a Guardian key. I had to be careful about where to position the SRV before jettisoning it, and I reckoned the odds were 50/50 that I'd end up chasing the damn thing back down the mountain but in the end it worked out nicely!

And then it was back down the mountain again to continue my journey East. I did start videoing the descent but unfortunately the ground got a bit flaky on me so the video had all sorts of ugly clipping issues and I binned it in the end. Made it down tho - looks like I've turned to the dark side again!

Also discovered something I hadn't realised about the camera suite. When you first go into it and can then step through a series of different viewpoints before switching to freecam mode, the game remembers your last viewpoint. So I selected a POV looking back the way I came, then came out of camera suite, continued driving, and could then easily switch back into camera and take quick snaps before the next bounce until I got a good one.

Here's a quick shot a bit further on.

Logged out just on the edge of this semi-crater.

I now have 120° left to go (1,500km) which means I'm ⅔ of the way round.

 

[Orvidius]

It's actually pretty extraordinary given that the entire damn planet (let alone galaxy) is procedurally generated that I'm still right there on top of the same peak next time I play. I mean it is, and it isn't. I'm a software engineer with a computer science degree so I know that software is deterministic and frankly it would be weird if I wasn't in exactly the same place on exactly the same terrain ... but it also still seems like magic sometimes.

I know exactly what you mean. The thing is, if you work with computers and software long enough, you learn what kinds of things can fail. All it takes is for them to save your position state in a way that introduces rounding errors, and there you go... You fall off that mountain on next login. Even though it all "should" be deterministic, in practice we come to distrust the software and data alike.

 

[Walter2]

I'm always amazed, but there is a slight element of adjustment when you log back in (a deliberate programmatic feature, a random event, or a rounded calculation?). That's why I always put the handbrake on when logging off at the top of a mountain (even though I know it will be off by the time I log back in, but I live in hope).
As you log back in the SRV settles on its springs as gravity takes a hand (or as the software rationalises the SRV wheels and the terrain), but you don't fall off the peak unless the login registers that you've inadvertently pushed the throttle forward when offline.
There is one chance of recovery if you get stuck in a crevice where no trick will move the vehicle - twisting the wheels, going forward, reversing, boosting, swearing, or any combination of these. Logging off and back on again more often than not grants you enough wiggle to get out of the hole. That's saved me several times.

 

[iain666]

Logging off and back on again more often than not grants you enough wiggle to get out of the hole. That's saved me several times.

And if it doesn't then logging off and relaunching in non-Horizons mode is guaranteed.

 

[Alec Turner]

Right - quick progress update. Saturday saw a bit of this ..

.. and quite a lot of this ..

Sunday it was pitch black but that was fine because I was scheduled to join @jnTracks on the Distant Screws expedition to Colonia, jumping into his co-pilot seat for a couple of hours ..

.. while we talked about exploration and flyving and formula 1 vs. Nascar racing and whether I should watch Flight of the Navigator or Jupiter Ascending.
You can watch most of that here.

Spoiler

Today saw some of this ..

.. some of that ..

.. and quite a lot of the other ..

Then I veered towards a mountain I'd seen on the Horizon ..

.. which, seeing as I was already travelling at 150m/s, I decided to just speed climb.

I'm currently heading for geological site 30 which is pretty much dead ahead and just 200km away (was 500km when I parked up yesterday so I should get there tomorrow at the current rate).

 

[Yargulius]

Keep it coming Alec.
This thread belongs in your 'Best of' for sure - maybe right at the top.

 

[Alec Turner]

Two things to report today - I've arrived at geological site #30 (some very small and barely active fumaroles) and I've also realised that the parent body's rings, which have been an ever present companion on this journey so far, have now entirely disappeared from view.

What will be exciting to see now as I continue through the final 90° is when that thin white line finally peaks above the horizon in front of me once more.

 

[Alec Turner]

Morning, and site #30 is now bathed in daylight which highlights all the smoke beautifully!

I do a quick recce from the air but, aside from a crater alongside the fumarole site, there's not much to see around here ..

