If you check out our discord server you can see a preview of the beautiful race banner!
(no, no details, other than a couple possible starting and ending points)
Community Event / Creation Buckyball Racing Club presents: Chicken Run (03-11 MAR))
If you check out our discord server you can see a preview of the beautiful race banner!
(no, no details, other than a couple possible starting and ending points)
On one hand, I hope you get a less sad-looking one before you go. On the other hand, ballpark food is a proper experience all of its own, not to be substituted.
Thanks Bruski,
I've added the buckyball races Discord server so that I can chat with you guys on there
I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for the next race details then!
Are most of the races around a theme? Chicken Run was obviously around high G landings...
How do I find out about previous race themes you have had? Who do I submit a suggestion too if I'm able to come up with a suggested race?
One idea I had was a Thread The Needle type race... This would involve multiple systems with increasingly higher G planets with larger ring systems (and distances between planet and inner ring edge). You would have to fly between the planet and it's rings and then jump to the next system, rinse, repeat for systems in the race. This would obviously require some skill passing between the planet and it's rings at speed... It would also require managing gravity slowdown...
If this is of interest and hasn't been tried before I could design a course for consideration? And no, I wouldn't expect to win! I'm nowhere near fast and accurate enough! I'd keep hitting either the Planet or the Rings and then have to wait for the cool down [noob] but it could be fun trying! One small mistake and you could be sitting there for a minute waiting for cool down! Only the ones with clean runs would win...
The only caveat I can see is that you would need to submit video evidence as screen shots would be insufficient. Would this be a problem on the console platforms?
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For all of the above, the Buckyball Racing Club website.
Drakhyr is usually the manager of the race calendar, but if you want to find someone to host your race idea, a post in the Buckyball Racing thread would probably be a good idea - or perhaps on the Discord channel :S. Usually, though, the honor of hosting a race goes to the inventor. If you're unsure about how to go about it, just ask your questions in the Buckyball thread, they're a great bunch over there (this was my first race as host, btw
).Not only on consoles. Also, not every PC player is capable of (or comfortable with) recording videos while racing (somewhat problematic in my case - even without video recording, my rig is running at full throttle for VR) or uploading the stuff (forget it - >3 hours for a 10 minute video....).
CMDR Perseus Tacitus managed something like that in the last race, the Medevac Memorial Challenge: participants had to fly through a tunnel in one of the in-game space structures and drop off some cargo in there. Screenshot from the inside of the tunnel after the drop was required.
Most races have a theme of some sort or another, sometimes around in-game mechanics, like high-g landings, other times around a movie or pop culture, like The Italian Job, and sometimes both, like the Total Recall series.
Previous race banners and scoreboards can be found here: http://buckyballracing.org.uk/pastevents.html and you can also find them pretty easily in the Community Events forum (the threads with the buckyball naming scheme stick out, and I think make up about half the post counts here )
Generally one submits suggestions to Drakhyr, and discussion about scheduling future races can be found in the club thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/193467-Buckyball-Racing-Club/page156
Course design includes running the race, and is generally open to all members. Not sure when the next open slot is, but I'm sure if you page back you'll find some info. As you see, we're *very* organized.
I don't think there's been a race like that, sounds like fun! I think both consoles can record video now, although I'm not sure, and will leave it to them to describe their operation.
Edit: Oops, beaten to it.
Previous race banners and scoreboards can be found here: http://buckyballracing.org.uk/pastevents.html and you can also find them pretty easily in the Community Events forum (the threads with the buckyball naming scheme stick out, and I think make up about half the post counts here
)Generally one submits suggestions to Drakhyr, and discussion about scheduling future races can be found in the club thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/193467-Buckyball-Racing-Club/page156
Course design includes running the race, and is generally open to all members. Not sure when the next open slot is, but I'm sure if you page back you'll find some info. As you see, we're *very* organized.
I don't think there's been a race like that, sounds like fun! I think both consoles can record video now, although I'm not sure, and will leave it to them to describe their operation.
