Buckyball Racing Club presents: The Aquarian Job - Extended Cut (06.05.3303 - 19.05.3303)
Following the succesful collaboration in the making of last year's "Grom in 60 Seconds" motion picture, the Buckyball Racing Club has partnered one more time with Clayakarma Electronics, this time for the promotion of their upcoming motion picture "The Aquarian Job", a modernized reboot of the 30th century original classic "The Lavian Job".
Participating members will be involved in a promotional race covering the main locations of the events portrayed in the movie; namely, the populous London Relay in the iconic Epsilon Indi system, the solitary Bridger Town planetary outpost in Chi Herculis, and the far-flung Cooper Arena settlement in the 241 G. Aquarii system, around which the main movie plot revolves.
To allow contestants to reenact the actions at Cooper Arena as depicted in the main movie sequence, where the protagonist's ragtag team of theft professionals is involved in a hazardous SRV mission to the settlement in order to sabotage its state of the art defence system and steal an extremely valuable data package, the real Cooper Arena director of operations Ben Nyhill has agreed to provide a prop data beacon for runners to simulate the package "stealing", also while keeping it disconnected from the defence grid that's actually operating in live fire mode for ongoing real-world settlement operations. Nyhill has also stressed the fact that due to the sentry turrets mainframe's security hardcoding, while he can guarantee the safety of everyone involved in operations around the prop data beacon, Cooper Arena Administration Board won't be held responsible for any damage incurred by participants from improper or aggressive actions carried out in close proximity to the turrets perimeter.
RULES AT A GLANCE
The race can be run in two different classes: a regulation "Adder Fodder" class (recalling the exact same type of ship and build used by main characters in the movie), and an Open Unlimited class where every type of ship in any configuration is welcome. Engineered modules, enhanced performance thrusters and FSD injection are NOT allowed in this race. Sorry ship-tuning folks!
Of course, participants can have runs in both classes. Open Unlimited attempts in multiple ships are allowed, though only the best entry will show on the boards at any one time, with the notable exception of the Beluga liner. Pilots who will risk their luxury cruisers on the course may have two entries on the leaderboard, one for the Beluga and another for any other better run done in a different ship.
Repairing and refueling of the ship during the run is NOT allowed, participants will have to plan ahead their scoopings and manage their hulls and modules integrity accordingly (more on this below). Repair of the SRV by synthesis IS allowed.
The race runs from Saturday May 6th 3303 at 00:00:00 to Friday May 19th at 05:59:59 AM. All times are server time, entries ending after the deadline are still valid as long as they started before it.
RULES IN DETAIL
THE FREQUENT FLYERS CLUB AND BIG AIR CHALLENGE
OK, I WANT TO TRY THIS! HOW DO I ENTER?
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FREQUENTLY QUESTIONED ASKINGS
Following the succesful collaboration in the making of last year's "Grom in 60 Seconds" motion picture, the Buckyball Racing Club has partnered one more time with Clayakarma Electronics, this time for the promotion of their upcoming motion picture "The Aquarian Job", a modernized reboot of the 30th century original classic "The Lavian Job".
Participating members will be involved in a promotional race covering the main locations of the events portrayed in the movie; namely, the populous London Relay in the iconic Epsilon Indi system, the solitary Bridger Town planetary outpost in Chi Herculis, and the far-flung Cooper Arena settlement in the 241 G. Aquarii system, around which the main movie plot revolves.
To allow contestants to reenact the actions at Cooper Arena as depicted in the main movie sequence, where the protagonist's ragtag team of theft professionals is involved in a hazardous SRV mission to the settlement in order to sabotage its state of the art defence system and steal an extremely valuable data package, the real Cooper Arena director of operations Ben Nyhill has agreed to provide a prop data beacon for runners to simulate the package "stealing", also while keeping it disconnected from the defence grid that's actually operating in live fire mode for ongoing real-world settlement operations. Nyhill has also stressed the fact that due to the sentry turrets mainframe's security hardcoding, while he can guarantee the safety of everyone involved in operations around the prop data beacon, Cooper Arena Administration Board won't be held responsible for any damage incurred by participants from improper or aggressive actions carried out in close proximity to the turrets perimeter.
