Yeah, I've noticed that too-- It feels a lot faster when you're in the moment, and a lot slower / more sedate watching it later.
Ariel circumnavigation
- Thread starter Jonas Treesong
- Start date
Yeah, I've noticed that too-- It feels a lot faster when you're in the moment, and a lot slower / more sedate watching it later.
Hehe... behind the wheel, every bump is a surprise and they always come too fast! I just recovered from dropping into a 6km deep canyon. After an uncontrolled drop, I got stuck at the bottom in a tiny wedge/pit and was ready to self-destruct. I thought "why not recall the ship?" as a last option to get out of my predicament. So far the ship has been next to useless, always landing miles away from any recall point. But this time it really made an effort. It hovered above the pit, SRV bay doors open and waiting for me to come aboard. Miraculously I had JUST ENOUGH wiggle room to move to a position where the BOARD SHIP light lit up. Some 50 meters from the pit was a flat area, wide enough to land. I deployed the SRV and made my way through the canyon and back up the other side.
Driving is now pretty much in the dark all of time, adding a major constraint. Ariel is tidally locked so I guess I will see daylight again after passing the South Pole. I'm currently at 57 South, so another 330 km before passing the South Pole. I can't wait to get there but the road ahead looks pretty damn difficult...
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If you ever get really stuck, rather than self destruct, it might be fun to put out a call for help. Other commanders have been rescued in the past by being airlifted on the backs of other small ships. You could even call the fuel rats ... they're manned 24/7 and a lot of those guys would relish an opportunity to come out on a rescue mission like that. Good job getting in to your own ship on this occasion tho!
I did not know they do that too. Great idea!
Forgot to reply to the first part of this earlier. Yeah, that explains a lot. I didn't have much time to look at it before I posted, but watched more afterward. It's a bit more obvious after seeing some of the really "quick" maneuvers in there.
At the time I blamed it on my VR brain. Not much progress today. Sitting at 65° South, so another 250 kilometers to the halfway point.
First order of business, I had to find my way out of a canyon with an unbelievably bumpy floor. It took me four repairs and well over an hour of painful rock jumping. It is hugely satisfying once you reach the top and can look back. It would be brilliant if one time we can step out of the SRV and spit in the canyon. I would pay money for that.
After the canyon, I had to deviate from my normal heading of 160° as this would steer me straight into an ominous looking circular canyon system which I really wanted to avoid. I've learned that if it looks challenging on the zoomed-in system map, the real deal is just insane. So instead I steered 210°. That canyon system is now safely east of me. The terrain has changed again. Smallish plains separated by bumpy stretches of rock with outcrops scattered. It looks really alien. The darkness has gone and I now seem to drive in some sort of perma-dusk. It definitely adds to the atmosphere.
Tomorrow should bring much of the same. Hopefully, I reach the South Pole by Thursday night...
First order of business, I had to find my way out of a canyon with an unbelievably bumpy floor. It took me four repairs and well over an hour of painful rock jumping. It is hugely satisfying once you reach the top and can look back. It would be brilliant if one time we can step out of the SRV and spit in the canyon. I would pay money for that.
After the canyon, I had to deviate from my normal heading of 160° as this would steer me straight into an ominous looking circular canyon system which I really wanted to avoid. I've learned that if it looks challenging on the zoomed-in system map, the real deal is just insane. So instead I steered 210°. That canyon system is now safely east of me. The terrain has changed again. Smallish plains separated by bumpy stretches of rock with outcrops scattered. It looks really alien. The darkness has gone and I now seem to drive in some sort of perma-dusk. It definitely adds to the atmosphere.
Tomorrow should bring much of the same. Hopefully, I reach the South Pole by Thursday night...
Ah yes, I'm very familiar with that sort of terrain! One technique I've used is to keep the speed down to 8 or 9m/s and simply drive in a straight line - the SRV will hug the ground like a snake and I haven't incurred any damage this way. Of course, it does slow you down a lot but occasionally that's a price I'm willing to pay for an easy life.
o7
The terrain on Ariel is pretty vile at points. The bumps are so high and steep that if you drive over them slowly, the SRV will just get stuck at the bottom and incur damage. Sometimes just a %, sometimes more. I've seen single bumps incur as much as 6% damage. Best approach I found is to jump them (2 or 3 at the time, depending on the speed you can generate) and use the handbrake. So, I'll select my target bump, do a quick burst on the throttle, boost, tilt the SRV forward and boost more to get airspeed and cross 2 or 3 bumps. Handbrake on, and like Spiderman I will cling to my target bump, look around, select my next target etc... It is slow going but it is relatively safe.