.. so I it's off we go ..

.. and full steam ahead towards the Eastern horizon.

A short while later and, as I drive over slightly higher ground, I finally see what I've been waiting for, the rings of the parent body peeping up over the horizon!

Now I'm truly on the final stretch. But wait ... who's this I find just a bit farther on?

Turns out to be a WANTED Phantom pilot, a novice by the name of Adam Russell.

He's just sat there (eating his lunch or something) so I decide to recall my own ship so we can see the two Krait variants parked up face to face.

Hmmm, is it me or is that gap between the two ships actually narrower than an SRV? Time to find out!

Nearby I find the following scene - a downed SLF, an occupied escape capsule and a cannister of narcotics.

So what went on here? Suggestions on a postcard to: Cmdr Turner, Little Ravine, Wormwood, HIP 23759.

I'm now just 57° from being back where I started!

 

[Alec Turner]

A little footnote to this mornings adventure.

This evening I was doing some material gathering (as the Iron is running rather low) and I find another site with 6 more escape pods.

Alas I don't have the spare capacity in my ship to rescue them so I thought I'd do a nice tribute to these fallen commanders instead.

In theory it seemed like a lovely thing to do.

In practice, it's turned into something absolutely horrific which I'm now truly ashamed of.

I think I'd better clear this up before I traumatise any passing children.

 

[Alec Turner]

Not a vast amount to report. Yesterday I only had an hour - mostly flat terrain with a couple of detours into small ravives. I was curious about my average speed so I did some calculations at the end of it.

The radius of the planet is 720km and 2 * π * 720 gives us a circumference of 4,524km.
I covered 13° (out of a total of 360).
4524 * (13 / 260) means I covered a distance of around 163km in an hour.
That's 163000m per hour, which is 2716m per minute, or 45.2m/s.

I wasn't going crazy, max speeds were just a tad over 100m/s (I don't like going much faster, too mush damage) and I stopped to look at some stuff and to gather a few materials.

So, nice to know for future circumnavigations. It's quite possible to average nearly 50m/s.

And today it was dark again. I covered some more distance, getting myself exactly back on the 0° equator line and then trying to stick to it for a bit of challenge in what was otherwise a pretty uneventful hour and a half.

Then at the end of the session I decided to get the Guardian Keys out again and try to do a photograph with them surrounding the Krait. There aerial photo looking down on the ship that I'd planned wasn't great at all. The head on view was kinda cool ..

.. but, almost by accident, this turned out to be the money shot!

Once in a while you get a screenshot where you just think - wow - now that one's special.

I'm now sat at 125°. The end of my journey lies at around the 157° line so that's 32° left to travel. Maybe three days?

 

[Alec Turner]

Quick follow up session this evening with the "sun" setting behind me. Huge crater mound shadow from the air ..

.. from the ground ..

.. and leaving it behind.

Now at 130°

 

[Walter2]

The radius of the planet is 720km and 2 * π * 720 gives us a circumference of 4,524km.
I covered 13° (out of a total of 360).
4524 * (13 / 260) means I covered a distance of around 163km in an hour.
That's 163000m per hour, which is 2716m per minute, or 45.2m/s.

I wasn't going crazy, max speeds were just a tad over 100m/s (I don't like going much faster, too mush damage) and I stopped to look at some stuff and to gather a few materials.

We could never travel together, Alec, my nerves would never stand it. You're entirely without reck.

 

[Alec Turner]

We could never travel together, Alec, my nerves would never stand it. You're entirely without reck.

And thankfully also without wreck at the moment. Also ... didn't you do your circumnavigation in about a quarter of the time it's taken me? I would say 400m/s but I'm guessing it's more to do with having more spare time ... that and not taking a half-time break.

 

[Walter2]

And thankfully also without wreck at the moment. Also ... didn't you do your circumnavigation in about a quarter of the time it's taken me? I would say 400m/s but I'm guessing it's more to do with having more spare time ... that and not taking a half-time break.