RULES AT A GLANCE
The race can be run in two different classes: a regulation "Adder Fodder" class (recalling the exact same type of ship and build used by main characters in the movie), and an Open Unlimited class where every type of ship in any configuration is welcome. Engineered modules, enhanced performance thrusters and FSD injection are NOT allowed in this race. Sorry ship-tuning folks!
Of course, participants can have runs in both classes. Open Unlimited attempts in multiple ships are allowed, though only the best entry will show on the boards at any one time, with the notable exception of the Beluga liner. Pilots who will risk their luxury cruisers on the course may have two entries on the leaderboard, one for the Beluga and another for any other better run done in a different ship.
- Start from London Relay in Epsilon Indi
- Fly to Bridger Town in Chi Herculis, land there and depart
- Reach Cooper Arena in 241 G. Aquarii
- Land at least 8 km away from the settlement. Any point is valid, as long as its distance from Cooper is no less than 8 km.
- Reach the settlement by SRV and scan the data point there.
- Put at least 5 km between you and the settlement, then recall your ship for departure
- Land again at London Relay in Epsilon Indi
- Simple as that!
Repairing and refueling of the ship during the run is NOT allowed, participants will have to plan ahead their scoopings and manage their hulls and modules integrity accordingly (more on this below). Repair of the SRV by synthesis IS allowed.
The race runs from Saturday May 6th 3303 at 00:00:00 to Friday May 19th at 05:59:59 AM. All times are server time, entries ending after the deadline are still valid as long as they started before it.
RULES IN DETAIL
SHIP CLASSES
- Adder Fodder: test your flying prowess at the pilot chair of an Adder (surprise, suprise!). To be eligible for the regulation class, the ship must be outfitted exactly as follows: - link to Coriolis -
Solo Orbiter in the nearby Altair system has a shipyard selling them, and is usually good on stock with the required modules for outfitting as requested.
- Open Unlimited: any space-worthy contraption is good to go, as long as no tuned parts are installed. Yes, this is a Beluga-friendly race! If you can stand the abysmal stock jump range, and find a spot where to land it, that is (wink wink).
STEP BY STEP COURSE INSTRUCTIONS
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IMPORTANT NOTE: given the nature of the game's data point scanning mechanics, it's only possible to do a proper scan of a data point once about every 15 days (I'll be pleased to be corrected if I'm wrong), trying to repeatedly scan the same data point will return the message "Package already accessed" after a far shorter scan time. For this reason, a screenshot with this message is totally valid; more so, I strongly suggest to do a survey of the Cooper Arena settlement before diving head-first in the race, to shorten your scan time for subsequent attempt as well as for planning your possible landing and departing points.
If you did everything right for the mandatory requirements, you should find yourself with no less than 10 screenshots. Or a nice video from which to grab those. Sorry I know, that's quite a lot of them.
But it's not over yet! Now on to the bonus stuff!
HEAT / HULL TIME BONUSES
If you thought this was all too straightforward until now, you were right. It's not a Buckyball race without some quirks thrown in the mix! Good news, this time around there aren't that many quirks. Bad news, those couple of quirks that remain have the word "rebuy" written all over them. Lucky you, the Adder is a cheap b****rd...
To sum it up, the more you manage to overheat your ship during the run, the more of a bonus you get. Every two percent point above the 100% mark will count for a subtracted second from your total time, simple as that. Reach 220% heat and get your free one-whopping-minute time bonus! Beware: your FSD, thrusters and power distributors may have a different opinion about that.
As for the hull related bonus, it's an all-or-nothing business reserved for shieldless builds only:
- Adder Fodder: test your flying prowess at the pilot chair of an Adder (surprise, suprise!). To be eligible for the regulation class, the ship must be outfitted exactly as follows: - link to Coriolis -
Solo Orbiter in the nearby Altair system has a shipyard selling them, and is usually good on stock with the required modules for outfitting as requested.
- Open Unlimited: any space-worthy contraption is good to go, as long as no tuned parts are installed. Yes, this is a Beluga-friendly race! If you can stand the abysmal stock jump range, and find a spot where to land it, that is (wink wink).
STEP BY STEP COURSE INSTRUCTIONS
- While docked at London Relay, take a screenshot of the station main screen showing your credits, and another of your module panel showing your ship's loadout (the regulation Adder list should fit in one screenshot, grab more accordingly to the equipped ship).
- Take another screenshot before launching with the clock visible, this will count as the start time of your entry.
- Go, go, go!