Edit: Oops, beaten to it.
Oh, I love making up explanations! Probably the landing pads, which we know are already capable of moving, have built-in hydraulic shocks underneath, to lessen the strain on the landing gear, and provide some protection for pilots who come in too fast. The ground doesn't, so you don't get that small but important deceleration cushion.The landing pads in Elite have magical properties [squeeeee] Planet's surfaces are a brilliant place to demonstrate this, though the same does apply in stations, (I'm making up the numbers but) if you were to hit the landing pad at a certain speed you would do roughly 10% of the damage you would do if you hit the ground just a few feet away. If you tried to land on a planets surface in a shieldless hauler doing about 60 Km/s then I reckon you'd blow up, but I can nose dive into a pad doing ~330 Km/s and come away with 18%
Who needs practical explanations when you have magic
I figured it was because faffing about in 5g is significantly more dangerous than in 0g.
Yep, that seems to be the best approach, IIRC I actually figured that out during Heavy Metal Megadeth, and then managed to forget it here, or chickened out. Derp a derp.
I don't understand... happened?Also I rewatched the video of the Courier I lost while getting an overview of the course. These Sidewinders are surprisingly sturdy...
Aw man! I've never seen a Thargoid yet, that would've been great!
Congrats, that's insane and amazing! Well flown good sir. o7That was the most intense final few minutes of a race, ever! And it also included something I've never seen before, I'd like to thank Frontier as they taken a bit of stick recently for their displayed rounding of numbers, but I am very grateful of it
I had an idea of what I thought was possible and I beat that! Run submitted.
I might be wrong, but I think it's actually faster to move directly away from the primary, even if that's away from the final destination. Getting up to 10+ c faster eliminates any loss from being a few more ls away from the target (I think).
One way to avoid a lot of that is to approach at a curve that goes above (or below) the system plane, thus sidestepping most of the bothersome obstacles. It's not foolproof, but it makes it much easier.
This makes sense now! I noticed those same irregular dropouts, but didn't think of the mountains until my last run, at which point it was too late to make corrections. I suspect that could have bearing on the Total Recall races as well.
Nicely done. I don't particularly enjoy finicky fuel management, but it's a joy to see it explained and done so well.
:O Hit the NOSE?! I was doing it all wrong in the hauler apparently.
Nooo, seeing those moments is the best part!Then followed the insanely tense run to Noriega. Having messed up my previous 9 attempts in a row, my heart was pounding in my chest, I thought I'd messed up the entry into the station (I'm glad there's no camera on me so you can't see me ducking in my chair
It's too late now, but I think you can find that info in the stats panel on the right side.and then I landed far too hard on the pad for someone who only had 4% hull left... I'd love to know what actual % I ended up with, I'd like to think it was 0.01%
Yep, I think there's an optimal mix somewhere in there, but likely it's overshadowed by supercuirse, and if we kept trying, eclipses.
This and the FAoff trick are both fascinating, and I'll have to keep them in mind if I ever go exploring.
I mean, it *was* sponsored by insurance adjusters. That alone should've been a tip-off.Thanks Ashnak for such a brilliant race.
The pre-race race should have been an omen for how my time on the course would pan out though.
Easily my highest rebuy cost of any race due to the many, many arguments I had with these particular planets
How strange... what power plant were you running? I rarely get overheating in my Aspx.I ran in the Asp which has a major overheating problem. Twice I landed at Noriega without the cargo
Long life! *pours out a carbouy of jet fuel onto some station grating for the glory days of the AspX*
But of course. After allAnd sometimes also guts-to-the-walls and gory, especially when you badly miss a manoeuvre at exceedingly supersonic speeds!
*kicks a poor traffic controller into the station well*
Thanks to Ashnak for staging this race, well done to everyone who took part and congratulations to the winners! I might have struggled but I am definitely more comfortable around high-g planets now and my planetary approaches in general are faster.