Exactly so - I spend far too much time EDing when I should be finishing that symphony, starting a new biography of Napoleon and finding a cure for cancer.
(I have very pretentious daydreams - the fantasy starts when I stop playing.)

 

[Alec Turner]

Pitch dark again.

Another mountain scaled ..

Best new skill I've learned on this trip is how to take screenshots from a vehicle moving at 120m/s - none of that tiresome braking and stopping for me now!

Now at 151°. So around 6° left to go (or 75km). I can easily do that in a single session but I want to wait for daylight so I can once again find the start of that "little ravine" which set me on this path nearly 3 months ago.

Here's a thought for anyone dreading 3 more months (perhaps?) of social distancing ... why not start a planetary circumnavigation? By the time you've finished it who knows, you might even be able to go to a pub to celebrate!

 

[Alec Turner]

And so we come to it at last, the bittersweet taste of the end of another circumnavigation.

The session begins with one final mountain range to be climbed.

It's ever so slightly North of my course but what the heck, it's a beautiful bright morning and I have plenty of time before the next sunset so one more summit before the end I think!

I also get to see my first sight of the once familiar parent gas giant peeking back over the horizon from up here!

Then it's back to the equator for the final leg of this wonderful journey.

Before long I'm back amongst a series of canyons which look strangely familiar.

Foolishly I didn't record exact coordinates for the start of the little ravine where this adventure truly began so in the end I have to resort to some aerial reconnaissance to find the exact spot but eventually, after careful comparison with the original screenshot, I'm there!

Here's the original.

Spoiler

I like how the shadows are on opposite sides of the ravine in the two images.

Well, I guess that's it ... except ... that little ravine does look awfully inviting!

I probably won't do another complete circumnavigation but ... I guess I'll just drive a bit more and see where it takes me ...

God speed commanders, thanks for following. Be strong, be safe, long may life's great adventure continue!

❤

o7

 

[Alec Turner]

Footnote: departure and some science.

I wanted to conduct some experiments with the remaining Guardian Keys - specfically I was curious about how far you could get from an item dropped on a planet surface before it disappeared. First of all I recalled my ship one last time ..

.. and then took off. Fairwell Wormwood!

I decided to take my remaining Guardian Keys to the Pomeche Ridge - seemed as good a place as any to measure ground distances. My method was to drop a key at the -65° Black finish line and then fly back along the ridge to a certain point, turn around, and then fly back again to see if the key was still there. I lost a fair few keys doing this but ultimately found that I could get to 64.375° before it disappeared. Interestingly I was also curious as to how far away I could get before I lost sight of the thing and found that in fact, by turning lights, nightvision and the cockpit HUD off (so I was in complete darkness) I could basically make out a flickering blue pixel in the distance pretty much right up to that same distance.

So, 0.625° is the max distance. Pomeche 2C has a radius of 742 km, so a circumference of 4,662.1235 km.

0.625 x 4662.1235 / 360 = 8 km, almost exactly.

Finally, with just 6 keys remaining I decided to try two other things. I flew on to Cortes Base in Ross 1047 - a planetary city perched on top of another ridge which is playing host to a number of Buckyball and Elite Racer challenges. The first thing I tried was to drop a Guardian Key underneath the city (there's a gap in the city edge at Cortes where you can drive underneath) and then drive back out and above ground to see if you can see the glow through the ground. You can't.

Then I dropped a few in the exit tunnel - just for fun.

And lastly I decided to drop one at the 10 km line of the Drag Strip challenge to see if that could be used as a sneaky way of marking the point where you need to stop, turn around and head back to the city. One time it worked (i.e. having placed the marker and returned to the start line, when I then drove the course in the SRV I did indeed find the marker still there) and the second time it didn't (i.e. the marker was gone). This fits with my 8 km max distance finding above as the outer edge of the city where you start from is actually around 2 km from the center of the city and thus roughly 8 km from the 10 km line.

 

[Esteban]

...gee and I was just wondering if you saw your SRV's tire tracks when you reached the beginning of your circumnavigation. What a wonderful journey!

Happy travels.