- Reach Bridger Town in Chi Herculis, land there and take a screenshot when docked with station clock visible.
- Depart immediately and head for Cooper Arena; once there, find a suitable spot to land that is no less than 8 km away from the settlement.
- Take a screenshot in the landed ship, showing both clock and distance to settlement. This will count as your SRV section start time.
- Reach Cooper Arena; once there, scan the data point and take a screenshot showing the scan confirmation message and the clock.
- Get away from Cooper arena and take a screenshot when you have driven at least 5 km away from it before returning to your ship (the ship can be recalled at any time, just make sure to have traveled 5 km away as requested before boarding it)
- Take another screenshot as soon as you stop under your ship ready for boarding. The screenshot must show the clock, 0 m/s speed and the "Board ship" light on. This will count as your SRV section finish time. (sorry for asking you two screenshots for the recall part; during test runs I noticed that the ship had an habit of landing several hundred meters back before the 5 km line, making it impossible to prove to have traveled the required distance in a single capture)
- Depart and fly back to London Relay in Epsilon Indi
- Once docked, take a screenshot showing your hull and the station clock, this will count as the finish time of the complete entry.
- Take a last screenshot of the station main screen showing again your credits. For the entry to be valid, this value must be the same as the starting one (NO refuel or repair during race).
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IMPORTANT NOTE: given the nature of the game's data point scanning mechanics, it's only possible to do a proper scan of a data point once about every 15 days (I'll be pleased to be corrected if I'm wrong), trying to repeatedly scan the same data point will return the message "Package already accessed" after a far shorter scan time. For this reason, a screenshot with this message is totally valid; more so, I strongly suggest to do a survey of the Cooper Arena settlement before diving head-first in the race, to shorten your scan time for subsequent attempt as well as for planning your possible landing and departing points.
If you did everything right for the mandatory requirements, you should find yourself with no less than 10 screenshots. Or a nice video from which to grab those. Sorry I know, that's quite a lot of them.
But it's not over yet! Now on to the bonus stuff!
HEAT / HULL TIME BONUSES
If you thought this was all too straightforward until now, you were right. It's not a Buckyball race without some quirks thrown in the mix! Good news, this time around there aren't that many quirks. Bad news, those couple of quirks that remain have the word "rebuy" written all over them. Lucky you, the Adder is a cheap b****rd...
To sum it up, the more you manage to overheat your ship during the run, the more of a bonus you get. Every two percent point above the 100% mark will count for a subtracted second from your total time, simple as that. Reach 220% heat and get your free one-whopping-minute time bonus! Beware: your FSD, thrusters and power distributors may have a different opinion about that.
As for the hull related bonus, it's an all-or-nothing business reserved for shieldless builds only:
- be a smooth operator and bring your ship around the full course with a 100% unscathed hull to earn an additional 20 seconds bonus!
- Or, go the complete nut way and smear the charred and battered remains of your flying machine all over the landing pad with just that 1% hull that somehow still keeps the whole thing together. It's happened several times before, I know you can do it. Pull the stunt off and enjoy another full minute time bonus, you've deserved it. And now that you survived that, how about going for another run? It's all downhill from there!
- To be eligible for the heat time bonus, your entry must include an additional screenshot showing the maximum overheating reached and the hud clock.
- The hull time bonus can be applied to shieldless entries only, no additional screenshot required.
This race is about flying as much as it is about driving. Those actors in the movie pulled some totally hilarious stunts in their driving scenes, why not prove to spectators that Buckyballers can do even better without multiple takes and fancy special effects? This is what these two challenges are for.
FREQUENT FLYERS CLUB
Every skilled SRV operator knows that driving fast is more about keeping the wheels detached from the ground, than actually rolling over it. Prove your might by competing for the most distance traveled in full flight in a single hop. Additional evidence is required to be eligible for this challenge, either by video or in the form of two additional (yes, another two!) screenshots; one just after your SRV has left the ground and another just before you touch down. Distance to/from Cooper must be visible in both to calculate the actual distance traveled in flight.
BIG AIR CHALLENGE
A returning one from the well received Total Recall 2 event, it requires competitors to provide an additional (and also last one, I swear!) screenshot showing the maximum height attained at any point during the SRV part of the race.
Those two challenges are optional and don't count in any way for the final standings of the main event. For both challenges, the screenshots must also show the hud clock to prove that they are from a valid run. The FFC and BAC standings will report the best entries out of any valid run submitted by any participant.A submission that improves those optional entries but not the main total time will not be considered valid and won't count for any board.
