Community Event / Creation Buckyball Racing Club presents: On The Rocks 20-27 August 3304

[Ashnak]

Since the race has already started, I won't request a change of the jump range penalty, but calculating the range for my backup ship I find that I need three more jumps when I drop to a different ship with a 30 (29.74) ly unladen range. The crux is probably that in my case, with 6 tons of cargo, the laden range (as estimated in Coriolis - real numbers may differ) drops down to 25.99 ly instead of the estimated loss of ~1 ly. Looks like small FSDs/ships react stronger to changes in mass - and you can't get much smaller than a Sidey .
I like the idea of a jump range bonus (makes for a bit of variety instead of all DBXs), but there is still some potential in this.

Oh, and intent to smash a few Belugas in my Sidey. Cheaper than the iCourier. And I might pack a couple of guns as ballast .

 

[Darkfyre99]

Submitted my first run of the day. Despite once again adding weight to Slave of the Empire to bring it down to 35.00 ly, I actually shaved three minutes off yesterday's run. Being a little less aggressive at docking, plus the additional weight, helped quite a bit.

 

[UmbraRex]

Well, I'm obviously doing something wrong.

just did a complete loop (to include selling beer mats everywhere)

Bounced off station walls here and there, got toasty once or twice and evaded a couple members of the buckyball fan club (even though I'm not officially a racer. Go figure)

My biggest scare was when I forgot to top off fuel on the last station and ran into a string of unscoopable stars.

I obviously didn't push it hard enough. ;P

Forgot to screenshot start and stop times. ED Discovery should be able to give me the total time though *wanders off to check

Yup, undocked at rebuy 9:15:10, docked again at 10:10:20 (local time)

Of course, that included searching the galmap for each destination and bookmarking it all so a second run will likely be faster. If it isn't I'll just fly into a black hole ;P

OMG, did I just say I was gonna do this again? *facedesk

 

[Ozric]

I'm afraid there was a malfunction in my ship's power supply last night, which meant that communicating the scoreboard had to be missed. I feel especially bad for Cmdr. Sulu.

There was a second entry from Cmdr. Sulu last night, who got the bit between his teeth and in a run that was simply described as "Better!", managed to knock over 4 minutes off of his original time! It also pushed him ahead of Edelgard and into the lead

Then today I had the second of Cmdr. Stevenson's runs submitted (the first thing to note is how strange it is watching a VR recording ). After beefing up her Cobra a bit she managed to smash her previous, unsubmitted, run. The landing at Jack's Town was... interesting, I do love watching a pirouetting Cobra But she now knocks Cmdr. Sulu off of the top spot and in to second place. Things are hotting up!

 

[Alec Turner]

Well, I'm obviously doing something wrong.

just did a complete loop (to include selling beer mats everywhere)

Bounced off station walls here and there, got toasty once or twice and evaded a couple members of the buckyball fan club (even though I'm not officially a racer. Go figure)

My biggest scare was when I forgot to top off fuel on the last station and ran into a string of unscoopable stars.

I obviously didn't push it hard enough. ;P

Forgot to screenshot start and stop times. ED Discovery should be able to give me the total time though *wanders off to check

Yup, undocked at rebuy 9:15:10, docked again at 10:10:20 (local time)

Of course, that included searching the galmap for each destination and bookmarking it all so a second run will likely be faster. If it isn't I'll just fly into a black hole ;P

OMG, did I just say I was gonna do this again? *facedesk

Don't know about anyone else but I'm sensing the birth of a new hardcore Buckyball Racer here?

 

[Ozric]

I have already my ship ready...
Ozric, I have a question about the equalizer... Can I unload fuel after taking the "Full fuel tank"/"Actual Jump Range" picture? (this implies retiring and adding again fuel tanks after the picture...)

Not before you start I'm afraid. The reason I decided to use current jump range, rather than max range was to make sure that everyone started from the same position and then any fuel management tricks could be used during the race. I did not want to discourage innovative thinking, but I needed to make sure the start was a level playing field.