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It was tempting to finally buy a DBX (for some reason, I have never done this, always staying loyal to the AspX) but if I'd wanted a last-minute long range effort, then I worked out that my Dolphin, with optimal FSD engineering, would have needed only one more jump whilst retaining a high real-space speed. That said, I'd more likely have entered my Python, as this is my go-to ship in the bubble and the one I most need to prepared for anything in (although I very often overcook my supercruise approaches).
.
Hopefully see you at the next race! o7
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It was tempting to finally buy a DBX (for some reason, I have never done this, always staying loyal to the AspX) but if I'd wanted a last-minute long range effort, then I worked out that my Dolphin, with optimal FSD engineering, would have needed only one more jump whilst retaining a high real-space speed. That said, I'd more likely have entered my Python, as this is my go-to ship in the bubble and the one I most need to prepared for anything in (although I very often overcook my supercruise approaches).
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Hopefully see you at the next race! o7
Sounds plausibleOh, I love making up explanations! Probably the landing pads, which we know are already capable of moving, have built-in hydraulic shocks underneath, to lessen the strain on the landing gear, and provide some protection for pilots who come in too fast. The ground doesn't, so you don't get that small but important deceleration cushion.
There's a Sidewinder hidden somewhere in there, you can see it on the scanner and barely make out its radiators against the dark background.
I had to watch the video two times to find out what happened. And still not sure why it should deal that much damage at this relatively low speed...
I nearly always move directly away from the star at first aswell and then gradually turn towards the target.
My rule of thumb (I love rules of thumb
) is to start the turn when my speed value is at about 0.5-1 % of the distance to the target per second. For example with a station that's 200 ls away, I start turning towards it at a speed of 1-2 c. Not sure if this is anywhere close to optimal though.Yep; I think it's way harder to get consistent times in (especially longer) races with planetary landings, the main reasons being:
- difficulty: Way easier to make mistakes on approach and landings than with conventional station stops, also more caution needed with high g landings
- higher likelyhood of obscured jump targets
- Orbital Cruise: higher variance in times than with Supercruise alone
Thanks a lot to Ashnak for organizing and hosting this excellent race and congrats to Ozric and Bruski (*shakes fist*) and everybody who completed this difficult course!
Hopefully see you all at "Poisson d'avril"; fly fast CMDRs!
Ozric
Volunteer Moderator
I thought it was because it would take you much less than the 3 minutes bonus to repeatedly smash your ship against something to get the hull down to 10% Though I think you might find it easier if you find yourself in this situation again at some point to use gravity to your advantage to take off chunks of your hull
No I think you're right, it's just personal preference mainly, but in this race there was also a practical reason. Some of the planets were close enough to the main star that flying away from them would have (I think) had a detrimental effect on your time. From my rough estimations over time I think that if your target is closer than 200Ls then it's better to at least keep it so the circle stays filled.
Yeah you can see in my video that I do it for the most part. To be honest I normally do it anyway when approaching any station, because then by going below the plane you get a much better view as you approach the station as to where it is in relation to your approach.
Oh
I didn't realise it went into more detail there, but I do now thanks.I nearly always move directly away from the star at first aswell and then gradually turn towards the target.
My rule of thumb (I love rules of thumb
Definitely more thought out than my rules of thumb
Oh, I love making up explanations! Probably the landing pads, which we know are already capable of moving, have built-in hydraulic shocks underneath, to lessen the strain on the landing gear, and provide some protection for pilots who come in too fast. The ground doesn't, so you don't get that small but important deceleration cushion.
I love this reasoning
I mean, it *was* sponsored by insurance adjusters. That alone should've been a tip-off.
I know. I know. Always read the small print
Really? I always get over heating (even on explorer build). I assumed it was a fundamental Asp thing or that I was just really unlucky with engineering rolls.
I upgraded to new engineering and same problem.
I was running with a 4A overcharged PP (stripped down). The explorer build has a 2A.
I use the overcharged because it was only one with no mass penalty.