FREQUENT FLYERS CLUB
Every skilled SRV operator knows that driving fast is more about keeping the wheels detached from the ground, than actually rolling over it. Prove your might by competing for the most distance traveled in full flight in a single hop. Additional evidence is required to be eligible for this challenge, either by video or in the form of two additional (yes, another two!) screenshots; one just after your SRV has left the ground and another just before you touch down. Distance to/from Cooper must be visible in both to calculate the actual distance traveled in flight.
BIG AIR CHALLENGE
A returning one from the well received Total Recall 2 event, it requires competitors to provide an additional (and also last one, I swear!) screenshot showing the maximum height attained at any point during the SRV part of the race.
Those two challenges are optional and don't count in any way for the final standings of the main event. For both challenges, the screenshots must also show the hud clock to prove that they are from a valid run. The FFC and BAC standings will report the best entries out of any valid run submitted by any participant.
Declare your intent to race in this thread by providing the following informations:
When you have completed your run, click on the SUBMIT TIME button right below here or under the banner at the top and enter all the required information, together with a link to your (insane amount of) screenshot or video evidence. Any upload service like Imgur or the likes will do. If you recorded a video of your run but have problems with or can't wait for the uploading times, I strongly suggest you grab the required screenshots from the video and send those instead (and you'll also make me a favour for checking evidence, you can't even imagine the amount of lazyness going on here).
- Cmdr name
- Forum username (if different from cmdr name)
- Race class
- Ship name
- Ship type
- SRV name
When you have completed your run, click on the SUBMIT TIME button right below here or under the banner at the top and enter all the required information, together with a link to your (insane amount of) screenshot or video evidence. Any upload service like Imgur or the likes will do. If you recorded a video of your run but have problems with or can't wait for the uploading times, I strongly suggest you grab the required screenshots from the video and send those instead (and you'll also make me a favour for checking evidence, you can't even imagine the amount of lazyness going on here).
- Can I run in any game mode?
Yes, whether you prefer to play in Open, Solo or Private Group, all is fine as long as you follow the race rules. Of course Open is the suggested game mode, if only for the chance of meeting other runners on the course; since London Relay may be quite a busy port at times though, if you fear you may create troubles for unaware cmdrs with your flying stunts you are free to go the Solo or PG way.
- Are engineers modifications allowed in this race?
As reported above in the full rules, no, they aren't allowed in any form (even enhanced performance thrusters are prohibited). If you'd like to enter the race in a ship of yours but you have modded even the coffee machine out of it, remember you can store your engineered modules and temporarily swap them for some stock ones. Also remember that stock coffee machines produce just an awful brown crap.
- And what about synthesis?
Synthesis isn't allowed as well for the flying part of the race. No FSD boost or anything else. However, IT IS allowed for the SRV part. If you find yourself mid-air in your rover coming down at 100+ m/s with a 4% hull, a literal on-the-fly repair is more than welcome!
- Is there any prize for the winner?
Bad news here, the folks over at Clayakarma Electronics just confirmed that all the available budget for any potential prize has been diverted over the production of other promotional merchandise, namely a line-up of boxers with the phrase "Grab the Package" stamped on the front, and "Beware of the fumarole" on the back. Actually, no less than three pairs of those were produced with the given budget.
- Can I run this in multicrew?
Yes absolutely, multicrew is encouraged with any ship meeting the requirements (regulation Adder, hint hint). Beware though, that due to the (current?) lack of SRV multicrew support, it's impossible to deploy the rover while a multicrew session is active. If you want to be able to effectively complete a run, remember to disband the crew BEFORE landing!
- Lots of screenshots, videos and such, but what's there to actually stop me from cheating?
Actually, nothing. There's nothing I can do to stop you from manipulating screenshots or exploiting any possible hole in the rules. The Buckyball Racing Club operates on a reciprocal trust and honour basis (I'd say "gentlemen's agreement", but it doesn't sound right since we have several ladies making up the ranks). The only prize available here is the fun of having tried your best, or the satisfaction of succeeding at being the best. By cheating you'd mostly cheat yourself out of all the fun.