Submitted my first run of the day. Despite once again adding weight to Slave of the Empire to bring it down to 35.00 ly, I actually shaved three minutes off yesterday's run. Being a little less aggressive at docking, plus the additional weight, helped quite a bit.

Don't forget the equaliser is based on current range on a full tank, not max range, you've got a little room to play with still

Since the race has already started, I won't request a change of the jump range penalty, but calculating the range for my backup ship I find that I need three more jumps when I drop to a different ship with a 30 (29.74) ly unladen range. The crux is probably that in my case, with 6 tons of cargo, the laden range (as estimated in Coriolis - real numbers may differ) drops down to 25.99 ly instead of the estimated loss of ~1 ly. Looks like small FSDs/ships react stronger to changes in mass - and you can't get much smaller than a Sidey .
I like the idea of a jump range bonus (makes for a bit of variety instead of all DBXs), but there is still some potential in this.

Oh, and intent to smash a few Belugas in my Sidey. Cheaper than the iCourier. And I might pack a couple of guns as ballast .

Glad you came back Yes Crotalus did mention near the start that he thought the Sidewinder lost 0.5Ly per tonne. I'll admit I didn't factor in how much the smallest ships would suffer in terms of jump range when laden with cargo, which I do feel bad for. So far I like the fact that the 3 ships on the leaderboard are all different types and all within just over a minute of each other, if we can learn from this and refine it for future races I think it could make some of the more long distance ones very interesting.

Some fervent fans that we have, don't we?

Hi cmdr Inga, nice to read your stories again! And a general hello to everyone old and new.
I was really looking forward to this race but it looks like Real Life (TM) had other plans in store for me . Not to say I could still find a bit of time for it later in the week, or at least so I hope if things improve at least a little...

Alas, but don't worry, we all know how rl can be a frustration. Hope you can make it one for a run or 2 towards the end of the week.

Well, I'm obviously doing something wrong.

just did a complete loop (to include selling beer mats everywhere)

Bounced off station walls here and there, got toasty once or twice and evaded a couple members of the buckyball fan club (even though I'm not officially a racer. Go figure)

My biggest scare was when I forgot to top off fuel on the last station and ran into a string of unscoopable stars.

I obviously didn't push it hard enough. ;P

Forgot to screenshot start and stop times. ED Discovery should be able to give me the total time though *wanders off to check

Yup, undocked at rebuy 9:15:10, docked again at 10:10:20 (local time)

Of course, that included searching the galmap for each destination and bookmarking it all so a second run will likely be faster. If it isn't I'll just fly into a black hole ;P

OMG, did I just say I was gonna do this again? *facedesk

Oh yeah, now you are officially a racer! w00t.

A couple of tips to make things a bit easier for you.

I highly recommend working out the order you're going to visit the stations in and then bookmark them as numbers 1 through to 6. That way they will appear at the top of your bookmarks list a make it quicker to select them.

Once you've landed at a station and have sold the beer mat, press launch, then open the Galaxy Map. You will have enough time to plot your route to the next bookmark and exit the map before (or around the same time) you are released from the docking clamps.

If you have some video recording software (I use OBS, it's free and easy to use), then I recommend recording your run and you can pull the screenshots off after you've finished. That will save you from having to remember (and losing valuable seconds) pressing the screenshot key.

 

[Alec Turner]

Also, since we seem to be seeing some new race fans turning up here, worth mentioning that large amounts of valuable time in pretty much any Buckyball Race can be shaved off by perfecting the gravity braking approach to a station.

Here's a video comparing the relative times of different approach techniques ...

[video=youtube_share;gy4zca1yjKw]https://youtu.be/gy4zca1yjKw[/video]

... and here's Ozric's very own excellent demonstation of the gravity braking approach ...

[video=youtube_share;wWSPWL7Atsg]https://youtu.be/wWSPWL7Atsg[/video]

 

[UmbraRex]

Don't know about anyone else but I'm sensing the birth of a new hardcore Buckyball Racer here?