My driving skills are just not that good to do this full speed. I've tried and got really close to destroying my SRV several times. As I'm already down 2 SRV's from my supply of 4, I don't want to destroy more at this point in the journey.
o7 from a bumpy Ariel
Good call I think ... in time you may well be able to fly right over the top of much of that rough terrain but for now, wait for the flat bits to practice and improve your SRV fliving skills I reckon.
"Canyons to the left, outcrops to the right. Here I am..."
Well, yes. That pretty much sums it up. Check out the system map. I've cleared the hideous circular canyon and I am ready to resume my heading of 160°. But (big "but" incoming)... that heading will take me into a really long stretch of ripples which are basically just all canyons. They do not look too bad on the map but they'll be pretty challenging. The alternative is avoiding them which will add quite a bit of kilometers to my journey.
So, yeah... Stuck in the middle!!
I'll go and walk the dogs for a bit and have a think.
For good measure... the song
Well, yes. That pretty much sums it up. Check out the system map. I've cleared the hideous circular canyon and I am ready to resume my heading of 160°. But (big "but" incoming)... that heading will take me into a really long stretch of ripples which are basically just all canyons. They do not look too bad on the map but they'll be pretty challenging. The alternative is avoiding them which will add quite a bit of kilometers to my journey.
So, yeah... Stuck in the middle!!
I'll go and walk the dogs for a bit and have a think.
For good measure... the song
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"Canyons to the left, outcrops to the right. Here I am..."
Well, yes. That pretty much sums it up. Check out the system map. I've cleared the hideous circular canyon and I am ready to resume my heading of 160°. But (big "but" incoming)... that heading will take me into a really long stretch of ripples which are basically just all canyons. They do not look too bad on the map but they'll be pretty challenging. The alternative is avoiding them which will add quite a bit of kilometers to my journey.
So, yeah... Stuck in the middle!!
I'll go and walk the dogs for a bit and have a think.
For good measure... the song
You mean these?
You want to carry on for now and I'll go scout those out for you tomorrow morning and let you know what they're like?
Indeed those! If you could scout those out that would be brilliant. I am particularly interested in the surface structure at the bottom.
Many thanks for your help and I'll carry on!
o7
OK, time willing I'll fly over there tomorrow and see if I can get you some ground level reconnaissance photos and first hand opinion of the terrain. When you say surface structure at the bottom, what do you mean exactly?
Ian Phillips
Volunteer Moderator
Probably if the bottom is rounded and smooth, or old and wrinkly!
Looks like that terrain was designed specifically to annoy commanders driving north-west to south-east .
.Some canyon floors are relatively smooth. Others are spiky with crevasses or consist of huge outcrops and are an utter pain to negotiate.
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OK, gotcha (I wondered if you meant at bottom of the map).
Just reporting back from Ariel ... I'd say go ahead, those ripples looks fine as long as you avoid the worst of them. Bottom of the canyons are mostly smooth, side not too steep and there are plenty of places where it's easier to cross, even on the harsher ones.
I'm uploading a bunch of scrappy video footage now so you can take a look for yourself. For the bit in the SRV I deliberately picked one of the deeper trenches to cross and as you'll see it's not too bad.
o7
I'm uploading a bunch of scrappy video footage now so you can take a look for yourself. For the bit in the SRV I deliberately picked one of the deeper trenches to cross and as you'll see it's not too bad.
o7
Video now up.
[video=youtube_share;bFvNPtT_mr8]https://youtu.be/bFvNPtT_mr8[/video]
Apologies for lowish quality and use of sped up footage but I'm on my slowish home broadband today so every Mb counts. I've also upped the brightness a fair bit to hopefully make the terrain a bit clearer.
[video=youtube_share;bFvNPtT_mr8]https://youtu.be/bFvNPtT_mr8[/video]
Apologies for lowish quality and use of sped up footage but I'm on my slowish home broadband today so every Mb counts. I've also upped the brightness a fair bit to hopefully make the terrain a bit clearer.