Yes, whether you prefer to play in Open, Solo or Private Group, all is fine as long as you follow the race rules. Of course Open is the suggested game mode, if only for the chance of meeting other runners on the course; since London Relay may be quite a busy port at times though, if you fear you may create troubles for unaware cmdrs with your flying stunts you are free to go the Solo or PG way.
- Are engineers modifications allowed in this race?
As reported above in the full rules, no, they aren't allowed in any form (even enhanced performance thrusters are prohibited). If you'd like to enter the race in a ship of yours but you have modded even the coffee machine out of it, remember you can store your engineered modules and temporarily swap them for some stock ones. Also remember that stock coffee machines produce just an awful brown crap.
- And what about synthesis?
Synthesis isn't allowed as well for the flying part of the race. No FSD boost or anything else. However, IT IS allowed for the SRV part. If you find yourself mid-air in your rover coming down at 100+ m/s with a 4% hull, a literal on-the-fly repair is more than welcome!
- Is there any prize for the winner?
Bad news here, the folks over at Clayakarma Electronics just confirmed that all the available budget for any potential prize has been diverted over the production of other promotional merchandise, namely a line-up of boxers with the phrase "Grab the Package" stamped on the front, and "Beware of the fumarole" on the back. Actually, no less than three pairs of those were produced with the given budget.
- Can I run this in multicrew?
Yes absolutely, multicrew is encouraged with any ship meeting the requirements (regulation Adder, hint hint). Beware though, that due to the (current?) lack of SRV multicrew support, it's impossible to deploy the rover while a multicrew session is active. If you want to be able to effectively complete a run, remember to disband the crew BEFORE landing!
- Lots of screenshots, videos and such, but what's there to actually stop me from cheating?
Actually, nothing. There's nothing I can do to stop you from manipulating screenshots or exploiting any possible hole in the rules. The Buckyball Racing Club operates on a reciprocal trust and honour basis (I'd say "gentlemen's agreement", but it doesn't sound right since we have several ladies making up the ranks). The only prize available here is the fun of having tried your best, or the satisfaction of succeeding at being the best. By cheating you'd mostly cheat yourself out of all the fun.
- But really, no engineering at all? Not even a bit? Pretty please?
No, I've said no! Stop bothering me with this, and get your 700+ m/s Courier out of my sight!
swooosh Damn, that zipped out of sight pretty fast indeed!
- A time bonus for ending with 1% hull? Is this serious?
Absolutely, positively so. I know you can make it, and the rebuy in smaller ships is trivial anyway. Oh, and about those rumours someone spread around of me owning major shares in the insurance market, those are just that. Petty rumours from malicious people, don't trust them.
- Where can I actually find this movie we are doing promotional stuff for?
Clayakarma Electronics stated it will be available soon on all major channels, but we can expect Galnetflix to have a 18-24 years exclusive on it, as usual.
- Hey, I remember someone once making a "modernized reboot" of another movie with a strikingly similar title and plot to that! Is it so?
No, totally not I can guarantee. It never, ever happened. Never, I said.
- Are you sure? No because really, I was pretty sure that...let me chek...here it is! We're talking more than 1000 years ago back in 2003, it was called "The Ital-wait, what are you doing-no no, I was just-*#
Muffled fighting and chocking sounds...Ahhh, uff...ehm, as I said above. It. Never. Happened.
No, I've said no! Stop bothering me with this, and get your 700+ m/s Courier out of my sight!
swooosh Damn, that zipped out of sight pretty fast indeed!
- A time bonus for ending with 1% hull? Is this serious?
Absolutely, positively so. I know you can make it, and the rebuy in smaller ships is trivial anyway. Oh, and about those rumours someone spread around of me owning major shares in the insurance market, those are just that. Petty rumours from malicious people, don't trust them.
- Where can I actually find this movie we are doing promotional stuff for?
Clayakarma Electronics stated it will be available soon on all major channels, but we can expect Galnetflix to have a 18-24 years exclusive on it, as usual.
- Hey, I remember someone once making a "modernized reboot" of another movie with a strikingly similar title and plot to that! Is it so?
No, totally not I can guarantee. It never, ever happened. Never, I said.
- Are you sure? No because really, I was pretty sure that...let me chek...here it is! We're talking more than 1000 years ago back in 2003, it was called "The Ital-wait, what are you doing-no no, I was just-*#
Muffled fighting and chocking sounds...Ahhh, uff...ehm, as I said above. It. Never. Happened.
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