ROFL!

I don't know about hardcore, I'm just curious if I can get in the ballpark at this point.

8<snip>8
Oh yeah, now you are officially a racer! w00t.

A couple of tips to make things a bit easier for you.

I highly recommend working out the order you're going to visit the stations in and then bookmark them as numbers 1 through to 6. That way they will appear at the top of your bookmarks list a make it quicker to select them.

Once you've landed at a station and have sold the beer mat, press launch, then open the Galaxy Map. You will have enough time to plot your route to the next bookmark and exit the map before (or around the same time) you are released from the docking clamps.

If you have some video recording software (I use OBS, it's free and easy to use), then I recommend recording your run and you can pull the screenshots off after you've finished. That will save you from having to remember (and losing valuable seconds) pressing the screenshot key.

*chuckle See above.

That bookmarks advice is great, I noticed the search time when coming back to Rebuy after my last stop

Good advice on the galmap/launch I'll give that a shot.

No vid recording software at the moment, my laptop, while not a potato, is getting close to the limits of what it can do all at once. I will probably download and give OBS a shot though when I'm not on my phone's wifi hotspot.

Edit to add: 2nd run 11:16:35 to 12:00:07

Still ten min slower than everyone else, and with a 31ly jump range I get a small penalty.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Don't forget the equaliser is based on current range on a full tank, not max range, you've got a little room to play with still

Ah... I misunderstood. That'll certainly make the next series of tweaks a bit more interesting.

 

[Ashnak]

Also, since we seem to be seeing some new race fans turning up here, worth mentioning that large amounts of valuable time in pretty much any Buckyball Race can be shaved off by perfecting the gravity braking approach to a station....

Nice try. Take a look at the map, then try gravity braking this:

Spoiler

It looked so simple at the outset, but those rocks are hard to crack.

 

[crotalus]

Nice try. Take a look at the map, then try gravity braking this:



It looked so simple at the outset, but those rocks are hard to crack.

I that is a lone asteroid then I think that somebody posted in a previous race that you could zero throttle and just as you are about to go past it unselect the station and the ship would slow down almost instantly all you had had to do then was turn around I don't know if it still works

 

[Ozric]

No vid recording software at the moment, my laptop, while not a potato, is getting close to the limits of what it can do all at once. I will probably download and give OBS a shot though when I'm not on my phone's wifi hotspot.

Edit to add: 2nd run 11:16:35 to 12:00:07

Still ten min slower than everyone else, and with a 31ly jump range I get a small penalty.

It's not essential, just gives you one less thing to think about. And, honestly, being only 10 minutes off the pace, in Open Unlimited, after only a couple of days racing is really good! I used to prop up the bottom of the leaderboards for a long, long time. But again as I said earlier Buckyball Racing Club isn't just about finishing at the top of the leaderboard. It's about bettering yourself and your own time, and then comparing yourself to your peers. Well that and doing absolutely insane things for the cause of racing. Whether that's something like flying back to the bubble to take part, getting a bonus for flying into the station through the toast rack backwards, or flying over 4,000Ly to get a bonus that could give you a negative time! Now that's carzy! [haha]

Nice try. Take a look at the map, then try gravity braking this:


It looked so simple at the outset, but those rocks are hard to crack.

Yeah the gravity braking guides are an essential watch for any new racer, but there's really only one or two times you can use them during this race. I think that this is probably one of the harder sets of gravity approaches we've had in a race, just because of the variety.

I that is a lone asteroid then I think that somebody posted in a previous race that you could zero throttle and just as you are about to go past it unselect the station and the ship would slow down almost instantly all you had had to do then was turn around I don't know if it still works

Cookiehole was a master at that. I tried it once or twice, but if I'm being perfectly honest then I won't use it. I am perfectly fine and happy with other racers using it, but to me it just seem against the spirit of racing. Each to their own, and that's one of the great things about the BRC.