Have I been doing this all wrong?
o7
A few days later...
...in a different bar. Well, not so much a bar as a cleverly hidden nook between a few stacks of old cargo containers, in a rarely used part of the spaceport's storage area. Run by a few entrepreneurial grease monkeys, this place was reputed to have the best drinks in a hundred lightyears radius. Perhaps slightly exaggerated, but not really surprising, considering that anything passing in to or out from the system, legally or illegally, at one point would pass through these hands. Not that easy to find, even if you suspected it was there, and if you found it, you would still have to manage to get in, but well worth the trouble.
"Hi Bjorn, how's it going?"
"Oh, same old, same old. Yourself?"
"Getting better, thanks. The leg's coming up nicely. That's what you get for accepting stupid bets on a 5g world, I guess."
"Well, you had your fun. Here, cheers!"
"Cheers! How is Charlie doing?"
"Ready to tear the producer's throat out - and vice versa. Since I replaced that transmitter a couple of weeks ago, they've been listening to the sound of the aircon in the PF's executive boardroom 24/7, continously. If they weren't so knackered, they'd have killed each other three times by now. As it stands, they have to be content with over-sweetening each other's coffee."
"Cute. But I thought those Saud-Krugers all had state of the art drinks synthesizers right in the cockpit?"
"Been on the fritz since two days after we docked here. All it serves right now is rooibos-vanilla, and the spares are locked up in customs."
"Bleurghh. So, there's nothing from the PF?"
"Nothing from that boardroom, at least. But here, check Galnet."
"Can't see anything."
"Page 5."
"Nothing here, either. Ship statistics, trade figures... You can't be talking about the system security's annual picnic now?"
"Nope. Bottom of the page."
"Missing Persons?"
"Yep."
"Hmmm... doesn't ring a bell, sorry."
"Me neither, at first. But the station runs them through their databanks every morning, just to see if there's anything juicy for page three."
"And...?"
"Third guy down."
"Xruq... by Kosheisi's freezing brass balls, where did that guy come from?"
"Some Alliance backwater even you probably never had heard of. More interesting, where did he go to."
"Why? And stop teasing me - you may be six foot two, but I can still kick your backside, dear cousin."
"Six foot three, actually - hey, stop that. Ok, basically, because until four days ago, he was employed as chief analyst by the Pilot Federation's Cargo Insurance department. Next morning, he turns up at the docks, pays some lucky guy a big wad of cash for an A-rated, tuned up Courier and files a flight plan for Maclaurin Dock in Makaneane."
"Where he never arrived?"
"Where he never arrived."
"And now?"
"Producer wants us to follow him, Charlie complains that's useless."
"He may be right - Makaneane is an anarchy, after all. They tend to be somewhat... reclusive. Anyone turning up, asking too many questions, they tend to be missing, too."
"In Charlie's case, the producer might be willing to risk that - but she doesn't want to lose the station's Orca, so that's a problem right now. But have you seen the reward in this case?"
"Haven't checked, there's nothing worthwhile ever in there."
"Do it."
"..... Is that a misprint?"
"No. Station's verified it."
"Interesting. I'll tell the guys to keep their eyes open. Thanks."
"No charge. Bye."
"See you."
...in a different bar. Well, not so much a bar as a cleverly hidden nook between a few stacks of old cargo containers, in a rarely used part of the spaceport's storage area. Run by a few entrepreneurial grease monkeys, this place was reputed to have the best drinks in a hundred lightyears radius. Perhaps slightly exaggerated, but not really surprising, considering that anything passing in to or out from the system, legally or illegally, at one point would pass through these hands. Not that easy to find, even if you suspected it was there, and if you found it, you would still have to manage to get in, but well worth the trouble.
"Hi Bjorn, how's it going?"
"Oh, same old, same old. Yourself?"
"Getting better, thanks. The leg's coming up nicely. That's what you get for accepting stupid bets on a 5g world, I guess."
"Well, you had your fun. Here, cheers!"
