What a great feeling! The atmosphere of Sagittarius A* is akin to standing in a great cosmic cathedral; I was hoping to meet its attendant, CMDR Metta, but all was silent when I entered. I may spend a bit of time here, contemplating the long road home - someone said something about the scenic route?
From an outside perspective all I did yesterday was sit at my computer and eat many, many snacks. But inside I feel like I've accomplished something great: a task requiring concentration, fortitude and resolve. I salute all the Commanders who've made this herculean effort before me and wish good luck to the (hopefully) many to come after - don't look back!
The trip was uneventful in some ways - no close binaries, no white dwarfs or similar jump-in incidents. The 6% hull damage taken can be put down to pilot error and the aforementioned scooping while plotting. When calculating a tough route the supercruise model seemed to get very confused about my speed and direction. The result being I got thrown into the star and out of supercruise, with attendant heat damage, while my computer is lagging too hard to tell me this information in a coherent manner - quite scary. Don't do this. That said, only the last few plots were tricky - the sweet spot for me was around 991ly, allowing me to get plots in under 10 seconds in most cases.
Those fairy lights showed up on the last few jumps and probably added about a minute to my time while my addled brain tried to work out what was happening. I love that no-one has any clue about what they are. They don't even seem to be a 100% confirmed glitch - my pet theory is that the AR Nav display has trouble around extreme gravity wells and projects these artefacts onto the cockpit. Maybe someone else (definitely not me) can test if they are still there without your canopy?
The real challenge is mental and physical. The hardest parts were about 5 hours in and the last few kylies. At the 5 hour mark you get an idea of your pace; how much longer there is to go really sets in - you ask: "Am I... am I really going to do this for another 10 hours?" "Hmm... looks like it" you reply, as your friendship drive spools up and you realise you're talking to yourself. By the end, my shoulder was really hurting (I need to lower my joystick I think) and I was starting to go a bit wall-eyed. My co-pilot had failed to materialise and hours of music, podcasts and TV could no longer stave off the strain of that last 30 jump plot to the finish line. It was conducted in bleared-eyed, gritted silence - if I was ever likely to blow myself up, it would be now.
Was it worth all that? Very yes! While I missed my target time by a good hour, I'm not disappointed in the least. I'm stoked to be in the top 50 and just to have done it feels great.
Well now, that's the easy part done - how in the 'verse am I getting home?
For me, I'm going to aim to get into the DBX top three, giving me a 14hr 10min 32sec goal. Unlikely, I know, on my first attempt, but I like having something to aim for, I think it might help! Well Commanders, I'm off to set up in Galileo and get some rest, big day ahead!