 

[Fish172]

Ok a bit better then!

 

[Darkfyre99]

Despite getting distracted by Alec* saying hi from the far side of the galaxy, two overenthusiastic Buckyball Fans interfering with my run, one of which dragged me 150 ls AWAY from Freeholm, when I'd come to rest within 10 ls, I managed to completely fail to improve my time on the board.

Overaggressive docking attempts and bad braking maneuvers managed to drain away quite a bit of time, and my decision to add a hotter class star to my filter proved to be a bad one, leaving me unable to be more aggressive while scooping when I needed it. On a positive note, it was still better than my first run.
_____________
* I'd already given up on improving my time, so no worries. Just had to wait until I was in a position to take my hands off the controls.

 

[UmbraRex]

So, downloaded OBC, shut down almost everything except what HAD to be running, installed and watched my memory useage hit 90%

Run the third, start 2:36:43 to 3:20:35.

I blame those blasted race fans. Had to submit twice (submitting IS faster than fighting the interdiction, right). Once I was almost to drop out when the interdiction started, the other I wasn't quite as close but still getting pointed right and getting out of there cost precious time.

*facedesk

I'ma racer ;P

(As soon as I find a program that will open and save out frames I'll get the submissions sent in. Hopefully my go to video program VLC will do what I need)

 

[Darplata94]

Darplata94 here, with intent to race.

 

[Fish172]

Ok I found out a couple of things tonight -

1) I can hit 760 on exit if I get it right
2) I managed to enter the slot at over 400 - do not do this if you plan to actually stop!
3) Interdictions slow you down.
4) Don`t lose the asteroid you are trying to land on.
5) When you are buying the water try to stick to 5 tonnes as more just slows you down

All in all a fairly mediocre run but still less than 38 minutes.

I will be back.

 

[Edelgard von Rhein]

I'm not the only one finding that this course is a tricky one to be consistent on, it seems, which makes me feel slightly better. I've been having a hard time the last couple of days, failing to race consistently - the time I have on the board right now is the only smooth run I've had - thanks to various things that can I can possibly get wrong, from poor supercruise approaches and pad touchdowns, and some things that are not my fault, interdictions and the dreaded front door bell!
.
I think sometimes I try too hard and need to be relaxed whilst flying and being too competitive causes me to push too hard and make many mistakes. The Beyond Twilight's Veil is what I consider to be my main ship and I fly it a lot in different environments and still misjudge my approaches and landings frequently. The Python seems very sensitive to being in the blue zone and requires very careful handling to keep it manoeuvreable, so it's not very forgiving of small mistakes. The approach to Lone Rock is the hardest for me and also I tend to get allocated pads 20 and 26 which are a big pain at asteroid docks being right next to the airlock with a bar in the way that needs to be flown over (and none of the medium pads have control towers to help you stop). It can also be hard to tell whether I need to go forwards or backwards when I just miss the centre of the pad as the blue circle showing your location above the pad is obscured once you get close to touchdown - I lost 20s on one run trying to find the centre of the pad, even with the lines showing the horizontal axes turning blue once you're aligned with that axis. It's been frustrating so I might take a break for a day and come back fresh, or switch to another ship.
.
Have fun and fly fast!

 

[Darkfyre99]

Well, my last run of the evening got within five seconds of my posted one, so I'm let my crew do some proper maintenance on Slave of the Empire, and do some regulation Dolphin runs in Faster than Lightning tomorrow.

 

[phong]

Intent to Race

INTENT TO RACE,OPEN CLASS (DBS)Ship name:Fancy Free Foxtrot Alpha November AT-02D. Core internals:1a mirrored surface bulkheads.3d powerplant 4a thrusters* 4a FSD* 2a Life support 1a PD 2e sensors 4c Fuel.Optional: 2e cargo rack 3b fuel scoop 1 PAS Unladen 34.99 (36.93) *Engineered . Cmdr.Atahualpha