"Cheers! How is Charlie doing?"
"Ready to tear the producer's throat out - and vice versa. Since I replaced that transmitter a couple of weeks ago, they've been listening to the sound of the aircon in the PF's executive boardroom 24/7, continously. If they weren't so knackered, they'd have killed each other three times by now. As it stands, they have to be content with over-sweetening each other's coffee."
"Cute. But I thought those Saud-Krugers all had state of the art drinks synthesizers right in the cockpit?"
"Been on the fritz since two days after we docked here. All it serves right now is rooibos-vanilla, and the spares are locked up in customs."
"Bleurghh. So, there's nothing from the PF?"
"Nothing from that boardroom, at least. But here, check Galnet."
"Can't see anything."
"Page 5."
"Nothing here, either. Ship statistics, trade figures... You can't be talking about the system security's annual picnic now?"
"Nope. Bottom of the page."
"Missing Persons?"
"Yep."
"Hmmm... doesn't ring a bell, sorry."
"Me neither, at first. But the station runs them through their databanks every morning, just to see if there's anything juicy for page three."
"And...?"
"Third guy down."
"Xruq... by Kosheisi's freezing brass balls, where did that guy come from?"
"Some Alliance backwater even you probably never had heard of. More interesting, where did he go to."
"Why? And stop teasing me - you may be six foot two, but I can still kick your backside, dear cousin."
"Six foot three, actually - hey, stop that. Ok, basically, because until four days ago, he was employed as chief analyst by the Pilot Federation's Cargo Insurance department. Next morning, he turns up at the docks, pays some lucky guy a big wad of cash for an A-rated, tuned up Courier and files a flight plan for Maclaurin Dock in Makaneane."
"Where he never arrived?"
"Where he never arrived."
"And now?"
"Producer wants us to follow him, Charlie complains that's useless."
"He may be right - Makaneane is an anarchy, after all. They tend to be somewhat... reclusive. Anyone turning up, asking too many questions, they tend to be missing, too."
"In Charlie's case, the producer might be willing to risk that - but she doesn't want to lose the station's Orca, so that's a problem right now. But have you seen the reward in this case?"
"Haven't checked, there's nothing worthwhile ever in there."
"Do it."
"..... Is that a misprint?"
"No. Station's verified it."
"Interesting. I'll tell the guys to keep their eyes open. Thanks."
"No charge. Bye."
"See you."
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Thanks Ashnak for a superb course and thanks to you guys who have tried help us improve our racing. I've nothing to add here. Maybe "my cat smells like cat food". That's how I feel next to all the technical clever guys! My tactics are point the front and push the throttle caveman style.
Congratulations to all racers especially you who have raced for the first time and of course, a hearty well done to Bruski, cookiehole and Aken B who gave me a beating, oh if only I had more time!! Well done Ozric for your first win too
Congratulations to all racers especially you who have raced for the first time and of course, a hearty well done to Bruski, cookiehole and Aken B who gave me a beating, oh if only I had more time!! Well done Ozric for your first win too
For all of the above, the Buckyball Racing Club website.
Drakhyr is usually the manager of the race calendar, but if you want to find someone to host your race idea, a post in the Buckyball Racing thread would probably be a good idea - or perhaps on the Discord channel :S. Usually, though, the honor of hosting a race goes to the inventor. If you're unsure about how to go about it, just ask your questions in the Buckyball thread, they're a great bunch over there (this was my first race as host, btw
Not only on consoles. Also, not every PC player is capable of (or comfortable with) recording videos while racing (somewhat problematic in my case - even without video recording, my rig is running at full throttle for VR) or uploading the stuff (forget it - >3 hours for a 10 minute video....).
CMDR Perseus Tacitus managed something like that in the last race, the Medevac Memorial Challenge: participants had to fly through a tunnel in one of the in-game space structures and drop off some cargo in there. Screenshot from the inside of the tunnel after the drop was required.
Most races have a theme of some sort or another, sometimes around in-game mechanics, like high-g landings, other times around a movie or pop culture, like The Italian Job, and sometimes both, like the Total Recall series.
Previous race banners and scoreboards can be found here: http://buckyballracing.org.uk/pastevents.html and you can also find them pretty easily in the Community Events forum (the threads with the buckyball naming scheme stick out, and I think make up about half the post counts here
Generally one submits suggestions to Drakhyr, and discussion about scheduling future races can be found in the club thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/193467-Buckyball-Racing-Club/page156
Course design includes running the race, and is generally open to all members. Not sure when the next open slot is, but I'm sure if you page back you'll find some info. As you see, we're *very* organized.
I don't think there's been a race like that, sounds like fun! I think both consoles can record video now, although I'm not sure, and will leave it to them to describe their operation.
Edit: Oops, beaten to it.
Thanks guys for the help! [yesnod]
TL;DR but wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU for the massive amount of time you must have put into coming up with this course... Awesome!
well done indeed!
Thanks Ashnak for setting this nice and entertaining race!!!
Congratulations to Ozric and Bruski! (and everybody who survived to post a time in the roster!).
Maybe ferrying some Tanmark Tranquil Tea to Moore and Weber can help this 40 poor people get on with their lives...
Congratulations to Ozric and Bruski! (and everybody who survived to post a time in the roster!).
Maybe ferrying some Tanmark Tranquil Tea to Moore and Weber can help this 40 poor people get on with their lives...
Likewise from me, a nice "testing" course Ashnak and great job on jazzing up the write-ups.
Gotta say Cheetah, it sounds like me and you fly the same way
Big thanks to all those who took the time to post descriptions of how they achieved such amazing times, I've read them, watched the videos and tried the techniques but at the end of the day, I think my flying can still be summed up as "firewall the throttle and wrestle with the controls to get the ship pointing roughly where it needs to go!"Interestingly, looking at my various attempts and adding up my best sector times, I had a time of around 40-42 minutes in me, had I managed to string all my good bits together in one run but it just never happened. Must be a big black market demand for Guardian Relics though, as carrying around a full hold of them sure drew out plenty of pirates but they didn't seem to realise they had no chance of catching a (vaguely*) racing configured Cobra MKIII.
Here's to the next one!
DogsBody.
*Ride Like The Wind was my first ship and is configured primarily for smuggling - clean drives and generally low-mid level engineering - don't think its got anything over level 3 engineered.
Thanks Bruski,
I've added the buckyball races Discord server so that I can chat with you guys on there
I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for the next race details then!
Are most of the races around a theme? Chicken Run was obviously around high G landings...
How do I find out about previous race themes you have had? Who do I submit a suggestion too if I'm able to come up with a suggested race?
One idea I had was a Thread The Needle type race... This would involve multiple systems with increasingly higher G planets with larger ring systems (and distances between planet and inner ring edge). You would have to fly between the planet and it's rings and then jump to the next system, rinse, repeat for systems in the race. This would obviously require some skill passing between the planet and it's rings at speed... It would also require managing gravity slowdown...
If this is of interest and hasn't been tried before I could design a course for consideration? And no, I wouldn't expect to win! I'm nowhere near fast and accurate enough! I'd keep hitting either the Planet or the Rings and then have to wait for the cool down [noob] but it could be fun trying! One small mistake and you could be sitting there for a minute waiting for cool down! Only the ones with clean runs would win...
The only caveat I can see is that you would need to submit video evidence as screen shots would be insufficient. Would this be a problem on the console platforms?
Hi Susanna
Have you seen this?
https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDange...ad_no_idea_you_could_fly_between_the_gaps_in/
Susanna, regarding screenshots vs video, take a look at Alec's Tunnel Vision race. That event included flying through the rings of imperial battleships as one task and allowed screenshots. You could probably allow something similar - might just need to either use high population systems (so the planets are all identified) or require the commander to have scanned each planet - so that the planet appears as the current location in the bottom left HUD panel.